Them it would have been humiliating. David, of course, being on the right side, they on the wrong. But they admit that they knew what God's will was and that they did not participate and bringing his will about. We have again Professed Christians who do the same thing. They know what they're supposed to do with church, for example, and they don't.
It's a difference between struggling with something and just opting out.
Now they have nowhere else to go. Uh 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. But for now, let's join Pastor Rick in the book of 2 Samuel 4 with today's edition of Cross-Reference Radio. Time is coming. of these days when the church won't be able to meet like we're meeting. All friendly and everything.
Anytime we want to see. Satan will outlaw the church.
So. 2 Samuel chapter 4. Is it worth it? Is all this Bible study worth it? It depends on what you do with it.
David said he prepared with all of his might for the house of God, and hopefully we're preparing with all our might to stand in front of God. David rules the kingdom. Chapter four, Second Samuel When Saul's son heard that Abner had died in Hebron, he lost heart, and all Israel was troubled with him. As we remember, Joab assassinated Abner, and now the news gets to the Northern Kingdom, where Abner was, of course, the leader, really. The king was really more of a figurehead.
Anyway. He is afraid now, the king Ishbosheth. Saul's son heard, that's Ishposheth the king. And fear came easy to Ishbosheth, as it came easy to his father before him. If it comes easy to us, we have to resist it, cannot give in, it will just trample us.
And he just didn't have what it took to rule. Ishbosheth did not. Abner being dead, Ishbosheth knew that he could not retain power. What if Judah decided to Take over the north. He was not king enough to stop it.
What if the Philistines decided to invade the land? Without Abner, what was going to happen? Verse 2.
Now Saul's son had two men who were captains of troops. The name of one was Baanna, and the name of the other, Rechab. the sons of Rimon, the Birothite of the children of Benjamin. Or be a Roth. Also, was part of Benjamin because The Beerothites fled to Gitaum.
and have been sojourners there until this day. Biroth belonged to the Gibeonites. The Gibeonites were not Jews, they were the ones that tricked Joshua by saying, you know, we're not in the promised land, so, you know, don't harm us. And look at our bread. It is moldy and our shoes are worn out.
We've been traveling around looking for a home. And Joshua ends up making a treaty with them, and the great lesson is: lean not on your own understanding, but on all your ways, acknowledge the Lord. And, you know, the people were pretty hot against Joshua. For that. Anyway, they stayed in the land.
And Joshua said, Then you're going to chop wood and fetch water for our needs, which they did do. But Saul hated them. And persecuted them, and they probably, because Beeroth was. In that Gibeonite region, they probably fled to Getaim, and then Benjamites, those of Saul's tribe, took over that city. And so it's just sort of a mention of.
of some of the junk left over by By Saul. Rubbish left by Saul. I don't want to be that one man in life where I just leave a trail of Trouble for everybody else except Satan. Verse four. Jonathan, Saul's son, had a son who was lame in his feet.
He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel, and his nurse took him up and fled. And it happened as she made haste to flee that she fell and he became lame. His name was Mephibosheth. Apparently, the chronicler is inserting this to say. after Ishbosheth the present king, who was afraid now that Abnum was dead, There was really no one left in Saul's house that could take the throne.
Jonathan's son, Jonathan was the crowned prince. He would have been next in line for the throne. He's dead. He died with Saul on Mount Gilboa. His son, Mephibosheth, Is a handicap.
He's somewhat of an invalid, and therefore. He's not fit for the throne.
So, this is leading up to David taking over the kingdom.
Now, this crippling injury was through the panic of a caretaker. And I have a file, you know, I have a file on everything. One for future sermons that I'd be led to is Victims of the Bible. And he is one of them. Here he is injured.
because of the panic of a caretaker. Later, he will be betrayed by a servant, and then David will give him a raw deal. and sort of just not side with him when he had every reason to side with him.
So we'll get to that much later. But he is introduced. He is now about twelve years old. We know that because the time stamp he was five when he was injured. And of course, it's been seven and a half years since Saul has had died because that's how long it took David to come to the throne.
He turns out to be a noble character. I'm looking forward to getting to that section of Scripture where we see his devotion to David, and unfortunately, David does not seem to have the same devotion in return. Though David takes care of Mephibosheth, he has a place at David's table forever. And so that's just a mention of him. We won't get him again for a while.
Verse 5: Then the sons of Ramon, the Berathite. Recap and the other guy, Baruna, set out and came at about the heat of the day to the house of Ishbosheth, Who was lying on his bed at noon?
Well, these are two brothers now, and they are going to be assassins. They think they're going to be helping themselves and the kingdom and David, and their miscalculation will cost them a gruesome death. All the viable candidates. That would have been in opposition to David. They died violent deaths, not at the hands of David, Saul, Jonathan, Ishbosheth.
You know, they. They were all killed violently. David would take the throne, but David had nothing to do with it. He would have none of it. He disallowed any self-enrichment from the murder of others.
refusing to ascend to the throne through subterfuge. And it's just another noble characteristic about the man. But here it says that they set out and came at about the heat of the day to the house.
Now it's a siesta time. I think Spain still has siesta. When I was in the service in Spain, I really liked Spain. And they had these siesta, but you'd go out, you know, to the Town or places, and everything would be closed from one o'clock to, I don't know, whatever, three o'clock, whatever time it was. It would be a little frustrating until you understood, okay, they're going to be closed.
I'll eat on the ship and do other things, and then I'll hit it. But the heat of the day in Israel, I mean, even the guards were likely to say, you know, it's too hot. Let's just, everybody just take a nap. Rather than have another dumb holiday, I think. Coming up next is National Extension Corps Day.
And there's several others. But anyway, Instead of doing that, let's just have siesters. You know, every day at a certain time, everything stops and we all get to take a nap. blanket sales for adults would go up. I'm not getting mine.
But anyway, that's what's happening. They're all hot and no AC. Verse 4. And they came there all the way into the house as though to get wheat. And they stabbed him in the stomach.
Then recap and Bauna. His brother escaped. For verse 7, when they came into the house, He was lying on his bed in his bedroom. Then they struck him and killed him, beheaded him, and took his head. and were all night escaping through the plain.
Gruesome guys. The murder was of course unjustified. No one asked them to do it. This shows you how. Far out there, they were, but you just come across people that have no understanding of what right and wrong is.
And it's just like it's very difficult. David had a lot of people like that in his life. Anyway, they escaped through the Jordan Valley, about a 60-mile trek from. Mahanaim, where they are to Hebron. They're on the east side of Jordan, where they committed the murder, and they're fleeing southwest to where David is.
This is the third of four beheadings in Samuel. There was Goliath. The Saul This is third, and there will be this troublemaker that they will throw his head over the wall to Joab, and Joab will say, Well, okay, let's leave now. We got what we wanted. It's still savage no matter what age you live in.
Today, it's proof of the death of someone. We have journalists to tell you. What's happening? But anyway.
Sorry, I shouldn't have mentioned that in here. Verse 8. And they brought the head to Ishbosheth of Ishbosheth.
Well, that would have been tricky. Yeah. Yeah. And they brought the head of Ish-Bosheth to David at Hebron. And said to the king, Here is the head of Ishbosheth, the son of Saul, your enemy.
Who sought your life? And Yahweh has avenged my lord the king this day, and Saul and his descendants.
Well, David's heard this before, and it didn't go good for the last guy that told him. But what makes people think that The king will approve of killers.
Well, that's what other kings did. But David's not like everybody else. He's a whole different character in many ways.
Some ways, of course, he's still a man and he's still a sinner, but he's a righteous man. And they Projected that if we would like something like this to happen for us, David will like something. And they never looked into anything else. How difficult. Anyway, Ishbosheth's head, we all told in verse 12, will be buried in the tomb of Abna.
And it's still gross, the whole thing. What what are you gonna do with it? Whatever happened on Goliath's head. Maybe he left it in Jabos, David did. But anyway, verse 9.
But David answered Rechab and Bauna his brother. The sons of Rimon, we have to be told this again. Evidently, the writer thinks we're not smart enough to remember. He's the same people a few lines up. Anyway, he said to them, David speaking to them, as Yahweh lives, who has redeemed my life.
from all adversity, when some one told me, saying, Look, Saul is dead, thinking to have brought good news, I arrested him and had him executed in Ziklag. The one who thought I would give him a reward for his news.
So David brings up. an event that happened about seven years ago. And these guys are going to suffer the same fate. David takes the opportunity to make it known that it is only Yahweh who delivered him from his enemies. He says, Who has redeemed my life from all adversity?
Well, there'd be a lot more in David's life coming, but not because of Yahweh. The hardest ones will be because of David himself.
So we are not to consent to evil so that good can come out of it. That is not how we do it. Mark's Gospel chapter 3, verse 23.
So he called them to himself and said to them in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan? The devil is not going to bring about good by doing devilish things. Peter writes this: not returning evil for evil, or reviling for reviling. I just broke this today. Driving a car, vehicles were involved.
I think we should just get rid of cars and just live close to the store. Yeah. It really was their fault. One was on a cell phone. I'm sorry, I'm just I'm in another place right now.
I told the Lord right out, you know it's not me. Yeah. Anyway. Not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing. We're supposed to be different.
But that guy was on the cell phone and he blamed me. Anyway. David How he handled Saul He taught us How to love your enemies. When he could have retaliated, he taught us about this not returning evil for evil. And I think there are great lessons in there too.
Think through as individuals. Verse 11: How much more when wicked men have killed a righteous person in his own house on his bed? Therefore shall I not now require this blood at your hand and remove you from the earth? I don't know if he was that poetic with it, but he's telling them they're going to die. And of course, he renders the judgment and the execution.
He calls Ishbosheth a righteous person because he didn't commit a deed worthy of this. Verse twelve So David commanded his young men, and they executed them cut off their hands and feet, and hanged them by the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ishbosheth and buried it in the tomb of Abner in Hebron.
So here's a message to everyone else that the king would not tolerate such assassinations. And David is drawing this from Deuteronomy twenty-one. This is a sight not to forget. Whether they're hanging from a rope or impaled, we don't have that information. Impaling was common.
But he put them by the pool. That was not a swimming pool, a pool for water, a well-like, where people traveled. There was a lot of traffic there.
So everybody got to see this. It was not, you know, go put it in the back of the building, in an alley somewhere. He does this where people are going to see it in Word. travel around. This ghastly sight.
And so that's the end of chapter four.
Now we can Close in prayer and go out and do stuff and get back here. We have a great opportunity. To go shopping or get a quick bite, and they'll be none the wiser if the ushers don't tell anything. Anyway, chapter five now. Hehehe Ha ha ha ha ha ha.
Okay. Verse 1. Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and spoke, saying, Indeed, we are your bone and your flesh.
So, okay, Ishbosheth is dead. They have no king. They have no candidate to replace David. And so they surrendered.
Okay, now is the time to make David the king. And they start by reminding David: hey, we're family. And the bonds that are supposed to exist. David is very gracious because he could really go off on these guys. He does not, he leaves that for us to do.
To say, are you kidding me? What people?
Well, I'm people too, and I'm a sinner too, and I goof up also.
So I don't feel too hard against these guys, but the fact remains, it's kind of lame what's going on here. Verse 2.
Also, in time past, when Saul was king over us, they're speaking to David, the tribal leaders, you were the one who led Israel out. And brought them in. And Yahweh said to you, You shall shepherd my people Israel and be ruler over Israel.
Well, of course, this is recorded in 1 Samuel 18, the part about David leading everybody out and coming back in. We'll take one. It's in 19, too. We have four times it's stated, but we'll just take one from 1 Samuel 18, verse 16. But all Israel and Judah loved David because he went out and came in before them.
Well, Saul messed all that up, and these guys were accomplices to that. We read nothing about them lifting a finger. To Comfort or help David.
Now, granted, they could have been afraid the way Saul terrorized the nation. But they still had Seven and a half years after Saul's death, to act on this, and they did not. And Yahweh said to you, You should shepherd my people Israel and be ruler over Israel.
Well, if you knew that, if you knew God said that, why did you not honor it? Why did you not do something to bring it about? And, well, of course, these questions weren't asked. There was no point in asking them. It would have been humiliating.
David, of course, being on the right side, they on the wrong. But they admit that they knew what God's will was and that they did not participate in bringing his will about. We have again Professed Christians who do the same thing. They know what they're supposed to do with church, for example, and they don't. It's the difference between struggling with something and just opting out.
Now they have nowhere else to go. Matthew chapter 2, verse 6: But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are not the least among the rulers of Judah, for out of you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people.
Now, the purpose of me reading that verse is to point out that God intended his leaders to be pastors. Latin for shepherd is pastor. And this metaphor is applied in Scripture often. The rulers under God, over God's people, and the people are the sheep. All of us are the sheep of his pastor in a larger sense, but there is this structure to hold everything together without which it would be disastrous.
Jeremiah three, verse fifteen, God says through the prophet, And I will give you shepherds according to my heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. And Satan stands up and says, we'll see about that. Because I'm going to take those shepherds and I'm going to get them to line up with my heart. Rotten as it is. And so we have, of course, some foul ones out there who are heretics, who tell you that God's word is second to love.
We have a notable one-time Calvary pastor out there telling people that, you know, love is more important than the scripture. This is heresy. This is Satan's work. And there are people that lap it up because they've entrusted themselves to this. The false shepherd now has his other things he's done too, and it's unfortunate to see apostasy in action.
It's not cute, it's very terrible. Anyway, Acts 20 verse 28. Paul He's heading to Jerusalem. He believes the prophecies concerning the trouble that awaits him. And so he's trying to prepare the leaders.
He has called the leadership meeting not at Ephesus in the city, but Miletus, because he doesn't want to get caught up. He wants to make it to Jerusalem by the Passover. He says, therefore, To the elders, Paul speaking, take heed to yourselves.
Now, that's the first step for a pastor. You know? Watch yourself. Before you tend the flock. And then he says, Watch yourselves.
Take heed to yourselves and to the flock.
Solomon writes in Proverbs: Know the state of your flock. Where there are no oxen, the troth is empty, but much increase comes through their labor, which essentially means in a church, like on a farm, you're going to step in stuff from time to time that you'd rather not. But, It's worth it. Much increase comes by this collective effort. It is God ordained, and all of us have our part to do.
The highest calling a Christian can have is the calling God has called them to do. For me, it's pastoring. But for you, an equally high calling can be whatever God has called you to do for Him. If you are in the kids' ministry, that is every bit equal a calling. As the pastor.
Now, there are some twists and turns, of course.
Somebody in the kids' ministry can say the wrong thing and it gets kind of shrugged off or dealt with. But a pastor, a weapon of mass destruction in Satan's hands, if Satan can pull it off. Anyway, therefore, take heed to yourselves and to the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. But Paul is like in their face with these facts. This is how the church is, he's saying.
You have to watch yourself, you have to watch the flock, and this is a work of the Holy Spirit. He's called you to oversee. And then he says to shepherd the church of God. which he purchased with his blood. I mean it's one sentence.
And he just lays it out. And it is one of the great verses of the Bible. And it's so passed by. It's heartbreaking to know that there's so many that really don't care about the value of this verse. Anyway, my point.
Is the Lord said to you, You shall shepherd my people Israel and be ruler. over Israel. This is not tyranny. This is given by God, Paul, three times in Hebrews 17 says to the flock that the pastors rule over you. They're not dictators.
Nor are they to be micromanagers, but they are to rule over the flock, or else things break down. Anyhow, I'm not saying these things because I'm a pastor, I'm saying these things because I'm a Christian and I find them in the Bible, and I don't find a way to excuse them, get rid of them, edit them, or trivialize them. Verse 3. Therefore, all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron. And King David made a covenant with them at Hebron.
before Yahweh, and they anointed David king over Israel. And rightfully so. If something does not have a head, it's it's a problem. And if it's still alive, while it doesn't have a head, it's a monster. And now the nation is united.
We read about this in 1 Chronicles 12. It's one of the great Old Testament passages of how these troops are lining up behind their king. And there's something very attractive about righteous loyalty, especially when you see it in large numbers, as you do in 1 Chronicles 12, which again belongs to this section. And they're going to stay, this united kingdom, united through David's reign, through Solomon's reign, but Solomon's going to mess it up, and Rehoboam is going to finish it off, Solomon's son. And that will happen 900 years before the coming of Christ.
So, this is the third anointed by Samuel. to be king God's choice anointed a king over Hebron. And then seven and a half years later, over the entire kingdom. Verse 4: David was 30 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 40 years. That's when he began to reign in Hebron.
In Hebron, he reigned over Judah seven years and six months. And in Jerusalem, he reigned thirty-three years over all Israel and Judah. And so he's about 37, 38 years old now. And it is about a thousand, just over a thousand years before Christ will come. David will be, according to these numbers, about 70, 71 years old when he dies, and that is in 1 Kings chapter 2, the account of his going home.
Not you. 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.
So come back next time for Cross Reference Radio.
