2 Samuel 18:16-19:43

Sovereign Grace Family Church

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:00

Mr. Barry, seeing how you're visiting with us this morning, would you pray for us?

00:06

I have had a few doubts this morning. I would agree with that. Lord, we thank you for the privilege to gather with fellow saints and to open your word and be tall.

00:18

May I ask that you would bless it to us this morning, that you would open your word to us and bless Brother Mike as he leads us.

00:24

In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen. 2 Samuel. And what

00:33

I'm going to do is I'm going to just pick up kind of where we were at. I'm not going to read the whole chapter again.

00:41

Because I would like to try to get into 19, because 18 and 19 are a unit.

00:50

19 is quite long. So we'll just see. I may not read all of 19.

00:57

We may do some collective summaries so that we can try to get through it.

01:03

I'm going to try. I don't know. We'll see. I feel like I'm trying to speed up, but I really probably should slow down.

01:08

But I do have a time frame. I'm trying to get through the book. So, if you remember last week,

01:18

Absalom had been struck down. And David was grieving. In verse 16 of chapter 18, it says,

01:29

And Joab, he blew the trumpet, and the people returned from pursuing Israel. For Joab restrained the people.

01:35

First of all, why would he have blown the trumpet? What was the trumpet supposed to do? What was the purpose of blowing a trumpet in a time of war?

01:43

Or by the general and all. One, it's time to fight.

01:49

Two, when he blew the trumpet again, it's over. It's squashed.

01:54

Whatever the situation, it has been resolved. So it says, They took Absalom, and they cast him into a deep pit in the forest, and erected over him a very great heap of stones.

02:06

And all Israel fled, each to his tent. Now Absalom, in his lifetime, had taken and set up for himself a pillar, which is in the king's valley.

02:15

He said, For I have no son to preserve my name. So he named that pillar after him, his own name, and it's called

02:21

Absalom's Mine to this day. That is not... If you first read that, it's almost like it's saying,

02:28

Hey, this is the monument of Absalom, where they put him in this hole with a heap of stones on it. That's not what it's saying.

02:34

It's referring back to, Hey, now Absalom's in a hole with a bunch of stones cast on him. But Absalom, in pride...

02:43

Remember, Absalom's a prideful man. He made a monument to himself. And if you understand what it's saying, you go,

02:49

Wait a minute. He said he had no offspring, so he set up a pillar for himself. He did have offspring.

02:55

If you remember, he had, I think it was three sons and Tamar. My understanding, and I'm hoping to be corrected, is that at this point, his sons had probably died.

03:04

He has no offspring at this point, when he set up this monument. So he is somewhat in a way of grieving.

03:12

He set up this monument for whatever reason. The narrator of the book decided to put this in there and say it was in the

03:19

King's Valley. So, in verse 19, Ahimaz and Zadok, who were they?

03:28

Anybody remember? Priests. Yep. Priests. It says, Let me run back and take the news to the king.

03:34

So they ran. They take the... Someone's gonna take the news to the king. When David finds out what has happened, all he cares about, he does not care about what's happened with all the other people.

03:49

He wants to know what happened to my son. And rightfully so. He wants to know what happened.

03:55

And obviously, we find out that the very same that Joab, Giti, Eti, and Abishai were told not to do.

04:06

It's exactly what Joab did. And we need to understand, too, not saying it's right,

04:13

Joab disobeyed orders of the king. You just be gentle with my son.

04:18

That's all I want you to do. Whatever you do with anybody else, it's free game. You just be gentle with my son. And Joab strikes him down, and we understand, but we all agree that Joab did it somewhat in his mind for valiant purposes.

04:34

Would we agree? Or disagree? He's convoluted. Go ahead.

04:39

Well, as I was reading back over, I guess back to about 14 or 15, I mean, this is the guy that put

04:44

Absalom up, right? He's working in originally. Sure.

04:50

And now he's on the other side of it. It's like David's prevailing now, so now

04:55

I'm... Yeah. His mind is not so much David as it is the kingdom.

05:02

It just happens to be that David is the anointed king, so his goal is to protect David and protect the king and to see to it that the kingdom will have a king sit on it when

05:14

David either dies or unable to fulfill his duties, whatever. So Absalom's goal is not

05:19

David. Absalom's goal is, we'll just say, the crown. So remember, he brought Absalom back because he sees that David's getting older.

05:26

There has to be an heir. Remember, when he brought Absalom back, it was because Amnon, the rightful heir at that particular time, had died.

05:36

The one had fled. Absalom had fled, so he's trying to figure out, what are we gonna do to get this kingdom back in order?

05:43

We gotta get whatever this problem was with the crown prince back, and we'll get that worked out.

05:49

Well, when he brought him back, I'm sure Joab had no inclination that Absalom was gonna try to kill and overthrow his dad.

05:58

I mean, I don't think so. I don't see anywhere in the text where Joab thought that. So Joab, in an attempt to see to it that David's throne's not usurped by a coup or a rebellion, he strikes

06:12

Absalom down, and I think what he did was wrong. Okay, what he did was wrong. He was told not to.

06:19

Had David not told Joab not to kill his son or be gentle with him, and he would've killed him?

06:25

Okay, that was just war. But as I've said multiple times, as we get to what we'll read part of that, when we get to Kings, because we're not going that far, but when we see what

06:36

David says, he has Joab killed not for killing Absalom, but for killing two men in a time of peace.

06:45

That was Absalom's death in a time of war. Yeah, a civil war.

06:51

So him being killed was in a time of war, but he disobeyed direct orders and that leads to how

06:59

Amasa gets put in this place, and we can talk about that because we won't think we'll get to that place today.

07:06

So you think I said something? Okay, so now we get towards the end where it says, because I'm just going to, so we can get into 19.

07:15

33, once David hears this, it says that David or the king was deeply moved and he cries out in his heart inside the gate.

07:23

Where would this gate be? Remember where we're at? Remember, we're not in Jerusalem.

07:30

Or Manaheim. Uh -oh, where are we at? Right here. Remember, that's where he left to set up, once he crossed the

07:36

Jordan, he set up home base in Mahanim or Manaheim, however you want to say it.

07:42

That's where he's at. So when he hears this, he's at the gate, he weeps, he cries for his son, he says, hey,

07:49

I would have died in his place. Once again, the love for David for Absalom.

07:55

But Absalom's hate for his dad. He was willing to kill his dad. And hey, that shouldn't shock us.

08:02

I mean, he was willing to kill his own brother. Although, I understand, I'm not saying it's right, but I understand why he did what he did.

08:11

It's wrong, but why would he want to kill his dad? Sheer arrogance and desire for power.

08:19

That's all it is. He might have been angry at his dad for not doing justice towards his brother.

08:28

Yeah, in his mind, he could have justified it. In his mind, although it was wrong. Yeah, although I believe his justification's wrong.

08:36

We never see Absalom address David as his dad. It's just your servant, you're the king,

08:41

I'm your servant, you're the king. So there's a relational bust at some point after, it seems, after the situation with Amnon.

08:51

So then, 19 rolls, that's like I said, the 18 and 19 go together, and the chapter break is actually,

08:57

I think, unnecessary there, other than they just didn't want to have 70 -something verses.

09:03

Because it said, you know, after he says, I would have died instead of your place, Absalom, my son, my son.

09:09

Then, in some translations, I think even say and, and you would never start another chapter with and. It's a conjunction.

09:16

So, then it was told Joab, behold the king's weeping and mourning for Absalom. Well, no kidding.

09:23

This is his son. I mean, think about it, this is his third son he's lost. Third son.

09:30

And all a direct result of his sinful actions towards Bathsheba.

09:36

And I can't help but think that that's what David, in his mind, is going, man, this is my fault. This is my doing.

09:43

It says, then the victory that was turned, that victory that day was turned from mourning from all the people into sadness.

09:51

So, there was a great defeat from the armies of Absalom.

09:59

This should have been a time of joy. This is a victory. Our anointed king, God's person, who was in place, is now going to be back on the throne.

10:08

But that's not what happens. It says, for the victory that day was turned to mourning for all the people, for the people had heard on that day the king is grieved for his son.

10:20

So, the people went by stealth into the city that day. As people who are humiliated steal away and flee in battle.

10:28

Understand, once again, they're following the lead of their king. You remember when

10:34

Abner died? When David walked behind the casket? He weeped.

10:39

What happened? The whole city weeped with him. When David weeped another time? What happened? They weeped.

10:47

So, here it is now. They, in a time of great joy, should have been.

10:53

The conspiracy's over. Civil war is over. Remember, they'd already lost 20 ,000 of their own countrymen.

10:59

Regardless of how you see who it is, it was still 20 ,000 Israelites that died because of this.

11:06

Just in that specific battle, we don't know what other incursions had happened that they had lost people at that place as well.

11:13

But it says, and as one humiliated, hey, what Joab's fixing to say,

11:19

I do believe, has merit. These people, here it is, they fought for you.

11:26

And now they're being humiliated by not being honored for willing to lay their life down for the king, for David.

11:36

So, it says, in verse four, the king covered his face, and he cried out with a loud voice, oh my son, my son

11:43

Absalom. Then Joab came into the house to where the king, and he said, today, you have covered with shame the faces of all of your servants who today have saved your life and the lives of your sons and the lives of your daughters and the lives of your wives and the lives of your concubines by loving those who hate you and by hating those who love you.

12:10

For you have shown today that princes and servants are nothing to you.

12:15

For I know this day that if Absalom were alive and all of us were dead today, then you would be pleased.

12:22

Now, therefore, rise, go out, speak kindly to your servants, for I swear by the Lord, if you do not go out, surely not one will pass this night with you.

12:31

And this will be worse for you than all the evil that has come about you from your youth until now.

12:38

There is some validity to what he is saying. I do think, in part, though,

12:45

Joab is speaking in hyperbole or exaggerating. Do I think that if David doesn't go out and speak to these people that somehow he's going to lose the kingdom?

12:53

Or that those people are going to turn their back on him? No, not at all. But I do think he's saying, look, if you don't go out and you don't make this right, these people's hearts, who were turned towards Absalom, aren't going to be turned back towards you the way that it should be.

13:07

And he says, by loving those who hate you, that is true.

13:13

He loved Absalom. And I don't know anybody that ever wanted to kill somebody that they loved.

13:19

So that would be a direct reference to Absalom hating his dad.

13:26

Now, as David being the anointed king, sometimes when we see the king or we see

13:33

David's actions, they either point to the positive or the negative of how we point it to Christ. In this case, is he not looking or a picture of Christ by loving those who desired to murder him?

13:44

Yeah. Do you think for one second that David didn't think he could smooth that over with Absalom if he could get him back to where he could talk to him?

13:53

I think David thinks he could. Could have he? Probably not. No, Absalom was dead set, pardon the pun, but dead set on killing his dad.

14:04

It says, he tells him to go out and swear by the Lord. And I am not sure if that is taking the

14:13

Lord's name in vain there or if he is saying, hey, you need to go out there and make a covenant in the name of the

14:19

Lord that, hey, we're going to make this thing right. I'm not sure. We know this.

14:26

Joab has no problem using the Lord's name in vain or using it for leverage to get his purposes fulfilled.

14:33

And he said, if you don't go out and do this, it'll be worse in you from the time until now since your youth.

14:39

And like I said, I believe that is hyperbole. Although I do believe there's merit to what he's saying, he does need to go out and make a recognition to the people that I appreciate you were willing to lay your life down, but you're going to have to deal with me.

14:52

I'm grieving over my son. I mean, how David words that, it was really none of our concern, but that is how

14:59

David, what he should have done. Verse eight. So the king arose. He sat in the gate.

15:04

Remember, this would be in Mahanin. And they told all the people saying, behold, the king is sitting in the gate and all the people came before the king and then now

15:13

Israel had fled each to his tent. All the people were quarreling throughout all the tribes of Israel saying, the king delivered us from the hand of our enemies and he saved us from the hand of the

15:25

Philistines, but now he has fled out of the land from Absalom. However, Absalom, whom we anointed over us, has died in battle and now why are we silent about bringing him back?

15:39

Interesting, they know that who anointed Absalom king? Was it God? No, it was the 10 tribes that anointed him as king.

15:47

So, hey, they understand that, hey, we anointed Absalom king. Now that he's dead, we should probably bring back the rightful throne, the person that's on the throne rightfully.

15:57

And then David sent to Zadok and to Abiathar, the priest, and he speak to the elders of Judah saying, why are you the last to bring the king back to his house since the word of all

16:12

Israel has come to the king even to his house? You are my brothers and you are my flesh and my bone.

16:21

Why then should you be the last to bring back the king? Say to Emesa, you are not my bone, are you not my bone and my flesh?

16:31

May God do so to me and more also if you will not be commander over the army before me continually in the place of Joab.

16:39

I want to stop there for just a second. Who was Emesa? Anybody remember? We just saw him a week or so ago, two weeks ago, right?

16:48

Week, two, something like that. One, he had a weird genealogy, remember?

16:54

We thought he was born to Nahash, went into Abigail, kind of weird, we don't really know.

17:00

But he was connected in by either marriage or birth to Joab. He was the leader of the armies of Absalom that led the conspiracy against David.

17:13

He was the leader of Absalom's army. Basically, he was the head of the ten tribes army.

17:20

Now David says here, I'm going to swear to Emesa, are you not my flesh and my bone?

17:27

Yeah, he was connected to him by Israeli, they were both Israelites, they were Jewish, and he says, and I'm going to make you commander continually in Joab's place.

17:38

Alright, you can disagree with me, but my conclusion is he is now removing

17:43

Joab from his place and putting Emesa in Joab's place for his disobedience and killing his son.

17:53

You can disagree with me, but that's my conclusion. Why else would

17:59

David have put Emesa in Joab's place? Do we have any other reason?

18:06

I mean, he disobeyed. Now, I think it's next week if we get that far.

18:15

When Joab kills Emesa, I do want to just go ahead and prepare your mind. I think that when he killed

18:22

Emesa, it was for two reasons. One, he killed Emesa because he took his place.

18:27

Okay, let's just be honest. We know that he didn't want Abner in his place, so he had two reasons to kill

18:32

Abner. One, he killed his brother. Two, he was threatened. This case, he killed Emesa because Emesa had now been put in his place as being commander over the armies.

18:45

But the other reason is, if you remember, when we get to that part of the story, when

18:51

Sheba throws this revolt against David, David tells Abishai, you go and you squash this guy.

19:00

He's going to be worse than Absalom. But he told Abishai to do that because when he told

19:06

Emesa, Emesa didn't go. Now, Joab comes along. Joab kills

19:12

Emesa, I believe, for two reasons. Jealousy and one, once again, what's he looking out for?

19:19

The crown. He's looking out for the crown. You didn't do what the king told you to do. You've now endangered the life of the king and he killed him.

19:27

So we'll get more into that when we get there in a couple weeks, or in a week. So he puts

19:34

Joab, basically, he puts him now under Emesa.

19:39

And I don't know, why didn't he put Abishai then? You know? Why didn't he put

19:46

Abishai? I mean, he was the most consistent guy protecting David as far as immediately.

19:52

Remember, Shema's throwing dust, rocks, kicking stone, cussing, and what does he say?

19:57

I'll cut that dude's head off. And then he's going to come back and once again, Mr. Consistency's going to say the same thing.

20:03

I will cut his head off anyway. You're like, man, at least this dude's mindset, you've got to give him one thing.

20:10

Dude, he is consistent and persistent. And then as we get towards the end of the book, when

20:17

David is unable to defend himself, you know, who comes in? Abishai slides in there and kills the,

20:25

I think if I remember, I think it's Goliath's brother. Or his son. He kills one of them and he's always looking to take care of David.

20:34

He fixed all his problems one way. He did, yeah. Taking people's heads off. It's a hand and nail thing. Yeah, it's either

20:39

I'm going to shove a spear all the way through him into the ground or the head comes off. The original head, huh?

20:45

Yeah. He's like, oh, I'll whack his head off so fast he'll still be able to cough before his head hits the ground.

20:54

Hey, buddy. So, now, we're at verse 14.

21:01

We're at chapter 19, verse 14 of 2 Samuel. He said,

21:07

Then thus he turned the hearts of all the men of Judah as one, so they sent word to the king, saying, return you and all of your servants.

21:16

And the king then returned and he came as far as to the Jordan. And Judah came to Gilgal in order, once again,

21:24

Gilgal, a place to remember. That's where Saul was anointed king. That's where they reaffirmed the covenant back in 1

21:34

Samuel. So, once again, Gilgal, a significant place. And Judah came to Gilgal in order to meet the king and to bring him across the

21:42

Jordan. Once David crosses that Jordan, coming this way, he is coming back into the promised land.

21:49

Now, imagine David. He didn't know if he was ever coming back, but he did hope he was coming back with his son.

21:56

Not without him. And here is the stone thrower, dust kicker, cusser.

22:04

Then Shimei, the son of Gerah, the Benjamite, who was from Bahurin, hurried and he came down with the men of Judah to meet

22:14

David, or King David. There were a thousand men of Benjamin with him and Ziba.

22:20

Who was Ziba? Remember? Mephibosheth got

22:28

Saul's stuff and Ziba had to walk. Yeah, he basically became the servant of Mephibosheth.

22:36

And now, remember, who brought sustenance to David? When he came across? It was

22:42

Ziba. It was Ziba. He brought him stuff and who did he throw under the bus?

22:48

He threw Mephibosheth under the bus saying hey man, he didn't want to come and blah blah blah blah and he said you know what, everything that was

22:54

Mephibosheth, it's all yours now. So he basically gave the estate of everything to Saul back to Ziba.

23:03

He says Ziba, the servant of the house of Saul and his 15 sons and his 20 servants.

23:09

Well, where would the 20 servants have been before now? They'd have been working for Mephibosheth. Say it, Mike. Say it.

23:15

Mephibosheth. He's better at saying it than me. Mephibosheth. So they rushed across the

23:21

Jordan before the king. They kept crossing the ford to bring over the king's household and to do what was good in the sight and Shimei, the son of Gerah, he fell down before the king as he was about to cross the

23:33

Jordan. Interesting disposition of Shimei towards David at this point.

23:38

What was it before? You bloodthirsty man. God has taken that kingdom from you. He's given it to Absalom because you're a man of violence and Abishai said, man,

23:50

I will whack off that dude's head. And David said, don't do it. God could be telling him to curse me.

23:56

Then remember, we talked about that, how Shimei was saying it and then how David was hearing it.

24:03

Concurrence. You have what God was using to reveal to David. Was David a bloodthirsty man? In two ways.

24:10

One, he was bloodthirsty as he was a man of war. He went out and he did the bidding of God to kill

24:15

God's enemies. But in this case, Shimei was cursing him because he thinks he usurped the throne of Saul by killing

24:23

Saul and his sons back at Gilboa. And I do believe that Shimei, at this point, people had to know hubbub on the street is that Uriah got put to death by David's order.

24:37

No, because he says he wants to restore it back to Saul. So he saw him as usurping Saul's throne.

24:46

So he's cussing him. Then now he sees David coming and he is face down in the dirt.

24:53

And he says, so he said to the king, this is verse 19, let not my lord consider me guilty nor remember what your servant did wrong on the day when my lord the king came out from Jerusalem.

25:09

Hey, this ain't really been that long. I mean, we're not talking years here.

25:16

This could, I mean, I would even say this could have been maybe weeks.

25:21

I don't think it's been drug out. This could be weeks. And it's interesting, his disposition has changed that quick.

25:29

So he basically, whoever's running their flag up the flagpole is king.

25:35

Shimei wants to be on that side. So he sees David coming across to Jordan. He's obviously heard that Absalom's dead.

25:42

He's going to cross the Jordan. He said, let not my lord consider me guilty nor remember what your servant did wrong on that day when my lord came out from Jerusalem so that the king don't take it to heart.

25:53

For your servant, no, you don't take it to heart. For your servant knows that I have sinned.

26:00

All right, at least Shimei has enough backbone and has released his pride enough to go, hey, what

26:07

I did to you by cursing God's anointed was wrong. Now, is this true contrition and repentance?

26:18

I don't know. We know this. He sees his life is in jeopardy by David coming back across to Jordan.

26:25

So he's going to try to make it right. I think any other king, he would have been a dead man. No doubt. Yeah. No doubt.

26:31

David was way more of a long sufferer. Yeah. Yeah, and honestly, he rightfully should have been killed for what he had.

26:40

I mean, you're throwing things at the king. You're assaulting him.

26:46

That's amazing what bitterness did to him because in no way was Absalom an heir to, in other words, the kingdom of Saul was not coming back through Absalom.

26:56

I know, but it's interesting you bring that up because it comes up as Mephibosheth told that because of that, he thought that Saul's kingdom was going to be restored.

27:07

It's like, where did they come up with that? I think it's just bitterness. I think they were holding on to it. So any challenger to David latched on to it right away because it was like it was...

27:16

Could be. It's just interesting you bring that up because when I'm reading through that, most of the times I went, yeah, but what in their mind thought, okay, we have a person from the tribe of Judah who's an actual heir, but he's going to restore the kingdom to Saul.

27:29

It was just weird. Yeah. Maybe they just, because he was an enemy of David, you know, that may have been how it was understood.

27:39

He admits his sinning and he says, I have come today, the first of all the house of Joseph, to go down to meet the

27:48

Lord, the king. Here it is, Mr. Consistent. And Abishai, the son of Zeruiah said, should not

27:54

Shimei be put to death for this because he cursed the Lord's anointing? And David then said, what, hey, he has said this

28:02

I think three times. He has said this. What do I have to do with all you sons of Zeruiah?

28:09

Remember one time he said, you guys are fierce, you're wicked, you're harsh. Yeah. He said, what do

28:15

I have to do that you should do this, be an adversary to me? So David sees that what he's wanting to do is actually being an enemy of David.

28:23

If you do this, you're actually being an enemy of me. You're an adversary. Should any man be put to death in Israel today?

28:31

For do I not know now that I am king over Israel today? The king said to Shimei, you shall not die.

28:37

Thus the king swore to him. He should have said today. Yeah. He should have said today.

28:45

And however long he gets to live out his life, we don't know, but yeah, today.

28:52

And then in verse 24, here it is. Now, Mephibosheth, the son of Saul came down to meet the king, and he neither had cared for his feet, nor he trimmed his mustache, nor washed his clothes from the day the king departed until the day that he came in peace.

29:10

Okay. Once again, why would his feet not been cared for? What's that?

29:20

Okay. Anybody else? What was up with his feet?

29:27

Well, he's crippled. He's crippled. And he does not now have the, the care for nursing to take care.

29:38

Yeah. Yeah. Nobody wants to mess with him crusty old feet. Nobody wants to trim your toenails.

29:44

Nobody wants to give you a pedicure. Go ahead. Yeah. Well, and everything's been taken from him.

29:54

Now, we can say an act of mourning, and it's weird that it's not his beard, it's his mustache, that he, he's not trimmed his mustache.

30:03

Remember, the not trimming the mustache, the no oil, the not being clean was either an act of humbling oneself in mourning.

30:12

So, you could be right, Mike. He could've just had dirty crusty feet because he was mourning, but I do believe it's because he was unable to care for them.

30:18

He was unable to care for his feet in which David had taken care of him, and David actually mentions that.

30:24

Well, what do you do with some of your feet? He says, the king had departed until the day, verse 25, and it was when he came from Jerusalem, me and the king, that the king said to him, where did you, why did you not go with me,

30:42

Mephibosheth? And he answered, my lord, the king, my servant deceived me, for your servant said,

30:50

I will saddle a donkey for myself, that I may ride on it and go with the king, because your servant is lame.

30:58

Now, wait a minute. That should strike you as odd. Did David not provide him something to ride on?

31:06

But what is he saying here? My understanding, is he saying, is that not Mephibosheth saying I'm going to put something,

31:11

I mean, that Absalom was going to put him on a donkey, is that correct? Is that how we should understand that? Is that he's saying, look,

31:17

I will saddle a donkey for myself and I will ride on it with the king, because your servant is lame.

31:23

Moreover, he has slandered your servant to the lord, my lord, the king, but my lord, the king, is like an angel, therefore, do what is good in your sight, for all my father's household was nothing but dead man before my lord, the king.

31:41

Yet you set my servant among those who ate at your own table. Look, he's saying, look, when my family was dead man to you, brought you back, put you at my table.

31:56

Sorry, can I ask, is Mephibosheth the cripple? Yes. Okay, they even have compassion over him?

32:03

Correct. That's Jonathan's son, and the reason why he's doing that was he wanted to show compassion so he could hold up the loving kindness covenant that he made with Jonathan in the field when he gave him his belt and all of his stuff for Samuel.

32:17

He wanted to show kindness, and after everybody was killed, remember, all the sons of Saul were killed. Well, we'll talk about that in a couple chapters.

32:25

All the sons that went to battle were killed. Ish -bosheth was killed by Banna and Rechab when they cut his head off, so there was no, really, anybody at that time that he knew that he could show compassion.

32:40

He asked, is there anyone else out there from the house of Saul that for Jonathan's sake

32:47

I could show kindness? And they said, oh yeah. His five -year -old son would never run and broke his feet. He said, go get him and bring him back.

32:54

And he actually thought when he was being brought back that he was probably going to get killed. Yeah. And he said, don't worry.

33:00

I'm not going to kill you. But I'm not killing you because I like you. I'm killing you because I like your dad. So, he said, verse 29, so the king said to him, why do you still speak of your affairs?

33:16

I have decided you and Ziba shall divide the land. Mephibosheth said to the king, let him even take it all.

33:25

So, remember, he had bad mouth, Mephibosheth, basically saying, look, he's staying in there with Absalom because he was going to put him on the donkey, let him ride with the king, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

33:36

Okay? He said, I gave it all because of that, and I think

33:41

David was misled. He said, you know what, in an act of probably emotional outburst, you know what, everything he had, you do it.

33:52

Well, now David's like, you know what, I don't know who's fibbing and who's not, so what

33:58

I'm going to do, I'll just split it down the middle. But I do, I think it is interesting that Mephibosheth goes, you know what, let him have it all.

34:07

Let him have it all. Why would he say that? He's got all he needs through David. I mean, as I was going to say, yeah, his provision was not really through Ziba, although he had told him to work that land, and why did

34:19

Ziba, why did David give Ziba basically the control over Mephibosheth's stuff to do it?

34:29

One, he was crippled. He could not. But the inheritance was not supposed to go to Ziba. Who was it supposed to go to?

34:36

It was supposed to go to an heir, and who was the heir? Mephibosheth. So that's why it was given to Mephibosheth.

34:44

But Mephibosheth really doesn't need anything. Like Mike said, King David's going to take care of him.

34:50

What's that? Maybe he also thought that by him saying let Ziba keep all the land, whatever, it was just to prove his loyalty to David too.

35:00

Sure, and I would say, showing, hey, look, you know what, I really wasn't in the wrong, but hey, you know what, if it'll show that to try to keep some integrity, you know, just give it all to him.

35:13

Once again, he was trusting in the king and David's loyalty to his word that he was going to take care of him, and David was going to take care of him.

35:22

Now, in verse 31, it says, Barzillai, the

35:27

Gileadite, had come down from Rogallene, and he went on to the

35:32

Jordan, and the king to escort him over the Jordan. Now, Barzillai was a very old, about 80 years old.

35:39

Excuse me. And, he had sustained the king while he had stayed in Mahanin, for he was very, he was a very great man.

35:48

So, Barzillai was what? Rich. He was the welcome wagon. Yeah, he was rich. Yep, he was rich.

35:54

They had the pots and all kinds of stuff, pillows and blankets and all kinds of stuff.

36:02

He says, in verse 33, and the king said to Barzillai, Barzillai, cross over with me and I will sustain you in Jerusalem with me.

36:13

But, Barzillai said to the king, how long have I yet to live that I should go up with you, the king, to Jerusalem?

36:22

I am now 80 years old. Can I distinguish between good and bad? Or, can your servant taste what

36:29

I eat or what I drink? Or, can I hear anymore the voice of the singing of men and women?

36:35

Why then should your servant be added as a burden to my lord, the king? Your servant would merely cross over to the

36:42

Jordan with the king. Why should the king compensate me with this reward? I understand him saying, look man,

36:50

I'm so old, I can't even hear well anymore. I mean, like look,

36:55

I can't hear anymore, I'm not hearing well, my taste buds are burned up, if you go to Ecclesiastes, towards the end he talks about the eyes, the window panes being dim, and the crusher is not grinding, and it's talking about the teeth, and not being able to hear the birds, and not being able to smell, and then he gets into a bunch of other stuff that happens when you get old that we can't talk about.

37:22

And he gets into some weird stuff that happens when you get old, but anyway, that's basically what he's saying is, hey, look man,

37:31

I'm 80 years old, I don't even know if I'm going to make it till tomorrow. And he said, so why don't you, you're just going about your way.

37:38

And I do see him as going, you don't need to reward me for what I did, because he did it out of his compassion and love for David.

37:47

Although David was willing to pay him back, look man, I want to take care of you for what you did. But I was like, look man,

37:54

I did what I did because I cared for you. Hey, was he even an Israelite? No man, he was a

38:02

Gileadite. He would have been, he would have been up in pagan land, sort of.

38:11

So anyway, where was that? He said, I can't even hear women singing.

38:17

The difference between men and women singing? I guess so, if you hear me singing and you hear, you hear

38:23

Sharon sing, I promise you, you'd want to hear her sing more than me. Yeah.

38:29

So, he says, why then should your servant be a burden? And he said, your servant would merely just cross over and you, the king would compensate me with reward.

38:39

And here it is in verse 37. Please let your servant return that I may die in my own city near the grave of my father and my mother.

38:48

Man, what was, all through the Old Testament, even Middle Eastern culture, what was the significance of dying in your own city or being buried with your, with your mother and father?

39:03

It was just about the family being put together. Look, when they moved people's bones, they were buried in another, yeah, and they would grab them and they would take them and they would find wherever that sepulcher was and they would bury them together.

39:17

It was about being gathered together with their people. Hey, remember those tombs, they just open it up, slide the bones that were on that, on that hewned out piece of stone and just push it on back for the next one.

39:31

Push it on back for the next one. Push it on back for the next one. Yeah.

39:47

And, and to be, and to be with one's family even in death is, was an honorable thing.

39:57

Any time the seed, meaning the offspring, is cut off either in life or death, that was a curse.

40:02

Let's just take, for instance, Absalom. Absalom's not going to be buried with his family. He's buried in a hole somewhere and we really don't even know where that is.

40:10

You could go to what they think's the monument today which really didn't come about until around 11th, 10th or 11th century they found something to be

40:19

Absalom. It's not even real. But Absalom, because of his, his desire to kill his family, man, he's been cut off completely.

40:26

He's not even going to be buried with his family. So then he says, however, here is my servant,

40:35

Chimham. Let him cross over with my lord the king and do for him what is good in your sight.

40:42

And the king answered, Chimham, cross over with me and I will do for him what is good in your sight and whatever you require of me.

40:50

So David's saying, look, whatever you want me to do for Chimham, you just tell me. What I was going to do in your place,

40:55

I'm going to do it for this guy. It's interesting that he sends Chimham over. He really must think his day of death is near.

41:01

He's given him probably his best servant and he's sending him. So the king then kissed Barzillai.

41:07

He blessed him and he returned to his place and then the king went on to Gilgal. Chimham went with him and all the people of Judah and also the half of the people of Israel accompanied the king.

41:18

Here it is, Judah and Israel now being reunited with the king and they accompanied the king.

41:26

Verse 41, and behold, all the people of Israel came to the king and said to the king, why had our brothers, the men of Judah, stolen you away and brought the king and his household and all of David's men with him over the

41:41

Jordan? Then all the men of Judah answered the men of Israel because the king is a close relative to us.

41:48

Why then are you angry about this matter? We have eaten,

41:53

I'm sorry, have we eaten all at the king's expense or has anything been taken from us?

42:00

But the men of Israel answered the men of Judah and said, we have ten parts in the king.

42:06

Therefore, we also have more claim to David than you. I think that's weird. Hey, look man, we're the majority.

42:15

The majority rules. And what would they mean when they say we have ten parts? I'm assuming the ten tribes. Hey, they're saying, hey look, we've got more to our right to him than you.

42:25

We also have more claim on David than you. Why then did you treat us with contempt? Was it not our advice first to bring back the king?

42:34

Yeah, it was. It was their desire. Hey man, Absalom's dead. Let's bring him back.

42:40

So, I mean, ultimately, yeah, it was their idea. Although they propped up someone who had not been anointed king by God.

42:49

Was it not our advice to bring him back? Yet the words of the men of Judah were harsher than the words of the men of Israel.

42:57

We got through it. we need to remember this right here.

43:04

Harsher than the words of the men of Israel. They were defending David. The men of Judah were going to defend

43:11

David because he was blood, he was countryman, and he was of the same tribe. But very quickly, when

43:18

I say quickly, I think this happened in rapid succession. A man of Israel is going to rise up and he's going to try to overthrow

43:25

David. He's going to try to do what Absalom did not finish. And he's going to be of the tribe of Benjamin.

43:32

And that's what we'll pick up next week. We'll get through chapter 20 next week.

43:38

So if y 'all want to read ahead and prepare for questions and comments or outbursts of anger or whatever, we'll deal with it.

43:46

Burt, will you close us out with a prayer, brother? Father, once again, just live in it for a while.

44:05

That's really great. So now I ask you to bless Pastor Keith as he prepares his message for today. And we ask it in Jesus' name.