2Samuel 19 (uploaded 1/31/2014) continues the most complete examination of the book of Samuel available. In the previous chapter, David’s army defeated Absalom’s army and Joab killed Absalom. This chapter begins with David weeping and mourning the death of Absalom, and Joab has to brace him. It is in this chapter that David exits the interlocking systems of arrogance through grace orientation and listening to what Joab tells him, and then doing what Joab tells him to do. A new gate is introduced in this chapter, along with the fact that David’s emotional arrogance did not interlock with that gate. This chapter tells us how David stepped out of the interlocking systems of arrogance. David will be greeted by those from northern and southern Israel; sort of celebrating his return to Jerusalem as king. He will also speak to three men in particular; and his exit from the interlocking systems of arrogance is clear in his actions and what he says to these men. Just as we have seen in all previous chapters of the Book of Samuel, there are applications which are just as current as today’s news. Absalom’s appeal as a possible king was very much like Barack Obama’s appeal as president. Whereas, President Obama is not a carbon copy of Absalom, there are still a great number of parallels that could be made between the two men—particularly the appeal of these two men to their constituency. For those who know who R. B. Thieme, Jr. is, he stopped the David series suddenly, about a third of the way through this chapter, taught a psalm, and then unceremoniously ended the 600+ lesson series. David is faced with the choice to abuse his considerable power as a king, and unlike the aides of Barack Obama and Chris Christie, David chose not to exert his power to silence a voice of dissent in his kingdom. In studying King David, it is easy to write him off as just a good king, whereas the Bible calls him a great king (all other kings are compared to him; he becomes the gold standard for all subsequent kings). Therefore, there must be a reason why God rates David as great; and we will uncover some of those reasons in this chapter. One of the important themes of this chapter is the generation which is passing away doing what is necessary for the next generation to take over. I think that David’s dealings with Barzillai and Hushai the Archite have got him recognizing that his age has him limited now, and that he needs to look at the next generation. I believe that this will be key in David’s legacy (something which most commentators ignore completely). At this point, David has less than 10 years to go before his death. At the very end of this chapter, there appears to be a problem between northern Israel and Judah (southern Israel). The exact cause for this is not fully explained. A possible explanation as to what exactly happened is offered up. This is not found in any other commentary. The Bible is not just filled with random events. What we read in the Bible is placed there for a reason. In this chapter, there are parallels between what David does in relationship to his kingdom which is in revolt and what God does in relationship to His kingdom in revolt. Virtually every chapter of the Bible opens up discussion on a variety of topics. In this chapter, we will explore Emotional Arrogance; David’s Recovery and Joab’s part in his recovery; the Doctrine of Wealth; and Links to the Doctrine of Happiness. Interestingly enough, most of this chapter is narrative, and few pastors have spend more than 20 minutes on this chapter, at most. In fact, most pastors have never taught this chapter. There is not a single verse which sticks out in my mind which we would quote. However, this chapter is filled with a number of principles and topics. A lot of time is spent looking behind the narrative. What I found fascinating is, this appears to be a celebration and a re-coronation of David; but that is never clearly stated in the text. Any reporter or historian there would have described that aspect of this chapter first, as that is what was happening. But the writer of this chapter does not even mention that, except by inference. Also, a great portion of the narrative would involve David and his supporters being ferried across the Jordan River; but this chapter barely speaks of that as well. 337 pages. As is nearly always the case, both the list of Doctrinal Terms and the list of Old Testament topics which are covered are both updated and posted. kukis.org/Samuel/2Sam_19.pdf
Posted on: Fri, 31 Jan 2014 12:08:48 +0000
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