Tue, 20 September, 2005: Today’s Bible readings.

2 Samuel 16:5-13

⁵ When King David came to Bahurim, there came out a man of the family of the house of Saul, whose name was Shimei, the son of Gera, and as he came he cursed continually. ⁶ And he threw stones at David and at all the servants of King David, and all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left. ⁷ And Shimei said as he cursed, “Get out, get out, you man of blood, you worthless man! ⁸ The LORD has avenged on you all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose place you have reigned, and the LORD has given the kingdom into the hand of your son Absalom. See, your evil is on you, for you are a man of blood.”

⁹ Then Abishai the son of Zeruiah said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over and take off his head.” ¹⁰ But the king said, “What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? If he is cursing because the LORD has said to him, ‘Curse David,’ who then shall say, ‘Why have you done so?’” ¹¹ And David said to Abishai and to all his servants, “Behold, my own son seeks my life; how much more now may this Benjaminite! Leave him alone, and let him curse, for the LORD has told him to. ¹² It may be that the LORD will look on the wrong done to me, and that the LORD will repay me with good for his cursing today.” ¹³ So David and his men went on the road, while Shimei went along on the hillside opposite him and cursed as he went and threw stones at him and flung dust.

David is fleeing for his life from his son Absalom. As he is leaving Jerusalem, we see several little episodes as people come to David. Some come offering help, but Shimei comes to mock David.

It is interesting to see the change in David. Remember how David reacted when Nabal insulted him and refused to give his men provisions? What a difference here, as David restrains his nephew Abishai from violence against Shimei as opposed to how he lead the men in an aborted attack on Nabal.

I think the key to the different reaction is that David knows what is happening is due to his own sin with Bathsheba and Uriah, and so he submits to what is happening. He takes it as coming from God. He is actively working to avoid being killed by Absalom, and he is positioning himself for successful battle against the rebelling forces, but David submits to God in this.

It is instructive to look at Psalm 3 as we read this passage, because this is when David wrote Psalm 3. In Psalm 3, David prays for deliverance from men like Shimei. He doesn’t take revenge at this personal slight, but rather entrusts himself to God and His protection. Rather than react with the sword, David prays and writes Psalm 3.

What do we learn from this?

Trust in God and let thing up to Him. That doesn’t mean we are inactive. But it does mean that we do not seek to avenge personal slights. Leave that up to God.

Take the things that are bothering you to God in prayer, and leave them there, for God has promised to grant peace to those who bring their concerns to Him in prayer. Note that David tells us that in his flight from Absalom, after entrusting himself to God, he can sleep. Even in this stressful time of fleeing for his life from his own son, David found peace in trusting God.

Where is Christ in this passage?

David shows the attitude of Christ in the way he treats Shimei. David could have easily had Shimei killed for his curses, and in fact, David had to act to spare Shimei’s life from Abishai. And so Jesus Christ endured the curses of those who crucified Him. He did not have to endure that abuse. He could have called down judgment upon those who abused Him. But He spared them and endured their taunts and abuse for our sake.

David’s suffering was not redemptive. David didn’t pay for anyone’s sins, like Jesus Christ did. But David does display the forgiving and submissive attitude of Jesus Christ as He faced the abuse of people and endured the cruelty of the cross.

Fri, 16 September, 2005: Today’s Bible readings.

2 Samuel 12:24-25

²⁴ Then David comforted his wife, Bathsheba, and went in to her and lay with her, and she bore a son, and he called his name Solomon. And the LORD loved him ²⁵ and sent a message by Nathan the prophet. So he called his name Jedidiah, because of the LORD.

Yesterday, David sinned with Bathsheba and had her husband killed to cover it up. Today, Nathan the prophet confronts David about his sin. David is not hardened in his sin. When he is confronted by Nathan, David immediately repents of his sin and throws himself upon God’s mercy.

As the chapter continues, we see the sad episode of the death of the baby who was the fruit of David’s sin. But then we come to the two verses above. Solomon is born.

What do we learn from this?

In God, there is forgiveness for even the greatest sin as we truly repent. Be sure that consequences will remain. (The baby died. Absalom will rebel against David.) But we can be confident in our ultimate forgiveness for our sins as we repent and trust in God.

See how great God is in His forgiveness. David and Bathsheba lose their baby as the direct result of their sin. But God gives them another child. And what a child! Solomon. The wisest, most prosperous ruler of Israel. The builder of the temple. The beloved of the LORD, for that is what Jedidiah, the name given to Solomon by God, means.

Even after our great sin, as we are living out in the consequences of our sinful choices, if we come to God in faith, we are forgiven, accepted, loved, and comforted by God.

Where is Christ in this passage?

Solomon was a great king. He was beloved of the LORD. But Solomon also had great failings, as we will soon see. Solomon will continue the promise to David of a son to sit upon the throne. But Solomon, in all his greatness, only foreshadows the great King to come. Solomon points us to Jesus Christ who is the Beloved of the LORD.

Mon, 12 September, 2005: Today’s Bible readings.

2 Samuel 7:2-16

¹² “‘When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹³ He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. ¹⁴ I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, ¹⁵ but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. ¹⁶ And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’”

Out of gratitude for what God has done for him, David decides to build a temple for God to replace the Tabernacle Moses had built. When he tells the prophet Nathan of his intentions, God has Nathan inform David that he is not the one to build the temple. But after stopping David, God graciously tells him that David’s son will do this. Solomon will build the temple that David had it in his heart to build.

Then God goes even further and promises David that he will have a son on the throne forever. Unlike Saul who had the kingship torn from him and given to David, David’s heirs will continue to sit upon the throne.

What do we learn from this?

David had it in his heart to change the way the people worshipped God. He wanted to honor God by building Him a permanent temple. What could be wrong with doing this? The people worshipped God in a tent. Wouldn’t a temple be better?

The problem was that God had not commanded this change. It was entirely from David, and so God has to stop David in his plans. God will have Solomon build the temple, but this is not for David to do, and although David’s desire to do something for God is commendable, God had to stop him.

This is the same point made in this week’s Westminster Catechism question: We are limited in our worship to doing only that which God has commanded. Even David could not make changes to how the people worshipped God without God’s express command.

We are responsible to God to worship Him only in the way that He has commanded. We cannot add to or subtract from doing that which God has commanded us to do in our worship. To do so is to disobey God. It is sin, regardless of our good intentions.

Where is Christ in this passage?

How is David’s throne established forever? No one is king of Israel anymore. Who is this descendent of David who is reigning and where is he reigning?

Jesus Christ is the descendent of David, and He is reigning as King of kings and Lord of lords. He is the ultimate fulfillment of this promise.

Thu, 8 September, 2005: Today’s Bible readings.

2 Samuel 2:1-11

¹ After this David inquired of the LORD, “Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah?” And the LORD said to him, “Go up.” David said, “To which shall I go up?” And he said, “To Hebron.” ² So David went up there, and his two wives also, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel. ³ And David brought up his men who were with him, everyone with his household, and they lived in the towns of Hebron. ⁴ And the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah.

When they told David, “It was the men of Jabesh-gilead who buried Saul,” ⁵ David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh-gilead and said to them, “May you be blessed by the LORD, because you showed this loyalty to Saul your lord and buried him. ⁶ Now may the LORD show steadfast love and faithfulness to you. And I will do good to you because you have done this thing. ⁷ Now therefore let your hands be strong, and be valiant, for Saul your lord is dead, and the house of Judah has anointed me king over them.”

⁸ But Abner the son of Ner, commander of Saul’s army, took Ish-bosheth the son of Saul and brought him over to Mahanaim, ⁹ and he made him king over Gilead and the Ashurites and Jezreel and Ephraim and Benjamin and all Israel. ¹⁰ Ish-bosheth, Saul’s son, was forty years old when he began to reign over Israel, and he reigned two years. But the house of Judah followed David. ¹¹ And the time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.

It was a long time ago that God had Samuel anoint David as king (way back in 1 Samuel 16 that we read August 24th). David has patiently waited all this time, and has refused to take the situation in his own hands by killing king Saul when he had the opportunity. In fact, in the previous chapter, David has such respect for God’s anointed that when a man claims that he killed Saul in mercy to spare Saul from further suffering, David executes the confessed murderer.

Today we finally get to the day that God had promised, and the leaders of Judah anoint David as king over their tribe. David is now king, but not over all the tribes of Israel. Only Judah. It isn’t everything, but it is a start.

Abner, the commander of Saul’s army, refuses to submit to David, and sets up his own king over the rest of the tribes of Israel. Apparently, Abner is the de facto king, and Saul’s surviving son Ish-bosheth is just puppet for Abner’s rule.

What do we learn from this?

Abner knew, just as Saul knew, that David was God’s choice for king. Yet he struggled against God’s decree and set up his own king in contention against God’s king. The result was seven plus years of civil war, as the inevitable happens: David grew stronger and stronger, while the house of Saul became weaker and weaker.

The Psalmist asks:

Psalm 2:1-3

¹ Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain?
² The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the LORD and against his anointed, saying,
³ “Let us burst their bonds apart
and cast away their cords from us.”

Abner isn’t unique in this. Nations and their people, kings and rulers have been in a futile rebellion against God’s anointed since Adam and Eve were kicked out of the garden, and they are in rebellion against Him even to this day. They make their plans and set themselves up as the final authority in place of God’s Anointed. They say there is no God, and they ignore and ridicule His word. They ban Him from the public square and think they have burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords. They make war against God’s rule and congratulate themselves on their supposed success.

But just as we see David’s rule slowly established in one tribe of Israel, and then eventually growing in power and finally established over all Israel, as God promised, so will God’s kingdom grow in the world as slowly the Gospel works in power to bring all in subjection to God’s Anointed.

Where is Christ in this passage?

Jesus Christ is the Messiah, the Anointed. He is the Son of David, who rules and reigns over all and brings everything into subjection under His rule. Many today reject His rule and are in rebellion against Him. But He is working, through the power of His Gospel to bring everything into subjection to Him.