Come Unto Who?
Today’s reading – 2 Samuel 15-17;Proverbs 12
(Second Milers also read – Matthew 23 – 24; Memorize 1 Corinthians 15:14 – 17)
“And Absalom said unto him, See, thy matters are good and right; but there is no man deputed of the king to hear thee. Absalom said moreover, Oh that I were made judge in the land, that every man which hath any suit or cause might come unto me, and I would do him justice!” – (2 Samuel 15:3-4)
In today’s reading, we see the gradual rise to power of Absalom. David’s son. Absalom has developed into a calculating, sneaky, and conspiring rebel, who slowly stole the hearts of the people of Israel away from their God chosen leader. In the verses above, he is standing in the gate, and pulling people aside before they go into the king. He befriends them, and promises them that if he were the king things would be different; things would be better. No doubt, he is bad mouthing the king to everyone who would listen. Absalom is a snake; a rat. He has done nothing on his own; he has built nothing, conquered nothing. Instead, he is a destroyer, and a stealer of that which belongs to another man.
I have observed people like this throughout the years. They steal wives away from husbands; they steal the hearts of children away from fathers; they steal churches away from pastors. They tell the wife who may be having some struggles in her marriage that if he were her husband, he would never mistreat her. They do the same to church members. They want people to come to them. They usually use flattery. They always tear down God-ordained authority. Beware of the Absalom’s of life. God is never for them. Even when it looks like they have all the right answers, you need to stay faithful to the Lord and supportive of the leaders that God has given you.
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Bad Advice
Today’s Reading – 2 Samuel 8-11; Proverbs 10
(Second Milers also read – Matthew 19 – 20; Memorize 1 Corinthians 15:14 – 17)
I will resist the temptation this morning to discuss chapters 11 and 12 regarding David, Bathsheeba, and Urriah. I have spoken much about these passages in times past; and I am sure that most of the people reading this are well familiar with that tragic period in David’s life. Instead, I would like to focus on chapter 10. David sincerely wants to shew a kindness to his neighbor to the east, Hanun, the King of the Ammonites. Apparently Hanun’s father was a friend to David, and David wanted to continue the friendship through Hanun.
When David sends some of his servants into Ammon to see Hanun, no doubt bearing gifts and sending a message of comfort from David regarding the death of Hanun’s father, the advisors of Hanun are distrustful of David’s intentions; and convince the king that David is their enemy. The Ammonites then do a stupid thing: they humiliate David’s men by shaving off half of their beards and making them go back to Israel naked. Remember, at this time in history, Israel is the big kid on the block. Now, because of his stupidity, and because of the bad advice he receives, Hanun is facing an all out war with David.
None of this had to happen. Hanun acted impulsively because he had counselors around him feeding him with bad information. We need to be careful about the people we allow in our lives. We need to be careful about the influences in our lives. Bad counsel leads to bad decisions. Let’s surround ourself with balanced, godly people who will be careful to offer only biblically based and prayerful advice to us.
PS – One thought on chapter 11 (I couldn’t resist.) Among all of the other things that helped cause David’s sin with Bathsheeba, I thought about his lack of accountability. David had nobody close to him that could stand up and say, “David, what you are about to do is wrong, and I won’t let you do it, or get away with it.” There were obviously people (servants, etc.) that knew what David was doing, yet nobody challenged him. We need people around us who will stand for the truth even at the expense of going against us.
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Is There Safety In The City?
Today’s Passage – II Samuel 1-3; Proverbs 8
(Second Milers also read – Matthew 15 – 16; Memorize 1 Corinthians 1 – 4)
“And when Abner was returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside in the gate to speak with him quietly, and smote him there under the fifth rib, that he died, for the blood of Asahel his brother.” – (2 Samuel 3:27)
These first few chapters of the Book of 2 Samuel make for some exciting reading, as well as for some valuable truth. In our verse above, we see the murder of Abner by Joab and Abishai his brother. To fully understand what is happening here, there is an underlying principle that we must learn, as well as some additional background information.
First let me give you the principle. The city where this killing took place was Hebron, which was known as a City of Refuge. You can read all about the cities of refuge in the Book of Numbers 35:9 – 34; and Joshua 20. In a nutshell, though, a city of refuge was a place where somebody could flee to for safety. You see, the law in Israel stated that if you killed somebody in wartime, or if you unintentionally killed somebody (not for cases of pre-meditated murder) that the family of the dead person could avenge the blood of their relative without any legal action being taken against them. If the person who committed the “manslaughter” could get inside the city of refuge, then he would be granted safety and refuge as long as he remained in the city; but if he was to leave the city at any time, he was fair game for the revengers of blood.
Now let’s look at the background to this story. Chapter two tells us that Joab and Abishai had a brother named Asahel that was killed by Abner during a previous battle. Naturally, Joab and Abishai had never forgotten what Abner did to their brother, and even though the act was committed during a time of war, they wanted Abner to pay for their brother’s death. The problem was, however, that they had to get him outside the gate of the city. Notice our text tells us that Joab pulls him aside, in the gate, to speak with him quietly (privately). But why would Abner willingly leave the protection of the city in order to speak with a man that wanted him dead? Because Joab had deceived him into thinking that he meant no harm. As soon as he gets him outside, however, he kills him.
Now let’s make application. The city of refuge is a picture of the will of God; and Joab is a picture of the devil. The devil cannot touch us directly as long as we are inside the walls of the will of God, so what he does is try to lure us out of the city so that he can kill our ministry for the Lord. The moral to the story is: stay inside the city. Don’t stray from God’s perfect will for your life. Don’t let Satan convince you that life will be better outside of the walls of the city. Stay in the Word of God; stay in the prayer closet; stay in church; stay out soul winning; stay separated. Stay in the City!
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