God Comes to Laban in the dream and says, Don't you dare. And so he catches up and he's got a Hold it, restrain himself.
Well, when Jacob leaves theirs, before he wrestles, he doesn't yet wrestle with the angel of the Lord, but. As he's traveling, he encounters angels. The angels met him. I don't mean they kim. Hi, Jacob.
I'm Angel so-and-so. Nice to meet you. Not that kind, but he was very much. He touched another dimension spiritually. He knew the angels were there.
This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher, Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of 2 Samuel. Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically, how you can get a free copy of this teaching. And now, here's Pastor Rick with today's edition of Cross-Reference Radio teaching in 2 Samuel 2.
First floor. Then the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. And they told David, saying, The men of Jabesh-Gilead were the ones who buried Saul.
So he knows Saul has been killed. that Amalekite informed him But he doesn't know any more details than that. He gets to Judah, and of course, they're sitting around getting plugging in. He's told, by the way, the men of Jabesh Gilead, they retrieved the body of Saul. He may have asked, whatever happened to Saul's body?
Was it properly handled? And so the men of Judah came and they anointed David king over the house of Judah.
Now he is. being anointed a second time, it is a confirmation of the first anointing years ago. Uh by Samuel And Men are not to really w w would we technically do not anoint, we recognize the anointing. Samuel Did not. Technically, in this sense, anoint David.
He obeyed God. God told him to anoint, it was God's anointing. Samuel just carried it out. You know, there are people who they can say, Hey, anoint me. Say, no way.
You know, Simon Magnus, give me this power that he said to Peter. And Peter said, You poison with bitterness and bound in iniquity. He just launched on him. Yet, there are others that are certainly to be. Recognized as having a calling on them to a greater or a closer work with God.
And this is the case with David, the men of Judah, saying, We recognize what Samuel did. Samuel wasn't from Judah, he was. A Levite. But he anointed David, and so now begins another phase towards the fulfillment. I I would like the whole thing right away.
I mean, how would you like your paycheck? In sections, you know, or the whole thing.
Well, if God is the one that is God, and He is, then you take it as He decides. This is still the making of a man of God. That ought to cause all of us to pay closer attention because there is the making of us as a child of God. It doesn't stop. David is being fitted for a greater work.
And by the time he becomes king of the whole nation, He will end up becoming Israel's greatest king. And now he's just a tribal king. albeit the largest of the tribes, he will eventually have all of the nation under him.
So this was only a partial victory. no longer hounded by Saul, living outside of the promised land, but Now king over uh at least his people. Oh, the men of Jabesh Gilead Jabesh Gilead was on the east side of Jordan. where the two and a half tribes were content to Settle when Joshua brought them into the land.
Well, actually, they settled there when Moses was still leading them. And they risked their lives to retrieve the body of Saul and Jonathan. And David is moved by that. Verse 2, verse 5.
So David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh Gilead. And said to them, You are blessed of Yahweh, for you have shown this kindness To your Lord, to Saul. and have buried him.
Now They're not going to side with David. They're loyal to Saul and his. descendants. They're they're not going to move, but they're not going to They don't appear to react either against David. We won't read of them much.
But going back to the book of Judges, remember the Benjamites committed that horrific crime, and all the tribes gathered and fought them. And then, after defeating them, they said, Okay, was anybody called to the battle that didn't show up? And well, Jabesh-Gilead did not show up, and they had. 600 survivors from Benjamin with no lives now because they wiped everybody out. And they were determined to give them six hundred wives, but they took an oath.
None of our daughters will be given to them.
So they had to start coming up with a plan. And part of the plan was: well, did anybody not go with us to make the oath?
Well, Jabesh Gilead did not. And Jabez-Gilead were from Manasseh, incidentally.
So they, of course, wipe out the men at Jabesh-Gilead and the children and the Women, except the virgins, who had a different garb, dress, you could identify them. And they took them and gave them to the survivors of Benjamin. They were still 200 short, and that's when they you know, if you see the wen when the women come out to dance, you just clobber one and she's your wife. You drag her home. Cavemanish like, but that's A little embellished, but technically, without the clobbering in the head, that's what happened.
It's just kind of a blend of the caveman, because it was the goofiest thing. It's so goofy. But some men would kind of like to have that system today. You go to the mall, you say, I like her and you just take her home. It could be a lot of problems that way.
Anyhow. The reason why I bring all this up also is because Here's Sebesh Gilead. How did they get more men back? It were wiped out.
Well, they're part of Manasseh.
So, Manasseh is a large tribe. They just send men, hey, the city's not burned down, or if even if it is a good piece of land. Go there.
So they resettled it. It's the only answer that I think works. That's my answer, and I like it.
So It's not an important one unless you. I get stumped. I have to try to answer these. It has to fit. That fits.
Well, not that I lost any sleep over that one, but I did spend some time in my days thinking about it. Verse 6. And now many Pardon me, and now may Yahweh show kindness and truth to you. I also will repay you this kindness because you have done this thing.
Well he's king now in Judah and he's behaving like a statesman. He probably knows they're not going to come and say, David, you're king over us too. That would be tall order. Just where they're located, it's too far from Judah. But he says here, kindness and truth, he puts them together.
If we had a nickel for every time we came across a Christian who thought they had truth but had no kindness and were very content with that. We'd probably be rich. It's sad that the blend is neglected. We have no right to only be kind to people that might be able to do something for us. People in leadership learn in time that there are those that Behave very nicely around them, and then when they're off with the others, they're not so nice.
It's a very sad thing when someone leaves the church and others come up and say, Boy, the whole time they were there, let me tell you what they were doing. It wasn't anything, you know, robbing or anything. Blatant But they're just mean. or snarky or something. Anyhow, we can't sweep these things under the rug because then you just trip over them later.
It's best to at least know where the lumps are and avoid them. And say, Lord, may it not be me. May this word that comes from your anointed king, kindness and truth. Have some value in how I behave all the days of my life. Verse 7: Now, therefore, let your hands be strengthened and be valent, for your master Saul is dead, and also the house of Judah has anointed me king over them.
And of course they're reading this and they say, yeah, yeah, that's all good for you. But he's not making any attempt to force them or to convince them. They will, in fact, Jabesh Gilead will become the headquarters of Ish-Bosheth, Saul's. surviving son Once he becomes king, five years after the events that we're looking at here. Verse 8, but Abner, the son of Ner, It's like they didn't complete his name.
Ner what? Finish. It can't be his name. Mahabna, the son of Ner. commander of Saul's army took Ishberseth the son of Saul, and brought him over to Mahanaim.
Abner, we've met him before. He was Saul's military commander and a cousin of Saul. Incidentally. And he initially is rejecting David's claim to the throne. But he will come around.
We have a lot to talk about him for a while. But just because Saul was out of the way does not mean that things just fell into place for David or for Saul's surviving son Ish-bosheth. The son of Saul. He survived. Evidently, he wasn't at the battle, at least, not that the battle of Gilboa.
Maybe one of the off-side battles, he's old enough. Maybe Saul Was wise and said, Well, you stay back just.
Well, he knew, Saul knew he was going to die, and maybe he left him behind to say, You know, so my seed will survive and to take the throne. Whatever the case may be. He is alive and he is in line for the throne. And Abner takes five years to Crown him king over the northern tribes. Why is that?
I think Abner is just like: the boy is dumb. And I'm not going to give it to him yet. He's got to be worked on. I think some of that may have been taking place.
Some of the commentators like to say, well, they were busy fighting the Philistines.
Well, what would that have to do with making him king? All the more reason to make him king. You need a king.
So, anyway, I think Abner was enjoying being in charge, and I think he got a little tired of it after a while. And uh that's when he's going to give it up to Ishbosheth. Mahanaim. This is an interesting place in scriptures, the capital in Gilead. And it is Jacob who na gave it this name.
Jacob, of course, departs from Laban. the scoundrel, one of the mighty scoundrels of the Bible. Not as bad as Amnon, but still a scoundrel. And they Laban catches up to him with intent to harm him physically. to kill him and and take his children and his grandchildren back to him in Syria.
Well, God Comes to Laban in a dream and says, Don't you dare. And so he catches up and he's got a Hold it, restrain himself.
Well, when Jacob leaves there, this is before he wrestles. He doesn't yet wrestle with the angel of the Lord, but. As he's traveling, he encounters angels. The angels met him. I don't mean they kim.
Hi, Jacob. I'm Angel so-and-so. Nice to meet you. Not that kind. But he was very much.
He touched another dimension spiritually. He knew the angels were there. And we pick it up in Genesis chapter 32. In verse One.
So Jacob went on his way And the angels of God met him. When Jacob saw them, he said, This is God's camp. It's a double camp. He's referring to the spiritual realm and the physical realm. There's a double dimension there.
and he called the name of the place Mahanaim. That The presence of the angels. We don't have any dialogue. We have nothing more than that. He saw the angels.
Their presence, just that he saw them, contained a message all by itself. The message is that God is with you. He knew that. Esau would have just said, Hey, have you seen any deer in this area? I mean, that would have been Esau.
It would have just missed the whole spiritual. Uh idea behind everything. And There is no greater feeling For a believer than to know God is with you When there's trouble around. I mean, we know God is with us. We were just singing Forever God is faithful.
You know, God is with us. But to know he's with us when we are in trouble of some sort. No greater feeling. facing shipwreck because of others. You know, the pilot and the captain, we don't listen to Saul.
We're going to go forward and sail. And the south wind blew, and then all of a sudden, it was a storm. Acts chapter 23. But the following night, The Lord stood by him. That's Paul.
And said, Be of good cheer, Paul, for as you have testified for me in Jerusalem, you must also bear witness in Rome. You will get to Rome.
So, that great assurance Paul had that God is with him. He still had to suffer shipwreck, though, and that was pretty scary. Uh Facing death later. He wrote to Timothy But the Lord stood with me. When everyone else forsook, didn't want to have anything to do with Paul.
You know, don't get close to that guy. The Romans will already pick you up. You know, they'll check your. They come after you. They abandoned him.
But he says, The Lord stood with me and strengthened me.
so that the message might be preached fully through me, And that all Gentiles might hear, also, I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. Just like Daniel. Daniel has your God delivered you. Here I am. And Daniel was a little chatty after that.
If you read that segment, he's really talking a lot for somebody that just still standing around these lions. They might strike up an appetite. Anyhow. Uh this section in Timothy where He says, The Lord stood with me. He connects all of his hardship.
to preaching the gospel. He doesn't say, the Lord stood with me. I really wanted that job. God does that. The Lord stood with me, and I really was going through some sickness or legal male, whatever it is, God does that.
I'm not taking away from that. But I do want to inflate In our view, for us, that the sufferings of Paul were never in his own interest. I don't mean that to say that ours are therefore selfish. I'm just saying he suffered for the kingdom. Remember that the next time you feel in a mood and you don't want to serve.
You tired? Is no excuse? Get to work. That's the idea behind it. Are there times that I want to go play?
I want to go do something and I can't. Because I've got twenty verses to go through still. And it's going to it's going to burn up all the daylight into the evening. And I think it's 100% worth it.
Now, I don't know if the others do. I say, you know, no hand, don't need any help there, because I'm going to, whether you do or not, I've still got my job to do. I just have to try to do it better. Anyway, verse 9, and he made him king over Gilead, that's his Zishbosheth, Abner made him king, over Asherites. Over Jezreel, over Ephraim, over Benjamin, over all Israel.
Why didn't he just say all over all Israel? And we wouldn't have to read all this.
So, Gilead again is a central territory on the east of Jordan to the tribes that didn't want to come into the Promised Land. They wanted to settle outside, and God permitted it. The Asherites, it's a variant of the tribe of Asher, but it's including Nephtali is up that way, and Zebulun is up there, well, Jezreel. This all connected Asher, Zebulun, Manasseh, Ishkar. They're there.
And then he mentions Ephraim and Benjamin, and then he says the rest.
So Gad and For instance, Dan might have said, hey, how come we didn't get any Mansion, shout out.
So his power is sure to the north and east of the Jordan, but He's not qualified. It won't work well for him. Verse 10. He will survive this chapter, but not the next one. Ishbosheth Saul's son was 40 years old when he began to reign over Israel, and he reigned two years.
Only the house of Judah followed David.
So if he was 40, he was 35 when Saul died. And Was five years' delay before he was anointed. That would tell us that Jonathan was substantially older than David. Jonathan may have been 35, and David, you know, in his 20s, very late teens, when they bonded together. David was probably about 16 when he slew Goliath.
He could have been younger. But Likely around 16. Anyway, interesting little things that come off the pages to kind of put together, and they're really hard. to button down. Many times.
Verse 10: Ishbosheth Saul's son was 40 years old when he began. I did, I read that, didn't I? And where's the Samuel of the north? At least David has Abiathar. But there's nothing righteous mentioned about the North.
Well, this will be a characteristic that follows it until its collapse. when the Assyrians come and Uh just take them all away. He's going to be a puppet king. Abner's going to call the shots. He's going to insult Abner at one point.
You make a charge against Abner, and Abner's going to, that's it, I'm out of here. But Joab will, you know, ten-tan, drama music, Joab. Uh Anyway, verse 11. And the time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.
Well remember two years for Ishbosheth. It's in the Latter part of that seven and a half year period for David. Davis will probably be about 28 when he comes to power, when Ishbosheth comes into power. Not counting the months. It's probably closer to 29.
But anyway, verse 12.
Now Abner, the son of Nur. And the servants of Ishbosheth, the son of Saul, went out from Mahanaim to Gibeon. They're going out for battle, not negotiations. There's not Uh just a platoon of men. Because we know over 300 get killed.
Just from this This side just from Abner's men.
So it's a sizable force. Verse 13. And Joab the son of Zariah, And the servants of David went out and met them by the pool of Gibeon.
So they sat down, one on one side of the pool. And the other on the other side of the pool. Nothing about that thirteenth verse. should be dismissed. Critical to the story.
Why are one side on one side of the pool and the other ones? Because if they get in striking distance, somebody's going to try to kill somebody. Joab is here. And what we know of him, if he gets the shot, he's taking it. There's nothing fair about him.
He never misses a chance to stab someone to death. And He will he will stab Abner to death, Amesa to death, and Absalom.
Something about the letter A at the first part of your name just didn't bother this guy. And he kills him up close. He's looking right in their eyes when he kills them. He is a brute. This is the first mention of him.
He's mentioned in 1 Samuel, but it's not part of the narrative. It's, oh, by the way, Joab was.
Now he's in the story. And he's going to stay in the story until Solomon has him killed. David from his deathbed is going to say, You need to kill that guy. David could not. It would not have been good for the kingdom, but Solomon could.
It was good for the kingdom. But he was. He was a great man. But he was a bad man. The two are not the same.
You can be great and good, you can be great and bad. He was great on the battlefield in that sense. That's the extent of his greatness. At one point, he and his brother get surrounded, and Joab just ups his game.
Okay, you do this, Abrashi, and I'll do this, and we'll beat these boys back, and that's what they did. Uh he was loyal to David. Uh till after when Solomon was coming up. And then that was his fate. Anyway.
He's David's nephew. He will become David's military commander. He's already a commander. And verse 14, Just pause. Just remember that part.
They're on the opposite side of the pool. Abner knows he better not get close to Joe Abner. If anybody is the statesman, it's Abner, not Joab. And uh when Abner does get close to Joab, He dies. In chapter three.
Verse 14. Then Abner said to Joab, Let the young men now arise and compete before us. And Joab said, Let them arise. At this point, the smart button in the brains of these two middle-aged men. was turned to off.
They have both become Blazing idiots, and you we'll see why. If you don't know the story. And it is difficult to to know Uh exactly why did they have this duel? Was it a sporting event to kind of just show off, or were they trying to say, okay, the champion wins, and whatever kingdom loses becomes? joins the other one.
It's not explicitly said. Because it ends is such a disaster of fools. That's why I bring it up. Whatever it was, by their standard and by our standard today, it was a failure. And so we've talked about the kings, and now we have the fools.
Uh I don't think Abner was a fool all the time. But he is today. Verse 15.
So they arose and went over By number, twelve from Benjamin, followers of Ishbosheth, the son of Saul, and twelve from the servants of David. Joab is never too far away from where the blood is going to be. He is a genuine land shark. You're just the guy that you don't want to be around. At growing up My brother had a friend, Aaron.
He was a tough dude. My brother wasn't, but he liked my brother, so my brother was always safe if Aaron was around. But he He was tough. Anyway. I'm glad he liked me too.
He he was a Joab of the neighborhood. I think he died a violent death, if I remember. Verse 16. And each one grasped his opponent by the beard and thrust his sword into his opponent's side.
So they fell down together. Therefore the place was called a field of sharp swords. Which is in Gibeon. What? Simultaneously, 24 men grab each other's beard and kill each other.
That who planned this? Who that had to the Hebrew word come down?
Okay.
Now the Hebrew word for sword is broad. It can mean a sword, which it mostly does, or it can mean a dagger. In this case, evidently a long dagger. Because they grabbed each other's beard. I mean, if you had swords, you just hacked the guy's arm off when he's trying to grab your beard.
They had to get close enough to dagger each other. Or they were dumb. Yeah. Uh This has been the latest edition of Cross Reference Radio. Pastor Rick Gaston is teaching through the book of 2 Samuel, which details the reign of David as king of Israel.
There are so many life lessons to be learned during these years of David's life. We're glad you've tuned in to hear more from God's Word. This radio ministry comes to you from Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville, in Mechanicsville, Virginia. If you're interested in accessing more messages just like this one, you can listen online or download these messages at crossreferenceradio.com. You can also subscribe to our podcast by going to your favorite podcast app.
We can't wait for you to step into the next teaching that Pastor Rick has for us.
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