During David's Flight From Jerusalem: David Part 2

Feel free to clap or stand or dance or whatever

you want to do with this exercise. That sounds

very corporate. All right, so a couple things

of kind of housekeeping while those are going

around. Obviously, we've been doing worksheets

and following the characters. In the days in

which David had been ousted from Jerusalem. So

David, who was God's man on the throne in Jerusalem,

had lost his kingship really to Absalom and had

to flee across the Brook Kidron and then into

what would be considered Ephraim. And then that

later precipitated a great war between those

two areas in a horrible forest called the Ephraimic

Forest. And it claimed many, many lives. We've

looked at a bunch of interesting characters.

We did not cover them all So if you want to go

through and read all through there, you're welcome

to I do believe we'll be on David a little bit

next week and then we're gonna after that we're

gonna be mopping up So this is the plan today.

We're gonna do most of David. It's gonna be this

whole sheet That's a lot of information and then

next week. We're gonna kind of review So you've

got your worksheets you've been saving in your

book, great. If you don't have your worksheets

in your notebook, then next week you're going

to get a lot of good review over the things that

we went over for the last three months. Yes,

sir? That's all right. That's the way it goes

sometimes. Okay, so we'll be doing that next

week. It is online and always on the podcast,

so you can watch it online or listen to the podcast

later. What's that? I will make sure you get

it. I will text it to you. Anybody else needs

the podcast address? I will text it to you if

you want me to. Or you can actually text the

word podcast, P -O -D -C -A -S -T, podcast, to

419 -419 -0095. Yes. Yep. Yep. Yep. We'll get

all that for you. Yep. We'll get all that for

you. Right, Trina? We'll make sure she has it.

Okay. Yep. I'll get your Bible before you leave

today. All right, sounds good. All right. First

impressions are everything, I suppose. Okay,

well, anyway, so here we go. So we are looking

at the second affidavit. That's why if you see

the word VID there, we put DA on the sheet last

week, and so we have VID this week. We're talking

about David. And for a location, like an address

in the Bible, we're really looking at starting

in 2 Samuel 20. We've been building up to this

period of time throughout, and we've even been

past this. when we looked at the later life of

individuals who we already looked at before,

okay? So in 2 Samuel chapter 20, we have another

2 Samuel 20 · chapter mention

problem. Now this is hot on the heels of Absalom's

revolt, okay? So they've just gotten over, they're

just kind of pulling things back together. David

hasn't even made all the decisions arising out

of that yet, and that's how far we got last week.

And it says then in 2 Samuel 20, verse 1, it

2 Samuel 20:1

says, Now a worthless fellow happened to be there

whose name was Sheba. Not the same Sheba that

we studied before. This is another guy. Sheba,

the son of Betri, a Benjamite. And he blew the

trumpet and said, We have no portion in David,

nor do we have inheritance in the son of Jesse.

Every man to his tents, O Israel. So all the

men of Israel withdrew from following David and

followed Sheba, the son of Betri. But the men

of Judah, remains steadfast to their king from

the Jordan even to Jerusalem. All right, and

so we're going to break that down a little bit,

and then we're going to use a few verses before

it to see a contrast. The first part there, 2

2 Samuel 20:1

Samuel 20, verse 1, to the right -hand side,

there is an attempt, the blanks are an attempt

to divide, what? To divide the kingdom. There

is an attempt to divide the kingdom. Does anybody

know why an attempt to divide the kingdom is

such a big deal? Why does that seem like a big

deal? Yeah. So they're weaker alone, right? So

as soon as you have Judah and Benjamin and ten

other tribes of two different groups, that weakens

them substantially, right? And so God's people

are not supposed to be divided. They're supposed

to be united. In fact, without getting off on

this topic at all, I want to say to you that...

One of the things Proverbs says God hates is

a person who sows dissension, a person who causes

division between God's people. It's a pretty

big deal. So God does not want to see this succeed.

David obviously doesn't want to see this succeed

because then it's going to have the divided kingdom.

After this, after Solomon, a little while later,

the kingdom will divide. And from that point

on, it'll never be fully God's people ever again

in all history. So they'll never get back to

where they're supposed to be ever. Once they

do divide. So this is an attempt to divide the

kingdom. It's interesting because in 2 Samuel

19, which would be right before this, right?

2 Samuel 19, verses 40 to 43. That's the next

2 Samuel 19:40–43

reference there. You can put that in. The people

that are now kind of revolting against David.

It says, now the king went to Gilgal and Shemham.

went on with him, and all the people of Judah,

also half the people of Israel, accompanied the

king. And behold, all the men of Israel came

to the king. So who is that? When it says the

men of Israel, it's talking about the ten tribes,

right? So all those guys, they come to the king.

Verse 40, 2 Samuel 19, 40 -43 is the next reference.

And then we're reading verse 40. And then 41

says, And behold, all the men of Israel came

to the king, and said to the king, why had our

brothers, the men of Judah, stolen you away and

brought the king and his household and all David's

men with him over the Jordan? In other words,

why weren't you there? Then all the men of Judah

answered the men of Israel, because the king

is a close relative to us. In other words, we

protected him because he is close, David is close

to us. Why then are you angry about this matter?

Have we eaten at all at the king's expense or

has anything been taken for us? In other words,

they're saying, even though, We're family to

David. We're not getting any special blessings.

We're not getting any special benefits. But the

men of Israel answered the men of Judah and said,

We have ten parts in the king. Therefore, we

have also claim on David. We have more claim

on David than you. There we go. Why then did

you treat us with contempt? Was it not our advice

first to bring back our king? Yet the words of

the men of Judah were harsher than the words

of the men of Israel. So basically, what's happening

between the guys of the ten tribes and the guys

of the two? What are they doing? So it's an argument.

So it says they argued. And what do the guys

in Israel, our ten tribes, say? What's their

argument? Yeah. The ten of us and two of you.

We have more claim on the king than you do. That's

the argument. And so in the blanks goes, they

argued, they had more claim. But now, what we

read to start with, 2 Samuel 20, verse 2, what

2 Samuel 20:2

happened? This is just very shortly later when

this guy raises up and he says that we have no

part with them. What happens? Yep. The ten tribes

abandoned David. They jumped ship. They ran away.

They left. And now there's going to be basically

a civil war. Now, we know this civil war. We're

not going to get deeply into it because we know

the name of a very important guy. And his name's

on your paper. Does anybody remember anything

about him? Amasa? No? Yeah, well, Amasa and Joab,

pretty big deal. What about Amasa? We actually

looked at him. What did David tell Amasa to do?

Should I give you a hint? Okay, so now he would

be in charge of the entire army. And now there's

a rebellion. Go ahead, tell me if you got it.

Nope. Go ahead, Haley, what do you got? Tell

me. Yep, he said go gather all the army and bring

it back. Gather all the army of Judah and bring

it back within three days. That's what he told

him to do. So the next blanks are go gather the

army of Judah. Very good, Haley. first treat

of the night. Okay. All right. So he said, he

told Amasa, go gather all the army. But what

happened? What was the result of that on the

next line? Amasa was late and was killed by Joab.

So he was late. He didn't make it back in the

three days. In fact, he never made it back because

then he runs into Joab on the road and Joab grabs

him by the beard, give him a kiss, runs him through

with a sword, kills him. So he was late and then

killed by Joab. Then what happens? We know this

story because we followed Amasa and Joab through

this time. So what happens in the next blanks?

There's the T -A -P -S. Yep, the army pursued

Sheba. Right, that's the guy, Sheba of Betri.

He's the one trying to raise up the revolt. He's

the one saying that the ten tribes should stand

against David. So the army pursued Sheba. Now,

we don't need a lot about him because we're studying

David, not Sheba. But the next line tells you

what happened to him. It says FF, which stands

for fast forward. Does anybody remember what

happened to him? S -H -I -I -S. I gave you the

word is. Anybody remember? Delivered. Yep. It

was also decapitated, that's true, but yes. So

she threw his head over the wall. Remember there

was that whole scene where Joab comes up and

he's going to destroy the city, the name of which

I wrote on your paper, Abel Beth Makah. And he

was going to destroy that city. And they said,

why would you destroy us? Don't destroy us. We

are God's people, right? We're part of the nation

of Israel. We don't deserve to be destroyed.

And he says, well, you're harboring Sheba, Abitri

the rebel. And she says, we'll throw you his

head over the wall. And they kill him and they

throw his head over the wall. And then he lets

the city go. Joab lets the city go. And that

result, when he comes back, David puts him in

charge of the whole army. So Joab becomes the

general over the whole army again because he

caught the rebel and he didn't have to destroy

the city to do it. All right? So now we're back

following David. So what we have so far is a

rebellion by Sheba of Betri that comes right

hot on the heels of that rebellion by Absalom.

It came right away, right after that. And we

see the result of that. Amasa was supposed to

get the army. Failed. Joab killed him. There's

that nasty scene where he kills him, leaves his

body laying on the side of the road. And then

the men are like, they're not really joining

the fight. So then they throw him in the field

and cover him up with a blanket. Now everybody's

joining the fight. That's that nasty scene. You

can read about that if you want. Okay. And then

that's done. So now Sheba's rebellion is done

and the nations are unified. All the tribes are

unified. There's 12 tribes again, all under David.

He's the king of all of them again. And then

comes a great famine in the land. Does anybody

know? I mean, you might get it right on the page

there. Does anybody know what the cause of the

famine was? Yeah, so famine means no food, right?

So they were running out of food. And you're

right, floods, fires, disasters, anything could

cause that. Yep, so famine means they didn't

have food in the land. Does anyone remember why

there's a famine? Yeah, so this is way before

Jesus that we're talking about during King David's

time. Okay, and so David, supposed to be a man

after God's own heart. Yes, it's the Gibeonites,

right? The next line says, God sent famine. And

so if anybody tries to tell you God does not

send bad things, that's not necessarily true,

right? God sent famine. And it was punishment.

So you fill in the blanks, follow right across

under the word famine. God sent famine. It was

punishment for the suffering of the Gibeonites.

Okay, so the Gibeonites were a nation of people

that were in that area during the original conquest.

Now, about a year and a half ago, we went through

the book of Joshua, and we ran into them. We

went through this text, but I'm not sure if you

would remember it or not. Does anybody remember

what the relationship between Israel and the

Gibeonites is supposed to be? Anybody remember

that story at all? So Gibeonites were supposed

to, originally God said to do what to the Gibeonites?

Take them out. Take out everybody in the land.

But what? Yep. Yeah. So they came in pretending

they were from far away. They had worn out, they

put on worn out clothes and dirty sandals, had

stale bread in their bags, everything. And they

came in and they said, well, we're from far away.

But we've heard how great you are, and we want

to make a pact with you. And we'll serve you.

We'll be your servants. And the Israelites agreed.

They said, okay, we'll make a pact. They weren't

supposed to do that. They were tricked into doing

that. So then the Gibeonites held up their end

of the bargain. They became servants of the Israelites.

And, in fact, were later living in Jerusalem

and on that surrounding land. It became pretty

common. They prospered. And they're God -fearers.

They came to follow God, right? With the Jewish

people, with the Israelites, they were following

God. But in Saul's day, Saul took it upon himself

to rectify the problem, to kill the Gibeonites.

Because that's what was supposed to be done in

the first place. Because God originally told

them to wipe them out. And he says, well, our

forefathers made this error and let the Gibeonites

live, but we're not going to do that. We're going

to fix it, finally, after all this time. And

so he took it upon himself to kill him and his

army, obviously, to kill them. And that's the

next line. Can you fill it out? The K is king.

King Saul? Had. King Saul had. Starts with a

T. It's a verb. He failed, but if you're doing

something and you fail, you tried. So King Saul

had tried to kill them. So King Saul had tried

to kill off the Gibeonites. The Israelites, the

next line is the Israelites, what? Based on the

story I just shared with you, the Israelites

had made a pact with them. So the end results

of this are kind of nasty. I'm going to read

you a few verses from, this is from chapter 21.

It's really all detailed in verse 1 to 9. It

says, Now there was a famine in the days of David

for three years, year after year. And David sought

the presence of the Lord. And the Lord said,

It is for Saul and his bloody house, because

he put the Gibeonites to death. So the king called

the Gibeonites and spoke to them. The Gibeonites

were not of the sons of Israel, but of the remnant

of the Amorites. And the son of Israel made a

covenant with them. But Saul had sought to kill

them in his zeal for the sons of Israel and Judah.

Thus David said to the Gibeonites, What should

I do for you? How can I make atonement that you

may bless the inheritance of the Lord? Then the

Gibeonites said to him, We have no concern of

silver or gold with Saul or his house, nor is

it for us to put any man to death in Israel.

And he said, I will do whatever you say. So they

said to the king, the man who consumed us and

who planned to exterminate us from remaining

within any border of Israel, let seven men from

his sons be given to us, and we will hang them

before the Lord in Gibeah of Saul, the chosen

of the Lord. And the king said, I will give them.

But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of

Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the oath

of the Lord which was between them, between David

and Saul's son Jonathan. So the king took two

sons of Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, Armani,

and Mephibosheth, whom she had borne to Saul,

and the five sons of Merab, the daughter of Saul,

whom she had borne to Adriel, the son of Barzillai,

the Mahalathite. There we go. He gave them into

the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged

them in the mountain before the Lord, so that

the seven of them fell together, and they were

put to death in the first days of harvest at

the beginning of the barley harvest. Okay? And

so we're back on the page now. So we just said

the Israelites had made a pact with them. The

next line is? Yep. Seven of Saul's sons. That's

a tongue twister. Seven of Saul's sons. Can you

say it? Were given. That's correct. Seven of

Saul's sons were given. But, what? The next line.

That person you guys, one of the most difficult

names to spell. Right. But Mephibosheth, there

we go. His name is hard to say. Mephibosheth

is spared or survives. And remember he did that

because when we talked about this before, Jonathan

spared David. Jonathan, who should have been

the descendant of Saul and become king, he was

the firstborn son, he protected David when Saul

was trying to kill David. And so now, David had

promised Mephibosheth that he would be spared,

and now he spares him again. But we still have

a problem here, because there's seven people

that just got really martyred. This is not war.

It's legal, maybe, by some stretch. To punish

Saul's family for what Saul and his family did.

That's some stretch. But it's still a problem.

So in verse 10 it says, And Rizpah the daughter

of Aiah took sackcloth, that's just that dark

gray useless kind of cloth, and spread it for

herself on the rock from the beginning of harvest

until it rained on them from the sky. And she

allowed neither the birds of the sky to rest

on them by day nor the beasts of the field by

night. When it was told David that Rizpah, the

daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had

done, then David went and took the bones of Saul

and the bones of Jonathan, his son, from the

men of Jebesh Gilead, who had stolen them from

the open square of Beth -shan, where the Philistines

had hanged them on the day the Philistines struck

down Saul in Gilboa. He brought up the bones

of Saul and the bones of Jonathan, his son, from

there, and they gathered the bones of those who

had been hanged. They buried the bones of Saul

and Jonathan, his son, in the country of Benjamin

in Zillah, in the grave of Kish, his father.

Thus they did all that the king commanded. So

David is ordering all of this. And after that,

God was moved by entreaty for the land. Okay?

So we're right under where it says 10 to 14.

That was 10 to 14. And you've got S, J, W, blank.

Saul. Say again. Jonathan. Saul and Jonathan

were, they were hanged previously, but now they're

what? It starts with an H. You're buried in the

graves of your father with great ceremony. You

are honored, right? So what he does, so this

is how this happens sometimes. And when we take

justice, if you will, in our own hands, then

what we have to do is say, well, this person

was harmed. There's only one way I can make that.

I can't pay it back. There's no way of undoing

what they did. So now this other person that

harmed them has to be harmed, right? So then

the person that's harmed now, so you have the

person harmed, negative person harmed because

that person was harmed. Now the family of this

person who's harmed because that person, now

they're upset, right? It's a lose -lose situation.

Vengeance never works, right? God alone takes

vengeance, right? So David is king. He's got

to deal justice in the land. So he turns over

seven of Saul's sons to the Gibeonites. They

hang them. There was a question whether they

would. They said, we really don't want anybody's

death, right? But they did. They hung them so

that they all fell at the same time. And he takes

those bodies and the bodies of Saul and Jonathan,

which by now are bones, right? gets them properly

dealt with. And Saul and Jonathan are actually

buried in the grave of Saul's father, which is

a great honor. And remember that David really

didn't have anything against Saul. Even when

Saul was alive and trying to kill David, David

had a chance to kill him and he didn't. He had

a chance to hurt him and he didn't. And when

he died, he mourned his death. It was a terrible

thing. And so that's who David was. And now it's

probably a blessing to David to be able to honor

Saul and Jonathan. And then after Saul and Jonathan

are honored, then what? The next line. It's capital

G, not just because it's the beginning of the

sentence. It's because God. Nope. What? Yes.

You've got answers, prayers, or pleas for the

land. Good. You've got the right idea. So notice

that God does not answer the plea for the land

when David gives over the seven men to be hanged.

Some kind of justice is dealt, but God did not

answer. Everybody's praying. They haven't had

food in any quantity for three years. People

are dying of starvation, right? It's terrible.

And God does not answer their prayers when David

hands over the seven men to be punished. She

goes out and she's mourning the loss of her sons.

It's a terrible thing to have your sons taken

for crimes they didn't commit. To pay for the

crimes of their family? That's terrible. So then,

David honors Saul and Jonathan and takes the

bodies of the seven hanged men and he gets them

taken care of too. He doesn't put them in the

grave of Saul's father. They don't really belong

there. But he gets them all taken care of. And

that's when God answers the prayer for the land.

Which is interesting. So in all of that, is there

somebody special? In the seven guys who get hung,

Saul and Jonathan, there's somebody special in

there that needed to be taken care of from God's

point of view. What happened that God would now

answer the prayer? So Saul was an anointed one.

Saul was anointed by God, chosen by God to lead

Israel, right? And to have his bones improperly

dealt with, that's a pretty bad injustice. And

so also the mother who had her sons taken to

pay the price. That's a pretty bad injustice,

right? And so we see that David is mending fences

is what he's doing. He's taking care of business.

He's trying to get to the point where everybody

has received justice. And let's stop all this

vengeance. Let's get to the point where we can

have peace in the land. And these amazing choices

that he made are what create peace in the land.

And finally, food. Thank God. Okay? So we're

going to continue down. Ignore that stuff over

to the left for a minute. So we've got a W under

the box. And this is verses 15 to 22. Alright?

And this is what the Bible says in verse 15.

Now when the Philistines were at war again with

Israel, David went down and his servants with

him, and they fought against the Philistines.

David became weary. Okay? So that was verse 15.

So what do you think that first line is? War

again with the Philistines. So the Philistines

are not Israelites. In fact, no one really knows

for sure where they came from. Even historians

don't know where they came from. They were seafaring

from another nation. that came and took over

that area that became Philistia. So historically,

we don't even know where they came from. But

they took over that area, and they became all

the way back to the judges. You know, Samson.

That's who he fought, was the Philistines. And

he destroyed the Philistine lords. And after

he was blinded and got his sight back, just enough

to pull the pillars down and knock the building

down on them. That's the Philistines. So this

is all the way back. This problem has persisted,

and it's continuing now. And Gath... is in Philistia.

Which means, and if you're from, Natalie, if

you're from Gath, you're a what? Do you remember

that? What do you call it? So if you're from

America, you're an American. A what? Are you

saying Hittite? It's Gittite with a G. Right

idea though. So I couldn't tell if you were pronouncing

it right. So it's a Gittite. A Gath is a Gittite.

And who was a Gittite? Say it again? Goliath,

right? So that big battle of Goliath from Gath

and David from where? Bethlehem. And the battle

took place kind of in the middle on the border.

And that's in canon. That's in their history.

That's a huge deal, right? And what happened

with Samson when he killed all their lords? There's

never going to be peace between the Philistines

and Israel. It's too much blood, right? Too much

destruction. And so that's where we're at. They're

at war again with the Philistines. Now, an interesting

thing happens here that kind of does bring it

to a close for a while, okay? In verse 16, it

says this. It says, Then Ish -bib -nab, there

we go, Ish -bib -nab, who was among the descendants

of the giant. Who are we talking about? Goliath,

right? Among the descendants of the giant. Hold

on, I lost my thought. Here we go. The weight

of whose spear was 300 shekels of bronze in weight

was girded with a new sword. He got himself a

new sword and he intended to kill David. But

Abishai, we studied him, the son of Zariah, helped

him and struck the Philistine and killed him.

Then the men of David swore to him, saying, You

shall not go out again with us to battle, that

you may not extinguish the lamp of Israel. Now

it came about after this that there was war again

with the Philistines at Gob. Then Sibachai, the

Hushethite, struck down Saph, who was among the

descendants of the giant. So here goes another

guy, another one of Goliath's kids. And there

was war with the Philistines again at Gob, and

Elhanan, the son of Jeroboam, the Bethlehemite,

which means he came from where David came from,

killed Goliath the Gittite. Now we have another

guy named Goliath. The shaft of whose spear was

like a weaver's beam. And there was war at Gath

again. So that's where they came from. Where

there was a man of great stature who had six

fingers on each hand and six toes on each feet,

24 in number, and he also had been born to the

giant. And when he defied Israel, Jonathan, the

son of Shimei, David's brother, struck him down.

These four were born to the giant in Gath, and

they fell by the hand of David and by the hand

of his servants. Okay? And so now we're back

on the page. We had war again with the Philistines,

and now we have that really big, long sentence.

Go ahead. Yep. Is that far as you got? You got

more. It's perfect so far. And fell. And fell

to the hands of David and his servants. That's

perfect. Well done. So these four were born to

the giant in Gath. And fell to the hands of David

and his servants. So all the sons of Goliath

died. I kind of like the last one. I mean, the

poetic. I don't like anybody dying and whatever.

But the poetic. impact of the guy who killed

the Bethlehemite who killed one of them and then

the guy who killed what was his name I'm going

to get it take care oh it doesn't say his name

He also had been born of the giant, and when

he defied Israel, Jonathan, the son of Shimei,

David's brother, struck him down. So I think

it just kind of helps you remember that it was

a man named Jonathan. Before that was a Bethlehemite,

right? Which is where David is from, David's

hometown. But anyway, they killed all the sons

of Goliath. And it does start to look like the

Philistines are going to have a hard time with

the Israelites. And now we're living in a time

thousands of years later, and it's still true.

So the Israelites are... They're there again.

Let's put it that way, without getting into it.

We talk about, well, we won't get into modern

politics. All right, so 2 Samuel 22 .20 is the

next reference. Okay, so we're into chapter 22,

and almost all, is it all? Nope, there's a few

verses at the beginning. So from verse, you're

not going to read it. You can read it on your

own. But beginning in verse 2, all the way through

verse 51, is a song of David. We know David wrote

a lot of songs. And a lot of them wound up in

Psalms. And we read two of those last week that

were specifically for the period of time when

David had sinned with Bathsheba and Absalom rebelled

against him and took over. And it was Psalm 38

and Psalm 51. We read and looked at those last

week. We could see David's mindset. We could

see how his heart was. Right? During the time

of Absalom's rebellion because of those Psalms.

That's really cool that you can do that now so

many thousands of years later. Okay? But in verse

20 of this song, David writes something that

is our next sentence on the page. And it says,

and this is verse 20, then you can see if you

can fill it in. He also brought me forth into

a broad place. He rescued me because he delighted

in me. I'll read it one more time. He also brought

me forth into a broad place. He rescued me because

he delighted in me. Yep. Yep. He brought me forth

because he delighted in me. Why is that sentence

so significant? What's the first thing you notice?

We talked about this when we talked about David's

story up until the Bathsheba incident and then

into Absalom. Let me ask it this way. Why did

God bring David into Being king of Israel. Why

did he do that? It's in the verse we just read.

Because he delighted in him. Did God delight

in David when David was sinning against Bathsheba?

He didn't? No, he did. Right? And God brought

David through even that. Now, did David get punished?

Yes. But if he had ceased to delight in him,

then would he have become king? Right? He brought

him through that period of time. So this is a

recognition of God's power, God's choice, God's

calling, God's anointing. It is not because you're

smart or strong or made good decisions in the

past or making a good decision right now in this

moment. God will not stop loving you. By the

way, when the angels sing in the sky, about the

birth of Jesus. Fast forward to the New Testament

for one second. When the angels sing in the sky

about the birth of Jesus, how does it say God

feels about people? That's true. There's a specific

words there. It says he's... Yep. Absolutely.

Right. Right, so she's saying Jesus was God's

gift to mankind, that God made a way because

he loves us. All of that is true. And the angels

sing this. Yes, goodwill towards men, with whom?

Josh got it. With whom God is pleased. Do you

understand? With sinners. You have to realize

that God's love transcends our stupidity. Right?

God's love cannot make you come to heaven with

him for an eternity. Right? You have to be willing.

He's not going to force that on you. But he loves

even people who are willingly choosing to go

to hell. He loves even people who hate him. And

there were lots of people on there. In fact,

it says that Jesus came when there was found

no mediator amongst men. So there was no one

who could mediate between man and God anymore.

That's why it was time for Jesus to come. So

that means there was tons of wicked people on

the earth. People's hearts were not toward God.

Yet the angels sing goodwill towards men with

whom God is pleased. And so David understood

that God brought David into a broad place because

God delighted in him. And the truth is God wants

to do the same thing for us. If you think, well,

my situation sucks, God wants to bring you into

a place where you can work for him, you can serve

him, you can love him freely. You can be okay.

You know, you can be not harried all the time,

not hurting all the time. Like God has a plan.

And that's what, of course, the prophet says,

I know the plans I have for you, right? God delights

in people, even in the midst of their stupidity.

Now, it does not mean he will not punish. He's

still sent of famine because of the suffering

of the Gibeonites. Three years, people were starving.

You think God doesn't love us. God hates us,

right? And people say that all the time, right?

If God loves people, why would he allow earthquakes?

Why would he allow abortion? Why would he allow

murder? Why does he allow rape? Why does God

allow those things if he loves us? Well, God

loves the person doing those things too, right?

God loves the creation that has been subjected

to futility. So when tornadoes strike, God loves

the wind, right? God, his creation is good. It's

just flawed now because of sin. And it will be

ultimately redeemed. If God destroyed all tornadoes,

we would be in a way. This world would be hurting.

You couldn't breathe. If God destroyed all floods,

we wouldn't have enough water to drink. We'd

all die of thirst. If God destroyed all murderers

or everybody who was ever angry in their heart

against somebody, this would be a barren rock.

There'd be no people living on it. If he destroyed

all liars, I would have died before I turned

26. Because I was a liar and a thief, right?

And so you can't go out going, why doesn't God,

God delights in that person who is sinning against

him as well. Now, he much prefers obedient, faithful

servants. He much prefers those who love him

back. And that's what he's seeking, worshipers

in spirit and in truth. That's what he's seeking,

right? And he will draw them from those whom

he delights and some will refuse. And they'll

go to hell for eternity because they refused.

Because of what they have done with the Son of

God. Because they refused to accept Jesus. And

that's very disappointing. That is not what God

wants. God doesn't want anybody to go to hell.

Let me clarify that. God does not want any human

to go to hell. Why did I clarify that? Yeah.

Because he didn't spare the angels. The demons

are going to hell. That's settled. Right? He

doesn't want any humans to go to hell. Okay.

So I got a little bit of a pulpit there. I'm

standing in front of a pulpit. It's cool. All

right. 2 Samuel 22, 51. Then we're jumping ahead.

This is also in the song. It is the end of the

song. And it just kind of really brings home

the thought, which we had. I'll read the verse.

You see if you can fill it in. He is a tower

of deliverance to his king and shows loving kindness

to his anointed, to David and his descendants

forever. Can anybody do it? Yep. He is a tower

of deliverance. Shows loving kindness. Keep going.

To David. That's right. And I think David is

a great illustration for us in just exactly what

we're just talking about. He continued to show

loving kindness to him even when David was sinning

against him. And David gets this right because

he realizes that What God really wants is a contrite

heart, a broken and contrite heart. We talked

about that last week, a broken and contrite heart.

That's what God really wants. And David gives

God that, and then we'll be called a man after

God's own heart. Okay, we've got to go because

this is taking a minute. 2 Samuel chapter 24

2 Samuel 24 · chapter mention

now. We're skipping that 24. We're still following

David's life. Okay? And this is where it kind

of gets dark. So here's what happens. David says

this. This is 24. Now, again, the anger of the

Lord burned against Israel. And it incited David

against them to say, go number Israel and Judah.

And the king said to Joab, the commander of the

army who was with them, go about now through

all the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beersheba

and register the people that I may know the number

of the people. So what's the first part? Go register

the people. That's pretty directly from verse

2. Now, jumping ahead a little bit. We're following

David's actions. Ultimately, Joab does do it.

You can get a number of how many warriors there

were in the land, which is a pretty big number,

but it's ultimately not big enough to deal with

something like what Mesopotamia can produce,

and they will later, or the Egyptian forces become

so huge. And of course, they have chariots, so

that's another problem altogether. So in verse

10, it says this, same chapter. Now David's heart

troubled him after he had numbered the people.

So David said to the Lord, I have sinned greatly

in what I have done. But now, O Lord, please

take away the iniquity of thy servant, for I

have acted very foolishly. So no, God did not

command him not to do that. In fact, God had

commanded counts before. So you hear that said

sometimes that God said you can't count the people,

but that really... So the book of Numbers is...

God counting the people. I mean, that's what

it was all about. Every tribe is counted and

like that. So let's ask that question real quick.

Go off the worksheet for a second. Why do you

think it's a problem that David counts the people

now? There's two reasons right away. One's from

the text and one you kind of have to kind of

think broadly to maybe come up with it. So what's

the first problem? Counting the people. Say it

again. What's that? Well, okay, so you could

count the people and determine that there isn't

enough people. That's one possibility. Or you

could count the people and determine that there

is enough people. For what? What's enough people?

Yeah, so that's the problem. It only leads you

to a problem if you have enough people, that's

arrogance. You don't have enough people, that's

insecurity. See what I'm saying? So the problem

is God didn't want him to count the people because

God is the one who fights the battles. It's not

the 1 .2 million soldiers that win the wars.

This is really stretching your minds now, but

if you remember when we studied the book of Joshua

a year and a half ago, there was a battle in

which they were pursuing. In fact, I think they

were saving the Gibeonites in that battle. I'm

not sure. That might have been the case. But

anyway, the point is they were pursuing the enemy

forces, and the enemy forces were outrunning

them, and rocks, meteors, flew down from the

sky and destroyed the runaway army. How many

people do you need to destroy an army with meteors?

Not very many. Two guys and enough meteors and

it's done. So what he's saying is, You don't

need to count the people because what do you

gain? We have enough people. Okay, now you're

going to have a problem with arrogance. We don't

have enough people. Now you're going to have

a problem with insecurity. So either way, it

was not God's idea to count the people at this

time because there's no good outcome. There's

no good outcome counting the people. The other

problem we'll talk about in a minute because

it's on the page. I don't want to run ahead of

myself, okay? So go register the people. Then

David said, go to the right from there, I have

sinned in what I did. Perfect. Now, from that

line, if you go all the way over to the left

next to go register, you'll see that there's

an arrow. Follow the arrow up to the kind of

funky box right there. The funky box has another

reference in it. Under the crown. Does everybody

find it? Okay. And so the reference is 2 Chronicles.

If you don't know this, most of these events

are detailed in Chronicles as well. The book

Chronicles and Kings kind of both kind of detail

the history of Israel. But rather than being

like this, it's a little bit more of an overview

of the events, like a history. So 2 Chronicles

21. The reference is 21 .1. So put in that box.

I'm sorry, 1 Chronicles. 1 Chronicles 21 .1.

1 Chronicles 21 .1. And this is what it says.

Then Satan stood up against Israel and moved

David to number Israel. And then it goes on to

tell the story. So David said, go number everybody.

And Joab resists at first, but then goes and

numbers everybody. And then the Lord spoke to

the seer. Told David what the punishment would

be and all that right, so that's all the same

story, but it starts with Satan Same words are

in the blank stood up against Israel Amazing

yeah, yeah, so he was at work during that period

of time And it's very very clear the word there

is the it's in Hebrew or you know once it was

brought in Septuagint Septuagint was in Greek

right But it means accuser. It's a proper name.

He's a bad dude. And he stood up against Israel.

I do think it's interesting that the writer,

and I'd have to study this more. I can't answer

this for you, but I'll just point it out to you

so you can see it. The writer of Chronicles here

calls it Israel. Is he talking about the 12 tribes

and all of God's people? Or is he talking about

the 10 tribes that... had previously tried to

distance themselves from David's two tribes,

I'd have to look into Chronicles and figure out,

when he says Israel, does he mean the twelve

tribes? If he does, then this is a real attempt

to destroy Israel. And it almost works, as we're

about to see. Okay, so now we're back on the

page. Go register the people. I have sinned in

what I saw. Follow that arrow back down. We're

back on that line. I have sinned in what I did.

Okay, now... The prophet, God sends the prophet

Gad to David, and he gives him three choices.

Because of what David has done, he's going to

have three choices to choose from. And they are,

choice A, seven years famine. Seven years famine.

They're going to go without food for seven years,

or lack food for seven years. Or, three months,

Running from your enemies. Is David any stranger

from running from his enemies? They had three

years of famine. It was terrible, but they made

it through. God might turn it around at some

point. They could buy food from other countries.

That's probably what they were doing a lot of.

David's no stranger from running from his enemies,

right? He's been doing it most of his life. What's

the problem with this now? What's the problem

with running three months from your enemies now?

He's old. Yeah. They don't even let him go to

war anymore, so he's up there in years now. And

then the last one is three days pestilence. Pestilence.

Pestilence is basically disease. Okay? In verse

14, this is what we get. So the Lord, let me

go back to 13. And David said to Gad, I am in

great distress. Please let me fall into the hand

of the Lord. for his mercies are very great.

But do not let me fall into the hand of men.

So in other words, he did not want to deal with

being chased. He wanted to give himself over

to whatever God decides, basically. So then it

says, So the Lord sent a pestilence on Israel.

Seventy thousand men of Israel fell. God sent

an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it. But as he

was about to destroy it, the Lord saw and was

sorry over the calamity and said to the destroying

angel, It is enough. Now relax your hand. And

the angel of the Lord was standing by the threshing

floor of Ornan, the Jebusite. And David lifted

up his eyes and saw the angel of the Lord standing

between the earth and heaven with his drawn sword

in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. David

and the elders covered with sackcloth fell on

their faces. David said to God, Is it not I who

commanded to count the people? Indeed, I am the

one who has sinned and done very wickedly. But

these sheep, what have they done? O Lord my God,

please let... thy hand be against me and my father's

household, but not against thy people, that they

should be plagued. Okay? And so, we got the three

choices, and then David chose, it's on the next

line, next to where it says B14, which of the

three choices did he choose? Say it again? The

hands of the Lord. That's what he chose. And

the result of that was, go to the right, I gave

you just blanks. What was the result? You want

to give me a four -word summary? God sent the

angel, and then God stopped the angel. Both,

right? So it's kind of sent slash stop. So the

result was God stopped the angel before it could

wipe out Israel, and God sent the angel. Both

of those things are true. Then there was, on

the next line, I'm moving faster now because

we're finishing up, a plea. There was a plea,

not a prayer. It's talking to God, but it doesn't

say it's a prayer. It's a plea. And notice that

David saw the angel. Okay. Say again. Yes, it

would. Especially after the angel already killed

70 ,000 people. Okay. A plea. Then mercy given.

That's the next line there. M -G. Mercy given.

And the thing that we've been headed for, the

stopping point, we're almost there. In verse

19, it said, we read it. No, we didn't. Then

the angel of the Lord commanded Gad to say to

David that David should go up and build an altar

to the Lord on the threshing floor of Ornan the

Jebusite. So David went up at the word of Gad,

which he spoke in the name of the Lord. Okay,

so... Yep, erect an altar. That's the command.

Erect an altar. An altar is a place of worship

to God. We're going to erect an altar. Then David

is going up to build the altar. Ornan turned

back and saw the angel and his four sons who

were with him hid themselves and Ornan was threshing

wheat. And as David came to Ornan, Ornan looked

and saw David and went out from the threshing

floor and prostrated himself before David with

his face to the ground. He threw himself flat

on the ground. David said to Ornan, give me the

site of this threshing floor that I may build

on it an altar to the Lord Full price you shall

give it to me. So he's an eminent domain. He's

going to give you the full price. That the plague

may be restrained from the people. Ornan said

to David, Take it for yourself, and let my lord

the king do what is good in his sight. See, I

will give the oxen for burnt offerings, and the

threshing sledges for wood, and the wheat for

the grain offering. I will give it all. But King

David said to Ornan, No, but I will surely buy

it for the full price. For I will not take what

is yours for the Lord. or offer a burnt offering

which costs me nothing. So the next one there

in the bottom left -hand corner, D -R. David,

what did he do? Ornan offered him everything

for free, and he refused. David refuses. There's

the price. Say again. But he paid. Yes. He requisitioned

it, but he paid for it. And the price was 50

shekels. And then you finish it with David. Builds

an altar. That's right. Okay. Now, real quick,

if you haven't already looked, put your thumb

over the bottom right -hand corner of your page

where there's that writing there. If you just

looked at it when I said put your thumb over

it, don't answer. What eventually gets built

on the site of Ornan's threshing floor where

David builds the altar? If you looked, don't

answer. Somebody take a stab at it if you didn't

look. Anybody not look? Statularity. It's not

statularity. What? Yeah, the temple. It's where

the temple gets built. David bought that ground,

and he takes that ground, and he dedicates it.

You can see it. You know where it's at today.

It's on the map. The temple's not there anymore.

It was torn down in AD 70, and never rebuilt

in the same way ever again. But that's where

the temple site would be. Yes, the one that Solomon

will build. And so this point forward, David

will live his life for a couple of initiatives,

one of which will be to gather the supplies so

that Solomon can build that temple to honor God.

Where? On the threshing floor of Ornan, where

he was told to sacrifice. Why? In honor of God

turning back the angel who was destroying Israel

and had already killed 70 ,000 men. And why was

he doing that? Why was the angel destroying Israel?

Because, yeah, because David chose the hand of

God. And he had to choose from one of the three

things because he registered the people. And

he registered the people for one of two reasons,

both of which are bad. One is Satan inspired

it. We read that in 1 Chronicles. Satan inspired

it. And the other is because Because he was king.

It is good to be the king. Right? Because he

could. Outside the will of God, he did it in

his own strength or he did it to know what he

had to work with or whatever. Okay. All right.

So a couple of teenagers only for a minute here

to answer a couple questions. You ready? Not

necessarily on the page. Okay. I'm going to give

you a tricky one first. Tricky one first. Whose

idea Was it originally to register the people?

Jason. Incorrect. It was not the king in this

case. Whose idea was it originally? You already

answered. Let somebody else try. Otherwise, you

just go through a list and you'll get it right

eventually. Whose idea was it originally? Going

once? Okay, any adult can answer. Satan. That's

correct. It was Satan's idea. It says Satan rose

up against Israel and inspired David to do it.

Not on the page. David had this person head up

the effort to register all the people. Jason?

Joab is correct. One out of two ain't bad. Okay.

I'll give you candy before we're done. Alright.

Let's see. The Gibeonites were in great suffering

because of an event that happened before David

was in charge. What was this event? Anybody else?

Other than Jason, I'm going to give it to him.

What? It's all being a but? Okay, Jason, give

it to me. Yes, he tried to kill them off. I'm

short. All right. Natalie, what was the length

of the famine? Say it again. Not the one that

was potentially promised, the one that was potentially...

could have happened, that David could have chose

was seven years, but the one that actually happened

before that. Three years is correct. Very good.

That is correct. Got them both there. Amazing.

Okay. All right. Haley, what was the number of

sons of Goliath who were slain by David and his

friends? That's correct. Four. Very good. You

guys could be on Jeopardy. They're not even looking.

They're doing it from memory. Okay. Okay, this

is on your page. It's a harder one. What was

the name of the town that threw Sheba's head

over the wall? If you can get close to the pronunciation,

I'll give it to you. Hannah, you got it? No?

Need a magnifying glass? All right, Haley, go.

Yep. Yep. Yes. Good enough. That's right. And

it's about how well I pronounce it, so you did

good. Okay. All right. For this reason... God

brought David into a broad place because he delighted

in him. That's correct. I'm going to start giving

candy to other people. I use this candy up anyway.

Okay. Of the three choices that David could have

chosen for punishment, which one would have been

the shortest? Jason? Say it again. Three days

of pestilence. Which coincidentally was the one

that he chose, but it cost him 70 ,000 people.

We kind of understand that, don't we, with COVID.

We see how that could be. Okay. All right, Hannah,

are you ready? How many of Saul's sons were given

over to the Gibeonites? Say it again. Seven is

correct. Very good. Okay. That was very well

aimed. You could have caught it. Okay, I have

a tiny poppet. The next question is for a tiny

poppet. Adults can answer, so be on your game.

Be ready. Okay. Find my spot here. Okay. In what

might be the strangest description of a Gittite

ever, a man had this many fingers and toes, first

hand I saw. He had this many fingers and toes

in his first hand. How many fingers and toes

did he have? 24, correct. Nice try. Have a tiny

slinky. This was Amasa's last mission. Chris

McCrory. Say it again. Sorry, that was terrible.

Okay. I got a bag of gummies. This is the last

bag of gummies I've got. Get rid of these gummies.

All right. Okay. So when the mother of some of

Saul's sons was mourning, David dealt justice

by honoring these two individuals. Jason. Okay.

All right. We're going to go ahead and close

in prayer at this time. Lord, I thank you for

this day. You know, we gather here and have a

building that we're safe from bad weather or

conditions outdoors, stress, persecution. You

know, I can't deal with any of that as it is

today. And if we did, Lord, we'd be grateful

and happy to be here praising you and learning

about you together regardless.