When King David returned to his kingdom he was triumphant and yet he was still overwhelmed with grief about the death of his son Absalom. Today on Truth for Life we'll look at the various responses to David's victory and consider what this means for us as we await the return of the greater King, Jesus. Alistair Begg is teaching from 2 Samuel chapter 19. Halfway through verse 8, the scene switches.
The said picture fades, and up onto the screen comes the broader picture of what's happening throughout the land. And all the people, verse 9, were arguing. They've scattered in confusion. So, from the king is grieving to the people were arguing.
Let me try quickly to summarize it for us. Absalom, as we know, had stolen the hearts of the people. They had followed him, but he's now dead. And so, in verses 9 and 10, they're in a quandary. They're in a quandary. Because they had rejected the true king, they had gone with the potential king, he was gone, and therefore, a number of them were saying, it's time to reverse our decision. We've got nothing here now.
That was a futile exercise. Let's get back to the one who is the true king. And clearly, some people were challenging that as well. Now, all of this had reached the ears of David. He then dispatches Abiathar and Zadok, whom we've already met, to go to the people of Judah and to say to them, Well, hey, what's going on with you folks? Why should you, verse 11, be the last to bring the king back to his house?
And so, what is he doing? Well, he is actually stitching together in his mind these arguing factions—both Israel and Judah—seeking to bring them together on the same page. And he adds to this very politically, I suggest, in verse 13, where he says, Say to Amasa, Are you not my bone and my flesh?
Now, that ought to cause you to pause for a moment if you've been following the story. Because Amasa was the commander of the armies of Absalom. Joab was the commander of the armies of David. Now, says David, go to Judah and say, Listen, let's have Amasa as the commander in place of Joab. Now, what he was doing, I think, was at least this. He was making it clear that they weren't going to face any retribution for their rebellion, but I think there's a more than even chance that he was actually punishing Joab for the part that he had played in the death of his son. Joab is not going to be the commander anymore. Not after that. And what happened?
Well, we're told that he swayed the hearts of the people, or he won them over, and they were united as one man, and they brought the king over the Jordan. Okay? So far, so good. That's bookend number one. Now, if you go to verse 40, we come to the second part of this. The king went over, went on to Gilgal. Chimham, to whom we'll come in a moment, went on with him. Now notice, all the people of Judah and also half the people of Israel brought the king on his way.
Okay? What we're viewing here is actually the fragile nature of this renewed kingdom. They're back together, but it's not perfect. Judah was united, all the people, but only half the people of Israel. The disagreements that we saw in verses 9 and 10 amongst Israel clearly have not been resolved. They haven't produced unanimity. But there was one thing that they agreed on, and that was their conviction—you will see here—that the folks of Judah had stolen the king and brought him over. Well, was that the case? And so they said to them, Why is this?
Why have you done this? And all the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, because the king is our close relative. Why would you be angry? We haven't been getting any tax breaks from him. We haven't been getting free food from him. Well, they respond to that, Well, you may be close, but actually we have ten shares in the king and in David.
Also, we have more than you. Well, of course, this made perfect sense, because there were ten tribes in the north, and Judah was there by itself. And the narrator tells us that as this argument continues, the argument from Judah carried more weight or was fiercer than the argument from Israel. And so, at the end of the chapter, it is clear that the return of the king has not united the people. Pause.
Back to the beginning, if you remember. I say, one of the ways in which we see Jesus and we see God's purposes is when there is, if you like, a charcoal sketch of something that looks like to be fulfilled in, and also when there is something that is so clearly not like. Well, this is not like. Because, you see, all that David would have wanted to accomplish, he was unable to accomplish. In fact, every endeavor, all the way through to the United Nations of our world today, that seeks to bring about peace, tranquility, unanimity, oneness, a one-world order, a unanimity of everything—every endeavor to that end, no matter how good, no matter how admirable in places—is destined to defeat. Only when King Jesus returns will that which David desired be accomplished. Only when the king returns. Now, unless you believe that, that God will bring to completion all that he has begun, that he will fulfill his purposes, then, golly, you must be having a really hard time right now trying to make sense of life in the Western world. It must be really tough to sit on your couch and watch the demise of Western civilization and say to yourself, I don't know how we're going to fix this. There's only one fix—in the gospel, in the king.
And earthly kings cannot achieve that which is only achieved in and through Jesus as the true King. Now, those are the bookends. We have to come back to the final point, which is three lives we're changing. To which you say, and I hope they were changing quite quickly. Well, we're about to see.
Shimei appeals for clemency, Mephibosheth displays his loyalty, and Berzillai confronts his mortality. You say, Well, that's a complete sermon. You're right.
But here we go. Summary. Shimei—you haven't forgotten Shimei, I hope. He made quite a striking impact on us back in chapter 16. He is the cursing, stone-throwing, dust-flinging character who was dramatically opposed to King David as he made his sorry exit from Jerusalem. Remember, there he was, on one side of the road, sharing over, Oh, you bad act, you destroyer of the kings of Israel, you opponent of Saul and so on. It's such a picture as he made his way out. And he's back! Shimei is back. He's not alone. He's got a thousand with him of the tribe of Benjamin—that's Saul's tribe.
He's got Ziba, whom we've also seen, and to which we'll come in a moment. And there they are, and they're on a mission to get on the winning side. He's now concerned that his hostility would be vanquished and that he would be met with forgiveness. And so he appeals on that basis for clemency. In verse 19, he said to the king, Let my lord not hold me guilty, or remember how your servant did wrong on the day my lord the king left for Jerusalem.
This is really crazy. Why would he even mention it? How could David forget it? He's got a vivid picture in his mind of this fellow throwing big lumps of earth at him. Do not let the king take it to heart.
Easy for you to suggest. For your servant knows that I have sinned. And the reason I'm here today, and I'm first of all the house of Joseph to come down and meet my lord the king, I haven't wasted any time coming to see you, king.
No, I'm first, you will notice. Well, what are we to make of this? I wonder how sincere this is. Do you take this at face value? I don't know. It's certainly strategic.
It's convenient. When the wind was blowing in another direction, he was throwing clods of dirt. Now the wind is blowing in the other direction. He's not throwing dirt. He's throwing himself. He's throwing himself at the feet of the king, because apparently the wind now, in changing direction, has blown a conscience into the heart of Shammai.
Well, Abishai, Mr. Consistent, never saw anybody whose head he would not like to lop off, responds as he's done in previous times. Remember when Shammai was doing his bad stuff in the exit?
He said, Why don't we take his head off? And now, just as consistent as ever. I think I actually praise him for his consistency, if not for his vengeful spirit. And, of course, there is an indication of clemency. Immediately, you shall not die. You shall not die. But, you know, if ever we get to 1 Kings chapter 2, we'll discover that David actually did take care of Shammai.
He did. It's a reminder, again, by way of contrast. In other words, you could beg for clemency before King David and not get it. All who beg for clemency before King Jesus will receive it. So you say to yourself, Well, my life has been one of cursing Jesus. I've been on the other side of the street.
I've had no interest in him at all. Are you actually telling me that if I come to him and acknowledge that I have sinned, that I was in the wrong, that I made the wrong decisions, that he will grant to me forgiveness? Absolutely, one hundred percent promised. Look at the cross of Christ and see there the expression of forgiveness. That's Shammai in an appeal for clemency, Mephibosheth in declaring his loyalty. And Mephibosheth, the son of Saul, came down to meet the king.
And he was a pretty picture, as you will see. Now, we've got to remember that we've been introduced to him by Ziba back in chapter 16. And on that occasion, Ziba had painted a picture of Mephibosheth as staying home and out of the support of David, because, said Ziba, he is keen to see Absalom succeed so that the kingdom of Saul will prevail. That's what Ziba told David. And if you remember, David made a kind of knee-jerk reaction to that, and he said, Everything that I gave to Mephibosheth I'm now giving to you, Ziba. And we read that, and we said, Whoa, that's quite a reaction.
Now, here we are with the other side of the story, because Mephibosheth now has returned to the king. And he comes looking like somebody who has, if you like, gone on a hunger strike in order to express his solidarity. He hasn't—his toenails are long and presumably dirty. We would not want to sit next to him.
We wouldn't want him in the middle seat on a journey anywhere on the plain. He hadn't trimmed his beard. He hadn't washed his clothes. He looked like this. And the reason that he looked like this—and we discover this when David invites him to come clean on this, so to speak—the reason is that he had expressed his solidarity in his absence. And he says, when David asks him, Well, what was going on? He says, Well, Ziba deceived you and deceived me.
That wasn't true. I was getting ready to come and join you, but he took off without me. Now, again, are you with Mephibosheth on this or not? Are you going with Ziba's story or Mephibosheth's story? I was good on Mephibosheth right up until where he says, My lord O king, my servant deceived me. For your servant said to him, I will saddle a donkey for myself, that I may ride on it and go with the king.
For your servant is lame. That just gave me a little kind of funny feeling, like David didn't know he was lame. David took him into his house because he was lame. He did it out of kindness, even though he was the grandson of Saul.
He knew exactly he was lame. So I'm just wondering whether he's just pushing it a little too much here. He's got every vested interest to be welcomed.
Now, it's not a main thing or a plain thing. You can make your own decisions. And he's prepared to say to him, Why don't you just do what seems good to you? I don't have any right to ask for anything.
And notice what David does. He says—and I wonder whether he just in the way responds, there's an indication of something here—and the king said to him, Why speak any more of your affairs? I've had enough of this conversation. I don't know whether he's saying, I don't know whether to believe you or believe Ziba, quite frankly, but I'll tell you what I'm gonna do. We're doing a fifty-fifty split. I gave it to you, then I gave it to Ziba, now I'm not giving it to any one of you. I'm just splitting it between the two of you.
Now let's get on, and let's get out. Well, there you see it, and there you have it. I wonder, are his dirty toenails and his messed-up appearance sacraments of his faithfulness, or whether they are just an attempt to put himself in the good graces of the king? People will go to all kinds of endeavors to try and be accepted by the king. Lastly, Barzillai the Gileadite, who confronts his mortality. We've met this man before. We met him in chapter 17, when he provided resources for David and his friends when they were marooned, as it were, in the wilderness. There's a sermon in this section, to which I will come one day, God willing.
But for now, let me just give you what would essentially be the outline of it. Notice, first of all, that he was elderly. Verse 32, he was a very aged man, and he was eighty years old.
All right? He has shown up not to seek anything for himself but to escort the king over the Jordan. He receives an invitation from the king to come and receive from the king. And so he responds by saying, How many years have I still left to live? Now, it's not because he's being morbid.
He's just being realistic. The psalmist tells us that the years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty. I haven't spoken with any people in the insurance industry for a while, the geniuses that do the actuarial work, but I have a sneaking suspicion that despite the ability for people to live a little longer, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the way in which they do their calculations comes really, really close to what the Bible has to say—that by and large, when you take the mean, when you average it all out, you're gonna find yourself right where the Bible says. Seventy years is good, and after that, you're on extra time. Seventy, and then extra time. Some of us are approaching seventy, some of us have passed seventy, a number of us are on extra time. Incidentally, all the days of our lives were written in his book before one of them came to be. You'll never die a day early, you'll never die a day late. In the mystery of God's providence, he's got that under his control—go to sleep and rest, waking up, either here or waking up in heaven. But Barzillai recognizes this. And he says, I'm on the outer limit of things.
And he says, Life has shifted for me. Can I discern the things that are really pleasant? Can I taste?
Can I listen to the songs of men and women? Furthermore, why should I be a burden to you? I can't walk as good as I used to be able to walk. My earthly powers are fading. There's a shift in my expectations. But I'll tell you what. I'd like to go part of the way with you. Verse 36, Your servant will go a little way over the Jordan with the king.
Why would I get repaid with such a reward? No, he says, I want you to let me go back. I want to die in my own city, near the grave of my father and my mother. I get that, don't you? I'm not a fan of the people who say it doesn't matter where you get buried.
I guess if it doesn't matter to you, it won't matter to anybody. The thing that scared me most when I came here in 1983 was that I would die here, and they would bury me here. And I used to tell Sue, Whatever happens to me, if you get any money at all, get me home. Get me home. I don't feel that way anymore.
This is home. But it matters. Not in a utilitarian world. Not in a world that takes the person from the hospital room and reduces them to ashes and puts them in a box.
Not in that world. But in the world of the Scriptures, we understand Barzillai's reaction. Let me return to my own place.
I'm going to go a little way with you, but I'm going to go home. And why don't you give to Chimham—relative, friend, son, I think. It talks about the sons of Chimham later on, I think, in Chronicles. Why don't you give to Chimham what you would have given to me? And then you have that lovely picture, and Barzillai went home, and Chimham went on with the king.
Well, isn't that what we long for, for our children? Because we will go home, but we long that our children will go on with the king, that they would come to know the king, that they would come to submit to the rule of the king, so that then we could go home, and they could go on. Four hundred years later, actually, you read of this in Jeremiah.
We read of the habitation of Chimham, which was near Bethlehem. So to end in the swirling mists of battles fought, kingdoms established, the work of God continues day by day in the lives of his people. Our names may not be known beyond our borders, but they are known entirely to God. So let us give ourselves unreservedly, to spend the balance of our time, our talents, and our energies in the service of the King. You're listening to Alistair beg on Truth for Life.
Alistair returns shortly to close today's program. As we learn today, there is no retirement age when it comes to serving the Lord. To understand how our lives can best be used for his kingdom, we need to first know who God is, as he has revealed himself through his word. And one great way to do that is by committing to a regular pattern of daily Bible reading. We are currently recommending a book called The Daily Devotional New Testament that will help you stay on track by providing you with two passages of scripture to read each day, and over a year's time, you will have read through the entire New Testament. This scripture-focused devotional is excellent for personal study.
It's also great to have on hand so you can give it to someone when God presents you with an opportunity. Let me also mention that this is a book that Parkside Church, Alistair's home church, makes available to any who visit. Request your copy of The Daily Devotional New Testament today when you donate to support the ministry of Truth for Life.
Go to truthforlife.org slash donate. Now here's Alistair with a closing prayer. Father, out of an abundance of words, may we hear your Word speak to us as individuals—a word of comfort, a word of challenge, a word of rebuke, whatever it might be. Grant that we might receive it as from your hand, and grant that anything that is untoward or unhelpful, could it be untrue, may be banished from our recollection. For Christ's sake. Amen. Thanks for listening today. The Bible is clear that David was God's anointed king, so why was David's kingdom so unstable? We'll hear the answer tomorrow. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life, where the Learning is for Living.
