2 Samuel 21:1-14

Well, good evening.

Let's start with reading our passage.

If you'd open your Bibles, if you're looking in the Pew Bible, it's on page 273.

We were looking at 2 Samuel, chapter 21, the first part of that chapter.

2 Samuel 21 · chapter mention

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 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?

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 he said, what do you say that I shall do for you?

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, 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 Ai,

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 Mehalothite.

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 Bar the harvest.

Then Rizpah, the daughter of Ai,

took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock,

from the beginning of the harvest,

until rain fell upon them from the heavens,

and she did not allow the birds of the air to come upon them by day,

or the beasts of the field by night.

When David was told what Rizpah, the daughter of Ai,

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 Jabeth Gilead,

who had stolen them from the public square of Bethshon,

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 and Zila,

in the tomb of Kish, his father.

And they did all that,

and they did all that the king commanded.

And after that,

God responded to the plea for the land.

Well, that's quite a passage.

In our morning services,

we've been preaching through the book of 1 Corinthians,

and Pastor Matt this morning opened his sermons

basically by saying,

we didn't plan this,

but in God's providence,

here we come to a passage in 1 Corinthians 7

that's all about sex on Valentine's Day.

Well, we didn't plan this,

but here in God's providence,

we've been preaching through the book of Samuel

for a long time in this service,

and we get to a passage that's all about

the St. Valentine's Day massacre.

I am thrilled that this congregation

has been going through Samuel

because it's one of my favorite books,

a book that I have learned an awful lot from.

I was not involved in the conversations

when the pastors and elders chose what to preach,

but I can pretty easily imagine how it went,

knowing everyone involved.

I think Greg was probably the one who said,

we've never preached through Samuel in our church.

Why don't we do that?

And the other pastor was like,

that's a great idea.

I bet we have a lot to learn.

And they were like,

who wants to preach on David and Goliath?

Oh, I do, I do.

And who wants to preach on God's covenant with David

when he tells about Jesus coming?

I do, I do, I do.

And who wants to preach on when Nathan confronts David

and tells him to stop sinning?

Oh, I'll take that.

And who wants to preach on the Gibeonite massacre?

Crickets.

And they were like, hmm,

who's a real chump we could ask to preach on that for us?

Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Rob Dunlop,

and this is my sermon on the Gibeonite massacre.

Now, in the book of Samuel,

and I'm going to keep calling the book of Samuel

because 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel

are really all just one story.

It happens to be that it was a long enough story

that they ran out of paper in the first scroll,

and so they had to use two scrolls,

and that's where you get 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel from.

But it's really just one long story.

In the book of Samuel,

the whole thing has been a chronological account

of what happened in the days

of the life of David and Saul, particularly,

up until the passage

that Greg preached on last week.

And now these last few chapters of Samuel

don't fit into that chronological history.

And so,

that clearly just kind of marks them off somehow.

When my small group went through the book of Samuel

about three years ago,

I got here and I listened to a bunch of passages

that I really respect,

and almost all of them said,

yeah, so, like,

they couldn't figure out what to do with these passages,

so they kind of tacked them on at the end.

And you should think of this as an appendix.

Or, so, this also happened.

That would be a pretty good way of characterizing

the passage we've just read.

But as I was looking at it,

I noticed that,

and this wasn't all my thinking,

I'm not going to take credit,

but the book of Samuel

has three major passages of songs.

One song comes right in the beginning

when Hannah gives thanks

for the birth of her son Samuel

and writes a song of thanks to God.

One song comes right in the middle.

After Saul dies,

David laments over the death of Saul

and his son Jonathan,

which gets alluded to in our passage.

And the third song,

section of songs,

comes, as you'll see in chapter,

I think, 22 and 23,

when David writes a psalm

and the last words of David

are also a song.

And so that struck me as,

well, that seems pretty integral

to the structure of the book,

to have these three songs

so carefully laid out,

this last one coming after,

in the section that everyone else is saying

is just an appendix.

Then I noticed that the appendix,

and I noticed because I read it in the commentary,

is very carefully structured.

You have our story this week,

David cleans up a mess

because of a mistake that Saul made.

Then you have a story about David's mighty men.

And then you have a son.

And then you have a son.

And then you have a story about David's mighty men.

And then you have a story about how David

cleans up a mess

from a mistake that he made.

And so that parallelism

makes me think that this section

is not just a bunch of,

oh, and this happened too,

and I forgot about it.

But it's actually well-crafted

and an integral part of the book.

So I'm thinking,

what's going on here?

As I was teaching through this

in my small group three years ago,

I said, well,

why don't I go on the hypothesis

that this isn't an appendix,

but it's a proper conclusion to this book?

And by that,

I mean that

you've read through the book

up to this point,

and you've still got real questions

about what does this all mean?

And now the author

is going to take

well-chosen passages,

not because they happened

at the end of David's life,

but because they were the best passages

to make his point,

and answer the biggest questions

that we ought to have as readers,

having gotten to this point.

And what I discovered

is that these six stories,

so before I actually studied

the six stories,

I laid out and said,

what are my biggest questions?

And I discovered

that these six stories

answered them very methodically.

So that became one of the triggers

whereby this story

helped me understand

what the whole book of Samuel is about.

And in fact,

it was one of the biggest

helps for me as a Christian

that I've found in many years.

So I am preaching this passage

not because I want to

bail out our poor pastors

from having to deal

with something really icky,

but because in fact

this is one of my favorite passages,

not because I'm any more comfortable

with what goes on in the story,

but because God used it

to teach me some really important lessons.

I'm hoping that over the course

of the sermon,

I can share some of those lessons

with you and help you

make sense of it.

So, by far,

if you're this far into Samuel,

the biggest question you have

is what really was

the difference between David and Saul?

Very clearly,

God was against Saul

and very clearly,

David was a man

after God's own heart.

But,

why?

What's the real difference

between them?

What's good about David

or bad about Saul

or I don't get it?

That's the question I had.

Before we can even get to

answering that question,

which is the question

I think this passage

is written to help us sort through,

there's a question of

why do I even care

about David and Saul?

So let's start with that one.

And that one,

because I think

much of the book of Samuel

is written

to help us understand

what the difference is

between David and Saul,

you have to ask,

well, why was Samuel written?

Well,

the book of Samuel

was written as a sequel

to the book of Judges.

So it kind of pushes you

back one step.

You have to say,

well, why was Judges written?

Well, the book of Judges

was written as a sequel

to the book of Joshua.

Okay, so why was Joshua written?

It was a sequel

to the book of Deuteronomy.

And before you know it,

in the beginning,

God created the heavens

and the earth.

I think that's the only place

we're going to be able

to start.

You go right back

to creation,

and the piece

out of the creation story

that I want to pick up on

is when he creates

Adam and Eve.

He says,

let us make man

in our image

and let him rule

over the birds of the air

and the beasts of the field

and the fish of the sea

and the things that creep

and crawl along the ground.

What you get from that

is

God made us in his image,

and I understand that to be

God wanted us

to uniquely share

something in common

with him

so that we could have

a relationship with him.

And

the focus of that relationship

was to be on

ruling over creation.

In other words,

God was saying,

I love

watching my

creation flourish.

And I want to share

that joy with someone.

So I'm going to make

mankind

who are able

to rule

over this world

so that they know

something of the joy

of what it is

to see

something under your care

flourish.

And that when God

wants to have

a relationship with us,

that is the primary focus

of what the relationship

should be made of,

is that shared experience

of ruling

and watching creation

flourish.

lest you think

that's just

Genesis 1 idea,

and then God

realized that wasn't

going to work so well

and gave up on it.

Back to our

morning series,

in 1 Corinthians 6,

Paul tells us

that in heaven,

you and I,

if you are a believer

in Jesus,

will be judging

the angels.

So both Old Testament

and New Testament

talk about

ruling

as being a core part

of our eternal destiny.

So,

that's

the starting thought,

is God made us

to relate to him

in,

particularly,

in his character

as a king.

Then you get

most of the Old Testament

up until the book

of Samuel,

and much of what

that is about

is God trying to

teach us

what he is like

and what it would

look like

for us,

as humans,

to live lives

that reflect

his character.

And so that's

particularly what

Deuteronomy is about,

is I basically see

Moses is writing

the first four books

of the Bible

in order to set up

Deuteronomy,

and he gets to

Deuteronomy,

he's like,

okay,

now here's the covenant

that God wants to make

with you.

This is what it looks

like to live

as God's people.

And you get to

the end of Deuteronomy,

and Moses sums it up

pretty tightly.

He's like,

you've heard all the

laws that God wants

you to obey.

You've heard

the root issue

is not,

are you obeying

these laws,

but is your heart

loving the Lord?

And are you obeying

them out of that

motivation?

If you keep

this covenant,

God is going to

bless you beyond

anything you can

imagine.

And it's just

like,

whether you're

inside or

outside,

whether you're

eating or

exercising,

whatever you do,

God's going to

bless you there.

And it just goes

on and on for

about 10 or

20 verses about

how much God

will bless us

if we keep

his covenant.

And then he says,

and if you

disobey this covenant

and break it,

God will curse you.

And that goes on

for a lot longer.

And God says,

so if you

obey him,

he'll bless you

beyond what you

can imagine.

If you disobey him,

he'll curse you

beyond what you

can imagine.

So that's the

book of Deuteronomy.

And as I said,

Joshua is a sequel

to that.

And the point of

Joshua is essentially

the generation that

followed Moses

chose to obey.

And God really did

bless them beyond

anything you can

imagine.

And there are crazy

stories in Joshua.

Like,

hey God,

this is a pretty

good day.

Can you make it

last a little

longer?

And God's like,

what do you want

me to do?

Stop the sun in

the sky?

And they're like,

that'd be a good

idea.

And God's like,

no problem.

That's the sort of

like God blesses

them beyond anything

you can imagine

sort of relationship

they had.

And the end of

Joshua is exhaustive

in showing all

the different ways

that God was

faithful to keep

every promise he

made to them

and bless them

beyond what they

could imagine.

That's a nice

sequel.

Then you get to

Judges.

The book of

Judges is,

put simply,

the people

didn't continue

to keep God's

covenant.

And life got

really bad.

Not so much

because you see

God's curses

in Judges,

but you just see

the depravity of

the human heart

working itself out.

And the people

of Israel just get

worse and worse

and worse.

And the book

of Judges

opens by saying,

there's a little

bit of problem.

They don't have a

leader like Joshua

anymore.

And you get past

chapter one

and the book of

Judges is like,

no, we got a real

problem.

There's not a leader

like Joshua anymore.

And by the time

you get to the end

of Judges,

the refrain that you

hear four times

over is,

they didn't have

a good leader.

And the end

of Judges

is really,

really bad.

And you have

to have that in

mind because that's

where Samuel's

going to pick up

from.

The end of Judges

is essentially

there's a concubine

who gets gain-raped

by an entire city.

They appeal to

justice to the

surrounding towns.

The towns come to

the defense of the

rapists.

So then they

appeal to justice

to the entire

nation.

It starts a civil

war.

The civil war gets

a little out of

hand.

They decide to

pursue a program

of genocide to

kill off that

tribe.

Then they decide

the genocide might

have been a step

too far.

So they're worried

that the tribe

of Benjamin,

which was about

to die out,

there won't be

any woman left

to bear children.

So they decide

to solve that

problem by raping

another 400 women.

You read that

sort of story,

you're like,

these people

deserve to be

cursed.

This is sick

and bad.

And so if you're

coming from the

Deuteronomy picture

of if you obey me

I will bless you,

if you disobey me

I will turn on you,

you expect the

sequel to Judges

to be the story

about how God

curses his people.

You expect this

to be the story

of God's punishment.

punishment.

And you will not

understand the book

of Samuel unless

you start with

the shock of

God's being patient

with these people.

Why is he being so

patient?

Why is God

withholding the

punishment that we

so clearly deserve?

serve?

You can't get very

far into

Samuel without

realizing that

something about

kingship is at

the heart of that

answer.

And as best as I've

been able to guess

at it, God's

thinking right back

to why did I

create these people

in the first place?

And he's thinking,

oh yeah, it's

because I really

wanted them to

share that experience

of what it means

to be good kings,

good rulers.

And here I have,

because these people

prove themselves

so faithless,

so wicked,

I have a unique

opportunity to show

them what my

kingship looks like.

you will never

understand God's

patience more

clearly when you

see it in response

to your stubbornness.

You'll never

understand his

mercy more

clearly than when

you see it in

response to your

depravity.

You'll never

understand God's

faithfulness more

clearly than when

you see it in

response to your

faithlessness.

I think God

looked at the

people and said,

these are stubborn,

depraved, and

faithless people.

What a wonderful

opportunity for me

to show them what

a good king is,

who responds in

patience, in

faithfulness, and in

grace and mercy.

So the book of

Samuel opens with

God is the great

king.

king.

And that was, if you

go back to, if you

remember back in 1

1 Samuel 5 · chapter mention

Samuel chapter 5,

there's a story about

how the Israelites

went into battle

against the

Philistines, and

they brought the

ark with them

because they

thought it was a

good luck charm, and

it didn't work out

the way they

expected.

They lost the

battle, the

Philistines stole

the ark.

This is where you

start to see God

is the great king.

Totally independent

of what the people

are doing, they

are clearly somewhere

between wicked and

clueless.

The ark goes into

the land of the

Philistines.

And what are the

problems of Israel

at this point?

You have the obvious

problems that people

are just messed up.

But you have the

surface level problems

of they're slave to

the Philistines,

they're dishonored,

their borders aren't

secure, they're

living in fear.

As the Philistines

take the ark around

to each town,

something terrible

happens.

We're not quite sure,

but it sure seems

like a bubonic plague

came on the

Philistines, something

of that nature.

And essentially, God

single-handedly wipes

out the Philistine

army.

The idols of the

Philistines keep

falling down and

worshipping the ark,

so he reestablishes

the honor of the

Israelite religion.

More than that, he

reestablishes the

honor of the

Israelites, because

the Philistines are

reacting and saying,

if these Israelites

can deal with this

God, they're a whole

different sort of

people than we are.

And they say, we

need to treat the

Israelites with

reverence, if they're

able to have a

relationship with a

God like this, because

this God is too much

for us.

And then they send

the ark back with

a, I'm sorry, no,

and please forgive us

and we'll never do

that again to you,

type offering.

And so God secures

the borders of the

land.

So you see God as

King doing all the

things you expect a

king to do.

All on his own,

he's restoring the

dignity of his

people, he's

restoring the

security of his

people.

And he's helping

the people understand

what it means to

actually worship the

true God.

So, that would be a

nice lesson if it

stopped there.

But the real problem

again is that we as

a people are just so

messed up that we

look at a God like

that and our reaction

is not, I want that

sort of king.

Our reaction is,

get me away from

him.

And that's exactly

what the people of

Israel did.

They said to

Samuel, we want a

human king, not a

God king.

We want a king that

we can see and touch

and maybe manipulate

or bribe.

They didn't actually

say that, but it

becomes pretty clear

that's where they're

headed.

And so you see the

real problem in the

human heart there.

And God, Samuel gets

upset by this.

He's like, why are

they rejecting God?

And God says, let's

give them a king

anyway.

I'll give them Saul.

So, now you have

the stories of Saul,

the bad king, and

David, the good king.

And your first theory

is, it's very early

on that you get told

that David's going to

be a king after God's

own heart.

And so most of the

life of Saul, and all

the life of David

basically, you're

working with this idea

that Saul's a rejected

king, David is an

accepted king, and

you're wondering why.

Your first theory is,

well, Saul's probably

just a bad king, and

David's a good king.

And there's some

evidence for that.

That's not a crazy

theory to have.

Saul is a bad king.

He slaughters all the

priests in the town of

Nob.

In our passage here, he

massacred the

Gibeonites.

He, in his dealings

with David, was

consistently paranoid.

He turned to

sorcery.

He's a complete

hypocrite when he

does that, because

he's the one who had

wiped out sorcery.

He is constantly

bitter about the

fact that God has

rejected him.

He deflects blame all

over the place.

And most of all, he's

just ruthless in his

lust for power.

Over the course of

the book of Samuel,

Saul attempts to

murder David no

less than 16 times.

That's a pretty bad

king.

David, as a good

king, there's some

good story for that

too.

David shows remarkable

courage.

He seems to have

absolutely no fear of

death whatsoever.

He's successful.

He seems like it's a

one man against an

army.

He's no problem for

David.

David.

David listens to the

prophets.

He listens to the

priests in his life.

He's turning to God

the way he ought to.

On the side, over the

course of Samuel, he

pretty much writes the

book of Psalms.

You've got to give him

some credit for that.

most notably, especially

in 1 Samuel, David just

refuses to seize power.

And you see something

remarkable about David's

lack of selfish ambition.

God tells David, you're

going to be king someday,

and David's like, all

right, I'll just wait.

I'm not going to seize

power, overthrow Saul,

kill him, depose him,

any of that.

If God wants me to

be king, I will wait

until God makes me

king.

And so, particularly in

contrast to Saul's

lust for power, you see

a real difference between

David and Saul there.

So, you could get to the

end of 1 Samuel and

think, that's basically

it.

David's a good king,

Saul's a bad king.

But, as you all know

well, 2 Samuel doesn't

play into that story

all that well.

Even before David

becomes king, he starts

doing things that are a

little bit off.

He deceives the priest

at Nob and makes him

take a risk beyond what

they probably would have

taken on their own, such

that they do end up

getting killed by Saul.

He pretends to be insane

when he's among the

Philistines.

It doesn't exactly look

like the picture of

courage.

But then, most notably,

we have Bathsheba

and the adultery.

Uriah, the murder.

Then you have his

daughter Tamar gets

raped.

David doesn't do

anything.

His son Amnon gets

murdered.

David doesn't seem to

care.

His son Absalom

seizes the throne,

starts a civil war,

tries to overthrow

the nation.

And David just

doesn't seem to

be troubled by how

this is ruining the

people God has put

him in charge of.

And so by the time

you get here,

you're looking at

David and thinking,

this is not nearly

the good king that I

thought he was.

This is a king who

seems like content to

let the entire nation

suffer, if only for his

wicked son Absalom,

to survive or be

honored.

It doesn't make sense.

And in fact,

as you get through the

book of Samuel,

particularly as you go

into Cain's, which

you guessed it, is a

sequel to Samuel,

you start getting hints

that Saul wasn't such a

bad king in other ways.

Saul actually instituted

a major religious reform,

getting rid of

sorcery in Israel.

Saul was the first king.

It's a lot of work to

set up a government.

You have to set up a

police department, you

have to set up a court

system, you have to set

up jails, you have to

set up an army, you have

to set up a tax

collection agency, you

have to do this and

that, and it seems like

Saul pretty much did all

that stuff and did it

effectively.

And so the state of

Israel has the hands of

Saul, the pretty talented

civil servant, all over it.

So this idea that David's

just bad and Saul's just

good doesn't quite fit as

like that's the big lesson

from Samuel.

So then I think most

people come up with a

second lesson, a second

theory about what this is

all about.

Theory number two is David

repents of his sin and

Saul never repents.

And there's some good

evidence for that.

There are at least three,

maybe four times in his

life when David is very

directly rebuked for what he

did or what he's about to

do.

Abigail rebukes him when he's

about to murder Abigail's

husband.

Nathan rebukes him after he

does murder Uriah.

Joab, as we saw I think

last week, rebukes David

when, or two weeks ago,

three weeks ago, when David

refuses to welcome home the

troops who had saved him from

Absalom's rebellion.

And in every time that David

was rebuked, he does repent.

That last repentance was a

little iffy, not the best,

but there is repentance there.

So there's something to this

idea that unlike Saul, who

really never repents, David

does respond in repentance.

when convicted of his sin.

So that's a nice theory.

But then you go back to the

rape of Tamar, the murder of

Amnon.

Those are big sins, not that

David committed them, but that

David was totally indifferent to

them and didn't punish the

people that did commit them.

That's a real problem for a

king, to just tolerate rape,

tolerate murder.

And David never repents of

those that we can see.

And so if this is the big idea

of the book of Samuel, it

doesn't quite fit either.

So then a third possible theory.

There's a story of when David was

bringing the ark into Jerusalem

because he wanted to have God

as close to him as possible.

And in the procession where they

were bringing the ark up to

Jerusalem, David danced in front

of it and it seems like he

showed a little bit too much

skin and the servant girls were

going, hee, hee, hee, hee.

And David's wife, Michal, who was

Saul's daughter, rebukes him for it

and says, David, that's not the way

king behaves.

And David responds to her and is

shockingly direct, this is why I am

king and your father is not king,

nor is any son of your father king.

Because I don't try to please people.

I only care about what God thinks of

me.

So if you were to ask David, what's

the real difference between you and

Saul?

That's what David says.

He says, Saul was a people pleaser.

I live to please the Lord.

And I would say, when David's at his

best, that's clearly true.

But David's not always at his best.

And you have all this material in

2 Samuel about Absalom's rebellion and

the rape of Tamar and the murder of

Ammon and so on and so forth, saying

David's not always just trying to

please the Lord.

Sometimes he's just trying to please

himself.

Sometimes he just seems lazy.

So, we get to 2 Samuel 21, or at

least I got here, with 3 half-baked

theories about what this whole book

is trying to teach me about David

versus Saul.

And I want to know the question of

why is David different than Saul?

Because I believe that in one real

sense, God put history on hold to

teach me this lesson so that I would

know what it means when he says, I

want you to have a relationship with

me.

I made you to be a ruler.

I want you to know what it means to

be a ruler.

Look at David.

Look at Saul.

David's a man after my own heart.

Saul is not.

Figure out that difference and you

will be able to have a relationship

with me that's the sort of relationship

I created you to have.

So, I'm interested in knowing this.

I've given three tries of figuring it

out.

None of them quite worked.

And now I get to our passage in 2 Samuel

21, the Gibeonite massacre.

So, let me just retell you the story

quickly to make sure you understand

everything that's going on here.

The Gibeonites are not Israelites.

They are one of the Canaanite people

that God had originally told Joshua to

drive out of the land.

The Gibeonites were more clever than

the rest of the Canaanites and

tricked Joshua into making a treaty

with them that he would not drive

them out of the land and let them

live there.

Saul, while he was king, said,

Treaty Shmidi, I'm more powerful than

you now.

I'm going to take your land back.

And tried to kill them off.

Seems to have killed off many of them,

not all of them.

Years later, after David becomes king,

the Gibeonites pray to God

and say, we need justice because of

this massacre that happened.

And so God sends a famine on the land.

And David prays to God and says,

why did this famine come?

And God reveals to him, it's because

the Gibeonites never got justice.

That much we can all handle.

Now we get to the part that's really

awkward.

David goes to the Gibeonites and says,

what do I have to do to make things

right?

They say, kill seven of Saul's sons.

David's like, okay, I'll do that.

But I'm not going to kill any of

Jonathan's sons because I made a

treaty with Jonathan.

So he kills seven other descendants of

Saul.

The Gibeonites accept it.

God accepts it.

Well, not quite yet.

Then you have this story about Saul's

concubine feels disrespected because

her family was just killed.

And so David says, I'll make you right

too by having the proper state funeral

that Saul should have gotten.

So he has a state funeral for Saul and

Jonathan.

And then God says, okay,

everyone's good.

It sure seems like the seven people

that get killed here didn't get

justice.

I think any modern reader looks at

this story and it's just, that jumps

out.

I don't have great explanations here.

I have some explanations.

I'll share with you the way I think

about this.

Maybe it'll be enough for you.

Maybe you'll want to talk to me after.

That's fine.

The first thing I would note is

the very end of our passage,

verse 14, God says, we've settled

this.

So as much as we might be like,

this doesn't seem right to me,

if you believe that God is just,

then you have to take his ruling for what it is.

God says somehow this made things right.

Second thing I would note,

in the setup of the kingdom of that time,

it is highly implausible that sons and

grandsons of Saul would not have been

high-ranking officials in his administration,

and therefore at some level complicit in

various things that Saul did wrong,

and there were many things that Saul did wrong.

So it is not at all implausible that these

seven people actually did deserve to die.

So that moved me from,

I see people, innocent people getting killed,

to I just don't see due process of the law being followed.

Where is the trial by jury,

and all those things that we have come to associate with,

this is what it takes for laws to be applied impartially.

At that point I have to say,

yep, when I'm studying literature

from a culture that lived on the other side of the world

3,000 years ago,

there are probably going to be some questions that I ask

that weren't burning questions for the author,

and some questions that the author asked

that aren't burning questions for me.

So, while I'm troubled by the lack of due process here,

that's just not something this author

seemed to be concerned about.

That doesn't mean it was right or wrong,

that's just what you're dealing with

when you're trying to deal with

3,000 years and half a world away.

So I come to this saying,

my questions about how due process

do trouble me, they're not answered here,

can I set that aside

and learn the lessons that do seem to concern the author

to make sure I at least get that from this text.

So that's how I'm approaching it.

I'm saying, yeah,

I don't see the due process,

that seems like a big deal to me.

That's not the thing that was on the author of Samuel's mind,

let's try and learn the lessons

that were on that author's mind.

The thing that strikes me

about what David does here

is,

in the contrast I see,

Saul basically says,

I have power,

I'm responsible for advancing Israel's interests,

I have an opportunity to do that

by using my power,

I'm going to do that.

I have power,

I've got a big army,

I have interests,

I want more land,

I have an opportunity,

the Gibeonites are weak,

so I'm going to kill them off

and take their land.

That is a very human way

of dealing with power.

That's why we say

the power corrupts.

Contrast that to what David is doing here.

David says,

I have people,

they're in a family

that they don't deserve,

I have Gibeonites,

they suffered an injustice

they didn't deserve,

I have a covenant with Jonathan,

I owe him things,

I have Saul,

who never got the funeral

that his office said

he should have deserved,

nor did Jonathan get the funeral

that he really did deserve.

How can I use the power

that God has given me

in a way

that does right

by each of those different people?

And it seems,

as I read this passage,

like the narrator's

fairly impressed

that David found a way

to answer the Gibeonites' concerns

without violating his covenant

with Jonathan,

that God accepted

as good enough

to restore

rain to the land,

and

he was able to

honor the family of Saul

such that

it wasn't like

people saw the family

as cursed,

but recognized

that this is all about Saul

and his administration

as opposed to the

broader community

that Saul came from.

And so I look at this

as a story about David

using the power

God gave him

to creatively

be faithful

to everybody

around him.

And that is a lesson

that makes sense

of pretty much

the whole of Samuel.

You go back,

just take 2 Samuel

real quickly,

this idea of

faithfulness

is very much

the major lesson

that explains

almost every passage,

particularly in 2 Samuel.

David wants to be faithful

to God.

He's troubled by the fact

that he has a palace

and God has a tent.

And so he's like,

what does it look like

for me to be faithful

in this situation?

I want to build

God a temple.

God says,

nice try,

I like camping,

but because you have

your heart

in the right spot,

I'm going to make

a covenant with you.

You will have

a dynasty

that endures forever.

David wanted

to be faithful

to Jonathan.

So he said,

let's find out

if there's anyone

left of the descendant

of Jonathan.

He finds Mephibosheth.

He says,

Mephibosheth,

I'm going to give you

all the wealth

that Saul accumulated

as king.

That basically

made Mephibosheth

a real threat

to David's own power.

But he did it

so he could be

faithful to Jonathan.

Then you have

the sad,

and then David,

well,

there are other stories

where David

showed the same

sort of faithfulness

in the battlefield.

Then when David

has problems,

it's always because

he's faithless.

David is faithless

in breaking

his marital vows

and taking Bathsheba.

He's particularly

faithless

in the way

he treats

Uriah,

who's a real

picture of faithfulness

in saying,

I don't want

to abandon

my men on the field.

I'm not going

to do anything

that would dishonor them.

He's faithless

when he puts

his own family

ahead of the rest

of the people

as seen through

the stories of Tamar

and Abnon

and Absalom.

And so you basically

see that David

at his best

has a remarkable

grasp of what

it means to be

faithful to God

and faithful to

other people.

That's why he

doesn't seize power.

Because he's

thinking in terms

of not how

can I advance

my interests,

but

what is consistent

with honoring

all the people

around me

that God has

put in my life.

So I see

that as the

big lesson here.

That if the

theme of Samuel

can be summed up

as power corrupts,

and the question

is,

how can any

king avoid

being corrupted

by that power?

Samuel is pointing

us towards

it's this idea

of being faithful

that's going

to be king.

what does that

mean for me

today?

Why did I say

that this was

a really helpful

lesson for me

to learn?

Essentially,

the way I'm

taking this

is faithfulness

here means

look at the

people around

you,

find a creative

way to honor

each of their

dignities.

faithfulness.

That's what

faithfulness means.

Go through

life saying,

God put this

person in my

path,

what does it

look like for

me to honor

their dignity?

And sometimes

that's going to

take a fair

bit of

creativity

to deal

with every

situation that

way.

That's what I

see David doing

in this passage,

that's what I

think the real

lesson of Samuel

is here.

So,

after I

studied Samuel,

I largely

stopped praying

in terms of,

God, I'm in

this tough spot,

please show me

the right answer

so I don't have

to deal with it.

And many more

of my prayers

became,

God,

please give me

the creativity

to learn how

to honor all

the people around

me in this

situation.

I saw the

goal was not

how do I

solve this

problem and

get out of

the situation,

but how do I

make the tough

decisions that

God makes all

the time as

Cain?

And through

that,

relate to him

in this.

Think deeply

about, here are

all the people

you've put

around me.

What do

each of them

deserve?

What does

each of their

dignities require?

How can I

honor that?

So that

left,

changed me

from thinking

in terms of

solving problems

to I need

to relate to

God in the

position of

making tough

decisions.

things.

The much

bigger way

though, of

course, is

that Samuel is

still just trying

to teach us what

it means for

God to be the

great king.

God to

God to

love.

And I

look at this

question of

how do you

find a creative

way to show

faithfulness to

all the people

around you?

And I want to

emphasize this

last bit about

David throwing

the state

funeral for

Saul.

Saul was

David's enemy.

As I said

before, Saul

tried to kill

David 16

times in this

book.

I don't

have enemies

like that,

thank God.

This is a

story that

teaches us

something about

how you deal

with your

enemies.

And the

Bible is all

about the

question of

how do you

deal with

your enemy?

Because the

essential issue

of the Bible

is that we

are God's

enemies,

and this is

how he's

chosen to

deal with

us.

And he

found the

most creative

way possible

to solve

that problem.

Just like

David doesn't

deal with

Saul according

to the

dignity Saul

actually

deserved as

a vile

tyrant and

attempted

murderer,

an actual

murderer,

but dealt

with Saul

according to

the dignity

he ought to

have had

as a great

king of

Israel.

God's

chosen to

deal with

us not

according to

the dignity

we really

deserve as

depraved

people that

hate his

kingship and

turn from

him,

but according

to the dignity

we could

have if we

were the

people he

made us to

be and

could be

if he

changed our

hearts.

And so

God

creatively

said,

I will die

in your

place,

and thereby

allow myself

to make you

the people you

ought to be.

do you

understand what

I'm saying?

When God

chose to

send Jesus

to die on

the cross

in your

place,

he was

applying an

incredible

amount of

creativity,

how can

a mortal

God become

flesh and

die,

to solve a

problem,

not about

upholding the

dignity you

actually have,

but the

dignity you

could have

as his

child.

And so I

look at this

passage and

see that's

where I

see God's

kingship.

That's what

David and

Saul are

revealing to

me,

is this is

what it

looks like

to actually

be a

great king.

And most

clearly,

then I

understand

what's going

on at

the cross.

I'm not a

professional

preacher,

I'm just

going to

stop there.

So,

let me

pray.

and then

we'll have

our

closing

song.

God,

I ask

that each

person in

this room

would find

their heart

filled with

a desire

love.

I ask you

to have

the sort of

relationship

with you

that you want us to have.

Lord,

in the many trials

you've chosen to put

in our path,

they would respond,

we would respond,

not by shying away

from them or

asking you to take

us out,

but by asking

you

to give us

the purity

of heart

that recognizes

what it looks like

to be faithful

to you

and faithful

to everyone

around us.

so that in

growing

to be

a person

of those

values,

we would

more and more

appreciate

how glorious

you are

in your

kingship

every day.

We

more and more

understand

the miracle

of the cross

and we

would

become

closer and

closer to you

through that.

We thank you

that you are

such a great king.

We thank you

that you

demonstrate

that to us

through the

absurd solution

to our

problems

of you

yourself

dying.

We thank you

for choosing

to live

by

the values

of grace

and mercy

that motivated

you to

desire to do

that for us.

We pray

that you

would make us

likewise

a people

who treasure

those

attributes

and so

are more

and more