Sunday School | David - 2 Samuel 19

Introduction

Second Samuel chapter 19. Jump in. We're studying the life of David. Things have gone really well and then really badly, and then they're starting to get better, but it's kind of a mingled story. And in chapter 19, what's where are we at? What's been happening in, like, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen? What's the big backstory as of late for David?

Absalom's judgment. Absalom. So Absalom trying to, excuse me, Absalom is trying to steal the kingdom, and that's bad. And so we've got all kinds of intrigue and spies and all kinds of things going on. And it seems like we've turned the corner here, mostly because Absalom is dead. So there's that. But David has not yet reinstated as king. What we're about to watch in chapter 19 is the immediate aftermath. So David's army defeated his opposition via the death of his son, which is hard news, and what's going to happen next. That's basically where we're at in this whole thing.

Alright? See, there it is. I knew it. I should never eat. Yet I have no regrets.

The Mourning of David and Joab's Intervention

Chapter 19, verse one says this:

Joab was told, the king is weeping and mourning for Absalom. Army, the victory that day was turned into mourning because on that day, the troops heard it said, the king is grieving for his son. And the men stole into the city that day as men steal in who are ashamed when they flee from battle. The king covered his face and cried aloud, oh, my son Absalom, oh, Absalom, my son, my son.

We talked about this a little bit last week at the very end. This is massively demoralizing for the troops. They were sent out to risk their lives, to save David and his kingdom, and they did exactly what they were told to do. And then Joab kills Absalom, which was not what he was told to do, so their victory is this very inverted story. They won the war, but the king has said that they won.

Joab is the guy that has been watching this all along. What do you think Joab's going to do when the troops all come skulking in? When his troops—he's the commander of the army—came skulking in, what do you think Joab's going to do?

What the heck, dude?

Good. John?

He does. And that is so he basically straightens David out and says, you don't knock it off, you're going to lose everything. There might be a more direct and offensive speech to a monarch in the Bible, but I don't know what it is. Right? There might be. I don't know. Look what he says.

Mean, Joab, this is super audacious. This is crazy presumptuous. Verse five:

Joab went into the house to the king and said, 'Today you'—he's talking to a king—'have humiliated all your men who have just saved your life and the lives of your sons and your daughters and the lives of your wives and your concubines. You love those who hate you and hate those who love you. You've made it clear today that the commanders and their men mean nothing to you. I see that you would be pleased if Absalom were alive today and all of us were dead. Now go out and encourage your men. I swear by the Lord that if you don't go out, not a man will be left with you by nightfall. This will be worse for you than all the calamities that will come upon you from your youth until now.'

There's no tact. There's no diplomacy. It would be hard to make that any more abrasive, any sharper, any stronger. Nothing formal. There's nothing, oh, king, live forever. Blew it huge—you get the idea. You're wrong. If you don't obey me he's telling the king, he's like, he's a six-year-old. You're going go out right next to your next-door neighbor, you're going to apologize for what you did, and you're going to do it.' And the king takes it.

This is David. David has told men to put their swords on for less than this. Right? And he just folds and he takes it. It's a huge risk to give the king a direct order, but it works.

Look at verse eight:

So the king got up and he took his seat in the gateway, and when the men were told the king is sitting in the gateway, they all came before him.

Probably, despite the incredible abruptness of this, I think it probably is the salvation of David's kingdom right here. Right? His enemy has been defeated, but that does not mean that he's back on the throne. And Joab, in an incredibly audacious moment, and I think it's mingled—mean, I'm not sure that it was the exact approach that Joab needed to use, but it is the approach that he did use, and it worked.

He was mad. What is that? Was mad. He was mad. But generally, we cover our anger when we're talking to sovereigns who have the ability to kill us. But Joab is just he's hot. Yeah. Yeah. And David yields, which I think is to his credit, is a little bit surprising, but he does it. And now that the threat he's put down, this still doesn't mean he's back on the throne quite yet. So what does he have to do in order to accomplish this?

This part gets a little bit confusing, and there's a whole host of characters, most of whom we've met before, but if you have my disease, you don't know who any of these people are. So we're going to try to remember—we'll kind of do a little bit of reminiscence here and see who these people are, okay? Because I think this is kind of confusing.

Look at verses 8 to 10. We'll start here:

Meanwhile, the Israelites had fled to their homes. Throughout the tribes of Israel, the people were all arguing with each other, saying, 'The king delivered us from the hand of our enemies. He is the one who rescued us from the hand of the Philistines.' This is David they're referring to. But now he has fled the country because of Absalom, and Absalom, whom we anointed to rule over us, has died in battle. So why do you say nothing about bringing the king back?

First of all, when we say Israel in here, don't be confused about this. Israel as opposed to who? Judah. It's as opposed to Judah. This is a little bit confusing. So sometimes we mean Israel including all 12 tribes as opposed to like the Philistines and the Amalekites and everybody else around. Okay? But here in this context, you're exactly right. He's talking about Israel as opposed to Judah.

Unpack that a little bit. It was a divided kingdom, the Northern Kingdom, the Southern Kingdom, Judah. David was king over Judah, correct? That's right. Yes. So they're all along, there's really 12 tribes, but those 12 tribes divided kind of into two sections. There's Judah, which is the largest. That's where the name of the Jews come from, the people of Judah, right? David is from there. This is like the center of the thing. But the rest of Israel, the other 10 tribes, Benjamin often gets thrown in with Judah; the other 10 tribes are kind of a different faction. And it's kind of like you'd have in this country. You might say, We have a North and a South, which was maybe exaggerated or made more clear through the civil war, but you could also have the Midwest is different from the Northeast. There's just culture within the thing. And David is of Judah.

Do you remember way long ago, like fifteen years ago, he became king over Judah before he became king over all of Israel? Later on that's going to become very—That's right. And Stuart is saying what's going to happen is after David's kingdom comes Solomon, after Solomon's kingdom, it's really going to split into two completely different nations. You're to have the North and the South, which we call Israel and Judah. So this is Israel right now, the particular part of Israel, what we would think of maybe as the 10 northern tribes, and they're having a debate. What is their debate about in that paragraph? What's going on there?

Yeah. Zach?

Reinstitute David as our king? Yes. And what complicates it? Should we reinstitute David as a king? What complicates it? Their his early past shows that he is one of our greatest kings, but then also at the same time, he was pushed out by Absalom. There’s strength and weakness characteristics here. Okay, great. And I don't know which king you're going to get, maybe.

So Zach is saying what you're seeing here is on the one hand, you've got David was a great king. We love David. Woo hoo. He beat Goliath. He conquered the Philistines. David is the man, but then there's this whole thing that goes down with Absalom, that's just a mess, and David is not at his best. So there's the level of do we like David because he was good and maybe we're not quite so sure about him? That's true. But there's another layer to this that they're debating.

Kelly Sue?

All the Israelites were on Team Absalom. They were on Team Absalom. They were backing—don't know, pick a thing. Maybe we'd see it most closely in a presidential primary. You're rooting for candidate A in the primary, and when you're rooting for candidate A, you're down streaming candidate B. And then candidate B wins the primary. And then you're like, I love candidate B. You were right? You watch this all the time. So you'll see, like, in the recent round, in a debate, Vice President Harris, before she was Vice President, was saying some pretty horrible things about her opponent, Vice President Biden. And then when he wins the election, she'd love to be on his team. That's the dynamic that's going on. They're like, Man, we backed the wrong horse. So what do we do about it? Right? So what you're going see is all this kind of political expediency. They sided with Absalom, and now there's a little bit of a race. Whether they want David or not, they're like, David's gonna be king, and it would be really nice if we were at the front of the line welcoming him back, that he might overlook the fact that we were just throwing rocks at him.

Dig it? Okay. So as it goes down, look at verse 11:

This is all happening. Meanwhile, David himself—watch this. Verse 11. This is where we're going to play the name game that you might not recognize. King David sent this message to Zadok and Abiathar the priests, quote, 'Ask the elders of Judah, why should you be the last to bring the king back to his palace, since what is being said throughout Israel has reached the king at his quarters?'

He is hearing all the, oh, what are we going to do? We're on the wrong side. What are we going to do?

Verse 12:

You are my brothers, my own flesh and blood, so why should you be the last to bring back the king? And say to Amasa, Are you not my own flesh and blood? May God deal with me, be it ever so severely, if from now on you are not the commander of my army in place of Joab.

Okay, so make a note of that. Joab gets away with his rebuke, but only sort of. The king is planning to replace him.

Now, who here—what's that cat? Okay, we'll unpack him as we go. We'll all these characters we'll try to develop the key characters here. So, first of we're talking to Judah as opposed to Israel, right? That's clear. And what's David's essential message to these guys regarding Judah?

Chris?

I like to hear more.

Yeah. Basically, he's like, why are you gonna let all these northerners welcome you back in? You guys should be at the head of the line. Suzanne, were you going to add anything?

Yeah. And so he's just appealing to this competitive—and you're going to see this competition play out throughout the rest of this story of, like, David what David wants—what's good for David—is everybody is clamoring to be on King David. Right? And so he's basically egging them on. He's like, well, these guys want to bring me back in. What about you?

And it's in David's best interest if everybody is trying to be on King David's team.

Okay? But who are Zadok and Abiathar, the ones to whom he gives this message? Do you have any memory of these weird names?

The priests. Priests. That's good. What have they done? We've seen them before. Do you know what they've done?

Do you have this, Suzanne?

Nice job. They bring the Ark back after David. Always is a pair. They show up several times throughout the narrative. Here's, I think, the key moment for them. It's two Samuel 15. Listen to this:

When David arrived at the summit where people used to worship God, Hushai the Arkite was there to meet him. His robe was torn and dust was on his head. And David said to him, if you go with me, you'll be a burden to me. But if you return to the city and say to Absalom, I will be your servant, O king. I was your father's servant in the past, but now I will be your servant. Then you can help me by frustrating Ahithophel's advice. Do you remember all this? This was like, I don't know, four or five weeks ago maybe.

Won't the priests Zadok and Abiathar be there? This is our guys. Won't they be there with you? Tell them anything you hear in the king's palace. And their two sons, how do you say this, Ahemaz son of Zadok and Jonathan son of Abiathar are there with me. Send them to me with anything you hear.

So in that whole moment of all the intrigue and the spies in the kingdom, these were the guys, they were plants. They were on Israel's side, but they're really on David's side. They were living inside. They were priests functioning under Absalom, but they were secretly supporting David. And so as David was establishing that network, those are his inside guys inside that, right? And so he's still utilizing them. They're totally on his team. They are from Israel, but he's using them to go get Judah back in the game. He's basically giving everybody a chance to get in good with him to return, and he wants this race to reinstate him. Does that make sense?

Now here's what else happens, verse 14:

He won over the hearts of all the men of Judah as though they were one man. They sent word to the king, 'Return you and all your men.' And then the king returned and went as far as the Jordan.

And now at this point, what's going to get interesting is first we're dealing with nations, you know, like all of Israel and all of Judah. And now it's going to start getting very particular. We're going to have a roll call of all these people, most of whom were punks during this whole tricky time. So we'll review who they are too.

Let's see, we'll start verse where do you want to be? 16.

The men of Judah had come to Gilgal to go out and meet the king and bring him across the Jordan. And Shemi son of Gerah, the Benjamite from Bahurim, hurried down with the men of Judah to meet King David.

Does anybody remember Shemi? Who is Shemi?

Rock throwing. He's the rock-throwing, dirt-kicking cursor. You remember this whole scene? He is probably, I would say, the singularly most offensive character. He is the face of the opposition.

Go back, because it was so ridiculous. Go to 2 Samuel 16:5. This is this guy.

When King David approached Bahurim, a man from the same clan as Saul's family, which is what? Benjamin.

Benjamin, right? Not Judah. From Saul's family came out from there, and his name is Shemi son of Gerah, and he cursed as he came out. He pelted David and all the king's officials with stones, though all the troops and a special guard were on David's right and left. And as he cursed, Shemi said, 'Get out, get out, you man of blood, you scoundrel. The Lord has repaid you for all the blood you shed in the household of Saul in whose place you have reigned. The Lord has handed the kingdoms over to your son Absalom, and you have come to ruin because you were a man of blood.'

This is our guy, and he's at the head of the line.

King David, hey, we're so glad you're back.

Watch what he says. Now, to his credit, he acknowledges it, probably because he knows David remembers it. Okay?

Let me see, let me show you this.

When Shemi son of Gerah crossed the Jordan, he fell prostrate before the king. And he said to him, 'May my lord not hold me guilty. Do not remember how your servant did wrong on the day my lord the king had left Jerusalem. May the king put it out of his mind, for I your servant know that I have sinned.'

But today I have come here as the first of the whole house of Joseph to come down and meet my Lord the King.

He is like, he blew it, he knows he blew it. Whether he's actually loyal to David and has seen the error of his ways, or if he just merely doesn't want his head cut off, he's he's like the guy whenever Chick-fil-A opens a store, and you're there at two in the morning to get in line so you can get a pack of free sandwiches—he's there. He's camped out at the head of the line in the hopes of saving his life. And it works. We'll see that as we go.

Got that guy.

Go back a little bit, though. Look at verse 17:

With him were a thousand Benjamites, this is with our boy Shemi. With Shemi were a thousand Benjamites along with Zeba. Who's Ziba? Remember this guy? Ziba, Ziba, Ziba. You got anything?

Saul's servant, remember? Yes, Saul's servant, very good, to whom he gave all the lands.

Yes, Saul's servant, very good. To whom he give all the lands?

But who do we associate Ziba with?

Mephibosheth.

Who is Mephibosheth? Jonathan's. Do you remember this whole thing? David makes a promise to Jonathan: I will always be kind to you, I will always be kind to your children. Then Jonathan dies and Saul dies, and there's this kid Mephibosheth who, like his nurse, dropped him when he was a kid, and he's paralyzed or crippled or something all of his life. And David goes and he raises him up. He is the son of the enemy king, but he's the son of Jonathan, and David does good to him and loves him.

Then a few chapters ago, Ziba—let's see, did I even grab this? I don't know if I grabbed this thing. I don't think I grabbed the verse. I don't remember the exact verse. But Ziba comes in and he totally sells out Mephibosheth. He comes in and he's like, Mephibosheth is no longer on your side, he's on Saul's side—the kid is such an ingrate. And then David's like, Bah, everything belonged to him now belongs to you. And he gives it to Ziba. So Ziba, that guy, shows up here at the gate, and I'm losing my place here.

So Ziba shows up. Oh, it was 16:4 where the king had said to Ziba, all that belonged to Mephibosheth is now yours, and Ziba takes it all. Ziba's there, and he wants everything back, but someone else is there too. Who else is going to be here? Mephibosheth.

So which is it? So this is so interesting. Shemi's there, he's the guy that was kicking rocks. Ziba was there, and we don't know if he was lying to David. We never get it resolved. David doesn't know. But Ziba's there trying to line things back up and make sure that he's still in good graces, and Mephibosheth is there. Look at verse 24. And I know we're skipping around, but I want to give it to you thematically so you can remember this whole thing.

In verse 24, Mephibosheth, Saul's grandson, also went down to meet the king. He had not taken care of his feet, or trimmed his mustache, or washed his clothes from the day the king left until the day he returned safely. What does that mean? It means he's in mourning. He's—and yucky. He's dirty and he looks bad and he's got one of those crummy mustaches. Here's the thing, this is evidence, it's not conclusive evidence, but what is this evidence of, do you think?

People should lie. What is it?

People should lie.

Yeah, it takes a while to get your mustache as nasty as his, right? And so it's an evidence, not just that—whereas we get the sense that Shemi just changed his mind, right? But it's evidence that Mephibosheth, way back here, he looks ratty enough that it takes a while to get this bad, and maybe he's telling the truth. Maybe Ziba really was lying. Right? It's not conclusive, but it kind of leans the tree that way.

And so he has this conversation with David. When he came from Jerusalem to meet the king, the king said, 'Hey, why didn't you go out with me the first time? Like, where were you?' Is Ziba's story true? And he says in verse 26:

My lord the king, since I, your servant, am lame, I said, I'll have my donkey saddled, I'll ride on it so I can go with the king. But Ziba, my servant, betrayed me, and he has slandered your servant, my lord the king.

My lord the king is like an angel of God, so do whatever pleases you. All my grandfather's descendants deserve nothing but death for my lord the king, but you gave your servant a place among those who sat at your table. So what right do I have to make any more appeals to the king?

He's like, even if you even if you stay on Ziba's side, that's fine, because it wasn't even mine. It's all of grace. It's all a gift, and who am I to now suddenly demand justice when I've been the recipient of mercy? So it's great, but I'm so glad you're home. Welcome back. Right? And so David now is like, Well, for crying out loud, man, I thought Ziba was telling the truth. And he doesn't know what the situation is, but he says this in verse 29:

Why say more? I order—the what's he going to do? Do you know what he does?

Split. He splits the baby.

Very good, Zach. The king said, why say more? I order you and Ziba to divide the fields.

What is interesting about that decision? I thought it all belonged to Mephibosheth. Well, it had belonged to Mephibosheth, and then it all went to Ziba, and now he's splitting it. There's something going on that's very—well, it's become more clear as we finish the chapter, but it's getting there. David's not sure who to believe. Right?

Okay, so David doesn't know. He doesn't know for certain. I suspect that he thinks Mephibosheth is telling the truth. Certainly it's plausible because he goes this way, but even if that's the case, he's still incredibly gracious to Ziba. He could be like, all right, number one, Mephibosheth gets everything, and number two, off with Ziba's head. But Ziba has showed up, and he's gracious to Ziba. Mephibosheth shows up, and he's gracious to him.

Couple hands. Anybody want to jump on this? Lily?

Well, I just think it's interesting, too, that he makes that decision because it could also be seen—I mean, I feel like David's really humbling himself as he comes back to Jerusalem, but also maybe he shouldn't have taken everything that Ziba was taking care of and given it to Mephibosheth in the first place. Like, he is—I mean, if I remember it correctly, it was almost like he displaced him. He did. His power and his authority and his wealth and gave it all to Mephibosheth. So I wonder if it's actually a part of the mission of, you know, actually, I haven't been making the best decisions even from the beginning.

Yeah. Yeah, I think that's a really good word. There is this sense of uncertainty, but what the one good—I don't like being uncertain, but the good thing about uncertainty is it reflects humility. You know, it's like, I may have gotten this wrong. Then again, I might be getting it wrong now, so I'm just not sure.

So he has this split decision, but don't lose sight of the fact that it's also very gracious to one of them. One of them that is lying through his teeth is still going to not be punished. Right? It's a very gracious orientation.

Stuart?

It's also him trying to bring things back together from basically a civil war. Yes. Trying to get everyone back on the same team. David is very, very peace-loving in this moment. Right? Very much so. He wants everybody back, hey, today's a happy day. I don't want anybody going home without a lollipop, alright? But not everybody feels that way.

In the midst of this, and I skipped over this, we'll come back to it now, back in verse 20, you know, eighteen, nineteen, twenty is the Shemi story. Shemi is the dirt kicker. And look at what happens in verse 21:

Then Abishai, son of Zariah, said, 'Shouldn't Shemi be put to death for this?' He cursed the Lord's anointed. Now, who is Abishai? Do you remember him at all?

Joab's brother. Very good. Do we know of? Every time he shows up, he always says the same thing. He's always quick to judge and want to pass judgment in a violent way. Absolutely. He's always quick to judge, to pass judgment, and then what was this? Throwing his fingers. Yeah. That was, Shouldn't I just throw this? He endlessly wants to kill people. Like, every time he shows up, Hey, know what we should do here? We should kill that guy. Watch it. It happens every time he shows up.

Look at this: in chapter 26, verse 8. This is 1 Samuel, this is back in the day. 1 Samuel 20:8. When Saul is chasing David around mountains and stuff like this, and they find him. Abishai, this is 20:8, says to David:

'Today God has delivered your enemy into your hands. Let me pin him to the ground with one thrust of my spear. I strike him twice.'

Skip forward to 2 Samuel 16 regarding Shemi.

Then Abishai, son of Zoriah, said to the king, 'Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over and cut off his head.'

And then here in this instance, 21, true to form, 'Shouldn't Shemi be prepared to death for this? He cursed the Lord's anointed.' He's got one solution in every situation. Just kill him. Just kill the bad guy. I'm sympathetic to that, actually. Just kill the bad guy. Let's just move on.

David has got all these people coming, and he's got this particular right-hand guy that says, hey, hey, kill that guy. Just make it all better. But what characterizes his orientation on this particular day? He's merciful. He is merciful.

At every instance, no matter who comes before him, his orientation is one of mercy in every situation.

Here's one more. Look at this guy. Go to 2 Samuel—where are we at?

Verse 31, 2 Samuel 19:31.

This one's interesting too. I don't know how to pronounce anybody's name. Barzali the Gileadite also came down from Rogelien to cross the Jordan with the king and to send him on his way from there. Now this guy was a very old man, 80 years of age. He had provided for the king during his stay in Mahanaim, for he was a very wealthy man.

The king said to Barzali, Cross over with me and stay with me in Jerusalem, and I will provide for you.

So this an 80-year-old man, he's there, he's like, hey, welcome. Come palace. Live in. Come join me. Do you know who he is? Do you have any memory of him at all? He's very lightly mentioned. I don't think we discussed him in this class, but literally every character in the story is previously seen. Who is this guy? Do you know?

Take a look. Go back just a couple pages.

2 Samuel 17. When David went to that city, Mahanaim, and Absalom crossed the Jordan with all the men of Israel, Absalom had appointed Amasa over the army in place of Joab. Which answers your question earlier, but who was Amasa?

He was the son of a man named Jethar, an Israelite, who had married Abigail, the daughter of Nahash and his sister, all these names, blah blah blah blah. The Israelite in Absalom's camp camped in the land of Gilead.

In verse 27, When David came to that place, Shobi son of Nahash from Rabbah of the Ammonites, and Machir son of Ammiel from Lo Debar, and Argai Barzali the Gileadite from Rogeim, brought bedding and bowls and articles of pottery. They also brought wheat and barley and flour and roasted grains, and beans and lentils and honey and curds and sheep and cheese for goat's milk for David and all his people to eat. For they said, the people have become hungry and tired in the desert.'

Who is this guy? He's the guy that when David was on the run and everything was bad, Absalom has just broken through and then they flee. He's the old, rich guy that shows up with a truckload of food and blesses David.

So David's at his lowest point. He's afraid. He's hungry. He can't provide for his men. He's got everybody coming with him. And this guy shows up and just lays out the bounty. So David's at his lowest. He's afraid. He's hungry. He can't provide for his men. He's got everybody coming with him. And this guy shows up and just lays out the bounty. You see this long list that feels a little bit tedious, it says, He brought wheat and barley and flour and roasted grains and beans and lentils and honey and curds and sheep and cheese from cow's milk. For David, it's meant to be like, okay, okay, okay, I get it. Like, it's a ton of food, right? It's like, you know, snack Viking—just a ton of food. And this guy shows up, and David's like, dude, I love you. You are so good to me. Let me pay you back. And again, this orientation is of bounty and kindness and generosity.

And he says, no, I don't want to live in your house. I've got a house. Look what he says in verse 34:

But Barzali answers the king, 'How many more years will I live that I should go up to Jerusalem with the king? I am now 80 years old. Can I tell the difference between what is good and what is not? Can your servant taste what he eats and drinks? Can I still hear the voices of men and women singers? Why should your servant be an added burden to my lord the king? Your servant will cross over the Jordan with the king for a short distance. But why should the king reward me in this way? Just let me go home. Let me return, that I may die in my own town, near the tomb of my father and mother.'

Okay? So the king makes a gracious offer. He's like, I don't need it. I can't even taste your food anyway. Right? So you have nothing really to offer me. I'm just going to walk me in and let me go home. To which I think David would have said, okay, sure, no sweat, but thanks so much for the food. Right? But there's one more little twist to it. Look at what he says:

Verse 37: Let your servant return, that I may die in my own town in the tomb of my father and mother. But here is your servant Kimham. Let him cross over with my lord the king, and do for him whatever pleases you.

Kimham is no one. Right? He deserves nothing. He has done nothing. But David is in such a merciful, gracious mood, he's going to be kind to Shemi, he's going to be kind to Ziba, he's going to be kind to Mephibosheth. He wants to be kind to this Barzilai guy, dude. But he doesn't need anything, so he's like, can we relay it to this other guy that you've never heard of and you know nothing about? He's like, yeah, sure. Whatever you want. He's just in a state of bounty and grace.

And so he says,

The king said, 'Kimham shall cross over with me, and I will do for him whatever pleases you. And anything that you desire from me, I will do for you.'

It's a little bit like the very—have you ever noticed at the very end of the book of Job? The end of Job. So Job, you all know the story, right? Job suffers terribly, everything's horrible, and then God mercifully restores him. And when he restores him, he does something very interesting. Want you to think about this.

All of Scripture is pointing to Christ. The whole book, every page, the whole thing is endlessly about him. Job, think about this. Job is about a man who is totally innocent, and yet he suffers terribly. He loses everything. But after he goes to the lowest place and suffers terribly, he is exalted up to the highest place, and he gets more than he even had before the suffering began.

And then, having been exalted to this place, back of supremacy, do you remember what Job does? This is kind of a little throwaway detail that fills my mind, but it's really important to the story. Do you remember what Job does after he is restored and is blessed again? Prays for his friends. He prays for his friends. He had these faithless friends that were accusing him and that were guilty of the things they said about God. They were false. And he takes his place of exalted authority to intervene for his friends so that God will not judge them for the wrong that they had done. Right? Does that ring a bell? Can you think of another innocent sufferer who goes to the lowest place and then is exalted to the highest place and he spends all that he has to bless those that had accused and wronged him?

Job is telling the story of the Gospel, and David's life is telling the story of the Gospel. As he comes back into his kingdom, having come down to this place of misery and being restored to this place of exaltation, he spends his kingdom for the benefit of his enemies. He's bountifully gracious. He's incredibly generous. And I think that's one of the key lessons here: as we're learning to read this, we're trying to say, how is he anticipating it?

What we're seeing is the heart of the king, the heart of this king who is the prototype of Messiah, is endless generosity, both to those who have loved him, right, like perhaps Mephibosheth and Barzilai. I'll never learn how to say that guy's name, but also to Shemi that he shows grace. I think that gives us some measure of hope.

John, I'm not probably going to have a chance to call on you today, I'm sorry. I've just gotta finish what we're doing here and then we're going to dismiss.

This picture here is meant to give you hope: that as Christ Himself comes into His kingdom, the way Paul puts it is that He gives gifts to men. He is gracious with us, He is gentle with us, He does so to the extent that we have served him and loved him, and he does so despite the fact that we have scorned him and ridiculed him. He is endlessly gracious.

And then David crosses over.

In verse 40, when the king crossed over to Gilgal, Kimham crossed with him, and all the troops of Judah and half the troops of Israel had taken the king over. And it's complete, and he's reinstated.

Yet, the people continue to fight, which also, I think, perhaps has a little bit to say about the state of the church. Once they're in, Israel is still fighting with Judah, Judah is still fighting with Israel. Everybody wants credit. And I think what we're supposed to see is, in the season where the king is gracious and kind and the people are the recipients of it, man, that thing is still in our hearts, right? That we still fight and bicker and we clamor, and we still want to be on top. Even though we live in a world sea of grace, there's just such a strong impulse to be like, yeah, but I also want credit because it was me, me, me, me, me.

Right? And for the rest of your life, you're going to be working out—you live in a sea of grace, and yet you still want credit. That's, in my experience, dies kinda slow. Right? But if we would kind of embrace the fullness of the gospel that was going on in David's life, that grace would free us from the infighting, that we would not only rest in the grace that we've received, but we would extend it to others. And may it be so, sooner than later for us.

Good enough? Alright, so in two weeks, not three weeks, we'll get into chapter 20, but for the next couple of weeks—Parenting on Purpose. That's all we got. Thanks. Hang on one second. One second. So, Susan, so this is red. Okay. And I'm going to turn it off. Okay.