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Home , 1 Chronicles 11, Hanun, Joab

Transcription of 20ID3371

1 Chronicles 11-20 “The Reign of (Part 1)” October 14, 2020

Let’s open our tonight to as we continue our study on Wednesday nights through the historical books.

Last week we began 1 Chronicles. We are going much quicker through the Chronicles than we did the Kings and for a couple of reasons. Chronicles is really a recapitulation of everything that you learned there. It covers the same years, the same background. You can remember maybe, if you were with us, that oftentimes you’ll read those words, “the rest of his acts, aren’t they written in the chronicles of the books of the kings?” And so that’s where we are. We mentioned to you last week that oftentimes the Lord, by His Spirit, will give us a big focus of something and then kind of zoom in to give us a more clearly-focused look, like in Genesis 2, where all of creation is listed very quickly and then God looks specifically at the creation of man.

So Chronicles is an interesting book because it first focuses on the genealogy that will lead you to Jesus; starts with , goes to Jesus through King David. It focuses a lot on the covenants or the deals or the agreements that God made with man. It turns a lot of attention to the Temple and worship. Ultimately that God’s ultimate desire is that the world would come to know Him through the people that He had chosen, through the .

The emphasis of 1 Chronicles, as we’ll see tonight, is primarily upon David; 2 Chronicles kind of whatever follows after him. The most distinctive difference, or the most important, I guess, distinction between Chronicles and Kings is that Kings gives you the history and even the political climate; the Chronicles is more interested in what God thought of the spiritual tone and balance and health of the people. And so the LORD makes a clear distinction. And because of that, Chronicles is kind of God’s report of the spiritual well-being, or lack of it, in the nation during the time that it was split, during the national divide. Kings is man’s point of view politically, historically. This is almost all God’s interest and what He wants us to learn. So, because of that, you won’t find anything about the northern kingdom here because it was a kingdom based on idolatry and rebellion, and it never amounted to much; and God put an end to it after 209 years. There is very little mention of ; we only read about his death last week as we ended chapter 10.

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You won’t read about anything about David’s sin with , although certainly that was a big part of the story. But where God forgives, He also forgets. The Jewish tradition says that Ezra wrote these books during the captivity in ; we don’t know. There are lots of indicators that these two books, along with the Kings and with Ezra and Nehemiah, made up one big volume. And that could have been so; I don’t know. I do know the LORD wrote it.

So last week we went through the chronology to David, through whom Jesus would come. And then, in chapter 10 last week, we ended with the death of Saul because he didn’t make much of a splash; he wasn’t a spiritual leader, he was the people’s choice.

Tonight we are going to turn to the life of David and to his reign. From the time when Saul died, he came to to rule the people. After seven-and-a-half years, he moved to , and the entire nation stood with him, and God’s glory was established. fills the rest of 1 Chronicles, so to the end of these chapters. Next week we will be with David.

Tonight we’re going to do chapters 11-20. Because they are overviews, we’ve asked you to read ahead. If you haven’t, shame on you. No, I don’t know. I’ll recap them for you, and you can go back and read them if you want. We’re not going to read every verse. Chapters 11 and 12 are about David and his mighty men – lots of lessons there. In chapters 13-16, David’s relationship with the and bringing it to Jerusalem as the center place of worship. In chapter 17, David and God’s discussion about the Temple and his desire to build a place for the LORD and what God would do for David instead. And then, in chapters 18, 19 and 20, the battles that David fought to expand the kingdoms and protect the people. So, like I said, Chronicles kind of fills in the details from God’s heart. And so if you put Kings and Chronicles together, you will come away with, I think, a broader view of what you need to know and what the LORD would want you to know.

So let’s start in verse 1, chapter 11, “Then all Israel came together to David at Hebron, saying, ‘Indeed we are your bone and your flesh. Also, in time past, even when Saul was king, you were the one who led Israel out and brought them in; and the LORD your God said to you, “You shall shepherd My people Israel, and be ruler over My people Israel.” ’ Therefore all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the LORD. And

2 they anointed David king over Israel, according to the word of the LORD by Samuel.”

So David is becoming king. Now, if you go back to Samuel, you might remember that there were years why David, as a young man, ran from Saul; in fact, seven- and-a-half years of running for your life. When Saul finally died, David thought, “Well, now I’ll be king.” But he wasn’t. Not really. He went to Hebron where really one-and-a-half tribes embraced him while the rest of the nation was still following the Benjamites, if you will, and rebelling against God’s choice of David. That’s all skipped over here. God goes right to David: from Hebron, goes to Jerusalem, and becomes the king. But that’s fifteen years of time between when the LORD first picked David and when he would rule over the nation.

Notice, in verse 2 and in verse 3 as well, that the calling of David, according to the prophet Samuel years earlier, was pretty much twofold: David was a shepherd, but he was also a king. He was a king with the heart of a shepherd. You can read a lot of David’s writings about the heart that he learned for the people by watching his father’s sheep. That’s two-thirds, by the way, of Jesus’ ministry. Jesus also came to be the High Priest. He gave His life then to be our Shepherd and our King. So David learned primarily what he was to do as a good king by watching over the flock.

It’s always good, I think, when people in ministry find their heart coming from the Lord to take care of the flock like sheep; in other words, to devote yourself and your life to them. A leader should certainly be willing, I think, to pay a price for the saints that he is serving. You might remember Jesus’ discussion with Peter in John 21, where He was restoring Peter to ministry after he had denied the Lord, and the Lord said, three times to him, “Peter, do you love Me?” And basically the response of the Lord each time was, “Then feed the lambs. Shepherd the flock. Take care of My people.” The way you love the Lord is you serve others. When Isaiah wrote about Jesus’ ministry, he wrote “He would feed His flock like a shepherd,” (Isaiah 40:11), which was so against what was going on in those days. I mean, Ezekiel would quote the LORD as saying (Ezekiel 34:2), “Look, woe to the shepherds who feed themselves! They should be taking care of the flock.”

And so David was “a man after God’s own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14, Acts 13:22). He was a good shepherd, he was a good king, he was God’s choice. Peter would write, in his little book – 1 Peter 5:2, “Shepherd the flock of God which is among you. Do it

3 as overseers. Don’t do it by compulsion. Do it willingly. Don’t do it for any kind of dishonest gain, but do it eagerly. Serve.” And David was certainly that man that God had chosen. He was a man after God’s own heart. It took years for him to come to a place where he was able to lead; it took years for the people to recognize it. But he stayed the course.

“And David and all Israel,” verse 4, “went to Jerusalem, which is Jebus, where the were, the inhabitants of the land. But the inhabitants of Jebus said to David, ‘You shall not come in here!’ Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion (that is, the ). Now David said, ‘Whoever attacks the Jebusites first shall be chief and captain’ ” (of the army). “And the son of” (David’s sister) “Zeruiah went up first, and became chief.”

And so David’s nephew, through his bravery, became the head of the army. He wasn’t always a very godly man, but he did oversee this. And, according to verse 8, he oversaw the renewal of Jerusalem that had been knocked down, much of it destroyed in these battles. And so we read, in verse 8, “He built the city from the Millo” (the word “Millo” means landfill) “to the surrounding area. Joab repaired the rest of the city. So David went on and became great, and the LORD of hosts” (notice) “was with him.”

Well then, beginning in verse 10 and down through verse 47, we get a list of David’s mighty men. Now those are important guys for you to know if you’ve been reading the history. These are folks that, for the most part, joined David primarily out of rebellion against the government, against Saul. And David began to share with them his love for the LORD of Israel, for Jehovah. They began to know the LORD and, through most of David’s examples, were brought closer to the LORD. Some of these guys had been with David for 15+ years. But now the LORD gives to us here (and you can read about them in as well) these men that, when David came to power, began to rule with David. It’s a beautiful picture, if you look at it from a spiritual perspective, of Jesus gathering together you and me. He’s gathering a people who are foreign to this world, who really don’t fit in, if you will, who are now walking with Jesus in the days of His rejection (like David was rejected), and yet one day the Lord will come, and when He comes, we will rule and reign with Him. That’s kind of what happened to these mighty men that the LORD had brought to David.

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We have, beginning in verse 10 and down through the middle of the chapter or so, a couple of stories of how these men fought for David. We get some names. There are groups of three rulers that seem to have others under them. Sometimes they seem to accomplish great things…..they killed hundreds in battle. They were just tough guys.

But down in verse 15, there is one story which is told several times in the Scriptures about an incident where it shows the love of David’s men for David and their respect for him, even their bravery in battle. And there are three chiefs or rulers in his army. Two of them here in this little story are named, one of them is not. But David had been raised in . And so, as this battle transpired, if you will, David said to his troops, kind of off the cuff, “Oh, what I wouldn’t give for some waters from the wells of Bethlehem. There’s no better water than Bethlehem water.” And while they were hiding in caves in this battle with the Philistines, three of his boys went out at night, went on a mission, snuck in across enemy lines, got to the well in Bethlehem, drew water out, and brought it back to David. Risked their very lives to get water for David. And David, it blew his mind. We read, at the end of verse 18, “Nevertheless David would not drink it, but poured it out to the LORD. And he said, ‘Far be it from me, O my God, that I should do this! Shall I drink the blood of these men who have put their lives in jeopardy? For at the risk of their lives they brought it.' Therefore he would not drink it. These things were done by the three mighty men.” And David recognized it. It’s an interesting picture. Jesus was also born in Bethlehem. He’s the water of life being poured out like water, we read there in Psalm 22:14. The One that if we believe in, we can be saved.

We read, in verse 20, of Abishai, who is also one of David’s nephews, another son of his sister’s. He was the chief of the second three overseers. And one of the things you read in this chapter about three times is David organized his leadership. There was a lot of thought given to who should be in charge. Some people are good at other things, and some people aren’t very good at leadership, they’re good at serving. And so everybody found a place with David and found their place of service, if you will. Verse 21 says of Abishai, “Of the three he was more honored than the other two men. Therefore he became their captain. However he did not attain to the first three.” So, there was a structure of responsibility. And as far as the word “honored,” it just means a place of service.

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And then we get to verse 22, where we read this fellow was chief among the thirty (1 Chronicles 27:5-6), and we read about him that he was the “son of a valiant man, who had done many deeds. He had killed two lion-like heroes of . He also had gone down and killed a lion in the midst of a pit on a snowy day. And he killed an Egyptian, a man of great height, five cubits tall” (90”). “In the Egyptian’s hand there was a spear like a weaver’s beam; and he went down to him with a staff, wrested the spear out of the Egyptian’s hand, and killed him with his own spear.” So David had some tough guys around him. He had a gang, I guess. I love verse 22, though. Here’s the LORD giving us insight into what’s going on, and His description of this fellow is he went down into a pit to kill a lion on a snowy day. I like that. That the LORD not only remembers your work but in the conditions you had to serve Him. “Yeah, it was a snowy day. There was a lion.” And the LORD takes note when we serve Him under less-than-ideal conditions. You know, you go to church, and it was raining. You go to the baptism, there’re clouds outside. We sat outside for a long time doing studies. It’s been hot. It’s been uncomfortable. The LORD takes note, I’m sure, of that as well.

So, if you read down from verse 26 down, all you’ll get is these wonderful names of David’s mighty men, a couple you can mark that we will know a lot about if you go back to the Kings. In verse 26, there’s a guy named . He is also another nephew, another boy of David’s sister. And in verse 41, you probably recognize the name of . Isn’t that interesting? That Bathsheba’s husband was one of David’s mighty men. A guy that he would have been extremely close to.

Chapter 12, “Now these were the men who came to David at while he was still a fugitive from Saul the son of Kish; and they were among the mighty men, helpers in the war, armed with bows, using both the right hand and the left” (they were ambidextrous) “in hurling stones and shooting arrows with the bow. They were of Benjamin,” (from Saul’s family) “Saul’s brethren.” If you remember, when we were going through 1 Samuel 27, David, for a time, went to hide from Saul in the enemy’s territory. It wasn’t his best move. He did a lot of things there that he probably regretted, but the LORD was with him even there, and it was this place called Ziklag. It had been given to him. The fellow in charge of the Philistines thought that David had defected and really had given him this place as a place of sanctuary, if you will. But even there, the LORD brought a lot of folks to David. It’s an interesting picture because the future for David looked pretty bleak. They had a promise from God, but that was about it. So, when you look at these guys’ names, you think, “Gosh, these guys joined a losing cause.” I mean, on

6 paper they had nowhere to go. There were no open doors. There was no future. There was no brightness. And yet they were somehow convinced that God was with this young man, on the run, who had very little to offer them other than a promise from a God that they couldn’t see. And I’m encouraged by that because if you can see God’s provision……and then David was a good leader, he supported these men, and they came to know the LORD through David’s own example. You remember when they trapped Saul or they had Saul in a cave? And the boys said, “This is the LORD, man. He brought him to you so you can kill him. And if you don’t want to, we will.” And David had to teach them that you couldn’t lay your hand on God’s anointed. You remember? And he taught them the ways of the LORD in a way that only David could. So this chapter lists the growing support David got from those who were with him and were on the run with him, if you will.

There’re a couple of, I think, lessons that you don’t want to miss in this chapter. Those who came to David, first of all, came from all of Israel. They came from every direction. In other words, though the north was gone and the south had survived it, those who came to him came from every tribe. And they were moved to join him because they saw that the LORD was with David. They were enemies, but they didn’t stay enemies. In fact, if you read verse 22 here, you’ll read, “For at that time they came to David day by day to help him, until it was a great army, like the army of God.” But they came from every direction to be David’s helpers. In Hebron, verses 38-40, every tribe was represented. In fact, 3,000 of Saul’s own people (his greatest enemy for years), joined the army, committed themselves to David (you can read about it in verses 1 and 2 and verse 29 or so). And all of them were used by God to accomplish God’s will of making David the king, just as verse 23 says; the prophet said so – Samuel told him that back in chapter 16 of 1 Samuel. The other thing, verse 8 (chapter 12 here), it says, “Some Gadites joined David at the stronghold in the wilderness, mighty men of valor, men trained for battle, who could handle shield and spear, whose faces were like the faces of lions,” (good lookin’ guys) “and were as swift as gazelles on the mountains.” What a great description of these guys! Courageous men. We read about them in verse 14, “These were from the sons of , captains of the army; the least was over a hundred, and the greatest was over a thousand. These are the ones who crossed the Jordan in the first month,” (or literally during flood season) “when it had overflowed all its banks; and they put to flight all those in the valleys, to the east and to the west.” So these guys were special forces kind of guys. Tough guys. Aggressive guys. I just love the description in verse 8. They look like lions’ faces.

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David, when he saw these people coming to him – more and more as they came, we are told, in verse 16, as he saw them coming, he said, in verse 17 to them, “ ‘If you have come peaceably to me to help me, my heart will be united with you; but if to betray me to my enemies, since there is no wrong in my hands, may the God of our fathers look and bring judgment.’ Then the Spirit came upon Amasai, the chief of the captains,” and he made a commitment that everyone would stay with David, that they wanted peace, that they knew God was with him. And so David received them, and they became a part of his army.

So, the mighty men of David. Two chapters to just kind of show you where did all of his support come from, how did the LORD raise them up. It took a long time. Fifteen years for some of this staff to be a part of David’s life.

In chapters 13, 14, 15 and 16 – easier to remember when you can block them together – we get to follow David’s dealing with the ark of the covenant. Now, you remember that this wooden box overlaid with gold had been built by Moses years earlier at the direction of the LORD in the wilderness because it was going to be that place where God’s glory was going to be amongst the people, almost a symbol of God’s presence among them. If you read Exodus 25, there is a description and the details and the purpose of the ark. Well the ark had either been with or not with the people for many generations, but it always represented God’s presence with them. It was a reminder of something they couldn’t see. During their fightings with the Philistines at a time when they were very far from the LORD, the children of Israel (during the time of the Judges) decided that it would probably be all right to carry that ark into battle, kind of as an amulet. It no longer represented God’s presence; that they had forgotten a long time ago. It just kind of stood for something that was religious that had power at some point. And so they carried this thing into battle thinking, “Oh, we’re gonna whoop these guys ‘cause we’ve got the ark!” And, instead, they got taken out, and the Philistines took the ark and took it away from them, and Israel went home with its tail between its legs. But the LORD also has a responsibility to make Himself known when His people won’t. And so He made sure that the ark was a bummer to everyone living in the Philistine cities. In fact, let’s just say they got sick. That’s putting it mildly, but let’s just say they got sick. They got so sick, as they carted it around towns, that they finally just said, “We’ve gotta get rid of this thing! Before we all die, we’ve got to get rid of it.” And so they devised a plan, and they said, “If the God of the Jews is doing this to us, then let’s prove this. Let’s put Him on a cart and have the cart pulled by nursing cattle that would have instincts

8 to come back to their young. And let’s just kind of hit them down the road, and, hey, look, if they run all the way to Israel, then we’ll know that it was their God, and we’re glad to get rid of Him. And if not, if we’re all just superstitious, then we’ll find out, and we’ve just had some bad luck.” And so they did what they explained. The cows ran off, and they kept going. Crossed the border. Got to a place called Beth Shemesh, where many died, because now the Jews came – the ones who should have known this was God’s presence. And they began to look into the ark. And they weren’t supposed to be that close to a holy God. They were sinful. No way to get that close to God without some help. And so they would leave it there with Abinadab at Kirjath Jearim. It would stay there for 100 years. No one would bother with this. Saul didn’t want any part of that. The nation, under Saul’s leadership, surely didn’t worship.

Well now it’s David’s turn, and David wants to follow the LORD. And he knows and remembers that that’s the place of worship, and they haven’t had a national place of worship in forever. And so, when you get to chapter 13, beginning in verse 1, “Then David consulted with the captains of thousands and hundreds, and with every leader. And David said to all the assembly of Israel, ‘If it seems good to you, and if it is of the LORD our God, let us send out to our brethren everywhere who are left in all the , and with them to the priests and who are in their cities and their common-lands, that they may gather together to us; and let us bring the ark of our God back to us, for we have not inquired at it since the days of Saul.’ ” And everyone said, “That’s a good idea!”

Now, there’s been a lot of criticism – if you read commentators, anyway – that David probably shouldn’t have bothered to check with the people; that, as a leader, he should really have just sought the LORD. I don’t know what to say about that. There were a lot of people who thought David made a mistake in taking the survey. But the king wanted to do the right thing, I think. He wanted to spiritually lead. He didn’t want to have to mandate this thing, and it didn’t seem to be necessary. It was a good idea. The problem was no one bothered to ask the LORD how do they move that thing. Because, in the last 100 years, the only experience they had was a nice new cart that the Philistines had used to send it back.

And “So David,” beginning in verse 5, “gathered all Israel together,” and they headed over to Kirjath Jearim. And this was the home of Abinadab. And they wanted to get the ark. But they never checked out with the LORD as to how, like I said, to move it. You can read in Numbers 4:15 how they were supposed to move

9 this thing, and it had everything to do with the representation of God’s presence, man’s sinfulness, and the way man would approach God through the priests and through holiness; and it was a lesson that they needed to learn that obviously we do as well. So they show up with lots of music, much planning. It’s a great idea. Verse 9, “And when they came to Chidon’s threshing floor,” (where they had loaded this thing up and everybody was singing), “Uzza put out his hand to hold the ark, for the oxen stumbled. Then the anger of the LORD was aroused against Uzza, and He struck him because he put his hand to the ark; and he died there before God.” So, great planning, great music, great idea. Everyone voted yes. They went out. They did what they thought they were going to do. And on some rocky ground, the ark gets bounced around; some guy, in his effort to help, stops it, and boy, then this happens. Never forget the LORD’s holy presence in our midst is not something we can take for granted. He’s holy, we’re not.

So, imagine David. He felt embarrassed, angry, fearful. He had come to do the right thing in the wrong way. He assumed that any way would have been good because it’s a good thing. And that just doesn’t work. There’s no way that we can do that. So we read, in verse 11, “And David became angry because of the LORD’s outbreak against Uzza; therefore that place is called Perez Uzza” (or ‘Against Uzza’) “to this day. David was afraid.” He was angry, and he was afraid. You read it there in two verses. “ ‘How can I bring the ark of God to me?’ So David would not move the ark with him to the City of David, but took it aside into the house of Obed- the Gittite. The ark of God remained with the family of Obed-Edom in his house three months. And the LORD blessed the house of Obed-Edom and all that he had” for they had His presence now with them.

So David does the wrong thing, but he blames God. “How am I supposed to move this thing?” Well that would have been a good question to ask a few hours earlier. God help us to be able to seek to do God’s will in God’s prescribed method. There are methods, you know, that God would bless. For now, David abandons the idea. “Let’s just leave the presence of God and the plans I had for Jerusalem. Just leave it here.” Dumps it off in this guy’s house…….who blesses him because the LORD is there in his midst. I think, for you and me, maybe sometimes the warning can be that we can be guilty of trying to do things for the Lord in worldly ways - equate it to the Philistine ox cart, if you will – to accomplish God’s work. Since we started building our buildings – because they’re registered with the City and they’re public records – we probably get five or six calls a month from people who want to take our project and go out and raise money and, “We’re gonna serve the

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Lord.” It’s ridiculous! Because that’s the way the world works. We just go, “Oh, yeah, the Lord’ll pay for it. He’s always taken care of us.” “Oh, brother, we could really add stuff to your coffers. Ho ho ho.” “Yeah, see you later.” That’s really not the way God works, right? We don’t have to hype awareness or raise funds or motivate people with the wrong kinds of promises. We just have to rely on the Lord. The Bible says, “Unless the LORD builds the house,” we’re just spinning our wheels, “we’re just laboring in vain” (Psalm 127:1). And so I think it’s the same kind of thing. David meant well, but David was not necessarily going to find God’s best just going off on his own and trying to do things the way he thought that they should be done. And so David was angry, he was fearful. He gave up. “Let’s not do this.”

Well then you get to chapter 14, which is kind of an inset into the story. And it tells us that the King of Tyre – his name was Hiram – would oftentimes, in the north, send messengers down to David to say that he would help him build a house or a palace for David. And we read, in verse 2, something interesting. It says, “So David knew that the LORD had established him as king over Israel, for his kingdom was highly exalted for the sake of His people Israel.” People began to notice that God was doing something with David, and it brought him renown, which David interpreted as, “The LORD is establishing me.” However he felt in chapter 13, this encouraged him, at least somewhat. We then read, which is just the opposite, verse 3, “Then David took more wives in Jerusalem, and David begot more sons and daughters. And these are the names of his children,” and there’re thirteen of them just there.

Verse 8, “Now when the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over all Israel, all the Philistines went up to search for David. And David heard of it and went out against them. Then the Philistines went and made a raid on the Valley of Rephaim. And David inquired of God, saying, ‘Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will You deliver them into my hand?’ The LORD said to him, ‘Go up, for I will deliver them into your hand.’ So they went up to Baal Perazim, and David defeated them there. Then David said, ‘God has broken through my enemies by my hand like a breakthrough of water.’ Therefore they called the name of that place Baal Perazim,” (the ‘Master of Breakthroughs’). Verse 12, “And when they left their gods there, David gave a commandment, and they were burned with fire. Then the Philistines once again made a raid on the valley. Therefore David inquired again of God, and God said to him, ‘You shall not go up after them; circle around them, and come upon them in front of the mulberry trees. And it shall be, when you hear a

11 sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, then you shall go out to battle, for God has gone out before you to strike the camp of the Philistines.’ So David did as God commanded him, and they drove back the army of the Philistines from as far as Gezer. Then the fame of David went out into all lands,” (grew, I guess) “and the LORD brought the fear of him upon all nations.”

So, interesting picture. On the one hand, David was able to say, “I know the LORD’s called me. People recognize God’s hand upon me” even though, chapter 13, he was very discouraged, if you will. One sinful area of David’s life – we’ve mentioned it a lot, I think, when we were going through Samuel – was that David married a lot of women. God allowed it, didn’t promote it, never turned out good. In fact, I don’t think you’ll find one example of someone with two wives in the Bible that was happy with it. I don’t know if I could be happy with two wives; one is plenty. (Laughing) No. It’s a good thing. One. I’m not saying…..(Laughing)…..don’t get me in trouble. (Laughing) But thirteen? Fifteen? Really? And unfortunately he couldn’t be the kind of father that he needed to be, and the kids didn’t do very well. But a lot of those examples come from the culture, and it brought David great grief. Here’re thirteen children, and there’re a lot more.

Beginning in verse 8 and then going to the end of the chapter, we get this story of two battles that David found himself in as he began to lead Israel against their enemy. And I think the lesson that we should learn, at least from the two stories, is probably this: whenever God brings you to a place of battle, make sure that you check with Him because He’s going to direct you as to how to find victory. I think it ties to the chapter before. David didn’t pray, he didn’t seek the LORD, he didn’t get the Numbers 4. Right? He didn’t find out how to do it, and so things got bad. It doesn’t mean God wasn’t with him, but he had a lot to learn. And if you look at these two very short reports of these two attacks and these two battles, if you will, each time David went and asked the LORD what to do, he didn’t presume he knew. He asked. And when he was specifically told, he specifically acted upon what God’s direction was. David didn’t say, “Oh, LORD, I have a plan. Please bless it.” Like we sometimes do. No. He was listening to what God had to say. So the first time, “LORD, should we go fight?” “Yes, you’ll win.” And he did. Second time, “LORD, should we fight like we did last time?” “No. I’ve got a better idea this time. We’re gonna have timing and subterfuge, and you’re gonna have to hide in the bushes, and you’re gonna have to wait for My signal.” “All right. We can do that, too.” And it brought deliverance, it brought victory. Why? Because he was

12 listening to what God had to say, and that requires us being in fellowship with God, having a nearness to the Lord.

Notice, in verse 16, these words, “So David did as God commanded him,” and because he did, he found victory and fame, and “the LORD brought the fear of him upon all nations” because of David’s leadership. How we need to seek the Lord and not presume upon Him and learn to pray. Because he didn’t do that in chapter 13, but he learned to do it here in some of his battles.

So in chapter 15, notice, “David built houses for himself…….; he prepared a place for the ark, and pitched a tent for it.” Then David said, “All right, let’s go get the ark.” But notice what he says in verse 2 this time, “ ‘No one may carry the ark of God but the Levites, for the LORD has chosen them to carry the ark of God and to minister before Him forever.’ And David gathered all Israel together at Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the LORD to its place…..and he assembled all of the priests from ’s family and the Kohathites,” in particular, and he went out to do the same work he started to do in chapter 13, except now he went with some insight. In fact, if you flip ahead to verse 13, David said to the priests, “ ‘For because you did not do it the first time, the LORD our God broke out against us, because we did not consult Him about the proper order.’ ” And verse 15, “And the children of the Levites bore the ark of God on their shoulders, by its poles, as Moses had commanded according to the word of the LORD.” There’re the key verses. “We didn’t do it in the proper way, but we’re going to do it the right way.” Before, in chapter 13, David blamed God. “What’re You doin’ to me? I’m here trying to do good work, and You’re not blessing me.” Now he blames himself, and he points a finger at the priests as well. Look. Know this. Good intentions cannot cover up disobedience. Good intentions don’t help. We mean well. Yeah, but how ‘bout obeying is better than sacrifice”? (1 Samuel 15:22). And he does. So again, notice in verses 1 and 2, David again invites the nation. He doesn’t take direction from them. He follows the LORD’s direction.

And, verse 16, “Then David spoke to the leaders of the Levites to appoint their brethren to be the singers accompanied by instruments of music, stringed instruments, harps, and cymbals, by raising the voice with resounding joy.” So David placed great emphasis on worship and the gifts that some were given to exercise that place of worship. They brought out the whole band. If you look at verse 22, it says that this fellow who led the worship, “Chenaniah, leader of the Levites, was instructor in charge of the music, because he was skillful.” I point

13 that out to you because not all of us can sing. We sound good together, but not all of us can sing. Now the Lord is tone deaf. He just looks at the heart. But I’m not. (Laughing) Isn’t it good that God raises up people that can carry a note and know how to play? And there’s a difference. One aids in worship; the other distracts from worship. If someone’s like a cat in the back row…..rrrrrr (Laughing)…..the Lord might enjoy it because of your heart. I’m distracted. So David not only went about doing things the LORD’s way, but he also looked for those who had gifts in the areas that they needed. And so he’ll mention Asaph, in verse 17, as an overseer; he’ll mention the ranks of the different worship leaders – they had different responsibility. And the result, in verse 25, was that they gathered everyone together, and they came to get the ark with joy.

And so verse 26 tells us, “And so it was, when God helped the Levites who bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD, that they offered seven bulls and seven rams. David was clothed with a robe of fine linen,” (he wore a common man’s clothes, if you will) “as were all the Levites who bore the ark, the singers, and Chenaniah the music master with the singers. David also wore a linen ephod. Thus all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the LORD with shouting and with the sound of the horn, with trumpets and with cymbals, making music with stringed instruments and harps. And it happened, as the ark of the covenant of the LORD came to the City of David, that Michal, Saul’s daughter,” (happened to be David’s wife) “looked through a window and saw King David whirling and playing music, and she despised him in her heart.” And so David did things the LORD’s way. He had great joy. So did everyone else. There was a joyful kind of return, if you will, to Jerusalem. The only person not singing was his wife, his first wife. He married her in 1 Samuel 18. And she didn’t like the fact, according to 2 Samuel, that David looked like a commoner. “He just joined with the people.” He was just humble, loving the LORD. Her complaint to David was, “You shouldn’t have done that.” And David said, “Look, I was dancin’ to the LORD, man. How can you criticize me?” And so we are told that he and Michal did not have physical relationship after that matter. She never had children. And eventually she would leave David for another man and continue her way into idolatry. But, needless to say, David learned this lesson. And I think chapter 14 is in the middle there. David learned that if he obeyed the LORD, he would do things right. He went to get the priests who – the Kohathites, especially, through Aaron - were the ones that were supposed to carry the ark. Because, look, it’s the priests that provided a way for sinful man to come before a holy God. Jesus would ultimately be our great High Priest.

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Chapter 16 – we’re gonna make it, I know we are – the ark is now set. Verse 1, “So they brought the ark of God, and set it in the mist of the that David had erected for it. Then they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before God. And when David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD. Then he distributed to everyone of Israel, both man and woman, to everyone a loaf of bread, a piece of meat, and a cake of raisins.” (Everybody got dinner.) “And he appointed some of the Levites to minister before the ark of the LORD, to commemorate, to thank, and to praise the LORD God of Israel.” And then, again, you get the names of those who are regularly serving. In fact, if you read down through verse 37, it tells us that Asaph and some of his fellows worked every day in ministry at the ark “regularly, as every day’s work required.” So they were full-time guys, just standing there in fellowship with God and serving Him.

Beginning in verse 7, and finally the LORD’s presence is in the midst of the people again, David then delivers this psalm. You can read it. We’re not going to read through it. It is almost the same as Psalm 105. The rest of them are kind of gathered from a couple of different places; Psalm 106, as well, is in there a little bit. But, needless to say, it is a psalm about worship. God is so good, God provides all of our needs. Every time God says something, He does what He promises. You can depend on His Word, if you will. He has chosen us to be His people. And then ultimately, God would like the world to know through us that He’s the LORD. So we read, in verse 8, for example, “Oh, give thanks to the LORD! Call upon His name;” and then he says, “Make known His deeds among the peoples! Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him; talk of all His wondrous works!” It really is a calling of the LORD both to Israel and, today, to the church. If the church doesn’t talk about Jesus, who’s going to do that? And today, more than ever, I think we need to be talking more, not less. So, interesting.

We get to verse 37, and we read, “So he left Asaph and his brothers there……to serve regularly; and Obed-Edom with his sixty-eight brethren…to be gatekeepers; and the priest and his brethren the priests, stood before the tabernacle of the LORD at the high place that was at Gibeon, to offer burnt offerings….regularly morning and evening, and to do according to all that is written in the Law of the LORD which He commanded Israel.” And on it goes, and they just kind of define some of the worship leaders and their names and the gatekeepers. And, “Then all the people,” verse 43, “departed, every man to his house” (from the dedication); “and David returned to bless his house.” It’s interesting to me, as you get to the

15 end of this chapter, that you don’t get the name of David’s secretary of state or his treasurer. You only get the names of people that are carrying out spiritual things, which is interesting. He mentions all the others, but he goes, “Yeah, this guy did that” but not by name. It’s kind of like all were driven by the one idea that, in verse 41, just “to give thanks to the LORD, because His mercy endures forever.” Aren’t we glad for that?!

Chapter 17 is an exact verse-by-verse repeat of 2 Samuel 7. It’s the exact copy of that chapter, and it is important because this is the story of the covenant that God made with David. And I think it’s so important that the Lord gives it to us twice in the Bible, word-for-word. Because, as this ark became part of the worship life of Israel, God’s presence, David, sitting in a palace, thought, “You know, I could just build the LORD a nice palace. He’s out there in a tent, for crying out loud. It’s not always such nice weather. And so I’d like to put Him in a better place that befits the God that we serve.” And so, verse 1, “When David was dwelling in his house, he said to the prophet, ‘See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of the covenant of the LORD is under tent curtains.’ ” Without really saying anything else, “Then Nathan said to David, ‘Do all that is in your heart, for God is with you.’ ” And then he went home, and the LORD said to His prophet, “ ‘Go and tell My servant David, “Thus says the LORD: ‘You shall not build Me a house to dwell in. For I have not dwelt in a house since the time that I brought up Israel, even to this day, but have gone from tent to tent, and from one tabernacle to another. Wherever I have moved about with all Israel, have I ever spoken a word to any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd My people, saying, ‘Why have you not built me a house of cedar?’ ” ’ ” “I don’t need a house!”

So, David’s heart was right. Nathan the prophet was a bit presumptuous. It sounded like a great idea to him, so he said, “All right.” But remember, a lot of these lessons are seek the LORD. Do the things He tells you. The LORD said to Nathan, “You’re going to have to go back and tell David you were wrong. I don’t want him to build Me a house. I don’t need him to build Me a house.” In fact, in this account, three times the LORD will mention the house of David will be the vessel through whom God will bring salvation to the world. And so the LORD said to Nathan, “I’ve never needed any house. I’ve just been with My people wherever they’ve gone. I certainly don’t need a house of cedar.” If you mark in the margin, or if you take notes, in Exodus 20 beginning in verse 22, the LORD gives a description of the kind of altar that He will accept. And if you go read there, it says that, “If you’re going to build a place for Me to worship, I want it to be made

16 out of earth. I don’t want you to carve on it so people go, ‘Oh, that’s a beautiful altar.’ I don’t want you to raise it up so high that the people can look up the skirts of the priests. I just want a place where, when you come, the only thing you remember is Me, not the place of worship.” So, David’s desire was not in line with God’s will, I guess, from the sense of worship, but the LORD had other plans for David. God isn’t interested in luring people to Him by the way a building looks. I’m glad we have a new place to worship. And when the sanctuary gets done, I think it’ll be far more suited to service. I guarantee it won’t be fancy because nobody likes fancy. But we like to be able to worship God as the Lord has allowed us to. And so I think it’s function over facility, if you will.

And so the LORD begins then, in verse 7, to talk to David through the prophet – that God had a bigger plan. In fact, David was going to be the family through whom the Messiah would come. Now He starts by saying, in verse 7, “ ‘I took you from the sheepfold’ ” (out from being a little shepherd boy), “ ‘from following the sheep, to be ruler over My people Israel. And I have been with you wherever you have gone, and have cut off all your enemies from before you, and have made you a name like the name of the great men who are on the earth. Moreover I will appoint a place for My people Israel. I’ve protected you. Also I will subdue all your enemies before you. And I tell you that the LORD will build,’ ” verse 10, “ ‘you a house. And it shall be, when your days are fulfilled, when you must go to be with your fathers, that I will set up your seed after you, who will be of your sons; and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build Me a house’ ” (talking of ), “ ‘and I will establish his throne forever. I will be his Father, and he shall be My son; and I will not take My mercy away from him, as I took it from him who was before you’ ” (from Saul). “ ‘And I will establish him in My house and in My kingdom forever; and his throne shall be established forever.’ ”

And so God made this promise of an eternal descendancy that David understood correctly was a promise of a Messiah that was coming. “David, you started off kind of a nobody, and look at the somebody that I’ve made you, and I’m not done yet. I’m gonna do far greater things for you than that.”

So when the king heard all these words, verse 16, “King David went in and sat before the LORD,” and he just shook his head; he couldn’t believe what God was saying. He said, “LORD, I don’t know what to say. I don’t know who I am, that You’ve brought me this far. I’m small in the eyes of the world. I’m Your servant, and yet You’ve raised me up to this. And now You’re promising me an eternity and a

17 descendancy that will continue on forever.” And he says, in verse 18, something very interesting; he said, “I don’t know what to say. What more can I say?” David was the greatest poet of his day; he had lots to say. Look at the Psalms. He kept talking. But he realized, verse 19, that he didn’t deserve any of this, and so he was amazed at God’s goodness. He can only thank the LORD. And it is in verse 27, “ ‘Now You have been pleased to bless the house of Your servant, that it may continue before You forever; for You have blessed it, O LORD, and it shall be blessed forever.’ ” The best thing David could do – when all is said and done – was to believe it. “You blessed me? All right. I’m going to be blessed.” Amazing. And isn’t that interesting? I find that, so often, in pastors and in churches, pastors are prone to try to tell people what they ought to do for the Lord. I learned from Pastor Chuck years ago…..he used to say to us young guys who wanted to be in ministry, “Look, if you’re going to be a pastor, tell the people what God has done for them. Everything else’ll go downhill. That understanding will move their hearts to the point where they’ll serve because they want to serve God. You can’t really lean on folks, ‘You know what you should be doin’ for the Lord after all He’s done for you.’ ” Chuck said this is just so wrong. And David did the same thing. He heard, he wanted to do something for the LORD. The LORD said, “No, let Me tell you what I’ve done for you.” And, as a result, here’s a guy – he’s now sold out for the rest of his life because of that which God has done for him.

Well then we get to chapters 18, 19 and 20, our last three chapters. I’m going to do it in 5 minutes. Watch this. No. I’ll be all right. With all of the blessings of God and the promises of God, you would think David’s life might have been easier. Well, it was hardly easy. There were tribulations all of his life, much of them coming from his enemies. And so, in chapters 18, 19 and 20, there are these broad strokes with occasional details to give us exact pictures of David’s battles. And the theme of these three chapters, I think, is verse 6. Look at verse 6 of chapter 18 where it says, “Then David put garrisons in Syria of Damascus; and the Syrians became David’s servants, and brought tribute.” And then you read these words, “So the LORD preserved David wherever he went.” Down in verse 13, “He also put garrisons in Edom, and all the Edomites became David’s servants.” And you read again, “And the LORD preserved David wherever he went.”

And so chapter 18, verses 1 and 2, the Philistines came to fight, and God preserved David. And the Moabites were run out of the land, and God preserved David. Verses 3-11, the king of Zobah came out against him; the Edomites in verse 12; the Ammonites and the Syrians in chapters 19 and 20. David did something interesting

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- you read it in verse 3. He set up garrisons; it was really the command posts as the land extended their reach, and the growth was unprecedented, and Israel was as glorious in David’s day as it had ever been or really will be until the Lord returns. With every bit of conquest, verse 11, David saved up whatever he was able to gather from the people he overthrew, and he set the money aside for the house of God. That’s what he was interested in being a part of. Verses 14-17 you get some of David’s administration team, his oversight, if you will, and especially those in the military and those in the worship of God.

Chapter 19 is a story. Verse 1, “It happened after this that Nahash the king of the people of died, and his son reigned in his place. Then David said, ‘I will show kindness to the son of Nahash, because his father showed kindness to me.’ So David sent messengers to comfort him concerning his father. And David’s servants came to Hanun in the land of the people of Ammon to comfort him. And the princes of the people of Ammon said to Hanun,” (the son), verse 3, “ ‘Do you think that David really honors your father because he has sent comforters to you? Did his servants not come to you to search and to overthrow and to spy out the land?’ ” (So they gave bad information.) “Therefore Hanun took David’s servants, shaved them, and cut off their garments in the middle, at their buttocks” (so that their butts hung out; pretty bad, isn’t it?) But it gets worse. Verse 5 says this, “Then some went and told David about the men; and he sent to meet them, because the men were greatly ashamed. And the king said, ‘Wait at Jericho until your beards have grown, and then return.’ ” And I’m thinkin’, “Get your clothes fixed as well.” But there’s something about those beards, right? The honor of the man was his beard. So they stayed in Jericho until their……….okay, so, in any event, David tried to be kind. He was misread. David, instead, verse 6, went after these guys because he had been offended. Got troops. The Ammonites hired some troops to try to fight David. They didn’t do very well. The war is fought, beginning in verse 16. The battle is won decisively. And the alliance between the Ammonites and the Syrians, at that time, was broken, verse 19, as a result of this war.

Chapter 20 (and I told you we’re gonna make it, look, only eight verses, and I’m not gonna read ‘em). This chapter focuses on Israel’s war with two perennial enemies – the Ammonites and the Philistines. Verse 1, though, is important. It says, “It happened in the spring of the year, at the time kings go out to battle, that Joab led out the armed forces and ravaged the country of the people of Ammon, and came and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed at Jerusalem. And Joab defeated Rabbah and overthrew it.” This was the battle and the time that David stumbled

19 with Bathsheba. You can write 2 Samuel 11 in the margin. He should have gone to battle; he was coasting. You know how sometimes you get victory, and so you just go, “Oh, I think I’ll take a break”? It’s not a good thing because the devil doesn’t take any breaks. So he doesn’t go to battle. He should have been fighting. You can’t live on yesterday’s victories. The enemy is ever-roaring like a lion (1 Peter 5:8). And so David would find, at least in this chapter at this time, that the downfall with Bathsheba would bring great grief to him, his family, and the nation, and everyone involved.

Verses 4-8 talk about the battle with the giants, the Philistine giants, members of the Goliath family from Gath. And these guys were just beat up. Notice, verse 6, “Yet again there was war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature, with twenty-four fingers and toes, six on each hand and six on each foot;” (this is a crazy lookin’ guy) “and he was also born to the giant. So when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimea, David’s brother, killed him.” So the fall of the Philistines going forward.

Lots to remember. Next week we will finish 1 Chronicles. Will you read ahead, please, so we don’t have to wait for you? Skip all of the names, and we’ll get to the lessons, and then I think we’re going to do five weeks in 2 Chronicles, and then we’re going to start the book of Revelation for the next 18 months, if the Lord tarries. So, you ready for that?

Submitted by Maureen Dickson October 21, 2020

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