2 Samuel 15: The Heartbreak of Betrayal

2 Samuel is the second part of the start of Israel’s early Kingdom. Originally, Samuel was one big book. In 1 Samuel, we see how the kingdom began and were introduced to its first king. 2 Samuel shows us the greatest king of Israel, King David.

From Chuck Swindoll on how to apply 2 Samuel, “David is known as a “man after [God’s] own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14) because, though he sinned greatly and made mistakes, he acknowledged those failures and repented before God. Repent means to turn away from sin and turn toward righteousness. Our Father knows we are not perfect. So His Son, Jesus Christ, paid the price for our sins so that we can become righteous in God’s sight through faith. And although our salvation is secure, our daily sins can hinder our relationship with God. When we confess our sins, turning to the Lord in humility, He will forgive us and restore our relationship with Him.

The apostle James has written what might be an appropriate epitaph for David. It can be yours, too: “Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you” (James 4:10).”

Overall Theme: God Qualifies the Called

Key Verse: 2 Samuel 7:16, “Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever.” (God establishes an eternal covenant with those who are His. He is with us always.)

Let’s read it together.

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Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation (NLT).
Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome & Theme: Betrayal
• 0:57 Calls to Engage & Community
• 1:15 Setting the Stage: 2 Samuel Arc
• 2:46 Absalom Steals Israel’s Heart
• 4:51 The Conspiracy Ignites in Hebron
• 6:31 David Flees Jerusalem
• 8:09 Trusting God with the Ark
• 9:32 Praying Against Ahithophel
• 10:19 Hushai’s Mission Inside the Camp
• 11:23 Closing Prayer & Promise

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:01

Hey everyone and welcome to the Bible Breakdown Podcast. In this podcast, we will be breaking down the Bible one chapter a day. Whether you are a new believer or have been following Christ for a while, we believe that you will learn something new and fresh every single day. So thank you for joining us and let's get into breaking down the Bible together.

SPEAKER_01: 0:23

Well, everybody, welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, Pastor Brandon, today, 2 Samuel chapter 15. And today's title is The Heartbreak of Betrayal. The Heartbreak of Betrayal. You know, we've all experienced this in our life, and as we're going to see in the life of David, when you sin, there are consequences to sin, and they continue to roll out. Even when you repent of your sin, God has grace for you. He will deliver you. But sometimes there are outflowing consequences of that sin. And sometimes bad things happen to good people. We're going to process this together as we go through God's word. But if you like what we're doing here first, make sure you like, share, and subscribe to the YouTube channel. Make sure you are leaving us comments. Let us know how you're engaging with God's Word. Be sure to leave us a five-star review on the podcast because you are my favorites. And then as always, at the Bible breakdown discussion on Facebook, the more we dig, the more we find. And if you have your Bibles, you want to open them up with me to 2 Samuel chapter 15. Let me catch you up real quick while everybody's getting their Bible ready. The overall idea of 2 Samuel is God qualifies the called. God qualifies the called. In 1 Samuel, we see David's life begin and he's slowly learning through running and hiding from Saul how to trust God over everything. 2 Samuel begins, he becomes king. For a little while, everything is going great. But then after a while, sin starts to creep in. David makes some horrible sinful decisions. He repents of those sins, but now is the outflow. Because David sinned, and then he didn't talk to his family about it. He had a son named Amnon who decided he was going to treat his sister as an object, rapes her. Well, Tamar's sister, excuse me, Tamar's brother, Absalom, kills Amnon, and then Absalom is put into exile. Well, after a while, David brings Absalom back, but the heart of Absalom is corrupt. We see that in yesterday's chapter when the very one that advocated for Absalom, Joab, he treats Joab horribly just because he wanted an audience with him. And now we're going to see the heart of Absalom become bare and open for everybody. And it's going to be heartbreak, it's going to be betrayal, but it's important for us to see this because some of us have experienced this in our own life. And watch what God does in David's life through all of this. Let's read this together. 2 Samuel 15, verse 1. After this, Absalom bought a chariot and horses, and he hired fifty bodyguards to run ahead of him. He got up early every morning and went out to the gate of the city. When people brought a case to the king for judgment, Absalom would ask where in Israel they were from, and then he would tell them, they would tell him their tribe. Then Absalom would say, You've really got a strong case here. It's too bad the king doesn't have time to hear anyone about it. I wish I were the judge. Then everyone could bring cases for me for judgment, and I would give them justice. When people tried to bow before him, Absalom wouldn't let them. Instead he took them by the hand and kissed them. Absalom did this with everyone who came to the king for judgment, and so he stole the hearts of all the people of Israel. After four years Absalom said to the king, Let me go to Hebron to offer a sacrifice to the Lord and fulfill a vow I made to him. For while I was your servant at Jesher in Aram, I promised to sacrifice to the Lord in Hebron, if he would bring me back to Jerusalem. All right, the king said, Go and fulfill your vow. So Absalom went to Hebron, but while he was there, he sent secret messengers to all the tribes of Israel to stir up a rebellion against the king. As soon as you hear the ram's horn, his message read, you are to say, Absalom has been crowned king in Hebron, and he took two hundred men from Jerusalem with him as guests, and they knew nothing about his intentions. While Absalom was offering the sacrifices, he sent for Ahithophel, one of David's counselors who lived in Golah. Soon many others also joined Absalom, and the conspiracy gained momentum. So what we see is David is back to being king, everything is fine, except for underneath is an undertow growing where Absalom is what we call sowing discord. He's slowly buttering up the people so that they no longer see David as the king, but they're starting to see Absalom, and he's tricking people into aligning themselves with him. Now watch what happens. Verse 13 A messenger soon arrived in Jerusalem to tell David, All Israel has joined Absalom in a conspiracy against you. Then we must flee at once, or it will be too late. David urged his men, hurry, if we get out of the city before Absalom arrives, both we and the city of Jerusalem will be spared from disaster. We are with you, his advisors replied. Do what you think is best. So the king and all his household set out at once. He left no one behind except ten of his concubines to look after the palace. The king and all of his people set out on foot, pausing at the last house to let all the king's men move past and lead the way. There were six hundred men from Gath who had come to help David, all along with the king's bodyguard. Then the king turned and said to Itali, a leader of the men of Gath, Why are you coming with us? Go on back to King Absalom, for you are a guest in Israel and a foreigner in exile. You arrived only recently, and I shouldn't and and should I force you today to wander with us? I don't even know where we're going to go. Go back and take your kinsmen with you, and may the Lord show you his unfailing love and faithfulness. But Itali said to the king, I vow by the Lord and by your own life that I will go wherever my Lord the King goes, no matter what happens, whether it means life or death. Then David replied, All right, come on with us. So Itali and all the men and their families went along. Everyone cried loudly as the king and his followers passed by. They crossed the Kidron Valley and then went out toward the wilderness. Zadok and all the Levites also came along, carrying the Ark of the Covenant of God, and they set down the Ark of the Covenant, and Abathar offered sacrifices until everyone had passed out of the city. Then the king instructed Zadok to take the ark of God back to the city. If the Lord sees fit, David said, he will bring me back to see the ark and the tabernacle again. But if he is through with me, then let him do what seems best to him. The king also told Zadok the priest, Look, here is my plan. You and Abathar should return quietly to the city with your son Ahamahaz and Abathar'son Jonathan. I will stop at the shallows of the Jordan River and wait there for report from you. So Zadok and Abathar took the Ark of God back and stayed at the city. David walked up the road to the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went. His head was covered, and his feet were bare as a sign of mourning, and all the people who were with him covered their heads and wept as they climbed the hill. Whenever when someone told David that his advisor, Ahithophel, was now backing Solomon, David prayed, O Lord, let Ahithophel give Absalom foolish advice. When David reached the summit of the Mount of Olives, where the people worship God, Hushai the Architect, was waiting for him there. Hushai had torn his clothes and put dirt on his head as a sign of mourning. But David told him, If you go with me, you will only be a burden. Return to Jerusalem and tell Absalom, I will now be your advisor, O king, just as I was your father's advisor in the past. Then you can frustrate and counter Ahithophel's advice. Zadok and Abathar the priest will be there. Tell them about the plans being made in the king's palace, and they will send their sons Ahamahaz and Jonathan to tell me what's going on. So David's friend Ahushai returned to Jerusalem, getting there just as Absalom arrived. Wow. Just a mess. We're now seeing what was in the heart of Absalom the whole time. As I told you yesterday, if you're watching the YouTube channel, this book, The Tell of Three Kings, will really talk about this idea that for a while the people thought that Absalom was a good man. He went and he said all the right things. Oh, if I were the king, I would do this, and if I were the king, I would do that. We're going to find out tomorrow is he wasn't really a man of the people. David, the one who truly loved God and truly loved the people, is being forced out. And what does that say for all of us? What that says is sometimes bad things happen to good people. Sometimes evil looks like it wins for a season. And for a season, there are dark clouds. There are bad things that happen. But God has a plan. And even in this moment when everything is looking bad, God is already setting things up. He sends Zadok the priest and this other guy, and he says, Hey, David tells him, I want you to go back, do the best you can, but look out for me. Hushai is supposed to go and supposed to frustrate the advice of Ahithophel. Ahithophel was widely known as one of the wisest people in the land at the time. And David knew Ahithophel knows what's up. And if something else doesn't come to frustrate it, then I'm going to be in trouble. So already God's got some spies in the camp to do something. And I want to tell you something. Sometimes bad things happen. Sometimes there are storms we don't understand, storms we didn't ask for. David didn't ask for this. David didn't want this to happen. This is something that happened to David. David had to get away. And it looked like all was lost. But as we're going to see, all is not lost. I want to encourage you today. If you've experienced the heartbreak of betrayal, it's okay to cry. It's okay to mourn. It's okay to be depressed and down and out. But it's not okay to give up. Even while David is escaping, he's planning. He's working the problem. That's all that God asks you to do. Notice how David said, if God is finished with me, then may God's will be done. But until he's finished with me, we're making some plans, guys. And can I encourage you with that? Trust the Lord. But as the Lord is doing what he's going to do, make your plans. Don't allow heartbreak to be the last chapter of your story. Because if you're not dead, God's not done. And he's not done with what he wants to do in your life. Let's pray together. God, thank you so much for today. Thank you, God, that you are always with us and you're always for us. And even in the darkest night and in the deepest valley, you are with us and you are for us. I pray you'll strengthen us today. Some who are dealing with heartbreak right now, some who are dealing with betrayal right now, that we'll remember, God, that we're not alone. We all face difficult valleys, but you are with us all along the way. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. And amen. Well, don't forget God's word says in 2 Samuel chapter 7, Your house and your kingdom shall endure before me forever. Your throne will be established forever. That's what God wants to do in my life and in yours. He wants to establish an eternal relationship with us. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow for 2nd Samuel chapter 16.