In 1996, Atlanta, Georgia was hosting the Summer Olympics. While at the games, one of the security guards noticed a strange backpack. The security guard notified the police, but as he was clearing people away from the scene, the backpack exploded, killing one person and injuring another 111 people. The FBI came into investigate, and pinned the bombing on the security guard because he fit the profile of a lone bomber. Where once he was a hero, now he was the prime suspect. He was never arrested, but the media and FBI hounded him for three months. His life unraveled, as some accused him of placing the bomb so that he could play the hero. Eventually in the Fall of 1996, he was cleared by the Justice Department of any wrong doing. The real bomber confessed and pleaded guilty in 2005. The security officer, Richard Jewell, died in 2007, fully exonerated and seen as the hero he was.
It’s this idea of doing what’s right and still being seen as doing wrong that brings us back to our summer series in the book of Second Samuel, where we’ll be picking it back up in Second Samuel Chapter 2 verse 1. And as we open up to Second Samuel 2:1, let’s remind ourselves where we are so far.
In week one, we covered the three sections of First Samuel, because First and Second Samuel are really one cohesive story of the transition from the era of Judges, to the era of the monarchy, and to the Davidic kingdom. In understating this, we briefly looked at one of the themes that carries over from First Samuel to Second Samuel, and that’s David’s love for Saul’s family. We saw how David grieved over Saul and Ish-bosheth, two men trying to hold onto their dynasty, and who were trying to kill David. Yet at their deaths, David mourned for them. Then we saw how David brought in and took care of the last remaining descendant of Saul, Jonathan’s son. Through all of this we saw how deep David’s love for Saul’s family was. And we walked away from last week with the understanding that, God is calling us to be people seeking the good for others, even when they seek our harm.
With that now fresh in our minds, we can move into the second chapter of Samuel, where again, we won’t cover every verse, because our purpose in these summer series is to see the big picture of the Bible. So let’s read starting in Second Samuel 2:1.
2:1 After this David inquired of the Lord, “Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah?” And the Lord said to him, “Go up.” David said, “To which shall I go up?” And he said, “To Hebron.” 2 So David went up there, and his two wives also, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel. 3 And David brought up his men who were with him, everyone with his household, and they lived in the towns of Hebron. 4 And the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah.
When they told David, “It was the men of Jabesh-gilead who buried Saul,” 5 David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh-gilead and said to them, “May you be blessed by the Lord, because you showed this loyalty to Saul your lord and buried him. 6 Now may the Lord show steadfast love and faithfulness to you. And I will do good to you because you have done this thing. 7 Now therefore let your hands be strong, and be valiant, for Saul your lord is dead, and the house of Judah has anointed me king over them.”
8 But Abner the son of Ner, commander of Saul's army, took Ish-bosheth the son of Saul and brought him over to Mahanaim, 9 and he made him king over Gilead and the Ashurites and Jezreel and Ephraim and Benjamin and all Israel. 10 Ish-bosheth, Saul's son, was forty years old when he began to reign over Israel, and he reigned two years. But the house of Judah followed David. 11 And the time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.
The after this is when he heard about Saul’s death, mourned it, and taught the people of Judah a song to remember their first king. Notice that David does the best thing he could do, he “inquired of the Lord.” Now he won’t always do this, and he hasn’t always done this, but this is one time, when he gets it right, we need to point it out.
David inquires of God, because he’s in a place of limbo. Saul’s dead, and David had been anointed by Samuel to be king, however, what’s next? The best place to go is to God to find out what’s the next step. God tells David to move to Hebron, which is a city south of Jerusalem. He takes his whole family, including the fighting men who had been with him for years.
While in Hebron, the tribe of Judah creates a rift in Israel. They crown David as their king, however, he is only over their tribe. But, as we see in verse 8-11, Ish-bosheth is crowned kind of the other eleven tribes. This makes sense because he’s the next in line to the throne. But because there are now two kings in Israel, we get this line in Chapter 3, verse 1, “There was a long war between the house of Saul and the house of David. And David grew stronger and stronger, while the house of Saul became weaker and weaker.”
In other words, the nation of Israel, within the span of a few hundred years, experienced their second civil war. The first being between the tribe of Benjamin and the rest of Israel in Judges, Chapter 20.
Dropping down to verse 12 in Chapter 2, we see the first battle of this civil war. The armies of David and Ish-bosheth meet at Gibeon, a city just north of Jerusalem. There Joab on David’s side, and Abner on Ish-bosheth’s side send their men out to fight. David’s men win, while Ish-bosheth’s lose. At the end of the battle three things happen: First, we find out that Abner kills Joab’s brother, Asahel (v.21-23), this will be important for later. Second, David wins, losing only nineteen men, to Ish-bosheth’s three-hundred and sixty (v.30-31). Finally, we get an insight into the power structure of Ish-bosheth. When describing how many men died for which side, we’re told this in verse 31, “But the servants of David struck down of Benjamin 360, of Abner’s men.”
Abner’s men? Shouldn’t it read, Ish-bosheth’s men? This let’s us know that Ish-bosheth might not be the power behind the throne. Remember what I just read from Chapter 3 verse 1? “And David grew stronger and stronger, while the house of Saul became weaker and weaker.” This is juxtaposed with verse 6 of Chapter 3 which reads, “While there was war between the house of Saul and the house of David, Abner was making himself strong in the house of Saul.”
While David is growing strong as king of Judah, Ish-bosheth is losing power. Yet under his nose, so to speak, his greatest general is gaining power. But I don’t think Abner does so through malice
Let’s pick it back up in verse 7, where we see the power struggle within Ish-bosheth’s house.
7 Now Saul had a concubine whose name was Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah. And Ish-bosheth said to Abner, “Why have you gone in to my father's concubine?” 8 Then Abner was very angry over the words of Ish-bosheth and said, “Am I a dog's head of Judah? To this day I keep showing steadfast love to the house of Saul your father, to his brothers, and to his friends, and have not given you into the hand of David. And yet you charge me today with a fault concerning a woman. 9 God do so to Abner and more also, if I do not accomplish for David what the Lord has sworn to him, 10 to transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul and set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah, from Dan to Beersheba.” 11 And Ish-bosheth could not answer Abner another word, because he feared him.
Here we see Ish-bosheth, watching as| Abner is gaining strength, and probably a little insecure, like his father Saul was, accuses Abner of sleeping with one of Saul’s concubines. Now, usually when a king died, his concubines and other possessions transferred to their successor. If Abner did in fact sleep with the concubine, it would mean Abner was making a political play for the throne. However, it doesn’t seem to be in keeping with Abner’s track record. Just in chapters 2 and 3, we know it was Abner who crowned Ish-bosheth (v.2:6), and that he tried to not kill Joab’s brother (v.2:21-22). Then when accused, Abner responds with, “To this day I keep showing steadfast love to the house of Saul your father, to his brothers, and to his friends, and have not given you into the hand of David.” Abner appears to be hurt by the accusations because of all his years of service to Saul’s family. And it seems that this is the final straw, because right after this, in verse 12, Abner sends messengers to David to make a covenant.
Then in verses 17-19, Abner gathers the elders of Israel, who are following Ish-bosheth, and agrees with them to make David their king.
Following this course of action, Abner meets with David and the two agree to join forces. However, Abner doesn’t get to see this alliance come to pass, because Joab finds out about what is happening. Remember, Abner is the one who killed Joab’s brother. He tired to avoid, it but it still happened. Let’s read Joab’s response, starting in verse 22 in Chapter 3.
22 Just then the servants of David arrived with Joab from a raid, bringing much spoil with them. But Abner was not with David at Hebron, for he had sent him away, and he had gone in peace. 23 When Joab and all the army that was with him came, it was told Joab, “Abner the son of Ner came to the king, and he has let him go, and he has gone in peace.” 24 Then Joab went to the king and said, “What have you done? Behold, Abner came to you. Why is it that you have sent him away, so that he is gone? 25 You know that Abner the son of Ner came to deceive you and to know your going out and your coming in, and to know all that you are doing.”
26 When Joab came out from David's presence, he sent messengers after Abner, and they brought him back from the cistern of Sirah. But David did not know about it. 27 And when Abner returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside into the midst of the gate to speak with him privately, and there he struck him in the stomach, so that he died, for the blood of Asahel his brother. 28 Afterward, when David heard of it, he said, “I and my kingdom are forever guiltless before the Lord for the blood of Abner the son of Ner. 29 May it fall upon the head of Joab and upon all his father's house, and may the house of Joab never be without one who has a discharge or who is leprous or who holds a spindle or who falls by the sword or who lacks bread!” 30 So Joab and Abishai his brother killed Abner, because he had put their brother Asahel to death in the battle at Gibeon.
So Joab does not like that David made a peace agreement with his brother’s killer. So, he takes matter in his own hands and kills Abner.
Now David’s response is to mourn Abner’s death. Now, as far as we know, Abner appears to do everything honorably. Even supporting Ish-bosheth over David is honorable, because, technically, David’s not Saul’s successor. We’re no longer in the Judges era, where anyone could succeed. In the era of monarchy, it’s through the linage of the king, and that linage runs and that’s Ish-bosheth, not David. So Abner is honorable in crowning Ish-bosheth. And we see that honorable nature, when he tries to avoid killing Joab’s brother.
So David mourns Abner, and actually chastises Joab and his men for killing him. Starting in verse 33 it reads, “And the king lamented for Abner, saying, ‘Should Abner die as a fool dies? Your hands were not bound; your feet were not fettered; as one falls before the wicked you have fallen (v.3:33-34).’”
David’s upset that Joab would kill Abner, who David considered righteous, and calls those who did it wicked. In fact the chapter ends with David’s servants trying to get him to eat, but he’s too upset, and in verse 38 we read, “And the king said to his servants, ‘Do you not know that a prince and a great man has fallen this day in Israel? And I was gentle today, though anointed king. These men, the sons of Zeruiah, are more severe than I. The Lord repay the evildoer according to his wickedness!’ (v.3:38-39)”
David views Joab as a evil men, performing a wicked act. Yet, as we’ll see later on, when David does his own wickedness, he brings Joab in on his plans to murder someone.
But that’s later in David’s story. For now, David sees what Joab and his brother did was wicked, and so he mourns for Abner.
As we step away from this series of events in Chapters 2 and 3 of Second Samuel, we can look at Abner, who tried to be an honorable and righteous man, yet was murdered by wicked men. And here’s the reality, you could be the best person, do all things right, and still end up the victim of evil. Yet God is calls us to trust in his faithfulness, when the wickedness comes against us.
Jesus said this in John 16:33, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” There are two things that are guaranteed to the disciple of Jesus: We will have tribulation. That means we’re going to experience hardships. And in the midst of that tribulation, Jesus’ words bring peace.
The path of Jesus isn’t like some preachers will tell you. It’s not blessings of material things. It’s not us telling God that we deserve this or that, and him giving us it. The path of Jesus, is God, who created all things, being with us in the day-to-day of this life. If we think that we are good and shouldn’t experience evil, remember Jesus was the best of the best. The Scriptures state in Hebrews 4:15, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” Unlike us who sin all the time, Jesus never succumbed to it, yet the most righteous, the person who live in perfect perfection, was brought down by wickedness.
In fact Jesus said, “Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. (Jn 15:20)”
No matter how close we get to God, or how good we do in this world, wicked people will do wicked things. We need to accept that reality and do what God has called us to, do not respond to evil with evil, but with good (Rom. 12:17).
Wickedness will come against God’s people, but he calls us to trust in his faithfulness, when the wickedness comes against us.. This is why Paul writes in Second Thessalonians 3:3, reminding us, “But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.” That evil one could be the wicked devil, or the person seeking to cause us harm. We must trust God with those who are wicked, and stand in his goodness.
Its hard to respond to wicked people with the goodness of God, because what we want is to pop them upside the head. And there are times for that, but God is seeking his people to respond to wickedness with his goodness.
So my challenge is this, last week, I challenged you to pray for one person that you see bringing harm to others. This week, I want to challenge you to write a letter to that person. Now, I’m not asking you to send it, but what I am asking you to do, is write a letter to that person who is causing or has caused harm, and communicate the Gospel to them. Tell them about how God created them, how our sins separate us from him, how sins can’t be removed by good deeds, how Jesus died to remove those sins, how anyone who trusts in Jesus has eternal life, and how that eternal life can begin today and lasts into eternity. After you write what the Gospel is, then write a prayer of blessing for them. Ask God’s blessing in their lives, that they would turn from wickedness and to him.
Let us be a people, who have the goodness of God in our lives, pour it out from our inner being so that the world may know the God we serve. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment