My fragmented verse, because that clause in the verse stands all by itself. It is the goodness of God that leads us to repent. Otherwise, why repent? If God was mean and there was no way to be forgiven, why should I repent? But He does forgive, and He does rebuild, and it is that goodness that we find so wonderful and attractive.
Why we break down and we weep over our sins. Why did Peter weep when he denied the Lord? Because he knew the goodness of God and the failure of the flesh. 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 Second 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. Conquest and Kindness is the title of Pastor Rick's message, and today he'll be teaching in Second Samuel chapter eight.
Well, so he takes the shields because the victory he conquered them. And these are going to be—they were decorative and for special occasions. They certainly weren't for combat. I mean, gold is not a very strong metal; it's a heavy metal, but not the musical type. And it's—you wouldn't waste gold on the battlefield like that.
Apparently, Solomon liked this. And enhanced it, the idea of these decorative shields. Second Chronicles twelve.
Well, before I get to twelve, so Solomon he makes even better gold shields and puts them in the temple. But his fool of a son Rehoboam. These sons they just couldn't not, you know, walk in the steps of their father. Had Rehoboam Been like more like Solomon and David, he would have been so much better. But he was such a noodlehead that he lost the kingdom and the shields.
The Egyptian king Shishak comes and he steals these golden shields. Second Chronicles twelve verse ten. Then King Rehoboam made bronze shields in their place and committed them to the hands of the captains of the guard who guarded the doorway of the king's house. Fine, you take my gold shields. I'll make inferior ones to replace them.
It's kind of a monument to his folly, and not well. That was pretty ingenious of him. No, it was not. He should have never lost the gold ones. God would have been with him.
And so we read these lessons. We're supposed to walk away saying, "Okay, I'm not supposed to be like like Rehoboam." Anyway, David was storing up. These things again for the building, transforming the nation or the kingdom of Israel into the most powerful kingdom in that region, and everybody would think twice before coming against David.
Now, Jerusalem is mentioned here; it is the most mentioned city in the Bible, and the second place is Mechanicsville, Virginia. Is Babylon, not Mechanicsville. That's so. Jerusalem, number one, Babylon, and that to me is significant by itself because it speaks of this war of the the kingdom of God and the kingdom of men, fallen men. Verse eight, also from Bithah and from Beratai, cities of Hadadizer.
King David took a large amount of bronze.
Now we fast forward to First Chronicles twenty-nine.
Now for the house of my God, David speaking, I have prepared with all my might.
Now First Chronicles eighteen-eight. David brought a large amount of bronze which. With which Solomon made the bronze, the pillars and the articles of bronze, and so David was financing the temple through his conquest. Nebuchadnezzar will come along, and they will cut up all this bronze and haul it back to Babylon. In time, verse eight.
When Toi, king of Hamath, heard that David had defeated all the army of Hadadezer, verse ten, then Toi sent Joam, his son, to King David to greet him and bless him because he had fought against Hadadezer and defeated him. For Hadadezer had been at war with Toi. And Joam brought with him articles of silver, articles of gold, and articles of bronze.
So David is continuing to be enriched. Toi figured it out. He says, "Listen, it's better to be a vassal king of David than a dead king because Hadadazar." And he was delighted. He he was just wise, and his kingdom would be better off for this. We already saw that David was a gracious king.
By leaving them chariots, he could have just stripped them like everybody else did and left them defenseless. But he, he was wise, and and we're seeing this come out in this section, verse eleven, King. David also dedicated these to Yahweh, along with the silver and gold that he had dedicated from all the nations which he had subdued. Verse twelve: from Syria, from Moab, from the people of Ammon, from the Philistines, from Amalek, and from the spoil of Hadadezer, the son of Rieab, king of Zobah. Let's go, First Kings chapter seven, find out what happened.
So, all the work. That King Solomon had done for the house of Yahweh was finished, and Solomon brought in all the things which his father David had dedicated. Very exciting! Just David, just such, just a magnificent character. Verse thirteen.
And David made himself a name when he returned from killing eighteen thousand Syrians in the Valley of Salt. Verse fourteen. He also put garrisons in Edom, throughout all Edom. He put garrisons, and all the Edomites became David's servants. And Yahweh preserved David wherever he went.
When David puts these garrisons, as he's putting them all over, this is now to the south of Israel. How do you pay for the troops? Feed them, you know. Rotate them out. You know your duty stations is Edom.
Oh, great!
Well, the tribute that these kings were paying, and some of these spoils would would certainly do that. This verses thirteen and fourteen about Edom.
Well, verse fourteen, not thirteen, is an Old Testament prophecy fulfilled in the Old Testament.
So when the Jews were heading towards the Promised Land and in the wilderness, Balak the king hired Balaam the prophet, who became a backslidden prophet, to curse the Jews. And he could not do it. Every time he spoke to curse them, he ended up blessing them.
Well, one of the blessings in Numbers twenty four eighteen, he says. And Edom shall be a possession; Syria also, his enemies shall be a possession. While Israel does valiantly, out of Jacob one shall have dominion and destroy the remains of the city.
Well, David is doing just that. He did that to fulfill prophecy.
So when we come to the New Testament, we talk about prophecy, future. We also recognize that there have been many prophecies already fulfilled. I mean, the Book of Daniel—he just laid out history and then outlined Alexander the Great and the Ptolemies, and then the Roman Empire, all the way up to Antichrist. Other kings, beginning with Solomon, will begin unraveling David's conquest. He was on to something.
Everything would have been different, and they—they did not catch the vision. They were not. I don't want to simplify it like it was easy, but we have no indication that they had the same zest. For Israel's territory, that David did so. Speaking of Israel's territory, verse fifteen.
So David reigned over all Israel, and David administered judgment and justice to all his people. The region Yahweh had promised to Abraham is now under David's control for the first time. The Jews have this swath of control from Egypt. All the way to the Euphrates River, Genesis fifteen verse eighteen. On the same day, Yahweh made a covenant with Abraham, saying, "To your descendants, I give; I have given this land from the river Egypt to the great river Euphrates." Now, that's not the Nile, more than likely, not the Nile River.
That he there are other rivers in Egypt. We they just you know become eclipsed by the Nile.
So again, making it easy for the future kings, but they unraveled it instead of continuing it. I mean, how often do we read about the garrisons after David? They lost it.
So, verse sixteen: Joab, the son of Zerah, was over the army.
Well, we know about Joab. Jehoshaphat, the son of Ahilud, was recorder.
Now, this is not the same Jehoshaphat that becomes king. This is a historian, a secretary, sort of in the state. He kept the records. The scribes would copy the records when you needed to find out what happened and retrieve the minutes of the palace. You'd go to the recorder, and the scribes would be able to give you a copy.
He his career extends into the days of Solomon. But I guess that's. Oh, I wanted to add this. The word "secretary" in our language is an interesting word. It means the secret holder.
So you have, you know, on a board would have a secretary, a church secretary, or a corporate secretary, and they are supposed to hold. They are privy to information that is not to be shared. When they are trustworthy, and that's the big point. They are trustworthy. It's not a demeaning title at all.
It's actually an honorable title. Title, verse seventeen. Zadok, the son of Ahitub, and Ahimelech, the son of Abiathar, were the priests, and Shereia was the scribe. And so the recorder is mentioned, and Jehoshaphat and Shereia. Shereia is the scribe, but here the priest Zadok and Abiathar they fled Saul, and they got up with David when David's son.
Absalom decides to turn on David, which is just you know utter sinful. Anyway, we'll get to Absalom when we get to him. When he turns on David, only Zadok, the priest of these two, well, both of them, both of them remain faithful to David. Pardon me. When Absalom attempts to overthrow the throne, however.
When David is old and near death. Adonijah, another of David's son, an older step brother of Solomon, decides he's going to make himself the king, and he gets Joab to come on his side, and also Abiathar. This Abiathar here, who had been with David in the wilderness, had been with David, but he wasn't honoring David's choice to make Solomon king. He knew about the promises of God through Nathan the prophet to the king, and yet he still sides with Adonijah. And of course, David gets wind of the plot, and they they they suppress it.
They anoint Nathan and Zadok the priest, anoint Solomon king, and Abiathar is deposed. Zadok becomes high priest, and you probably—I lost you with Zadok, Abiathar, and Ananias.
So, my point is: of these two priests, Zadok remains true to David, loyal to David to the end, and Abiathar does not ultimately remain true, even though he was at some point. Verse eighteen: Benaniah the son of Jehoiada was over both the Cherethites and the Pelethites, and David's sons were chief ministers. Benaniah, here. We're going to get him into the days of Solomon. He was a noble character.
He is presently the commander of David's bodyguard. The Bodyguards in the king's palace were often mercenaries, foreign troops, because they didn't have a political investment. They had a financial investment. As long as they got paid, they were on the side of the guy writing the checks. Whereas, if you had your own people, there was the threat of them, you know, not liking you and the intrigue that goes with that.
And that was the thinking behind using mercenaries to guard you in the palace. Eventually, Benaniah, though he is not a foreigner, he is a Jew. He will be used to slay Joab. And then he will take Joab's position as the chief military commander over Israel. What is nice about this comment at the end of verse eighteen is David did have competent sons, evidently who were ministers over various offices in the land.
Well, now we come to the ninth chapter and we meet two new characters, Ziba and Mephibosheth. Ziba was a creep. Let's just get that right out. And Meshibathash was—he actually was a sweetheart, and he was a man. I mean, in a feminine way, just as as people go, he was is nothing to dislike about him.
At least, not in print. I am sure if you lived with him, like you live with anybody else, you know, I just hate the way you do that. I just blinked. Yeah, but you do it too many times.
So I don't know. That's we just all messed up that way. Be patient with one another. Tenderhearted, forgiving one another. Anyway, verse nine.
Now David said, "Is there still anyone who is left of the house of Saul that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake?" David's love for Jonathan, you know that that never left. He stabilizes the kingdom. We don't know exactly when this is taking place. You know, it reads as though it, you know, he beat Hadadizar, and now he's doing. We don't not exactly, and it's not important.
What is important is what is happening. His long dear friend, who was killed on the battlefield, Jonathan. David had a covenant with him to look out for his descendants and not slaughter them, as was the custom of. Royalty in those days, and so he doesn't forget his promise because it's signed in love. That is why the covenant was not built simply on written in ink and a handshake.
They loved; they had this great love for each other, and this whole ninth chapter is going to be grace on display. You know, you can attend a church, and the pastor can say such a little thing, but you're passionate about that little thing, and you're willing to just, you know, forsake all the good things for that little thing. That's not grace. That's being petty, and it could be the other way around too. You know, a pastor can someone gives him makes a little comment that is not in his favor.
Well, no, he would be right if he didn't like that person. That I'm sorry, I take that back. Anyway, we have to guard that with each other, or in every relationship that that exists, we have to be on guard that we do not become petty. And that means you're going to have to corral your feelings. Anyhow, it is a wonderful thing to receive the King's grace, but does it ever flow out of you?
Or are you just a dead end?
Now nowadays, you know they they put fancy French words on dead ends, don't they? It's a cul-de-sac. No, it's a dead end because you can't get out of it. It's dead. You'd have to turn around.
You just have to make a three-point turn. You could just make a circular turn, but it's still a dead end. And if you live on a cul-de-sac, I mean no offense, but let's just understand what we're dealing with. Where I came from, it was just dead ends. You didn't name anything in cul-de-sac; they would call you a phony.
Anyhow, I'm sorry about that a little bit. Give you a chance to show me some grace. Do we have it flowing through us, or we like the Dead Sea? We anything poured into us that that was Absalom. Here's dad poured, mom pour things into him, and he just sucked it in.
It was all about him. He's so in love with himself and his long, luxurious hair that we'll get to that he turns on his parents. What a wolf! And no grace ever coming from Absalom.
So. We are very much paying attention because we know this is a big deal with Jesus Christ. Grace is a very big deal with Him, and if you don't show it, maybe you don't have Him. That's how big a deal it is. There is the common kindness that people can show, and then there is uncommon grace.
There is valor, and as Nimit said of the those. In the Pacific War, there is uncommon valor, a high virtue, and we are supposed to have this uncommon grace, which is a high virtue. We know how to turn the other cheek and take the hit.
So, men said one old—I think it was William Newell—said this. A commentator, pastor from many years ago. If men are not won by grace, they will never be won.
Well, isn't that true? I mean, there are Bible teachers that are pastors in the pulpit, and you listen to them, and everything they're saying is pretty much true. It's accurate. It's just no love. It's no love.
Judgment. Always somebody is up to something, and you just you know pray for those kind of men. Fortunately. Prayer does do things; it just doesn't do it according to our timetable. Romans two, verse four: the goodness of God leads you to repentance.
I fragmented the verse because that clause in the verse stands all by itself. It is the goodness of God that leads us to repent. Otherwise, why repent? If God was mean and there was no way to be forgiven, why should I repent? But He does forgive and He does rebuild, and it is that goodness that we find so wonderful and attractive.
Why we break down and we weep over our sins? Why did Peter weep when he denied the Lord? Because he knew the goodness of God and the failure of the flesh, which has to have its garrisons. And verse two. There was a servant from the house of Saul whose name was Ziba.
So when they had called him to David, the king said to him, "Are you Ziba?" And he said, "At your service." Then the king said, "Is there not still someone of the house of Saul to whom I may show the kindness of God?" And Ziba said to the king, "There is still a son of Jonathan who is lame in his feet." What condition allowed Mephibosheth into the fellowship of the king? Because he's going to end up in the fellowship with the king. What, what condition allowed it? Because he has nothing to offer. Grace, the grace of the king.
Actually, in Mephibosheth's case, the grace of the king voided execution. He is the descendant of Saul. He can stir up trouble and make a claim to the throne. He, by other king's standards, should be executed to eliminate any idea of using him to overthrow the throne of David. It is grace.
The grace of the king that voids out execution—that's me. That's you. That's what I mean. What voids out our execution as guilty sinners before a holy God? It is grace.
As I mentioned, he had nothing to offer the king. He's an invalid. As people, he could not survive on his own in this economy. There was no way he could survive on his own. And we're going to hopefully open a lot of this up, according to the customs.
And the demands the kings would eliminate them. We're going to see this in Athaliah. She was a witch in the northern kingdom who forced herself on the people. She becomes queen for a while. Second Chronicles twenty two.
Now, when Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal heirs of the house of Judah. That is an indication that this was how they did it back then. If you were a threat, if you had a claim to the throne, many of them would wipe out that purge that line. Not always, but it was not uncommon, and would not have even been frowned upon. People would have understood they're protecting the throne.
Who's going to stop them? It says here, Ziba tells David. Jonathan, who is lame in his feet, why this detail right now? I think it's mean-spirited. I don't think it has nothing to do.
Is there any descendants of Saul, Mephibosheth? Why does he have to tell him he's lame in his? Why doesn't he also tell him how long his fingernails are? Which at some point is going to be part of the story, not this evening. Later on, anyhow, here is Jonathan's son, lame in his feet, a type of mankind.
With a broken walk, we know what that means. We all try to walk the right way before God, but our walk is broken at times. He is not able to go to war. He is unfit to receive anointings according to the laws Leviticus twenty one. No man of your descendants in succeeding generations who has any defect.
May approach to offer the bread of his God, that would spill over into other areas of anointing.
So he was at a great disadvantage. He was handicapped, we would say, and very mindful of it. How was he treated by people? Because he was this way since he was a child. You know, we'll cover that in a minute.
Verse four.
So the king said to him, "Where is he?" And Ziba said to the king, "Indeed, he is in the house of Machir, the son of Amiel, in Lodibar." David is getting things done. I've got this covenant with Jonathan, and I'm going to get it done. And he is there. Where is he? Lodibar means pastureless, barren.
Mephibosheth. Is a handicap who is wasting away, even though he was once royalty, a prince, Lo de Bar. He lives in a land barren. That is the meaning of that place. And knowing the whole story of this man, is it not striking to know that he is unable to walk well, that he is in a place where he cannot produce anything?
It is part of the story. Verse nine. Then King David sent and brought him out of the house of Micah and the son of Amiel from Lo Debar.
So David acts upon his good intention. It's very easy to say to Jonathan, "I, you, you know what? I'm going to do this. I want to do this for you," and then never do it. It happens too often.
People make these. I'm going to do this. I'm going to do that, and they never deliver. And so the Bible is very much vocal about be careful about the promises you make. This has been the latest edition of Cross Reference Radio.
Pastor Rick Gaston is teaching through the Book of Second 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 dot com.
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