Tag Archives: 2 Samuel 21

Daily Bible Study

April 15, 2024 Bible Study — God Is My Rock, My Fortress, and My Deliverer

Leave a comment

Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Samuel 20-22.

Today’s passage contains a psalm of David which has some great imagery.  First David describes God as his rock, his fortress, and his deliverer.  He extends that description by saying that God is the one in whom he takes refuge.  The way David words this makes clear that each of these is intended to be an alternative description of the same characteristic, where each word is incomplete.  A rock is solid and impenetrable, but enemies can go around it and get at you from behind.  You can go inside a fortress, so your enemies cannot come at you from any direction, but a fortress has weak points which an enemy can exploit.  By combining the idea of rock and fortress, David communicates that God is an impenetrable fortress with no weaknesses for an enemy to exploit.  Then there is the word, deliverer.  Deliverer indicates that God comes to us when we are in danger and delivers us from our enemies, or whatever danger threatens us.  So, God is an impenetrable safe haven which will come to us and protect us from danger of any sort.  There is one final point to this word picture David draws.  He says that he takes refuge in God.  That means that he actively seeks God’s protection.  That indicates that sometimes we need to actively seek God’s protection.  While God will come to where we are in danger, we must seek his protection.  Just as we can choose to leave a physical fortress, we can choose to leave God’s protection.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

April 15, 2023 Bible Study — The Lord Lives! Exalted Be My God!

Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Samuel 20-22.

Before I get to my main point I want to touch on what I talked about in yesterday’s blog.  In today’s passage, we have another instance where Joab killed someone whom David had appointed to take his place as commander over the army of Israel (although in this case, it was only the army of Judah at the time).  We also have another instance where Abishai acted to defend David.  Just further illustrations of the complicated relationship David had with these two brothers.

I want to write about the psalm of David included here as my primary focus.  First, as I have said about this psalm in the past, I love the imagery in it.  I wish I had the talent to draw the images which it evokes in my mind’s eye.  David describes the trouble he was in with language which conveys a visual image of that distress.  I picture a cloud of grey smoke which takes on a more tangible form as it wraps around him.  Then we have the cry which carries across vast differences until it is heard by God upon His throne.  God leaps up and an earthquake of immense proportion shakes everything.  Smoke pours out from God’s nose, and fire comes out of His mouth as He bellows in anger.  The next part brings to my mind the images sometimes used for Zeus: God mounted on a chariot (although that is not what David describes), surrounded by storm clouds to the point of almost being obscured, except for the brightness of His being and the lightning which bursts forth to sunder His enemies.  That brightness is where this differs from being a more majestic display of the cartoon images I remember of Zeus on his chariot.  I picture a brightness which does not allow His form to be made out.  Then, a hand reaches out from the brightness, and the dark clouds and grasps David and lifts him out of His troubles, the grey ropes of smoke being dissipated by God’s brightness and those who turned them on David cowering in fear.

Then comes the part of the psalm which both takes me some thought to interpret, and great hope for myself when I understand what I think it says.  David says that God has dealt with him according to his righteousness and that he has not turned away from God.  David continues to say that he is blameless before God.  Yet this is recorded here only a short ways after the writer had told us about David’s affair with Bathsheba and his plot to kill her husband in order to cover it up.  So, what are we to make of this?  Well, Nathan told David that God had taken away his sin.  In the same way, we are told that God has taken away our sin through our faith in Jesus.  So, we too can present ourselves as blameless before God, as can anyone, even the most heinous sinner*, who repents of their sin and puts their faith in Christ.  I want to go back to the beginning of the psalm for a moment: I am convinced that the distress which David expressed there was about his terrible sin, and that a portion of the great rescue he experienced was God taking that sin away.  So, once God has taken our sin away, as He did David’s, we can experience what David felt when he wrote:

The Lord lives! Praise be to my Rock!
Exalted be my God, the Rock, my Savior!

Therefore I will praise you, Lord, among the nations;
I will sing the praises of your name.

*I want to go back and touch on that bit about the “heinous sinner”.  Paul writes in 1 Timothy 1:15 that he is the worst of all sinners.  And I as I wrote this today it occurred to me that we too should think of ourselves as having been the worst of all sinners, saved only by God’s marvelous grace to become holy and blameless in His sight.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

April 15, 2021 Bible Study God As An Action Hero

Today, I am reading and commenting on  2 Samuel 20-22.

We see in today’s passage the political problems which King David faced reaching full bloom.  At the end of yesterday’s passage we saw the tribe of Judah claiming precedence over the other tribes because of their closer relationship with King David.  Today’s passage begins with Sheba son of Bikri trying to take advantage of both this dispute between the tribes and King David’s weakness following Absalom’s attempt to usurp the throne.  My reading of the situation is that King David attempted to strengthen his hold over the tribe of Judah by making Amasa commander of his army in order to compensate for his weakened support from other tribes.  When Amasa took too long to raise the levy of troops from Judah, King David sent the men he had out under Abishai, Joab’s brother.  Nevertheless, Joab went along, and, after killing Amasa, took command of the army.  It seems to me that at least part of the reason Joab killed Amasa was because Amasa had supported Absalom’s rebellion.

I love the imagery in the psalm of David recorded here. It brings to my mind the climactic scene of an action movie.  The “victim” has been brought low by their enemies and cry out to the protagonist, who rises from their place of power and comes out to rescue the “victim” from the villain.  When you see that scene in an action movie, you cannot help but think about the villain, “Oops, you didn’t want to do that.”  And that is the image which David tells us those who put their trust in God should keep in mind when the waters of life rise around them.  Do not put your trust in your own ability.  Instead put your trust in God and faithfully follow His commands.

When I wrote the above, I felt like the water was rising around me.  I was crying out to God in desperation because of events in my life.  Shortly after I finished writing it, I received communications, through two different media, that revealed to me that my concerns were unfounded. God is good.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

April 15, 2020 Bible Study — The Faithful Will Learn That God Is Faithful, the Deceitful Will Discover That God Is Shrewd

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Samuel 20-22.

After defeating Absalom, David gave the post of commander of the army to Amasa in order to get Amasa to convince the elders of Judah to make David their king once more.  Amasa had been Absalom’s commander of the army, while Joab had been David’s.  Like Joab, Amasa was a nephew to David.  Despite the fact that Amasa was his cousin, Joab killed him at the first opportunity.  After that. one of Joab’s men made clear to the army of Judah that their choice was to follow Joab, or rebel against David a second time (this time without a leader).  The story ends by showing us another time that Joab was a skilled political operative.  When Joab and the army of Judah managed to corner Sheba, Joab made it clear that he, and by implication David, would hold only Sheba responsible for the rebellion.

The rest of 2 Samuel following the account of Sheba’s rebellion contains stories about King David which the compiler wanted to relate but could not easily fit into the timeline up to that point.  I struggle with understanding what to make of the story about the Gibeonites.  On the other hand, I have always loved the images in the song which David composed when he was rescued from King Saul.  I suspect that he originally composed this song after the time where King Saul had to return to fight the Philistines when he had been on the verge of catching David and his men.  David used amazing imagery to portray the power which God has to rescue us.  David’s imagery lets us know that even if we are far from any apparent source of rescue, God can reach us even there.  Those who are faithful will discover God’s faithfulness. Those with integrity will discover God’s integrity.  Those who are pure will learn that God is pure.  But those who are crooked and deceitful will discover that God is shrewd.

Daily Bible Study

April 15, 2019 Bible Study — The Aftermath of Absalom’s Rebellion

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Samuel 20-22.

At the end of yesterday’s passage there was an account of the argument between the men of the northern tribes and the men of Judah over the honor of escorting David back to be king.  We see here the geographic divide which was present when Joshua first led the Children of Israel into the land.  Also, during the time of the judges several men from the northern tribes tried to set themselves up as king over Israel but were unable to do so.  Even here, it is Sheba from the tribe of Benjamin who leads the revolt against King David.  King David notes that this revolt is actually a greater threat than Absalom’s was.  Sheba’s revolt is a greater threat because it divides the nation of Israel along family and tribal lines.  King David recognized that Israel would come apart and the Israelites would be overrun by other peoples if they started to identify more according to tribe than according to being Israelites.

Now we have more about the complex relationship between David and Joab.  Amasa was the commander of Absalom’s army, yet, as part of the agreement to get back the full support of the leaders of Judah, King David made him commander of his army in place of Joab.  King David orders Amasa to assemble the entire fighting force of Judah to go after Sheba and gives him a deadline of three days.  When Amasa fails to meet that deadline, King David tells Abishai, Joab’s brother, to take the troops David already had assembled and go after Sheba.  Notice that King David did not give this mission to Joab, but Abishai took him along anyway.  In fact, it appears that Joab was in command.  Then, when they meet up with Amasa finally returning Joab greets him as a family member and kills him.  We do not really know what Joab’s motivations were for killing Amasa.  Perhaps he did it to keep his position as commander of David’s army.  Or, something which occurred to me in light of David’s responses to Abishai’s repeated wish to kill Shimei (a response which was directed at both Abishai and Joab), perhaps Joab killed Amasa because he had betrayed King David by siding with Absalom. 

Today’s passage ends with te song of praise to the Lord which David sang when he was delivered from his enemies.  It is unclear if he sang this song shortly after King Saul’s death, or not until after the victory over Sheba.  Or, perhaps he composed it early on and sang it repeatedly throughout his life.  In any case, it is a song which contains powerful imagery.  David expresses how he was completely overwhelmed by the events of his life.  How things had gotten so bad that he could not go on living like that and there was nothing in his power to change them.  At that point, David cried out to the Lord for rescue.  He sings that God heard his cries and answered them.  God burst forth in a manner which made it clear that no obstacle would stand in His way and rescued David from his distress. 

I love all of the imagery, but I want to focus on what our behavior and characteristics will reveal about God.  If we are faithful, we will see God’s faithfulness.  If we act with integrity, we will witness God’s integrity.  But, if we are deceitful, we will learn that God is shrewd and that He will not be deceived.  No matter how clever you think that you are, you will not outsmart God.

 

Daily Bible Study

April 15, 2018 Bible Study — If We Call Upon God When We Are Betrayed and Attacked, He Will Come To Our Aid

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Samuel 20-22.

    At the end of yesterday’s passage we saw the beginning of the divide between the Northern Tribes and the Tribe of Judah which led to the splitting of Israel into two kingdoms under Rehoboam. Today’s passage begins with the outbreak of open revolt against David. The discontent found a focus in Sheba, who led his own clan in revolt, while the rest of the northern tribes seem to have taken a more neutral stance, withdrawing their troops from David’s army but unwilling to commit them to Sheba. David responds by sending his nephew and new army commander, Amasa, out to gather the warriors of Judah. David’s instructions include doing so quickly. Unfortunately, Amasa was unable to meet David’s deadline, so David ordered Abishai, Joab’s brother and another of David’s nephews, to take the warriors already gathered and pursue Sheba. Despite David giving the orders to Abishai, it is clear that Joab commanded this force (if you have been following along you realize that David had dismissed Joab and given his position as Army Commander to Amasa). When Amasa returned shortly after David issued this order, Joab greeted him and killed him in a similar manner to what he had done to Abner. Now, it may seem that Joab killed Amasa because David had made Amasa Army Commander in Joab’s place. That probably played a role in it. However, it is worth noting that Amasa had also accepted the position of Army Commander from Absalom and had just led troops in an attempt to overthrow David. It seems likely that Joab believed that his killing of Amasa was in David’s best interest.

    As a reader of fantasy novels and a player of fantasy roleplaying games, I love the imagery David used in his song of praise recorded here. I am not the word smith that David was. I am not even the equal of those who translated this song into English. Nevertheless, I am going to try to describe the imagery which this song evokes for me.

  • David starts be describing God as a rock and a fortress. These are really two descriptions meant to complement each other to form the image. To me this evokes the image of a fortress on a mountain or cliff, where the defenders can pick off their enemies while the enemy attacks bounce uselessly off of the rocks of the fortress walls.

However, David tells us that God is not a passive fortress where we, by our own initiative go to defend ourselves. No, when our enemies attack us, we call out to God and He takes us to this fortress of safety.

  • David describes the situation in which he, and most of us (perhaps even all of us), had found himself. He had been caught in a trap and bound up in ropes which are dragging us into the rising tide, or surging floodwaters. I don’t know why, but I always picture being bound up in a net made of rope, something like a deep sea fishing net, being dragged toward a wave of muddy water, which would overwhelm me even if I could keep from being dragged into it. Something which evokes a sense of complete helplessness in my mind.

From that place of complete despair, David cried out to God for help and God heard his cry, as He heard mine and will hear yours.

  • God did not just hear David’s cry. God rose to come to David’s rescue. His anger at the evil being done caused the earth to tremble and quake. This is the moment in a good fantasy novel where the reader realizes that the bad guys have gone too far and called up against themselves a force more powerful than they can comprehend. It is the moment when fires burst forth and those who have been inspiring terror in others feel fear themselves.
  • Now that God has entered the fray, everyone can see His mighty power coming. The bad guys see Him coming and realize they are doomed. God arrives on the scene smashing the enemy forces and scattering those who remain.
  • Then in the midst of this devastation and destruction, God reaches out a gentle hand and lifts David up and carries him to a place of safety. From sure death God rescues us and calms our fears.

    This is getting loner than I like, but there is one more part of this song I want to look at. David tells us that if we are faithful, not just to God, but in everything we do, God will treat us faithfully. If we live our lives with integrity, we will experience God’s integrity. But, if we think we are clever and can find loopholes in God’s laws, we will discover that God is shrewd and the “loophole” is not what we thought it was.