Sat, 24 September, 2005: Today’s Bible readings.
1 Now there happened to be there a worthless man, whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjaminite. And he blew the trumpet and said,
“We have no portion in David,
and we have no inheritance in the son of Jesse;
every man to his tents, O Israel!”2 So all the men of Israel withdrew from David and followed Sheba the son of Bichri. But the men of Judah followed their king steadfastly from the Jordan to Jerusalem.
3 And David came to his house at Jerusalem. And the king took the ten concubines whom he had left to care for the house and put them in a house under guard and provided for them, but did not go in to them. So they were shut up until the day of their death, living as if in widowhood.
4 Then the king said to Amasa, “Call the men of Judah together to me within three days, and be here yourself.” 5 So Amasa went to summon Judah, but he delayed beyond the set time that had been appointed him. 6 And David said to Abishai, “Now Sheba the son of Bichri will do us more harm than Absalom. Take your lord’s servants and pursue him, lest he get himself to fortified cities and escape from us.”
Absalom’s rebellion is crushed and David is now restored as King over Israel. But now a new threat arises as Sheba, a man from the tribe of Benjamin (Saul’s tribe) questions David’s authority and urges the people to rebel against the king.
David orders swift action against Sheba, but Amasa (appointed as leader of Israel’s army in Joab’s place) is unable to act in the timeframe established by David. So David turns to Abishai, Joab’s brother, to get the job done. By the end of the chapter, Joab has murdered Amasa, and he is firmly back in the position as commander of the army of Israel. Obviously there are political undertones to this chapter as we see Joab’s return to power and David’s refusal to confront Joab head on. Joab is too powerful, and David is too much in his debt, and so David ignores this murder, just as he ignored Joab’s murder of Abner.
What do we learn from this?
David did not aggressively act against Absalom’s rebellion, and he openly mourned when Absalom was defeated and killed. But here, David mercilessly sends out the troops to find and kill Sheba. What is the difference?
David saw that Absalom’s rebellion was directly related to his own sin. Had David not set such a bad example for his own family by committing adultery with Bathsheba and murdering Uriah, Amnon might not have raped Tammar. But even if he had, David could have dealt with it instead of ignoring it. Obviously David felt he could not discipline his own sons after what he had done. But had David acted to punish Amnon as he should have, whole chain of events that led to Absalom’s rebellion would never have happened. Since he was the ultimate cause of the rebellion, and his own son, the rightful heir, was the rebel, David was reluctant to act.
However with Sheba, David feels free to act. Sheba is rebelling against God’s anointed. Sheba has no claim to the throne, and is acting against the law. Therefore, David can, without restraint, use the full force of his God given governmental authority to crush this uprising.
Paul tells us the same thing:
1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4 for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. 6 For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. 7 Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.
Where is Christ in this passage?
Just as we see David not abiding this affront to his authority, Jesus Christ is ruling on the throne of David, and all His enemies will be brought into submission to Him.
1 The LORD says to my Lord:
“Sit at my right hand,
until I make your enemies your footstool.”
7 I will tell of the decree:
The LORD said to me, “You are my Son;
today I have begotten you.
8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
and the ends of the earth your possession.
9 You shall break[b] them with a rod of iron
and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
