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"Redeeming Another's Failure" • 3.6.16 •
Calvary Christian Fellowship, Sunday Morning Service
Intro
- As we come to the closing chapters of II Samuel, we land here on a flashback
to events which occured early on in David's reign.
- When the Biblical writers wrote, their
primary interest was in providing a thematic study. Chronology is often served,
but not the main concern. Chapter 21
takes us back to an early event.
- After chapter 20 and the rebellion of Sheba, a man of some close relation to
Saul, you might be tempted to consider why it was that David hadn't dealt with
that before.
- This section helps to further explain that
complicated relationship and what happens when God calls you and I to clean up
another man's mess! Verse 1.
Text
•
II Samuel 21:1 : "Now there was a famine in the days
of David for three years, year after year; and David inquired of the Lord. And the Lord answered, 'It is because of Saul
and his bloodthirsty house, because he killed the Gibeonites.'" : - Most famines are caused
by drought conditions and this particular famine lasted for three years. It's
not the longest lasting famine in scripture. You'll recall that Egypt suffered
a 7 year famine.
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In this case, after the third consecutive year, David suspected that something
divine was in play. Some have wondered why David waited so long to inquire of
the Lord.
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On the other hand, we can infer from David's inaction that the King also
realized that sometimes drought conditions are simply a matter of weather
phenomena.
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Drought and famine were specific consequences of disobedience and Israel had
been warned that they would experience those conditions as a punitive measure.
•
Deuteronomy 28:23,24 : "And your
heavens which are over your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is under
you shall be iron. The Lord will change the rain of your land
to powder and dust; from the heaven it shall come down on you until you are
destroyed." : By this third year, David had to
settle the issue in his own heart. He went before the Lord to discover the
cause of this famine.
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Whenever a believer responds with communion with God and takes his privilege
seriously to inquire of the Lord, an answer and the Lord's wisdom witll be
found! May we go to Him early!
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In this case, there was a clear transgression that had precipitated this famine
and that David had no
participation in, nor knowledge of.
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When Saul was the King, he and his family had betrayed Israel's oath of
protection over the Gibeonites. God employs the term "bloodthirsty," indicating
that they did not act in self-defense.
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In your afternoon reading, I would recommend that you revisit Joshua 9. The people of Israel had
already defeated Jericho and Ai. The Amorites from Gibeon were next on the
queue.
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Knowing their fate, the Gibeonites came to Israel's camp pretending to be from
a distant land. What made that important?
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It's likely that they understood God's decree of annhilation for all within the
land of Canaan and the call for negotiation for those who lived afar off. (Deuteronomy 20:15-18)
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When the people of Gibeon fooled the elders into making a covenant with them,
Joshua, in spite of a growing threat from the people, chose to hold onto their
oath for fear of God's reprisal.
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In Joshua 9:20, Joshua tells the
people that the Gibeonites will live as wood cutters and water carriers or
Israel will face God's wrath. Why? Because they had sworn in His Name!
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They had invoked the truth of His person. They had set their actions against
the Living God and promised to represent Him correctly, or face the wrath of
God themselves.
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Knowing that this was the case, what could have possessed Saul to act in this
way? We'll delve into that in a moment.
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For now, understand that this promise was made over 4 centuries before Saul and
a few decades after Him. David wasn't in a position to know of Saul's actions.
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But God is coming to him with this unfinished business. How does David respond?
Verse 2.
•
II Samuel 21:2 : "So the king called the Gibeonites
and spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but
of the remnant of the Amorites; the children of Israel had sworn protection to
them, but Saul had sought to kill them in his zeal for the children of Israel
and Judah." : Without skipping a beat, David
called the Gibeonites and spoke to them.
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He opened a dialogue with them and specifically sought to address their
concern.
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He didn't cop an attitude with God or respond with a resentful remark regarding
his predecessor. He took immediate, personal action and went to the Gibeonites.
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Why didn't God require that Saul make restitution? After studying Saul's life,
it isn't much a stretch to consider that he would not listen to the Lord. David
would and he did.
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What an example for us? How often has God called you to clean up another's
mess?
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I might have replied, "But that was another time and other people were
responsible for that." That isn't David's heart.
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He recognizes that God has put him in this position and he alone has the power
to respond otherwise, he would not have revealed it to him!
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In this world, invariably there will be people who have been injured by those
who claim the Name of the Lord. Innocently or ignorantly, it's a very real
issue.
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Like Saul, when you take the Name of the Lord, you represent heaven! Your
actions or inaction will count for double, as it reflects upon you and your
professed Lord!
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When you fail, God is still faithful to present a proper witness to that
offended person. When we encounter them, God may ask us to pay "the fine"
for His sake!
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Consider it a compliment. God gives you the chance to cooperate with Him in
restoring someone's faith in His good Name by your proper obedient behavior!
David was willing that it be him.
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God expected Israel to keep that promise hundreds of years after the fact and
David was willing to do whatever it took to obey God in the matter.
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Does this not illustrate the enduring authority of God's Word? David reveals a
heart that sees God's Word as the binding authority, regardless of when it was
written or to whom it was written!
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The principle still stood and was thus valuable to know and obey! Sadly, Saul
didn't see it that way and went back on Israel's oath to protect the
Gibeonites. Why?
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It seems he did this in order to expand the territory for Israel and Judah!
Fascinating.
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God had called Saul to extinguish the Amalekites and he did not, claiming that
the people kept him from doing that, but also with the spoils visible for all
to see.
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Here, not only had he acted in a non-sanctioned way, but he had acted against
God's prohibition, for the sake of Israel's national gain.
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He wouldn't obey God when it didn't favor him in the case of the Amalekites,
but he would disobey God if it helped Israel gain a little more territory!
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I might also add that this would have been the popular decision. When Joshua
made the treaty with the Gibeonites, the people wanted to kill them.
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Joshua 9:26 says that Joshua
delivered the Gibeonites out of their hands. There is no reason to believe that
the general populace held a differing opinion as time went on.
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Saul reveals a heart that is willing to obey or disobey based on his personal
self interest. Whether he did it for territorial or popular gain, he did this
for himself!
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That sort of heart is in no way reflective of a heart in tune with the nature
of God, who is the King of our lives and whose Word is the law!
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Regardless of whether we are enriched or made temporarily poorer, let us hold
to God's Word and respond in accordance with who He is, not what we want! Verse 3.
•
II Samuel 21:3 : "Therefore David said to the Gibeonites, 'What shall I do for
you? And with what shall I make atonement, that you may bless the inheritance
of the Lord?'" : David had the humility ask the
Gibeonites, the Amorite foreigners, how he could make things right with them. "With
what shall I make atonement." What can cover or purge this sin?"
-
When lives have been taken, what can take away that stain or alleviate that
pain?
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The King of Israel asks this in order that they might go from cursing Israel,
to blessing them once again!
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When the Gibeonites were oppressed by Saul, they had turned to the God that
Saul represented and complained to Him! Moses explained that God would take the
side of the oppressed.
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God often reminds his people that they are to treat the helpless among them in
a just way or face His discipline for acting otherwise.
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You'll find multiple verses in the Old Testament, but Exodus 22:21ff is a good representative.
•
Exodus 22:21-24 : "You shall neither mistreat a stranger nor oppress him, for you
were strangers in the land of Egypt. You shall not afflict any widow or
fatherless child. If you afflict them in any way, and they cry at all to Me, I
will surely hear their cry; and My wrath will become hot, and I will
kill you with the sword; your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless." : God tells his people this often because they knew what it was
like to be victimized!
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He promised them that He would take the case of the offended that they offended
and would be their defender in the same way that He had been Israel's defense!
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The Gibeonites were offended by God's people. They spell out their terms in
verse 4.
•
II Samuel 21:4-6 : "And the Gibeonites said to him, 'We will have no silver or gold
from Saul or from his house, nor shall you kill any man in Israel for us.' So
he said, 'Whatever you say, I will do for you.' Then they answered
the king, 'As for the man who consumed us and plotted against us, that we
should be destroyed from remaining in any of the territories of Israel, let
seven men of his descendants be delivered to us, and we will hang them before
the Lord in Gibeah of Saul, whom the Lord chose.' And the king said, 'I will
give them.'" : The Gibeonites were reasonable.
They didn't want any money or any one to needlessly suffer. They wanted
specificity.
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They wanted those who had been directly involved. Saul is described by the
Gibeonites as being the one who "consumed us."
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The HCSB uses the word "annhilated" and the NET goes so far as to
employ the word "exterminated." The goal of Saul's campaign seems to
have been fairly straightforward.
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He had planned to remove all of the Gibeonites from the land of Israel, attempting
to enact a genocidal campaign against them!
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Why? Had they been a threat? Not at all. Saul just wanted the territory for
Israelites!
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Can you see why God calls us to obey Him? When we obey our own greed, we are
capable of the most heinous acts against our fellow men!
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Whatever we would fight for will most always pale in comparison to the cost we
are willing to pay! Their request of seven men to hang from the responsible
party, seems quite charitable.
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Without hesitation, the King pledges to give them with one exception. Verse 7.
•
II Samuel 21:7-9 : "But the king spared Mephibosheth
the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the Lord’s oath that was between them,
between David and Jonathan the son of Saul. So the king took Armoni and
Mephibosheth, the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to
Saul, and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she brought
up for Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite; and he delivered them into the
hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the hill before the Lord. So they fell, all seven together,
and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the
beginning of barley harvest." : Mephibosheth
was spared because of the Lord's oath that was between David and Jonathan. Did
you see that? Not David and Jonathan's oath. God had heard it and it became
His!
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This led David to take Armoni and a different Mephibosheth, who were Saul's
sons through this woman named Rizpah, whose name means "Pavement!"
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Additionally, Michal, David's wife is said to have surrendered 5 children.
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The issue here is interesting, as the the Bible states that Michal had no
children but was barren until her death. (II
Samuel 6:23) Adriel was married to Michal's sister Merab. (I Samuel 18:19)
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Two scenarios are possible here. First, it's possible that Merab died and
Michal took charge of their care, which is what the text seems to indicate as
it says "she brought them up for Adriel."
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In English, the connotation is one of care for the children, but the word
"brought up" is used exclusively in scripture to denote childbearing.
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This leaves us with the fact that the manuscripts used by the NKJV have a
copyist error, which some of the other translations have corrected for us. This
should reflect Merab's motherhood.
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All of the 7 descendants of Saul hung, notice, on a hill before the Lord. Why
were they hung? - Deuteronomy 21:22,23 instructed the people to hang those that were
guilty of murder and to consider them as "accursed of God."
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The Holy Spirit gives us a time, being in the first days of the barley harvest
which puts this in the month of April. You'd expect the narrative to end here,
but it continues.
•
II Samuel 21:10 : "Now Rizpah the daughter of Aiah
took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock, from the beginning of
harvest until the late rains poured on them from heaven. And she did not allow
the birds of the air to rest on them by day nor the beasts of the field by
night." : Normally, we are not told much of
the character of these women who were concubines.
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They are a part of the fabric of the story, but their personalities are rarely
in view. Here we have an exception. Rizpah didn't just fade away into the
proverbial sunset.
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When her grown sons were delivered up, she took on the clothes of mourning.
Sackcloth was the coarse and uncomfortable animal hair worn by those in times
of mourning.
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She wore it because her sons were dead, because they had chosen disobedience.
She wore it during the day and slept under it at night for several months,
perhaps even to late summer!
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The bodies were allowed to lay out there before the Lord, which Rizpah was
forced to accept. What she would not accept was the indignity and the
humiliation beyond that.
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She was out there for the sake of protection over the bodies of her sons and
the rest of Saul's kin. She shewed the birds away by day and she did the same
with the beasts by night.
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The language indicates that she did this perpetually, unwilling to turn aside
from this self-appointed duty. Her actions did not go unnoticed. Verse 11.
•
II Samuel 21:11-14 : "And David
was told what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done. Then David went and took the bones
of Saul, and the bones of Jonathan his son, from the men of Jabesh Gilead who
had stolen them from the street of Beth Shan, where the Philistines
had hung them up, after the Philistines had struck down Saul in Gilboa. So he brought up the bones of Saul
and the bones of Jonathan his son from there; and they gathered the bones of
those who had been hanged. They buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the
country of Benjamin in Zelah, in the tomb of Kish his father. So they performed
all that the king commanded. And after that God heeded the prayer for the land." : Rizpah's actions reached the palace and it caused David to act.
Up until this point he had allowed the bones of Saul and Jonathan to remain in
Jabesh Gilead.
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The men of that city had gone on an all night raid and taken them from the
walls of Beth Shan. David took their bones and the bones of these other men and
laid them to rest.
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We've mentioned previously that a burial in the family tomb, in the city of
their origin, was a matter of honor and dignity.
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In spite of what all of these men deserved, David treated them with this
kindness.
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Generally speaking, the Kings of the ancient world had no such regard for their
predecessors. Most would have executed entire family lines.
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God may have taken care of some of this business for David in this story, but
it was David's heart to act redemptively that kept him from personally engaging
in that right.
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When all this was accomplished, God brought relief to the land.
Conclusion
- As we close
this session, may I remind you that there is a cost to taking the Name of the
Lord. Your work and words reflect upon Him. Own and know that. Remember that in
your freedoms.
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You may be one who is called to pay the fine that has been incurred by another.
Thank God for that opportunity and strive to see God's Name restored in that
person's life.
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And when you think it unfair remember that when God was offended by Your sin, He
didn't ask you what you would receive as an atonement. He chose an atoning
sacrifice!
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He took on human flesh, lived perfectly and died, hung on a hill before the
Lord. You and I had lived under the curse of God, the drought of His presence
until Jesus.
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When Christ became our Lord, when His grace made our confession so, God
released all of the rain of His Spirit upon us and refreshed us in Him.
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Is it too much to ask us to live like that? Is there a cost too high to put our
reputations on the line for that cause in another person's life?
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Because Jesus was the Atoning sacrifice for my sins, I don't mind being a
living sacrifice that leads others to Him!
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