2 Samuel 2:8-32

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2 Samuel 2:8-32

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You'll open us up with a word of prayer, Mike? Absolutely.
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Heavenly Father, we love you because you first loved us.
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We thank you that you've given us this first day that you've set apart for us to come together as your people to worship you in spirit and in truth.
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And we pray, Lord, that you would bless our time as we open your word and as Mike leads us, that you would give us clarity of thought, give him clarity of speech, and pray that we would receive what you've prepared for us and that you'd be glorified in all that's said and done.
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For it's in Christ we pray, amen.
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Amen.
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Come on.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Come on.
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Thank you.
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2nd Samuel.
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Hey, and I'm not going to read the whole chapter, but where we left off at verse 8, I'm going to read that through the end of the chapter.
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Chapter 2.
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2nd Samuel chapter 2.
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I'm going to read verses 8 through the end of the chapter.
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But Adner the son of Nir was the commander of Saul's army.
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He had taken Ishbosheth the son of Saul and brought him over to Mahanaim, and he made him king over Gilead, over the Asherites, over Jezreel, over Ephraim, over Benjamin, and even over all of Israel.
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Ishbosheth, Saul's son, was 40 years old when he became king over Israel, and he was king for two years.
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The house of Judah, however, followed David.
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The time that David was king over Hebron, over the house of Judah, was seven years and six months.
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It says, And now Adner the son of Nir, he went out to Mahanaim, to Gibeon, to the servants of Ishbosheth, the son of Saul, and Joab the son of Zeruah, the servants of David, went out, and they met him by the pool at Gibeon.
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And they sat down, one on the one side of the pool, and one on the other side of the pool.
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And then Adner said to Joab, Let the young men arise, and hold a contest before us.
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And Joab said, Let them arise.
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So they arose, and they went over by count twelve from Benjamin and Ishbosheth, the son of Saul, and twelve servants of David.
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Each one of them seized his opponent by the head, thrust his sword into his opponent's side, so that they fell down together to the ground.
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Therefore, the place was called Helkath Harazim, which is in Gibeon.
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That day the battle was very severe, and Adner and the men of Israel were beaten before the servants of David.
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Now the three sons of Zeruiah were there, Joab, Abishai, and Asahel.
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And Asahel was one as swift-footed as a gazelle, which is of the field.
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And Asahel pursued Adner, and he did not turn to the right or to the left from following Adner.
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And Adner looked behind him, and he said, Is that you, Asahel? And he answered, It is I.
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So Adner said to him, Turn to your right or to your left, take hold of one of those younger men for yourselves, and take for yourself his spoil.
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But Asahel was unwilling to listen and to turn aside from following him.
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And Adner repeated again to Asahel, Turn aside from following me.
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Why should I strike you to the ground? How then could I lift up my face to your brother Joab? However, he refused to turn aside.
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Therefore Adner struck him in the belly with the butt end of his spear, so that the spear came out of his back.
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He fell there, and he died on spot.
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It came about that all those who came to that place where Asahel had fallen died and stood still.
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But Joab, Abishai, pursued Adner.
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And when the sun was going down, they came to the hill of Amah, which is in front of Gaia, by the way of the wilderness of Gibeon.
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And the sons of Benjamin gathered together behind Adner, and becoming one band, and they stood on top of a certain hill.
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Then Adner called to Joab, and he said, Shall the sword devour forever? Do you not know that it would be bitter in the end? And how long will you refrain from telling the people to turn back from following their brothers? Joab says, As God lives, had you not spoken, surely then the...
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That's what I think too, little buddy.
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So Joab blew the horn, and as the people halted, they pursued Israel no longer, nor did they continue to fight anymore.
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Adner and his men then went through the Arabah all that night, and they crossed over Jordan, walked all morning till they came to Mahanaim.
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And then Joab returned from following Adner, and when he had gathered all the people together, nineteen of David's servants besides Asahel were missing.
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But the servants of David had struck down the Benjamin and Adner's men, so that three hundred and sixty men died.
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And they took up Asahel, they buried him in his father's tomb, which is in Bethlehem.
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Then Joab and his men went all night until the day dawned at Hebron.
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So, quickly remind me what happened last week.
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Not that I forgot, but...
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What happened last week? Where, though? Okay, good point.
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So we're seeing a political...
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He went to Hebron.
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Hey, right.
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He went to Hebron.
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What was the significance of Hebron, do we remember, from last week? City of the Patriarchs.
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City of the Patriarchs, that's a good way, actually, City of the Patriarchs, that's where Abraham was sent back, and the covenant was renewed, and all of that, and that is where all the patriarchs wound up dying.
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But what I want you to do, remember, based on today's, this was also, you better remember what a city of refuge was.
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I think...
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What's that? I was thinking city of refuge was where if somebody killed someone accidentally...
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Okay, that's right.
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And they would run to that place to avoid...
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Yes, and early on, there was three.
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When Moses was given the Mosaic legislation, there was three.
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But when they came into the land, Joshua was actually given six, and one of those was Hebron.
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So you need to remember that.
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It plays a very significant role in the next few weeks of what takes place.
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So we learned that David was crowned king in Judah.
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Then immediately we see in verse 8, what was his counterpart doing? He was crowning Ish-shepherd.
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He was making Ish-shepherd.
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What was the difference between what they did with David? Remember, there was two words I want you to remember last week.
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What did they do with David at Hebron? God made...
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Anointed.
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That was the word.
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Anointed.
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Anointed.
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Abner...
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Remember, I made the word and we were in the other room? He's Abner, the king maker.
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Abner is going to make kings, not anoint kings.
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And David is the last king to be anointed.
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And I believe that has to do with the promise and all of that, like me and Stephen talked last week.
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But Hebron winds up being a city of retribution.
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This is where God sends David to set up his throne for the next, it says, what, six and a half, seven years, seven, six and a half years, something like that.
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So that's where, yeah, seven years, six months.
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So this is where he's going to be.
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So as we look at verse 8, it says, Abner, the son of Nir, the commander of Saul's army, had taken Ish-shepherd, the son of Saul, and made him king over Mahanim.
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Mahanim is over here.
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Remember, David came.
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He sent a group of people to Jabesh Gilead to say, hey, man, your king's dead.
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He said, your king's dead.
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But God has anointed me, they have anointed me king over Judah.
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Basically, he was extending a branch.
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Remember, who were these people faithful to? Saul.
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Saul.
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Why? He saved their eyes.
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They had the right eyes.
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He did.
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Some 40 years earlier.
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So they had not forgotten.
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So he extends an olive branch to say, hey, look, I'm the king over Judah.
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Come with me.
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We don't know what their response was.
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But we do see what happens when he goes here.
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We see that Abner comes here and makes a division.
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He makes Ish-bosheth king.
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Ish-bosheth's name, I'm not going to write it up here, but Ish is Hebrew word for man.
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I'm going to go, well, Adam means man.
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Well, there's two.
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This means not mankind as in Adam, but this is Ish, meaning man, bosheth, shame.
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And it's interesting that this is his name he's given.
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And if you think it's in one of the, I think it's in 1 Chronicles chapter 11, 12, one of those, it's actually called, he's called El-Beal.
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And it's a derivative of, yeah, Veil.
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That's right, the Lord.
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What's that? Yeah, not Belial.
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It is a derivative of, Beal means just Lord.
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That's what it means.
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But in his case, he said a man of shame or a bashful man, which is interesting when you take his name, if he is bashful or he is considered shameful, he seems very timid, does he not? What do we see right here that happens? It says, Abner brought, he made, and if you flip over, and he became.
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So look what Abner did.
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I mean, he looks like Ish, but she has passive to this whole thing.
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Here it is, this man that's been the leader of Saul's army shows up, and he says, all right, lad, get your stuff.
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We're going to leave Gibeah because obviously the troops would have been heading that way.
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Remember, why did Meshuvah-Sheth fall when he was taken up by his nurse? Because they were worried about the Philistines coming.
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So he hops the safety of the river, and he sets him up as king here, and he makes him over Gilead.
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So where we see here, this is Gilead, and over the Asherites.
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Does anybody other translation say anything other than the Asherites? Anybody? I'm sorry? What chapter and verse? We're in chapter 2 of 2 Samuel, and it'll be in verse 9.
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Does anybody say anything other than Asherites? Anybody say Gersherites or Geserites? No? Well, in the Syriac Peshitta, which is a translation as well, and in the Targum, they both say something different than what we have here.
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One is spelled this way, and some believe that that was the Assyrians.
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I don't believe that's right, and I'll tell you why.
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But others, in the Peshitta, it gives Gesherites.
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This might be, okay? It might have, because what we, I got that one up in case it was easier for you to see.
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When he starts going, remember, the land was parceled out, right? He's named everybody.
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Well, up here would be the Asherites.
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They were one of the twelve tribes, right? But, if the intent was to pin David in, and he made an alliance with this guy, you see what Adner would have been.
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Hey, was Adner a politician or what? Okay, remember, he's a politician.
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Yeah, and we're going to see this play through again.
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Dude, Adner, you've got to remember, he had been leader of the army for 40 years.
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Let's just say he was 10 years younger than his cousin Saul.
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How old would this dude have been? 60.
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I do believe he's probably closer to Saul's age, in his 70's, because most guys probably didn't start things until their 30's.
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As you see the progression in the Bible, men really were established not to go to war, but in places of authority, 30.
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I mean, even look at David.
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When does he become king over Israel? He's 30 years old.
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When did Saul begin to reign, from what we understand? 30 years old.
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He reigned 40 in two years.
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We believe he died somewhere around 72 years old.
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So, if what Adner is doing, is he did, obviously, try to consolidate the ten tribes, but if he did make an alliance with this cat here, that would be to try to pin David in.
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Now, this will lead to something when we get into a couple more chapters, because then this guy actually sends his daughter to marry David.
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So, do you understand that he might see that his end is coming quickly, because of David's campaign, and he then extends an olive branch by giving David one of his daughters? I'm not going to get into it right yet.
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Pagan or non-pagan? Was he a pagan or non-pagan? Guess your rights.
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Well, if he was a king, that's a dead giveaway.
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Pagan.
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He gives his pagan daughter to David.
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David marries a pagan woman, and who rises up out of that pagan is someone who wants to try to usurp the authority of the king.
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It's interesting as we get further on into it.
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But then he does over Jezreel.
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What was Jezreel? Well, it was obviously all of this.
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Parts of Jezreel went to here, and then part of Manasseh was right here as well.
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So, Jezreel was the tribes of Manasseh, and then you have Ephraim, and over Benjamin, and then he just includes it all by saying, hey, over all of Israel.
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So, all the ten tribes, Abner has tried to consolidate against David.
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It says that he began to reign when he was 40 years old, and he was king for two years.
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Remember, that will be the pattern as kings.
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If you look through Kings and Chronicles, they give dates and times.
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And if you remember back in 1 Samuel, when it says that Saul was 30 years old when he became king, and he reigned for 40 years, it tries to let you, they keep that same pattern, so we do have an idea.
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Sometimes they're not as strict as we would like them to be, because they didn't keep records like ages that we do.
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But it gives us a good indication of when it was taking place.
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And David was king over Hebron and the house of Judah for seven years.
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It's interesting that we don't see any defectors leaving David to go run towards the larger army.
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What do we know about the army at this point? How big is it? Just roughly.
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600 men? David's army? Yeah, David's army.
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What do we know it is? They've got 40 years to build that joker.
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They also had that battle with the Philistines, so that could have been diminished somewhat.
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But we still know that it was still substantially larger.
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But yeah, I do agree.
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There was probably a great slaughter because it was a great defeat.
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And then we're going to see another where we're going to see with the fight here, you're going to see Saul's kingdom or his army begin to diminish too.
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Because it says it grows stronger.
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David grows stronger and Saul's house grows weaker.
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Well, how do you do that? Body counts.
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I mean, yeah, body counts.
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And we're going to see that as we get to the end.
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So, in verse 12 it says, Now Abner the son of Nir went out to Mahanaim to Gibeon with the servants of Ishbosheth, the son of Saul.
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And Joab the son of Zariah, the servants of David, they went out to meet them by the pool of Gibeon, and they sat down.
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Now, we don't know how long this has taken place, okay? We're not sure.
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But we know this.
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Abner has obviously sent delegates to try to, once again, the politician, Hey, let's see if we can't save face.
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Let's see if we can't work this out.
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And they go from here, hop over, and they go to Gibeon.
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And there's a pool there.
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We don't know exactly where that pool was, but obviously it was a place well known.
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And he said that they sat down there, and on one side of the pool and on the other side of the pool, the group sat.
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Abner said to Joab, Now, this is the first time we've actually seen Joab come.
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What do we know about Joab just from verse 13? He's the son of Zariah.
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Who was Zariah? Remember from 1 Samuel? Anybody? He was David's sister.
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Interesting that this is the only time we see them.
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This is in the scripture where it talks about the son of, and he gives the sister's name.
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And even when Asahel dies, that's the only time we even hear anything about the father, and they don't list his name.
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So from our understanding, is that Zariah was held in high esteem to David, because that's how she's listed.
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So these would have been David's nephews.
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So Joab, the son of Zariah, the Abner said to Joab, Now, let the young men arise and hold a contest.
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Actually, the Hebrew word there is to play.
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You go, come on.
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Did you say play? Did anybody say? Yeah, that's the Hebrew word, to play.
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Let's make a sport.
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It's like, Abner, come on, dude.
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This isn't playing.
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What he's asking them to do is, All right, I want you to send 12 of your men over here.
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This isn't Red Rover, Red Rover, send Asahel right over.
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Okay? This is, hey, we want you to send 12 of your men here, and we're going to send 12 of ours, and what we want them to do is, we want them to have gladiator.
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This is a battle.
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Now, for us, we go, that seems kind of weird.
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But once again, in ancient times, in order to save armies and save casualties, we see that.
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Even when David and Goliath, what was the reason for sending Goliath out there to fight one man? It was to save the army.
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And we know that those guys lied, because they said, hey, if your champion beats our champion, then we'll serve you.
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And what did they do? They took off running, and they had to fight.
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So, he says, so they arose and went by count.
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In verse 16, each one of them seized his opponent by the head and thrust his sword into the opponent's side until it fell down.
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Now, I don't think we should understand this as, okay, guys, walk up to each other and just stab each other.
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We should actually understand that what they actually did was fight.
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Okay? The numbers reflect that.
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There's no way they could have both been dying together at the same rate.
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You know, the numbers in the end of the chapter.
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Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
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So, we know that, well, the two, they fight.
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The dagger, rammer, the swords in those times were not how we would see them as the big Excaliburs in the medieval times.
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They were smaller, more rammer styles, more of a machete style.
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So, it would have been big enough where you could grab the guy by the back of his head, and you're wrestling, and he would stab.
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Did you all say fifth rib or something? Anybody say? Under the fifth rib.
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Fifth rib.
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Under the fifth rib is actually your liver.
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On your right side is your liver, and you would bleed out.
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I don't know if you all know about fighting, but even in fighting, you want to drop somebody, you punch them in the liver, give it about a second and a half, buddy, out.
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They're on the ground.
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That's why a liver shot in boxing and kicking and all that made you hit somebody in the liver.
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They're out like a light.
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It sends the body into shock.
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So, they stabbed them under the fifth rib.
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They fell down dead.
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And it says, therefore, that place was called Hilkah HaRazzim or I think it was Field of Daggers, Field of Swords, something like that we said last week.
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And that was in Gibeon.
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That battle that day was very severe.
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Adner and the men of Israel were beaten before the servants of Saul.
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Now, here it is.
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Now, the three sons of Zariah, Joab, Abishai, and Asahel.
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We know who Joab is.
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He's basically the leader.
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What do we know about Abishai? He's the one that said, let me do it one time.
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He said, I can hit him one time with this spear, and I'll go right through and pin him to the ground.
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Well, what do we know about Asahel? Yeah, we know that.
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But this is the first time we see his name.
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I don't know who was here for the conference, but any time I ever heard the name Asahel other than this time was Asahel Nettleton.
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I don't know if you all know who he was.
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He was in the Great Awakening, actually the Second Great Awakening, trying to fight against Finney's New Measures and all that.
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But that's the only time I've ever heard the two names.
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So it says, Asahel was swift as a foot as a gazelle, which is in the field.
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So Asahel pursued Abner.
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So this fight took place.
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They begin to flee.
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David's men and army begin to chase after these guys.
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Abner begins to run.
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Asahel, being the younger, based on the listing, being the younger, the baby brother, he's like, I'm going to catch this dude and make a trophy.
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Bad mistake.
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Don't mess with old folk.
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Okay? Don't mess with old folk.
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He says, Asahel pursued Abner, and he did not turn to the right nor to the left from following after Abner.
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Look, Asahel, he was zeroed in, and he was focused on, I'm going to catch this guy.
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In my mind when I'm reading that, you guys are running and jumping and hopping over rocks, and Abner's going, oh boy, this guy's catching me.
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My age has gotten the best of me.
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And Asahel's going, I'm going to kill that old guy.
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I'm going to kill that old guy, and I'm going to bring back his head, and David is going to be so proud of me.
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Was Asahel a brave man? Yeah.
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Fast man? All this comes to his own demise.
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All to his own.
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Because in verse 21, it's like Abner's like, put some armor on, and he doesn't even put armor on.
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Well, yeah, he says, Then Abner looked behind him, and he said, Is that you, Asahel? He answered, It is I.
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So imagine these guys are running.
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Hey, is that you? I mean, this isn't just regular, they've been chasing for a while.
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They've been fighting.
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Is that you, Asahel? Yep, and here I'm coming.
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And he says, So Abner said to him, Turn to your right or to your left and take hold of one of the younger men for yourself.
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What does Abner, by saying that, what is he saying about Asahel? He knows Asahel is going to kill whoever he gets a hold of.
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That's why he's saying, Turn to the right or turn to the left.
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Take one of these younger guys.
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Don't worry about this old dusty guy.
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Why don't you get one of those younger guys, kill them, and you go, Well, it doesn't say kill them.
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He says, Take for yourself his spoil.
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What did they do when they killed someone? Yes, ma'am.
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I thought you were fixing to say something.
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No, ma'am.
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Yeah, what did they do? They took their belt, their sword.
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They had money, their armor.
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Strip him clean.
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And he says, You get him.
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But Asahel was not willing to turn aside from following him.
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Once again, he should have listened to the old man's counsel.
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Abner then repeated it again to Asahel.
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He said, Turn aside from following me.
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Why should I strike you to the ground? And then how could I lift up my face to your brother Joab? So, Abner's saying, Look, man, you keep coming after me.
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The old man's going to bust you up.
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And it's not going to end well.
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And Abner at that point says, Look, I've got no other choice.
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This is not what I want to do.
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I'm giving you the opportunity one more time.
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Imagine, he's running up on him.
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I'm giving you one more time.
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Turn the other way.
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It's almost like your dad telling you, I already told you.
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I told you.
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Next time I tell you, there will be consequences.
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And it says here that he did not listen to him.
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However, he refused to turn to the one side or to the left.
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Therefore, Abner struck him in the belly with the butt end of the spear so that the spear came out of his back.
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Now, he goes, First, when I kill you, I'm going to have to look at your brother Joab.
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Once again, the politician's thinking in his mind, When I kill you, how am I going to look at your brother? I might need Joab.
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Right? Look, if this thing continues on, and there is some kind of resolution, and I've killed you, how am I going to look at your brother in the face and try to reconcile our differences when I've killed you? I mean, Abner is thinking of his own best interest, not the best interest of the army.
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He's thinking about it for himself.
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What type of political move am I going to have to do to try to fix this? But he didn't listen.
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So, under, let, um, I don't know if you know, I had a picture of a spear.
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Your head was like this.
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Balance here, no spear.
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And then back here.
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And then you had another small.
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That's how spears were made.
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So when we think of blunt end, don't think like the broomstick handle went through his gut.
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Okay? Because when we think of that, we think of the blunt end.
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Well, got to remember, this here was razor sharp.
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This end was just for speed and throwing purposes.
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But it was pointed.
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And it was usually a piece of metal.
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To counterbalance, only if you ever threw anything but a spear, if it's too heavy on the front end, it'll just nosedive.
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So about two-thirds of the way down, they put a counterbalance so that it would glide.
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And then the back, so that it would continue to sail.
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Have you ever seen somebody throw a javelin? Okay, when they throw a javelin, do you ever notice there's a weight, a counterweight at the end? And they're pointed at the end.
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That's the same way, so that it would glide.
27:09
So he's running.
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He says, hey dude, stop.
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So you've got the force of him this way, and Asahel's speed not being able to stop.
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Right through his gut.
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So this will be the first time we've seen Joab lose a man.
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Or lose a brother.
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That was bad tailgating, wasn't it? That's bad tailgating.
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He's just saw 12 of his men die.
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That was probably easier to swallow, knowing that they killed 12 other people.
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But now, he's going to have to come up on his brother, and his brother's going to be dead, and that's not going to sit well with him.
27:48
Do you blame him? Just from Joab's perspective.
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No.
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But, this took place under war rules.
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That's important.
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Killing is not murder.
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Killing, man.
28:18
What did Nathan B.
28:19
Forrest say? We can't even say his name anymore, can we? He's like a racist or something, you say it anymore.
28:23
Nathan B.
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Forrest, war is fighting, and fighting is killing.
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And that is exactly how Abner was.
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I mean, you're talking about a seasoned man.
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And it is interesting that he even looks with compassion, like, hey man, I don't want to do this, although it would be self-motivated or whatever.
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He didn't want to kill the young man.
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But he said, look, if he gets his hands on me, he's going to try to kill me.
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So he took it into his own hands, and he killed him.
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It says that, where am I at? He said, however, he refused to.
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He shoved it in his gut, basically, or under the fifth rib.
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He fell to the ground, he died.
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And it came about that all who came to that place where Asahel had fallen stood still.
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So here it is.
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Asahel was well known.
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Was he not? He is actually listed as one of David's valiant men.
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When we get into all that, there will be, I think, a total of 37.
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He is one of them.
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And he is listed as a man that could scrap a young man.
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All of them.
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But there is something about those three sons of Zeriah that even David says, hey, man, these guys are too fierce.
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These men, it will go on to say, it will say they're wicked.
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Yeah, they're wicked.
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They're more fierce.
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They're bloodthirsty.
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And they're not, they're wicked men, although they may be nationalist in that they're fighting for David's purpose, they were not on Yahweh's side.
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Okay? Now, what we do need to know here is at this point, Abner, by installing Ish-bosheth, fighting against David's men, is Abner against David or against God? Against God.
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Against God.
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Against God.
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He doesn't care about God.
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He doesn't care about what God has already said.
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And he knows that God has installed David to one day be king.
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He has the opportunity politically to consolidate all this at this point before all this bloodshed starts, before all these problems.
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But what happens? We're going to have basically a civil war for five, five and a half years that where Abner is out doing his own thing, trying to make his own way.
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And it says that Abner's strength grows stronger and stronger in the house of Saul, although Saul's house grows weaker and weaker.
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You see what's happening.
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He's got a hold of Ish-bosheth and using him as the Manchurian candidate.
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He's a puppet.
31:00
Yeah, he's a puppet.
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I mean, everything that's taken place has taken place passively upon Ish-bosheth.
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And he's just like, okay, I'm the last one alive, I guess.
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If he wants me to be king and he's going to keep me from losing my life, well, I guess.
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I mean, and we don't really hear any words other until the next, I think it's the next chapter where we actually hear any words of him.
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And it says in verse 24 that, But Joab and Abishai pursued Abner.
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This is what I think is somewhat humorous.
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And when the sun was going down, they came to the hill of Amal, which is the front of Gi and the way of the wilderness of Gibeon.
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And the sons of Benjamin gathered together behind Abner and became one band, and they stood at the top of a certain hill.
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Okay, so here it is.
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They've been fighting all day.
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Sun's starting to go down.
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Under those times, normally when the sun would go down, they would begin to simmer down the fight because they don't have daylight.
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And if you run through woods with torches, it's easy to get shot by archers or spears.
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So what do they start to do as it begins to get dark? Hey, we'll fight tomorrow, okay? Now, here's what Abner says in verse 26.
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Abner called to Joab and he said, Shall the sword devour forever? Do you not know that it would be bitter in the end? Well, no kidding.
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No kidding.
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This isn't going to end well.
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They're killing their own brethren.
32:39
I mean, civil war is never good.
32:42
Civil war never ends good.
32:44
I mean, think about just our own civil war, the war of northern aggression.
32:50
Yeah, I mean, just look what happened.
32:52
You had brothers killing brothers, and both of them, hey, even theologically and doctrinally were aligned, but because of a civil war, hey, man, they were fighting for their own political power, own political struggle.
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Hey, and remember that Abner and David, hey, each one of them was a representative of their people, and each one of them, actually their identities of the people were found within these two men.
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You understand that? You understand that? Yeah.
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Why? They're heathen.
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It wasn't Ish-bosheth they really found their identity in, because this is the man really ruling, and the people understand that David is ruling, and he's been ruling righteously from what we do know from the time that he came into anointed king, even right before he was anointed king.
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What did we say he did last week when Mike talked? What is the first thing he did? He was giving everybody a thing.
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What's the first thing he did when the dude came running and thought he brought him good news? He made a great miscalculation.
34:12
He ran his clothes.
34:13
He ran his clothes, and he said, hey, I'll have to enact justice on you, because you have touched the Lord's anointed, so we know that David's going to be a just.
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Is this man just? No, he's doing whatever he wants.
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He's self-centered, and actually he's very vindictive, but these people find their identities within those, and although God's kingdom has now started to reign through David, and that is how we should look at Hebrews.
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God's man is now reigning, but God's man is not reigning how God intended it based on what He gave Him when He was anointed king as a boy.
34:51
Who was supposed to have these ten along with this tribe? And obviously the Levites would be scattered among them.
34:59
I can't imagine David not going, man, I wonder what God's going to do to get all this together.
35:08
David doesn't want to kill his countrymen.
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I don't think Joab has any problem killing his countrymen as long as it keeps Joab in place.
35:17
What time is it? Abner, I'm sorry.
35:20
What time is it? I forgot to bring my little...
35:23
Okay.
35:24
Let's try to get to the end here so we don't spend another week in here.
35:29
Yeah, Abner knew back whenever Saul was chasing after David that God had anointed...
35:36
Sure he did.
35:37
And here it is, this man has now tried to kill David.
35:41
How many...
35:41
We'll just say 15 years he chased David trying to kill him.
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Roughly.
35:47
12, 15, however you want to see that.
35:49
And now this guy, if David's got to go, I don't think he's going to stop.
35:54
This isn't going to end well.
35:57
Abner and his men went through the Erebah all that night.
36:00
I'm sorry, let me back up.
36:01
So he says, Hey, as God lives, if you had not spoken...
36:07
Because he says, Hey, why are we going to do this? We need to stop this so that we quit killing our brothers.
36:11
Well, who started? What does Joab say? Well, who started this whole thing? Dude, had you not opened your big mouth and said, Hey, let's have this fight between the 12 and the 12.
36:21
Had you not opened your fat mouth, Abner, we would not be going through this.
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But now that you're getting whipped, you're wanting me to stop so that this end doesn't become bitter.
36:34
I just think it's funny because he says, Here, Joab says, As God lives...
36:39
This is the Mike Calgar translation.
36:41
Had you not opened your fat mouth, surely the people would not have done this.
36:45
But no, they've been doing this and they would have continued.
36:48
Joab's men would have continued to pursue them until the morning.
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They were dead set up.
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Especially, imagine as they came up and saw Asahel laying there.
36:57
I mean, what would that do? I don't know about you, but if I saw my brother dead and I know there's a dude up there that killed him, man, although you'd be tired, you'd have that extra burst of energy to go, I've got to get that dude's head.
37:07
So, as they continue on, it says, Joab then blew the trumpet.
37:12
What was the reason for blowing the trumpet? To either start war or stop.
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And Joab blew the trumpet and the people halted and they pursued no longer.
37:22
Nor did they continue to fight anymore.
37:24
Abner and his men then went through the Arabah, all night Arabah.
37:28
Did you all say Nagiv or something? Anybody say anything different than Arabah? It's just the desert.
37:32
The plain.
37:32
The plain.
37:33
Okay, they crossed the plain through the night so that they crossed over the Jordan.
37:38
So, remember, they're going to find safety over here.
37:41
Crossed over the Jordan, back in Mahanaim.
37:44
And then Joab returned from following Abner and when they had gathered all the people together, 19 of David's men and servants besides Asahel were missing, but the servants of David had struck down Benjamin and Abner's men so there were 360 men died.
37:59
So, here it is.
38:01
Body counts.
38:02
How do you win wars? They kill more than they kill each other.
38:06
That's it.
38:07
That's what it all winds up being.
38:08
Who kills the most winds up winning.
38:11
So, now they're starting to do the cleanup and say, alright, well, how did we manage? And it says that David's men struck down 360 of their own countrymen.
38:25
Men, okay? Men that under Saul probably had no falling out with one another.
38:33
But now, we don't ever see Saul's men actually engage with David's men, do we? Because David was constantly moving to avoid that.
38:45
Now, this is unavoidable because David's king and Abner is threatened.
38:52
And then they took up Asahel and they buried him in his father's tomb which was in Bethlehem.
38:58
Why was his father's tomb in Bethlehem? Anybody know? That's David's home.
39:06
Remember, that would have been David's dad's brother.
39:12
So, there it is.
39:13
That would have been Zarias.
39:15
The whole clan would have been there.
39:18
I mean, I'm sorry, that would have been his cousin.
39:21
So, they all lived in Bethlehem and they bring him out.
39:25
And once again, they never say the dude's name.
39:28
It's just interesting.
39:29
Of all the time that someone dies, they never give the man the father's name.
39:34
Remember, most of the time, a person's known by the identity of their father.
39:38
In these cases, it's by the mother.
39:41
And Joab and his men went all night until the day, until they dawned at Hebron.
39:46
So, they had fought all night.
39:48
They left, obviously, from here.
39:52
They fought all night and they traveled all night to get back to Hebron.
39:55
I do wonder, when they got down there, what was said to David? You know, and we don't know.
40:01
It's all speculation, so you don't want to go too far.
40:04
But, you know, what was David grieving? Man, I just killed 360 of my countrymen over a foolish face-off between a 12-on-12 fight that should have been resolved before then.
40:22
But because Abner is unwilling to let David do what God has already called him to do, we see once again, Abner is opposed to David and by being opposed to David, he's opposed to God.
40:37
He's opposed to God.
40:38
And he knows it.
40:39
Like Mike just said, when David took the spear and he took the jug, he said, look, dude, you should be put to death, Abner.
40:47
Your job is to guard the king.
40:49
And then once Saul heard that it was David that was speaking, he said, oh, man, you've been more righteous than I.
40:57
Would a man let his enemy escape from his hand? What was Saul saying when he said, would a man let his enemy escape from David's hand? Did David see Saul as his enemy? That's why he didn't kill him.
41:12
Because he was the Lord's anointed.
41:13
You're not my enemy.
41:15
Was David Saul's enemy? Yes, but the feeling was not mutual.
41:21
So was Abner the enemy of David at that point? Oh, yeah.
41:27
Yeah.
41:27
And we're going to see it continues on until Abner figures out, hey, I think I have an opportunity to make another political jockey to make my position and to maybe ease some things over with the rest of the country.
41:42
Yeah, and that's what he does.
41:43
He does.
41:44
And he thinks he's doing it, but David kind of backdoors him with, hey, man, where's my foreskin bald wife at? Yeah, yeah, yeah, poor fellow.
41:55
So next week, we need to wrap it up.
41:57
Next week we will pick up in chapter 3.
42:02
And I don't know if we'll get through chapter 3, but that will be my intent.
42:09
So let's close in a word of prayer, and we'll get ready to hear the Word preached.
42:14
Bert, you'll pray for us? Father, we do thank You again.
42:20
It's a privilege to be blessed by Your Word, taught, and being able to learn.
42:33
We just do that ourselves.
42:35
Worship You today in Jesus' name.
42:37
Amen.
42:37
Amen.