Let's turn again in our Bibles
to 2 Samuel. Tonight we've come to chapter
19. I heard the other day that someone
asked Martin Lloyd-Jones one time, what's the difference between
teaching and preaching? And Lloyd-Jones told him, if
you have to ask me, that means you've never heard a message. There's a lot of truth in that.
And preaching through these chapters I don't want this to be just
a history lesson as we go through them, but the history is history. We know that it is God's providence
at work. And one thing I thought of as
we look at the life of David, it explains to us some of the
things that we read in the Psalms. You might be reading in the Psalms
and you wonder how How could David have had all these experiences? What does he have reference to
in many of the Psalms? But his life had its ups and
downs, that's for sure. Tonight, this 19th chapter is
a longer chapter. There's 43 verses. And in going
through it, I have eight divisions for us. So we'll be brief on
each one. But first, David's army, David's
army could not rejoice in their victory because of David's sorrow. We see that in these first four
verses. His army could not rejoice in
their victory. Victory in battle is a time of
joy. After winning the battle, But
they couldn't rejoice because of David, his sorrow. And it
was told Joab, behold, the king weepeth and mourneth for Absalom. And the victory that day was
turned into mourning unto all the people. For the people heard
say that day how the king was grieved for his son. and the
people get them by stealth that day into the city, as people
being ashamed, still away when they flee in battle. But the
king covered his face and the king cried with a loud voice,
Oh, my son, Absalom, Oh, Absalom, my son, my son. Last week, we ended Chapter 18
with David lamenting the death of his son. After news was brought
to him, he cried out the same thing that we see here. Oh my
son Absalom, oh Absalom, my son, my son. It's interesting, in
chapters previously when we read about David praying and laying
on the ground and fasting, for his infant son who was sick,
the son of Bathsheba. And then when his servants told
him the child is dead, the scripture says that he washed himself and
clothed himself and went to the temple of God. And he said this,
at that time, I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.
Do you see the difference? in the death of that infant son,
his reaction to go and worship the Lord and with full confidence
that I shall go to him, he shall not return to me. But now this
son who was such a rebel and had rebelled against his father,
tried to steal the kingdom. The lamentation is much greater,
isn't it? Oh, my son, Absalom. Oh, Absalom,
my son, my son. And David's conduct here, his
grief, the scripture here says he covered his face, which was
a sign of great grief, extreme grief at that time. And his conduct
had such an effect upon his army, here they had just won a tremendous
battle, tremendous victory, but they came into the city as if
they had been defeated. They come into the city with
their heads down, almost as if they were ashamed. They came,
the scripture here says, into the city by stealth, kind of
secretly came into the city. So that's the first thing that
I point out to us in this chapter is that David's army, and we
see how they're wedded to David, don't we? David wasn't rejoicing,
so they didn't rejoice. David was lamenting the death
of his son, so their countenance is changed instead of being victors
and rejoicing in the victory that God had given them. They
come in as though they're ashamed, having won the victory. What
a difference. The second thing, David, we see,
was rebuked by his general. Let's look at that in verses
five through seven. And Joab came into the house
to the king and said, thou hast shamed this day the faces of
all thy servants. which this day have saved thy
life, and the lives of thy sons, and of thy daughters, and the
lives of thy wives, and the lives of thy concubines, and that thou
lovest thine enemies, and hatest thy friends. For thou hast declared
this day that Thou regardest neither princes nor servants,
for this day I perceive that if Absalom had lived and all
we had died this day, then it had pleased thee well. Now therefore
arise, go forth, and speak comfortably unto thy servants, for I swear
by the Lord, if thou go not out forth, There will not tarry one
with thee this night, and that will be worse unto thee than
all the evil that befell thee from thy youth until now. Joab, David's commander-in-chief,
his general, rebuked the king. You know, in Psalm 141 in verse
5, David wrote these words, Let the righteous smite me, it shall
be a kindness. And let him reprove me, it shall
be an excellent oil." Well, Joab was certainly not a righteous
man, not by any means. And he did, as most of the writers
point out, who lived under kings. We've never lived under a king,
so we don't have the feeling maybe for a king that people
did in those days gone by. But all of the writers that I
read, at least, they all point out that he did speak very disrespectfully
to his king, the way he talked to David. But at the same time,
none of us can fail to see that his reproof, his reproof was
needed. and it was truthful as well as
needed. David was so focused on this
one thing, that is the life of his son Absalom, that he missed
the big picture. And Job points it out to him
here. Don't you realize, I'll paraphrase,
but Joab tells his king, Don't you realize what Absalom would
do, what he intended to do? Don't you see that he would have
killed you? That was his goal, to kill you
and to kill all of your family and all of your princes. Don't
you recognize this? And it was a rebuke. There's no doubt about it. Joab told him, now, if you don't
change your conduct, if you don't go and speak comfortably to these
people who have risked their lives for you, they're gonna
leave you. You're not gonna have a kingdom.
You're not going to have anyone to reign over if you continue
like this. Yes, he rebuked him, and as David
said, Let him reprove me, it shall be an excellent oil. He took the reproof, that's the
third thing we see. David, as he should, he responded
to this reproof, verse eight. You know, it's not easy always
to take reproof, is it? Most of us, we don't take reproof. At times, we need to be reproved,
we make mistakes, and it's especially hard when your wife reproves
you, isn't it? We've all experienced that, I'm
sure. And they're usually right at
the same time. But it's hard to take reproof. But we see David, he took the
reproof, and no doubt Joab did speak very disrespectfully to
him. But notice verse eight. Then
the king arose and sat in the gate, and they told unto all
the people, saying, Behold, the king doth sit in the gate. And
all the people came before the king, for Israel had fled every
man to his tent. David uncovered his head, his
face, which had been a sign of great grief, and then we read
that he went to the gate of the city. Now, you're familiar enough,
I'm sure all of us are, with the Old Testament, where the
gate was a place of judgment. That's where the elders of the
city would sit and decide matters, judge matters. And as I thought
about that, I thought about this happy, happy experience that's
recorded that took place in the gate. Do you know what I'm speaking
about? Look back a few pages to Ruth,
the book of Ruth, chapter four. Ruth chapter four and verse one
we read, then went Boaz up to the gate
and set him down there. Now you see, there's some serious
business going to take place here. Here's a Moabitess woman
and the man who was next of kin to her, you know, as we read
on here, he would not redeem her. He had the right, first
of all, to redeem her, but he wouldn't do it because he said
it would spoil his inheritance. But Boaz, he's a wealthy man,
and he's their kinsman redeemer, and he redeemed her. And the
Lord Jesus Christ, this reason is pointed out to us many times
in the scripture, that He had to become bone of our bone and
flesh of our flesh, that He might be our kinsman, Redeemer. And that was a happy day when
Boaz redeemed Ruth. It was a happy day. And when
the Lord redeemed us, now, when He redeemed us on the cross,
yes, but when He redeemed us, when He saved us, in our experience,
in our conversion experience, that's a happy day, isn't it?
We sing that hymn, oh happy day, that fixed my choice on thee,
my savior and my God. I like that hymn, oh happy day,
oh happy day. You know, there's a happy day
here in the Book of Ruth, but this time David went to the gate
and sat there. And I guess you could say it
was somewhat a happy time. The people turned back to him. But the next thing we see in
this chapter, David, he must be brought back to Jerusalem.
He must be brought back to the capital city, to his palace,
to Jerusalem. Verses nine through 12. And all
the people were in strife throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying,
the king saved us out of the hand of our enemies, and he delivered
us out of the hand of the Philistines, and now he has fled out of the
land for Absalom. And Absalom, whom we anointed
over us, is dead in battle. Now therefore, why speak you
not a word of bringing the king back? And the king David sent
to Zadok and to Abathar the priest saying, speak unto the elders
of Judah saying, why are you the last to bring the king back
to his house? Seeing the speech of all Israel
has come to the king, even to his house, you are my brethren. You are my bones and my flesh. Wherefore then are you the last
to bring back the king? Now, we know that the nation
consisted of 12 tribes beside the tribe of Levi, the priest.
And David reigned over all Israel at this time, one nation with
12 tribes. He himself was of the tribe of
Judah, that's the kingly tribe, the Lord Jesus Christ, he too,
was born of Mary, who was of the tribe, a descendant of David,
of the tribe of Judah. We see here, it was his own tribe
that are dragging their feet. Here he is out after he had run
from Absalom, and they should have already have brought him
back, made provisions to bring the king back to his palace,
to bring him back to his home. And some of the other tribes,
they were talking about it. Well, we've made Absalom our
king and now he's dead. We've got to bring our king back.
But the tribe of Judah, they weren't engaged like they should
have been. They should have been first.
They should have been the first in bringing the king back. And
this caused a strife between the tribes, between the other
tribes, the 10 tribes and the tribe of Judah and Benjamin. It appears that these other tribes
recognized the value of David more so than his own tribe did. When I thought about that, I
thought about what our Lord said in the New Testament about a
prophet. A prophet, he said, is not without
honor, save in his own country, among his own people. Here we
have these other 10 tribes talking about bringing him back and stalling
him, once again, as the king. And his own tribe, they're not
doing anything. He has to write to them, send
word to the priest. What's the problem here? What's
the problem? You should have been first in
bringing me back. The fifth thing, David replaced
Joab, that is his commander in chief. He replaced him by this
man named Amasa. That's what we read in verse
13. David wrote to the brethren of Judah, and say ye to Amasa,
art thou not of my bone and of my flesh? God do so to me and
more also, if thou be not captain of the host before me continually
in the room of Joab. Joab was being replaced. Why
David is replacing Joab, we're not told. Amasa was kin to David,
but so was Joab. They were both cousins. They
were both cousins of David. But why he now decides to replace
Joab, we're not told. Some believe that maybe he now
understood that Joab was the one who killed his son, Absalom. So he's going to lose his position. But you and I know we've learned
enough about Joab. David was signing a massive death
warrant by replacing him with Joab. And that will come out
in chapters to come, I believe, next chapter. Well, the sixth thing we see,
verses 14 and 15, is that David's word to the elders of Judah,
it produced results. He had asked, let's read 14 and
15, and he bowed the heart of all the men of Judah, even as
the heart of one man, so that they sent this word unto the
king, return thou and all thy servants. So the king returned
and came to Jordan. And Judah came to Gilgal to go
to meet the king to conduct the king over Jordan. He had asked them, why are you
the last to bring the king back to his house? Now David could
have returned on his own. He was a king. He didn't need
their permission. He didn't need their help. But
it was only right that they should provide for him and his house
to come back. He could have returned on his
own. The rebellion now was put down,
but he chose to return in this way, to return with the people
desiring him, wanting him, asking him to come. And this reminds
us of how the Lord works in saving his people. how he comes into
the hearts of his children. He so works upon our hearts that
we want him to enter in. He could come in, he could just
force his way in to the heart of his elect. He has the power,
but he shows his power in working in our hearts so that we desire
him to come in. We ask him to come in. We pray to him, God save me,
God have mercy upon me. In other words, his people are
willing in the day of his power. And the same thing we see here.
David could have come back. He didn't need the elders of
Judah in any way. But this is the way he determined
to come back. And so now they go to the River
Jordan. You remember when Israel came
to the Kadesh Barnea, I believe it was, when Moses was leading
them. They fought two powerful kings,
Og and Bashan, I believe their names were. And the tribe of
Reuben and Dan, was it Dan? No, it wasn't
Dan, but Manasseh, half-tribe of Manasseh. But anyway, they
stayed on one side of the River Jordan. And that's where David
had run. That was the farthest point in
Israel. If you look at a map of Palestine
at that time, David had gone as far as he could go fleeing
from Absalom and still be in the confines of the territory
of Palestine. And so now he's got to cross
back over the River Jordan. We're going to read these verses
in a minute, but you're going to read of a ferry boat, a ferry
boat. I thought about when Israel crossed
over that river the first time. Remember how the priests went
out into the river and stood there? And once their feet touched
the water, then the Jordan was held back so that the nation
of Israel, they walked over on dry land, just like when they
crossed the Red Sea. But this time, there's no miracle. But it is interesting that they
come up with a ferry boat to ferry David and his people back
across this river. And that brings us to the seventh
thing. David is met by four men as he
crossed the Jordan. We're going to see four men come
to meet him as he crosses the Jordan. Let's read from verse
16 through 40. And Shimei, the son of Gerah,
a Benjamite, which was of Beharim, hasted and came down with the
men of Judah to meet King David. And there were a thousand men
of Benjamin with him, and Ziba, the servant of the house of Saul,
and his 15 sons, and his 20 servants with him. And they went over
Jordan before the king, and there went over a ferry boat to carry
over the king's household. and to do what he thought good.
And Shimei, the son of Gera, fell down before the king as
he was come over Jordan, and said unto the king, let not my
lord impute iniquity unto me, neither do thou remember that
which thy servant did perversely the day that my lord the king
went out of Jerusalem, that the king should take it to his heart.
For thy servant doth know that I have sinned, Therefore, behold,
I'm come the first this day of all the house of Joseph to go
down to meet my Lord the King. But Abishai, the son of Zeruiah,
answered and said, shall not Shimei be put to death for this,
because he cursed the Lord's anointed? David said, what have
I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah, that you should this
day be adversaries unto me? Shall there any man be put to
death this day in Israel? For do not I know that I am this
day king over Israel? Therefore the king said unto
Shimei, thou shall not die, and the king swear unto him. And
Mephibosheth, the son of Saul, came down to meet the king and
had neither dressed his feet nor trimmed his beard, nor washed
his clothes from the day the king departed until the day he
came again in peace. And it came to pass, when he
was come to Jerusalem to meet the king, that the king said
unto him, Wherefore wentest not thou with me, Mephibosheth? And
he answered, My lord, O king, my servant deceived me. For thy
servant said, I will saddle me an ass, that I may ride thereon,
and go to the king, because thy servant is lame. And he hath
slandered thy servant unto my lord the king. But my lord the
king is as an angel of God. Do therefore what is good in
thine eyes. For all of my father's house
were but dead men before my lord the king. Yet didst thou set
thy servant among them that eat at thine own table. What right
thereof therefore have I yet to cry any more unto the king?
And the king said unto him, why speakest thou any more of thy
matters? I have said, thou and Ziba divide
the land. And Mephibosheth said unto the
king, yea, let him take it all, or take all, forasmuch as my
lord the king is come again in peace unto his own house. And
Barzillai, the Gileadite, came down from Rogelem, and went over
Jordan with the king to conduct him over Jordan. Now, Barzillai
was a very aged man, even four score years old, and he had provided
the king of sustenance while he lay at Mahanaim, for he was
a very great man. The king said unto Barzillai,
come thou over with me and I will feed thee with me in Jerusalem.
And Barzillai said unto the king, How long have I to live, that
I should go up with the king unto Jerusalem? I am this day
fourscore years old, and can I discern between good and evil?
Can thy servant taste what I eat or what I drink? Can I hear anymore
the voice of singing men and singing women? Wherefore, then,
should thy servant be yet a burden unto my lord the king? Thy servant
will go a little way over Jordan with the king, and why should
the king recompense it me with such a reward? Let thy servant,
I pray thee, turn back again that I may die in mine own city,
be buried by the grave of my father and of my mother. But
behold, thy servant, Chimham, let him go over with my lord
the king, and do to him what shall seem good unto thee. And
the king answered, Chimham shall go over with me, and I will do
to him that which shall seem good unto thee, and whatsoever
thou shalt require of me, that will I do for thee. And all the
people went over Jordan. And when the king was come over,
the king kissed Barzillai, and blessed him, and he returned
unto his own place. And the king went on to Gilgal,
and Shemham went on with him. And all the people of Judah conducted
the king, and also half the people of Israel. Four men, I read a
long passage of scripture, I understand that. But we have four men who
came to meet David as he crossed over the Jordan on his way to
his home. The first man was this man, Shimei. He's the first one who mentioned,
the first one who came. And his conduct, it is quite
different now, isn't it? When David was fleeing, you remember
he was cursing David. He was on a higher grade than
David and his company was. He was throwing rocks at him.
He was throwing pebbles at David and cursing him as he went along.
And this same man, Abishai, wanted to kill him at that time. And
David said, no, let him curse. Let him curse. God sent him to
curse me. Maybe God will see it and take
pity upon me. But he comes this time. He's
not cursing David this time. He's beseeching David. He's not
throwing rocks, he's bowed down before him, asking for mercy. And he received mercy. David
said, you're not going to die today. The second man who came
was Ziba. Remember, he was the servant
of Saul. who had overseen the land of
Mephibosheth. And when David fled, well, I
don't want to get ahead of myself. There's not much said about Zabba
here, but he had a large entourage there with him too, his sons
and his servants. And they tended the farm land
of Saul in Mephibosheth. Well, then Mephibosheth comes.
And you remember David asked him, rather, where were you when
I was fleeing? When I was fleeing for my life,
Mephibosheth, where were you? Oh, he said, my servant deceived
me. You know, I'm lame. And he told
me he'd saddled me a donkey and asked to ride on and I could
go with you. But he took off and left me.
And not only that, but he slandered me to you, David. He said to
you, he told you that I said, they're going to restore the
kingdom to me today. And David said, well, that I've
already made my decision. I gave it all the property to
Ziba. Y'all just split it. And don't
you love the words of Mephibosheth here? Let him have it all. Let
him have the whole shooting match. I'm just thankful that you're
back. You're back safely. He had love for the king who
had shown such love and mercy and grace to him. And then the
last man who met him was this older man, Barzillai. And David wanted to bring him
along to Jerusalem and feed him and house him and just take care
of him. Live like a king, like David
lived. But the man said, no, I'm too
old. I'm too old. I'm 80 years old, and I can't
hardly hear music anymore, and my taste buds are not like they
used to be, and I'd just be a burden. I want to die. I want to die
and be buried, and my mother and father are buried. I want
my body to lie next to them. But do notice this. He said, I would like you to
do this, David. Here's Chimham, which most people
believe must have been his son. Take him and do for him what
you wanted to do for me. And that is a picture of Christ,
isn't it? Isn't that what he said, what
Paul told Philemon about Onesimus? Whatever he owes you, just put
that on my account. Consider what you do for him
as you're doing it for me. And that's the reason we're forgiven. Those of us tonight who are forgiven
our sins is for Christ's sake. And just as this man would be
blessed and tended to and because of the other man's sake. Then the last, I'll close with
this, the last, the eighth division, the last few verses in the chapter,
what we see is another, another trial that's coming into David's
life. This time, here are these people,
we see the fickleness of men. They ran David out of town, they
became traitors, aligned themselves with his son, and now the son's
dead and David's coming back and they're fighting over who's
gonna get to bring him back. And we just know that's going
to introduce another trial in the life of David. Many are the
afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out
of them all. I pray that the Lord would bless
these words to us here tonight. We're going to sing a hymn before
we are