Some people seem to think faith means just passively resting in God waiting for him to act. Today on Truth for Life we'll hear about a strikingly different response from King David as his struggles with his son continue. Alistair Begg is teaching from 2 Samuel chapter 15 and we pick up the story at the point where Absalom has just gotten a chariot.
Bell going off in your head. It's in chapter 8. And it's when Samuel responds in 1 Samuel to the desire on the part of the people for a king. You will remember that Samuel was not keen on that idea.
He didn't like the idea. He was a judge and so on. And on that occasion, he issues a warning to the people. He says, you know, if you want to follow through on this and have a king like all the other nations—because that was the key. We want to be like everybody else. We want to be as the nations of the world. If you get a king like all the other nations, then you need to know this, that he will have chariots and horsemen to run before him. Samuel issues the warning. And here we find that Absalom is in the wrong sight of Psalm 20 verse 7.
Some trust in chariots, and some trust in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. Absalom is on the wrong side of the fence, building his persona. Secondly, what about his politics? Because he is a politician, there is no question about that, and a pretty good one, depending on your perspective. He is obviously more—there is more to him than simply creating news about him. And his objective is to usurp the role and the rule of his father. It is to see himself in the position of king. And we're told what he was doing. Whenever people came to the city gate, which was the place where the king would execute judgments, would deal with matters of justice and so on, he decides, Absalom decides, well, what I will do is I'll position myself in the thoroughfare that leads to the city gate so that when people are coming there looking for judgment, looking for the king, I will be able to intercept them. And that is exactly what he does. We are told what was really going on in the final sentence of verse 6. Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel. That's what he was setting out to do, and that's what he was successful in doing. So his persona is established, his politics are fairly straightforward and not unusual, and the plot is then given to us in verse 7 and following. Again, you will notice that it is at the end of four years. Now he comes to tell David the king that he had made a promise to God, and he had made a vow.
Now, clearly, this is an unbelievable story. If I were David, I would have said, Why has it taken so long for you to pay your vow? You make a vow to God, and it's taken you four years to finally get around to it?
What's that about? And why are you going to Hebron? Can't you make a vow to God in Jerusalem? I mean, God is everywhere. But there is no pushback. It's interesting, actually, because remember, in the sheepshearers incident, David says to him, Now, wait a minute. Hang on.
But in this case, it just flows through. Why Hebron? Well, Hebron had a history. Hebron was the royal city before Jerusalem. Hebron is Abraham's base. Hebron is where David was first anointed as king.
This fellow knows exactly what he's doing. Back in Hebron, he can make an approach and establish a base in a way that he desperately wants to do. And what he's actually doing in verses 8 and 9, where he says, I vowed, and if the LORD will bring me back to Jerusalem, then I will offer worship to the LORD. He's essentially taking the LORD's name in vain. Actually, as I read it through—and you can check, see if I'm right on this—this is the last time he ever mentions God in the whole story of the balance of his life. The only time he mentions God, and he does so deviously, he takes his name in vain. Now, the response of David is striking, is it not? The king, verse 9, said to him, Go in peace.
This is either an expression of the trusting nature of David's character, or perhaps that he's just weary of the whole procedure, or that he is supremely confident in his own position. Choose one of the above. I've already made my choice. Go in peace.
Do you want to know something else interesting? These are the last recorded words of David to his son. The last recorded words to his son. Shalom.
Go. How ironic that he would be invited to go in peace when actually what he was going to do was make war, not love. And you will notice that he is strategic in what he's doing. Absalom sent secret messengers throughout all the tribes of Israel.
So he's working the system. And he is making it secure so that when the right moment comes for the trumpet to be sounded, then the cry can go up throughout these various tribes, Absalom is king at Hebron. He takes with him, we're told in verse 11, two hundred men from Jerusalem who were invited guests. They went in their innocence, and they knew nothing.
They knew nothing at all. But it also would have looked good. It would have looked as though he had a real company and so on. And then, just to add to the corruption of it all, he has managed to secure Ahithophel, the Gilanite, David's counselor, as one of the key players in his strategy. Now, Ahithophel, interestingly, was Bathsheba's grandfather. And how it is that Ahithophel makes this shift from being a key member of David's cabinet to becoming part of this insurrection? It remains a question. Could it possibly be that Ahithophel resented the fact that David, the king, who is supposed to execute justice, did nothing to execute justice?
In fact, what he executed was the very reverse. And the impact that it had on Ahithophel's family was going to be felt forever and a day. Well, I leave it with you. There you have the first twelve verses. Ahithophel gives all of his skill, all of his experience, that had been so valued by David and puts it at the disposal of Absalom and the rebellion. Well, what is the response? What is the reaction of David? If you're reading this through for the first time—and some of you may have just heard it for the first time—then you have the excitement of waiting to see what happens next. And in verse 13, we're told that David issues the command, "'Arise and flee.
Arise and let us flee.'" Now, let's not lose sight of the fact that David knew exactly where his security lay. David knew that his security did not lie in the cedar house that he had built for himself, which is what he's going to be leaving behind, right? Remember, I live in a really nice cedar house, and the ark of the covenant is only in a tent.
And we did that some time ago. Now, his security didn't lie in his house. His security didn't lie even in the mountain of the Lord. In fact, if you want a cross-reference, and it's a helpful one, you can put your finger in the third psalm, because if you really want to know where his confidence lay, you can find out, because he pens the third psalm, which we're told is a psalm of David when he fled from Absalom his son.
So we're not in any doubt. O LORD, how many are my foes? Many are rising against me.
Many are saying of my soul, There is no salvation for him in God. Here we go. Where's his security? But you, O LORD, are a shield about me.
You are the glory and the lifter up of my head. Well, you say, that should be enough then, shouldn't it? He knows that his security is not in the mountain, it's not in the house, it's in the Lord. So what are you running for? If you're secure, why would you run? Because he's sensible as well as secure. And he explains exactly why.
Very, very clearly so. Let's get out of here, because it wouldn't do for us to be besieged. Remember, he's a military commander. He knows. You don't allow yourself to be trapped somewhere when the forces are coming against you.
That's just not sensible. No matter how much you say, the Lord is a shield about you. The Lord does not disengage your brains when he promises to you security. He expects you to exercise your wisdom—the wisdom that he has given you.
And that's exactly what he does. And so he says, we're going to prevent the possibility of us all taking down at the edge of the sword, verse 14. And in verse 15, his servants, responding to them, say, We are ready to do whatever my Lord the King designs. Now, actually, you might just want to notice the emphasis on king there in those three verses.
It comes again and again. And the king's servants said to the king, My Lord, the king decides. Then the king went out, and the king left the concubines, and the king went out.
Now, remember, we've said that repetition, when we're reading the Old Testament, is there in order to help us grasp things. And so it's being said again, remember, as you read this story, who the king is. He's the king, the king, the king, the king, the king. David is the king.
He has been set by the Father, by God, on his holy hill. It is God who has promised him a house. Remember, you're concerned about a house for me? I will build a household for you.
Keep that in mind and look again at verse 16. So the king went out, and all his household with him. Well, the Lord has promised him that he will build his household.
And now it looks as though the entire household is collapsing. One son is dead. The other one is seeking an insurrection. And so he says, What we're going to do is we're all going to go, but we'll leave these ten concubines behind. And don't read too far ahead, but that was going to prove to be a really bad decision on his part, especially as it related to Absalom. But actually, the king goes out, and all the people go after him.
We're beginning, actually, to see the king the way he used to be the king—a little more decisive. He knows exactly what it is to be a fugitive. He's done well as a fugitive in the past. He's not unaware of the wilderness.
He's spent many times in the wilderness. And so, on their way they go. And then we're told, And they halted at the last house. It's an interesting little note, isn't it?
Again, you see, when we think about the way in which the story is told to us, there's nothing extraneous in it. Why would you stop at the last house? Well, we're told that they stopped at the last house in order that they might have a march past. The military people know what a march past is. I know what a march past is, because I used to be a life boy.
Boy, is there very good for you! But we used to go on Sundays on parade. And when we went on parade, after the church service, we had a march past. And the minister would come out to the front of the church and a couple of the officers as well, and then the entire group of pathetic little life boys would march past out in the front of the street. And they would look to see what they had in their little company. And we felt very proud of the fact that we were part of the assembled force, so to speak.
That is exactly what is happening here, but at a far, far higher level. They are on the outskirts of the city—it's the last post, if you like—and so all the servants of David pass by him. And notice who's here.
The Cherithites, the Pelethites, and six hundred of the Gittites from Gath. Now, isn't that just fascinating? You remember when he had spent that time in Gath, remember when he was running away, he decided, If I go into enemy territory, I might be safer in enemy territory than I am here. It was quite a move, and clearly it impressed many people.
And during that time, he picked up many friends and established for himself a base that extended even beyond the tribes of Israel. And what we actually are discovering here is that these foreigners, for foreigners they were, were now actually more faithful to the king than the king's own people. His kingdom collapses, and the foreigners pick up the pieces. Now, years after this, Isaiah is going to prophesy—you can read it in Isaiah chapter 2—of a day that will come when all the nations of the world will flow up to the mountain of God. Rivers don't flow up. Rivers flow down.
But what an amazing picture! Running against the tide of history, running against the normal expectations. There will come a day, says the prophet, when the nations of the world will flow to the place of God's authority. Now, then, go from there, from the prophets. Go into Bethlehem.
Go beyond Bethlehem. Follow Jesus as he moves around. Listen to him as the centurion comes and says to him, I need your help. And Jesus responds to him, remember the centurion and says, you know, well, listen, you can just say, and it will be fine, because I have servants, and I say to one man, go, and he goes, and I say to another man, come as he comes. And remember what Jesus says. He says, I have never found faith like this in all of Israel.
It's a foreigner that tells us this. And then Jesus says, truly, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many… Listen to this. Listen.
Listen. I tell you, many will come from east and from west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. And here, all these years before, pushed, persecuted, humiliated, debased, the king struggles out and on, and in the company of those whom God in his purposes has assigned to his army.
And behold, the mountain of the LORD in latter days shall rise. Well, perhaps just one further little observation. I just wrote in my notes, Go back, go back, okay, go on. You say, Well, where did you get that from?
Well, just from the text. And then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, Why would you go with us, speaking as a representative of the six hundred? Go back! Notice, Stay with the king. Stay with the king, but you're the king. Well, not according to the people around here.
He's the future. Stay with the king. You're a foreigner. You're in exile. You've only just shown up.
And now I'm going to ask you to wander about with us, and I don't even know where. So again, he says, Go back and take your brothers with you, and may the LORD show steadfast love and faithfulness to you. Because that's what you need.
That's what you need. You need to know the covenant love of God. You need to know that God is steadfast. You need to know that God is faithful.
Don't you feel that David is speaking to himself? You know when you press something on somebody, you say, You know what you need? You find yourself saying, This is exactly what I need.
I need to be reminded of the fact that your steadfast love never ceases, that your mercy's never come to an end, that you are the faithful God who has established me. I'm in this predicament now. There is no question about that. And a lot of it is all of my own doing. I made those foolish choices.
I am in this mess. But you are a faithful God. Itai!
You need to know that. I'm concerned, Itai, about your spiritual welfare. But Itai verse 21 said to the king, As the LORD lives and as my LORD the king lives, wherever my LORD the king shall be, whether for death or for life, there also will your servant be. And David says, Well then, in that case, go on. So Itai passed on with all his men and all the little ones who were with him, and all the people and the land wept aloud.
I think you would recognize that Itai's statement there sounds a lot like another foreigner. Not a man but a lady. You got her? Ruth, the Moabites. Naomi says to her, Go back. Go back. You come with me.
I'm triple bereaved. Go back. She says, No.
Remember. Entreat me not to leave thee or to return from following after thee. For where thou goest, I will go, and where thou dwellest, I will dwell. Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.
Itai says the same thing. He basically says, Well, in that case, I'm gonna trust in God. Are you trusting in God? Your life? Your family? Your future?
That's the question. You're listening to Alistair Begg on Truth for Life. Alistair returns in just a moment to close today's program. If you've been benefiting from our study in 2 Samuel and you'd like to hear this Old Testament story from the very beginning, we have Alistair's teaching through both 1 and 2 Samuel available on a USB. You'll hear the complete story beginning with the birth of the prophet Samuel, all the way through the appointing, the rise and the fall of Israel's first king Saul, and ultimately, King David's reign. This is a foundational study that sets the stage for the arrival of God's eternal king.
The USB is easy to pop into your car's USB player, and you can listen on your daily commute to work or school or on a road trip. Look for it online at truthforlife.org USB. It's available for purchase at our cost of just $5. And if you add a donation to your purchase, you can request a copy of the book Truth for Life, 365 Daily Devotions Volume 2. The book is our way of saying thanks for your generous support. Now here is Alistair with a closing prayer. Lord, help us to lay hold of that which you provide for us in the food of your Word, as we realize that we have here now something of an unfinished symphony. We pray, Lord, that you will help us that in the balance of our thinking we may ponder these truths.
We live in a very political world, discontented and with solutions provided on all sides with the pomp and ceremony of strategy devoid of character. Lord, help us to affirm today that we do want to trust in you as you have made provision for us in Jesus, for we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Thanks for taking time to study, God's Word, with us this week. Hope you have a blessed weekend and are able to worship with your local church. On Monday, we'll look at how what King David experienced points forward to Jesus' story, but with a significant difference. I hope you can join us. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life, where the Learning is for Living.
