We are going to the young people's
address now, so if you have your Bibles once again, please turn
with me to 2 Samuel chapter 20. We're going to 2 Samuel chapter
20, and we're going to read from verse 1. We're in the book of 2 Samuel,
chapter 20, and we're reading from verse one. And I'll read
through to nearly the end of the chapter, not perhaps quite
the last few verses, but just about the whole chapter. So let's
read together. And there happened to be there
a man of Belial whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjamite,
and he blew a trumpet and said, we have no part in David, neither
have we inheritance in the son of Jesse. Every man to his tents,
O Israel. So every man of Israel went up
from after David and followed Sheba the son of Bichri, but
the men of Judah clave unto their king from Jordan even to Jerusalem. And David came to his house at
Jerusalem. And the king took the ten women
his concubines, whom he had left to keep the house, and put them
in ward and fed them, but went not in unto them. So they were
shut up unto the day of their death, living in widowhood. Then
said the king to Amasa, assemble me the men of Judah within three
days, and be thou here present. So Amasa went to assemble the
men of Judah, but he tarried longer than the set time which
he had appointed him. And David said to Abishai, Now
shall Sheba the son of Bichri do us more harm than did Absalom. Take thou thy Lord's servants
and pursue after him, lest he get him fenced cities and escape
us. And there went out after him
Joab's men, and the Cherithites, and the Pelethites, and all the
mighty men, and they went out of Jerusalem to pursue after
Sheba the son of Bichri. When they were at the Great Stone,
which is in Gibeon, Amasa went before them. And Joab's garment
that he had put on was girded unto him, and upon it a girdle
with a sword fastened upon his loins, in the sheath thereof.
And as he went forth, it fell out. And Joab said to Amasa,
Art thou in health, my brother? And Joab took Amasa by the beard
with his right hand to kiss him. But Amasa took no heed to the
sword that was in Joab's hand. So he smote him therewith in
the fifth rib, and shed out his bowels to the ground, and struck
him not again, and he died. So Joab and Abishai, his brother,
pursued after Sheba, the son of Bichri. And one of Joab's
men stood by him and said, He that favoureth Joab, and he that
is for David, let him go after Joab. And Amasa wallowed in blood
in the midst of the highway. And when the man saw that all
the people stood still, he removed Amasa out of the highway into
the field and cast a cloth upon him, when he saw that everyone
that came by him stood still. When he was removed out of the
highway, all the people went on after Joab to pursue after
Sheba, the son of Bechri. And he went through all the tribes
of Israel unto Abel and to Bathmatah, and all the Berites, and they
were gathered unto him and went also after him. And they came
and besieged him in Abel of Bethmacha, and they cast up a bank against
the city, and it stood in the trench, and all the people that
were with Joab battered the wall to throw it down. Then cried
a wise woman out of the city, Here, here, say I pray you unto
Joab, come near hither, that I may speak with thee, And when
he was come near unto her, the woman said, Art thou Joab? And he answered, I am he. Then
she said unto him, Hear the words of thine handmaid. And he answered,
I do hear. Then she spake, saying, They
were wont to speak in old times, saying, They shall surely ask
counsel at Abel. And so they ended the matter.
I am one of them that are peaceable and faithful in Israel. Thou
seekest to destroy a city and a mother in Israel. Why wilt
thou swallow up the inheritance of the Lord? And Joab answered
and said, Far be it, far be it from me that I should swallow
up or destroy. The matter is not so, but a man
of Mount Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichri, by name, hath lifted
up his hand against the king, even against David. Deliver him
only, and I will depart from the city. And the woman said
unto Joab, Behold, his head shall be thrown to thee over the wall. And the woman went unto all the
people in her wisdom, and they cut off the head of Sheba the
son of Bichri, and cast it out to Joab. And he blew a trumpet,
and they retired from the city, every man to his tent. And Joab
returned to Jerusalem unto the king. Amen. May the Lord bless
to us this reading from his word. Well, as we know, as we have
heard repeatedly in recent weeks, the Lord by Nathan, the prophet,
had told David that a sword wouldn't pass from his house as a consequence
of the blood that David had spilled, the blood of Uriah the Hittite. The Lord told David that there
would be a consequence for that crime that he had committed.
And that consequence was that there would be trouble and strife,
there would be fighting and violence in David's kingdom for the rest
of his life. And so it proved. Though David
was a believer in the Lord, though David was a man after God's own
heart, a man that the Lord loved. His reign was nevertheless marred
with bloodshed, violence and disruption in his own household
and in his kingdom. In this rebellion of Sheba, a
new occasion of trouble for David opens up. David was returning, as perhaps
you will remember, from being in exile across the River Jordan
during the uprising of Absalom and his rebellion. Absalom had
been slain, that rebellion had been put down. And the people
of Israel and Judah decided that it would be right and proper
to invite David to return to the throne. And that was what
he was now doing. He was returning to Jerusalem
after the defeat of Absalom. But an argument broke out between
the 10 tribes of Israel and the tribe of Judah. The argument
was because Judah took the lead in bringing back the king. Now Sheba was of the tribes of
Israel. He was a Benjamite and he was
an opportunist. He saw a chance to make trouble. because of this argument which
he hoped that he would personally profit from. He saw an opportunity
that he might possibly be crowned king of Israel if he could lead
the army of Israel in defiance of David. So he blew a trumpet
and he raised a revolt. rejecting David's authority and
with his followers he turned northward into the security of
the ten tribes and there he tried to draw more support for this
uprising. So first it was Absalom's rebellion
and now it was Sheba's that had to be suppressed. And David called
Amasa, his new general, to gather troops from Judah in order to
pursue Sheba. But Amasa found it hard to do
so. The people of Judah were reluctant,
having supported Absalom. They had returned to their home,
and now they were reluctant to regather, recongregate in order
to pursue this Israel uprising. Realizing that time was important,
David therefore asked Abishai, Joab's brother, to take David's
own soldiers and his personal bodyguard and to quickly pursue
Sheba. And Joab, with his own men that
were loyal to him, joined forces with his brother Abishai. Amasa, who was now technically
in charge of David's army, at last managed to raise a force
and he too headed north after Sheba. And on the road, Joab,
the deposed general, met his replacement, Amasa. And there
and then, at their first meeting, Joab treacherously murdered Amasa
while pretending to greet him with a kiss. He killed him there
in the middle of the street as they first met in the same way
that he had killed another rival, Abner, many years before. He
killed him with a sword under the fifth rib. Then Joab took
command of the whole army and continued his pursuit of Sheba. Sheba, we're told, took refuge
in this place called Abel Beth-machacha, a fortified town with not the
easiest name to say. Joab once laid siege to the city
and he raised a large bank, an earthwork, against its walls. When it was clear what was happening,
that his soldiers were beginning to afflict and damage the wall
with perhaps their battering rams or whatever it was that
they used to break down the wall or throw things in over the top
of the wall from their embankment. When it became clear what was
happening, a wise woman asked to speak to Joab. She wanted
to parley. and Joab respectfully listened
to what she had to say. Between them, they agreed terms
of peace. The woman would deliver Sheba
dead and Joab would save the city from destruction. Shortly
after this, Sheba's head was thrown over the wall into the
company of the besiegers. And the siege came to an end
and the revolt came to an end. Joab returned to Jerusalem with
news of the victory for David. And David did not mention the
death of Amasa. To Joab, nor did Joab mention
it to David. Joab simply resumed his place
at the head of the army. David may have been king, but
he did not have the power to resist Joab, upon whom, though
not by choice, he had come to rely and depend. So here are
a few little applications and lessons from today's reading. David was never short of enemies. There always seemed to be someone
ready to cause trouble. And Sheba was just the latest
enemy to declare himself. The old envy between Israel and
Judah, the grudge between the supporters of Saul and those
of David never really went away. And no matter how good and peaceful
life seemed to be for the nation as a whole, suspicion and mistrust
was always just beneath the surface. And this reminds us of the continuing
strife that exists between the seed of Christ and the seed of
Satan. From the Garden of Eden, the
striving of Cain and Abel, the contention of Isaac and Ishmael,
the trouble between Jacob and Esau, there has always been antagonism
between the people of this world and the children of promise.
Now David was in the line of promise, for in his lineage Christ
would be born. Therefore those who were of Belial,
which this man Sheba was, a wicked and unruly man, could never coexist
peacefully with the Lord's anointed. And this continues until today. We who are believers will also
experience opposition and antagonism against the reign of Christ in
our lives. That may be open and clear to
see, or it may be subtle and hidden. But that contention between
the people of God and the values of this fallen world's systems
will continue until the end of time. That antagonism between
this world with its false religion and the true Church of Jesus
Christ between those who honour Christ and those who say, away
with him, we will not have this man to reign over us. That will never come to an end
until Christ finally delivers his people at the judgment. Now, I am not saying that we
should consider everyone that we meet to be an enemy or a threat,
but I want us all, especially the young people, I want us all
to be aware that if we trust Christ, if we endeavor to follow
him, and if we stand up for the truth of the gospel that we have
learned, We shall be in this world in the minority and there
will be many who will be offended at our faith because they are
offended at our Christ. And we need the Lord Jesus Christ
to protect and to preserve us from the ways and the wiles of
the devil in this world. and bless His name. The Lord Jesus Christ has promised
to do so and we can trust Him to keep us safe. Here's another
thing that I want us to note from this passage. The problem
of Joab besets David once again. This man Joab was always loyal
to David, always ready to fight David's battles, always ready
to serve David's cause. And yet the question persists,
was Joab only looking after himself? Did Joab do all this knowing
David to be the key to his own self-interest. And once again
the deceitful murder of Amasa showed Joab's true nature. And we can find explanations
for Joab's actions, even justifications. And yet the fact remains that
he was a desperate and a bloody man. He was vengeful and he was
murderous. And let this be a lesson too.
You see, David used Joab to serve his interest as a king has a
right to do with his subjects. But David used him to cover up
his sins. and that was not a one-way street. Joab then was able to use David
for his own promotion until Joab became so powerful that even
David could not resist him. He was able to act in David's
kingdom with impunity and immunity. Now here's the lesson. The church
might think, we might think, that we can be wise and clever
and smart with the resources of this world and use them as
we see fit. We think perhaps, or we might
think, that we can employ people and things, that we can employ
systems. like the politics of our age
or business techniques or the technology that is at our disposal
to achieve good things for the kingdom of God. But the truth
is that those very things can in the end be our undoing because
they come to dominate us. The only one worthy of our trust
and faith, the only one worthy of our following in this world
is the Lord Jesus himself and we must rely on him, not the
clever things that are around about us. Do not put your trust
in men or in the ways of men. May we learn young that we cannot
make this world a better place using these flawed tools. I've said this before, let me
repeat the wisdom of Proverbs 3, verse 5. Let us learn to trust
in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him
and he shall direct thy paths. And finally, a word about the
wisdom of this woman who spoke to Joab from the city wall. Her wisdom was that she realized
it was either Sheba's life or the lives of all the men and
women and the boys and girls of the city. That city was harboring
and protecting Sheba. That city had become the center
of the uprising, the rebellion against David. And yet here was
a woman who saved her whole community by her wit, by her courage, and
by her fast action. Sheba was a coward who tried
to protect himself at the expense of those around him. What a contrast here we find
with the Lord Jesus Christ. How beautiful the sacrifice that
he made. How glorious the selfless act
of Jesus, who is the antithesis of this rebel Sheba. Christ voluntarily offered himself
a ransom for his people. And what a gracious display of
love and mercy in God the Father to accept such a substitute as
our Lord Jesus. Sheba's execution saved a city. Christ's voluntary death saved
all those for whom he died and for whom his blood atoned. These Old Testament pictures
reveal wisdom for living, applications for our daily lives, but they
principally point us and lead us to Jesus Christ. They principally
reveal the blessedness of the saving work of grace. When the
Lord Jesus Christ died, he took our sins for which we should
have been held accountable before God, and he paid the debt to
God's law and justice. He who is the light of the world
brought his gospel light into a dark, sinful place. And John tells us, the Apostle
John tells us, if we walk in the light as he is in the light,
we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ,
God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin. May we all find grace
today to walk in that light and find that cleansing from sin
and that new life from God that Christ alone gives. Amen.