30. The Book of 2Samuel—18:19-33 “Messengers Without a Message” (2/26/17) Over the last few chapters of our study in 2Samuel we have been looking at Absalom, David’s son, and his efforts to overthrow his father. Absalom had been planning his coup for three or four years, quietly gathering people to his side while he patiently waited for the right moment to launch his attack and take the kingdom from his dad. As we saw in chapter 15, that day finally arrived and Absalom and his forces drove David and the small group of men still loyal to him from Jerusalem into exile and hiding. But Absalom made a fatal mistake—he underestimated his father who was a seasoned warrior. So David (who didn’t fight personally in this battle) directed his men to engage Absalom’s army in the forests of Gilead where, even though outnumbered, they would have a strategic advantage. Everything went according to plan and David’s men defeated Absalom’s army killing twenty- thousand of his troops. Absalom was forced to flee on his donkey but passing under a large terebinth tree got his hair entangled in a low hanging bough and was left dangling in mid-air when the donkey kept going. 1 When Joab, David’s general, was told what had happened he immediately went to where Absalom was ‘hanging out’ and thrust him thru with some spears and his ten armor bearers finished him off. This brings us to where we left off last time in the narrative— 2 Samuel 18:19-20 (NKJV) 19 Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said, "Let me run now and take the news to the king, how the LORD has avenged him of his enemies." 20 And Joab said to him, "You shall not take the news this day, for you shall take the news another day. But today you shall take no news, because the king's son is dead." Ahimaaz was the son of Zadok who was one of the priests in Israel that had remained loyal to David but who stayed in Jerusalem pretending to be loyal to Absalom. He along with another priest who was loyal to David named Abiathar would feed David intel thru a young maiden to their two sons (Ahimaaz and Jonathan) who had camped just outside of the city by a spring of water known as the Spring of En Rogel. These two young men would then run and tell David what Absalom was planning so he could escape those plans and stay a couple of steps ahead of his son. Now that Absalom has been defeated and killed, Ahimaaz, Zadok’s son wants to be the messenger to take the news to David. He was one of the designated ‘runners’ (messengers) in Israel and had a reputation for bringing good news from the battle field to the king (27b). And so, he volunteers to take the news to David who was staying at Mahanaim, three miles away. 2 Obviously, Ahimaaz believes that David will receive his message as being good news— I mean, how could the king not receive word that his men have been victorious and his ‘enemy’ (Absalom) has been killed in battle as being anything but good news? However, Joab knew better—he knew David well enough to know that the king would only be interested in what had happened to Absalom, and that for him the news of Absalom’s death would be anything but good. Furthermore, Joab knew that David was known to take his anger and sorrow out on the messengers that brought him bad news (1:4–16; 4:8–12)! And so, in an effort to protect Ahimaaz, Joab decides to send ‘the Cushite’ (Ethiopian) in his place. I guess Joab reasoned, if David took his anger out on a foreigner and wacked the guy—it wouldn’t be a big loss (a terrible way to look at another human being but Joab wasn’t a very nice guy!). 2 Samuel 18:21-23 (NKJV) 21 Then Joab said to the Cushite, "Go, tell the king what you have seen." So the Cushite bowed himself to Joab and ran. 22 And Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said again to Joab, "But whatever happens, please let me also run after the Cushite." So Joab said, "Why will you run, my son, since you have no news ready?" 23 "But whatever happens," he said, "let me run." So he said to him, "Run."… Why Ahimaaz was so zealous to run even after another man was sent baffles Joab who basically says to him, “Listen kid, why do you want to put yourself in danger since you have ‘no news ready’ (i.e. ‘no good news that will readily please the king and cause him to reward you’)— But Ahimaaz was insistent and so Joab finally relented and said to him “Run”! 3 2 Samuel 18:23b (NKJV) 23 …Then Ahimaaz ran by way of the plain, and outran the Cushite. Many believe that Ahimaaz was able to outrun the Cushite because he had taken the direct route, which was shorter in distance but more difficult taking him over the hills and thru the thick forest—while Ahimaaz took a longer, but easier route by way of the plain (Jordan Valley). This allowed Ahimaaz, even though he started later, to arrive at Mahanaim before “the Cushite.” 2 Samuel 18:24-33 (NLT) 24 While David was sitting between the inner and outer gates of the town, the watchman climbed to the roof of the gateway by the wall. As he looked, he saw a lone man running toward them. 25 He shouted the news down to David, and the king replied, “If he is alone, he has news.” As the messenger came closer, 26 the watchman saw another man running toward them. He shouted down, “Here comes another one!” The king replied, “He also will have news.” 27 “The first man runs like Ahimaaz son of Zadok,” the watchman said. “He is a good man and comes with good news,” the king replied. 28 Then Ahimaaz cried out to the king, “Everything is all right!” He bowed before the king with his face to the ground and said, “Praise to the LORD your God, who has handed over the rebels who dared to stand against my lord the king.” 29 “What about young Absalom?” the king demanded. “Is he all right?” Ahimaaz replied, “When Joab told me to come, there was a lot of commotion. But I didn’t know what was happening.” 30 “Wait here,” the king told him. So Ahimaaz stepped aside. 31 Then the man from Ethiopia arrived and said, “I have good news for my lord the king. Today the LORD has rescued you from all those who rebelled against you.” 32 “What about young Absalom?” the king demanded. “Is he all right?” And the Ethiopian replied, “May all of your enemies, my lord the king, both now and in the future, share the fate of that young man!” 33 The king was overcome with emotion. He went up to the room over the gateway and burst into tears. And as he went, he cried, “O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you! O Absalom, my son, my son.” Now as I was reading the passage this idea of a messenger being zealous to run but who really didn’t have a message to deliver once he got to where he was going—really stood out to me. We see many people in society that are zealous to be messengers and run to and fro with messages of ‘comfort and hope’ to a world full of chaos and confusion—but in reality they really have nothing of substance to say. 4 It’s as Peter said in his second epistle—“ they speak great swelling words of emptiness”. In other words, their message sounds deep and profound but there’s no power and no life because—it’s not a message from God. Only God’s Word is living and powerful (Heb.4:12)—all the words and wisdom of this world are nothing but high sounding foolishness. Colossians 2:8 (NLT) 8 Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ. Look, as we just said, in this world there are myriads of messengers that are running around with no real message of hope for hurting people—we’ll call these people—false messengers. I. False Messengers Their message is a combination of worldly wisdom and empty philosophies that come from human thinking. So much, if not all, of it is all about people turning inward to tap into their human potential and inner strength or a variety of self oriented philosophies that put humans at their center of their existence instead of God. So whether we’re talking about man-centered philosophies like self-esteem, self-love or positive mental attitude; or metaphysical teachings like transcendental meditation, eastern mysticism, or visualization—all of these fall under the category of the world’s wisdom, and as James said in his epistle—“This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, [and] demonic.” (3:15) 5 The reason that James says that earthly wisdom is demonic is because it comes from the ‘god of this world’—the devil, who controls the main outlets of information that flow into this world— including the entertainment industries which also help to shape the way people think.