WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:03.279 So we study through books of the Bible here at the village chapel. 00:00:03.359 --> 00:00:06.719 We have extra copies if you didn't bring one and you'd like one to follow along. 00:00:06.959 --> 00:00:15.759 Would you raise your hand up just real high and uh we'll get somebody to come through and uh make sure you get a copy to there's one over here and uh one over that way. 00:00:15.839 --> 00:00:16.640 Thank you so much. 00:00:16.800 --> 00:00:26.480 Uh glorious day outside, good to be together and uh good to good to worship the Lord, be reminded of his faithfulness and steadfast love for us. 00:00:26.640 --> 00:00:39.759 Uh up on the screen you'll see if you prefer the uh uh digital Bibles or online Bibles rather, uh feel free to use that uh uh code there, and you can go online to the network uh TBC guest. 00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:42.000 We'll be in 2 Samuel chapter 14. 00:00:42.079 --> 00:00:48.079 We're reaching back 3,000 years in history, and uh we're we're back to the time. 00:00:48.159 --> 00:01:06.959 The fellow that uh uh inspired the last song that we wrote, uh Psalm 23, David King David himself, the uh psalmist, uh the songwriter of Israel, uh gives us uh, I believe uh 75 or so of the 150 psalms in the in the Psalter, the hymn book of the Bible are attributed to David. 00:01:07.120 --> 00:01:21.200 So uh he's he's uh certainly the songwriter, the ancient songwriter of Israel, one of the primary ones, and gives us those kinds of words that uh that express our longings and our our uh trust in God and our hope in God. 00:01:21.439 --> 00:01:25.680 His own life has been the subject of uh much of 2 Samuel. 00:01:25.840 --> 00:01:36.480 Um he has been uh shown to be uh a man after God's own heart, yes, but also a man who's quite fragile and uh uh uh faulty and frail in many ways. 00:01:36.719 --> 00:01:43.200 His spiritual life undulates, much like mine does, much like yours does, uh, if you can look back over it. 00:01:43.280 --> 00:01:55.200 And his uh uh so what we're getting to see in all of its honesty and reality is uh is a man that really needs the redeeming power and redeeming love of God in his life. 00:01:55.359 --> 00:01:57.040 Uh, that gives me great hope myself. 00:01:57.200 --> 00:02:06.079 I hope I hope it will for you as well, even as we study some of these chapters that, uh, like in the previous couple weeks have been pretty dark and uh even grisly to some extent. 00:02:06.319 --> 00:02:10.000 But uh this chapter, not quite uh quite like that. 00:02:10.240 --> 00:02:28.960 Uh however, I would point out, like in as we've seen in the previous couple chapters, where God is either not mentioned at all or only mentioned a little bit, and I sort of uh speculate that because of the fact that God is left out of those chapters, one might expect those kinds of events to take place. 00:02:29.199 --> 00:02:40.879 When we cut ourselves loose from God, um we leave ourselves vulnerable to a host of all kinds of mischief and things that might uh uh go afoul and go wrong for us. 00:02:41.039 --> 00:02:43.280 So we're in chapter 14, if you want to turn there. 00:02:43.439 --> 00:02:46.240 It's the continuing story of a fractured family. 00:02:46.479 --> 00:02:53.199 Um uh we uh all have seen that at this point in time David has approximately uh eight wives. 00:02:53.360 --> 00:02:55.599 We're not sure how many children that he has. 00:02:55.840 --> 00:03:06.560 Um we also have seen that he has taken one of those wives away from another man, had that man also murdered uh in the or arranged for that murder of Uriah. 00:03:06.800 --> 00:03:17.039 And um so he's a man, David is a man who has done great things that were uh amazing and wonderful, but also some pretty uh horrible things along the way. 00:03:17.120 --> 00:03:19.439 And uh we're seeing God work in his life. 00:03:19.520 --> 00:03:21.840 We're we're watching how all of that happens. 00:03:22.080 --> 00:03:35.439 And uh we we now come to a chapter where um the uh son of David, uh Amnon, the firstborn son of David, uh had previously taken uh uh one of David's daughters. 00:03:35.599 --> 00:03:56.240 Her name was Tamar, and he he literally uh raped her, and then her full brother Absalom has come back now and uh after a couple of years murdered Amnon and then fled to the other side of the Jordan River to uh Geshur, and that is where his grandfather lives, and he's holed up there, Absalom is. 00:03:56.400 --> 00:04:05.759 And now we pick up the storyline where it's been a it's been a while, it's been these three years, and Joab, who is David's nephew, so I'm connecting all these dots, everybody's related, by the way. 00:04:05.840 --> 00:04:08.000 I mean, it's almost like this amazing story. 00:04:08.080 --> 00:04:10.879 You just see everybody's a nephew or a cousin or whatever they are. 00:04:11.039 --> 00:04:21.439 And uh Joab uh in verse 1 of chapter 14, Joab the son of Zeruah, uh Zeruiah rather, perceived that the king's heart was inclined toward Absalom. 00:04:21.600 --> 00:04:40.480 Some of your translations may uh have a different word than inclined, and indeed there's a bit of um uh debate about whether or not this means his heart was inclined toward Absalom in that he was uh longing for him, pining for him, hoping that he would come home, or that his heart was inclined toward Absalom and he was still very angry with him. 00:04:40.639 --> 00:04:48.959 Uh it could actually go either way, but I think as we see the chapter unfold, um uh maybe you can sort of make your own uh judgment on that. 00:04:49.120 --> 00:04:54.800 Joab sent to Tokoah, and this is a town uh ten miles to the south and west of Jerusalem. 00:04:55.120 --> 00:04:59.120 It's the town where a couple hundred years later the prophet Amos will come from. 00:04:59.759 --> 00:05:24.639 And uh Joab, who is David's nephew and also the commander of the armies of Israel, Joab sends to Tokoah and brought a wise woman from there, and he said to her, Please pretend to be a mourner, or someone in grieving, uh over and put on mourning garments now, and do not anoint yourself with oil, but like a woman who has been mourning for the dead many days, go to the king and speak to him in this manner. 00:05:24.720 --> 00:05:26.560 And Joab put the words in her mouth. 00:05:26.720 --> 00:05:39.680 So he's literally hiring this person to come on and to do this thing, to go before the king, likely choosing from Tokoa, ten miles southwest of Jerusalem, because likely David won't know who she is. 00:05:40.399 --> 00:05:44.720 Uh, won't have seen her, won't have, you know, and Joab, so he pulls it, he puts the words in her mouth. 00:05:44.800 --> 00:05:52.000 And when the woman of Tokoa spoke to the king, she fell on her face to the ground and prostrated herself and said, Help, O king. 00:05:52.160 --> 00:05:55.839 Some of your translations might say, Save me, O king. 00:05:56.319 --> 00:06:03.680 And uh now she is going to spell out in uh sort of a parable, but it's fictitious because Joab's the one that wrote it for her. 00:06:03.839 --> 00:06:08.639 She's playing the part of an actor, an actress, if you will, uh, before the king. 00:06:08.879 --> 00:06:10.639 And she cries out for his help. 00:06:10.720 --> 00:06:15.199 He, by the way, he happens to have a rescuer's, a first responder's heart. 00:06:15.439 --> 00:06:16.639 He's that kind of a guy. 00:06:16.720 --> 00:06:25.920 I mean, he this is the kind of thing that Joab probably knew David would be sympathetic to this woman because she would be crying out, save me, help me. 00:06:26.399 --> 00:06:35.759 And David's proven himself to be that kind of guy that runs to the rescue all the time, and and uh wonderful and uh trait and a wonderful character trait. 00:06:35.839 --> 00:06:44.319 And yes, uh we in our own day and time have so much respect for first responders, those who run to the rescue. 00:06:44.480 --> 00:06:46.959 Um and so the king said to her, What is your trouble? 00:06:47.120 --> 00:06:49.920 She answered and said, Truly I am a widow, for my husband is dead. 00:06:50.079 --> 00:06:51.600 This is what Joab told her to say. 00:06:51.759 --> 00:06:52.879 Pretend you're in mourning. 00:06:53.040 --> 00:06:58.160 And your maidservant had two sons, but the two of them struggled together in the field, and there was no one to separate them. 00:06:58.399 --> 00:07:00.879 So one struck the other and killed him. 00:07:01.040 --> 00:07:02.800 So the two boys were out in the field. 00:07:03.040 --> 00:07:04.240 They got into a fight. 00:07:04.399 --> 00:07:08.319 Something rose up and caused them to fight, and one of them killed the other one. 00:07:08.800 --> 00:07:18.959 Behold, the whole family is risen against your maidservant, and they say, Hand over the one who struck his brother, that we may put him to death for the life of his brother whom he killed, and destroy the heir also. 00:07:19.120 --> 00:07:25.680 Thus they will extinguish my coal which is left, in other words, my future, my ability to sustain myself. 00:07:25.759 --> 00:07:33.600 Uh it's just sort of a metaphor for that, my last child, if you will, so as to leave my husband neither name nor remnant on the face of the earth. 00:07:33.920 --> 00:07:38.639 Then the king said to the woman, Go to your house, I will give orders concerning you. 00:07:38.800 --> 00:07:46.079 Here he's sort of playing the role of the rescuer and and and the king and the judge who's gonna sort of take action on her behalf. 00:07:46.240 --> 00:07:55.040 The woman of Tokoa said to the king, Oh, my lord, the king, um, the iniquity is on me in my father's house, but the king and his throne are guilt less. 00:07:55.279 --> 00:08:00.480 So the king said, Whoever speaks to you, bring him to me, and he will not touch you anymore. 00:08:00.639 --> 00:08:04.560 Then she said, Please let the king remember the Lord your God. 00:08:04.720 --> 00:08:06.319 So she's bringing the Lord into it. 00:08:06.399 --> 00:08:11.519 And as I've said in the previous chapters, God not mentioned at all in one of the chapters, marginalized in the other. 00:08:11.759 --> 00:08:29.759 This is this is God being sort of utility God, used in a sense, and and and and marginalized a little bit, not right in the very center of David's heart or mind at the time, but here she comes along and she's saying that I'd like to bring God in before this and have you promise to do all of this. 00:08:29.920 --> 00:08:37.039 So please let the king remember the Lord your God, so that the avenger of blood may not continue to destroy, lest they destroy my son. 00:08:37.200 --> 00:08:44.720 He said, as the Lord lives, so she gets him on that page with God being included, not one hair of your son shall fall to the ground. 00:08:44.960 --> 00:08:48.960 Then the woman said, Please let your maidservant speak a word to my Lord the King. 00:08:49.039 --> 00:08:50.559 In other words, could I say one more thing? 00:08:50.720 --> 00:08:51.120 One more thing. 00:08:51.279 --> 00:08:52.399 And he said, Speak. 00:08:52.720 --> 00:08:54.799 Now she's gonna speak to him eight times. 00:08:55.039 --> 00:08:57.759 He's gonna answer her seven times. 00:08:58.720 --> 00:09:09.759 And you gotta remember, I mean, I I don't know if you've watched any of those TV shows about the royals and all that sort of thing, but you're you're you're not supposed to speak to the queen until she speaks to you first. 00:09:10.399 --> 00:09:24.240 Okay, the monarchs are to be greatly respected and revered, and you're in the presence of the king here, woman from Tokoa, as wise as you are and as needy as you may be, but you need to wait until it's time to speak, wait till he speaks to you. 00:09:24.399 --> 00:09:30.639 And so uh he said, speak the woman said, Why then have you planned such a thing against the people of God? 00:09:30.879 --> 00:09:39.120 For in speaking this word the king is as one who is guilty, in that the king does not bring back his banished one. 00:09:39.279 --> 00:09:42.399 Oh boy, oh boy, I sat up straight when I read that. 00:09:42.559 --> 00:09:45.840 That's like that's impertinence before the monarch. 00:09:46.159 --> 00:09:51.840 That's like saying when Nathan spoke to David and said, You are the man. 00:09:53.279 --> 00:09:56.799 And is David, I mean, I sat up straight and I went, what is he gonna do? 00:09:56.879 --> 00:10:00.080 Is he gonna literally have her killed right now for saying that? 00:10:00.399 --> 00:10:02.720 For even bringing that up, that kind of thing up? 00:10:02.879 --> 00:10:13.679 And this is the one thing that I think we do learn about David over time, is that even though he is a man with some clay feet, even though he falls often, um, he learns often too. 00:10:13.759 --> 00:10:17.600 He's eager to repent, unlike his predecessor, King Saul. 00:10:17.840 --> 00:10:23.519 Uh David, yeah, he's a sinner, but David's quick to repent when this is pointed out to him. 00:10:23.759 --> 00:10:28.480 And he is he has a teachable spirit, teachable heart, and I think that's all good. 00:10:28.639 --> 00:10:32.320 And so she brings this up and says, You haven't brought back your banished one. 00:10:32.480 --> 00:10:34.639 And verse 14 is is fascinating. 00:10:34.720 --> 00:10:36.879 It's a little glimpse of the gospel foreshadowed. 00:10:36.960 --> 00:10:42.159 Uh, we shall surely die, and others all of us die, and are like water spilled on the ground which cannot be gathered up again. 00:10:42.240 --> 00:10:43.600 All right, that's pretty true. 00:10:43.840 --> 00:10:55.039 A hundred out of a hundred of us, and if the Lord tarries and doesn't return before our earthly lives are over, one hundred out of one hundred of us are gonna go in the ground somehow. 00:10:55.279 --> 00:10:58.720 And uh you thought, well, it's so nice to be in church today. 00:10:58.799 --> 00:11:00.000 Thank you so much for that. 00:11:00.080 --> 00:11:01.440 Uh but it's just true. 00:11:01.519 --> 00:11:08.559 And you know, there's a lot of us try to hide all that, and we buy all kinds of things to make us sort of push that back and stave it off and all that sort of thing. 00:11:08.639 --> 00:11:14.240 And we do do all kinds of things, but that's the that's the way of the the way the world goes, the way life is right now. 00:11:14.399 --> 00:11:22.480 And she goes on and says, Yeah, God does not take away life, but plans ways so that the banished one may not be cast out from him. 00:11:22.799 --> 00:11:24.240 Somebody say amen. 00:11:24.639 --> 00:11:25.279 Yeah. 00:11:25.679 --> 00:11:26.559 He does do that. 00:11:26.639 --> 00:11:29.440 That's exactly she doesn't have everything right about God. 00:11:30.399 --> 00:11:44.320 But there is a way in which that does foreshadow this beautiful, glorious gospel of grace, where God Himself has made it possible for you, for me, banished by our sin, the kind of thing that separates us from God, if you will. 00:11:44.639 --> 00:11:52.240 And he's made a way for us to be brought back to him, to be reconciled to him, to be called home, if you will. 00:11:52.480 --> 00:11:57.840 Now, the reason I've come to speak this word to my lord the king is because the people have made me afraid. 00:11:57.919 --> 00:11:59.919 So your maidservant said, Let me now speak to the king. 00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:10.559 Perhaps the king will perform the request of his maidservant, for the king will hear and deliver his maidservant from the hand of the man who would destroy both me and my son from the inheritance of God. 00:12:10.799 --> 00:12:15.600 Then your maidservant said, Please let the word of my lord the king be comforting. 00:12:15.759 --> 00:12:22.799 For as the angel of God, so is my lord the king to discern good and evil, and may the Lord your God be with you. 00:12:22.960 --> 00:12:25.360 She's talking more about God than he is. 00:12:27.200 --> 00:12:44.799 She's hoping as she communicates to him that he will remember the ways of God, and that he will uh in some way be merciful to her, gracious to her, and help her with this fictitious little story that she's brought up. 00:12:44.960 --> 00:12:48.320 And he's catching on now to the whole thing. 00:12:48.480 --> 00:12:55.759 And so as he says all of this, the king answered and said to the woman, please do not hide anything from me that I'm about to ask you. 00:12:56.000 --> 00:12:59.120 And the woman said, Well, let my lord the king please speak. 00:12:59.279 --> 00:13:02.240 And so you kind of, you know, this is such a reversal here. 00:13:02.399 --> 00:13:04.399 Like, who's asking permission now? 00:13:04.559 --> 00:13:06.720 And and who's saying, okay, go ahead? 00:13:06.879 --> 00:13:08.399 You know, it's just fascinating to me. 00:13:08.559 --> 00:13:13.600 So the king said, Is the hand of Joab with you in all of this? 00:13:14.000 --> 00:13:15.279 Has that ever happened to you? 00:13:15.360 --> 00:13:21.679 Have you ever seen the hand of someone else behind the story you're hearing? 00:13:21.919 --> 00:13:24.080 And come to the conclusion. 00:13:24.320 --> 00:13:26.799 Did grandma put you up to that? 00:13:27.600 --> 00:13:29.039 Did your father tell you? 00:13:29.200 --> 00:13:30.080 Did your mother do? 00:13:30.480 --> 00:13:31.360 Did your brother? 00:13:31.759 --> 00:13:32.639 You know, all of that. 00:13:32.720 --> 00:13:34.159 We see this is amazing. 00:13:34.320 --> 00:13:36.480 David's sort of, it's dawning on him. 00:13:36.639 --> 00:13:38.159 Joab's behind all this, right? 00:13:38.320 --> 00:13:45.919 The woman answered and said, As your soul lives, my lord the king, no one can turn to the right or to the left from anything that my Lord the King has spoken. 00:13:46.080 --> 00:13:47.360 In other words, you see it all. 00:13:47.919 --> 00:13:51.200 This is your kingdom, your your nobody can hide anything from you. 00:13:51.360 --> 00:14:00.080 Indeed, it was your servant Joab who commanded me, and it was he who put all these words in the mouth of your maidservant in order to change the appearance of things. 00:14:00.240 --> 00:14:02.159 In other words, to change the circumstances. 00:14:02.320 --> 00:14:08.720 Remember in verse 1, Joab said, Man, David, his heart is so inclined. 00:14:08.879 --> 00:14:13.840 And again, that could be he's he's just obsessed with him or he's he's missing him. 00:14:14.639 --> 00:14:19.679 And either way, Joab goes, we've got to change this somehow. 00:14:20.639 --> 00:14:26.559 The king needs to be in some way set free from what's whatever's got him in this grip like this. 00:14:26.720 --> 00:14:32.879 And so she says, she she fesses up and says, in order to change the appearance of things, your servant Joab has done this thing. 00:14:33.039 --> 00:14:43.679 But my Lord is wise, like the wisdom of the angel of God, and she's really good at this because she's continues to compliment him and to keep God in the mix, to know all that is in the earth. 00:14:44.080 --> 00:14:50.159 It says immediately, then the king said to Joab, and I don't know what's going on, I don't know what the room looks like, I don't know who's in the room. 00:14:50.399 --> 00:14:59.120 She may be there laying before the king uh as he sits on the throne, and the the court are all sitting there, Joab included, and he might be sitting right there. 00:14:59.279 --> 00:15:02.720 And as as David says, Is Joab behind you in all this? 00:15:02.879 --> 00:15:04.720 Joab might be getting a little uncomfortable. 00:15:04.799 --> 00:15:05.279 I don't know. 00:15:05.440 --> 00:15:10.639 And then the woman from Taco goes, Yes, you and then Joab's probably thinking, I'm about to die. 00:15:12.000 --> 00:15:12.960 What's gonna happen? 00:15:13.120 --> 00:15:15.840 And again, it just shows the character of David. 00:15:16.320 --> 00:15:22.240 I f I uh the good side of his character, that he's actually still teachable and reachable in many ways. 00:15:22.399 --> 00:15:26.399 And Joab, the king says to Joab, Behold, now I will surely do this thing. 00:15:26.559 --> 00:15:29.679 Go therefore bring the young man Absalom. 00:15:30.320 --> 00:15:31.360 Oh, wow. 00:15:31.679 --> 00:15:35.120 Joab fell on his face to the ground, prostrated himself, and blessed the king. 00:15:35.200 --> 00:15:39.200 Then Joab said, Today your servant knows that I have found favor in your sight. 00:15:39.360 --> 00:15:41.279 In other words, I'm aware of the fact that you could have killed me. 00:15:41.440 --> 00:15:45.360 Oh my Lord the king, in that the king has performed the request of his servant. 00:15:45.519 --> 00:15:49.759 So Joab arose and went to Geshur and brought Absalom to Jerusalem. 00:15:49.919 --> 00:15:53.200 However, the king said, Let him turn to his own house. 00:15:53.360 --> 00:15:58.399 In other words, Absalom, there's a house for him, he can go there, and let him not see my face. 00:15:58.559 --> 00:16:01.759 So it's a qualified uh return, if you will. 00:16:02.080 --> 00:16:07.039 So Absalom turned to his own house and did not see the king's face. 00:16:07.200 --> 00:16:11.039 This is huge that the king would even allow Absalom to come back. 00:16:11.200 --> 00:16:21.120 It's actually huge that the king didn't send an army after uh Absalom to Geshur because he Absalom murdered Amnon, the firstborn, the heir to the throne. 00:16:21.279 --> 00:16:22.960 Absalom murdered him. 00:16:23.440 --> 00:16:29.360 Chileab, the secondborn, has not been heard of, and most most of the commentators think he's probably dead too. 00:16:29.600 --> 00:16:32.799 We're not sure, but he he's not, we never hear about him anymore. 00:16:33.039 --> 00:16:34.799 The next in line for the throne? 00:16:35.440 --> 00:16:36.480 Absalom. 00:16:38.000 --> 00:16:49.440 So one would be suspicious of the fact that Absalom is jealous for or interested in the throne, and one would be right in thinking that, as we will see in the coming chapters. 00:16:49.919 --> 00:16:56.399 Um but here instead he says, let him return to Jerusalem, and but to his own house, I don't want to see him. 00:16:56.639 --> 00:16:58.559 Now this is verses 25 to 27. 00:16:58.720 --> 00:17:00.480 It's kind of a fascinating insert here. 00:17:00.639 --> 00:17:04.799 I uh you know, when you when you're reading this, you could you could jump right to verse 28. 00:17:04.960 --> 00:17:09.200 But 25 to 27 kind of gives us an it's like a little side road, if you will. 00:17:09.279 --> 00:17:12.720 It says, Now in all of Israel, no one was as handsome as Absalom. 00:17:13.200 --> 00:17:13.519 Okay? 00:17:14.240 --> 00:17:20.160 So highly praised, from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head, there was no defect in him. 00:17:20.559 --> 00:17:30.400 I mean, he's the guy that does all the, you know, all the TV commercials, gets the billboards, and all the, you know, he's he's just this, you know, stunning human being. 00:17:30.559 --> 00:17:36.400 And when he cut the hair of his head, and it was cut at the end of every year that he cut it, for it was heavy on him, so he cut it. 00:17:36.559 --> 00:17:40.960 He weighed the hair of his head at 200 shekels by the king's weight. 00:17:41.200 --> 00:17:45.519 Folks, that's almost five pounds of hair at the end of a year. 00:17:45.759 --> 00:17:51.359 And that he was even measuring and that anyone was keeping track of it at all, is just remarkable to me. 00:17:52.720 --> 00:17:54.720 You know, it's just amazing. 00:17:54.960 --> 00:17:59.920 And to Absalom there were born three sons, one daughter whose name was, what is it? 00:18:01.200 --> 00:18:02.079 Tamar. 00:18:02.799 --> 00:18:21.920 So there's something about Absalom that I still admire, and that he so loved and respected his sister who was violated by their half-brother and raped, that he wanted to honor his sister by naming his daughter Tamar. 00:18:23.440 --> 00:18:28.079 I think that's a beautiful thing, perhaps for the elder Tamar. 00:18:29.279 --> 00:18:37.599 Perhaps that was some way of being honored, and she was was respected by her full brother, Absalom. 00:18:37.839 --> 00:18:48.880 She was a beautiful woman, this daughter, a beautiful woman of uh in terms of appearance, just like her father, just like her aunt, a beautiful person. 00:18:49.680 --> 00:18:51.680 And then we go back to the rest of this text. 00:18:51.839 --> 00:18:54.079 Absalom lived two full years in Jerusalem. 00:18:54.160 --> 00:18:56.000 So remember, a lot of time passes here. 00:18:56.480 --> 00:18:59.839 It's been about seven years since Tamar was raped. 00:18:59.920 --> 00:19:13.759 It's been then um two years before Absalom kills Amnon, and then three years Absalom lives in Geshur, and now he's brought back here, and he lives in Jerusalem for two years, and did not see the king's face. 00:19:13.920 --> 00:19:17.920 Time moves quite slowly when you're actually living it. 00:19:18.079 --> 00:19:23.519 It moves pretty fast when we're just reading it, you know, from 60,000-foot view 3,000 years later. 00:19:23.759 --> 00:19:26.480 Absalom sent for Joab to send him to the king. 00:19:26.640 --> 00:19:31.440 In other words, he knows he can get to Joab because Joab's the one that arranged for his return to Jerusalem, right? 00:19:31.599 --> 00:19:34.960 He sent for Joab to send him to the king, but he would not come to him. 00:19:35.119 --> 00:19:36.000 Joab wouldn't come. 00:19:36.160 --> 00:19:38.559 So he sent again and a second time, but he would not come. 00:19:38.799 --> 00:19:42.720 Therefore, he said to his servants, see, Joab's field is next to mine. 00:19:42.880 --> 00:19:44.000 He has barley there. 00:19:44.160 --> 00:19:46.160 Go and set it on fire. 00:19:46.400 --> 00:19:48.960 So Absalom's servants set the field on fire. 00:19:49.119 --> 00:19:54.000 In other words, if I try to get to the king indirectly, it doesn't seem to work. 00:19:54.240 --> 00:19:56.480 I don't seem to be able to get Joab's attention. 00:19:56.640 --> 00:19:58.559 Let me dial him up direct. 00:19:59.440 --> 00:20:06.799 And when you're Joab and you look in the distance and you see your field on fire, all of a sudden you have to respond. 00:20:06.880 --> 00:20:08.880 You go, What in the world is that all about? 00:20:08.960 --> 00:20:10.079 You know, why did he do that? 00:20:10.319 --> 00:20:12.160 Joab arose, came to Absalom in the house. 00:20:12.240 --> 00:20:14.000 Why have you your servants set my field on fire? 00:20:14.240 --> 00:20:14.720 32. 00:20:14.880 --> 00:20:22.079 Absalom answered Joab, Behold, I sent for you, saying, Come here that I may send you to the king to say, Why have I come from Gesher? 00:20:22.400 --> 00:20:24.480 It would be better for me to still be there. 00:20:24.640 --> 00:20:26.880 Now therefore, let me see the king's face. 00:20:27.119 --> 00:20:35.359 And if, this is interesting, this tells us a lot about Absalom, if there is iniquity in me, let him put me to death. 00:20:36.000 --> 00:20:43.920 So Joab came to the king and told him, and now what's David's response going to be? 00:20:44.000 --> 00:20:45.039 It's been two years. 00:20:46.559 --> 00:20:48.480 He called for Absalom. 00:20:48.559 --> 00:20:54.319 Thus he came to the king and prostrated himself on his face to the ground before the king, as he should have. 00:20:54.559 --> 00:20:57.519 And the king kissed Absalom. 00:20:58.319 --> 00:21:10.079 And you know, I know that that sounds uh uh intimate and and uh like it's a restoration in some way or or endorsement in some way, but it may have been merely formal. 00:21:10.240 --> 00:21:11.200 I want you to understand that. 00:21:11.359 --> 00:21:13.440 We we're again we're looking back 3,000 years. 00:21:13.519 --> 00:21:19.599 We got a lot of culture to jump, we got a lot of time to jump to figure out some of these things and understand exactly what's going on. 00:21:19.759 --> 00:21:29.440 And while we don't fully understand verse 1 and what did it mean that David's heart was inclined toward Absalom, I would also say we can't say with certainty what the kiss meant. 00:21:29.759 --> 00:21:39.279 Was it merely uh I'm gonna allow, I'm gonna allow you into the palace once in a while, or was it this, you know, was it this full-on restoration? 00:21:39.440 --> 00:21:43.039 I don't think so, and I'll I'll I'll try to make that argument as we go along. 00:21:43.119 --> 00:21:47.680 But um, as we often do, we'll take a look at the primary characters in the text and see what we can learn. 00:21:47.839 --> 00:21:50.559 And I'll just make a few points if you don't want, if you don't mind. 00:21:50.720 --> 00:21:56.720 David, as I see him uh throughout these last couple chapters, he's a staled leader and a frustrated father. 00:21:56.799 --> 00:21:59.039 Uh you may be in the room and be one of those as well. 00:21:59.119 --> 00:22:01.599 There's there's There are a lot of those. 00:22:02.079 --> 00:22:05.599 And that's because we got people, and that's all we got to work with is people. 00:22:05.839 --> 00:22:08.720 I've often wanted to be a pastor of a church of dogs. 00:22:09.920 --> 00:22:11.599 I kind of know what dogs are going to do. 00:22:12.640 --> 00:22:15.519 And sometimes I can get them to actually obey and stuff like that. 00:22:15.599 --> 00:22:17.119 Not always, but sometimes, you know. 00:22:17.839 --> 00:22:20.960 But here he is, and he's a stalled leader and a frustrated father. 00:22:21.359 --> 00:22:28.000 The reason he's stalled, of course, is because he's lost some, what he thinks is his moral authority, and that's probably true. 00:22:28.160 --> 00:22:30.079 He hasn't lost his moral responsibility. 00:22:30.240 --> 00:22:32.160 I'd like to point out there's a difference. 00:22:32.480 --> 00:22:37.279 Moral responsibility is what we all have from God. 00:22:37.759 --> 00:22:42.319 No matter how well we've performed ourselves or not, we still have a responsibility. 00:22:42.559 --> 00:22:42.880 Okay? 00:22:43.119 --> 00:22:49.599 So when I get up to do Bible studies, I don't teach, I don't, I don't teach the Bible because I've got it worked out in my life perfectly. 00:22:49.759 --> 00:22:54.960 If that were, if I had to wait until I had this all worked out perfectly in my life, I'm going to go get another job. 00:22:55.200 --> 00:22:57.039 Because I got nothing to do. 00:22:58.319 --> 00:23:07.119 But we're all before the Lord responsible to respond to him and responsible for the things that he's entrusted to us. 00:23:07.279 --> 00:23:10.880 And here is David, a stalled leader and a frustrated father. 00:23:11.039 --> 00:23:17.839 Some of that is because his own sins are so similar to those of his sons that he probably has it in his head. 00:23:18.000 --> 00:23:19.680 They simply learned that from me. 00:23:19.839 --> 00:23:28.319 When Amnon objectified Tamar and took what wasn't his, all he was doing was exactly what I did, David's thinking, with Bathsheba. 00:23:28.799 --> 00:23:34.240 When Absalom killed Amnon, all he was doing was exactly what I did with Uriah. 00:23:35.519 --> 00:23:41.839 People can be objectified, people can be obstructions, and we can remove them. 00:23:42.720 --> 00:23:59.200 And so he may have become pusillanimous, that is, lacking in courage, lacking in any kind of moral authority to be able to be a father to his kids, but he still has a responsibility to do that, whether he's failed himself or not. 00:23:59.599 --> 00:24:03.599 And so he's a stalled leader, I would say, and a frustrated father here. 00:24:03.680 --> 00:24:07.519 But I want to also remind you that all along he's still writing psalms. 00:24:08.000 --> 00:24:09.839 All along he's still a songwriter. 00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:25.039 And though his life looks like this in terms of his spiritual life and his faithfulness to his family and his faithfulness to God, just like mine does, just like yours does, God continues to use him, continues to speak through him, continues to do things that are redemptive in his life. 00:24:25.200 --> 00:24:31.279 So we get Psalm 3, as Absalom begins to chase David and wants to kill him and take the throne. 00:24:31.440 --> 00:24:38.720 We get Psalm 41, we get Psalm 62 and 63, all during those very difficult and dark times in David's life. 00:24:38.880 --> 00:24:45.839 Joab is a clever, constructive manipulator in this storyline, and that's I'm not saying that's horribly wrong. 00:24:46.000 --> 00:24:48.720 I mean, none of us like to be manipulated, do we? 00:24:48.799 --> 00:24:59.519 You know, I mean, uh it's it's it's one of those, when you when you find out somebody's patronizing you or manipulating you or trying to get you to do something, and here's Joab arranging for this woman from Tokoa. 00:24:59.599 --> 00:25:06.319 She's a good actress, and and he's got this script, and he wants her to go and perform this uh parable, if you will, before him. 00:25:06.480 --> 00:25:22.240 Kind of mimicking what Nathan did when the Lord sent Nathan to David, and Nathan uh brought up the story about the two people that one had a single sheep, the other guy was a rich guy, had lots of sheep, and the rich guy takes the the poor guy's sheep and and and kills it, you know. 00:25:22.480 --> 00:25:28.960 And so it's Joab, who I think is very clever here and very constructive uh as a manipulator. 00:25:29.119 --> 00:25:31.920 Absalom is an unrepentant and recalcitrant prodigal. 00:25:32.000 --> 00:25:34.000 That is, I think he's obstinate. 00:25:34.960 --> 00:25:42.640 Uh I think he's I think he's I think he's probably already had designs toward the throne in his own heart and mind, as even as he's in Geshur. 00:25:42.720 --> 00:25:45.039 That's my I'm just speculating, but it seems that way. 00:25:45.200 --> 00:25:53.440 When you watch the results of all of this, could that have been changed if when he arrives in Jerusalem, David didn't say, You stay in your own house, I don't want to see your face. 00:25:53.680 --> 00:26:03.039 If David had been more open to him and said, Hey, come on to the palace, let's talk this out, let's figure this out, let's find a way for justice and mercy to cooperate and go hand in hand. 00:26:03.359 --> 00:26:04.079 I don't know. 00:26:04.160 --> 00:26:07.440 I I know we we don't really know if that could have worked or not. 00:26:07.519 --> 00:26:09.920 We haven't got uh any way of knowing that. 00:26:10.240 --> 00:26:17.759 But that big if, if I'm guilty of anything on Absalom's part, is a sign, at least. 00:26:18.079 --> 00:26:22.160 He doesn't think he's done anything wrong in murdering his own brother. 00:26:22.720 --> 00:26:24.799 Taken woman, sympathetic. 00:26:24.880 --> 00:26:26.240 Um, she comes, she takes the job. 00:26:26.319 --> 00:26:29.119 Now, she may indeed have been a struggling actor. 00:26:29.279 --> 00:26:30.880 I think aren't all actors struggling. 00:26:30.960 --> 00:26:31.519 Is Chip here? 00:26:31.599 --> 00:26:33.440 I don't know if anybody's here that does acting. 00:26:33.599 --> 00:26:35.039 Seems like all actors are struggling. 00:26:35.200 --> 00:26:37.680 I laugh at the commercial all the time, that Liberty Boocebo. 00:26:37.920 --> 00:26:43.839 You know, that that uh whoever the guy is that does, I'm a struggling actor, and I don't need and he's trying to do the thing and he stumbles all over it. 00:26:44.000 --> 00:26:48.319 Finally, they voice over it, and his lips are not going at the same time as whatever's being said. 00:26:48.559 --> 00:26:50.640 And uh here's this common woman. 00:26:50.720 --> 00:26:56.319 She's sympathetic, uh, she's adroit, she she's she's she's good at and clever at what she does. 00:26:56.480 --> 00:27:07.039 Uh she's effective and uh gets up to a certain point until it and gets almost all the way to the end before David finally dawns on him and he realizes Joab must be behind. 00:27:07.279 --> 00:27:13.599 She knows far too much of the details of what's going on between me and Absalom. 00:27:13.759 --> 00:27:16.240 Uh somebody else must have put her up to this whole thing. 00:27:16.319 --> 00:27:17.680 So those are our characters. 00:27:17.839 --> 00:27:18.720 What do we learn here? 00:27:18.960 --> 00:27:23.039 At the least, I think we learn that there are times we all experience a clash of responsibilities. 00:27:23.279 --> 00:27:27.680 The wisdom of God's word can help us prioritize and navigate the collisions and the confusion. 00:27:27.839 --> 00:27:32.480 Was David supposed to think like a king and execute justice on his son, Absalom? 00:27:32.880 --> 00:27:35.200 Was he supposed to send the posse and go get him? 00:27:35.359 --> 00:27:42.559 Or was he supposed to think more like a father and find some way to bring his son home and restore him and forgive him? 00:27:42.720 --> 00:27:48.960 Otherwise, there's in his position, there's so many things that could happen if he moved in either direction. 00:27:50.640 --> 00:27:57.279 If he didn't bring about justice, there are those that would look at him and think him weak and think they could get away with the same kinds of things. 00:27:57.440 --> 00:28:01.119 Perhaps some of his other children might do that same thing. 00:28:01.279 --> 00:28:06.400 He seems to, as I said, been frustrated as a father, installed as a leader. 00:28:07.200 --> 00:28:12.559 Was it possible possible to preserve justice and at the same time pardon Absalom? 00:28:12.720 --> 00:28:16.480 David had other children, like I said, and would this incite them? 00:28:16.559 --> 00:28:16.960 I don't know. 00:28:17.119 --> 00:28:20.319 But I know that the God of the Bible finds ways. 00:28:20.480 --> 00:28:25.119 And that's why we turn, we keep going back to the scriptures for the wisdom of God. 00:28:25.920 --> 00:28:37.680 Because wisdom is much more than knowledge, it's much more than data storage capacity, it's even more than expertise. 00:28:37.839 --> 00:28:39.839 We've got enough experts in the world. 00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:41.839 We need more wisdom. 00:28:42.400 --> 00:28:47.920 Wisdom is the employment of all of those aforementioned things, knowledge, data, expertise, all that stuff. 00:28:48.079 --> 00:28:55.519 It's the ability to do that for the most beautiful, highest good that we might be in pursuit of. 00:28:55.759 --> 00:28:56.079 See? 00:28:56.400 --> 00:28:59.920 And that's why we want to return to the word of God. 00:29:00.240 --> 00:29:06.559 Um, it is God's word that we that's where we will find God's wisdom. 00:29:06.799 --> 00:29:22.960 As a matter of fact, in the book of Proverbs, David's son will write this very thing: that the fear of the Lord is the beginning, he'll say it's the beginning of knowledge, but he'll also say the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom itself. 00:29:23.119 --> 00:29:24.640 And that's where it begins. 00:29:24.880 --> 00:29:29.680 And so far, in the last couple chapters, God has been marginalized. 00:29:29.839 --> 00:29:32.720 His ways and his wisdom have been moved to the side. 00:29:32.880 --> 00:29:48.160 Everybody's just acting like they want to, or out of their own fear, or out of their own something that's seized them and something that's gripped them, some desire or affection that is that has taken them and has them in a vice grip. 00:29:48.400 --> 00:29:50.079 I love what Dale Ralph Davis says. 00:29:50.160 --> 00:29:55.920 The chapter should haunt the church, not to mention the individual, believing or unbelieving. 00:29:56.079 --> 00:30:02.559 It is possible to have all the signs of wisdom, plans, strategies, and accomplishments, and yet be utterly devoid of it. 00:30:02.799 --> 00:30:11.119 The ancient scriptures we call the Bible is the word of God, unique in its source, timeless in its truth, broad in its reach, and transforming in its power. 00:30:11.279 --> 00:30:15.039 That's why we study through books of the Bible here at the village chapel. 00:30:15.200 --> 00:30:43.119 No, you probably won't find every issue that you, every crossroads you come to that's a moral crossroads, you probably won't find the exact word or the or it may not be a direct parallel, but we do find in God's word, God's wisdom, the principles for life, the kind of ways that he, the ways that God looks and sees things, and the way that we ought to if we want to be like him and respond as he would in his wisdom. 00:30:43.279 --> 00:30:49.680 Secondly, I think we see here, far too often we reach for solutions that are merely cosmetic when the solutions we really need are systemic. 00:30:50.079 --> 00:30:55.200 Solving deep relationship problems requires dealing with root causes, not just symptoms. 00:30:55.279 --> 00:30:59.359 Evidently, Joab thought, man, if I can just get Absalom back to town. 00:30:59.680 --> 00:31:02.960 That's all we need to do is get him in the same space. 00:31:03.519 --> 00:31:08.400 And so that's what he manipulates, that's what he gets the woman of Toa to sort of drum up and make that happen. 00:31:08.559 --> 00:31:11.920 And then all of a sudden David goes, Yeah, but I don't want to see his face. 00:31:12.559 --> 00:31:15.359 It's more complicated than just getting somebody in town. 00:31:15.440 --> 00:31:16.000 And you know what? 00:31:16.079 --> 00:31:25.359 The problems that you and I have, that all of us experience, relationship problems uh along the way, they're usually more profoundly deep than most of us think. 00:31:25.920 --> 00:31:35.440 A lot of us like to settle for the easy fix instead of working hard toward the systemic uh root problem that we need to work on. 00:31:35.680 --> 00:31:40.640 And uh the problems, these problems ran deeper than mere proximity. 00:31:40.960 --> 00:31:44.799 And the same thing could be true uh in our own relationship problems. 00:31:44.880 --> 00:31:50.880 The root causes needed more than a cosmetic treatment here, and so it is with our life and our life with God as well. 00:31:50.960 --> 00:31:57.200 We must not trivialize God by thinking being a Christian is the mere acknowledgement of God's existence. 00:31:57.599 --> 00:32:01.200 Or just going to the building where the people talk about God once a week. 00:32:01.519 --> 00:32:12.799 That's not the same thing as having a vital relationship with God, where God's at the center, where Jesus is Lord as well as Savior. 00:32:13.039 --> 00:32:14.319 That's a different thing. 00:32:14.480 --> 00:32:21.519 And so more was needed here before David and Absalom could get along again. 00:32:21.759 --> 00:32:24.400 One of them needed to sort of break the ice. 00:32:24.799 --> 00:32:28.880 Absalom needed to acknowledge his wrongdoing, his sinfulness. 00:32:29.119 --> 00:32:32.559 And he murdered his brother, David's son. 00:32:33.119 --> 00:32:36.640 David at the same time needed to extend an olive branch to him. 00:32:36.720 --> 00:32:37.519 This needs to happen. 00:32:37.599 --> 00:32:42.000 It's more complex, it's not just as simple as one thing or the other. 00:32:42.160 --> 00:32:48.880 Without the kind of um work that the Holy Spirit can do in our lives, I'm not sure. 00:32:49.119 --> 00:32:53.039 Because of our pride, uh, we wall ourselves off of other people. 00:32:53.119 --> 00:33:11.599 And without the kind of work the Holy Spirit does in our lives, where he where we we, as he convicts us of our sinfulness and our pridefulness, and we actually begin to crucify the self and and allow the life of Christ to bloom in our lives, you see, I don't know that we can get past our own pride on our own. 00:33:11.839 --> 00:33:14.480 We need the help of God in these things. 00:33:14.799 --> 00:33:26.079 We need the transforming power of the Holy Spirit in our lives, and then we can watch God do things that are eye-popping, mind-blowing, heart-stopping, and soul-enlivening. 00:33:26.799 --> 00:33:30.720 Because he can make some things happen that we can't make happen. 00:33:30.960 --> 00:33:37.359 And he can change hearts in a beautiful way, even as he's changed your heart and my heart in some very beautiful ways. 00:33:37.519 --> 00:33:43.519 Eugene Peterson, in a book called Living the Resurrection, says, without wonder, we approach spiritual formation as a self-help project. 00:33:43.680 --> 00:33:49.039 We employ techniques, we analyze gifts and potentialities, we set goals, we assess progress. 00:33:49.200 --> 00:33:53.519 Spiritual formation is reduced to cosmetics, and it's not just cosmetics. 00:33:53.920 --> 00:33:55.759 This is a work of God. 00:33:56.720 --> 00:34:01.920 I need his help, you need his help if we're going to be able to get along. 00:34:02.079 --> 00:34:05.759 It's not just as simple as it may seem on the surface. 00:34:05.839 --> 00:34:09.119 It's not just a cosmetic thing that so many people might think it is. 00:34:09.280 --> 00:34:14.480 Thirdly, I think we learn here too: if God's justice is tempered by mercy, so should ours be. 00:34:14.800 --> 00:34:17.840 This was a lesson from the woman of Tokoa's parable in verse 14. 00:34:17.920 --> 00:34:18.880 I thought it was pretty good. 00:34:19.119 --> 00:34:27.840 It is, in the very least, a good rule of thumb for all those times someone is seeking forgiveness from us and we're not willing to give it. 00:34:29.280 --> 00:34:35.599 And to my shame and to our shame, I think every single person in this room has been like this before. 00:34:36.639 --> 00:34:37.679 It's your fault. 00:34:38.000 --> 00:34:40.079 You need to sit in that and stew in that. 00:34:40.320 --> 00:34:41.760 And we've been unforgiving. 00:34:41.840 --> 00:34:47.679 And that's the only thing we're doing there is as people so often say, is we're drinking the rat poison, hoping the rat will die. 00:34:47.840 --> 00:34:49.760 But we're the ones drinking the rat poison. 00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:53.599 Our souls were never meant to harbor unforgiveness. 00:34:53.760 --> 00:34:56.400 It's like a poison in our souls. 00:34:57.519 --> 00:34:59.519 God created us in his image. 00:35:00.400 --> 00:35:04.719 And his image is he's eager to forgive and extend grace. 00:35:04.960 --> 00:35:07.039 I want to look more like the heart of my Father. 00:35:07.360 --> 00:35:10.000 I want to look more like the heart of Jesus in these things. 00:35:10.239 --> 00:35:18.159 Jesus is the one himself who in Luke 6 36 actually said, be merciful, just as your heavenly father has been merciful to you. 00:35:18.800 --> 00:35:45.599 So, folks, I implore you, I hope to persuade you if you're holding unforgiveness in your heart toward anyone, somebody at work, somebody in your family, somebody who's a neighbor, somebody you're here at church with, please do yourself and them a favor and do God some glory as you extend forgiveness and mercy to others who may need it. 00:35:45.760 --> 00:35:48.480 Fourthly, there's a difference between acquittal and forgiveness. 00:35:48.639 --> 00:35:51.679 I don't think that Absalom knew the difference. 00:35:52.320 --> 00:35:56.000 Um we all want acquittal, and often we don't even think we need forgiveness. 00:35:56.079 --> 00:35:57.440 And I think Absalom was that way. 00:35:57.519 --> 00:35:59.679 If I've done anything wrong, let him kill me. 00:35:59.840 --> 00:36:02.639