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This is the voice of Wilbraham. In August 1961, the Eastern Christadelphian Bible School welcomed Brother Harry Tennant of Dundee, Scotland, as guest teacher. Brother Harry scarcely requires an introduction, as he left us in 1958 with a lasting memory. Do you remember in the Steps of the Master? In 1961, our brother has chosen for his subject one which has proven equally as interesting as that of 1958. It is entitled, David the Shepherd King. We take pleasure now in presenting Brother Harry Tennant in the first of seven class sessions. Well, southeast from Jerusalem, down into the Jordan Valley, over the river, and across the other side to the hill country of the land of Moab. Moab, where we first find the scene to begin our life of David. For there, in that land, there are three people. An elderly woman, marked with sorrow, she has suffered the death of three people in her family. Her husband and her two sons. A news has come to her, for she is from the land of Israel, that she could return. The famine has passed, and in her sorrow she returns to the land which gave her birth. And she bids farewell to her two daughters-in-law. One is quite willing to return, leaving her, and to go back to her own family. But the other clings tighter and closer than anyone of her own land would normally do to someone from the land of Israel. And her name is Ruth. And she says, entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee. For whither thou goest, I will go. Where thou lodgest, I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people, and thy God, my God. Where thou diest, I will die, and there will I be buried. And so Ruth gives her a declaration of faith in the way of life that Naomi had led, and desires herself to embrace it. And here the hand of God is moving in the land of Shab, a land now shadowing with the wings of the Spirit of God, brooding over that land that he might, in his goodness, bring forth Ruth from her loneliness, to be both a comfort unto Naomi, and also to be the beginnings of great things. For that little book of Ruth, tucked away there between judges and Samuel, is one of the delightful touches of inspiration in our scriptures. For it was Ruth that was to bring forth by Boaz the beginnings of the line of David the shepherd king. And Ruth who could have died unknown in the land of Moab, dies probably in Bethlehem, the city of David, and the city of the great king. For those last few verses of the book of Ruth, although there are a list of names, are a certain sign that the hand of God was at work. Now these are the generations of Phares. Phares begat Hezron, and Hezron begat Ram, and Ram begat Aminadab, and Aminadab begat Nashon, and Nashon begat Salmon, and Salmon begat Boaz, and Boaz begat Obed, and Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse begat David. How wonderfully, brethren and sisters, this woman, by her act of faith, is woven into the great pattern of scripture, and stands herself as one of those women to whom God has looked and has recorded her name in both Old and New Testament, and through whom we have the beginnings of this great character. This man whose love and whose tenderness, whose courage and whose faith, whose wisdom both in statesmanship and also in spiritual matters, is something to imitate, and yet who is so like us in that he falls from great heights into deep caverns of sin, and requires that God should lead him out. And that's true of us, and if we follow in his life this week, we shall find ourselves too caught up by his faith and desiring to be in that great company of people who with David would stand before his greater Son and Lord and give praise to our Heavenly Father. Our second scene is an old man. He too is Not the loss of his immediate family, but the loss of a king. Saul the king has proved disobedient to the Word of God. He hadn't understood the great calling or the immense possibilities of his leadership over the children of Israel, and though he was head and shoulders above the people, he was not so spiritually, and the Lord rejected him. Rejected him with words which Samuel himself had pronounced, words which went right deep down into the heart of Saul, both as words of condemnation and as words of prophecy. The fifteenth chapter of the first book of Samuel sees the rejection of Saul. Do you remember the occasion? It's the destruction of the Amalekites, and Saul and his children had completed that which they should have done. There was to be complete destruction, complete annihilation of this people who had been the enemies of God, and now they'd failed. They'd kept the best of the cattle, saying that they were for sacrifice to God, and they kept the king alive. And so as Samuel draws near to Saul, these are the words. Going down this fifteenth chapter, and at verse 20, and Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have gone the way which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took of the spoil sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed unto the Lord, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in Gilgal. And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offering and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because I hath rejected the word of the Lord, he also hath rejected thee from being king. There is in those words, brethren and sisters, a deep understanding of the sacrifices of the law, and of the whole of our Old Testament, that the whole of the work of God in presenting to us the law, whether it be in Old Testament or New Testament, is to bring us to an understanding, to obedience to him, that the ritual of things that we do is of no avail if it be not carried out to serve him in a true spirit of obedience. And there was something awful in those words in the twenty-third verse. Saul hadn't seen it. Not yet. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. He wouldn't have thought that. But he will later on, when his rebellion is complete, and he's in that dark room with the witch of Endor. But there is, too, brethren and sisters, in these words an exultation for you and for me. For Saul is typical of all who go away from God, you and I included. We have been called to be kings. Is it possible then that in that day, when the king of kings and lord of lords returns, that to some of us these words will be addressed and we should be turned away from him? Because we have preferred to do those things which are not in accordance with his will, because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, the Lord hath also rejected thee from being king. And so Saul stands the permanent warning to each of us. And Samuel, who had anointed him from that vial of oil and had seen his growth and his downfall, had loved him and had lost him, now begins to mourn. Samuel is still judge and continues so right until the day of his death, even through the reign of David himself or at least through that time of wandering of David himself, Samuel continues as judge. And now he feels that the children of Israel are once again as it were without a shepherd. They have learned from their sin and have lost a king that they had chosen and were likely now to find themselves bereft of leadership. And he sits down and mourns. But God upbraids Samuel as he has done to his prophets from time to time, as he did to Elijah, urged him on to greater work and told him that he had already sought out for himself a king, a man after his own heart. That's in the 13th chapter. It's already done. The Lord has found him, sought him out, found him upon the mountains of Israel among the sheep. And so he sends Samuel down to the house of Jesse of Bethlehem. Now Samuel must have been a remarkable figure. You remember in this 15th chapter how after that Agag the king of the Amalekites had been spared by Paul. And Samuel sent for him. As he came along he said, surely the bitterness of death is past. If he came to this old man, probably with white hair and with a white beard, wearing his mantle. But the old man was not so quiet and so meek as he looked. For he took forth his sword and he hewed Agag to pieces before the Lord to complete the destruction that God had asked Saul to do. The short Samuel by the great Saul. But Samuel was head and shoulders above Saul in spiritual matters. And yet he was afraid of Saul. He tells the Lord he's afraid. If I go down to Bethlehem to anoint someone whom thou hast chosen surely Saul will feed my life. And so he sets out as it were to offer sacrifices in Bethlehem and to meet the family. This offering of sacrifices in various places in the land of Israel is something perhaps that we can't understand. But the worship is so confused at this time there is no centre of worship even when David himself brings the Ark unto Jerusalem. We shall find that the tabernacle is elsewhere. The two things are separated and so it is that there are various places of offering acceptable to God. And so Samuel goes down to Bethlehem and seeks out Jesse and calls for Jesse's sons to have a look at them. And as Jesse comes down with the elders of Bethlehem to meet Samuel what an odd question to ask. Come is thou peaceably? Well I suppose if we knew what Samuel was like we too would have asked that question. He was a man stern in judgment. He was a man who went round his circuit to three cities every year. He gloated in Ramah in Gilead, sorry Ramah in Gibeah and he went to three places right from Bethel and to Gilgal in his circuits each year. And when he judged he judged without fear and so it was that I'm sure that before Jesse and the elders of Bethlehem as they came out there must have been in their hearts just that question what he found wrong with Bethlehem. I wonder brethren and sisters if he came to Wilbraham what questions we would ask him. Could he come peaceably or would he find something on which he would have to put the finger of God or to your home or to my home? Could Samuel come peaceably? To Jesse he said peaceably am I come and so the sons come before him and the first one is striking in his appearance and he said surely the Lord's anointed is before him and the Lord waves Samuel on leave him alone he's not the one that I have chosen for the Lord looketh not on the outward appearance but the heart and so the second comes before him and again the Lord shakes Samuel's head until finally all seven sons of Jesse have passed before him and there has been no choice made. Is all your family here Jesse? Well he said we've got one other lad but he's out with the sheep bring him in and so they send for David fair haired Auburn haired probably it's an interesting description that's given of him and he comes in from the field where he'd been watching the sheep and the spirit of God burns into sudden life in Samuel this is he and he takes him to anoint him and so this young son of Jesse is anointed as the future king of Israel but he's got a long way to go he's anointed in the midst of his brethren but he has a long way to go even as it were the Lord Jesus Christ as he comes forth from the waters of baptism this is he this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased and he too is anointed in the midst of his brethren as the spirit of God comes upon him but he has a long way to go before finally he will be enthroned over all the nation and before everyone will bow down to him as king of kings and lord of lords but the Lord had chosen a man after his own heart he says I have found David what a lovely expression as though the Lord had been seeking throughout the land looking for the man upon whom his hand could rest I have found David they had chosen Saul well it says the Lord chose him but they had chosen Saul he was exactly the man they wanted he stood magnificently above them a man to appeal to the eye but his heart was bent and crooked it could have been humble there were great possibilities in the man until darkness took hold of him and as the spirit of the Lord comes to rest upon David so suddenly it leaves Saul and it says an evil spirit from the Lord comes and plagues Saul now I don't suppose it's possible for us to say precisely what this is but it's certain in our New Testament that from time to time the spirit of God did bring upon people who were disobedient both plague and trouble for example upon Ananias of Sapphira or the work of the apostle when he struck a man blind or those words of the apostle when he says he delivers certain people to Satan that they might be purged from the effects of the flesh it seems to be that the spirit of God in the New Testament certainly brought disease as it did in the old and it's quite possible that as far as Saul was concerned although one can't be absolutely sure that this evil spirit from the Lord was a visitation of a kind of melancholia that came upon Saul some kind of distress of mind some foreboding of things to come and so the great figure was bent huddled up in his dark room as he could see his kingdom collapsing and the words of this little man Samuel coming into fulfillment and he wants to be comforted and someone one of his servants and this is interesting because one feels that the Lord moves in Israel in this way just touches a servant here or touches somebody there and they've got to do the bidding of the Lord why not send for someone who can play music and Saul is moved to do so I've heard of somebody who can play music down in Bethlehem and so they send the message down to Bethlehem and David who played to his sheep who had played to the Lord with his sheep and had sung the Psalms on the hills and by the Spirit of the Lord now was able to compose Psalms that were of great wonder and some to be preserved even unto our own day which to come and play unto Saul the King have a look at the eight Psalms the psalm of delightful beauty and yet like all the Psalms of David it's greater than David he didn't know what he was writing how he applied it to his own day to his own sheep to the things he saw around him to the moving to the Spirit within him to his work in the past to his life at the present to his hopes for the future but there was beyond David in all these Psalms of the Spirit of God moving to point to the Messiah for the one greater than David who would stand head and shoulders above David yea above all his brethren and would finally be David's Lord and Master now look at this eighth psalm it's not very long is it we haven't got the music we couldn't sing the tune that David sang and we can't hear his fingers upon the strings but the Lord has preserved both the music and the rhythm throughout this psalm for us and I want us to read it together as an act of devotion the eighth psalm verses one to nine right verse one oh Lord our Lord how excellent is thy name in all the earth who has set thy glory above the heavens out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger when I consider that I heavens the work of thy fingers the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained what is man that thou art mindful of him and the son of man that thou visitest him for thou hast made him a little lower than the angels and has crowned him with glory and honor thou made his him to have dominion over the works of thy hands thou hast put all things under his feet all sheep and oxen yay and the beasts of the field the foul of the air and the fish of the sea and whatsoever passive through the paths of the sea oh lord our lord how excellent is thy name in all the earth and the beauty of that kind of psalm moves David one can see him at night with his sheep looking upwards and seeing the spangled heavens and counting them and counting his sheep as God in his promises said that his sheep should be as numerous as the stars of heaven and Isaiah says he counteth them and knoweth them every one just as David could hear the sound of his sheep and know them by night know each one by name and find it out if it were in any kind of distress or of trouble that he might anoint it or care for it or carry it or bring it near to him or deliver it from any kind of evil that would be set it at night so the lord was to do with David and David leaves him with his heart and the spirit of God and he comes up to Saul what a meeting he met him in the dark no doubt Saul greatly distressed of mind and David coming in the king rejected the king elected and so he comes in he sits down before Saul it's doubtful whether Saul really saw him in his distress of mind and then David takes his heart and he plays and sings to him the songs of the law and the dark brooding spirit that had come upon Saul is quietened and removed and he's at rest but brethren and sisters this isn't just for Saul do you think doesn't this spirit come upon us from time to time aren't there even perhaps some who came to Wilbraham with just this darkness upon their souls wondering whether they could ever remove from themselves their troubles or their sins and then they hear the word of God and the psalms are opened echoing in their minds of the strings of the harp of David and they find that there is lifted from them as though by hidden hands all that great weight just in the presence of David because the spirit of the lord was upon me and his word was in my tongue he says and that's for you and it's for me and I'm sure that any kind of distress of mind that we have there is somewhere in these psalms from David a deliverance for all of us we can be either Saul or David according as we choose Saul had chosen his path of life the lord had elected him to be king and he could have been so he could have been an acceptable servant to God and he did not finally fulfill his word he decided that it was a little better that he should do it this way as though the cattle were pleasing to God as though the lord could have been pleased with all the cattle that Saul could have brought from the Amalekites or could not the lord snap his fingers before Saul and say the cattle upon a thousand hills are mine obedience is better than sacrifice and here he comes David the obedient well he seems to sink into obscurity for a little time he doesn't stay with Saul and it seems unlikely that Saul really gets to know him although it says that he became his armor bearer it's likely I think either that he became his armor bearer later on or that he became one of several people appointed to Saul's house of armor I don't think he at this time becomes a personal servant of Saul in whom Saul really confides I think as a young man he comes in plays his music sues the heart of Saul has a few words with the king but finally leaves his presence at least we find him now in Bethlehem after all these events until finally the Philistines the ancient enemies of the children of Israel are on the move again now you think of the land of Palestine we're not now going out toward the southeast to Moab we're going out toward the southwest that strip Philistia that great strip of land now there's something interesting here as we take up this record as the army of the Philistines comes into the land of Israel and moves up toward Jerusalem if we are in Jerusalem and look out the Philistines are down toward the southwest and they come to a great valley an interesting valley a valley quite wide and the Philistines pitch on the one side and the children of Israel on the other and yet between them there's a great fissure in the rock straight down and little brook running down below now probably dried up at this time of the year and the Philistines have got a man he's taller even than all and that's saying something he's nine feet tall at least and perhaps taller now if we go to the book of Joshua we'll see why we expect to find him Goliath of Gath this reference from one or two others um i've taken from a book called blunts undesigned scriptural coincidences it's not now in print but if you can get hold of it do so it's worth reading i'll give you the title privately afterwards should you desire it but here's the point joshua chapter 11 this is the seven years war when they were trying to establish themselves in the land but they didn't manage it at least not completely this is what we read in verse 21 and at that time came joshua and cut off the anachim's from the mountains and just stop you remember the children of anach were the ones of whom the spies originally were afraid they were tall men there seemed to be a race of them almost and i suppose when they saw them in their height and their breads they were afraid in their hearts well here comes joshua to cut them off and he cuts them off from hebron one of the places i think to which the spies went from debia from anab and from all the mountains of juda and from all the mountains of israel joshua destroyed them utterly with their cities there was none of the anachim's left in the land of the children of israel only in gaza in gas and in ashton they remained and so here are the seeds of future trouble i think actually the lord if joshua and the soldiers of israel had been mighty would have exterminated even these from these places because they were they were thorns in the side of israel from this time onwards for a long time and so the giants were still breeding in gas and goliath is one of them but what a touch of inspiration brethren and sisters isn't it we go through these lists of names from time to time or do we perhaps we don't always but hidden away quite unexpectedly is this touch of truth none of us need be afraid of standing by our bible in whatever age it might be the lord has so woven into his scriptures these threads of gold some yet to be discovered by us some already seen some discovered by others that those who see them find that their eyes mist with tears as they read you wouldn't think you'd have tears as you read gaza and gas and ashton but until we find that there comes goliath striding out of that very city and establishing the word of the book of joshua how wonderful well there it is and goliath comes up and he parades himself a champion the man between the two hosts and defies the armies of israel looks upon them from his nine feet of height looks at the whole of the army and defies them an uncircumcised philistine but who would dare to stand against him in that array of armor with that sword and with a voice like that and with all the philistines behind him and with their history too and it is that god moves jesse to send up david to feed his brethren or his brethren have been conscripted or have volunteered to the army of saul samuel had said you remember earlier in the book of samuel he had said that all would have conscripts in his army he would take of your sons and make them to be his soldiers and his cooks and whatever he desired and so they were and there were these men now whom god had not chosen to be king in the army shivering in their sandals as they looked out and heard the voice of goliath as he came out twice a day and it says finally he came out for 40 days and how they must have been afraid of that echoing word and none of them was willing to get up and even to answer him back until david comes with a little food in his hands to feed his brethren and as soon as his brethren see him it's just as though it was joseph and his brethren they despised him and one wonders why i think despised him because he was good despises of those that are good but let us keep our eyes on david's brethren they're something like the brethren of the lord jesus christ they're not lost but they haven't been won yet but they will at the appointed time these men as did the brethren of joseph will fall down before him just as over sun and the moon and the stars were to fall down as it said before joseph but now they mock him aha you've come to see the battle have you get home and look after those few sheep that's your job david didn't answer except to say there isn't a cause for this but he'd come to look after the sheep of israel that hadn't got a shepherd who was looking after those few sheep that little huddled flock on the mountainside when the wolf goliath was coming down the other and roaring as it came who's this said david oh it's it's goliath of gath what defying the the armies of the living god what a wonderful expression taken up in our new testament taken up by peter the living god that's the god we serve he was a dead god so far as israel was concerned at that moment he might not have lived their god was not greater than goliath of gas but david's was and he begins to speak with such faith and courage that his his voice finally echoes even in the tent of saul and it's also sent for him he says i'm willing to fight goliath of gas well i suppose saul was started to see anybody who was willing to fight goliath nobody else was willing to do it but saul was willing to lend him his armor it fitted saul better than it fitted david as david found when he got it on and sagged at his very knees he says i can't take this i haven't proved it but there was saul who was head and shoulders above israel and getting on for goliath's eyes the nearest to him among the israelites trying to keep his height down unless he should be picked out as the one to go and fight goliath of gas but finally david goes oh with the blessing of saul no doubt well done my lad as he sets out but he doesn't need the blessing of saul he's greater than saul he doesn't take his heart with him but he takes his psalms in his heart as he sets out and goliath comes down the between because that's why they were able to be so near and yet so far apart and as goliath sees him he looks at him for a moment and wonders whether he's looking for a lost dog no weapons just his shepherd's purse and his sling but of course the israelites were very wonderful with their slings the philistines had made them wonderful you see the philistines didn't allow them to keep proper weapons for a time and so it was that they had to learn how to use other things and it was interesting to notice that it was saul's tribe that finally were the masters with the sling there were 600 of them in the tribe of benjamin that could go the sling with the left or with the right hand and not miss at a hair's breadth they could go but david had been with his sheep no doubt as the birds came down to feed upon the little lambs at times when they were weak or about to die or other beasts had come down upon them and with his sling so he'd been able by wonderful aim to lay them low and he goes down and he chooses in this dried brook of the stream is five stones there've been all sorts of suggestions as to why there were five goliath had at least one brother we know that and there were other giants in the land of the philistines but perhaps it wasn't that reason perhaps he just took what he considered was sufficient ammunition he wasn't presumptuous to think that he would do it the first time and i think perhaps it's better to think of it in that light he took what was sufficient he knew that by the time he'd used five of these things the battle would be joined and if with five the man was not laid low then he'd have to depend entirely upon god but as goliath draws near with his armor bearer before him and a great target of brass between his shoulders which is either a long spear or something to protect his back we're not quite sure bawling at david and telling him that he'll tear him up and give his body to the birds the typical kind of braggart david said you're coming down to me with all your armor and i'm coming to you with my armor i'm coming in the name of the god of israel and with one great swing of the sling he took his stone and let fly and there was just one spot in goliath he was like so many braggarts he's like our whole world he was weak in the head and our lord by direct aim through david's hands laid low goliath just that one spot it's not for nothing that in our new testament in the last book the intellect is marked out the place of the mark of those who belong to god is marked out they're made strong in heart and in mind before god and so goliath is laid low and like a flash david is down over the stream up the other side draws goliath sword cuts off his head and brings it back coming up the other side but by this time the whole of the armies of israel have been released all their pent-up emotions one can hear them cheering and shouting as they come down the side against the philistines who are retiring in confusion their leader dead headless and israel pursues them right down to the gates of gath and david comes up the hill and saul finds him to give him a little pat on the back and to encourage him but saul's uncle is there and he's rather more interested he's abner the captain of the host one can see him as he puts his arm around his shoulders and said young man whose son art thou and that's the question for all young men that's the question god willing this morning to ask the teenagers young man whose son art thou it's a question for all of us too isn't it a question to be asked every day and he was the son of that ephorthite of bethlehem named jesse ah yes he was greater than that he was also a son of god what is man man for the son of man that thou visitest him he visited david he who set the stars with unerring precision had also directed the stone the stone and the shepherd of israel surely there's something there coming right down from the book of genesis isn't there from thence is the stone the shepherd of israel isn't goliath of gath the great picture of the work of god some have even seen in him and his measurements the 666 but that doesn't matter he surely is the great defiant sin of all the world to be laid low by the one stone just that small stone directed by god that would finally grow and fill the whole earth and itself become the shepherd of israel well we must leave goliath of gath with all his thoughts and all the encouragement that he'll give us in his death and if you look at that head or don't look at it according as the circumstance might be how many goliaths in your life how many in mine great men stand in our way not just men but our thoughts and our inner sins things that defy us every day as it were for 40 days on end and come out twice a day and we feel we could never cast them down until we see this little figure moving and hear the voice of god in let's lay goliath low shall we in our daily living try to remember the shepherd and the word of god but finally we might see this headless giant and see him for what he is something himself to be cast to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field and let's hang up his armor in the house of god as did david in some tent some place which was at that time the repository of things belonging unto god but he kept his sword for a little time or his armor and put his in his own tent and so david is lifted up from bethlehem and put right with saw and now begins that time of his life which we shall have to follow ourselves together for a little while in which david will both suffer and become victorious

Transcript

This is the voice of Wilbraham. In August 1961, Brother Harry Tennant of Dundee, Scotland chose as his subject, David the Shepherd King. We take pleasure now in presenting Brother Tennant in the second of seven class sessions. My dear brethren and sisters, we saw that God had found a king. We saw that David had found works to add to his great faith, that the Lord who had delivered him out of the mouth of the lion and from the paw of the bear was able also to deliver him from that uncircumcised Philistine. Now we begin today with something quite different. I have found a friend. For David, when he came into the home and company of Saul and his servants, was sought out not only by Abner, the captain of Saul's host, but also by the king's son, by Jonathan. It seems likely that Jonathan was quite a number of years older than David. In fact, some would say that he was 20 years older. But that isn't of any great significance. The wonder is the character of Jonathan. Sometimes when bright lights shine in company with other bright lights, they are outshone, like John the Baptist in the company of Jesus. But the greatness of John should never be underestimated, nor that of Jonathan. David shone brightly, but Jonathan was a star of wondrous beauty. He had no envy, no selfish thought, no kind of greed or of pride, no jealousy, but a desire that the will of the Lord should be worked out in David and in him. And so Jonathan finds David and becomes so wrapped in David and David in him that their souls fulfil that command that thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Even to the extent of David receiving from Jonathan the gift of David's own outer garments and the weapons that he carried, his apparel, his sword, his girdle, he set upon David, the king's son, setting it upon David, the one who should be king. And as he did it, he did it not reluctantly, but he did it with delight. And these characteristics, I think, are the most difficult of all to develop. Competing spirits find themselves sometimes with envy or jealousy, until they kneel, as does Jonathan, before God in humility and in self-effacement that he might quietly become Jonathan, a brighter star. And David, as he walks with Jonathan's friendship before Saul and before all the courtiers in the palace, it says he behaved himself wisely whithersoever he went. The Spirit of the Lord upon David was such that with Jonathan's friendship and with his own experience behind him and Goliath dead he was able to behave himself wisely. As he walked about the palace or the place where Saul abode, he didn't seek high things but kept his mind upon the lower things. I think Jonathan had taught David a lesson because, of course, Jonathan himself was a pattern of the Lord Jesus Christ, whose apparel are we wearing, brethren and sisters? And whose sword do we carry? And who has girt us about with righteousness? Who was the King's son to whom we have become knit as to a brother and to a master? Is it not Jonathan who loved us as he loved his own soul, yea, Jesus, the greater Jonathan, who loved us as he loved his own soul? Shall we not then, like David as we walked in other men's presences, walk as before the King himself and behave ourselves wisely? David was appointed to be a captain over the soldiers a part of Saul's army and went in and out against the Philistines and came back with Saul at the head of his marching forces until they hear the songs of the dancing maidens ahead of the army joining them day by day rejoicing as the army comes back from its slaughter for the Philistines now are being routed. And so they sing their songs and Saul's ears pick up the delightful music. Saul hath slain his thousand and so he has. He stretches his head and shoulders above the host and marches before the people and they look upon him, Saul hath slain his thousands until he hears the second line of the hymn he doesn't want to hear but David his tens of thousands. And a dark shadow flits quickly across his heart and his eyes go sideways to David and he envies David in his heart. Indeed he says to himself already having most peculiar forebodings about things to come he says concerning him and what can he have now but the kingdom? We cannot wonder then that the occasion should come when Saul should once again be brooding in his darkness with his javelin in his hand and the javelin it would seem was a mark of office. It's interesting as we go through this life of David and of Saul together now in parallel we shall often see Saul with his javelin in his hand. We see him sitting under a tree wondering with his javelin in his hand but on this occasion in his darkness as David is near to him and David has once again been playing and trying to attune the mind of the king to the mind of the king of kings suddenly the javelin flies through the air and slides the wall and David escapes and knows now that for certain Saul is in pursuit of his life. But yet Saul seems peculiarly attracted to David. Quite often one finds that evil men are attracted by the good although they hate them and don't really wish to follow their paths they find that there is a certain attraction in their righteousness and despite all that they can do they cannot undo the character of such men as David. He offers to him his eldest daughter Merab and David never receives her. She's given to somebody else for some reason which is not very easy to find in our reading of the records but it's then suggested that perhaps David should have Michael that second daughter somewhat attractive perhaps and vivacious. Indeed it says that she loved David and I think David loved her and the dowry that he had to pay was only a hundred philistines and so he brought two hundred back and paid the dowry. But he said interesting words and I'd like you to listen to them he said seem it to you to be a light thing to be a king's son-in-law seeing that I am a poor man and lightly esteemed. You see the servants of Saul were trying to lead David into a trap. If only he would seem to be enticed by Michael if only he would aspire to greater things if only his pride would take hold of him and he would seek to be the king's son-in-law then it could be seen that Saul in a moment could smite him down as someone who was trying to rise up from being a poor man that he might take from Saul that which belonged to him. But David is quite humble and reluctant in his approach but brethren and sisters those words have something for us have they not? Seem it to you to be a light thing to be the king's son for is not that our calling? And yet are we not poor men and lightly esteemed? Shall we then not take to ourselves this bearing of David and see constantly in him the humility that was to be perfected in the Lord Jesus Christ he who was the king's son and yet was a poor man though he was rich yet became he poor for our sake and though he had all grace and the beauty of God his father was upon him yet was he lightly esteemed we esteemed him stricken smitten, afflicted of God but he was the king's son and so our self-esteem should diminish and our worship of God and also our honor to his son should daily increase as did that of David before his God both in heart and mind and in his psalms it says that Saul had become continually David's enemy notice not David had become Saul's enemy Saul had become continually David's enemy the enmity was in the heart of Saul he was seeking him out if only he could find some little fault by which David could be brought low just as they looked for Christ that he walked about that's what they were doing for David to try to find some little way Jonathan walks in the field with Saul his father for his father has said that he will slay David and Jonathan mediates for him I don't think, brethren and sisters we can overestimate the love of this character Jonathan why should Jonathan want David to be delivered? David was going to take the crown from Jonathan's hand and to wear it no he wasn't going to take it Jonathan was going to place it on David's head and there is the beauty of his character he mediates for David until his father says he shall not die as the Lord liveth he says he shall not be slain but David goes out to battle again and comes back victorious and Saul's heart is torn again by his envy and his jealousy of this man and he is madly envious against David and attempts further to put him to death with that javelin, his mark of kingship which should have been to feed as it were the flock of God and to keep them instead of which he would try to drive David out and to hunt him to seek out his heart and his very life until finally David now married to Michael is in that home where they are together and the servants of Saul are walking about at night outside just have a look at Psalm 59 I'm sorry that we really haven't opportunity to go into all the Psalms that we should there are many written about this time by David but here by the heading of the Psalm we read the introduction to the heading and then when Saul sent and they watched the house to kill him let's not forget the fear that must have been in David's heart despite his faith when his house was surrounded by the king's men and they were there at night parading around and Michael in her love within was trying to shield her husband from her father's wrath and this is David's prayer from within deliver me from my enemies O my God defend me from them that rise up against me deliver me from the workers of iniquity and save me from bloody men for lo, they lie in wait for my soul the mighty are gathered against me not for my transgression nor for my sin, O Lord they run and prepare themselves without my fault awake to help me and behold verse 14 and at evening let them return and let them make a noise like a dog and go round about the city and this was a description of what they did and of what David hoped for them we find that he commits all judgment to God there is in these Psalms running through them a certain desire for David to see his enemies eradicated and such would be God's will but he takes no step to do it he commits the whole of this matter to God never did we find him rising up against any that would put him to death and now the men knock at the door and Michael looks out in distress they've come for David this time to take him by the command of the King and he can't escape maybe it's nice but at least she tries to ward off that which they would do she takes what seems strange in this house though it may have belonged to her rather than to David what would appear to be an idol some household god that she had and she wrapped it in the bed and so disguised it as though it were a man until finally when the men come in she says concerning David he's sick and she allows them to look into the room and they see what appears to be a figure in bed but David is away he's followed a route that two other men had followed no three altogether had followed and were to follow the two spies who had been let down by the window by Rahab on that scarlet cord so David now has slipped down through the window and slipped through the net that was cast about the house and he's gone out to spend a life away from home and so was Saul of Tarsus to begin his life when they hunted for him he's escaped and he bids Michael farewell we shall see her again on occasion she's given to someone else in the meantime but we shall see her again coming along the way of weeping and we shall see her finally rejected because she has failed in her appreciation of David and where do you think David would go when he left that house? where would you have gone? into some cave of hiding right away? no, not David he goes to one place he goes to Rama of Gilead just to find out, to seek out one man the old man who had anointed him and he goes to find Samuel and Samuel takes him to the school of the prophets it would appear that Samuel had established a company of young men which he was instructing in the way of the Lord who no doubt communally considered the word of God and also were able to exhort others from time to time and upon whom it would seem God on occasion sent down his Holy Spirit so that they gave inspired messages not always this school of the prophets seems to have been a school where they were taught but occasionally from them there was chosen a prophet Elisha for example came from such a place and so it is that Samuel now takes David down to the school of the prophets until suddenly to this very school of the prophets there come three companies of Saul's men not together but separately they come down to take David and as they approach the school of the prophets so the Spirit of the Lord falls upon them and they are seized as it were by a paroxysm from heaven whereby they've got to express themselves in some way to give glory to God and are unable to take his anointed and on three occasions it happens until Saul himself comes down and he lies down before the Lord having cast off his outer garment until there ran through Israel a certain expression Is Saul also among the prophets? As though a man should say is the wolf also lying down with the lamb? But that's the expression and so Saul finds himself seized by a power from outside and knows for certain that God is working against him because he is working against God on every occasion Saul has opportunity if he desires to go back and he doesn't desire it and so it is that David and Jonathan must bid farewell Jonathan explains to David no doubt with tears in his eyes despite all his mediations on his behalf Saul wants to kill him and so as they walk in the field they arrange a final meeting he says now tomorrow there will be a feast and I will put it to my father and see how it is that he reacts to you now meet me in this field and so it was that although there was to be a feast there was to be an empty place it's rather interesting to notice this feast and to think that there was a place prepared for David at the king's table and there was a place for Abner the captain of the host and a place for Jonathan and in reading the record it just looks as though for a moment Jonathan has to give place to Abner at this feast and Abner takes his seat and there's an empty seat and Saul looks at it for a moment and says to himself well he must be unclean in some way he must be defiled then he'll be here tomorrow but on the morrow the seat is empty again and he looks at the seat and at Jonathan and he realizes now that the absence of David from this feast is not just an absence of uncleanness whereas David he says oh he asked me that he might go to Bethlehem to a family sacrifice there and immediately Saul comes out with an outburst of wrath thou son of a perverse and rebellious woman it wasn't woman that he should have used was it? he didn't think of the fatherhood he thought only of the motherhood but who was the perverse and the rebellious in that household? and so it says that Jonathan rose up from that feast in righteous anger and went out defending the righteousness of David against the wrath of his father and there Jonathan would be impaled at his own life by this king knowest thou not that this son of Jesse is risen to thine own hurt? oh Saul knew that the throne was slipping from his head and it was not to fall upon Jonathan but upon David and so on the third morning Jonathan goes out into the field with his bow and with his arrows now he told David that if on this day I come to you and the arrow goes beyond you then know for certain that you must flee for your life and so Jonathan walks out into the morning air such as we have enjoyed this day with a lad at his side and he takes his arrows and he fires them and David listens to its flight and hears its sting over his head and fall beyond him and he sends the lad to fetch back the arrows as he sends them across is not the arrow beyond thee? until the lad finds them and brings them back again to Jonathan and Jonathan sends him back home and then David comes from behind the rock and oh what weeping as they pass Jonathan how he could have delighted to see that David was now to be an outlaw rejected by men but no he wrapped himself in his love around David and they strike a covenant before God a covenant of exceeding beauty they strike a covenant whereby David says that he will as God lives he will show kindness both to Jonathan and to his seed these are the words the Lord be between me and thee between my seed and thy seed forever oh what a delightful covenant they were able to make but brethren and sisters is not that the covenant that God has made with us and are we bound similarly? and was it not too though this figure I don't think is really here in Samuel was it not too by two awful nights of an empty place and the third morning by which we were brought to God was it not? and has not he who rose from the dead made with us an everlasting covenant sealed and sure in all things even the sure mercies of David has he not made those with us? but David is off he's scampering away now alone well almost alone but there seem to be one or two young men with him one or two who are attracted by that magnetic quality of David his quality of leadership he's an inspiration to all who see him and so he frees to Nob a city a little north of Anathoth which is a little north of Jerusalem and there he finds the priest a himmelet the priest is afraid as soon as he sees David he knows something of the rumours that are going through Israel and he's afraid that now that David has come that perhaps the time has come either for David's death or for there to be some terrible stirring in Israel David comes in and asks for bread five loaves are given to him loaves of bread oh but he doesn't get them right away the himmelet says I haven't got any bread here except the show bread and the opposite to David saying that if the men who are with him have kept themselves clean and if David himself is clean then he is willing that the show bread should be given to them and both the priest and David show an understanding which Jesus himself was to take up later on an understanding that that show bread although it was reserved to be kept in the holy place and to be eaten only by the priests when it was taken and the new bread was put in its place on that table every first day of each new week that that bread should be eaten only by the priests but in a manner of speaking both the priest and David knew that they were priests before God and that that law was given not that it should be kept to men's death but that it could be kept in spirit even to life and so as David said we're clean we've had no association of any kind that could defile us in this last few days David had been in hiding for three days and perhaps the young men hiding with him they were a comfort to him the Lord had provided friends hidden friends for David as we shall see unexpected friends the Lord had provided the Lord wasn't behind pushing David on the Lord was in front seeking out a way God had reached Nob long before David reached it but it is so that as David now says and is there a weapon here for me that the priest says yes there's a weapon there's the weapon of Goliath the giant wrapped up in a cloth and David said give me that for there's none like that and he took it and with his young men and his food he departs but just for a moment another man has seen a dark-eyed dark-hearted man Doeg the Edomite who for some reason is detained before the Lord either because he has a message or because he himself having embraced the faith of Israel has become unclean or has a vow to pray and wishes in some way to receive the assistance of a priest and he sees David and he hears the word David doesn't say that he's fleeing from Saul he says he's about the king's business there are one or two things that David says during this time that have a certain dubiety about them they're a little doubtful and perhaps one has to take them in the circumstances in which they're said they're not always with absolute clear honesty and perhaps in fear there's this tinge of double meaning whereby David was able to be delivered but be that as it may what would you have done? I don't think we'd have kept the purity of character that David kept all been purged as David was purged by his constant confession and his love of God oh this was the man Doeg the Edomite whose tongue he writes in one of his Psalms Psalm 52 thy tongue divided mischiefs like a sharp razor working deceitfully oh what a man that's his reference one has to go in the Psalms to see the inner thoughts of David concerning this matter he flees from Nob north of Jerusalem skirts Jerusalem itself which has not yet become the capital city but in which there seem to be some residents of the kingdom of Israel skirts it and goes round down towards the south and away down to the southwest until finally he comes into the land of the Philistines and there he meets Abimelek a name like Pharaoh that is as we read from that 34th Psalm the king Achish king of Gath but the Philistines don't receive him very kindly it wasn't to be expected that they would in a way I suppose their memories were not too short and David had a certain renown and he comes now with Goliath's sword and his young men I suppose he stirred up a few memories Achish for some reason was willing or might have been willing to receive him but David sees that the circumstances are not in his favour and he feigns madness before the king he scrabbles upon the gate and allows his spittle to fall down his beard and Achish asks a question I suppose which has been asked by many people from that time forward have I need of mad men? it's rather a reflection on the number he already had perhaps his expression in that form is just a little peculiar I think and somewhat amusing at any rate David finds that he can't take refuge there with the Philistines but this poor man cried and the lord heard him and delivered him out of all his troubles it's at this time or through these circumstances that David wrote that 34th Psalm and had the comfort of those words that the angel of the lord encampeth round about those that fear him and delivereth them for though there was a dark eyed dark hearted man in knob there was also a bright eyed immortal creature the angel of the lord encamping round about David to deliver him and now David goes to the cave of Adalim now this is south west of Jerusalem an area that is riddled with caves these caves come right back from the time of the book of Judges it's just an interesting point if one goes into the book of Judges to find that these caves were constructed hewn out at that time for men to live in when they were oppressed by their various oppressors and this cave of Adalim was a cave of considerable size and David and his few men take refuge there and now they begin to flock to him from all parts of the land for the word is gone like a beat of a drum through the land as to where David is although Saul hasn't found it yet and so they come to him men from here and men from there not rich men but it says the dissidents of all kinds came to him those who were in debt and in any kind of trouble the malcontents of the land of Israel until he finally has 400 such men with him in a cave think about it brothers and sisters just for a moment what would you do with 400 men like that oh perhaps they got into debt because they had been oppressed but perhaps not perhaps they could say concerning David as a man later was to say concerning himself and his new found friend and master what would he to say oh we suffer for our deeds but this man hath done nothing amiss and so they came to him in the cave but David's wonderful leadership he takes hold of these 400 men and by his love and his faith and his strength of character he welds them into a body of people of perfect friendship and allegiance to David and to the Lord David was to receive another comfort no doubt this cave in the hill had its look out men David was too wise a soldier too wary a man to be unprotected and one can imagine the day when as the look out was at the door of the cave so the message came into the cave where David and his men were there are men coming and so it echoes right along the cave a long cave it could take 400 men inside and so every man stood by with his sword in his hand until finally it's an old man and a woman and several young men until David himself comes to the door of the cave and recognises his family neither did his brethren believe on him not to begin with but now that he's an outlaw and perhaps their own life too is in great danger they come to David into the cave oh what an embrace there must have been as David takes his father mother and his brethren into this cave and they meet his friends the 400 debtors and the malcontents and men who perhaps had been evildoers before but David can't stay in this cave for very long it's a place that is too dangerous for him to stay in and certainly too dangerous a place for him in which to keep his father and his mother and so he sends his parents down right across the river Jordan straight over into the land of Moab right down to the south east the land in which we began our studies yesterday and why should he send his parents there? because of course he had associations there yes right back to the days of Ruth the Moabites and so he puts his father there into that place and his mother there are all sorts of strange rumours as to what happened to them there the scripture says nothing but there are all sorts of rumours that exist outside the scripture even that his parents were put to death there but I don't think that need concern us at the moment David was doing his best for his parents and the scripture has seen fit to be silent upon what happened to them one other person comes to David and that is a man called Gad the seer now I'd like you to think about him because he seems to be specially sent to David as a man through whom the word of the Lord was going to be revealed there is an order of revelation given in the book of Deuteronomy the revelation is through the prophet and the priest is to keep the word and to pass it on to the king and the king is to write it out for himself and so to observe it the priest was not the origin of the word of God it was the prophet the priest lips should keep knowledge that which they receive and the king should write it out and so observe it and that three-fold chord should have existed in the kingdom of Israel it would certainly exist with David he was a prophet himself of course and received direct messages but many of his directions now come from Gad the seer and it would seem also that Gad the seer was a scribe writing down the events of the life of David as did Nathan the prophet these things were not to pass day by day without some kind of record being kept a record of Samuel and of kings and of chronicles has sprung out of the records written by these men many of them written no doubt on the spot many of them direct recollections of the people who took part either in battle or in meeting or in private thought the descriptions of the hillsides and of the country the places where David and his men were hidden were all kept in the minds of people like the priests Gad the seer and of David himself and so we have such a record upon which we can place our implicit trust knowing that it has a touch throughout of reliability and of inspiration by God and so it is that God through Gad sends David away from the cave of Adalim and sent him down into Judah into the forest of Heareth which is about ten miles northwest of Hebron and just to place that for you it's quite easy we're in Jerusalem now we're looking south right south on this side is the Mediterranean and on the eastern runs Jordan we're looking south over Bethlehem and beyond that till we see Hebron indeed it is to Hebron that the priests used to look when they stood in the temple of Solomon when they stood or harried in later times and they wanted to know whether it was daylight and as the first light came over the hill so they looked right down to Hebron and they'd say that it was beginning to be the light of a new day and the question would go is it light as far as Hebron could the city be seen and as soon as that was said so they say they regarded it as being the new day but beyond that was a forest into which David was now to take his refuge we find Saul with his javelin in his hand under a tree in Rama notice it seems to be his symbol of office this javelin and he carries it with him and messages come to him as he laments the loss of his followers and of Jonathan his son messages come to him concerning David's welfare the growing band of people who are placing their confidence in David and so it is that Jonathan for though he is a great man he's but a little baby haven't I any friends he says isn't there anyone to tell me what David is doing and there steps forward a man with his dark eyes and his dark heart I've seen him he says Doeg the Edomite the man from the other side descendant of Esau I've seen him he said I saw him in Nob I saw him speak to the priest oh are the priests also against me send for Himalek bring him here and the other priests and so they bring some of the priests to the Himalek from Nob the Himalek says I don't know anything about this matter I wasn't aware of the fullness of this situation I did just what I did out of the righteousness of my heart before God and before David he said he was on the king's business but Doeg David is there at the king's side urging him on and Saul then does a dreadful thing he turns to his soldiers and he says slay the priests of the Lord not a man raises his sword oh to be a king you see how David's men respond to him but not Saul's they won't slay the priests of the Lord but notice what Saul has done he's defied the prophet he's defying the priesthood and he's defying the king a three-fold defiance of God but Doeg says I'll do it and he goes through the priests of the Lord and slays them in the presence of Saul some of them and then he goes down to Nob the city and slays there all the inhabitants of that city that belong to the priesthood except one man a biographer who flees and where does he go? he comes to David and David says a wonderful thing to him he says abide thou with me fear not for he that seeketh my life seeketh thy life but with me thou should be in safeguard what a wonderful confidence can't you hear the poetry of David? an almost inspired saying but can't we hear one greater than David speaking to us? abide with me thou should be safe with me and that's the invitation Doeg had completed his work no, not completed it and that's the wonder you see God wouldn't let him complete his work oh yes, he would wreak havoc upon this city except for the one man who would escape with the ephod under his arm the very thing by which they consulted God and take it not to Saul but to David and so Doeg the Edomite only spurs on the great work of David and Saul can never be satisfied would you be satisfied with the blood of priests upon the sword of your servants would you? the blood of the priests was to be upon Saul's head as was also the blood of David that he would like to take we find about this time that the city of Keelah south of Jerusalem is besieged by the Philistines now it was Saul's duty to relieve his people, he should do that that's what the king's business is now Saul was no coward let us remember oh no at the beginning of his reign when he had been anointed he was established by an act of bravery right on the other side of the river Jordan in Gilead was a city called Jabesh Gilead that was besieged by the Ammonites you remember who said that they would put out the eyes of the inhabitants of that city the right eyes of all the men unless they could find someone to deliver them and they sent a message back into the land and it came to Saul and it was Saul that went to Jabesh Gilead and delivered it by his bravery and his courage he was no coward this man he was a man who if only he had taken the right path could have been acceptable to God but he didn't and I think in that lies a warning for us brothers and sisters if we commit ourselves to God then he will commit himself to us and deliver us and even though we might have to at times yield things to God we shall not yield eternal life but keep it even though the Lord wished to take the throne even though Saul was righteous and give it to David there would have been no unrighteousness with God and Saul need not have lost his faith I think the crown would have stayed for a time at least with Saul's family if Saul had been righteous but he was not and so this city of Keelah is delivered not by Saul but by David David goes down with his 400 men who have now become 600 so fast that his army multiply and with David at their head in constant leadership with astounding courage he delivers the city from the Philistines and goes in and he's in the walls of Keelah and news comes to Saul that there he is and Saul says he's mine once he's inside a city with walls and with gates he's mine and then David consults a biographer he consults the Lord actually now there are all kinds of ideas as to how he consults the Lord and I haven't found a solution but at least one or two suggestions can be made it is said that in the Ephod there's a little pocket in which two stones the Urim and Thummim were to be kept of different colours and if a man consulted the Lord saying shall I go put his hand in and took out and looked at it and according to the colour so he either went or did not that was the answer from the Lord now I don't think that's the answer to the problem by any means because the kind of thing that God gives to David through the Ephod and through the priest is a more clear direct message that could never have been answered by stones shall I go shall I stay in Keyla or not and he's told that he shouldn't stay in Keyla will the men of this city deliver me into the hands of Saul should he come and he says yes so they will now these initial questions I think and one or two others that we have later on could have been answered by the yes and no stones but we shall find as we go on some of the things that God gives are pieces of information concerning Saul and concerning David that could not have been found just by little stones plucked out of the pocket for yes and no and so it is that he leaves the selfish unthankful men of Keyla and forsakes the city and himself is delivered from the hand of Saul he goes down into the wilderness of Ziph further south into a land where no doubt there was less provision for him and for his men I'd like you to think of him now as complete outlaw cut off from his associations in Bethlehem cut off from his normal worship cut off from his normal friends away from Jonathan away from Jonathan oh no not away from Jonathan he'll never be away from Jonathan Jonathan is praying for David and though David is right south of Jerusalem beyond Hebron, beyond the forest of Hakela right down into the wilderness of Ziph they hear a message there's a man coming it's Jonathan the king's son and it says Jonathan sought out David and he strengthened his hand in God brethren and sisters is not that one of the wonderful things we enjoy here strengthening the hand in God and that's what Jonathan did for David fear not for the hand of Saul my father shall not find thee and thou shalt be king over Israel in the wilderness of Ziph Jonathan have you got faith to say that concerning me yes and he adds a little phrase and I shall be next unto thee he was willing to be below David next to him something that God would not see fulfilled in God's own wisdom and understanding but there was a willingness in Jonathan to see David exalted that every man esteem his brother better than himself to be and he was quite willing no not just willing, thou shalt be king I'll lift you up David even though you be in the wilderness of Ziph oh such courage from the king's son but there are men in Ziph Ziph I assume sneak northwards through the forest up through Hebron Bethlehem until they come north of Jerusalem finding Saul under the tree with his javelin and say we know where David is come down and find him come and take him he's in the hill of Hakkilar so it is that at this time David is still writing his psalms praying unto God for strangers have risen up against me and violent men have sought after my soul he moves further south until he comes to a little hill called Maon and there it is that Saul comes down seeking David with his thousands of men looking round the hill to try to find this anointed of God and it just seems that for a moment David is caught he's in the hill, perhaps hiding there in caves with his six hundred men and Saul comes round one side of the mountain and David is going round the other until it seems as though Saul has completely surrounded this place and David must certainly fall into the grasping hand of Saul the king until there comes a messenger to the king who says the Philistines have invaded the land and so it was that God sent the Philistines to deliver David and Saul has to release his grip of the city and David breathes again doesn't stay in that hill oh he's got wisdom he's off now, down toward the Dead Sea steeply going down to that place that's twelve hundred feet below sea level until he finds a cave here in Gedai the place where men fish there there is a brook that comes into the Dead Sea a kind of well and there are still caves in that area of the Dead Sea indeed of course occasionally scrolls are found in caves by the Dead Sea but there was a greater scroll at this time thy law nor have I written in my heart and not on tables of stone nor of skin but upon David himself a scroll by the Dead Sea in a cave protected by the Lord Saul comes down again with his three thousand men seeks David and David's inside the cave with his six hundred men and oh what a stroke of providence Saul takes a nap at the mouth of the cave and David's got three men with him oh what men they are the sons of Zeruiah and they said to David at least one of them said he's here and the Lord has delivered him into your hand this is the very moment for which you've waited the Dead Sea in a dead Saul all in a moment it could have been the king could have gone and David withholds his sword I'd like you to think about it behold thine enemy delivered into thine hand his men his six hundred this is the moment you've waited for won't take long let me do it and he'd be dead and he goes up and he takes off the fringe from the garment of Saul and the Saul and his men leave the cave and go down and away so David comes to the mouth of the cave and he calls you can see Saul's eyes as he turns and sees where he's been and where David was and David calls to him across the distance and Abanus has been standing by and the three thousand men listening and David's six hundred the Lord judged between me and thee and the Lord avenged me of thee but mine hand shall not be upon thee oh is it thou my son David how strangely the thoughts of Saul mingle with righteousness and unrighteousness quite unwillingly he now says thou art more righteous than I and the Lord will reward thee for the good which thou hast done to me this day and so it is that Saul goes northward and David still stays where he is and we think about David in his righteousness it was righteousness by his withholding his acts and Saul oh with what darkness and despair he must have gone north and now his three thousand souls must have walked with weary feet they'd come to accomplish a purpose and it could not be done and Saul had lost the fringe of his garment and David had a new fringe to his a fringe of righteousness and of remembrance of the Lord and that was acceptable to God

Transcript

This is the voice of Wilbraham. In August 1961, Brother Harry Tennant of Dundee, Scotland, chose as his subject, David, the shepherd king. We take pleasure now in presenting Brother Tennant in the third of seven class sessions. Yesterday, we left David sweltering in the heat by the Dead Sea in the caves of Ngedi. Now, the system of communication in those days was such that it's quite certain that David knew what was happening in the kingdom and that his friends dispersed here and there throughout Saul's kingdom also knew where David was. Now, news at this time comes through that Samuel has died and it appears, although it's not absolutely certain from the record, it appears that David attended the funeral. It's possible that he did so. It would be a meeting of a strange kind with a great prophet dead with the rejected king there wondering about his words and seeing perhaps David and his company of men. It's just a thought and it's something about which we can't in any way pronounce. Immediately after this, David goes further south still, almost as though he's in complete fear now because he goes right down south to the Dead Sea, right into the hottest part of the wilderness. And there he is with his company, which appears to remain about this time at 600 men. No doubt he trained them, no doubt he taught them to worship. I'm sure that they were men not only who fought for him, but men who learned from him. No doubt he also sang to them his psalms and perhaps they echoed the kind of sentiment that we ourselves have sung this morning. What time I am afraid, I will trust in God. And that's a word of excitation, brethren and sisters, for in all our vicissitudes of life, I don't suppose we shall ever find that our circumstances are any worse than David's. And yet in all his fears, he was able to lean upon his God. Notice the kind of temptation to which he's put as we go through his life, the temptations of those without and the temptation of that which lies within, the breaking up of his family. It's absolutely shattered by the time David dies, but his faith remains constant right into the end, and his eyes, though dim with age, look forward with brightness to the time when the kingdom would be established and the sun would be enthroned. David's men come north from the wilderness now into that place south of Hebron where it is possible to keep and to look after sheep and to do so prosperously. And it appears that they acted as a kind of wall. You see, the Americans were on the south of the land of Palestine, on that part that runs from the Dead Sea right out onto the Mediterranean Sea. The Amalekites were there, and they made numerous excursions into the land of Israel to attack the villages, to take supplies, to come down at harvest time, and to satisfy themselves with loot and booty of different kinds. And so it appears that for a time David and his 600 men were in the wilderness as a kind of wall, a protection against certain of these southern villages. Indeed, he wins their allegiance later on because of what he has done for them. And in this area we find there is a man extremely prosperous in a place called Carmel, not the Carmel right away in the north on the coast, another Carmel altogether, near to that place called Maon, the mountain that was surrounded by Saul. And there, there lives a man called Nathan, Nabal, whose wife is Abigail. Now we remember the circumstances. It's the time of sheep shearing and of great rejoicing. The man now has gone through his year. He's reaped the time when he's reaping all his labors for the year, a time when all his servants gather together in rejoicing, the time of sheep shearing. And it is then that David sends by his servant just a request to Nabal that perhaps he will share his prosperity with those who have been a wall to him by day and by night, and who in no way have done any injury to his servant, nor taken any of his goods. And Nabal says, who is David? Now I'm sure he's heard of him. There are many servants, he says, that break away from their masters in these days. And so he despises the anointed of God. And the servants of David return to him with this message. And David becomes furious, and he is desirous of taking revenge. Indeed, he girds his sword upon him and takes at least 200 of his 600 men and sets out to take revenge of Nabal and his household. But one of the servants of Nabal, a man of wisdom and understanding, speaks unto his mistress and tells her what had happened between the servants of David and between Nabal. And Abigail herself understands. She says, our master, he's a brutish man. He understood his master, although he worked for him. And Abigail was well aware of this, and she calls together a company and brings supplies and sets out and goes south that David is coming north. And in her wondrous way, and she's a character standing out just like a jewel in the darkness here, for David has taken the wrong path. He should never have taken his sword upon his side to avenge himself. And have you noticed how sometimes we do precisely this? Having taken a great stand in a matter of importance, we allow at times lesser matters to take us into sin. David wouldn't raise his hand for a moment against Saul. He saw the principle absolutely clearly. But here, in this smaller matter, when it really didn't matter whether he received supplies from Nabal or not, he could have had them from elsewhere, he desires to take a revenge. But he comes northward with his men, so Abigail comes southward with her servants and her maidens and with supplies. But I'd like you to look at her words. 1 Samuel 25. She is a pattern of Mary, the mother of Jesus. She is one of those characters of the Old Testament who uses concerning herself. Despite her status, remember, she's higher than David in standing at the moment at least so far as the land is concerned. She's the wife of a rich man. She has no need to have anything to do with an outlaw or his band of stragglers, just 600 when the whole of Saul's kingdom is behind her. But her eyes have seen something that Nabal would never see. Nabal the fool. And as she comes on, this is what she says. Verse 23. And when Abigail saw David, she hasted and lighted off the ass and fell before David on her face and bowed herself to the ground and fell at his feet and said, Upon me, my lord, upon me let this iniquity be. And let thine handmaid, I pray, thee speak in thine audience and hear the words of thine handmaid. Let not, my lord, I pray, thee regard this man of Belial, even Nabal, for at his name is, so is he, Nabal is his name, and folly is with him. But I, thine handmaid, saw not the young men of my lord whom thou didst send. Now therefore, my lord, as the lord liveth and as thy soul liveth, seeing the lord hath withholden thee from coming to shed blood and from avenging thyself with thine own hand, now let the enemies, thine enemies, and they that seek evil to my lord be as Nabal. Do you notice her understanding? She doesn't regard her coming now as being something of her own will at all. She regards herself as being moved by the Spirit of God to come down and to deliver David from blood-guiltiness. She's in delightful contrast with Bathsheba, who brings blood-guiltiness to David. She, in her wisdom, delivers him promise. This was her will, the Lord's will. And she comes down in such humility and understanding, both of God and of David himself and of David's life and of his future and of the whole purpose of God that we delight to see her in her humility upon her face before David. I wonder what the two hundred men did with their swords when Abigail stood before them. I wonder how ashamed David felt with his sword by his side. Was it still Goliath's sword? If it was, then she was to remind him about Goliath. Or what does she say concerning his enemies and concerning the work of the Lord? Verse 26, I pray thee, forgive the trespass of thine handmaid, for the Lord will certainly make my Lord a sure house. Notice this. God hasn't said this yet. This hasn't been said by the Word of God as such. This was to come later, this swelling of the purpose of God into a sure house. But Abigail seems to be able to anticipate in the selection of David the development of the whole purpose of God, because my Lord fighteth the battles of the Lord, and evil hath not been found in thee all thy days. Yet a man is risen to pursue thee and to seek thy soul, but the soul of my Lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the Lord thy God, and the souls of thine enemies then shall he sling out, and she brings back his line to Goliath. The binding of David with God himself and the slinging out of the enemies of the Lord, and so it is that her perception of what is righteous in God's sight is considerable, isn't it? And to our sisters we commend this woman. Have you noticed her strength in her humility? She does obeisance before David, but she stands above him in his character at this time, and David knows as he goes away with those gifts that he's received from her that in Abigail he has found someone not only faithful in Israel, but someone who's pointed right beyond his present sufferings to the time of the shore house. And brethren and sisters, all of us are Abigail, which is how we meet the Lord Jesus Christ. Not in his blood, guiltiness of course, but in our faith that though he is in the wilderness and at the present time not crowned King of Kings, yet the Lord will establish for him a shore house, and we confess our faith and do our obeisance before him. We are the handmaid of the Lord, and he will bless us, and sling out all the enemies of the Lord and bind us into the bundle of life. And that's our hope, and that's why we come here. May it be, brethren and sisters, that none of us will be slung out, that all of us find the tight band of the Lord about us when his day comes. And so Abigail returns, and one can see David standing as she goes away, thinking, and talking to his men, perhaps to Joab, to Abishai, and to Asahel, his three faithful warriors who walk with him, his sister's sons, men who stood by him in all his trials. And I wonder what psalms he sang as he went back, and what thoughts he had, as she had reminded him that in God do we trust, and that we shouldn't take vengeance of any kind ourselves. It so happens that as soon as Nabal himself has finished his sheep shearing and continues his great rejoicing, he goes into a carousal. He's drunk, and in his foolishness he's smitten by God, and he dies. I think it is from this 25th chapter of 1 Samuel that the man who would pull down his barns and build greater finds some of his origins. Thou fool, this night thy soul should be required of thee. Then who shall those things be? And they became David, no doubt, because as soon as Nabal is dead, David sends messengers not with swords, but with love northwards to fetch Abigail. And she comes with five maidens, and one can see them as she comes south and he comes north, and she comes upon him, and perhaps in the hollow of a hill so they meet. As she comes over and he comes over the other side, and in her humility she still falls before him, and he takes her unto himself at his wife. Well now after this she becomes a queen in the wilderness. Not yet a queen, but a queen to be. She's with David in all his trials, in all his sufferings, and they're going to be considerable. She's now exposed herself to something to which she is not at all accustomed. She lived in luxury in her own house with servants about her. She's brought her servants with her, but from now on they must learn to march, to ride, to fast, to be afraid of battle, to hide in caves at night, and to depend upon the Lord for protection. And so her own character too is to be developed in this time of wandering. And that's our status, isn't it? We too are in the wilderness, a queen to be, yet we have to walk with our Lord, with us, whoever He leads us during this time. And He leads her into the wilderness of Ziph, a wilderness again well south of Jerusalem, yet north of the Dead Sea. And the Ziphites there again betray David and send a message up to Saul, and he comes down once more with his 3,000 men on the hunt for David. And I suppose as David's company increases and there are women in the company, well, he takes also to himself another wife at this time, as there are women in the company, so it must have been increasingly difficult for them to move without being seen. Indeed, I imagine that with that company of men it was now almost impossible to move without being seen. And so the message goes north, and Saul comes south, and he pitches again near the hill of Hakela, you remember the hill that we mentioned yesterday. He pitches there and goes to sleep at night, so he sets around his camp, Saul, all the baggage that they brought with them as an outer wall of defense. And the king's pillow is marked by his javelin at his side. That's the mark where the king is. That's his mark of authority, as well as a weapon that he might use. And David and his men have discovered them. David says, Who will go with me into the camp of Saul? And he speaks to Joab and to Abishai. Abishai says, I'll come. And so they steal through the night, through the baggage, into the company, right up the javelin. And Abishai says, Behold, the Lord has delivered thine enemy into thine hand. Let me smite him, because I won't have to smite him a second time. And so it is that David has got to say to this man, as he's got to say to Joab and to others, that these sons of Zeruiwai are too hard for him. They don't understand the purpose of God, and he will not in any way afflict Saul. But he takes away the crews of water from the side of Saul that he sleeps, a sleep that's from the Lord. So they needn't have come down so quietly and the javelin and disappear until they're on the hillside opposite. And again as dawn breaks, so David calls. Is it thou, Abner? And Abner was a man of considerable bravery and also a man with considerable allegiance to Saul. He's of the tribe of Benjamin, he's Saul's uncle, and he stands faithful even in his distresses. He's a man with character. Have you taken care of your master, says David? What of these things that I have? And holds them out? Oh, but Saul is moved again beyond himself. Is it thou, my son David? He calls across the gap between them. And David stands purely looking at the man upon whom are already the marks of death. The hand of God is upon him. I have sinned. I will do thee no more harm, says Saul. The Lord shall render to every man according to his righteousness and his faithfulness, says David. The Lord in all his principles has learned to trust in God. And listen to these words now of Saul, his second prophecy. His first one was at the time when David similarly delivered him, and this is his second one. Blessed be thou, my son David. Thou should do great things and thou shalt prevail. This inner awareness of Saul is strange, isn't it? And have you noticed how some of the qualities of Saul lie in all of us? How sometimes in our own striving, sometimes in our weakness and sin, although we know what the purpose of God is and what we should do, yet we sometimes strive against it. Knowing how vain it is and how useless to pursue the path that was chosen, and yet we do it. How in our daily living, outside our Ecclesia, and out of association with brethren and sisters, we sometimes live in the land of darkness and in the land of the shadow of death and walk in it willingly, and yet in our hearts we know concerning not David, but somebody else. Blessed be thou, oh my Lord Jesus Christ. Thou should do great things and thou shalt prevail. And he will, over all of us in this room, whether we are faithful or unfaithful, the Lord Jesus will prevail in that day, will he not? He could bind us in his bundle, or he can sling us out. And the choice is ours. As it was with Saul, so it is with us today. David, still in fear of Saul, despite what Saul has said, goes further south and this time he turns over toward the southwest and goes down into the land of the Philistines. And on this occasion the king, Achish, there in Gath, gives him a city. And he gives him Zigglag, which is on the outer coast. I think Zigglag originally belonged to Judah or Benjamin. It certainly belonged to the children of Israel. And this city is given to David and to his 600 men and to their wives and children. And they dwell there. And from that place they go out and make excursions of battle against the people of the south country, against the Amalekites and those tribes that wandered in the wilderness and used to come up against the south of Israel. And they went out and when they went out they brought back no captives. Only the spoil, not a whisper of what they were doing, was to come into Achish, king of Gath. Achish would appear, seemed to think that David was in constant conflict with the children of Israel, that he was going up into the south of Judah. And they imagined, the Philistines imagined in their hearts that David was making himself continually the enemy of the people. But it so happened that at this time the Philistines decided to join battle with the children of Israel. Now I'd like you to picture this scene because it's one of considerable importance. The land of Palestine, Mediterranean Sea, going up northwards now, right northwards to Carmel. And then coming in the direction southeast runs the great valley of Megiddo, the great plain of Armageddon. This is the place where Mount Tabor stands, the place in which we can find Jezreel, the place where Mount Gilboa is to be found, and Shunem. And so there begins to march northwards the army of the Philistines, not through the land of Judah, inside the land, but up that strip of land, that green strip of land by the coast. And the Philistines march. And David and the 600 behind them to do battle with the children of Israel. I wonder what David thought as he went north. Had he made a mistake in committing himself to the Philistines? Well, that's for you to decide. It's something on which there is no comment in Scripture. The Lord does bless David even throughout all these circumstances. But now he was in a predicament, I'm sure, which exercised his conscience tremendously. Is he going to fight against the children of Israel? Or is he not going to fight? He's been faithful to Gath, to Achish, king of Gath. Achish says, I've found no fault in him at all while he's been with me. David had seen to it that he didn't. But he certainly hadn't found any fault, and they march north. And Saul and his armies march northwards until they are pitched on the southern side of the plain of Megiddo, and the Philistines are pitched on the northern side. They've come up north and come down onto this place, and so they are now opposite one another in their encampments. And the battle is about to be joined. Saul is distraught. He has no message from God of any kind, neither by dream nor by any kind of vision. Urim and Thummim have forsaken him. He still has his own priest, his own high priest. There are two at this time, a priest with David and a priest with Saul. But he gets no answer from God at all. And he's never seen Samuel's since the day that Samuel rejected him. It says quite clearly in that 15th chapter of 1 Samuel that Saul never saw Samuel again until the day of his death, from that day of rejection. With whom, then, is he to consult? Is there anybody that he can approach and sow out of the darkness of his mind, swimming up from the bottom right from that 15th chapter of 1 Samuel? Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. Is there a witch? Is there some medium here? And his servants, of course, knew that Saul had in the beginning of his reign put down all witches and all those who were against God in that way. His enthusiasm was great at the beginning. He put his hands on the plow, but he looked back, and he would never enter into the kingdom of God. He had great possibilities, even as though he had been one of us baptized and set on the way to the kingdom. Then he turned the plow and gone another way. His furrow was never straight. He'd never bring forth fruit unto righteousness, but thorns and thistles, and that which was displeasing to God. And yes, we found a medium, we found somebody, and so by night, Saul and some of his men leave where they are on the south of this great valley, and they go behind the army of the Philistines until they come to the place of Endor where the witch is. And he comes to her, this great man, and asks whether he might consult. But she says, you know that Saul has put to death all the witches and all people of that kind? I don't enter into this. But he presses upon her and his servants with him, and she asks him, whom shall I bring up? And he said, Samuel. She said, right away, thou art Saul. And so he's got to quieten her feelings of fear that he might on the spot put her to death. He's too weak a man now to put her to death. Sheers the stronger. Oh, but they're stronger than both of them there, for out of this circumstance it appears that God Himself works. For this was not just between the witch and between Saul. For the Lord here is now going to deliver a message. And whether Samuel himself appears personally is a matter, of course, of some controversy. But certainly the words that this woman is called to speak and that which Saul himself is called to hear and is called to flash upon his mind is a message direct from God. And perhaps in those words in the 1 Samuel 15 that Saul never saw Samuel until the day of his death now receives a fulfillment. Because as there springs to the mind of this woman what Saul wants, there also springs to her something beyond her own control. For she herself is afraid when she sees the old man with the mantle. Why hast thou disquieted me to bring me up? And Saul now in all his poverty says that he's bereft of every vision of God and where there is no vision the people perish. And that's precisely the message that Samuel was now to deliver unto Saul. He had no message of comfort, no word to give to him. And the witch listens and Saul hears the words that by this time tomorrow both thou and thy son shall be with me. Just an interesting side comment there. They were all going to be, the righteous and the unrighteous, in the same place tomorrow. Saul with Samuel, Samuel with Jonathan, and the rest of his sons. All there tomorrow. And so Saul is about to set back through the night but now the woman prevails upon him to take a meal. All his strength has gone and he's cast down upon the ground. His servants and she herself prevail upon him and he takes a little sustenance. Meanwhile in the camp of the Philistines there's some disturbance. For there the lords of the Philistines who've marched on before and Achish coming on behind have come into this great array, moved up their army to the place Aphek where battles had taken place before. This is the place where Balak and Deborah had entered into conflict with Sisera, you remember. In this battle also later on the Messiah was to meet with Pharaoh, Niko, and in this very place according to Scripture there will be a great and final conflict. And here it is that Saul's army is pitched on Mount Gilboa and David is coming into array on the other side and the Philistines say, who's this? And Achish says, this is David. But isn't this the servant of Saul, they said? Haven't we got a traitor in our midst? Send him back. And so it is that the lords of the Philistines, the five lords of the Philistines prevail upon Achish, a name like Pharaoh, Achish of Gath, and so it is that David is to be sent back. And yet David seems to be hesitant. I don't think he really was. I think this was a great relief to him. He seems to be hesitant for the moment and says, what evil have I done? And Achish says nothing at all, but returns him southward and so it is that the hundred mile march begins again southward which it looks as though David and his men perform in three days from the place where they're pitched right down to Zigglag. And as his men march southward and come to Zigglag, it isn't there. Just smoldering ruins left. No people. No possessions. And for once, this seems to be the only time until later after David's own sin, the six hundred men turn against him and there are murmurs in the camp about stoning him. But he takes consultation with God and asks whether he should pursue the force that has overtaken Zigglag, his home. Abigail is gone. Ahinoam the Jezreelitis. The wives of the six hundred men have gone. Nothing is left, all their children and all their possessions. And just a smoking, smoking ruin is left there behind. God says pursue. And they pursue and go on and on. But there's still no sight of those who raided their home and burned it to the ground. Until they come across a man lying on the ground. An Egyptian. A servant. Who is sick. And you know, that was the undoing of the Amalekite. A man had ill treated his servant. And they lost the battle. It was only an Egyptian. You can get servants any day, anywhere. You can buy them for money. And we've taken plenty of money from Zigglag. The servant can't march. He's sick. Leave him behind. And so the whole of the Amalekites and their company go southward and leave one man a sick Egyptian behind. But that's all that the Lord requires. And the Egyptian communicates to David and to his company who it is and where they are and where they might be found at this time. And so out of sickness out of weakness the Lord brings forth strength. And so David and his men march. They've done a hundred miles in three days and they're still marching southwards. And they can't keep pace. They've got to split up into two companies. Some men are too sick, too tired too faint and weary to march further. And David leaves them behind with the stuff. David is still marching. Until they come at night upon the great company of the Amalekites and see all their encampments and their dancing and rioting at night. And David and his men finally enter into the encampments. And there's a great slaughter that seems to last a whole day. Either from the evening to the following morning or from the morning the following morning until the following evening. It's not absolutely certain because of this matter of evenings being spoken of in Jewish wise as either the beginning or the end of the day. It matters not. There was a conflict for the whole of the day and the only people that escaped from the Amalekites were some young men who rode away on camels. But David recovers his family. He recovers everything. Indeed he takes the spoils of the Amalekites themselves and comes northward with all his stuff. And they come after marching for a little time upon the company that had been left behind sitting down weary. And those who'd fought the battle said, too bad. You can't share the spoil with us. But David was aware of the law. Shall we have a look at it? It's in Numbers chapter 31. The conscience of David and the way he imposes his will, the will of God upon his people is remarkable even though he's not king and has no true authority. Yet he constantly brings to bear the principles of the righteousness of God. He exercises them in himself and he expects his servant so to do. In Numbers 31 I think at verse 25. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Take the sum of the prey that was taken, both of man and of beast, thou and Elisha the priest and the chief fathers of the congregation, and divide the prey into two parts between them that took up the war upon them, who went out to battle and between all the congregation there was a principle laid down by the Lord. That the men of battle were not to be separate from the people of the congregation nor the people of the congregation from the men of battle. They were one in the sight of God. And so it was to be with David. If he'd allowed this division to appear between his men, he would never have held them together. They would have been envy and strife between them. But by bringing to bear the principles that God had laid down so they divide the spoil, and in their triumph they return together unto Ziglag. We go now northwards to the battle that's about to be joined. I wonder how Saul entered into that battle. How would you have entered if you knew that that day was to be your day of death? The enemy comes heavily upon Saul. Jonathan is fighting there as bravely as he can with the remainder of Saul's family. The Philistines press upon them in this great valley until they've got the whole of the children of Israel upon Mount Gilboa, and they're firing at them with their arrows. For David there had been an arrow of deliverance. But for Saul, an arrow of death. It enters into him, and he's wounded by the archers. I think he's still fighting very hard until finally the Philistines are about to come upon him. And he asks his armor bearer to put him to death so that he'd fall not into the hand of these uncircumcised Philistines. But this man won't perform the work of his master. These men who wouldn't slay the priests of the Lord, neither will they attack the Lord's anointed. And so it says that Saul falls upon his sword and falls unto the ground. And Saul is dead. And Jonathan is dead. And all the glory of Israel is laid low. When in the morning the Philistines come and look through the host for the spoil, for the bracelet, that which is about their ankles, for the garments that are worth taking, and for the weapons that are worthwhile, for the jewels that men carried in any possessions that they had, they come there upon the king slain upon the hill with his crown and the things that belonged unto him. And they take him and they cut off his head. Saul like Goliath slain this time by the Philistines. They've taken their revenge. And he became no better than Goliath in his death. Although he's one of the chosen men of Israel. And they take him and put his head in the house of Dagon and they take his body and they hang it from the wall of Bethshan, a city north of the plain of Megiddo, which seems already to have been either in allegiance with or in possession of the Philistines. And so the bodies also of Saul's sons and do despite unto them and hang them in the sun. And there comes a message right over the river, straight over Jordan, right onto the other side to the long, long memories of the men of Jabesh Goliath. Do you remember? Saul had delivered them when the Ammonites wished to put out their right eye. And now right at the end of his reign when he is dead and can no longer receive their thankfulness, they send out brave men from Jabesh Goliath. And they go up to the walls of Bethshan and take down the bodies of Saul and of his sons and carry them through the night down across the river Jordan and bring them to Jabesh Goliath where they burn them and bury their bones. And David was mightily touched by that active affection and of allegiance to a dead man. The message now comes right south to David. What would you have said if your enemy was dead? 2 Samuel chapter 1 And David, verse 17 lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son. Also he bade them teach the children of Judah the use or the song of the bow. Behold it is written in the book of the upright. That's the meaning of the word. Now I'd like us to look at verses 19 to 27 and to enter into the feeling of David when he thinks both of Saul in all that he might have been and all he was at one time in his beauty of character and of Jonathan his love. And notice how David blots out the iniquity of Saul and holds nothing against him. The judgment was not to be his but to be that of God. Shall we read this together and enter into the feelings of this lamentation inspired by God no doubt as David writes down with poetry his inner sorrows. Verse 19 The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places. How are the mighty fallen? Tell it not in gas, publish it not in the streets of Ascalon lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the circumcised triumph. Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew, neither let there be rain upon you, nor fields of offerings. For there the shield of the mighty is violently cast away, the shield of Saul as though he had not been anointed with oil. From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, the bow of Jonathan turned not back and the sword of Saul returned not empty. Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives and in their death they were not divided. They were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions. Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul who clothed you in scarlet with other delights, who put on ornaments of gold and upon your apparel. How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle? Oh, Jonathan, thou was slain in thine high places. I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan. Very pleasant hast thou been unto me. Thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women. How are the mighty fallen and the weapons of war perished? And those brethren and sisters who from time to time have in their studies to study the classics of Rome or of Greece or the books of Britain to enter into the poetry of great men who will never find anything to excel the beauty of this kind of expression that is here. Read it time and time again, and notice the feelings in the heart of David. I'm sure he was distressed. He was distressed before Jonathan died when he stood on the northern side of the valley and Jonathan was on the south. Notice the allegiance of Jonathan. Sticks to his father right unto the day of death. Fought with the Lord's anointed. You see, neither David nor Jonathan would betray the Lord's anointed. And it cost Jonathan his life. And one wonders sometimes, why was it that God allowed Jonathan to die? Well isn't that the question that we ask time and time again about the death of the righteous? It was right that he should die. It was the right time. And Jonathan was ready for death. He required nothing else, neither a seat at the side of David, nor any kind of honor from David to make him righteous or lovely. Yes, truly David and Jonathan were separated at the day of Jonathan's death. But they will be united in the day of the resurrection. When one who has loved them with a love surpassing the love of women, who himself was greatly distressed on our behalf and delivered us from the streets of the uncircumcised and brought us unto himself and has taught us the song of the bow and has written our names in the book of the upright, even the Lord Jesus Christ himself shall bless us. And Jonathan will greet John the Baptist. Two lesser lights made to shine brightly in the murmurment of God's heaven. It's now, brethren and sisters, with Saul dead, that one would think that immediately the kingdom would fall right into the hands of David. But he's down in the south, in Ziglag, right on the borders of the land of the Philistines. And remember that Saul is of the tribe of Benjamin. And the Benjamites are going to be faithful to him. They stick to him as does Abner and the soldiers, the host. They remain faithful unto Saul for some considerable time. Now David moves northwards and comes into Hebron. Now Hebron is a city of refuge. I'd like you to notice that. It's a city of refuge. And it's in Hebron that David becomes, first of all, enthroned. He sent all his presents to the man of the south of Judah, sent presents that he'd taken from Ziglag, sent spoil that he'd taken to many of the places to which David and his men had paid visits during the days when David was outlawed. Lots of those southern villages were faithful to David. No doubt they gave him provisions, water, words of encouragement, perhaps an opportunity of communal worship from time to time. And it's to them that David sent his messages of love and of thanks. And he comes up, he's anointed king over Judah in Hebron. And it's in this place that he reigns for seven and a half years. He becomes king there in Hebron for seven and a half years. He sends a message right northwards across the River Jordan to the men of Jabesh-Gilead, sends his greetings to them and his thanks for that which they had done to Saul and to Jonathan, and tries, if possible, to secure their allegiance. He doesn't for the time being. The men of Jabesh-Gilead are going to be faithful to Saul. They wouldn't have touched his body otherwise. And in the north, right there on the other side of the River Jordan, in a city called Mahaneum, where Jacob met the angel of the Lord. In that city, Saul's son, Ish-Bosheth, is crowned king of the ten northern tribes. It's interesting, there's a kind of division at this time, perhaps eleven tribes in effect are included in this. And he's crowned king and he reigns there for two years in Mahaneum on the other side of Jordan, and Abner, the captain of the host, is the one who crowns him king and who stands faithful to him. Abner, faithful to Saul. This delights David. He's a man that delights in allegiance, in faithfulness of spirit. And that's precisely what Abner is willing to show to his dead master and now to his master's son. But after two years, there comes about a meeting. A meeting between Abner and Joab. They come down to a place where they meet and they bring their men with them. It's rather a peculiar meeting and one tries to bring out of the record what one can. They meet at a pool in Gibeon and there's a kind of athletic match there. I don't quite understand this encounter, but it looks as though twelve men from one side and twelve from the other enter into a kind of battle before all the people, almost as though they were themselves to decide who was to be victorious between the two opposing armies, although so far there has been no mention of battle. But in their strange encounter it says, each man took hold of his opponent and ran him through with his sword and all men fall down to the ground in a great bloody heap. And as soon as that's over so it is that the men of the south under Joab go northwards in pursuit of Abner and his host. And Abner escapes. But Joab, Abishai, and Asahel pursue. And Asahel is like a foot. He's like a row on his feet it says. And he's in pursuit of Abner. And Abner, as he goes in flight from the battle, keeps looking over his shoulder and Asahel is coming on behind. And he recognizes Asahel. He knows who he is. And Asahel is a young man who seems hot in pursuit of Abner as though he's determined to do a duty for David and to put Abner to death. And Abner is most reluctant in any way to do death unto Asahel. He tells him to turn aside to the right or to the left, but Asahel keeps on coming, coming, coming, until Abner sees that it's a matter either of his own life or that of Asahel. And no young soldier can fight against an experienced hand like Abner. Yes, with a deft movement of his spear and Abner is falling from behind and falls to the ground. And Joab and Abishai find him. And Joab never forgot the death of his brother. They saw his blood and the young man left in the way. And so it is they pursue northwards, northwards, in great slaughter until finally Abner says, unless this stops, there'll be nothing left of our people. And so they return each to his own place. And Abner remains still faithful throughout this time unto Saul. And so when the years have been finally accomplished, so it is that Saul and his kingdom, Saul's kingdom, is finally turned unto David.

Transcript

This is the voice of Wilbraham. In August 1961, Brother Harry Tennant of Dundee, Scotland, chose as his subject, David the Shepherd King. We take pleasure now in presenting Brother Tennant in the four of seven class sessions. Just for those who wanted Psalms, by the way, some people said, could they have psalm numbers? Here they are. You know, psalm numbers referring to the life of David. These are possibilities. 101 and 68 and 24 to do with the bringing up of the ark. Number 30, the dedication of David's own house. Number 20 and 21, going out to battle and returning. Psalms 32 and 51, in connection with sin. Numbers 3, 4, 63, in connection with Absalom and his rebellion. 36, 51, 62, 109, the betrayal by Ahithophel and Psalms 27 and 28, David's exile from Jerusalem. Now, if anyone wants them again afterwards, I'd be glad to be of help. We have reached the position now where David has been enthroned in Hebron. He was 30 years old when he was made king, and he reigned in Hebron for seven and a half years, where on the other side of Jordan, we can still see Abner with Ish-Bosha as king over Israel. And so those two opposing forces have been at war for two years. We saw the great battle yesterday, which was resolved by the southern forces being victorious. Asahel, Joab's brother, was slain in battle. And now, after a little time, Abner, the captain of the host of the northern forces, is accused of misconduct with Saul's concubine. And we'll have perhaps a little more to say about the nature of that kind of offense later on. And it is that as soon as he is accused, he resents it strongly. One can't say whether he's guilty, though possibly he is so. And he immediately switches his affection from Ish -Bosha, Saul's son, although he's a Benjamite, to David in the south. And he sends down messengers to David, saying that he knows that David has been appointed king by God over the whole of Israel, and now he would like to come down and make a league with David. And so he comes down and meets David in Hebron, and he brings with him twenty servants. And they sit with David at table and have meal. And during that time, Joab and Abishai, his brother, and the forces of David are out fighting. And an agreement is reached between David and Abner as to the unity of the kingdom. Conditions are laid down, one of which is that Michael, Saul's daughter, should be returned to David. And Abner bids farewell and leaves the city of refuge, Hebron, and sets out northward. He's hardly left the place before Joab is back with the forces. And word comes to Joab that Abner has been in the camp. And Joab is rough with the king and says, You allowed the murderer of my brother to come down and to talk with him and to let him go free? He says nothing further. But he sends out a secret message to Abner and to his twenty men, who've now reached a little well a distance away from Hebron. And the message comes to the well that David would like to have further conference with Abner. And Abner returns with his men and he comes down and approaches the city of Hebron and comes between the two walls of the city, the two walls that ring the city. He's just between the two when Joab steps out from between them with Abishai behind him, speaks, as it were, for a moment to Joab and runs him straight through and kills him on the spot. There could have been nothing more calculatedly cold, I think, than Joab's action. And if one is to think about it as to his behaviour, particularly as we see it there in the city of Refuge, the very place to which a man who was a murderer could come and seek trial even if he were guilty. And Joab should, in complete disrespect and disregard of God's law, murder Abner, puts a mark upon his character. Joab is a complex, enigmatic character. He has a wonderful allegiance to David and I think to himself. He's patriotic in the extreme, yet I think he's desiring the whole time to retain his rank as captain over the forces. He's a servant of God after he's been a servant of himself, of the kingdom as a patriot. Then he begins to observe the word of God. He speaks of God and yet I think that, as we can see here, he would disregard God's law and that with impunity. Now, as soon as Abner was dead, a situation was created that could have immediately exploded and prevented the unity of the kingdom. And it's here that David's statesmanship, as well as his wonderful conscience, shine through. We find here that as soon as this happens, he completely dissociates himself from the murder. He sends message right throughout the whole of Israel that there will be, for Abner, a state funeral. And the Benjamites, who very well could have turned against David, are moved by David's own actions. He pronounces a curse upon Joab, a curse I think which isn't worked out until the time that Solomon comes to the throne. But the difference between Asahel's death by Abner, you remember, was in battle. And it says so in the word distinctly. And that of Abner is that Abner was a calculated murder. And there was, in the eyes of God and in our own eyes of course, a difference in those two deaths. And a curse is pronounced upon Joab. Well, the funeral takes place and again it's strange how in circumstances like this, David is able, as it were, to well up in both poetry and in mourning at the same time. Should Abner die as a fool dyeth, thy hands were not bound, nor thy feet put in fetters. As a man falleth before wicked men, so fellest thou. And David and Joab come behind as the body goes on to its burial. And all Israel is moved by the wonder of David's love for Abner and his respect for him as a man. And Joab, strangely it seems, is compelled by the king's command to take his place behind the man whom he has murdered. How strange a procession. One would think that Joab should have been taken right away and tried. And perhaps in some way he should. But his death will come at the appointed time. And it will be because of this act of murder and of that other act which he will perform later on. But Joab is marked out now as a man who, when he wishes, will move by himself among men with no respect for God and not even respect for his king, but a respect for himself. If Abner had been accepted by David, who would have been captain of the host? Abner? With probably more men under him than Joab or Joab. And Joab resolves that without troubling to receive the word of the king. And so it is that as soon as this message reaches the north, Ish-Bosheth Saul's son is murdered by two men who bring down his head to David as witness that they are servants of David and that the kingdom has been delivered to him. And David stands aghast when he sees it. He said that he was sorry enough when he'd learned of the death of Abner. And would he have wished for the death of Saul's son? And he has the men who do this foul deed executed immediately in his presence. Now, one master stroke is performed by David at this time. It's interesting to see how even though he's a man of God, he's also a man of wonderful common sense and wisdom. Remember, right back in Deuteronomy, God had said that in the place in which he would put his name, there would Israel worship. And although Jerusalem up to this time had been partially in the hands of the children of Israel, it had never been fully in their hands. And there was, as it were, the fortress, the hill, the walled part of what would become Jerusalem, quite isolated from the rest of Jerusalem. And there were in this city the Jebusites. And they were so confident that it was impossible for a man ever to take their city and their citadel, that they were able to say over the walls to those who came to attack them, unless you come and take out of this city the blind men and the lame, you'll never take it. And that became a saying amongst the people. But David said, whoever it is that takes this city, he will become captain, established as captain, over my host. And, of course, Joab is no coward. Although he can engineer that he might be captain, he can also do it in a valiant spirit. And he seeks out a way in which he can work through and find access to the city of the Jebusites. They have to bring water into the city. And he discovers, and this place has been discovered since, the very spot has been discovered by which Joab entered into the city. He had to go 50 feet westward under the city, following a water course. No doubt he'd have to crawl on hands and knees, or bent as he walked through. And then when he'd walked through the 50 feet, there was a shaft 100 feet high, down which they dropped their buckets to take up the water from below. And Joab works his way up 100 feet until he's into the city. And by having gained access, so he can bring with him those who will finally take the city of the Jebusites. And it becomes the stronghold of Zion. The city is taken, and Jerusalem is now established by David, under the guidance of God, according to Deuteronomy, as the place that God has marked out. The king is there, the city is established, but we have yet to see the ark of the Lord brought into that city. And so it is that these thoughts must have been in the mind of David. As soon as he has established king, messages come from the north, from Hiram king of Tyre to greet him. An age-old friend, it seems, in some way, of Israel. Tyre and Sidon, for a long time, were not enemies of Israel. And they send greetings to David, as later on greetings would come down to Solomon. The Philistines attack, and David repels, repulses this force that comes against his kingdom. And they sink back into their own kingdom of Philistia. They're not destroyed. They have yet to come up again. And David will have to work out his plan whereby they will be completely subdued. But where is the ark of the Lord? We've seen already that there has been a very strange way in which worship has been taking place in Israel. In fact, so many things are strange about this time. The violence of men, the multiplicity of wives, the apparent lack of the execution of the word of God at the very moment when it should be carried out, the separation of the ark from the tabernacle. How could the tabernacle exist without the ark? And how could the ark exist without the tabernacle? But they did. And even during the lifetime of David, there was never complete unity between these two. And so it seems that in some way, either because of the weakness of the flesh of men, and I think that probably is the real reason, and not because the revelation is progressive and not yet complete. I think it's the weakness of men. The word was there as to what they should have done. But the men were not able to accomplish it, not even David. I think we ought perhaps to try to understand something of what David was doing in welding together a kingdom. This had never been done before as David was to do it. And we shall see that as the centre of David's life is God, so the centre of his kingdom becomes God. That could never have been said of Saul. His javelin was his centre and mark of office. But David considered himself to be anointed of God, and we know that he is. And the oil of anointing, the spirit of God, is the centre of David's kingdom. And so they go to bring up the ark from Kerjath-Jerim. This is right down away to the west from Jerusalem, between the land of the Philistines and Jerusalem itself. You remember that after the ark had been captured by the Philistines, it was returned, came into the field at Beth-Shimesh, and the men of that city saw the ark, and it was finally put into a house in Kerjath-Jerim. There are two names for that city in the records, but the name we'll use for this purpose is Kerjath-Jerim. It's been there for 20 years. And now David decides to bring it up with shouting and with 30 ,000 men. What a gathering of people. He can gather his men to battle. He can gather his men to worship. This is the power, this spirit of David. And so as they gather and bring up the ark out of the house, so it is that they march forward with the ark upon a new cart. And as they're going up toward Jerusalem, David, happy-hearted, and all the people rejoicing that once again this centre of their worship is to become the centre of their lives and not on its outer fringe. So they come to the place of a threshing floor, and the oxen that are drawing this cart stumble, whether of the will of God or whether some accidental stumbling is a question which each of us can answer for himself. I'm quite certain in my own mind that the Lord had so designed that the oxen should stumble and that David and all the people should learn their lesson. If the ark is to be the centre of the worship of God, and if David and his people are to respect the word of God, there must be respect from the beginning. Otherwise this word of God will be ignored in greater things later on. And so the oxen stumble and the ark, it's two feet ten by one foot nine by one foot nine, lurches over and Azar stretches forth his hand to prevent it falling to the ground. And no doubt he does. But Azar is consumed of the Lord. A dead man by the cherubim of God. And David doesn't know what to do. He's stricken by fear, he's stricken by a kind of anger against God. A displeasure surges within him. He determined to worship God and God had turned him back. How is he to bring the ark unto Jerusalem? And so the 30,000 who came down hoping to go back with the ark are sent away in sadness. It will not be the only time that we shall see David and his people sad together. But the ark is turned aside into the house of Obed -Edom the Gittite. Now there are those who have thought about this story here in the Old Testament, but in its harshness it could never show forth the love of God. But the God who performed this act is not the God of our New Testament. But there lie around this very simple record, again brought together in that book I mentioned, Blunt Undesigned Scriptural Coincidences, a number of very interesting features that establish that the record is quite true. Now I'll try to summarize them and perhaps we can have a look at one or two of these things. Numbers chapter 4 and verse 15. Numbers chapter 4 and verse 15. It's quite clear here in this chapter who it is who should carry and deal with the ark, as I had no place unless he belonged to these people. Verse 15. And when Aaron and his sons have made an end of covering the sanctuary and all the vessels of the sanctuary, as the camp is to set forward, after that the sons of Kohath shall come to bear it, but they shall not touch any holy thing lest they die. These things are the burden of the sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of the congregation. It's quite clear, isn't it, that the Kohathites are the ones who should bear the ark. It is to be carried not upon a cart, but upon the shoulders of men. The whole worship of God is to be borne by men, not upon a cart. But even these Kohathites were not to see the ark themselves. It was to be covered by Aaron and his sons, the very center. The high priest and his sons were to go in and they were to cover the ark, and they would do it in a specific way. For the eyes of one man only looked upon that ark, and that upon the day of atonement once in the year. And so the idea that it should have been carried upon a cart was against the will of God. Go a little further now and have a look at chapter 16. Now Korah, the son of Ishar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Pilate, sons of Reuben, took men. Now this is the chapter of the murmuring and of the rebellion. And we might think once again that these lists of names that we have found sometimes to be useful and sometimes a burden, these lists of names are an embarrassment. But no, there's a mark here. Korah is the son of Kohath, and it's the Kohathites who should bear the ark of the Lord. Now if we go to Joshua chapter 21, this chain is quite fascinating. We now come to the division of the land by its cities, Joshua chapter 21, and the allocation of the cities to the tribes and to the Levites. Here we read in verse 24, verse 20, and the families of the children of Kohath, the Levites, which remained of the children of Kohath, what did they have? They had certain cities, we go through them there, right down to verse 24. Agilon with her suburbs, Gath, Riman with her suburbs, four cities. Now Gath is the origin of Gittites, and the ark was turned aside into the house of Obedidum, the Gittites. And so it is that there now is a link between the very man to whom they commit the ark and the very word of God. And when we read the record of Chronicles, it's quite clear that both David and all the people came to realize that God smote others because they had not sought God after the due order, it says. That's the reason. So it is that from this time, and there are other verses which one can use in support of this matter, without laboring the point, so it is that Obedidum is a man appointed, a man who should in the first place have brought up the ark. So David has learned his lesson, and they do bring up the ark from the house of Obedidum the Gittite, having learned of God in the same way that God can smite so he can bless. As soon as the ark went into the house of Obedidum the Gittite, the Lord began to bless his household, and the word came to David that the house of Obedidum has been blessed since the ark came to rest with him. So when it's with the wrong man, the Lord punishes. When it's with the right man, the Lord blesses. Not because it is an ark of wood, covered with gold, and because of cherubim are upon it, but because this represents the living God and his mercy, and the mercy of God can only be received after the due order. Men can't dictate to God the principles upon which he will receive them, whether they will be baptized or not baptized, whether they will break bread or not break bread, whether anybody can break bread or only those who belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. And so it was here that the Lord laid down his principles right at the beginning, that David in his mightiness might know that there is a mightier than thou, that there is a God in heaven, and before him we are all as the dust of the earth, and that should he withdraw his breath and his spirit, all flesh would perish together. Now come to Psalm 24. I'd like us to think of this psalm as being the psalm of the ark coming up to Jerusalem, and of David in his rejoicing bringing it up. He comes up wearing a linen ephod, not because he was a priest, but because he was like a priest, well like the priest who should be in righteousness. Now I want us to read this psalm together, and shall we get some change in the volume of our voices, verses one and two strong tones in those verses, the power of God, verses three and four, the question holding back the volume of our words, verse five we can begin to swell for, and in verse six, and now we've come to the very gates of Jerusalem itself, and we stand outside to say, lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up the everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in. And I'd like just the sisters in verse eight to ask the question, who is the King of glory? And also in verse ten, and all of us to swell forth with the answer, just the sisters with the one question in verse eight, who is the King of glory? And in verse ten, right? Psalm 24, The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein. For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods. Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord, and who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully, he shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation. This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up the everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in. Who is the King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates, even lift them up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in. Who is the King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory. Thank you. Just a little comment on the word Selah. I know it's a custom generally to read it. It seems to be a mark rather, not to be read, but an instruction. Whether one reads it is another matter, but it seems to be an instruction of either to the musicians to withhold their music while the congregations think, or for there to be some music while the congregations think. But the idea is meditate upon that. David comes into Jerusalem dancing before the Ark of God. When he comes to the Ark he looks through a window, or rather his wife is looking through a window at David dancing in the presence of the Ark, Michael, Saul's daughter. And she sees the King without his royal robe, without any special mark that he is the King. How could David wear a royal robe when he's asking the question, who is the King of glory? Is it I? No, the Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory. And so he takes off that royal robe and dances before God in delight wearing only a garment of linen to mark the righteousness, he that hath clean hands, others' hands, or David's hands. And Michael looks through the window and she despises him in her heart. Oh, she'd loved David. I think she'd loved him as a man. For there's no doubt that he was handsome to look at, a man of war, a man to be acclaimed of the people, but she hadn't seen David's heart. She'd been taken from him, she's now been restored to him, brought to David by Avner with her husband, weeping as she came away, weeping as she came from the town of Bahurim. And she comes and is restored to David and would have been to favour, and she could have been established in the house of David as a worshiper of God. But she was her father's daughter, not just by flesh, but she despised David because she didn't understand the spiritual things. And so David instructs her, haven't you understood, Michael, what this is all about? Haven't you seen why God chose me before your father? What the reason was? And Michael, of course, will never grasp the spiritual things now. And David has no further association with her. And there is perhaps a little comment there about the relationship between David and his wives. Perhaps, as we go along, we shall see a little something of this matter. For us, I think it's difficult to understand the multiplicity of wives, or of concubines, handmaidens. It seems to have existed for at least a thousand years, no longer than that, almost from immediately after the flood. It's not according to the basic will of God that there should be in any household that kind of arrangement, one man, one wife, to represent the unity between God and His earth, between Christ and His church. And anything other than that destroys both the figure and the nature of the man with his wife. But as this system grew up, it seems that it was in part sanctified by the nature of the men who took part in it, even so much that the twelve tribes sprang out, not out of one woman, but out of four. And so it is with God that He granted a blessing, even though He didn't approve, basically, of that which was taking place. And He finally designs to eradicate it, and so it seems that after the exile in Babylon, this has gone. And we find that the Lord Jesus Christ has not to discuss that subject when He talks with His people in His day. The perfect pattern, one man and one wife. And in this period, the wrath of God is not manifest toward those who are not able or do not keep this command. I think if a man enters into this kind of arrangement with the basic lust and greed of a man whose passions are not in accordance with God, then surely that would have been displeasing to him. I don't think David entered into that kind of arrangement with his wives, except for a moment, and God dealt with that right away. He has children by different wives and with different results. He marries somebody right up from the north, near Syria, the daughter of a king there. And by her, Absalom is born. And we shall see later on the results of that unity. It now so happens that when David has reached Jerusalem with the ark and his own house is built there, that he suddenly feels that there's something incongruous about his own living and the living of God. He dwells in a house that's established, a house of cedar. Hiram, king of Tyre, has been his servant, and all the wealth of David's kingdom begins to flow in because the Lord establishes him, and he feels that the Lord ought to have a more appropriate dwelling than the one he has got. Now, shall we go to 2 Samuel, chapter 7, where he expresses this and where Nathan the prophet listens to what David has to say? 2 Samuel, chapter 7. I think basically David's feelings were right in the sense that he knew that there must be finally some permanence for the home of God. Verse 1, And it came to pass when the king sat in his house. You see, that's what brought forth the thought. And I think, brethren and sisters, here in the United States is at home in Britain, when we sit in our own houses, we ought to think of the place in which we worship. Do we give it the attention that we give to our own homes? Do we? Which comes first, the house of God or our own house? Maybe our own house comes first in point of building or establishing, as it did with David, but first in our hearts, we shall see that David was willing to devote all his wealth to the house of God. And I think we should similarly be willing to make proper devotion of our substance to the place in which our worship is conducted. And the king had given him rest, the Lord had given him rest round about from all his enemies. So the king sat down to Nathan the prophet. Just a thumbnail sketch of Nathan. He's a prophet. He is a rebukeer. He is an instructor of Solomon. And he is a divine historian. So just think of him in those terms. But he's not quite sure of himself here. At least God shows him that Nathan, too, requires instruction. See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of the Lord dwelleth in curtains. And Nathan said to the king, Go, do all that is in thine heart, for the Lord is with thee. And it came to pass that night that the word of the Lord came unto Nathan saying, Go, and tell my servant David, doth seth the Lord, shalt thou build me a house for me to dwell in, whereas I have not dwelt in any house since the day that I brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt, even unto this day, but have walked in a tent and in a tabernacle. Just one word, brothers and sisters, that I'd never noticed in that verse before. The Lord walked. Even though the ark was at rest, as it were, in the tabernacle, the Lord had something in his mind beyond that. He wasn't at rest. He was walking. He wouldn't be at rest until the day when he will make the place of the soles of his feet glorious. That's the day when finally there will be complete rest. Meanwhile, as we see here, the Lord walks. The tabernacle is only a temporary place. The Lord wanders with Israel. And so he now speaks to David and tells him that he will build him a house and establish it firmly and that forever, and that in the presence of David himself. There are here intertwined two promises. A promise that concerns Solomon, certainly, but a promise that reaches out right beyond that time. For as David says, is this the manner of man, O Lord? Is this law, is this arrangement that which concerns just man's arrangement? And his very question is the answer. For David knows that this is right beyond him. And he uses one word in this chapter and similarly elsewhere to describe his state of mind. He calls himself thy servant. Twelve times it occurs. Thy servant. And not only that, but God both in that fifth verse and later on uses the word concerning David himself. He says, go and tell my servant David. Brethren and sisters, that's all it requires. This is required, isn't it? Just that word. That's all that God requires of us. My servant. What did he say about Moses to Joshua? Moses, my servant, is dead. That's how he regarded him. Not the mediator appointed by me, not the leader of my people, not the king over Israel here, but my servant. And what does Paul say? And ourselves, your servants, for Jesus' sake. And the Lord Jesus Christ, he himself, thy holy child Jesus in the Acts of the Apostles, the revised version, thy holy servant. Behold my servant, see him rise exalted in my might. Him have I chosen, and in him I have supreme delight. My servant. Shall we remember that, brethren and sisters, and try to practice it in our daily living? David's humility here. Who am I, and what is my house? O Lord, let thy name be magnified, and let the house of David, thy servant, be established. And so the matter of the Ark was taken out of the hands of David. There was to be no permanent place for the Ark which David could build, but the Lord himself would seem beyond this time that there was to be a man who could build a house in which David could dwell, and not God in a house that David had built. And now David establishes around himself his kingdom. He's ringed around with enemies, even as the land of Palestine is today. We find that the Philistines come up twice, and the Lord grants a blessing to David, and in the second battle the Lord himself produces an ambush by which the Philistines are routed. And then David goes across the river and fights the Moabites. He goes north to the Syrians and subdues them, and even establishes troops right northwards in Damascus. He smites Amalek and Edom right down in the south, and coming up round the southeast. And finally he's going to close in and attack the Ammonites. And so right round, David has subdued the whole kingdom, and it begins to flow into him a great wealth from these kingdoms. His rulers are there in the cities, and they begin to pay tribute to David. And David looks around, establishes his kingdom, Joab over the host, Ahihud the recorder, Zadok under him elect the priests, Zadok had been high priest for Saul, Ahimelech had been high priest for David, and the two were brought together just for some time. Benaiah is over the personal bodyguard of David, the lifeguards I think we might call them, those soldiers that stand around David, his own personal servants. And Benaiah is over those, and he's going to prove a very reliable man. And Sariah is the scribe, the recorder for the kingdom, the one who sets down the things that are done. And then David looks around, and there comes to his mind a field, and a man with tears bidding him goodbye. The Lord be between me and thee, and between my seed and thy seed forever, Jonathan. Is there yet any of the house of Jonathan, to whom I might show kindness? He says, how that must have moved the Benjamites, who could have been his enemies continually. And it so was, that in the north there was a child, the son of Jonathan, that was now lame on its feet. There's just a little sketch given that in the time of the slaughter that took place in the north, when his bullshit himself was taken, that the nurse picked up Jonathan and ran with him, Jonathan's son, and dropped him. And he became lame on his feet. And so he's restored to favour. But this time, not by the Benjamites, but by David himself. And he's given lands, and he's given Zeba to be his servant, to manage his estate, because he himself was unable to do it on account of his lameness. And now the Syrians come down from the north, they've been defeated once, but they've come down now as hired mercenaries of the Ammonites on the other side of the river. Amman, you remember the present capital on the other side of the river, is the place which was finally besieged by David. Now this siege is interesting. It shows forth the character of David, the character of Joab, and all the intricacies of the human mind when it indulges in sin. As we read outside our scriptures, oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practise to deceive. That's one of our lesser poets. Shakespeare, I think. Well, now, just one little point I'd like to bring out about Joab before we see him here outside Amman, the capital, Raba, as we know it, in our scriptures. He's a man of tremendous courage. I don't think I'd like to have been in this battle. I haven't got the courage that Joab had. But when he came and saw the Syrians and the Ammonites gathered together and realised that there were two sets of forces here, he said to Abishai, you take that side, and I'll take this side. And these are his words. Joab said, be of good courage. Let us play the men for our people and for the cities of our God, and the Lord do that which seemeth good. Now, I think that was Joab's character. It's got streaks in it of unworthiness, even from human standards. But I think that was Joab's character. I think he was a man of courage. And so each of them faces an army. And this is the part that partly amuses me, and yet shows the faith of Joab. He says to Abishai, now, if they prove too strong for you, I'll come and help you. If they prove too strong for me, you come and help me. But he never said what would happen if the both sides proved too strong. It's just one of those blind spots, I suppose. That would never happen because they were going to be of good courage and they were to play the men. Well, they defeated these people. But they didn't take the city of Rabah. And the siege is laid to this city, finally. And it continues for a long time. And when the springtime comes, the time when men go out to battle, Joab and his forces are out over the River Jordan besieging this city. And David is at home. And his face changes as we look at him. I wonder what he was thinking when he walked upon the roof of his home that Hyrum had built. What was he thinking? We only know of one other man who walked upon his roof. He's not this great Babylon that I have built. I wonder whether for a moment he dropped his defences. Because if we drop our defences in one direction, we've got to be very careful lest we drop them in other directions also. A man who thinks that weakness in one part of his character can be tolerated and that it will have no effect upon another part of his character is sorely mistaken as we all know. For it seems that David had dropped his other defences also as he looked out across and saw Bathsheba and asked who she was and brought her to him and committed the act which in the sight of God caused great displeasure. Whilst not everything, David's and why should he touch that which belongs to another man? And I think perhaps he would have forgotten the act if Bathsheba had not come along to say that there were consequences of that act. There are consequences to all sins whether visible or invisible. And so he sends for Uriah the Hittite Oh David, what have you done? You've won the allegiance of a Hittite who didn't belong to the children of Israel and he'd won his allegiance fighting for him at the very front a man who is named among the 33 brave men that belonged to David and he has betrayed him at the front. Send him back home. He feeds him well urges upon him that he should return to his own house but Uriah is a man of greater spirit than that Can I, he said, and there seems here to be almost a connection between the ark resting in its curtains and the words of Uriah the Hittite Can I, he says, go home while all the rest of the troops are sleeping out in the field and in the tents I'll sleep outside this door and so for two nights he does and the king can't secure his will and then he's sent back with a letter for Joab he takes with him from Jerusalem on that great descent of 4,000 feet down to the river Jordan up over the other side to present to Joab his own death warrant he hadn't read it he kept it he was a man of integrity and he delivers it to Joab and oh how Joab relishes the situation David in Joab's hand from now on Joab will hold just that one thing blackmail over David and so Uriah the Hittite is set into the forefront of the battle Joab assigns him a place where he knows that the battle will be the hardest and Uriah the Hittite without fear goes straight into the battle and he falls and so it is that message comes to David and it's about the course of the battle and David inquires about it and they say were there many slain? He said yes there were men slain well why did you get so near to the wall said David and Uriah the Hittite is dead also ah well he said the battle takes one as well as it takes another and all the deceit of David's heart which is just like yours isn't it and just like mine comes forward and we see him as a man a man requiring one thing and that is forgiveness

Transcript

This is the voice of Wilbraham. In August 1961, Brother Harry Tennant of Dundee, Scotland, chose as his subject, David, the Shepherd King. We take pleasure now in presenting Brother Tennant in the fifth of seven class sessions. And so David, my dear brethren and sisters, continued nursing his sin with Uriah dead and the child of Bathsheba growing nearer. And God said nothing. And I'd like us to notice that God didn't say anything for almost a year. It wasn't just a matter of a few days. It's right until after the child is born that Nathan the prophet comes along to inquire of David and to search out the heart of this man. We have ideas of what his mind was like during that time. It wasn't quiescent. The 32nd Psalm says, When I kept silence, my bones whacked old through my roaring all the day long. A man with a conscience as sensitive as David could not in any wise feel free from sin. He made no confession during this time, at least not a confession acceptable to God, no true repentance. And so it is that God sends the prophet to him. Not the priest, the prophet. It's the prophet who reveals the word of the Lord. It's the priest who ministers the means whereby that word may be effective in a man. And so Nathan seeks audience with the king. I think he had audience frequently with the king. He was his instructor and also he was his personal consultant. And he speaks to him that simple story which went home right to the heart of David of the rich man who had great flocks and herds and had need of nothing and the poor man who had but one yule lamb which he nursed in his bosom as his own child and kept it with his children. And we meet the day when the rich man has an unexpected visitor who comes into his home, a traveller who comes to him. And rather than take from his own flocks and herds, he goes to the poor man and deprives him of the one yule lamb and kills it and offers it unto the traveller who has come to him. And David immediately, seizing obviously upon the rightness of the cause of the poor man, said, the man who hath done this shall surely die and he shall restore four foes that which he hath taken. It didn't take long for God to reach the conscience of David, and he did it, brothers and sisters. But as soon as Nathan strung round upon him and with the relentless word of the Lord said, thou art the man, David crumpled in a heap before Nathan and the word of God. And so Nathan seeks him out constantly now by this word, showing him how God has brought him forward, delivered all that was sold into his hand and how now he has abused his office and has brought despite upon the name of God, given opportunity unto the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme and has brought blood-guiltiness upon himself and shame upon his kingship. He who should have been the shepherd of the people had been a robber of the flock. There was a kindness as well as a severity in that parable, brothers and sisters, an unexpected touch of kindness. I don't know whether you've spotted it there in the parable. This rich man had a traveller, and that's what sin was to David. It was a traveller, somebody who came in and went out. It wasn't there in his constant abode. It wasn't his companion, somebody who lived in his home all the time. It was a traveller. And so long as sin is that with us, brothers and sisters, there's hope. It's when sin takes up his permanent abode with us and we are glad that it should be so, that we are in dire straits, but not with David, although it came as a traveller and stayed for a little time and left him. And that 51st Psalm is the confession from David's heart. He saw beyond what the average man would see in making a confession of his sin. Before thee, thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. And what is more, he said, my sin is ever before me. It wasn't a thing that David was ever to take from before his own eyes, though God would blot it out. The Lord hath forgiven thee, thou shalt not die, said Nathan the prophet. It's interesting in comparing the Messiah with David to notice that, as yesterday in one of our talks, we learn concerning the Messiah that not a bone of him was broken. He was whole, he was complete. He had to be because the command of the Passover lamb was, thou shalt not break a bone of it. But concerning David himself, the psalmist writes, speaking the gladness of the Lord once more, that these bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. He wasn't the Passover lamb, he was in need of it. He required to be made whole. He who had been the shepherd was now a sheep that was lost, and the Lord had taught him, the one from the hundred, to bring him back safely to the fold upon his shoulder and to rejoice over the one sinner that repenteth. For that is what David did in the presence of God. And God in his mercy restored him. And there's comfort in this, brethren and sisters, for you and for me in our own sin. The Lord would seek us out and bring us back if the constancy of our heart is generally toward his purpose, and we desire it above all other things. If we should slip into some cleft on our way to the kingdom of God, the Lord will lift us out. For that is his work. It is the Lord's desire to deliver all his people. And from this time forward, occasioned by this sin, David was to have an attitude of mind before God, which would constantly bring in remembrance his sin. But he had pronounced a sentence upon himself, and it was to be executed. He shall restore fourfold. And the Lord said, and the sword shall not depart out of the house of David forever, nor would it. For from this time forward, the whole house of David was to be thrown into confusion. We may have our sins forgiven. We cannot hope to take away all the traces of it. That which a man does in his life leaves its scars upon him. He can never remove them, not even until the day of his death. He can either recall them in his memory or suffer their consequences in his daily living. And that is something for us to note. We can't tamper with sin and expect never to have the smell of fire upon our clothes. Can a man walk upon hot coals and not be burned, says the Proverbs. And so it is with us. Though God forgives us our sins, the consequences of them will often work out in our lives from that time forward, as they did with David. David had given occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme. He had given not only that, he had given occasion to one man to become as it were a kind of king himself, and that is Joab. The child which is born from Bathsheba dies according to the word of the Lord, although David for seven days seeks that it might live. The next child that is born of Bathsheba is Solomon, peaceable. And Nathan the prophet comes in and gives it a new name, Judeida, because of the Lord. And it's interesting that Nathan should come in on the occasion of the birth of each child. Joab now sends a message up to David and said, Look, we're about to take the city of Rabah of the Ammonites, and unless I take it and put my name upon it and let it be called the city of Joab, you'd better come down. And so at the beckoning of Joab, David has to come down. He should have gone the first time, of course. He should have supervised his forces and not stayed at home in laziness. It was the time, says scripture, when kings go out to battle, and he didn't. He stayed at home to his own downfall. And now he goes down and takes the city and takes the crown from off the head of the king of the Ammonites and brings the whole city into subjection. There is, too, here a touch either of cruelty, it's very difficult to say without going now into the details of it, but there are two or three of these incidents in the life of David where it appears either that cruelty was practiced upon the enemies by marking them with weapons of iron or sawing them asunder, or else that they were put to some service in the kingdom. One would like to feel that it was a latter, but it would appear from some of these records that there was a cruelty practiced upon these people who themselves had practiced cruelty, for these were the nations that offered their children to the gods and burned them in the hands of their false gods, as we know from our reading of scripture. I don't think that's any excuse for the work that David and his men did if they did practice cruelty, but it is at least an explanation of it. But we know from the incidents we have read of the threatening of putting out of right eyes, from the incidents earlier in the book of Judges where kings would cut off the thumbs and great toes of their captives and keep them almost as dogs under their table, that these were cruel times in which to live. And some of the cruelty seems to have lingered even in the minds of righteous men, and they were not unused or unaccustomed to seeing dead men at their feet. And I think that in some way David had that kind of guiltiness too. He had a blood guiltiness before God, a reason for which he could not build the temple later on, but I think that blood guiltiness is not just the blood guiltiness of the soldiers slain in battle or enemies that were done to death after battle. I think more particularly was it the blood guiltiness of Uriah the Hittite. Well, we pass on now after the taking of the Ammonites. The whole kingdom has been established outwardly, but it begins to crumble inwardly. The four-fold repayment that David has to make is now about to be worked out. He has many children, and his children are of different mothers, and consequently there's either enmity between them or special friendships between them. We have the occasion now when Tamar is humbled, that daughter of David, beautiful of countenance to look upon, and of Amnon, the man with lust in his heart, who after he has humbled his sister or his half-sister, turns upon her and sends her away. And she, with the rent garment of divers' colors, returns in desolation to her house, and Absalom, her handsome brother, meets her. Has Amnon been with thee? Take it not to heart, my sister, and he restores her to his home and says not a word to Amnon, not one word that he never forgets. He loved his sister, and for two years he nurses the desire for vengeance. This man Absalom, separate from his father both in his outlook and in his desires, now wishes to bring about a revenge upon Amnon. And so it is, after two years at the time of sheep shearing, he goes to the king, David, and he says, Come with all the king's sons unto a feast that I have prepared. This was the feast of celebration, as with Nabo at the time of sheep shearing. So with Absalom, and the king says, No, let us not come unto thee, lest we be burdensome to thee. But Absalom presses, urges him, and says, Oh, do come. And finally the king allows, with his blessing, it says, the king's sons to go. And so to the great feast of Absalom come the king's sons that night and Amnon with them. And in their feast of wine and of good things they meet as the king's sons. What a table, brother and sisters, that must have been with all the king's sons there. And one man, Jonadab, who knew a secret, a secret that Amnon had been called there for a purpose. And late at night, when Amnon himself has drunk well and eaten well, so goes forth the cry of Absalom to his men, Kill Amnon. He'd tell them to be courageous and valiant, and so they were. And they ran him through on the spot. And so Amnon died for the defilement he'd brought to the house of David. And all the king's sons get up at night, it says, and ride upon their mules in haste from Absalom, lest they too should be taken in slaughter. And Jonadab has made his way back to Jerusalem, and there news has already reached David that all the king's sons are dead. And David casts himself upon the earth in mourning before the Lord. He can say nothing to God. He'd been able to say nothing to Amnon, although he was rough, because Amnon had fallen into that very sin, which he himself had been bound by. Amnon, the first of the four, Tamar, the first of the fourfold repayment, and Amnon, the second. And so it is now that Absalom is banished from the presence of David, and he sees not his face. He goes to live with his father-in-law, well up near Antasiria, and he's there for three years, separated from his father. But his father is, oh, so torn in desire. The meaning behind the verse in Scripture here is a little obscure as to whether he is desirous of punishing Absalom and hasn't the strength to do so, or whether he is yearning for him to come back home because he has executed vengeance upon Amnon. It's not absolutely clear. In my own mind, I feel that the love for Absalom that David had overrode all his other feelings. But David's conscience now, although before God is clear for himself, he seems to be quite unable in any way to bring his family into subjection. His own sin is constantly whipping him and leaving marks upon his mind. The defiled Tamar must stay in his family. Amnon and the memory of his death must remain. Absalom and his rebellion against his father by not consulting him and slaying his brother. And now his separation so far away and for so long a time. But Joab is almost king in Israel. At least he has power both over the people and over David. And so it is that he sends a message to a place from which Amos the prophet was to come and seeks out there a woman of wisdom, able to tell a story and able also to point a moral, which she does in the presence of David. She comes in and pleads her cause. It seems that the king was still able to receive people and to pronounce judgment in their cause. And she says that she had two sons that fought in the field and the one had slain the other. And now the avengers of blood were trying to seek the second son. And so to blot out the name of this poor widow, David, in his compassion for such is his nature, says that this shall not be. Take it not to heart. This shall not be. But she says, the king and his sons be blameless and let this be upon me. He begins to see that as she speaks that there's more behind her story until finally she turns it round and he discovers that this is meant for him. And immediately, is the hand of Joab with thee in this, he says? Who'd given this into the hand of Joab? David, in the letter he sent by Uriah the Hittite. Oh, how our sins seek us out at unexpected times and how they remove power from our limbs and from our minds at the time we want it. And how humbled was David before Joab, whose mind was already that of a murderer, but he had not the conscience of David and was in no wise humbled himself. Joab the murderer was hard, strong, desirous of retaining his position. David was humbled in the presence of God and bereft now of his former power. And there was apparent uprightness, at least in the presence of the people. But he restores Absalom in accordance with this story and brings Absalom down to Jerusalem. But he doesn't see the king's face for two years. But Absalom is a man of remarkable qualities. I think his appearance must have been striking. I think partly because of breeding of David and also of that northern kingdom. And this cross between the two nations had produced an outstanding man, both in his hair and his general appearance and in his winsomeness before men. And what is more, he's not afraid of Joab. He tends for Joab at the end or near to the end of two years and asks Joab to come, but Joab doesn't come. And so Absalom says, set fire to the field of barley that was alongside Absalom's own estate and that belonged to Joab. And so the whole field went into flames. As the flames came across the field and Joab learned of the message, so he comes to Absalom. He says nothing to him concerning the field except ask him why he didn't set it on fire. And Absalom says, because he didn't come to me the first time. He offers no words of reproof to Absalom. And then he says to Joab. And then Absalom says, what's the point of my coming back to Jerusalem here if I'm not to see my father? And so it is then that he is restored to his father. But I think this restoration is only partial. I don't think there was ever any kind of communion between Absalom and David on a spiritual plane. I think there was an association of family. I'm quite certain that you remember when Amnon feigned himself to be sick, the king himself came down to look at him. I think he had an affection for his children, an affection that we would do well to imitate. But he also lacked something that we need, namely the ability to instruct them to tell our children at the time of their sins. And here lies the lesson, brothers and sisters. If a man himself has become so involved in sin, and that sin has become known, that he is unable to reprove others, then it is likely that his own family will turn away from the truth in certain respects. And he will be unable to help them and to bring them back. And so it was with David. Much as he would have liked, he was afraid because of his own sin. And the sword that the Lord had put into the family was constantly to move about between his children, until finally David would stand at the wrong end of it, about to be run through. But the Lord would withhold it and deliver him at the hour of his deepest need. After Absalom's restoration, he begins in a very subtle way to win the hearts of the people, as the people come up day by day to consult David in all their causes of strife, one between another. Absalom sits at the gate. He's prepared for himself runners and chariots, so that he might appear to be a man of some substance and some authority among the people, and also that he might draw the attention of the people to himself. He had one great advantage. Not only had he got his outriders and his chariot, but his own personal appearance was such that it was striking, and men looked upon him and wondered. And the aged and marked David, aging and marked David, were in strong contrast to this young, winsome man. And so he sits at the gate of the city, and as the people come in to plead their cause, so he speaks to them, oh, would that I would judge in Israel. I'd be a great help to you. What's your cause? You've got a right case there. That case is right, but there isn't really anybody to hear you. The king is far too busy properly to take notice of all these things. If only I were here as a judge, your case would be judged right. And so he began to win the hearts of all the people, and a conspiracy begins to work underneath the kingdom of David. The enemies around are silent, but the enemies within are beginning to work, for David had more than one enemy. Not only was Absalom seeking to overthrow him, not only was Joab unreliable, but the relations of Uriah the Hittite and of Bathsheba also had thoughts concerning David. And so it is that Absalom works in such a way until finally he is ready, ready to shout and to proclaim himself king. But he's going to take his time and his place, and he's going to have such an array of friends with him that the kingdom will fall right into his hands and David will be dethroned. And this, brethren and sisters, is the point where David's great suffering is to begin. He obtains the king's permission, Absalom, to go down to offer sacrifices in Hebron. Oh, the irony of this situation. The place where the kingdom began, where David's kingdom began, where he was crowned and reigned for seven and a half years, is the very city to which Absalom goes to begin his rebellion. But what a wise, subtle, scheming man was Absalom. Now sometimes there are occasions, brethren and sisters, there are few, but there are occasions when we are aware of such scheming in our own midst. Just the occasional brother or sister whom we know to be quite unreliable. And the scheming and practice we in our hearts know is something of which we should beware. And yet, perhaps just like Absalom took 200 men unawares, we ourselves might be caught unaware. And it's worth our while being on our guard constantly when we are aware of such personalities, not thinking evil one over another, but knowing in certain circumstances when brethren or sisters are easily able to influence the hearts of others, and that not for good. It's wise, I think, in such circumstances that we should be both on our guard and unwilling to place ourselves in association with them, either seemingly so or actually so. And Absalom invites 200 men. I've prepared a feast. And these men went in there simplicity. They were quite unaware of what Absalom was going to do. So had he disguised his plans. He invited 200 influential men in David's kingdom. And when he had them at the feast down in Hebron, it was on that day, at that occasion, that he was going to proclaim himself king. And so that David would feel that the whole of these 200 had turned against him, and that the kingdom had shifted entirely into Absalom's hands. It was a stroke of genius that he should have done this. He'd already won the hearts of the ordinary people, and now, against their will or unbeknown to them, he'd taken unto himself the 200 influential men of David's kingdom. Not all the men that belonged to David, for not all would go, but these 200, in their simplicity, went down with Absalom unto Hebron. And Hebron was not very far from the place where Ahithophel lived. We might wonder about Ahithophel, who he was, and why he, having been David's personal counselor and friend, should now be called and become the friend of Absalom. Why this shift of affection and of allegiance of an old man? It's not often that old men change their opinions, is it? In fact, young men wish sometimes that they would. And I think certain scriptures come to mind about old men, which are worthwhile, I'm taking note of. And they're just a little unusual in themselves, these scriptures, but they do apply to us as we get older, and our views become almost rock hard. But here they are. His eyes were set by reason of age. And that happens to us, doesn't it? It's not easy for us to change our opinion. It happens in everything. It's not just in things spiritual. The older we get, it's just this kind of food. I've never taken that. I don't take this or that. Just this kind of food. I always get up at quarter past seven, and it's bed at quarter to eleven. Precisely our times and habits. And I suppose that's almost inevitable. But how wonderful is it when an older man knows these things? When he asks himself in wonder as he's trying to change his views, can a man be born again when he is old? And there are certain other scriptures of that kind that I think are both helpful and a warning to us. As we begin to get older, and our views sometimes perhaps are set and could be modified a little. And for young people, of course, there are verses, there are companion verses to those which we try to give to the teenagers when they listen to this kind of subject. But Ahithophel was a man with a cause. He had very good reason for switching from David to Absalom. He was grandfather to Bathsheba. And so he knew about David's sins and wished to work out the downfall of the king. And he comes to Hebron to Absalom at Absalom's call and now is to remain as his advisor. And he was a man of considerable common sense. He knew the feelings of the people. He was a man who would have advised David concerning the movement of affections of his people from time to time and what and when were the best things to do. And so it was that here at this time he comes to Absalom in Hebron and the cry goes forth that Absalom is king. And I'd like us to look now at the movement of David. If we pass on to the second book of Samuel and chapter 15. Cry goes forth in verse 13 and there came a messenger to David saying, The hearts of the men of Israel are after Absalom. Oh, how David's heart must have sunk deep, deep down. Oh, was he to repay the debt fourfold? Yes, he'd lost Tamar, he'd lost Amnon and he was now about to lose Absalom, his affection to slip away. And immediately, without any hesitation at all, he panics and he leaves Jerusalem. He's bereft of his former strength, his former courage, his former resolution and so he leaves the city. Immediately, it seems that he takes this message to heart and without consulting God, he leaves the city and all his servants. Oh yes, they were still faithful servants and I'd like you to notice, brethren and sisters, who are among these people that David is able to take with him as he leaves the city. And the king went forth, verse 17, and all the people after him and tarried in a place that was far off. Actually, that's not probably the best translation. It looks as though it means the far house, a point outside the city, probably the furthest house, the last house outside the city before one comes to the wilderness. He was going out on the eastern side of the city, through the eastern gate, out of Jerusalem, toward the book Kidron, where Olivet stands. That's the route that he's taking. Out go the personal bodyguards, in verse 18. And then it says, and all the Gittites, six hundred men, which came after him from Gath, passed on before the king. Now it seems unlikely that this is Gathrimon, the city of the priests, but rather is it, I think, that these were actually Philistines and that Ittai the Gittite, of verse 19, was a man of Philistia who was now in the service of David. And I think that David had won his allegiance and this man refused to depart. Even at this time when the kingdom appeared to have passed from David into the hands of Absalom, this man with his six hundred in his love for David would not depart. I think the way in which David brought the affection of people of various kinds to him, and the way in which they were faithful to him, as we shall see in this chapter and the succeeding chapters, is something most remarkable. He was a man who, by the depth of his spirituality, was able to draw other men to him, to draw the best out of other people, just as Jesus is for us, to draw out of us those things which we are able to do in his strength. The right man brings out the good qualities. The wrong man, as with Absalom, brings out those things which are in all of us, should we desire it, to be treacherous, to be self-seeking, to have a duplicity of purpose. And we have to make our choice. With whom are we going to stand? With the Absalom of this world, in all its winsome beauty and its allurements, or with Jesus Christ who is outside Jerusalem at the moment? They buried him outside and they pushed him out. But there are those who stand with him, those from Philistia, the Gentiles who come to thy light, and kings to the glory of thy rising. We from places afar have come to him, and he's called us by his affection unto him. Oh, he's free from all the sins of his progenitor David. He has none of the afflictions that came to him, except that he bore the stripes that David put upon him, that he might redeem him, that the broken bones of David might find healing in the stripes of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we've been called to him, brethren and sisters. We have to meet him outside the city, go forth without the camp to see him at the far house and see him there. Oh yes, he's gone into a far place to receive for himself a kingdom. But he shall return and bring with him, as did David later in these chapters, all the faithful up to Jerusalem to the city of God again, with Absalom banished and all his worldliness gone, and the disaffection of Ahithophel destroyed, and the right counsels of the priest and prophet and king established in the city. But David goes out with his head bent, and with the people. He appeals to it I in verse 20, whereas thou camest but yesterday, should I this day make thee go up and down with us, seeing I go whither I may return, whither I may return thou and take back thy brethren, mercy and truth be with thee. And it I answered the king and said, as the Lord liveth, and as my Lord the king liveth, surely in what place my Lord the king shall be, whether in death or life, even there also will thy servant be. And could there be, brethren and sisters, a more stirring exhortation for us? Is that not precisely what has happened to us? Haven't we said that to the Lord Jesus Christ? As the Lord liveth, and as my Lord the king Jesus Christ liveth, surely in what place my Lord the king shall be, whether in death as in our baptism, or in life as in our living after our baptism, even there also will thy servant be. Are not these the very things that we are to carry out? And the allegiance of this man finds its mark in David's heart, and he'll take him and he'll use him a little later on at the time. And so David says to Hittite the Hittite, as he stands at the brook Kidron, pass over. And so Hittite and his six hundred men pass over. And then this scene, the little ones, the children. The little one. Our sins, you see, are never just for ourselves. No man sins to himself alone. Bring shame upon his wife, upon his family, or she upon her husband and upon her children. So it is here. The little ones had to leave. Oh, the alarm and the confusion as they left the city and went from their homes, dragged in haste by their parents and saw the fear upon the face of David and upon those who were with him, wondering why there were soldiers passing to and fro and why they had to leave the house and take what food they could with them, and why there was this consultation at the brook, and why in their tiredness they had to be dragged and marched further on. Surely Father had taught us that Jerusalem was the place in which men ought to worship. And Father had always said, what time I am afraid I will trust in the Lord. But he seems to be afraid and he's not talking much about God. Brethren and sisters, our sins leave their marks upon our families as the righteousness of Christ has left its mark upon his. Let us then remember that we sin not to ourselves alone. Neither are we righteous to ourselves alone, being knit together as a family spiritually or a family physically, so we have effect and counter-effect in our lives. Verse 23, And all the country wept with a loud voice, and all the people passed over. The king also himself passed over the book Kidron, and all the people passed over toward the way of the wilderness. And as we've had occasion once before, I think to mention, this way of the wilderness comes into the lives of all of us at some time or another, we have to pass through the way of the wilderness. It happened to Israel, it happens to us. Something in our lives, either not as a result of sin or as some trial of life comes upon us, some sudden crumbling of our hopes, some sudden loss of a dear one, some sudden affliction to ourselves or to our children, and we are led out the way of the wilderness. The Lord takes us out that we might ask him the question in faith and receive his answer. Can the Lord furnish a table in the wilderness? And the answer comes back, there has spread a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Psalm 23, Well, brethren, so it was with David, follow him as he's gone over the book Kidron, the way of the wilderness, and out comes Zadok now, the priest, and Ahimelech the priest, the biather, the Ahimelech's son. Two priests come out, and he sends them both back to Jerusalem because they've brought with them the ark. I suppose they thought they were doing for David a tremendous service, as these men bring out the ark from Jerusalem. But for David it was a most disturbing moment. There was no safety in the ark as an ark, only if the Lord went with it. Had they not lost the ark before when they fought against the Philistines? Had not the Philistines taken it captive? And so David makes a pronouncement. Verse 25, And the king said unto Zadok, Carry back the ark of God into the city. What, into the place where Absalom will be? They must have thought in their minds, carry it back into the city. If I shall find favour in the eyes of the Lord, he shall bring me again, and show me both it and his habitation. So there was faith in David then. Oh, there was faith, brethren and sisters. Something that could never be destroyed. And an awareness of the righteousness of God and the need of David, constantly before him. And so it is that as the ark goes back and oh, how David's heart must have yearned. He'd seen the ark and his great company of people. He'd heard the cry of, Lift up your heads, oh ye gates. And be ye, lift up ye everlasting doors, and the king of glory shall come in. And the ark was now returning without David to the place that David had made for it, that little tent. And David couldn't go back. And Absalom was marching northwards for fifty miles from Hebron toward the city to take both the city and the ark of God. But of course there was wisdom. No, there was faith in the word of David. There was faith in the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. As he went out to his crucifixion and to his burial, if I shall find favour in the eyes of the Lord, he will bring me again and show me both it and his habitation. So it's not just David. This is Jesus, this chapter. Oh, it's Jesus in a very wonderful way. He's taken out of Jerusalem when the people are in rebellion against him. He too has to pass over the book Kidron and come to the Mount of Olives. Is it the Mount of Olives? Verse 30. And David went up by the ascent to the Mount of Olives, and wept as he went up and had his head covered. And he went up barefoot, and all the people that was with him covered every man his head, and they went up weeping as they went. And here is Ahithophel, the Judas of the life of David, as Judas too had left David and was present in the enemy camp when Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane at this very spot. And what is more, when we read verse 32, we read, and it came to pass that when David was come to the top of the Mount, where he worshipped God, the Revised Version, where God was worshipped. It wasn't the first time that David had been to the Mount of Olives to worship God. It was as his custom was. As it was with Jesus, say it was with David. The Lord Jesus went to the very place that David had been accustomed to visit in his prayers, the Mount of Olives. And although the exact spot on the Mount was probably not the same, yet their associations were the same. But as he reaches the top of the mountain, a new man comes to him, Hushai the Archite, a man of wisdom. And David said, I think you'd better go back into the city. And so, as Zadok and Tobias of the priests had gone back to the city with the ark and to disarm the suspicions of Absalom, so Hushai the Archite is sent back into the city, and he it is who is going to be the counter-counselor to Ahithophel. He it is, as we shall see, as time goes on, he is going to instruct the would-be King Absalom in the way that he should go, and with craftiness before Absalom is going to take him in his own net. There are lies involved here, and David is aware of them. This again is one of the peculiarities of this time, of speaking untruths as though they are truths. And I don't think it was a worthy thing, but in the extremity of the time, in the circumstance, what would you have done? And perhaps in that lies the forgiveness. As though a man should say, as did Rahab the harlot, that the men had gone a different way, that they hadn't gone a different way, and it wasn't true to say they had. And one can't think that one can justify a lie for any cause of righteousness. We see none of that in the Lord Jesus Christ, do we? He doesn't say one thing to one man and another to another, but these weaknesses of human nature as they occur, we don't excuse them as such, we see a reason for them in their weakness, are forgiven in the greater faith that lies behind them. Rahab's one purpose was to do the will of God and to serve him and to deliver his servants. As with Jacob and his mother, who practiced something that was unrighteous and suffered the consequences of it because their faces were separated again. For 20 years, no, for life, he never saw his mother again. Yet God seems to work out, despite the unworthiness of his creatures, he works out his purpose because of their deeper and underlying faith. If he were to mark every iniquity in us, none of us could stand. For are we not all liars in the presence of God? Are we not living liars in some respects? Feigning a complete righteousness sometimes, and we haven't got it, feigning that we are not guilty or that we have no motions of greed or selfishness or covetousness or pride or evil thinking within us, no duplicity of purpose, is that not true? And yet we have. But our underlying faith, that which can rise through and carry us forward, is a means whereby as we confess daily our weaknesses before God, so he cleanses us and leads us forward. And so Hushai returns to the city and David sets out northward. I'd like us to notice this final scene because David is not going to encamp near to Jerusalem, Absalom with his men and with great shouts and with the obvious pride of his character, standing out as somebody, oh, a desirable king, now in Jerusalem instead of this man who's been taken in the guilt of adultery and of murder, a man in whom we'd trusted and thought that there was no king like unto him, a man whom the enemies of the Lord had begun to blaspheme and have done ever since that day, not blaspheme David, but blaspheme the Lord because of his sin. But oh, the frankness and openness of Scripture, that this man David, a man after God's own heart, stands out here as a sinner in God's sight, and the reproof is here and the forgiveness is here. And so David goes now northward, northward on the other side of the River Jordan with all his family, and as he goes, people come out to curse him. There's a man from Bahurim coming out. Who's this man coming out to curse David that we shall see? Oh, Shimei, a Benjamite, of the house of Saul, of course, or the tribe of Saul, he's got good reason to curse David. We thought David was a king, Saul was a king. We saw his weaknesses, but they were not like yours. And so he casts some curses from the hillside as David goes by. And I wish I were ready right away to go across and to slay him. Oh, their allegiance to David touching in the extreme. Oh, but David's deeper conscience. It's the Lord who's told him to curse David. Where had this man come from? Oh, he's come from the city of Bahurim or the village of it. Bahurim, Bahurim, isn't there somebody else in Bahurim? Yes, there's Michael's second husband in Bahurim. He went back weeping when David recovered Michael from him. And so there was ill-feeling in that city. And it's from that very place that Shimei comes. But it's interesting to notice that where there is ill-feeling, there very often by its very presence develops also a feeling in favor of. And we shall see as we go along that there is in this little city tucked away somebody who will do a service to David. Somebody to do him a disservice? Yes, the Lord hath said, curse David. And somebody to do a service? For the Lord hath said, bless David. The outworkings of this purpose are to be great. He goes northward to Mahaneim, the very place where Jacob had wrestled with the angel. I know what wrestlings there must have been in the mind of David in that place. He's received favorably. He receives many blessings on the way. Zeba comes out. Zeba, the servant of me, Mephibosheth, you remember, the son of Jonathan, the servant of Jonathan. I'll start again. Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan. And David says, where is Mephibosheth? Oh, he said he was getting his horse, but he didn't seem to come out. And Zeba spreads the rumor, and we're not quite sure of Zeba here. I rather feel that Zeba's allegiance was right, but I think he got some greediness underneath. His master was lame, you see, and I think Zeba, in a way, wanted to make an impression upon David. I think he was going to do David a service, but I think in the course of doing David a service, he could also secure Mephibosheth's property. He'd do it. And so he brings all kinds of blessings to David on the way. And at the same time, Mephibosheth has done a disservice. It looks as though he's been left in Jerusalem, and he's been left there because he wants to be with Absalom. In fact, one would think for the moment, of course, that being Saul's grandson, he'd very good reason to see the downfall of David. But I rather wonder about this man Zeba. I think he was a little too faced, a little glib of tongue, and I'm not sure whether David was somewhat taken in by him, because later on he's got to compromise in what he does with the estate that belongs to Jonathan's son.

Transcript

This is the voice of Wilbraham. In August 1961, Brother Harry Tennant of Dundee, Scotland, chose as his subject, David, the shepherd king. We take pleasure now in presenting Brother Tennant in the sixth of seven class sessions. Right, brothers and sisters, I think perhaps to take up the threads of our story, for we've reached the point where the life of David could really have broken in two. He was a man of intense spiritual devotion, as the book of Psalms shows to us, whose prayers ascended to God daily, now many times a day. And now he's separated from the place of worship, the city which he has founded, and where God has brought the ark to rest. And I would like us just for a moment to have a look at that third Psalm that we read together, to see something of a power of which Absalom was quite unaware. And that is a power which had moved right through the life of David from the days when he was a shepherd, through his trials with Saul, to his enthronement, through his various battles and the establishment of the kingdom, and to the bringing of Jerusalem to be the holy city. Namely, the power of prayer. When one thinks that he lived a thousand years before the Lord Jesus Christ, and that his prayers are equally applicable in our lives today, and that we can read them and use them as our own prayers if we so desire at any time of distress or of trouble, or when our own prayers dry up and we can't find any words to use, we can open this book and find something that suits us, how wonderful a man he was. Even on those occasions when we feel that God is so far away that he's not listening to us, or that we can't break through the brazen heavens that we've created by our own sins, waywardness, or lack of spirituality, the book of Psalms will come to us and help us. Why art thou so far from the voice of my roaring? So David experienced just the same feeling, and the book is a consolation. Now, this psalm is written at the time when Absalom had come up toward Jerusalem, and David has fled. In fact, one feels that although it may have been written down afterwards, it was the very feeling, the inner feeling of his soul at this time. And I'd like you to notice just one thing from this psalm, and I think this is a help in times of distress and of trouble when our heads are bent down. I'm sure David's was as he went out of the city until he learned again to lift up his head in prayer. Here it is. Lord, how are they increased that trouble me? Many are they that rise up against me, many there be which say of my soul, there's no help for him in God, but thou, O Lord, art a shield for me, my glory and the lifter up of mine head. What a lovely expression, brothers and sisters. And David was conscious of that, that God was the one who put his hand under his chin and lifted up his head when it was downcast. Not David's own work, but David's reliance upon his father and the immediate beauty of the psalm. As soon as David is aware of that, I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and he answered me, that's the word, out of his holy hill. Not now in the valley of despair, but the holy hill. He had something that Absalom hadn't got. Absalom had the Ark, but he hadn't got the God of the Ark. And David hadn't got the Ark, but he'd reached the holy hill of God by his prayers. The fact that he was ostracized from his city did not cut him off from his God. And that's the beauty that we find through the psalms. I don't suppose for a moment that Absalom prayed for victory, but here in this psalm David does. And I think the enemies, the ungodly in verse 7, that were cut off and broken by God were all those opposing nations round about him. I'm sure that he hadn't got Absalom in mind when he spoke about the broken teeth and the smitten cheek of the ungodly. Well, we left David yesterday in Mahaneim right up on the northeast in Gilead. Now, we must retrace our steps for a moment or two, as does the scriptural record, in fact, to see that as Absalom comes into the city, marching to the city to become king, and is proclaimed king, then he takes counsel there in that place. Now, he takes counsel, as we saw yesterday, of Bathsheba's grandfather, Ahithophel. And those who want the link to prove that it is Bathsheba's grandfather have got to go to the list of mighty men in 2 Samuel 24, maybe 25, where there you'll find who Uriah is. And then when you trace back Uriah to the description of himself and his wife, you'll see the link between them that leads back to Ahithophel. It's quite clearly there. When he comes, he asks counsel of Ahithophel, and it says concerning Ahithophel that Ahithophel in those days was just like the oracle of God, that when one spoke to Ahithophel, he pronounced as though he was pronouncing the word direct from God. Such was his conceit, and yet, I suppose, too, his common sense, for he'd been David's counselor, too. And so Absalom and those who were with him asked Ahithophel, what shall we do? Ahithophel said, now is the time to strike. 12,000 men go out in pursuit of David while he is dispirited and faint and weary. Overtake him before he passes over the river. Seek out only the king. Don't go for the people. You 12,000 men go straight for the king and take him and slay him, and the cause is yours. And that seemed to be very good counsel. And I think it was the wiser of the two councils in the sense that David did require this little time to gather his strength up and require the support of those who were to rally around him when he was in Mahanean. But Pushai the Archite had come down, sent down specifically by David. And Absalom was rather suspicious of him at first, but Pushai, with practiced deceit, said, Surely I should serve with the son, as I have served with the father, as I was to thy father, so I will be to thee. And so he disarmed Absalom and his friends of all suspicion. And after Ahithophel's counsel, they call upon him and say, Now, Pushai, what do you think of this situation? Well, he said, I think that the counsel that Ahithophel has given is wrong. I'm quite certain that if you set out now to take David, you'd find him as though he was a bear robbed of his welt or her welt. And to take him now would be the last thing that you'd be able to do. And what is more, he said, if you went to look for David, you'd know that David is a man of war, a man of strategy. He wouldn't be with the people, do you suppose? He'd be hiding in some pit, some cleft, some cave somewhere, not with the people, safely. And you'd have to seek him and not find him. What I declare is this, let's pull together the whole of Israel right from Dan straight down to Beersheba. And when the whole of the army is gathered together, then we can march against David. And if he goes into some city, then let us take ropes and heave upon these ropes and drag the whole city straight down and so destroy the king and those that are with him. And so persuasive was Pushai. He sounds persuasive, doesn't he? So persuasive was he in what he had to say that they decided his was the better counsel. And Zadar and Abaioth of the priests who had heard this told their respective sons, Himehas and Jonathan, and these two men slip out of Jerusalem, give a message to a girl who runs to the Virgin's Fountain, as it's now called, outside Jerusalem at the southeast corner. Its actual situation is a little doubtful, but it looks as though it might be the junction between the river of Kidron and the valley of the Son of Hinnom. But this has been espied by somebody else, and the message goes right back to Absalom. But it's too late, because the two young men, having passed on, taken the message, I had that the wrong way round, by the way, they received the message, and they bear it themselves from the Virgin's Fountain. And they run until they come to the city Bahurim, the very place where Shimei lived, and was probably away at this moment cursing David. And when they reach the city or village of Bahurim, it's there that they're overtaken by Absalom's own messengers. But a woman there is friendly toward them, and she hides them in the well and covers it up with a great covering and pours corn upon it, that it might become dried in the air to prepare for a meal. And though they search for the two men, she denies all knowledge of them. Again, a deceit in the stress of the moment, an untruth which one feels is a little unpalatable, and we find several of these as we go through the record. But I suppose the question one has to ask oneself is, just what would I have said in those circumstances at that time, and not so perhaps to condemn them? Well, the message gets through to David. And David, having heard the counsel of Hushai and the counsel of Ahithophel, still feels uncertain about Absalom knowing the kind of child that he was and the young man into which he has grown. And he determines to march north, and so he does go north and make a name. And when he is there, he does receive comfort of considerable kind, receives it from some of his former enemies. One of the children of Ammon comes and succors David and his men. So does Barzilai the Gileadite, a man of 80 years of age, who, with considerable estate, is able to succor David and his forces, even providing them, it would appear, beds to lie upon, as well as food to sustain them. And so Absalom now begins to secure his great forces and bring them together. And finally, David too, having no doubt trained his men and learned again what it is to be in the field of battle, was ready for the war. He appoints three men, Joab, Abishai, and Itai the Gitai. So Itai has now got his reward. These three men are to take a third each of the forces and so to face the enemy. Now, it was quite a considerable march for Absalom to come up from Jerusalem, across Tidron, and up the other side, Georgian, toward Mahanean. It took some little time in which to do it. And that would give warning to David and to his men. But finally, it's the day of battle. I'd like us to look at it from the two sides, Absalom's inner feelings. What would your feelings be as a traitor to your father, the anointed king, especially when you had in your mind too the history of Saul and of David, how that no man had prospered against David yet when David trusted in his God. And the beauty of that is that no man can prosper against a man who truly trusts in God. And so it was here that David had the angels of the Lord about him and felt strengthened in his heart. And with Joab at his side still valorous for him, and Abishai a man who was unflinching in fight, and Itai whose allegiance to David is touching beyond words, David himself feels that this moment of decision is one in which the Lord will be victorious. He speaks for a moment of going out to battle himself. And Joab and Abishai and the people in their wisdom say, if you go out to battle, they'll look only for you. They won't care if all of us die if they can take you. And that was true. It was only the king they wanted. Once he was disposed of, the kingdom would fall into the hands of Absalom. And so David has to sit in the gates of Mahanean, and the forces come marching by him, the captains, the three of them, and each with his respective force. As Joab goes by, so all the people who march with him hear the words, deal gently with the young man, Absalom, for my sake. And people hear the words as Joab marches out. And so comes Abishai with his soldiers. Deal gently, for my sake, with the young man, Absalom. And finally Itai, the Gitai, with his company of six hundred and others. Deal gently with the young man, Absalom, for my sake. And so they march out to battle. And the battle is not upon a plain or in a valley, but a strange, confused battle, almost throughout in disarray, a battle in the great forest of Ephraim. Now Ephraim was really on the other side of the river, and this appears perhaps to be a name that was given after the battle, and not a name that was given to it before. But as they join battle, so it is within this forest. No doubt Joab, Abishai, and Itai had gained experience in this very place by marching their men through it and learning of the paths in this great depth of darkness that was in the forest. So that on this occasion, when Absalom and his forces come, they are able to maneuver themselves and go through the forest, destroying Absalom's forces. And such is the tremendous disarray that Absalom is for a time himself separated from his own forces, riding upon his mule in the forest. And a young man sees him going hither and thither, and the young man belongs to the forces of David, and several others are with him, and in fear Absalom on his mule starts away, and he goes through the trees, so the great fork of a tree takes him. Perhaps by his pride of hair it took him, or perhaps held him by his chin unexpectedly, and he was locked in it, and the mule went on and left him hanging. And the young man runs, and he comes through Joab and says, look, I've seen Absalom in a tree, and didn't kill him, said David. Didn't kill him. Of course I couldn't touch him. Did not I hear that David said, deal gently with the young man Absalom for my sake, and what is more, if I'd done it, you would have disowned me. There's an interesting touch there, an interesting touch about the character of Joab in which this young man had learned that Joab was a man for himself and would not necessarily show allegiance to his own men, his own forces. And I think that little touch gives us another hint about the character of Joab. It's an independent witness, a witness in a time of stress. You know, the kind of word that springs out of the mouth unexpectedly, not a calculated word, and I think it's a true witness about Joab. Joab, they haven't got time to speak to you. He takes up three darts and dashes away and finds Absalom, and so he takes revenge for the barley fields and wounds the king's son. Deal gently with the young man Absalom for my sake. And the ten men that bore Joab's armor are now closing and finish off the foul deal until all the people in the forest hear the sound of the trumpet and the battle is halted and they throw the body of the king's son once oh so proud and so beautiful and so rebellious into a pit and they cover it with stone. But Absalom had had three sons and they were all dead. We don't know how they died or when they died, but he had no man that would be heir to his estate. But in the fourteenth chapter of Genesis there's a little comment. This is the day of another battle, the day when a righteous man went out, Abraham to battle with his servant and was victorious. And in verse seventeen we read this. And the king of Sodom went out to meet him, that is Abraham, after his return from the slaughter of Kedolioma and of the kings that were with him at the valley of Sheva which is the king's dale and Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine and he was priest of the most high god. What a meeting, brethren and sisters, was this in Genesis. The king of Sodom, a city finally to be destroyed of God, Abraham who was a prince with God and as Paul says in Romans, he was heir of the world and Melchizedek, the visible sign of a priesthood of that day and of a great priesthood to come, first king of righteousness and then king of peace. And the meeting was in the king's dale. Well, of course, it couldn't be at any other place, could it? This righteousness and peace must be at the meeting of the king's dale and the bread and the wine and the priesthood, all here interlocked in this very simple incident, an incident which, by the way, proves the inspiration of scripture for it's not mentioned again until we skip a thousand years and David brings it forth in the 110th Psalm and never mentioned again for another thousand years until Paul or the writer of the letter to the Hebrews brings it forth in his exposition of the worthiness of Christ, of his greatness as prophet and priest and king and son of God. Why do we mention here the king's dale? Only because Absalom, in his conceit, had erected for himself a memorial in the king's dale. How inappropriate. He was neither like Abraham nor like Melchizedek. I don't think really he was like the king of Sodom, but he was rebellious against the king. He had no righteousness and there was no peace for him. And his memorial will not last until the king comes again into the king's dale and when he shall bring forth bread and wine and his own people shall sit down with him in his kingdom, there'll be a place that Absalom will not be able to occupy, but David will be there with a memorial that God has erected for him. Behold my servant, David. As soon as the battle is over, two messengers wish to carry the message back. Ahimeas, the son of Zadok the priest, wishes to take a message and Joab feels that somehow it's incongruous that the son of the priest should carry back the message. He has no tidings to bear. It seemed as though Joab felt that this man was only worthy of good tidings. Now, I think so he was. He was a good man and Joab was afraid, unsure of him, but there's another man of a foreign nation there and perhaps he looked different, too, from the other in outward appearance and he carries the message. Or perhaps more appropriately, I think, the Kushite, a man perhaps from northern Africa. And he it is who carries the message and sets out running through the forest on the hilly route that leads up to Mahanean. But Ahimeas pleads with Joab, let me go, and finally Joab says, well, why won't thou run seeing thou would have no reward for carrying the message? There's already one appointed runner. It is nevertheless, let me go. And so it is that he sets out and he runs the quicker route and perhaps he's fleeter of foot as well. He takes the route by the plain, the lower route, probably the route that is by the River Jordan until finally, as David fits, and oh, how long a day it must have been for the king and how he must have thought of another battle when he should have been there and wasn't, and of this battle when he could have been there and mustn't. And sees finally, no, hears a voice from the watchman over the gate that there's a runner coming and he's alone. If he's alone, he brings tidings, said David. He interprets immediately the method of intelligence of his day. And so he looks. And finally, they hear another cry from the door above, from the wall above. There's another man running and he also is alone. He too brings tidings, says David. And so the two men, separated no doubt by some little distance, are seen as David waits with sobbing, anxious, searching heart. And the first man to come is the priest's son. He gives the message that all is well and that the battle has fallen to David and Absalom. How is Absalom? He said, there was a great confusion at the time that I was there, but I don't know what happened. In fact, he did know what happened. I think the record is quite clear about that. He felt unable because he was a good man to pass on the message, and David said, stand here at my side. And so the other man, Cushi, comes running along, sharing his message, fearless, with no sense of conscience that David has or the people who belong to the Lord. He too brings the message that David asks him, how went the battle? He gives the message that the battle has been won and Absalom, let all the Lord, the King's enemies be as Absalom, he said. And so David was smitten with the great stroke as a great blow falls upon him of the fourfold repayment. And I think the cry of Absalom, Absalom's death, as David leaves the gate and goes to his chamber has rung down all history. His heart rents, oh, my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom, would God I had died for thee, oh, Absalom, my son, my son. And all the people returned from battle and creeped into their tents. I don't suppose there was ever a victory like this, as the King wept and was unconsolable in his chamber. And there was no rejoicing or feasting that Absalom was dead and the battle had fallen to the Lord's anointed. But the cry coming constantly from the King's chamber, my son, my son Absalom, would God I had died for thee, oh, Absalom, my son. What love this man had for his children. And perhaps those of us who haven't got rebellious children should perhaps at times show a little more understanding of those who have. As though when a child is rebellious and doesn't respond to the truth, there is any less natural love. Of course, the love remained in this kind of cry rises from the hearts of those whose children perhaps do not respond to the gospel. And the rest of us should show an understanding and a compassion that we might be of help and of strength to them. But Joab is quite fearless. He walks into the King's room, what's all this trouble about? Come back having won a battle, and I'm quite certain, he says in my own mind, I'm quite certain that if the rest of us had died and Absalom had been alive, you'd have been pleased about it. And so he addresses the King as though he were one of his own men. But there was a certain truth in what Joab had to say, if we don't like the manner in which he said it. There was a certain truth. The whole of the people felt dispirited and had no idea now what the next move would be until, because Joab prevails and there is wisdom in his counsel, and David realizes that his own personal sorrow must not override the feelings of the people. And in that, too, there is a lesson, isn't there? Our own personal sorrows must not override at times the feelings of our euclid or our family. And so he comes out and sits in the gate, and the people finally realize that David has received them, and they acclaim that the battle has been won. Of course, Joab had said a word beside that. He had said, if you don't do this, they will not carry one man with thee this night, and that will be worse unto thee than all the evil that befell thee from thy youth until now. How cold a man is Joab! And he threw the dart at the son of David and at Absalom's father. With equal relentlessness, he throws his dart into the heart of David, reminding him of his sin, the power that's in Joab's hand to take all the nation from him should he desire so to do. At least, that's what he thought. And so David goes out, and the bewildered nation rallies around David, and they begin the journey southward from Mahaneim, messages coming to him of the faithfulness of Judah and a hope of the faithfulness of the men of Ephraim, the ten tribes in the north. And this journey southward is something, brethren and sisters, I think that you might take to our hearts as being the moment when David has to come with thankfulness up to Jerusalem. They have to pass through the forest of Ephraim, the forest of slaughter where thousands of the brave of Israel are lying dead, and pass southward in company with various people acclaiming David, supporting him, or trying to retrieve their position before him. Oh, how the allegiance of men switches from time to time. Men of uncertain mind or uncertain motives, how their allegiance switches from one to another, as did Shumiah. Oh, he's there, not alone. He's come out with a thousand men to apologize to David. He said he didn't mean what he'd said to him when he called him a man of blood and cursed of the law. And Abishai said, now let me do it. Let me now put him to death. And Abishai said, now let me do it. Let me now put him to death. Surely on the way back we can do it, having been victorious, and David will not allow it. There shall not any blood be shed this day on my account. And indeed he swears unto Shumiah that Shumiah shall not die. And so he was not going to execute that sentence upon this man who certainly deserved it. And the old man, Barzilai, what of him? Oh, he's come south with David, walking with him, comforting him, and David has treated him as a father in Israel. And he's come with his son. And as they come to the banks of the River Jordan where they had to cross over, and as we had in our Bible quiz the other day, there was a ferry boat there, a means of taking the people over, whether it was actually a boat is a matter of discussion. But at least if this was harvest time, Jordan overflows its banks at harvest time and is a river of some considerable strength at that time. And it would require a means of crossing over when the Fords were not passable by walking. And so they go from one side to the other, carrying all the king's goods and all the king's people across the river toward Jerusalem, and high up in the hills, 1,800 feet up in the hills of Judah. And as they come to the banks of this river, so David now turns to Barzilai and asks him to come and sit at my table in my kingdom with me. And Barzilai said, I'm 80. I can't even taste the food that I eat, and I have no responses to the delights of this natural life left now. And he preferred to return to his own estate, where things about him were known of him, and he was accustomed to them. And those of us perhaps who have the times to live with older people might take a little lesson from this. This mixing of the generations is so difficult at times, isn't it, when there are three generations in a house, the children, the parents, the grandparents, the affection of the grandparents for their grandchildren, and sometimes the apparent carelessness of the grandchildren who scamper off or refuse to hear, won't stand still, don't show their love just at the moment when we might expect it, and the in-betweens, the parents, torn by their children and by their affection for their own parents, are trying to keep poise in the family and not always succeeding. And the older generation, knowing where it stands, many things being behind and the kingdom before, feeling that wonderful sense of irresponsibility that comes with being grandparents, of having children and not having the responsibility of them, and yet feeling that they are surrounded by the things which belong to them in some way, and that that is their life, not looking for new things but dwelling upon memories. Perhaps we should try in some way, as brethren and sisters of the Lord Jesus Christ, to exercise ourselves in understanding one of another in this matter and to learn that it is possible if we serve the Lord Jesus Christ, so to serve with thankfulness those who've gone before, and at the same time to teach respect to those who are to come after, and together as a family to grow up in the love of the Lord Jesus Christ, that should he come now, we all might have some blessing of him, some to enter into his kingdom, and some perhaps to enter later therein. And so Basilio I will not go. But he says, look, my son's here, if you care to take him, and David took him and said he shall sit at my table, and without going now into the record in Jeremiah, it seems to me that David gave to this man, the son of Barzilio, part of his own inheritance nearer to Bethlehem. And I don't think a man could have given anything nearer to his own heart than that. But there is a record going through into Jeremiah that suggests that he gave to this man even part of his own inheritance in Bethlehem. He didn't give something that was on the outside of the kingdom. He didn't say to him, well, you can go and have a couple of fields up near Dan. He'd have been nearer to his father than he would have been to David, if that had been the case, or go and recover some of the land down by Beersheba where it's hot, and dig yourself a few wells. He gave him part of the inheritance near to Bethlehem, part of David's own heart he gave to him. There is a verse of Scripture in the Psalms, if I can quote it correctly now, Pay thy vows unto the Lord, which thou hast sworn to him in the time of trouble. It's easy to make vows when we're in trouble, but it's not always easy to repay them when we reach the time of blessing. It was easy for David to make promises as he went out from Jerusalem. But it was not so easy to fulfill them. It required an exercise of will to fulfill them as he returned. And so with us, our promises that we make to God in our times of trouble, let us fulfill them in the times of blessing when our troubles are over. Well, of course, Joab has now lost completely the affection of David, and David can't put him to death. Can't, I think, because he hasn't got the moral power so to do in the kingdom at this time. But he tries to switch the leadership of the host. Unbeknown to Joab, he tries to switch the leadership of the host to David's own nephew, to Amasa. And Amasa, strangely enough, had been with the forces of Absalom. And David, in this way, I suppose, by, as it were, this council hoped to bring over the forces that had been with Absalom. And by seeing their leader brought onto David's side and appointed to a position of office and authority as a leader in the army of David, David had hoped that they all would be united together. And so he sends Amasa out when they get back to Jerusalem. He sends Amasa out to bring all Israel together in three days. Well, David has rallied the priesthood, Zadok, and Abiotha. He sends out Amasa, but Amasa is no match for Joab. He neither has the authority in the kingdom nor apparently the ability to do the kind of things that Joab does. There is no doubt about it that though Joab is dark-hearted, yet he's a man who is able to carry out his will when he wants to, either for the king or against the king. He's a man that I don't think I'd like to have lived with. His authority was such that he's got mingled feelings, as we can see. I think he could have perhaps have been a good man, for you remember his last words, and it's because they were the last words that he had things upside down when he went into battle that day against the Ammonites and Syrians. He said, And the Lord do that which seemeth good to him. He had that form of worship in his heart, but he hadn't got the godliness that put that first in his prayer and allowed the rest to work out. Do we in our prayers or do we put other things first? Is God's first and his will or our will and then God's? Do we seek the things that we want in our prayers and not the things that God knows or the things that we need in them? Well, that's a question for each of us to ask himself and to answer, and I suppose our answer is yes and no to it. Sometimes we do submit to the will of God. No, not submit. We take it up as being our own will and delight to do it. I delight to do thy will, O God. And sometimes we speak of ourselves first and our own ways. But Amasa doesn't return after the three days and Joab sets out. Meanwhile, Israel has been rallied by a false man, Shimei, a Benjamite, in an effort to reestablish, no doubt, Saul's kingdom. Have you noticed how these Benjamites spring up from time to time? They'd had a very rough time, the Benjamites, right from those early days, you remember, when they had become a nation with iniquity in them and the children of Israel, the remainder of them, had attacked the Benjamites and reduced their numbers almost to nothing. And they had to provide wives to them to allow them again to grow and they never seemed to grow in Israel to any great size after that. But the men were men of considerable valor in battle and they'd seen to achieve some standing and this man, Sheba, the son of Bichri, tries to rally the children of Benjamin. And Amasa, coming back to Jerusalem, after his three days, not having accompanied the purpose, is met by Joab and by Abishai as they set out. And Joab's sword was at his thigh and by some move, as though he was going to pick up something from the ground, he leaned forward and having left his sword loose, it fell to the ground just in front of Amasa. And so he was unarmed and he takes Amasa by the beard to kiss him and picks up his sword at the same moment and runs him straight through and kills him on the spot. Treachery, oh yes, and the ingenuity of this man Joab are something to be marveled at and the description given in the record, although in only a few words, is something we could never forget. He kissed him much. Joab, Judas, was it not exactly the same? Was not that the very movement of Judas as he kissed him much? He who I kiss, that is he, take him. And so Joab and Judas were so very much alike. But all the people, as they marched by, they look upon Amasa lying in his blood on the ground, it says. And they are astonished as they look upon him. Joab is once again captain of the host. He who broke no opposition, this man, he now stands as a great dominating personality in Israel, in Judah at the moment, but later again in Israel as a whole, until somebody finally casts a garment upon Amasa and the people march northward, right northward, pursuing the men of Benjamin and all the Israelites who have given allegiance to this man, the son of Bicri, until they go right northward, up to Dan, right up into that part of the kingdom in pursuit of these people. It wasn't just a short pursuit, it was a great pursuit of men and slaughter all the way, until finally this man, this rebel from Benjamin, stands in the city of Abel Bethmiachah with his men round about him and the walls and gates of the city, and Joab prepares for a siege. And he was a man who knew how to carry out a siege, either by time or by stratagem to take a city. And it was so that as Joab was preparing for this that a woman's head looked over the wall and shouted down to him concerning the slaughter about which he was to engage. Are you going to kill all these people? Are you going to kill me also, a mother in Israel? And far be that from me, said Joab, that I should kill. He had a conscience of a kind. I don't think really he enjoyed great slaughter. He enjoyed the authority that came with his position. He enjoyed the stability of a kingdom which secured his authority. And so it was that as this woman looked over the wall, she asked what he wanted. And he said, we're looking for Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjamite. And this wise woman said, wait a little while. And her head disappears from the wall of the city. And then a few minutes after her counsel, another head appears without a body and is dropped over. And the rebellion is over. Sheba is dead. And the return from Abel Bethmiarcha down to Jerusalem, the army of David and the kingdom, once again established in his hands. Just one point I'd like to make here very quickly. It's a point that's not very pleasant to get over because how the incident is concluded is rather distasteful. But in the 21st chapter of Samuel, without turning it up, famine comes upon Israel for three years. And when David inquires as to the reason for this famine, they say it's for the house of Saul and for what he had done to the Gibeonites. Now, if you remember, the men of Gibeon were those who deceived Joshua in those very early days, the ones who came to him with moldy bread and old clothes that looked as though they'd traveled a great journey. And Joshua made covenant with them before he'd realized that they were just neighbors in the land. And they'd come along by this device to secure their people and themselves from instant death by Joshua and the advancing forces of the children of Israel. And these Gibeonites had been hearers of wood and drawers of water in the land of Israel from that time forward until this time. And although that would be some hundreds of years before, yet it seems that Saul, by some means or other, had abused the Gibeonites. And they now come with their cause before David because it's revealed to David that it's because of Saul's action toward the Gibeonites that this famine has come upon them for so long a time. And he asks the Gibeonites what they want. And they said, oh, very much, I suppose, like Shylock would say, that he didn't require silver or gold, perhaps, from them, but they would have seven of the sons of Saul. That is, descendants of Saul, executed. And David does it. He spares the son of Jonathan for the old covenant's sake. He takes four or five of the sons, it says, of Michael, and the margin says probably of Merab, the first daughter of Saul, and two others, and they're hanged up over a pool at Hebron. And the wrath of God is assuaged. But there is a woman there who watches day and night and allows no birds to light upon the carcasses as they hang at the pool of Hebron, a woman called Rispa, one of Saul's, I think, concubines. In her faithfulness, she's there watching day and night that neither beast by night nor bird by day should alight upon these bodies. And in her faithfulness for Saul and for his descendants, she reaches the hearts of some of the people of David, and they pass on the message to David himself. And David is touched by her affection to seven dead men and to Saul, with whom she had, for a time, had company. And he's moved to such an extent that he sends a message right over to Jabesh-Gilead. Do you remember where Jabesh-Gilead is? On this side, Jordan, the east side, Jordan, well up towards Mahaneum, Jabesh-Gilead, where they buried the bones of Saul and his sons in battle, you remember. And he sends for these very bones, and they're brought down from Jabesh-Gilead. And together with the bones of these men who've been hanged, they're taken and they're given a respectable burial by the authority of David. And thus is the watchfulness of Rispa rewarded. I think the one thing that touches David all his life is allegiance, the love of one person for another. He'd received it from Jonathan, and he would show it throughout his life. Loving allegiance. And of course, that's what our Lord Jesus Christ, brethren and sisters, requires of us. God willing, tonight, for a few moments, we should be together and complete these thoughts of David, and I think come with David, at least in spirit, to the temple of God. Now, shall we conclude by singing something which would comfort David? And that's Psalm 49. All they who in the Lord confide shall as Mount Zion be. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. All they who in the Lord confide shall as Mount Zion be. Shall as Mount Zion be. of life to the whole eternity. And now the time has come for us to rest. Let's go to find our dear city. Let's go to find our dear city. Let's go to find our dear city. Go down the long, internal path and hold me in its hand. Through love, through honor, through love, through love, there comes his name. Through love, through honor, through love, through love, there comes his name.

Transcript

This is the voice of Wilbraham. In August 1961, Brother Harry Tennant of Dundee, Scotland, chose as his subject, David, the shepherd king. We take pleasure now in presenting Brother Tennant in the last of seven class sessions. We have travelled a long way with David, from those hills of Bethlehem with those few sheep and the many stars, through the ringing of the harp in the presence of the Lord and of Saul, through the outlawry of this man who was hunted like a partridge on the mountains, but the Lord was with him and he was not taken, through the great downfall of Saul the king and of the righteous Jonathan who died at his side, until the arising of the kingdom of David in all its glory, to be marred at the very pinnacle by the sin of David himself, through the breaking of this man and his restoration, wherein the Lord removed his transgressions from him as far as the east is from the west, and had certainly not dealt with David according to his iniquities, for like as a father David pitted his children, so the Lord had mercy on him that feared him. And after his expulsion from Jerusalem and his triumphant return and the quelling of those northern rebels, so the kingdom of David is established. In the record in Samuel there comes there the great psalm of deliverance. In actual fact I think it was probably written at an earlier time, but there is one phrase from that psalm that I'd like us to take to our own lives, and it is this. David says concerning the work that God had done for him and in him and by him, just this, and shall we take it home in our notes, thy gentleness hath made me great. What a wonderful expression from the heart of David, and that is the wonder of the heart of David, brethren and sisters. He perceived where men didn't see. He looked because God had said that this is a man after mine own heart. He looked into the very heart of God himself as it were with no irreverence, but with an understanding of that which underlay all the law of Moses in which he meditated day and night. And he saw the hand of God with him and by him and under him and above him and about him throughout all his life. Until he was able to say, thy gentleness hath made me great. And may it be that we too, brethren and sisters, in that day, when the Lord himself shall be revealed from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God, in all the welter of confusion in which the world will find itself, be able to hear the still small voice of gentleness and to receive that blessing that the gentleness of God in Jesus hath made us great. In 2 Samuel chapter 23, after that psalm, we have the last words of David the King. They're words that speak of inspiration, teach us somewhat of the working of the inspiration of God by his spirit in David, working as it had done earlier on in the book of Numbers in chapter 23, chapter 24, wherein Baelam received the Spirit of God, although he was not worthy to bear it. Of David we read, now these be the last words of David. David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel said, The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his word was in my tongue. The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God, and he shall be as the light of the morning when the sun rises, even a morning without clouds, as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain. Although my house be not so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure, for this is all my salvation and all my desire, although he make it not to grow. But the sons of Belial shall be all of them as thorns, thrust away, because they cannot be taken with hands. But the man that shall touch them must be fenced with iron and the staff of a spear, and they shall be utterly burned with fire in the same place. And so woven in this psalm of David is the confession that I am no better than my father, that the work of this salvation is not to be worked out by David or by Solomon, but the growth of this very kingdom of which he spoke here was yet ahead. And although he could not see the springing out of the root of Jesse, which would come as out of a dry ground after a long time, when there had been no rain as it were, then would come forth the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet David had this absolute confidence, that God has made with me an everlasting covenant. The last words of David, with one foot already in his sepulcher. The covenant was to bring him out, and of that he was sure. And in some way he knew that there had to be a battle at some time between the sons of Belial, between the thorns that fill the earth. And although here it's expressed in language strange for us to try to understand, yet he knew that the man who must put down all these things must be strangely armed and powerful, as though it should be a man with iron on the staff of a spear. And that in the place where he would put them down, and where he himself, if you read elsewhere, would be wounded, they themselves would be burned with fire in the very same place of strange intermingling the prophecy of the sacrifice and work of Jesus, and of the final battle and the valley of Tophet and the son of Hinnom, where the fire cannot be quenched and the thorns should be burned up and their smoke should ascend forever and ever. For these are the thoughts that were in the mind of David constantly. And although events moved about him, yet this is what he carried in his heart. He has, however, as with all of us, and isn't this one of the lamentable things about human nature? At the very height of moments of spirituality, don't we dash to the ground sometimes the precious things that God has given us? And we find ourselves slipping down, down into the valley of despair. Is that not true? Is that not the very thing of which some of us are afraid for next week? That though this week we have been with God, as it were, even in his temple to praise him and to stand with all the saints, all people that on earth do dwell, that next week we shall be alone and we shall slide down and down into the darkness. Well, we have fellowship with many who have gone before, for this was too the experience of David and has been the experience of the saints in all ages. Only Christ managed when these troughs of depression came to master them by the very purity of his mind. David, now with his kingdom re-established, with the enemies quelled, decides to number the people. To number them? Even Joab said, let this people be a hundred times more than they are now, but don't count them. Even he seemed to see that behind this counting of David there was something that was fighting proper. What was there wrong? There was something wrong with Israel. What it was, we're not told. But it says that the numbering sprang out of the fact that already there was in Israel something that moved the Lord to anger. Was it the fact that this nation had rebelled against the anointed David in large part under Absalom? Was that the reason? And that still in their hearts some of the Benjamites and others were not fully accepting David. Was that the reason? We're not able to say. But there was something in this people that moved the Lord. And although David himself commits an error of judgment in numbering them, the two things work together that God might bring out of this incident the working of his purpose. And so David prevails upon Joab to go and number the people. And he sets out southeastward from Jerusalem and begins and goes anti-clockwise right round numbering the people. Now this wasn't just the kind of numbering which was permitted under the law of Moses which should be carried out properly by the appointed elders and by the priest and by the payment of the half shekel of redemption money that every one of the Israelites might feel himself bounden to God and to offer accordingly. It wasn't that kind of numbering, I feel sure. In fact the way in which this numbering moved through Tyre and Sidon and the land of the Hivites and so on seems to indicate that perhaps the numbering included people beyond the men of Israel and the men of Judah although they alone are given in the total numbers. But it did go into those coasts of strange land in this numbering. But Joab never completed it. The Levites were not included and part of Benjamin was not included. And they returned and by that time David had thought better of it. I have sinned before the Lord and done foolishly, he said. Perhaps he felt in pride that he ought to count them as the stars of heaven or as the sand upon the sea shore. And so the work of God in punishing the people for that which they had committed earlier and the folly of David himself in seeking a numbering had now come to a climax and Gad the seer comes from the presence of God. Not the priest again, notice. Notice it is quite consistent. The new revelation comes constantly from the prophets. This links up with our thoughts concerning the Roman Catholic Church that we have discussed during the week and any other body. It's not the priesthood that is the origin of the Word of God. It's always the prophets. Occasionally priests are prophets as well. But generally speaking it is the prophets who deliver the new Word of God and the priests keep it. And so here Gad the seer comes and David tries to withhold the wrath of God or to direct it all upon himself as did men earlier and as men later would do. But the Lord will have none of that. For though David has sinned, the people also must bear their sins. Perhaps they had forgotten to pay the half shekel but I don't think that is the root cause of all this trouble. There was some sin in the people that the Lord wished to remove and so he holds out to David the offer of free punishment. Already there had been some punishment upon the people during the numbering. I think the Lord was already moving amongst them. But the dire consequences were yet to come. David, would you like three years famine? One of the records says seven. We'll take the lesser number. Would you like three years famine? Or would you like your enemies to pursue you for three months? Or would you like the destructive pestilence of God to stream through Israel like a burning fire for three days? David, which would you like? And in the outworking of this choice the mind of David is seen right away. Oh, don't let me fall into the hands of men. He's had enough of men but let me fall into the hands of the Lord for he is merciful. And so they began to run the pestilence through Israel until 70,000 of Israel were slain by the pestilence from the God of Israel. David is much distraught by the punishment of these shekels. What have they done, he says, these shekels? And finally, David is given a vision. The angel has now reached Jerusalem itself and David sees the angel of God between heaven and earth with a sword in its hand. The sword shall not depart from thy family, David. No, not even the sword of the Lord was to depart from him. But this was to be the moment when the pestilence was to be stayed and the sword was to be between heaven and earth and not to fall upon this city of Jerusalem. And so David wishes to buy this place and that by command to establish an altar for the Lord that here upon this very spot there might be offered sacrifices to God. He wishes to buy the threshing floor where the plague has been stayed and very mercifully God reveals to the very man who owns it the angel. The angel is revealed to a raun of the Jebusites who owns this very place. When he sees the angel, he and his four sons hide themselves in fear. But he sells the oxen, the instrument and the place. There are two accounts and two different amounts of money but I think the two can be reconciled by having a look at the articles which are included in each bargain of sale. We need not hesitate for that, however, because there was something very wonderful about this spot. This wasn't the first time that the sword had been stopped between heaven and earth on this very spot. This was the very place where there had been the voice of an angel before saying, Abraham, Abraham, such not the lad. This was the Moriah. This was the place that we could see in a moment or two's time as we proceed. Is there any same spot between heaven and earth? Yes, and surely, brethren and sisters, it was a spot where the sword of the Lord would be poised and that eternally between heaven and earth in the Lord Jesus Christ, the place in which he was to be offered the sword of the Lord which fixed heaven and earth hung upon his cross. The word of the Lord is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. And if any man will approach that spot to see where the plague would stay and the sacrifice that was made in the great threshing floor where one man thrashed the corn for all humanity, just the one corn of wheat that fell into the ground and died. If any man will come to that spot, then he'll be touched by that sword, inwardly seeking him out, dividing him, telling him all the intentions of his mind and heart. If there were a man were to reveal a sacrifice that could be offered upon the altar, so does God expose us in his own presence. And the plague is stayed in that spot, and it's going to be marked as hallowed from that time on. This is the house of the Lord. This is the altar of burnt offering for Israel, says David. But David's time is running out. He is the one that is to live just about the 70 years, 40 years as king, about seven and a half in Hebron, and the remaining time in Jerusalem. And now as the aged David, worn out by his wars and inner sorrows, is drawing near unto that time when he must sleep for sleep, until his greatest son shall awaken him and call unto him David. David and the sweet psalmist of Israel shall hear once again the Spirit of the Lord and shall come forth to sing praises with that great throng of people who will sound their hearts gladly in his presence and worship both him who was offered and he who gave him for the life of the world. And as his time is running out, so David's sons once again become faithless. A Donnager becomes faithless, the one after Absalom of the same family. He runs and makes himself king and draws unto himself a priest, a bierfer, and many of the people proclaims himself king. And so that into the presence of the dying David there is brought by Nathan the prophet at his express command seeking audience with the king Bathsheba. And as the king sees her, she calls her in to his bedside. And Bathsheba says, My Lord, the king, did you not promise that Solomon should be king after you? Why then is a Donnager king? At the very moment that she's speaking so, by design comes in Nathan the prophet to establish her word and she leaves the presence of the king as Nathan presents again the flea of Solomon and that this must be done speedily else will the kingdom be divided. And so it is that the king from this place of his final breathing breathes forth the command that Solomon should be made king. Bring forth the royal mule and set Solomon upon it. Send Zadok the priest with Nathan the prophet and let them anoint Solomon king after David. Bring forth Benaiah the strong man with all the lifeguards and let them stand round about him and let the faint echoes of God save the king for a Donnager fade away as the great proclamation from Jerusalem goes forth. God save the king and Solomon the peaceable because of the Lord you remember with the name given to him. His proclaimed king in the presence of all the people and the shouts and triumph and the sound of the trumpet penetrate into the place of feasting where a Donnager is with Joab who's made his fatal mistake. He switched his allegiance from David to a Donnager. He was a man of common sense and understanding. Someone said to me this morning he was a grim realist and so he was. But he made his mistake when he forsook David on his deathbed thinking that thereby he could secure his captaincy over the host for the next king but the Lord would not have it so. And so a Donnager's party breaks up and all the men with him go away in fear and disappear from his presence. The Donnager is spared for the time being and not put to death although Solomon has been given by David a commission concerning Joab, a Donnager, and Shimei. A Donnager later on by his own mistake will be put to death and perhaps I should make a comment here. Some have wondered why it is that he should be put to death just because he sought Abishag the Shunammite, that one maiden who was given to David on his deathbed to comfort him and to minister unto him. And the reason I think is this, that the one who possessed the concubines was king and if anyone took them over after him that meant that he also was king in succession. Now I can prove this quite simply because God said to David that he had given to him all that belonged unto Saul including his concubines. It was a mark of office and thus it was that to seek Abishag the Shunammite was a device to seek the kingship and Solomon knew it and for that reason the Donnager had to die. Later Shimei dies also, again by his own folly. He wouldn't stay in the city of refuge. Do we? Do we stay in Jerusalem? Or do we go out about our own business? Are we the citizens of Zion? Or do we go trading in Babylon too frequently? When the Lord returns, He'll find us missing, not in our office and our station. What is our choice? Of which city are we citizens? Where is our heart? Is it like Shimei living in Jerusalem but wanting to chase his servants outside? Is our better interest outside? Our deeper interest? God forbid, brethren and sisters, surely we've had sufficient lessons through this history of David. No, this life of David, this moving, colorful life of David, we've had sufficient lessons to avoid all the follies of men like Joab Absalom, of men like Amnon, of men like Shimei, of men like Joab who can attain station and not righteousness. Have we not learned our lessons? And shall we not now, finally, as we come to this great changeover from David, not yet dead, to Solomon, not yet fully established as king, ourselves, see in this the final lesson? For there is one unique feature about the life of David that now is to be implanted upon our minds and that indelibly we hope. And that is that that single heart that first sounded in Bethlehem was to be multiplied in great strings and orchestras and choirs in the temple of God. And the orders of worship were to be arranged by David, and he did it. He not only cemented a whole nation together in wonderful statesman-like government, but he also knew what it was to worship God. Indeed, that was the fount from which everything else sprang day in and day out. That was the source of all the music of his life. And so, though he wishes to build the temple, the Lord forbids it. You're a man of blood, and David echoes, that I am a man of blood, not just a man of wars, but a man of blood, of Uriah upon his hands. And he who comes will not be a man of other people's blood, the one to build the temple. He'll be a man who by his own blood will be both the temple and the building for all others to enter into. He'll be the cornerstone and the headstone by which all of us will shout in God's grace one day, grace, grace unto it. And that temple was revealed. The first temple by Solomon, a picture of that to come, was revealed unto David in his mind by the Spirit of God. And I'd like us to look finally as we come to the end of his life at just two or three points regarding this. We go now to the first book of Chronicles and chapter 28. First book of Chronicles, chapter 28, the Great Assembly. It is possible that this was before this time. Indeed, it must have been. But the chronicler saw fit to put it here, because it is that which reaches over into the life for Solomon. Verse 1, And David assembled all the princes of Israel, the princes of the tribes, and the captains of the companies that ministered to the king by course, and the captains over thousands, and the captains over hundreds, and the stewards over all the substance and possession of the king and of his sons, with the officers and with the mighty men, and with all the valiant men unto Jerusalem. Then David the king stood up upon his feet and said, Hear me, my subjects, hear me, my brethren, and my people. Why? He'd learned a lesson, brethren and sisters, right from the beginning, a lesson that is implicit in 2 Samuel 7, namely that the one who rules must lead the sheep. Feed my sheep was a command given to David, and he did it. And now he says, It was in mine heart to build an house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and for the footstool of our God, and had made ready for the building. But God said unto me, Thou shalt not build an house for my name, because I has been a man of war and has shed blood. And having made his confession, he then proceeds throughout these chapters to get ready for the temple. He didn't withhold his service, brethren, sisters. Although he was not allowed to build, he prepared as far as he could by giving of his substance unto that temple. Now I'd like us to notice this. Sometimes we lament our talents, and by lamenting the talents we haven't got, we don't use the ones we have. By lamenting the time we haven't got, we don't use the time that is ours. Because we can't perform one service, we withhold another. But not so David. Even as with a rawn of the Jebusite, when he said to David, Take it. He'd seen an angel and was afraid. He said, Take it, you can have it. David said, No, I'll buy it. He said, Can I give unto the Lord that which hath cost me nothing? What's it worth to God that it's nothing to me? And so it was that he knew that to give to God meant to give of himself. And so he prepares abundantly for Solomon and hands it over to him, and gives Solomon the command as to how he should behave, a command which I'd like us to look at in two verses. One from verse 18, which perhaps we can take away from Wilbraham with us, having followed David through his life. O Lord God of Abraham. First Chronicles 29 and verse 18. O Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel our fathers, keep this forever in the imagination of the thoughts, of the heart, of thy people. Keep it alive. Let it be that which comes in pictures to our minds, that our thoughts might dwell upon it, that our hearts might be given unto it, and give unto us thy sons a perfect heart to keep thy commandments, thy testimonies, and thy statutes, and to do all these things, and to build for the Lord our God the palace for which we have made provision. May that be our lot, brethren and sisters, as David gives to us this word of exhortation. And to you young men, the young men of Wilbraham, whose springing up is a delight to all the brethren, take courage from the counsel given by David to Solomon, and take it unto your own heart. Be established by the commands of God and by His ways and by nothing else, neither by your own prowess nor by anything that you can achieve without God, but only by those things which come by His counsels and by walking before the Lord in an acceptable manner. And shall we then, as it were, come up to David's temple in his mind and see it as built by Solomon and listen to the echo of the great blessing. Blessed be thou, Lord God of Israel, our Father, for ever and ever. Shall we just have a short prayer, brethren and sisters? For thy great goodness, O Lord, in granting us to know David thy servant, we give thee thanks. For the power and wonder of thy word of truth, and for the beauty of that which is remained of him in those psalms, we give thee thanks. And for Jesus, born in the city of David, we give thee thanks. And pray that he who has the key of David may open unto us the gates of the everlasting city, that we with him, with David, and with hearts of gladness, might enter in to give praise unto thee, the King of glory, in Jesus' name. Amen.