WWUTT 399 David and Goliath Again?

David’s Praise and the Homestretch of 2 Samuel

David gives praise to the Lord and says that he has dealt bountifully with me because of my righteousness, but ultimately David recognizes that his righteousness comes from God when we understand the text.

This is When We.

Understand the Text, a daily Bible commentary to help encourage your time in the Word. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we feature New Testament Study, an Old Testament book, on Thursday, and our Q &A on Friday.

Now here's your teacher, Pastor.

Gabe. Thank you, Becky, and greetings everyone. We are in the homestretch of our study of 2 Samuel. We've actually finished the chronology of the narrative of 1 and 2 Samuel. We finished that last week when we got to the end of chapter 20.

What we're reading now in verses, or I'm sorry, chapters 21 through 24, is kind of an epilogue. It's a bookend at the conclusion of the events that we've read about concerning Saul's reign and then David's reign, and this is ultimately going to lead up to David purchasing the land on which Solomon, his son, is going to build the temple of God there at Mount Moriah.

That's what happens in chapter 24. So these things are kind of presented in a circle. We've got a famine at the start of chapter 21, we've got a plague in chapter 24, and in between are some more of the songs of David in his heroics.

This is a nondescript period of time, because as we start here in chapter 21, now there was a famine in the days of David, so this is not immediately following the events that we concluded at the end of chapter 20.

It probably happens in the middle of the story somewhere, we just don't know when. But again, ultimately the climactic thing that we're building up to is the purchase of the land where the temple of God will be built.

So we'll probably just get as far as chapter 22 today. Let's start at the beginning of chapter 21. Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year, and David sought the face of the Lord.

And the Lord said, there is blood guilt on Saul and on his house, because he put the Gibeonites to death. So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites were not of the people of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites.

Although the people of Israel had sworn to spare them, Saul had sought to strike them down in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah. And we read about the Gibeonites in Joshua chapter 9. If you remember that story, I don't guess we went through Joshua.

No, I started in Judges, doing the Old Testament study on the broadcast. Well, in my Old Testament study that I do in my home, we went through Joshua. And it's in Joshua chapter 9 where we are introduced to the Gibeonites.

There are people that kind of disguise themselves as someone else, or they claim to be someone else, or from a different area. And so they fool the Israelites into making a treaty with them that they will not be harmed.

And so anyway, that's who they are. And so God included them among the blessed region of Israel. And as Israel prospered, so the Gibeonites did as well. But Saul raised his hand against them, again as it mentions here, in his zeal for Israel and Judah.

And because of that, God said there is a famine in the land because of the blood guilt of Saul. We don't read about that story. We don't read about it anywhere else but right here. But it's been clearly stated that Saul could be a pretty ruthless man, as we read about him in 1 Samuel.

So anyway, there's this instance between him and the Gibeonites, and the Gibeonites want to be avenged. And so that's what proceeds to be talked about here. Verse 3,. And David said to the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you?

And how shall I make atonement that you may bless the heritage of the Lord? And the Gibeonites said to him, It is not a matter of silver or gold between us and Saul or his house, neither is it for us to put any man to death in Israel.

And David said, What do you say that I shall do for you? And they said to the king, The man who consumed us and planned to destroy us, so that we should have no place in all the territory of Israel, let seven of his sons be given to us, so that we may hang them before the Lord at Gibeah of Saul, and I'm sorry, Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of the Lord.

And the king said, I will give them. But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Saul's son Jonathan, because of the oath of the Lord that was between them, between David and Jonathan, the son of Saul.

The king took the two sons of Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul. Armani and Mephibosheth, and the five sons of Merib, the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel, the son of Barzillai, the Mahalathite.

And he gave them into the hands of the Gibeonites. And they hanged them on the mountain before the Lord. And the seven of them perished together. They were put to death in the first days of harvest, at the beginning of barley harvest.

Now this actually goes against the command that's given in Deuteronomy 24 16, that nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. So they are disobeying the law of God and reacting in this way.

Plus it's overkill. And so it doesn't say that God approved of this form of execution here. Verse 10. Then Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until rain fell upon them from the heavens.

And she did not allow the birds of the air to come upon them day by day, or the beasts of the field by night. When David was told what Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done, David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan from the men of Jebesh-gilead, who had stolen them from the public square of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hanged them on the day the Philistines killed Saul on Gilboa.

And he brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan. And they gathered the bones of those who were hanged. And they buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the land of Benjamin in Zala, in the tomb of Kish, his father.

And they did all that the king commanded. And after that God responded to the plea for the land. And apparently God put rain upon the land, or he sent rain upon the land, after David had dealt so humanely with the bones of Saul and Jonathan and with those who were hanged, so respectfully in that way.

That was what it was that God had honored, not that these men were hung in response to what it was that Saul had done to the Gibeonites. Verse 15, there was war between the Philistines and Israel. And David went down together with his servants, and they fought against the Philistines.

And David grew weary. And Ishbi-banob, one of the descendants of the giants, whose spear weighed three hundred shekels of bronze, and who was armed with a new sword, thought to kill David. But Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, came to his aid and attacked the Philistine and killed him.

Then David's men swore to him, You shall no longer go out with us to battle, lest you quench the lamp of Israel. After this there was again war with the Philistines at Gob. Then Sebuchai, the Hushethite, struck down Sapph, who was one of the descendants of the giants.

And there was again war with the Philistines at Gob. And Elhanan, the son of Zeruiah, the Bethlehemite, struck down Goliath, the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver's beam. And there was again war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature, who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in number.

And he also was descended from the giants. And when he taunted Israel, Jonathan, the son of Shimei, David's brother, struck him down. These four were descended from the giants in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.".

Another Battle With Goliath and the Problem of Translation

Now this story is pretty controversial here because it makes it look like there's a contradiction between what we're reading about in 2 Samuel 21 and what we read in 1 Samuel 17 with David's conflict with Goliath.

However, here's the possibility. In 1 Chronicles 20, verse 5, there is a parallel passage that goes with the events that we're reading about here in 2 Samuel 21. And in that passage, it says that Lame, the brother of Goliath, but here it only says Goliath.

So it's possible that that statement, as it appears in 1 Chronicles 20, was deleted from this account in 2 Samuel 21. And that's a very distinct possibility because we talked about early on, I think in the introduction of 1 Samuel, how complicated it has been to translate some of the events in 1 and 2 Samuel.

It's some of the most controversial translations of the original language, which is why there are so many differences between what you would probably read in the ESV and the NASB or the King James or anything else.

There are some places where the translators have just assumed what was trying to be said there, and so oftentimes between translation statements will be controversial because of how odd it is to try to translate 1 and 2 Samuel.

And I'm not a translator. I don't understand Hebrew or the Greek Septuagint, and so I couldn't tell you what it is that has posed so many complications about translating 1 and 2 Samuel. Nonetheless, it has been complicated to translate these two books, and in those complications we end up with certain discrepancies like this.

The difference between this story as it's accounted for here in 2 Samuel 21 and the way that it's presented in 1 Chronicles chapter 20. But there should be no reason for us to think that there is a contradiction.

It is just a problem in the translation of the text. Another possibility is that the passages refer to two different men named Goliath, because as it so happens, after an excavation at Gath, which was only a few years ago, one of the things that they uncovered in that excavation is that Goliath is actually a very common Philistine name.

They found tombs that had the names Goliath contained within those tombs, but yet none of those people that were in those tombs were great big giants with holes in their forehead where David had slung a stone.

So it's a common Philistine name, not too uncommon that another man named Goliath would have been encountered here. But anyway, there's no problem with saying that both David and Elhanan killed a man or a warrior named Goliath or a giant named Goliath.

David’s Song of Deliverance

Let's go on to chapter 22, and David spoke to the Lord the words of this song on the day when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all of his enemies and from the hand of Saul. He said, The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge, my Savior, you save me from violence.

I call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies. For the waves of death encompass me, the torrents of destruction assailed me, the cords of Sheol, the grave entangled me, the snares of death confronted me.

In my distress I called upon the Lord, to my God I called. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry came to his ears. Then the earth reeled and rocked, the foundations of the heavens trembled, and quaked because he was angry.

Smoke went up from his nostrils and devouring fire from his mouth, glowing coals flamed forth from him. He bowed the heavens and came down. Thick darkness was under his feet. He rode on a cherub and flew, he was seen on the wings of the wind.

He made darkness around him his canopy, thick clouds a gathering of water. Out of the brightness before him coals of fire flamed forth. The Lord thundered from heaven and the Most High uttered his voice, and he sent out arrows and scattered them, lightning and routed them.

Then the channels of the sea were seen, the foundations of the world were laid bare, at the rebuke of the Lord, at the blast of the breath of his nostrils. He sent from on high, he took me, he drew me out of many waters.

He rescued me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me. They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my support. He brought me out into a broad place, he rescued me, because he delighted in me.

The Lord dealt with me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands, he rewarded me. For I have kept the ways of the Lord, and have not wickedly departed from my God. For all his rules were before me, and from his statutes I did not turn aside.

I was blameless before him, and I kept myself from guilt. And the Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to my cleanness in his sight. With the merciful you show yourself merciful, with the blameless man you show yourself blameless, with the purified you deal purely, and with the crooked you make yourself seem torturous.

You save a humble people, but your eyes are on the haughty to bring them down, for you are my lamp, O Lord, and my God lightens my darkness. For by you I can run against a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall.

This God, his way is perfect. The word of the Lord proves true, he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him. For who is God but the Lord, and who is a rock except our God? This God is my strong refuge, and has made my way blameless.

He made my feet like the feet of a deer, and set me secure on the heights. He trains my hands for war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You have given me the shield of your salvation, and your gentleness made me great.

You gave a wide place for my steps under me, and my feet did not slip. I pursued my enemies and destroyed them. I did not turn back until they were consumed. I consumed them, I thrust them through so that they did not rise, they fell under my feet.

For you equipped me with strength for the battle. You made those who rise against me sink under me. You made my enemies turn their backs to me, those who hated me, and I destroyed them. They looked, but there was none to save.

They cried to the Lord, but he did not answer them. I beat them fine as the dust of the earth. I crushed them and stamped them down like the mire of the streets. You delivered me from strife with my people.

You kept me as the head of the nations. People whom I had not known served me. Foreigners came cringing to me. As soon as they heard of me, they obeyed me. Foreigners lost heart and came trembling out of their fortresses.

The Lord lives, and blessed be my rock, and exalted be my God, the rock of my salvation. The God who gave me vengeance and brought down peoples under me, who brought me out from my enemies. You exalted me above those who rose against me.

You delivered me from men of violence. For this I will praise you, O Lord among the nations, and sing praises to your name. Great salvation he brings to his king, and shows steadfast love to his anointed, to David, and to his offspring forever.".

David’s Righteousness Comes from God

So more of the triumphant songs of David here, even in this epilogue. And you notice here that David talks about how because he was righteous, the Lord came to him. The Lord dealt with me according to my righteousness.

According to the cleanness of my hands, he rewarded me. But this is not because David had done something great, and so then the Lord rewarded him based on his own merit, or his own ability to keep the commands of God and follow his statutes.

For then you get to the next section, starting in verse 32, where it says, for who is God but the Lord, and who is a rock except our God? This God is my strong refuge, and has made my way blameless. He made my feet like the feet of a deer, and set me secure on the heights.

So David pays homage to the Lord and gives him praise, because the righteousness that David has, that the Lord has shown him favor because of, ultimately David knows. And he understands that this righteousness has been given to him by God.

It's because God has done something great for David, not because David did something great for God, and thus God owed David somehow, because David did a certain thing. No, David totally shows recognition to the Lord as being the one who has made my way blameless.

And so when we give praise to God, he deserves all the glory, we get none of it. Now that does not mean that you don't have a responsibility to hear the word of God and respond to it, and obey it. We absolutely should do that, but ultimately when we read the scriptures and understand the theology, we are only able to keep God's word in a way that is pleasing to God, because God has made us able to, with his Holy Spirit.

As God said through his prophet Ezekiel, I will sprinkle clean water on you, and I will place my spirit upon you, and cause you to walk in my statutes. Great is his name forever and ever. Amen.

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