I want to share with you a timeline of conflicts that have been almost ongoing for about six years. In the Winter season of 2019-2020, the church made its first attempt to hire a youth pastor after me, to help with the ministry load. The hire lasted about eight months before he told us that he was going to resign. I asked him to stay on through the summer, as that’s the busiest time for our youth ministry, and it would give us an opportunity to find someone else. That same year, 2021, Pastor Jeff passed away, which was a hard time for the church. By the end of summer, we ended up finding someone else, and as the first guy went out, the second guy came in. The new guy had everything we wanted in a youth person, but after a past accusation from several years earlier was brought to light, after just one month here, we eventually let him go. That was during the fall of 2021.
For the next year and a half I took on the responsibility of both Lead and Youth Pastor. There were a lot of issues with the youth group during the first guy’s time that were allowed to fester. In fact, what we had worked for, over the course of thirteen years of ministry, was completely undone in those eight months. Then came the 2022-2023 season, and it felt like there was a mounting burden that grew everyday. We had many spiritual issues that sprang up within both the adult and youth ministries. I’m not even mentioning the personal issues my family was going through that whole time, which added to the whole situation. And by the end of the winter season of 2023, I was completely drained. The Elder board gave me a two month sabbatical, and on the day I was supposed to leave, we had one more conflict, where a man who had been a part of the ministry for the last year, had to be told he couldn’t come to the church, because we had a concern of violence from him.
Thankfully, we were able to hire another pastor to lift a lot of burdens, but now, we are seeing an uptick in conflicts as the ministry begins to return to its pre-2021 stability.
I share that timeline of conflicts, because it brings us back to our summer series in the book of Second Samuel, where we’ll be picking it back up in Chapter 20. This begins our third and final section of Samuel. We called the first section of Second Samuel the Good Days of David, where everything was going well. David was anointed king, his enemies were subdued, and the kingdom was thriving. We summed up this section with the idea that, God raised David to be the undisputed king over Israel, yet there were seeds of sin that began flowering.
Then came David’s sin with Bathsheba, and we entered the second section, which we called the Dark Days of David. There, everything that had been going good fell apart. David’s sin led to multiple problems and multiple points of growth for him. We could sum up the second section with the idea that, David allowed his sin to fester, which led to the destruction of the people around him. Yet through it, he grew in his faith..
Some of those problems persist, but in this third section, David is on the Descent to his Death. And we’ll see how some of the issues he hadn’t dealt with continued even after his death.
Today, we’re going to look at three conflicts David had to deal with as in last days. Now, we’re goin to look at Chapters 20 and 21, but we’re not going to read all of these two chapters. So take time and read those this week. Let’s begin with the first of the three conflicts, by reading the first ten verses in chapter 20
20:1 Now there happened to be there a worthless man, whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjaminite. And he blew the trumpet and said, “We have no portion in David, and we have no inheritance in the son of Jesse; every man to his tents, O Israel!”
2 So all the men of Israel withdrew from David and followed Sheba the son of Bichri. But the men of Judah followed their king steadfastly from the Jordan to Jerusalem.
3 And David came to his house at Jerusalem. And the king took the ten concubines whom he had left to care for the house and put them in a house under guard and provided for them, but did not go in to them. So they were shut up until the day of their death, living as if in widowhood.
4 Then the king said to Amasa, “Call the men of Judah together to me within three days, and be here yourself.” 5 So Amasa went to summon Judah, but he delayed beyond the set time that had been appointed him. 6 And David said to Abishai, “Now Sheba the son of Bichri will do us more harm than Absalom. Take your lord's servants and pursue him, lest he get himself to fortified cities and escape from us.” 7 And there went out after him Joab's men and the Cherethites and the Pelethites, and all the mighty men. They went out from Jerusalem to pursue Sheba the son of Bichri. 8 When they were at the great stone that is in Gibeon, Amasa came to meet them. Now Joab was wearing a soldier's garment, and over it was a belt with a sword in its sheath fastened on his thigh, and as he went forward it fell out. 9 And Joab said to Amasa, “Is it well with you, my brother?” And Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him. 10 But Amasa did not observe the sword that was in Joab's hand. So Joab struck him with it in the stomach and spilled his entrails to the ground without striking a second blow, and he died. Then Joab and Abishai his brother pursued Sheba the son of Bichri.
v.20:1-26 - The first conflict comes relatively soon after the rebellion of Absalom. The man’s name is Sheba, and it’s been a while since we’ve gotten this description, but he’s a worthless man. Remember, that concept of worthless means he has nothing to do with the purposes of the Lord, and instead, has more to do with the plans of Satan.
But here’s the thing, it’s not just Sheba that is in conflict with David, it’s also Joab. David tired to make peace with the rebellious people who followed Absalom, so he made Amasa his general. Joab, obviously didn’t like this and so killed Amasa.
So David had two worthless rebellious men; one from outside his tribe, and one from within. In the end, we’re told that the people of the town where Sheba runs to eventually turn on him and thrown his head out to Joab. So one of the rebels is dealt with, but David still has one more who’s a problem and David knows it.
Let’s drop down to Chapter 21, verse 1, and read the second conflict.
21:1 Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year. And David sought the face of the Lord. And the Lord said, “There is bloodguilt on Saul and on his house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.” 2 So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites were not of the people of Israel but of the remnant of the Amorites. Although the people of Israel had sworn to spare them, Saul had sought to strike them down in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah. 3 And David said to the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you? And how shall I make atonement, that you may bless the heritage of the Lord?” 4 The Gibeonites said to him, “It is not a matter of silver or gold between us and Saul or his house; neither is it for us to put any man to death in Israel.” And he said, “What do you say that I shall do for you?” 5 They said to the king, “The man who consumed us and planned to destroy us, so that we should have no place in all the territory of Israel, 6 let seven of his sons be given to us, so that we may hang them before the Lord at Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of the Lord.” And the king said, “I will give them.”
v.21:1-14 - The next conflict moves out from the tribes of Israel to a people group within the borders of the twelve tribes. This time around, the conflict is a spiritual issue left over from Saul’s reign. A famine is has been in the land of Israel for three years, and David realizes this is more than just an environmental issue. So he seeks the Lord to understand what’s going on. The Lord reveals that the cause comes from Saul’s sin upon the Gibeonites.
Now, back in the book of Joshua, the Gibeonites were the one’s who deceived the people of Israel by acting as if they were from a far off land and wanted to make a peace treaty with the people (ch.9). Israel did make a peace agreement, without consulting God, and then it was discovered these people were actually from the land that God told the Israelites to conquer. Because of the peace treaty, the Israelites did not run the Gibeonites out of the land, but from then on, this people were a second class group within Israelite society.
Now, we’re not told when Saul slew the Gibeonites to cause this issue, but he did so against the covenant the Israelites had made. God takes covenants very seriously, even those that were done deceitfully. Because of his predecessor, David now has to deal with the situation. The recourse for this is that Saul’s relatives have to pay the price. So David chooses seven and gives them over to the Gibeonites to be hung. Once the deed is done, David collects their bodies, plus Saul’s, and Jonathan’s and has them buried with their family. Conflict 2 delt with.
Let’s drop down to verse 15 of Chapter 21 for the third conflict.
15 There was war again between the Philistines and Israel, and David went down together with his servants, and they fought against the Philistines. And David grew weary. 16 And Ishbi-benob, one of the descendants of the giants, whose spear weighed three hundred shekels of bronze, and who was armed with a new sword, thought to kill David. 17 But Abishai the son of Zeruiah came to his aid and attacked the Philistine and killed him. Then David's men swore to him, “You shall no longer go out with us to battle, lest you quench the lamp of Israel.”
18 After this there was again war with the Philistines at Gob. Then Sibbecai the Hushathite struck down Saph, who was one of the descendants of the giants. 19 And there was again war with the Philistines at Gob, and Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim, the Bethlehemite, struck down Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver's beam. 20 And there was again war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature, who had six fingers on each hand, and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in number, and he also was descended from the giants. 21 And when he taunted Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimei, David's brother, struck him down. 22 These four were descended from the giants in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.
v.21:15-22 - This final conflict moves outward again, and has to do with those pesky Philistines, on the borders of Israel. This time Israel and the Philistines have three wars that break out. Each one we’re told are led by a Raphim, a giant. Israel wins these battles pretty handily.
There’s not much to be said, except that David is getting older and his body is becoming weary. Meaning he doesn’t have the strength in his body to fight on the battlefield anymore, so his men tell him to stay home.
The other thing to mention is that we’re told in verse 19, that “… Elhanan … struck down Goliath the Gittite …” People have pointed out that this means that David was not the one who killed Goliath, but in reality it was actually another person named Elhanan. But to get the answer to the discrepancy, we can look to a parallel passage in 2 Chronicles 20:5. This passage tells us that Elhanan killed the brother of Goliath. So what has probably happened is that the words, “brother of” were lost along the way through translation. This is one of those moments we praise God for giving us an abundance of information, as he kept the meaning by having parallel books fill in the gaps.
As we step out from these conflicts, we can see that, as David comes to the end of his life, though he has been restored as king, he has not moved into a state of perpetual peace. He has rebels in his ranks and among his people. He has to atone for the past sins of his predecessor. And he as enemies in other nations ready and willing to attack.
Though David has grown in his faith, he will not experience a lasting peace because of his sin. God’s judgment of “… I will raise up evil against you out of your own house … (v.11)” from chapter 12, continues. He’ll continue, and others will also, feel those repercussions after he dies.
Here’s the reality, we deal with the sins we have created in our own lives. We also have to deal with the sins of other people. And we have to deal with those issues, as we face down threats from the outside.
This is why God calls us to find our refuge only in him. David wrote about finding one’s refuge in the Lord alone, when he write this in Psalm 16, “Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge. 2 I say to the Lord, ‘You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.’ 3 As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight. 4 The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply; their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out or take their names on my lips. 5 The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. 6 The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance. 7 I bless the Lord who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me. 8 I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. 9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. 10 For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. 11 You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
God is calling us to find our refuge in him. In this life we will deal with the sin we cause in our own lives, and the sin that others will put onto us. That’s just the reality. However, we have two choices in how we respond: We can get mad and fight battles that will sap our strength and cause more sin, or realize that we need to rest in the Lord. In his refuge we find strength to deal, not just with our own inner conflicts, but the conflicts that come against us from the actions of other people.
We’re going to explore this more next week, when we look at David’s song of deliverance, but for now my challenge is to prepare for that song, by praying a simple prayer when your sin comes back to bite you, or another person’s sin comes against you. That prayer is this, “Lord, remind me to take refuge in you, because in you, I’m secure from all these conflicts.”
Let us be a people, who, when conflict comes, we sit back into the Lord so that we are not shaken. Amen.
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