WWUTT 594 David Had to Learn Right Worship?

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As we've been talking about this week, going through 1 Timothy chapter 2, there is a way that God has said

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He is to be worshipped. He has designated worship for Himself, and we are to obey

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His command, as David learned when we understand the text. This is

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When We Understand The Text, a daily Bible commentary to help encourage your time in the Word. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we feature

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New Testament Study, an Old Testament book on Thursday, and our Q &A on Friday.

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Now here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. We continue with our study of the Old Testament book of 1

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Chronicles. Having covered 10 chapters now up to this point, we ended last week with the death of Saul at the end of chapter 10, and we start chapter 11 with the anointing of David as king.

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Now having been through 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 Kings, there are significant events that you might recall happening over the course of that story, of that part of the story, that when we get to 1

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Chronicles, you're going, well, hang on, where was that event? That was pretty big. Why did the writer skip over that?

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Well, as mentioned when we did our introduction to these two books, the chronicler assumes that the reader knows a lot of this already, because remember, this was being written after the temple had been reconstructed following the exile.

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So the Jews have returned to Jerusalem, they've rebuilt the walls, they've reconstructed the temple, and these things in 1 and 2

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Chronicles are remembering the promises that God made to his people, specifically the

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Davidic covenant, the covenant that God made with David. And we're going to get at least that far today. So right up to the covenant in chapter 17, and we'll be reading events that lead up to that.

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So you'll see some events and some details about those events included that we haven't read before.

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But then there are other significant events that are left out, because again, the writer is assuming we already know that.

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So we're keeping the themes of the people of Israel in view, also the significance of the construction of the temple and the covenant that God has made with David, which is kind of central to 1

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Chronicles. So here we are in chapter 11 with David being anointed king.

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Then all Israel gathered together to David at Hebron and said, Behold, we are your bone and flesh.

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In times past, even when Saul was king, it was you who led out and brought in Israel.

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And the Lord your God said to you, You shall be a shepherd of my people Israel, and you shall be prince over my people

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Israel. So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the

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Lord, and they anointed David king over Israel, according to the word of the Lord by Samuel.

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So you'll recognize there that there's kind of a recognition by the people that God has always been with David.

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So we get like a hint of the Davidic covenant there, which we don't hear the words of God in that covenant until we get to chapter 17.

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But the people are starting to recognize God's anointing is on this man. And if you'll remember the story that we had read in Second Samuel, David was ruling over Judah from Hebron, and then all of Israel recognized him as king.

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Well, we've kind of condensed that part of the story down into just three verses that we've read here. So Hebron was where David was ruling, now being recognized by all of Israel that he is king.

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He will move his reign into Jerusalem. And that's what we get to next.

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Verse four, David and all of Israel went to Jerusalem. That is, Jebus, where the

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Jebusites were, the inhabitants of the land. The inhabitants of Jebus said to David, you will not come in here.

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Nevertheless, David took the stronghold of Zion. That is the city of David. David said, whoever strikes the

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Jebusites first shall be chief and commander. And Joab the son of Zeruiah went up first, so he became chief and David lived in the stronghold.

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Therefore it was called the city of David. And he built the city all around from the millow in complete circuit.

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And Joab repaired the rest of the city and David became greater and greater for the

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Lord of hosts was with him. Now you might remember that the city of David was Bethlehem, but here we have

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Jerusalem described as the city of David. Well, because Bethlehem was the place where David was born,

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Jerusalem was the place where David reigned. And this is the reason why the

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Magi, the wise men who were looking for the baby Jesus, we read that story in Matthew 2.

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This is the reason why they came to Jerusalem and not Bethlehem. And then they were confused about why the king of the

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Jews was not here in the capital city of Jerusalem. And then it had to be Herod's wise men that divulged, oh yeah, it's from the prophet

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Micah who said that the king was going to be born in Bethlehem, which was just about four or five miles away from Jerusalem.

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So then that was where the Magi went and being warned in a dream that Herod meant ill against Jesus, didn't want to worship him, but wanted to kill him.

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The Magi then left by another way and did not return to Jerusalem. So we have in the

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Old Testament, Jerusalem referred to as the city of David. And because those writings were with the

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Babylonians after the Babylonian exile, they kept some of those sacred Hebrew writings. Now, First Chronicles wouldn't have been one of them because that was written later.

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But because they did have some of those Hebrew writings that referred to Jerusalem as the city of David, that's where they thought the

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Christ child was to be born was there in Jerusalem. That's why they showed up there and not Bethlehem.

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But Bethlehem is also referred to as the city of David. You know, this this also confused

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Joseph Smith, who is the inventor of the Mormon religion, who wrote the Book of Mormon.

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He makes a reference to Jesus being born in Jerusalem, and it's because he knows

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Jerusalem was referred to as the city of David. And the angel in Luke two said to the shepherds that Jesus was born in the city of David.

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So Joseph Smith got it wrong as to where Jesus was born, because he didn't understand the text, if I might be so proverbial.

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But anyway, going on here. So Jerusalem had belonged to the people of God before Melchizedek of Salem.

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That was where he lived, was Jerusalem somewhere down the line. It was no longer with the people of God, but became controlled by pagans.

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And David has reclaimed that city and it now belongs to Israel. And so that's where David is reigning from.

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Verse 10. Now, these are the chiefs of David's mighty men who gave him strong support in his kingdom together with all

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Israel to make him king, according to the word of the Lord concerning Israel. This is an account of David's mighty men.

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Jashubim, a Hachmanite, was chief of the three. He wielded his spear against 300, whom he killed at one time.

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And next to him among the three mighty men was Eleazar, the son of Dodo, the

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Ahowite. He was with David at Pastamim when the Philistines were gathered there for battle.

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There was a plot of ground full of barley and the men fled from the Philistines. But he took his stand in the midst of the plot and defended it and killed the

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Philistines. And the Lord saved them by a great victory. Three of the 30 chief men went down to the rock to David at the

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Cave of Adullam, where when the army of the Philistines was encamped in the Valley of Rephaim, David was in the stronghold and the garrison of the

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Philistines was then at Bethlehem. And David said longingly, Oh, that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem that is by the gate.

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Then the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate and took it and brought it to David.

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But David would not drink it. He poured it out to the Lord and said, Far be it from me before my

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God that I should do this. Shall I drink the lifeblood of these men for at the risk of their lives?

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They brought it. Therefore, he would not drink it. These things did the three mighty men.

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Now, that might look a little offensive at first. Hang on. These guys risk their lives for David to be able to have a drink from a well at Bethlehem, and yet he pours it on the ground.

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But that actually would have been a great gesture of him to do that, that he would not take that water for himself, but poured it out as a drink offering unto the

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Lord. This was part of the sacrificial system that the Lord had laid down for Israel, that among the offerings they would give to him, there were drink offerings.

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We have it first mentioned in Exodus 25 as the Lord is giving the law to Moses.

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It's mentioned there in Exodus, in Leviticus, in Numbers, in Deuteronomy. The books of the law mention drink offerings unto the

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Lord. So, David giving this drink offering to God is so that all of these things would be done in full service to the

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Lord. May no man risk his life for David for such a thing, for that would be selfish, but that all men would do all things to the glory of God rather than to the honor of men.

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And so that was a great gesture that David would have done that even before these mighty men who had risked their lives for him, that this was given then in service to the

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Lord rather than something that David wanted for himself. So then verse 20,

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Now Abishai the brother of Joab was chief of the thirty, and he wielded his spear against three hundred men, and killed them, and won a name beside the three.

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He was the most renowned of the thirty, and became their commander, but he did not attain to the three.

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And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was a valiant man of Kabzeel, a doer of great deeds.

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He struck down two heroes of Moab. He also went down and struck down a lion in a pit on a day when snow had fallen.

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And he struck down an Egyptian, a man of great stature, five cubits tall, that's over seven feet tall, would do pretty well in the

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NBA, not quite Goliath, but still a pretty sizable man. The Egyptian had in his hand a spear like a weaver's beam, but Benaiah went down to him with a staff and snatched the spear out of the

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Egyptian's hand and killed him with his own spear. How do you like that?

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Now, Benaiah just had a stick in his hand, and he went up against this giant of a guy, snatched his own spear from him, and killed him with it.

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These things did Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and won a name beside the three mighty men. He was renowned among the thirty, but he did not attain to the three.

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And David set him over his bodyguard. So as you read about these great deeds of the mighty men, and the thirty, and these heroic things, these warrior -like things that they did, these are pretty incredible feats of strength that they succeeded at doing.

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And it's more amazing than stuff that you see even in the movies. But you know, it was

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Tom Clancy, the guy that wrote Hunt for Red October, he's the Jack Ryan creator, he created that character.

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I remember an interview with Jack Ryan one time, sorry, Jack Ryan, Tom Clancy. And Clancy said, the trouble with fiction is that it has to be believable.

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So when you create these fictional characters on a screen, you have to have them doing things that you would believe that a person would be able to do.

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What we're reading here in 1 Chronicles 11 is not fiction. It's true. These men actually did this.

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But if you created a fiction character doing it, you would go, there ain't no way a person would ever be able to pull that off.

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But these men actually did that. And what they did in real life is more heroic, more incredible in their accomplishments than what we see people doing in special effects on a movie screen.

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Is it not? All right. So then we've got the mighty men listed there in verses 26 through 47.

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Notice in verse 41 who one of those mighty men were Uriah the Hittite.

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Uriah was not just a man who was married to a woman that David had an affair with.

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Uriah was David's friend, ate with him at his table. And yet David turned on him like this because he coveted after his wife and had

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Uriah killed to cover up the affair that David had with Bathsheba. And that's an event that isn't mentioned here.

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But we know something a little bit more about David's friendship with Uriah and how seriously how serious a betrayal that was that David did against Uriah.

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Uriah was the righteous man in that whole ordeal. And David was wicked, who disobeyed

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God and betrayed his friend. Chapter 12. Now, these are the men who came to David at Ziklag while he could not move about freely because of Saul, the son of Kish.

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And they were among the mighty men who helped him in war. They were bowmen who could shoot arrows and sling stones with either the right or the left hand.

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And that's that's amazing. Again, we're talking about a pretty incredible ability among soldiers that you would not just see your average person be able to do.

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But these were incredibly skilled men that were in David's service. And we have their names mentioned there.

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Verse eight. From the Gadites, there went over to David at the stronghold in the wilderness, mighty and experienced warriors, expert with shield and spear, whose faces were like the faces of lions and who are swift as gazelles upon the mountains.

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Ezra, the chief Obadiah second, then we have a list of names that go on there again. Verse 16.

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And some of the men of Benjamin and Judah came to the stronghold to David. David went out to meet them and said to them, if you have come to me in friendship to help me, my heart will be joined to you.

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But if to betray me to my adversaries, although there is no wrong in my hands, then may the

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God of our fathers see and rebuke you. Then the spirit clothed Amasai, chief of the 30.

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And he said, we are yours, O David, and with you, O son of Jesse, peace, peace to you and peace to your helpers, for your

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God helps you. Then David received them and made them officers of his troops. Some of the men of Manasseh deserted to David when he came with the

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Philistines for the battle against Saul, yet he did not help them for the rulers of the Philistines took counsel and sent him away saying at peril to our heads, he will desert to his master,

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Saul. We read about that story in first Samuel. As he went to Ziklag, these men of Manasseh deserted to him that we have some names mentioned there.

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Verse 21. They helped David against the band of raiders, for they were almighty men of valor and were commanders in the army.

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From day to day, men came to David to help him until there was a great army, like an army of God.

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These are the numbers of the divisions of the armed troops who came to David in Hebron to turn the kingdom of Saul over to him, according to the word of the

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Lord. Then we have several numbers that are mentioned there. One of the descriptors that we have is in verse 32, of Issachar, men who had understanding of the times to know what

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Israel ought to do, 200 chiefs and all their kinsmen under their command.

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So you had these men of Issachar who were very discerning, understood the times and the peoples and exactly how they should respond to the events that were going on in the world around them.

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That's a very keen skill and you might recognize some great biblical teachers today who have that kind of wisdom.

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Verse 38, all these men of war arrayed in battle order came to Hebron with a whole heart to make

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David king over all Israel. Likewise, all the rest of Israel were of a single mind to make

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David king. And they were there with David for three days, eating and drinking, for their brothers had made preparation for them.

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And also their relatives from as far as Issachar and Zebulun and Naphtali came bringing food on donkeys and on camels and on mules and on oxen, abundant provisions of flour, cakes of figs, clusters of raisins and wine and oil, oxen and sheep, for there was joy in Israel.

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Now we read about the ark here in chapter 13, David consulted with the commanders of thousands and of hundreds with every leader.

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And David said to all the assembly of Israel, if it seems good to you and from the Lord our

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God, let us send abroad to our brothers who remain in all the lands of Israel, as well as to the priests and the

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Levites in the cities that have pasture lands, that they may be gathered to us. Then let us bring again the ark of our

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God to us, for we did not seek it in the days of Saul. All the assembly agreed to do so for the thing was right in the eyes of all of the people.

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And so here we have the story of Uzzah and the Ark and you might remember reading about this in Second Samuel. So David assembled all

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Israel from the Nile of Egypt to Lebo Hamath to bring the ark of God from Kiriath Jerim.

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And David and all Israel went up to Be 'ala, that is to Kiriath Jerim that belongs to Judah, to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the name of the

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Lord, who sits enthroned above the cherubim, the mercy seat there on the top of the ark. And they carried the ark of God on a new cart from the house of Abinadab.

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And Uzzah and Ahio were driving the cart. And David and all Israel were celebrating before God with all their might, with song and lyres and harps and tambourines and cymbals and trumpets.

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And that might seem amazing, but they were disobeying God because they were carrying the ark on a cart rather than on the poles as God commanded them to with the

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Levitical priests that were carrying the ark. So even though they're praising God with all their might, they're not worshiping

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God the way that he has instructed them to worship him. They're not following his command concerning the transportation of his ark on which

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God sits there on the mercy seat. So because they were not worshiping God properly, what ends up happening?

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Verse 9, When they came to the threshing floor of Chidon, Uzzah put out his hand to take hold of the ark, for the oxen stumbled.

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And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and he struck him down because he put out his hand to the ark, and he died there before God.

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And David was angry because the Lord had broken out against Uzzah. And that place is called

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Perez -Uzzah to this day. And David was afraid of God that day. And he said,

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How can I bring the ark of God home to me? So David did not take the ark home into the city of David, but took it aside to the house of Obed -Edom the

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Gittite. And the ark remained with the household of Obed -Edom in his house for three months. And the

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Lord blessed the household of Obed -Edom and all that he had. And Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David and cedar trees, also masons and carpenters to build a house for him.

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And David knew that the Lord had established him as king over Israel, and that his kingdom was highly exalted for the sake of his people

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Israel. And David took more wives in Jerusalem, and David fathered more sons and daughters.

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And then we have the mention of David's children that were born to him there in Jerusalem. Chapter 14, verse 8,

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When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over all Israel, all the Philistines went up to search for David.

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But David heard of it and went out against them. Now the Philistines had come and made a raid in the valley of Rephaim.

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And David inquired of God, Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will you give them into my hand? And the

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Lord said to him, Go up, and I will give them into your hand. And he went up to Baal -perazim, and David struck them down there, and he said,

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God has broken through my enemies by my hand like a bursting flood. Therefore the name of that place is called

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Baal -perazim. And they left their gods there, and David gave command, and they were burned.

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Now remember we had kings in Israel and in Judah that would not destroy the false idols.

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If you remember that from 2 Kings, we started getting wicked kings in Judah, and the difference between them and a righteous king would be that the wicked king did not honor the

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Lord his God with all of his heart, soul, mind, and strength. And whenever he would raise up false idols, the righteous king would come in after the wicked king, and sometimes the righteous king would destroy the idols and sometimes he wouldn't.

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Like in the case of Manasseh, Manasseh was a wicked king, but he repented, and he just removed the idols from Jerusalem but didn't have them destroyed.

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So then when his son comes along and he raises up those idols back up again in order to worship them because they were not burned and destroyed the way that they should have been.

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And so contrast that with David here, who when he conquered the Philistines burned all of their idols so that they could not be worshipped.

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And oftentimes the righteous king in 2 Kings will be described as one who walked in the footsteps of his father

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David, whereas the wicked king would be one who walked in the footsteps of his father Jeroboam, or in the footsteps of the wicked kings of Israel who all worshipped false gods.

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So continuing the rest of this chapter, the Philistines yet again made a raid in the valley. And when David again inquired of God, God said to him, you shall not go up after them.

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Go around and come against them opposite the balsam trees. And when you hear the sound of marching at the tops of the balsam trees, then go out to battle for God has gone out before you to strike down the army of the

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Philistines. And David did as God commanded him, and they struck down the Philistine army from Gibeon together.

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And the fame of David went out into all the lands. And the Lord brought the fear of him upon all the nations.

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Remember in the Noahic covenant in Genesis. So this is after the ark runs aground at Mount Ararat.

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And Noah and his family, the animals all disembark the ark. Noah builds an altar to the

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Lord in the covenant that God made with Noah. One of the things that he said was, I give all of the animals to you for food and the fear of you will be in them.

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So why is it that a great big giant deer will run away from you when you're out hunting?

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That animal is larger and more powerful than you are. Well, it's because God has put the fear of that animal into them.

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I remember when we moved to Kansas and we went with some friends out to a field to feed his cattle.

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This was our first feeding cattle experience. And my younger brother Jacob, who

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I think was like four years old at the time or something, went walking up to these cattle and they retreated from it.

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These great big giant animals and they're running away from this four year old boy. So this is what the

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Lord had promised to man in that Noahic covenant, that the fear of man would be in the animals.

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That's why a very large animal will still run away from you. And so this is the case with the

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Philistines. They're like animals. The fear of God is in them. The fear of God among all of the lands surrounding

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David, that that same fear that God has put in animals to run away from man, though that animal would be bigger and stronger is the same fear that was put in all these nations, though they might be bigger and stronger.

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And so the fame of David went out through all the land. So then chapter 15, and we'll end here.

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David built houses for himself in the city of David, and he prepared a place for the Ark of God and pitched a tent for it.

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Then David said that no one but the Levites may carry the Ark of God, for the Lord had chosen them to carry the

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Ark of the Lord and administer to him forever. So here David has learned his lesson.

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But we also see one of the other themes of First Chronicles coming into the story here, and that is the role that the

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Levites play, because as the construction of the temple is one of the focal points, the

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Levites are the ones that God has designated would conduct all of that worship that would happen there at the temple.

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So David is recognizing what God had assigned the Levites to do, the role that they had that was so important.

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And God is the one who designated the Levites to that role. Remember, we've been talking about this week in First Timothy chapter two, and we'll talk about it more next week, that God has reserved the role of pastor to be filled by a man and not by a woman, explicitly says that a woman cannot fill that role.

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This is God who is designated, who is to be filling these roles as he has appointed.

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And so this is the case even with worship in Israel. God is always the one who has said, this is how

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I am to be worshiped, and this is how these things are to be done. So this is the case with the role of the

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Levites in temple service. And David now learning that lesson after the death of Uzzah, when he had touched the ark.

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So then we have a list of the sons of Levi, and then we also have a list of singers starting at verse 16, those that would conduct worship in song in the temple, verse 25.

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So David and the elders of Israel and the commanders of thousands went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord from the house of Obed Edom with rejoicing.

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And because God helped the Levites who were carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord, they sacrificed seven bulls and seven rams.

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David was clothed with a robe of fine linen and also were all the Levites who were carrying the ark and the singers and Shania, the leader of the music of the singers.

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And David wore a linen ephod. So all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the

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Lord with shouting to the sound of the horn, trumpets and cymbals and made loud music on harps and lyres.

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And as the ark of the covenant of the Lord came to the city of David, Michal, the daughter of Saul, looked out of the window and saw

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King David dancing and celebrating, and she despised him in her heart. And she was struck with barrenness because of that, as we read about in second

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Samuel. But the chronicler doesn't go into talk about that. So then we have the ark of God placed in the tent in chapter 16, and we will have

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David's song of thanks in that chapter as well. And then get to the Lord's covenant with David in chapter 17.

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And that's where we will pick up next week. Let us pray. Our Lord God, we thank you for the promises that you have been faithful to keep.

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What great and precious promises they are. And what a wrath we deserve because of our sin and rebellion against you.

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But because you have made a covenant through your son, Jesus Christ, and have sealed that covenant by his shed blood on the cross for our sins and accepted that sacrifice with his resurrection from the grave.

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So we know that all who believe in Christ Jesus are sealed by the Holy Spirit for the day of redemption.

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And we rejoice in knowing that our sins are forgiven and we are fellow heirs with Christ in your eternal kingdom.

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So as the people of Israel, remember your faithfulness to your servant, David. So we remember your faithfulness to us through your son,

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Jesus Christ. And it fills us with great joy knowing that man and this world can do nothing to us for our salvation is secure in Christ.

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We pray that we would give you praise with our whole heart, doing so the way that you have said that you are to be worshiped.