2 Samuel 21 Bible Study (David Avenges the Gibeonites) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Do you have your Bibles with you? I hope you have the word of God with you, and if you do, please meet me in second Samuel chapter 21. I'm not sure if you realize, but there are three chapters left to this study. Three chapters left until we pause and pray and consider where the Lord will take us next. But when you come to chapter 21, we're not gonna read right away because I want you to see something quite interesting.

Within these three chapters, you actually have three sets of three different themes. And so the best way to really show it to you is to have you follow along with me. Look at chapter 21 very briefly. What you'll notice in the first 14 verses is the theme of divine discipline. And then you go to chapter 24, and what will you see?

David senses his error in doing so, and we're gonna explore that in great detail why was that God brought about judgment for his senses. But again, we have the theme of divine discipline on the outskirts of these three chapters. And then you come to the second part of chapter 21. And what will you notice here in verse 15 down to the completion of this chapter? You will have a brief tribute of some of the soldiers in David's army.

What will you notice in chapter 23? You'll notice there in the second part, a tribute to some of David's mighty men. So on the outskirts, you have the theme of divine discipline. You come closer, you have the theme of tribute to David's soldiers. And then you come to the so you come to the source there in the core, and what do you have?

Well, look here at chapter 22 in the first part, and you have David's song of deliverance. And what do you see there in the first part of chapter 23? Yet another Psalm. Yet another Psalm. Again, the outskirts, divine discipline.

Following that you have a tribute to some of David's men, and then at the core you have two of David's Psalms living side by side. What are we to make of this? A simple observation of the beauty of God's word. This is just symmetrical art. The Bible is not just random information being stuffed together.

There was thought behind this, and more importantly, it's divine authorship. And so we even see a beauty in this final collection of chapters in our study, but what's more beautiful is the substance, what it is that we are going to read today as we deal with the first part at the end of this book. And what we will face today is is a heavy text, but nonetheless a very crucial and important text. Many lessons to learn in this example of divine discipline. And so let's read together in the first few verses of chapter 21.

Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year, and David sought the face of the Lord. And the Lord said, there is blood guilt on Saul and on his house because he put the Gibeonites to death. So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites were not of the people of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites. Although the people of Israel had sworn to spare them, Saul had sought to strike them down in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah.

And David said to the Gibeonites, what shall I do for you? And how shall I make atonement that you may bless the heritage of the Lord? The Gibeonites said to him, it is not a matter of silver or gold between us and Saul or his house, neither is it for us to put any man to death in Israel. And he said, what do you say that I shall do for you? They said to the king, the man who consumed us and planned to destroy us so that we should have no place in all the territory of Israel, let seven of his sons be given to us so that we may hang them before the Lord at Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of the Lord.

And the king said, I will give them. Lord, we ask that you would give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation in light of this specific text. May there be no confusion. May there be no intrusive thoughts that would rob us of the treasures that you have for us in every line of this chapter. May we become more acquainted with your ways.

May this chapter pull us closer into intimacy with your son, the lord Jesus Christ. And as our sister prayed, may there be a special grace and empowerment in the delivery and the reception of this word. Your word says that the anointing that abides in us teaches us, and we want to know what that anointing can offer us, that anointing that has been purchased by Christ and made available to all of his children. We give you glory and honor and thanks for the study in advance. In the precious name of Christ we pray.

Amen. Amen. Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, a famine that we are not sure when exactly took place, but it was a famine that for three consecutive years happened. And what we see here right from the beginning is that David seeks God in prayer. He realizes what's happening in the nation and his response seems noble.

He pauses. He pulls away. He comes to meet before God, and he says, what is this all about? Is this something to praise in David? You can say yes, but I would say yes and no.

David does the right thing in praying, but consider and read carefully of when he chooses to pray. When does he choose to pray? After how long? Three years. After three years of famine, he then chooses to seek the face of God.

Now some attempt to justify David's lack of praying here or delay in praying by saying that he was simply waiting and and trying to discern whether this is a natural cause or there's a spiritual implication behind it. But when you when you take David's behavior here and you put it on the backdrop of of scripture, namely the law, you would realize that there is no weight in justification for David's lack of praying or delay in praying. Let me prove that to you very quickly. Go to Deuteronomy 11, and I want you to see a couple verses in verse 13. This is one of God's promises, his conditional promises to the people before they entered into the very land that experienced this famine centuries later.

The Lord is speaking here in Deuteronomy 11, and notice what he says in verse 13. And if you will indeed obey my commandments that I command you today, to love the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul. He will give rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the later rain, that you may gather in your grain and your wine and your oil. There is a connection here between God's pleasure over his people and their experience of economic prosperity. That was the unique relationship that Israel had with God at this time.

And so there is no question that there's a spiritual implication behind this famine. This famine is indicative of some kind of violation that took place between the covenant that God had made with this people. And David who was a king, not just a king, a king, instructed in the same book Deuteronomy 17 to know the law, to have a copy of it in his own hands, and to read it day and night. He should have known that the fact that we have not seen rain means that something has gone wrong on our part. God is obviously trying to get our attention, and we failed to take heed.

David as a leader failed to do so. And and this teaching goes beyond being acquainted with the word of God. Right? You have the full copy of God's revelation. You must seek to master his word from cover to cover.

But there's another lesson here and it's a reflection of our human nature. There are some people who, by the grace of God, know how to abide in the place of prayer when all things go well. Right? There are others who only visit the closet when things don't go their way. And then there are others who only pray when things go very bad, very bad.

Because some people think they're smart, some people think they're clever. When things kind of take a different turn or turbulence comes, they think their own in their own wisdom and strength that they can deal with it. But when things increasingly become worse and all your ideas and plans don't seem to go forward, then you hit the ground praying. And that's what David is demonstrating here. It's not until three years pass where he begins to seek the Lord.

And that's unfortunate because that is not the way to utilize the gift of prayer. You see here by the grace of God that even after three years, the Lord answers. Think about that. You allowed an interval of three years, and the moment you choose to humble yourself and to seek God, he still is willing to hear you and answer you. That's the grace of God.

It's never too late to restart. It's never too late to take your spiritual disciplines seriously. It's never too late. It's been three years, ten years, six conferences, 11,000 Sunday services, 10,000 bible studies, and you still haven't changed. When you change, God is ready to receive you.

Three years go by and this man prays, and god doesn't say, where you've been for the past three years? You know what? Why don't I wait three weeks and then I'll get back to you? Let's let's be fair here. No.

He answers him right away. And yet, it makes you wonder, if god was willing to answer him after three years, wouldn't he have answered him if he prayed in year one? And if that is true, then how much trauma, loss, pain, suffering, affliction David could have been preserved from if he had chosen to simply pray, to seek God. Remaining in prayer assures us safety from unnecessary trials and self inflicted pain. That famous hymn.

Right? And so we see here that David, unfortunately, prays too late, but the fortunate thing is that he prays nonetheless. And I can't help but think of one specific exhortation in the New Testament where we are promised that if you are enduring something and you pray, God will give you the wisdom you need to know how to navigate through it. Do you know which reference I'm speaking of? James one five.

What is the command and the promise in James one five? If any. Right? If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God who gives generously to all without reproach. That's wonderful because there are some people don't feel worthy to come to God and to ask and to receive something.

And James assures you, he gives to all without reproach without reproach, and it will be given him. Now we take that verse out of its context, and we just rehearse it and quote it and preach it. And it's a wonderful principle, but it's a principle tied to a specific context. In what context is James saying, if you ask God for wisdom, he'll give it to you? Good.

You said it, and you're right. When you meet trials of various kinds So the understanding there is, when you meet trials, your reflex must be, I must meet with God. I must meet with God. Because one of the pains of trials is that it comes with difficulty, and cause us to wonder, how do I handle this? And James by the Spirit assures you, if you do know how to pray in those moments, God will give you his mind and how to understand the nature of this trial, and how to most redemptively make the best of this trial.

And I've seen that in so many scenarios. I've talked to mothers who have children who go in and out of jail, who wanna come back home, and they say, brother, what do I do? And James would say, seek God for wisdom. Every case is different. And there are people in ministries, and I can attest to this, that deal with issues that I'm telling you seminary and no theological book can prepare you for.

Our sinful nature is very creative in coming up with issues. Where do I go? James says, seek God for wisdom, and he will give it to you. He'll deposit it in your mind. He'll put something in you that you can't find on your bookshelf, that you can't get from your professor, that even perhaps your pastor might not be able to guide you in.

But God will. Don't doubt it. Come to him. That's exactly what David does. He doesn't understand what's going on here.

Is this a test that God wants me to endure or is this something that I must combat with my faith and overcome it with my trust in the Lord? He seeks the Lord. He should have known better, but he seeks the Lord. He at least does not, and God answers him. And God tells him what is the reason for this famine.

Says that here, there's blood guilt on the on Saul and on his house. We haven't heard from Saul for a while. Right? Here he is again. What's happening here is because of what Saul has done at some point in his life.

And what Saul has done is that he put to death some of the Gibeonites. Now if you're a student of the Old Testament, you should be concerned. In fact, you should be shocked. When were the Gibeonites introduced to us in the Old Testament? Who remembers?

Very good. Joshua. Now let me take it to the next step. What chapter in Joshua? Oh, very good.

Somebody prepared for this bible study. Yes. Any teacher will be thrilled to know that the people that he's teaching know. Joshua chapter nine. And the story is very familiar to us, I hope.

Joshua and the Israelites come in their campaign to take over the land of Canaan because it was the promised land, and these Gibeonites have studied what's happening here. These are people who have a connection to the true and living God, and wherever they go, they succeed. We have no chance. And these Gibeonites were numbered among the Canaanites, and so they were also called to face the same fate of absolute eradication, and they did not want that. And so what did they do?

They come to Joshua and the leaders, and they tricked them. They tricked them and make them believe that they were from a distant country, distant land, and they want to come into covenant with them. And after some clever presentation, Joshua and the leaders were told did not seek the Lord. And so they were deceived, and that they didn't make a covenant with these people, and that covenant entailed that these Gibeonites would live among them and would be untouched for the rest of their days. And that obviously went against what God intended for the Canaanites, but the covenant was so binding that it was to remain forever even in the days of David.

And what you have with Saul instead is that for centuries, this was honor. The Gibeonites were at peace and lived peaceably among the Israelites, and then Saul became king. Saul becomes king, and he attempts to absolutely rid these people from the land. This guy bugs me for different reasons. It really just shows how twisted and gross his disobedience was.

I mean, it was bad enough from what we saw in first Samuel. Then you come to second Samuel, and you get just another insight of just how rebellious he really was. When God told Saul, kill all the Amalekites. Did he obey? No.

He didn't. He kept some. And when it came to the people that through covenant were protected, Saul tries to kill them all. What's wrong with you? And we look at this and we think to ourselves, there's obviously something twisted about this man, and that is true.

But this says also something about the Lord because the Lord here shows just how much he takes seriously the principle of covenant. This promise was made hundreds of years before Saul's day, and any oath, any agreement, any promise that was made matters to the lord. So what do we learn from this concerning god? He takes our words seriously. He does.

Any commitment, anything that you sign on a dotted line, anything that you confess with your mouth, anything that you say, do, perform that comes with your word, your yes or your no, it really matters to God. And so this is really a warning to us. We may forget. We may ignore. We may neglect.

We may dishonor. God doesn't. But with this warning, you have a word of comfort, deep comfort. Think about it. If this is how God upholds covenant, then you have no reason to fear concerning your assurance in Christ Jesus.

Absolutely no reason to doubt that if Christ comes tomorrow or five hundred years from now, he will not forget nor will he dishonor his promise concerning you because of his faithfulness. Yes. Hallelujah indeed. I don't have to lose one wink of sleep wondering if God is gonna change his mind. I can be sound in my sleep.

I can be sound in my mind. I can be filled with worship and praise every second of my existence for one sole reason. God keeps his word. When he says it, he means it. But man is so different.

And though we don't understand the clear motives of Saul and going after the Gibeonites, we get a little hint. I don't know if you caught it, but come here quickly with me at the end of verse two. Says, although the people of Israel had sworn to spare them, Saul sought to strike them down in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah. In his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah. Now remember, what was Saul's excuse in first Samuel 15 when the prophet confronted him about his disobedience concerning the Amalekites?

Here's one of his excuses. I listened to the people. I listened to the people. The people convinced me, keep the sheep, keep Agag as a trophy, and all will be well. And he did, and he paid for it.

And what was his reason in coming after the Gibeonites? The same reason, to impress the people. His zeal for the people caused him to violate a covenant, an ancient one, and it would cost the nation. Living for the opinions of men is a sure method of spiritual suicide. You live for people.

You have a passion for what people have to say about you or don't say about you. Disobedience is inevitable. See, Saul's problem was that his zeal wasn't for God. If his zeal was for God, then he would have punished the Amalekites and protected the Gibeonites. But all this is yet another reminder of how deceptive our emotions can be.

He was enthusiastic. He was passionate about this cause, and he interpreted his feelings and allowed it to filter to determine what was right and what was wrong. Emotions can do that. And it doesn't matter how emotionally invested you are in a person, or in a thought, or a conviction, or an idea, your emotions do not validate the cause. They don't.

And how important is this in light of our day where we are now in a culture that is pushing for this notion that if you feel strongly about it, then it must be right. As long as you feel strongly about it, then we will accept it, and we will that's the path that we're on. Thank God we still have some sane people, but the trajectory is proving otherwise. We're losing a grip on simple right and wrong. But let let's let's let's take it beyond just just that.

Let's let's zoom in here. How true is Saul's attitude in day to day things? Day to day things. You commit to a ministry, and then you no longer feel passionate about the ministry, and so you just pick up and move on. You were so in love with her.

Right? And your ceremony was so spiritual, and it was so spurring esque when you made your vows. Beautiful. People were crying, and it looked so awesome, and it sounded so romantic, but you just don't feel like you're in love anymore. And so divorce is very attractive now.

See, Saul's problem was his feelings completely ignored the principle of covenant. And people are doing the same today, whether the zeal is there or the absence of zeal, and that determines what you do with your promises. That's contrary to the nature of God. That's contrary to the calling of the people of God. Let your yes be yes and your no be no.

I thought about that. Jesus what Jesus meant by that is you don't need to attach with your with your yes and yes. I promise I'll do it. I promise I won't do it. Your yes should be enough.

Your no should be enough. That should be the level integrity that we should strive for in the spirit. So Saul had a zeal, and that zeal led him in the wrong direction, but he justified it because he just was so there, present, and powerful. And it led him into disobedience. Your feelings can do that.

And so we come here, and what do we see? David confronts the Gibeonites. He calls them over, and he asked them, k. This has been made known to me. What do we do about it?

And before we look at this interaction, did anybody think to themselves, where were the Gibeonites to begin with? What I mean by that is why didn't the Gibeonites initiate this case for retribution? Where were they for all this time? Saul had long passed. David was king for quite some time.

You would think that once David took his place that they would have been there in line to say, hey, David. I'm not sure if you realize what Saul had done, but we have a problem here. Can you help us? None of that happened. David is the one initiating it.

David is the one approaching them. And the Gibeonites seem to have just held their peace for all this time, and there is no explanation for their silence. But it makes you wonder based on what you see about their character in this interaction, if they had just paused and waited and trusted in the sovereignty of God. I wonder. This is just speculation.

This isn't dogmatic, but I wonder. If the Gibeonites just allowed God to deal with their offense, maybe they cried out to him. It's not indicated. They trusted in God's vengeance for sure, and God did come to their aid. He brought a famine.

He brought a famine, and it got the people's attention. And, again, look here at their character when the opportunity comes their way. Look what they said in verse four. The Gibeonites said to him, it is not a matter of silver or gold between us and Saul or his house, neither is it for us to put any man to death in Israel. There's two things that are being said here.

Look. You can't give us any amount of money to make up for this, and we're not looking to make any money out of this. Secondly, we recognize our place in this nation. Because remember, when they made that treaty with Israel, they didn't have the same status as the people of Israel. They were servants.

They carried water and they cut wood. We have no civil rights in this. We can't put anyone to death. And so what I take from that is these people did not exploit the situation. They didn't say, oh, this is our chance to get money.

This is our chance to get rich. This is our chance to get some revenge, to give them a taste of their own medicine and put some of their own to death. No. These were people who had integrity and were not vengeful nor were they greedy. They said, we're not looking to take advantage of this time.

So that says something about their nature. That says something about their heart posture. But then David asked then, what do you want? And this is what they asked. Give us seven of Saul's sons.

Let us hang them. Let us hang them. Now that further confirms something about their wisdom. One, they asked for Saul's sons to be hung by their own hands. I think that's a detail that we can't miss.

Because I think they had this understanding that if David were to perform this, that it could have added more fuel to the fire between the feud of the dynasty of Saul and David's dynasty, and they didn't want that. We'll take care of it. There's wisdom there. Secondly, these Gibeonites, though not Israelites, were among the people of Israel long enough, I believe, to be familiar with some of God's law. Let's hang them.

Now why that form of execution out of many forms of execution that were available in that time? Any idea? Yes. That's right. Somebody said it.

In Deuteronomy 21, we're told in verse 22 that if anyone committed a crime that was worthy of death, they were to be hung before the Lord. And in that hanging, there would be a display demonstration of divine displeasure. This person has been cursed by God. So they wanted to perform this particular legislation, this particular punishment. And David understood what they were saying.

He says, you know what? It's yours. But here's what we might consider a philosophical debate or theological one. Although there is such an obvious array of wisdom and fairness and grace, is it just for Saul's sons to receive capital punishment for Saul's sin? Because there are some who go to the extent of saying that this story is really about how David was in the wrong.

And instead of seeking God, he sought the counsel of these Gibeonites, and in doing so, he killed innocent men because the sons are not supposed to pay for the sins of their father. Right? That is in Deuteronomy. So what do we have here? Do we have David who is mistaken, or do we have something else?

Any ideas? Was it right for Saul's sons to undergo this punishment? Yes. Right. So there are consequences of sins from especially parents, anybody in authority.

Yes. Absolutely. There is that principle of consequences going beyond your own life. That's throughout the word of God. Yes.

Okay. So verse 14, how the people prayed. And so you're saying that it wasn't necessarily David's dealing with the Gibeonites, but the people's prayers that brought about? Okay. Was it right for Saul's sons Yeah.

To receive punishment for what happened? What seems to be Saul's sin? Okay. So there's something about God's approval of what taken place that seems to validate what happened? Okay.

I understand your answer, and that's a good point. That's a good observation because if God did end up giving rain, then there's no error here. Right? Let's see. Yes.

Yes. Seven is a significant number, number of completion. Okay. So you're talking about the glory of God where it's told that those who hate him, they will be visited in the third and fourth generation. Is that what you're speaking about?

Yes. Yes. Yes. So that means that hate to god to us. Yeah.

That's that's that's one answer that people would allude to, that god's recognition of Saul's hatred, again, back to our sister point, affected generations after. Yes. You have one more answer, maybe two, and then we'll move forward. Yeah. I'm just thinking like we have to consider Yes.

Blood guilt. Blood guilt. And their answer for the So life and life. Right? Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, foot for foot.

Individual, like, individual person like Okay. So the nation is at guilt here. It's not necessarily a particular person. Okay? One more, and then we're gonna have to move forward.

Brother George, did you have something, or were you scratching your neck earlier? No answer? Okay. We're gonna take it for Lori. Very good and perfect segue.

How do we know that it wasn't just Saul? Well, we do know. And that and I think it's just careful reading that eliminates philosophical debate and speculation and more than that, even wrong interpretation. Go back to verse one. Read it carefully.

Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year, and David sought the face of the Lord. And the Lord said, there is blood guilt on Saul and who? Ah, and on his house. Not just Saul, but his household. Do you see now?

Careful reading. And on his house, the sons of Saul were not guilty merely by association, but because of participation. On some level, they were agents of destruction against the Gibeonites, at least in part. And David here receiving this proposal is not just subjectively trying to deal with this issue. I believe, at least in this part, he is in perfect alignment with the law and another law.

So let me read this to you, and if you're writing notes, you can write down this reference in Numbers 35. In Numbers 35, we read here in verse 33. The Lord speaks, you shall not pollute the land in which you live, in numbers thirty five thirty three, for blood pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land, for the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of the one who shed it. So there is no violation of the law. There is no contradiction.

There is no neglect. There is perfect alignment. Saul and his household, there's blood guilt on them. And because the land has been polluted by blood, it demanded the lives of those who shed that blood, and that is what we have up to this point. So we addressed briefly the silence of the Gibeonites, but there is another silence that we have to address.

We talked about why it took David to come to the Gibeonites for this to happen, but here's another question. Why did God wait so long? Why did God wait so long? Why didn't he make this known? Why didn't he let a famine happen in the days of Saul?

Why at this point with David at this time with the nation at this point in history? Why? Any idea? And listen, before you answer that, you can think about it and apply it in your own life, in your own observation. How is this person committing such evil and they still get away with it?

How are they still prospering? How is that ministry still standing? How are their doors still open and there's so much false doctrine? There's so much sexual sin. There's so much meddling with the funds.

How how are they still standing? How can a nation still be a nation, still be in the top three superpowers of the world, and legalize and promote such perversion, and push God out of their schools, and push God out of their government? How? How? Any idea?

I'll give you what I believe. It's a hint there in the book of Revelation. It's in chapter two when the Lord speaks to one church. And in that address, you have an insight about how god deals with man's sin. Look there in chapter two verse 20.

There is a woman in this church, and she's referred to as Jezebel, not the Jezebel that you read in Kings, but one who imitates Jezebel in her rebellion against authority and her attempt to be authoritative and to lead people into sin. And the lord speaks. He writes a letter to this church, and he says there in two twenty of Revelation, but I have this against you that you tolerate that woman, Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and is seducing my servants to practice sexual morality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. Look at verse 21, the first few words. I gave her time to repent.

I gave her time to repent. Why does the Lord allow this prophetess to preach this false teaching and to lead people into sin? Why didn't God just strike her down right away? Why didn't God close the church down? Because I gave her time to repent.

Why didn't God strike Saul down? Why didn't he bring a famine in days of Saul? I believe because he gave the household of Saul. He gave the nation of Israel time to repent, and they didn't take advantage of that time just like sinners today. Sinners take that silence from heaven and allow it to just fuel them to sin even more.

That's unfortunate, isn't it? But here it is. God finally brings discipline because, again, he doesn't forget. Man may forget. And the time is up, and time will come up for every single person.

And so we see here that once David deals with the Gibeonites and we just settled the matter that this is not any confliction. There's no any confliction with the word of God. We move forward in the selection of the men. Look here in verse seven verse six, rather. He says, I will give them verse seven, but the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Saul's son, Jonathan, because of the oath of the Lord that was between them, between David and Jonathan, the son of Saul.

Ain't that wonderful? What a contrast between these two leaders. You have Saul who had no regard for a promise, and then yet you have David who kept his from Mephibosheth, made a covenant with Jonathan that his descendants would not be hurt. They would not be touched. And when it came to the selection, when it came to possible judgment coming to this household, Mephibosheth was spared.

We're told here that he would evade judgment. You have a shadow of the gospel here. Is it not clear? Mephibosheth was associated with a guilty family and because of an oath that he had, this only covenant that would have spared him. Because that covenant was made, he was able to escape the judgment that finally came.

It's no different than you and I. You and I are associated with a guilty family, the human race, son and daughter of that rebel Adam. But But because of your covenant, not with David, but the son of David, you will be spared. And what I love about this picture of Mephibosheth is that the scene before this, the the last time we see Mephibosheth and David, David and Mephibosheth had an encounter. Mephibosheth was accused by Ziba for being disloyal to David.

He was a traitor, apparently. According to Ziba's words, he betrayed you, and yet despite the accusations, his status remained the same. David did not change his promise to Mephibosheth, though there was an accuser that convinced him otherwise. It is the same for you and I in Christ. Satan will accuse you.

Do you realize right now that one of the things that Satan is doing while you're doing your own thing is trying to convince God the father that you're not worthy to be saved? Day and night, he accuses the brethren. That person got baptized, and he promised to never watch pornography again, and there he is. He he's your son. You're gonna let him in?

Is that really how your justice works? And then Satan comes to you, and he tries to convince you something wrong about the father, like he's such a liar. Look at you. You think God's gonna love you? Think God's gonna hold on to you?

You're a mess. How many times are you gonna pray about this? Do you realize how holy he is? Do you realize he's not gonna really tolerate this? But the picture we have here is despite the accusation, despite the demand for your life, his word remains.

It will prevail. And that's the comfort you and I have. But unfortunately, not everybody lived under that blessing, and so you read in verse eight of the victims. Not really victims, of the ones who deserve to be punished. The king took two sons of Rizpah, the daughter of Aya, whom she bore to Saul, Armonai, and Mephibosheth, a different Mephibosheth, and the five sons of Merab, the daughter of Saul whom she bore to Adriel, the son of Barzalai, and Meholathite.

So seven were chosen. Two of them came from a woman named Rizpah. According to second Samuel three verse seven, Rizpah was one of Saul's concubines. That's important. And then you come here and you realize that five came from Merab, the daughter of Saul.

Now some of your translation might read what? Not Merab, Michal. Now the reason why some translations have Merab is because there are different manuscripts that identify this person differently. Merab is the other daughter of Saul, not the one that David married. Michal is the one that David married.

And there is an explanation here if whether it's Merab or Michal. If it is Michal, the problem is Michal could not have children. Do you guys remember that? She could not bear children. But the translation would read that Michal perhaps reared.

She adopted the kids of her sister. Something must have happened to her sister, Merab, and she raised them up herself. She almost adopted them. That's if you have the Michal translation. Right?

Merab here, they're basing it off other Hebrew manuscripts that would identify her, And that makes more sense because she was the one who was married to Adriel, the son of Barzalai. Regardless, the seven have been determined and will be executed. And that's exactly what happens. Verse nine. And he gave them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the mountain before the Lord.

And the seven of them perished together. They were put to death in the first days of the harvest at the beginning of barley harvest. I'm surprised the chapter doesn't end there. I'm surprised the story doesn't end there. They were hung.

It's over. Move on. But instead, you and I are brought into a very sad scene. It's heartbreaking. It's tragic, actually.

Instead of just concluding that the Lord honored this and then he made it rain and then you move on, We have a very descriptive scene of Rizpah. There have been many books written about woman of the bible, many blogs written. Personally, I've never encountered anything mentioning this woman and what she displayed in her character. Let's read it, and you'll get how dark it is just by my simple reading. Then Rizpah, the daughter of Aya, took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock from the beginning of harvest until rain fell upon them from the heavens.

And she did not allow the birds of the air to come upon them by day or the beast of the field by night. That's a tragic sight. Here you have a mother who already lost so much of her security when Saul killed himself. Right? If there's any security left in her life, it's through her sons, and now that's taken from her.

It wasn't easy to be a widow. It wasn't easy to be a widow with no one to take care of you, and the next person to take care of you would be either redeemer or your own children. And all of that is taken from her. Right? And the impression that you get from this verse is that she decides to make her home at this atrocious, despicable sight.

While her sons are there technically being crucified, not in the Roman way, but hanging there, day and night, she sought to preserve them from being further defiled. And so you can just imagine as she's there throughout the day in the blazing Middle Eastern sun, she would stand and keep her post so that whenever any bird would fly on the shoulder of one of her sons, she would try to shoo them away. I want you to imagine and feel how she would lay on that rock in the coldness of the night while her clothing would be wet from the dew, and she would be awakened midnight at the sound of dogs attempting to rip a limb off of that tree from one of her sons, and her fearlessly getting up and shooing them away, chasing them off. This is the kind of life that this woman lived for days, weeks, and some even believe months. You're gonna find out that what was left of her sons was just bones.

So they were there for some time. Their flesh rotted. Their organs dissipated, and they were just left with bones. And she guarded them, and she watched over them, and she was under severe surveillance night and day. And what do we make of this?

Like, why are we told that she did this? Why is that even important? I mean, you can just write it off and say, well, all the Holy Spirit really wants us to do is just get another glimpse of the ugliness of sin, the brokenness of our world. Here you have a mother who in a in a sense almost lost her mind because all her loved ones experienced these tragic deaths, the closest people to her. And here she is abandoned and alone, almost in hysteria.

But there must be more than that, and I believe there is more than that. I believe that the best way to look at this is to understand it again in in the light of the law of God, the law of God. Because I believe what we have here is more than just a woman who is displaying her love for her children in a very public way. I believe you have a woman here who is displaying a perseverance that proves to us that even a poor woman can move the hand of a king. Deuteronomy 21 verse 22 tells us that if anyone commits a crime that is worthy of death, he is to be hanged on a tree, but that's not the completion of those instructions.

Does anyone remember what else is to be done if someone were to be hung on a tree? Very good. In Deuteronomy twenty one twenty three, let me read it to you. His body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day for a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile your land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance.

So, yes, hang him on a tree. But in order to not defile the land even further, remove him from the tree. Is that what happened with the sons of Rizpah? No. Weeks go by and they're they're rotting.

I wonder why. I'm under the persuasion that the Gibeonites didn't really know any better. Remember, David handed them off to them, they hung them, and they kept them. But Rispa knew better. And so this woman, I believe, comes to this place, and she desperately seeks to protect her children in order to honor them the way God would have honored them in that sense and honored the land.

She defends. She protects. She oversees. And she was powerless. I mean, who is this woman to remove them from the tree?

Who is this woman to to to make this happen? And so she does the best that she can, and she just chases away the animals that would try to bring about more dishonor to these precious boys of hers. And her commitment to that, more than just grief, her commitment to that was so obvious, was so persistent, was so unbroken that it came to David's attention. And when David learned about what Atrispah was doing, he realized what they had not done and he makes it a mission of his to not only take the bones of Rizpah's sons, but to go after Saul and Jonathan's bones and to give them a proper burial. Why?

As an expression of honor in that culture? More than that. To be in alignment with God's heart and will and law. I look at this woman, and I think to myself, if the perseverance of this woman was able to stir a forgetful, inattentive, sinful king, how much can you and I expect from a god who is perfect in all of his ways. You know, there are some people who pray.

There are some people who walk in faithfulness, and they wonder, how long will this take before I get God's attention? God, if you can only tell me how much of prayer, how much of obedience, how much of my participation will finally get you to look at my situation and to bestow favor upon me. You have some people who think like that. They think like the pagans. That's how pagans think.

Let let's beat our chest. Let's bruise ourselves. Let's starve ourselves until we finally get Baal's attention. Right? That's what the face off on Mount Carmel was all about.

And Elijah's like, maybe your god is sleeping. Maybe he's on the toilet. He said that, not me. And, unfortunately, we can translate paganism into our theology because it's human nature. And this woman here displays such brilliance in her perseverance, and it encourage us to do the same, but not to expect what she finally realized.

That, oh, oh, really? Rizpah is doing that? Well, we gotta do something. I can't believe it. We how did we miss that?

That's not how God works. There are so many examples I I can point to. This one example came to mind, and I'm not biased. His name is Daniel. And there's one little insight in Daniel's prayer life that touched me so deeply because it helped me realize how prayer works or how God hears prayer.

There was a point in Daniel's life where we're told that he prayed for three weeks. He fasted and prayed for three long weeks. And at the end of three weeks, an angel appears with a revelation that would actually give him insight into the last days. But when the angel appears, he says something that was not just true for Daniel, it is true for the prayerful saint of this hour. Now I wanna show it to you so that you'll never forget it, so that you'll never pray the same, you'll never think about prayer the same way again.

It's in Daniel chapter 10, and it's found there in verse 12. And notice what is said to him. Daniel ten twelve. Then he said to me, Daniel writes, fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your god, your words have been heard. From the first day, heaven heard you.

But when was his prayer answered? Three weeks later. But from the first day, he was heard. Can you imagine that? Think about that.

If that wasn't there, we would have thought that after three weeks, finally, Daniel was able to break through and get this busy god's attention and to get a appointment with his ear. That's how we think about God. No. We're told through this the moment that you set your heart to humble yourself and to seek my face. I heard you.

I heard you. And in my wisdom, I don't answer right away because there's a development of your faith in this. But in this context, it wasn't because of that necessarily. It's because of the warfare that took place. Satan trying to interfere with the revelation that was trying to come to Daniel.

But I pray that you would never forget that truth from the moment that you set your face to seek his, God hears. There's no doubt. How comforting is that? That it's not prayer attempt 96 that's gonna go through as though some divine lottery that we just throw things in the air, and one thing will be caught by the Lord eventually if I keep doing it. That's not how it worked from the first moment.

I can I can be so at peace knowing, Lord, I know I might be at at a while doing this? I know that I might be here seeking you night after night. But one thing I am comforted by is that you know. You see. You hear.

You've already taken into consideration from the first time. The first time. What kind of god is this? It's our god. What kind of king is this?

It's our king. Not like David, who learned from some messenger that Rispah was there indirectly protesting what is taking place, this injustice, and wanting her sons to be buried properly, he sees right away. And so finally, we won't read it. Why not? Verse 11.

When David was told what Rizpah, the daughter of Ai, the concubine of Saul, had done, David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan from the men of Jabesh gilead, who had stolen them from the public square of Bethshan, where the Philistines had hanged them on the day the Philistines killed Saul and Gilboa. And he brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan, and they gathered the bones of those who were hanged. And they buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the land of Benjamin and Zela in the tomb of Kish, his father. And they did all that the king commanded. And after that, god responded to the plea for the land.

There's something about that last phrase that's worthy of meditation. In this concluding sentence, you have a very another very important truth about how prayer works in the economy of our god. And after that, god responded to the plea for the land. There was a plea for the land that God did not respond to until something took place, namely the dealing with Saul's sin along with his household. God would not recognize the plea until the sin was dealt with.

When sin is tolerated, prayer is obstructed. When sin is tolerated, prayer is obstructed. The psalmist said, if I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. If I cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. And so, yeah, in Daniel's case, you see that he sought the face of God, and the first moment he did, God heard him.

But if you want one way for God not to hear your prayer, not that he can't hear, but that he chooses not to recognize, It's to lovingly hold on to sin and expect the privilege of prayer at the same time. It just won't happen. And in this case here, we see a very important timeless truth. As long as sin is ignored, as long as sin is tolerated, you will not know prayer. And here's how I'm gonna conclude the bible study.

I hope you didn't fall asleep. I know it's late. But let me give you a pressing question and and pressing love. And I thought about this in meditation. I looked at it, and this went through my mind.

What do I believe about prayer? What do I believe about prayer that would make the possibility of not experiencing its promises a great enough motivation for me to forsake sin? That makes sense, or was that a mouthful? What do I personally, through, I hope, the word of God, believe about prayer that the possibility of not experiencing its promises would be enough of a motivation to forsake sin? Or is prayer in the peripheral of my reality that the threat of God confiscating the promises tied to it not bother me.

That makes sense? A good father, a good mother, and one of the ways that they would discipline their children would see something that that child might enjoy in light of disobedience in order to teach them something about the consequences of disobedience. Now if my father told me, son, because of your attitude on the dinner table, there's no dessert for you. That would upset me. It would upset me especially if I had to sit in another room and see my siblings devouring chocolate fudge sundae.

But if my father came to me and said, son, because of your disobedience, you're not gonna have broccoli tonight. Alright. Woe is me. No broccoli tonight. It's a very silly analogy.

Alright? But sometimes simplicity helps. You have some people who view prayer as a chocolate fudge sundae. You have others who see prayer as cold broccoli. And so they're able to live without it.

My friend, if you're able to live without prayer, I have many questions for you, serious questions. But one thing I am convinced of of a person who can consistently go without knowing the promises and pleading with the Lord is that you don't know what prayer is all about. What what what where in your history with the Lord, what is it about your life that you can say, if it wasn't for prayer? If it wasn't for prayer then, if it's not prayer for today, these things would change. This is what would change about me, certainly.

So the lord, as a loving father, would not respond to their plea until that sin was dealt with. And once that sin was dealt with, the heavens opened again, and he was willing to heal their land. I hope that you would live in such a way where prayer, as Cory ten Boom would say, prayer is either the steering wheel of your life or it is a spare tire. It's the last resort. It's your emergency call.

But for some, it's the very thing that helps you, guides you, directs you, leads you, empowers you, strengthens you. There's so much more to say in these verses. Right? But we will have to wait till next week if the Lord wills. Let's pause our hearts again and pray.

Lord, tonight, we thank you that even in a very dark chapter in David's life, in the life of the nation of Israel, we have felt the warmth of your rays of wisdom, truths about your nature. And Lord, we just ask that our hearts as our brother opened the service with, our hearts would be softened even more. And we ask, oh God, that whatever point resonated with us would not be ignored, but it would be applied. Father, we pray that you would receive the necessary worship as a response. More than just a song, more than just emotions being stirred, Help us be a people who keep their promises.

Help us in days where we doubt where we stand with you, your promises. We remember that you are not a forgetful king. Lord, we look at Rispa, and we see a woman who is willing to fight and stay until what she believed to be true would come to pass, and it did. And, lord, we just even lift up parents now who would apply the same tenacity of this woman, not for the dead, but for the living. Spiritually speaking, the vultures and the creatures of the night that seek to defile our children, may you give mothers and fathers the stamina and the insight and the grace to shield their little ones.

And, Lord, we just wanna give you glory tonight. We wanna extol you and exalt you. Every word in this book has been given, Lord, for our sanctification, and we felt it tonight. And we wanna thank you for it. In Christ's name, amen.

Amen. Why don't we do that? Why don't we worship the Lord, give him glory?