2 Samuel 4 starting at verse 1. And when Saul's son heard that Abner was dead in Hebron, his hands were feeble and all the Israelites were troubled. And Saul's son had two men that were captains of bands. The name of the one was Ba'ana and the name of the other Rechab, the sons of Rimon, a Bearethite of the children of Benjamin. For Beareth also was reckoned to Benjamin. And the Bearethites fled to Gittaim and were sojourners there until this day. And Jonathan, Saul's son, had a son that was lame of his feet. He was five years old when the tidings came of Saul and Jonathan out of Jezreel, and his nurse took him up and fled. And it came to pass, as she made haste to flee, that he fell and became lame, and his name was Mephibosheth. And the sons of Rimon, the Bearethite, Rechab and Baana, went and came about the heat of the day to the house of Ishbosheth, who lay on a bed at noon. And they came thither into the midst of the house, as though they would have fetched wheat. And they smote him under the fifth rib, and Rechab and Baana, his brother, escaped. For when they came into the house, he lay on his bed in his bedchamber, and they smote him and slew him and beheaded him and took his head and got them away through the plain all night. And they brought the head of Ish-bosheth unto David to Hebron, and said to the king, behold, the head of Ish-bosheth, the son of Saul, thine enemy, which sought thy life. And the Lord hath avenged my Lord the king this day of Saul and of his seed. And David answered Rehob, and Baana, his brother, the sons of Rimon, the Bearethite, and said unto them, as the Lord liveth, who hath redeemed my soul out of all adversity, when one told me, saying, behold, Saul is dead, thinking to have brought good tidings, I took hold of him and slew him in Ziklag, who thought that I would have given him a reward for his tidings. How much more, when wicked men have slain a righteous person in his own house upon his bed, Shall I not therefore require his blood of your hand and take you away from the earth? And David commanded his young men and they slew them and cut off their hands and their feet and hang them up over the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ish-bosheth and buried it in the sepulcher of Abner in Hebron. May the Lord add his blessing to the reading and hearing and preaching of his word. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for your holy word. We thank you for the truth of it. Cause us to be enlightened in our minds and the knowledge of the truth, renewed and persuaded in our wills to embrace Jesus Christ and enabled by the spirit of God, sprinkling clean water upon us to walk in your most righteous ways. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Please be seated. We continue this afternoon in our survey of 2 Samuel. We've gone from 1 Samuel chapter 16, David being anointed and victorious in chapter 17, being beloved and hated in chapters 18 through 20, hunted by Saul both in Israel and internationally, chapters 21 through 26. And then from 1 Samuel 27 through 2 Samuel chapter 2, we saw David in exile and his ascent toward the throne of Judah. Then now we'll look at verses, or excuse me, chapters four through 10 this afternoon, looking at David's ascent to and administration of the throne of Israel, all 12 tribes. Then after that follows chapters 11 through 21, David's sins and the punishments for those sins. And chapters 22 through 24 of 2 Samuel, David's song of praise, his final words, his worthies, and the final plague for his pride. So we'll look at this again in survey fashion, 2 Samuel chapter 4, which we've read, through chapter 10. First then in chapter 4, verses 1 through 8, we have Ish-bosheth's weakening and his assassination. Then in verses 9 through 12, we have David, rather than rewarding the assassins, putting them to death. Verse 1, we notice that Ish-bosheth is enfeebled when he hears the news of Abner's death. Ishbosheth had his confidence in princes. The prince was taken away, his confidence is gone. This is why scripture admonishes us not to have our confidence in man or even in princes. Ishbosheth's two servants are named here, Ba'ana and Rechab, in verses two and three. And then we hear a little bit about Jonathan's son, we'll hear more about Mephibosheth later, and his injury. Remember that when Saul and Jonathan were slain, that the people that were in the cities fled from the cities. The Philistines came and inhabited those cities, and before they came, the people left when they heard that Jonathan and Saul were dead. We see then that calamity will often come down. It will trickle down to those who are not even involved. Here, a five-year-old child is lame on his feet because of the bad choices of Saul, the king of his nation. This is why scripture commands us to pray for our magistrates that they may be converted to Jesus Christ. Why? So that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. That was not so with Saul. He was not a godly magistrate and therefore they did not lead quiet and peaceable lives as we'll see with David. So there is a trickle-down effect of bad civil government. People might say, well, I don't want to be involved in civil government. Well, that means you want wicked people in civil government, and you want everybody's life to be awful. What a wicked doctrine, professing to be Christian. Verses 5 through 8, we have these servant assassins slay Ishbosheth, and they bring his head to David. That was a very foolish choice on their part. Notice they're cowardice. They come while he's in bed, we're informed. Verse six, they made as though they would get wheat. They're cowards and they're hypocrites. They're pretending to do service to Ish-bosheth when they intend to murder him. It says in verse six that they stabbed him under the fifth rib. That is where your heart and your lung are. If you stab somebody under the fifth rib, they're dead right away. Then notice their diligence and their zeal. David's going to play on this when he executes them. They are diligent in what? They run all night to David to accomplish their evil purpose. Those feet that were swift to shed blood are now swift to bring news of it to David. Then we have verses 9 through 12 of this chapter. David takes an oath. He explains the sentence. He issues the sentence of these assassins. Notice verse 9. He says, As the Lord liveth who hath redeemed me out of all my troubles, I don't need you assassins to help me. God is the one who redeems me out of all adversity. You don't need to sin in order to help me. I don't need your evil deeds. These men were of quite a different spirit and David explains this. David's spirit and their spirit are not the same. When one told me, he said that Saul was dead and he thought he was bringing me good news. Didn't you hear what happened to him? What happened to him? He was killed by the young men of David, just like that. No trial or anything because he had confessed to the murder himself. How much more, David says, when you come here, having slain a righteous man upon his bed, in his own house. He says, you're not even worthy to live on this earth anymore. I will take you away. Then verse 12, the assassins are executed and shamefully treated. Remember their hands with which they stabbed Ish-bosheth? Cut them off. Remember the feet that were swift to shed blood that ran all night through the plain? Those feet are cut off. David uses irony in his office of magistrate. The punishment is like poetic justice. But what about the head of Ish-bosheth? He honors it. He shows respect to Ish-bosheth, the righteous man's remains, even though that was his adversary. Love your enemies, Christ says. David is an example for us in that very thing. Then chapter five, verses one through five, we have all Israel now comes to anoint and to elect David as their king. Verses 6-12, we have David conquering the stronghold of Zion and building his house. Verses 13-16, David's children born in Jerusalem. And verses 17-25, we have the Philistines attack David and being defeated under divine guidance two times. Verses 1-5 and verses 1-3, we have Israel electing David, anointing him and making a league with him. Now think this through with me. Remember Abner? Abner was fighting and becoming strong on behalf of Ish-bosheth. But what did Abner know? He knew that God had promised that David would be king. Notice, the elders of Israel, they know the same thing. In verse two, we read this. As the Lord hath said, God said and prophesied that you're gonna be king, David. Well, why then were you fighting against his kingdom? Why then has it taken you seven and a half years to finally come and do what God said? These men are not sincere. They are disobedient. They are slow to obey. They are stiff-necked, but to their credit, at least after seven years of fighting David, they finally submitted to his authority. Notice verse 3 that they anointed him as king over them. It is the ordinance of man, civil magistrates, those who fill the office must be chosen by men. They can't appoint themselves as magistrates in other words. Civil magistrates are the ordinance of God and the laws that they enforce. Then verses 4 and 5 of this chapter 5. gives us a brief chronicle of David's kingdom over Judah and over Israel. David, think about this. First Samuel 16, he's anointed to be king over Israel. Then for about six years, he's hunted by Saul. Then for seven and a half years, he's king only over Judah. The promise is still not fulfilled after 13 and a half years. We must see God's purpose is not necessarily fulfilled when we think it will be. Sometimes God will tarry long to try us, to equip us, to prepare us as David was being prepared. We must then learn patience. Verses six through 12 then, David then comes to the stronghold of Jebus or Jerusalem, Zion he calls it. David comes in verse six to the Jebusites and they taunt him. This might be hard to understand perhaps, but verse 6, they say, except thou take away the blind and the lame, thou shalt not come in hither, thinking David cannot come in hither. The blind and the maim, what do they do in a battle? Do they kill people? No. So what the Jebusites are saying is, Our line of defense is so strong that if we sent the blind men and the lame men of our people to fight against you, you couldn't beat them. You couldn't overcome them. In fact, the city had a moat around it, which we'll talk about shortly. And so they figured we cannot be defeated. There is no way that you can come into our city, David. Why don't you just maybe defeat our blind and lame men and then you can come in here. thinking, well, he can't get in here. So their pride came before their fall. Their opinion of their greatness and invulnerability and perhaps their own righteousness made them think we cannot be defeated and they were wrong. David then returns their taunt in verses seven through nine upon their own head and he takes the city. He tells his men in order to encourage them that they could become a captain of his army if they went up to the gutter or the moat around the city. If you go up and you're willing to take the risk, you will become a great one in my kingdom. Valiance was required. Danger was prolific. Notice David says that these same people that were taunting him, that they're blind men, And their lame men are hated of David's soul. This again is David's irony in judgment. You're going to present to me the lame and the blind? I hate your lame and your blind men. I will destroy them. And you, my mighty men who go and fight valiantly, you shall go and destroy these blind and lame men. Notice verse nine, we often think of the city of David. You kids know where the city of David is? Is it Bethlehem? No, it's not. It's Jerusalem. It is named the City of David. Bethlehem is where he was born. It's where he grew up. It's where his origins were. In a sense, it is the City of David. But the actual city named the City of David is this city, Jerusalem, that he takes here from the Jebusites. It is called the City of David in verse 9. because God gave it to him. Then verses 10 and 11, David is prospered by God and also by Hiram. Verse 10, we see that the Lord was with him. God's presence secured his victory, gave him prosperity. This is why we must desire the presence of God to be with us and to go with us and to see to it that we do nothing to cause him to depart from us. David then perceives in verse 12 that God has a purpose in blessing him. Why is it that God blessed David? Why did he prosper him? Was it so that David could hoard up treasures for himself? No. David perceived that the Lord had established him king over Israel and that he had exalted his kingdom for his people Israel's sake. That's why David was exalted. Think about that in terms of David as a type or a shadow of Jesus Christ himself. Does Christ need us? Did he have to come and die for our sins? In one respect, because the father commanded him, yes. But in another respect, no, he did it freely of his own will. Christ came and suffered and was exalted for our sake. This is hard to fathom why he would do that. The amazing grace of Jesus Christ is shadowed forth in the exaltation of our father, David. Verses 13 through 16 we then see David's folly and the children of folly in Jerusalem. He took concubines and wives. Now this is, some people look at this and say this is, well, it's describing a good thing that he had all these wives and concubines and children. No. If I described for you that a man had a beautiful field with lots and lots of weeds growing in it, let's say it was milkweed or pigweed, those ones with the really sharp thorns that you can't pull up. Would it be great that he had lots of pigweed in his field? Oh, look at all that beautiful pigweed out there on your field. Wow, you're blessed by God. No, you're cursed. These are children of folly. God's law of nature is one man and one woman, both in Genesis all the way to Malachi. Genesis 2, one and one become one flesh. Malachi 2, wherefore did he make the two one? Because he seeketh the holy seed. This is the law of morality of God's nature that he has imposed on man to be faithful to one woman. Concubines and wives of David's then were like weeds multiplying. And there is trouble for David and his future from these wives, concubines, and children. Verses 17 through 25, the Philistines in typical worldly wise man fashion, they hear that David's become king over Israel and they start to get worried. Remember, what did David do to them? He killed their giant. He routed their army. He went out before Saul's army all the time and now he's become king. We gotta strike quick. We gotta make sure we get rid of those weapons of mass destruction known as David. Let's go kill him before he can be established. This is called preemptive warfare, verses 17 and 18. Verses 19 through 21, notice David's response. David prays, he inquires of the Lord, and God, in his providence, gives him success. Contrast that with Saul, who could not inquire of the Lord, who went to a witch, and who had failure and destruction. David then is a pious king, an example for all magistrates, and even an example for us. In times of trouble, when people hate us, if someone was coming to kill us, what would we do? Would we prepare? Yes, we should, but we should also pray as David did, pray without ceasing, ask God to direct you. Notice verse 20, after the Lord routes these Philistines, he says, the Lord hath broken forth. He correctly attributes the success of his campaign, not to his mighty men, not to himself, but to God, God, the giver of victory. And notice his piety as a king there in verse 21. What did David do? The Philistines left behind their graven images. Did David say we need to build perhaps a museum and what we should do is take all these idols that they left behind them and put them in the museum and then maybe people can come and pay us money to look at these beautiful Dagon idols. No, he burned them with fire. This is what God requires. When you see a monument to idolatry, you destroy it. You don't reform it. You don't put it in a museum. You don't play around with it. Break it into pieces, he says. Crush, smash, burn, destroy. And David, as a magistrate, has that very duty. And so he commands the destruction of all their monuments to idolatry. Verses 22 through 25, the Philistines have not learned their lesson. They are defeated again. David again inquires of the Lord, as we ought to do in our troubles and in our difficulties. Notice verse 24. It says, the Lord shall go out before thee. David, if you do this thing I'm commanding you, you've asked me what to do, here's what you do. You go back by the mulberry trees and when you hear the wind rustling through the leaves of the mulberry trees, then you attack and I will go out in front of you. I will give you the victory, but you must obey my voice. And David, in fact, in verse 25, did exactly as the Lord commanded. He didn't say, I don't like mulberry trees. I don't think that's a good idea. That was Saul's modus operandi, his way of doing things. Yeah, Lord, you said to do this, but that's not really that great of an idea. I have a better idea. Saul was not sober-minded. David is sober-minded. I will do what God said exactly as he says it. I will be precise in my obedience." And then God blessed him. Chapter 6 then, verses 1 through 11, we have David's first attempt to recover the ark. It is thwarted because he's acting in self-will. Then verses 11 through 29, David makes a second attempt to recover the ark, this time successfully by God's will. And then in verses 20 through 23, David has a falling out with his wife, Michal, over his joy at the ark's return. Notice verses one and two, David and his 30,000 men go to recover the ark. The ark, Israel has been mourning for it for about 20 years now, since the days of Saul. This is a good idea. This is a nice plan David comes up with. This is a pious intention. You cannot condemn him for wanting the ark to be restored. And yet, what do you notice does not happen? Does David read the scriptures? Does he ask God? Does he bring forth the ephod and inquire of the Lord what he should do? We read nothing about it. In fact, he takes his cue from the Philistines in verses three through five. They get a new cart. Remember the Philistines when they offered their little golden hemorrhoids and their little mice, and they said, oh, well, the Ark wallet was among us. We all got hemorrhoids, and the mice plagued us, so let's send God some golden mice and golden hemorrhoids. Maybe he'll be appeased. And then they put the Ark on a cart, and sent it off with a mama cow, and the little calf was mooing, and said, Mommy, where are you going? And the calf just went. And they said, that's a sign. God doesn't want us to have the ark. Now here's David using a new cart, just like the Philistines. He's imitating from 1 Samuel 6, 7. And notice who does he have there as the fill-in for the Levites? He has Uzzah and Ahio. Now Uzzah and Ahio were the sons of the man who had the ark at his house. They had the ark perhaps since before they were born. They've grown up with the ark there in their presence on their property. They have become familiar, you might say, with this ark, and therefore they treat it disrespectfully as David is. Who was it that was supposed to move the ark? In God's worship, in God's commandments, in the Mosaic law, who was it that had the right to pick up one of those four sides of that ark and lift up on those poles that went through it? Levites, and only the Levites could do this. Uzzah and Ohio are not Levites. The ark is not four Levites, one at each corner. Or the cart, I should say, is not the four Levites carrying it. This is man's device, man's invention. Then verses six through nine, we have Uzziah breaching upon the ark, and the Lord making a breach upon him. Notice verse seven, the anger of the Lord is kindled against Uzzah. But wasn't he trying to stop the ark from being disgraced and falling off of the cart? After all, the oxen started causing this tipping, and he just wanted to make sure, in good intention again, he wanted to make sure the lid didn't fall off, the mercy seat. Wasn't that good? No, it was not. God calls it his error. He was not excused then by his good intentions. The manner of God's worship is subject only to the will of God, not to the will of man. David then in anger and fear of God, not the good kind of fear, the bad kind, he was afraid of him. He leaves the ark in the house of Obed-Edom, in verses 10 and 11, and God blesses the house of Obed-Edom. Then in verses 12 through 19, David then, with the Levites, as we see in 1 Chronicles 15, 2, comes and brings up the ark to its proper place in the proper way. And notice verse 13, they take six steps They set the ark back down. They offer up sacrifices. Notice what they're doing. Are they just bursting forth in joy like they did before? Oh, everything's fine because we mean well. No. God, we're taking six steps. Is this okay, Lord? Are you approving of what we do here? They are careful to obey the commandments of God. This is what God requires of us. Verse 16, Michal, the wife of David, then despises David's show of joy. She did not encourage his pious intentions. Let's say for the sake of argument that David sinned in his joy, that he occasioned sin as she implies. What is the duty of a wife to her husband in such a case? You shouldn't be doing that. You're not doing the right thing. I think down on you. You need to do what I think is right. That's Michal's attitude. What should her attitude have been? Wow, my husband must love the Lord. Look at him out there rejoicing at the homecoming of God's ark. She ought to have covered infirmity if there was any. rather than accentuate it and point out her own opinion of how ungodly David was. And we'll see that in a little bit. The ark then in verses 17 through 19 is restored with all holy rites and feasting. The people are blessed by David, not just by his deeds as we looked at earlier, to bless the people by being a good magistrate, but also with his words. He spoke words of blessing to them. He gave each of them a piece of meat. It says a flagon of wine or perhaps a raisin cake or some kind of alcoholic cake, something that they would use in their sacred feasting. Then verses 20 through 23, we have David falling out with Michal in verses 20 and 22. And then verse 23, she is cursed for her impiety and disrespect of her husband. Her sin found her out. Her uncharitable attitude was not blessed by God. It was cursed by him. Then we come to 2 Samuel 7. Verses 1 through 17, again, David has a good intention, but God redirects his intention in Christ himself. David wants to build God a house. He's brought the ark back, now there has to be a house. So he thinks, I have my house, God should have his. Then in verses 18 through 29, we see David's humble prayer of gratitude for God's promise. First then, verses 1 through 3, David and Nathan Have a good intention to build God a house. The prophet says the Lord is with thee. This is the false prophet's action. He's not a false prophet, but he does a false action as if he were a false prophet. Peace, peace, and there is no peace. God wasn't with David in doing this. They didn't ask God what he thought about this. In fact, God comes in verses four through seven, and he rebukes David and Nathan. He rebukes Nathan so that Nathan can go rebuke David on his behalf. God asks an interesting question. Spake I a word to any of the children of Israel when I was going around in an ark and a tent? Did I ask them to make me a house? No. David's good intentions were presumptuous. Good intentions are never enough. God must be obeyed. Verses 8 through 17 then, God in response to David's disobedience as an act of grace promises to bring his son from David's loins, the son of God from the seed of David. Verse 11. God says that he would make David a house. You said you're gonna build me a house, David? No, that's not the case. I'm the one who's going to make you a house. It is my works, my grace, and my promise, the Lord says, not your works, not your promises that you make to me, not your good intentions toward me, it's my intentions toward you, David. This is a fundamental truth of our religion. We must prioritize God's promise, God's grace, God's goodness, God's rights. Doesn't mean we have no rights. It means that we prioritize His first. He says, verse 12, I will establish the kingdom of your son. And so Christ's kingdom, shadowed forth in the kingdom of Solomon, that kingdom of Christ is unavoidable. It will come. Thy kingdom come. There is no end. It will continue to expand till it fills the whole earth, the scripture says. Verse 14, I will be the father of your son, David. Your son will be my son. Then he says that the son of David, if he does iniquity, he will be chastened with the rods of men. This again is a shadowy prophecy that the son of David would be chastened by men. He would suffer under their hands concerning Christ and his death. And thy throne, he says in verse seven, shall go on forever. Christ's kingdom will have no end. It is an eternal kingdom, unshakable, unalterable, unsuperable. It cannot be overcome. Then in verses 18 through 29, verses 18 through 21, we have David's prayer of thanksgiving for God blessing his house. Notice verse 18, David asks a very important question. Who am I and what is my house? That's a good question. That's the proper frame of spirit. If we think I'm great, then if we don't get what we think we deserve, then we get discontent, upset. If we think, who am I? I am nothing. And then God gives us something. Then we say, oh, thank you, Lord, because I deserve this down here. And you've given me this up here. So I am grateful. That is the key to gratitude, is to see yourself the way God sees you as a sinner who deserves nothing but his wrath. Who am I, oh Lord God? Verse 19, is this the manner of men? Is this how men would treat me? No. He's seen that in Saul. That's how men treat you. But God has super abounding grace. And it is God's sovereign purpose. He says, it was according to thine own heart, Lord, that you chose and established this promise. You are sovereign. You elect, you choose. It's your will that reigns supreme. Verses 22 through 24, we see God's greatness and his great deeds toward Israel. He says in verse 22, there is none like thee, O Lord. Remember his low thoughts of himself? That produces high thoughts of God. What if we have high thoughts of ourselves? But I'm a good person. I deserve things. What are our thoughts of God? They go down. It's a continuum. Low thoughts of ourselves, high thoughts of God. High thoughts of God, low thoughts of ourselves. high thoughts of ourselves, low thoughts of God. Here, he sees the greatness that there is no one like the Lord in his works, in his grace, in his redemption, because he sees himself. Who am I? Oh, Lord, I'm nothing. Then we see verses 25 through 29, David turns the promise into prayer. We must take what God has promised to us, and we must pray that he will fulfill the promises that he has made. Oh, well, God said he will be God to me and to my children, so it's all done, it's taken care of. No, when God makes you a promise, he gives you the means of grace by which you can plead with him in prayer. Lord, please take my children for your own. enable them to come to Jesus Christ, to turn from their sins, to embrace the promise signed and sealed to them in their baptisms. God's promises must become our prayers. And this is why David prayed, because of God's grace, he says in verse 27, therefore hath thy servant come to pray to you. Because of all this grace and promise you've made, God's grace then should spur us on to prayer. Notice his confidence in God's word in verse 28. Thy words be true, he says, and thou has promised this goodness unto thy servant. I can rely on your word. We must have confidence in the scriptures that will give us things to pray, matters to pray about. We must have a high view of God and therefore a high view of his word. Chapter eight. Verses 1-14, David blessed with victory over his enemies. And then verses 15-18, the administration of his kingdom and his officers. Verses 1-8, we have David victorious over the Philistines, the Moabites, Zobah, and Syria. This is all prefiguring again, shadowing forth in the kingdom of David, the kingdom of Christ. Christ who would call the Gentiles. Remember how Paul said, that's what you can find in the Old Testament scriptures, the prophets and Moses. You can find the kingdom of Jesus Christ going to all the Gentiles. And here David shows us just that thing. Christ will be victorious over the Gentiles. The word in verse four, as you read through this, hoft, H-O-U-G-H-E-D, hoft, means to cut the back hamstring of the horse. If you think of the horse's leg, the back of it is like a ham and comes down to a point and then goes down to the hoof. The ham is right up here, right in the middle of that fat part. They would cut the back of that and the horse could not move. That's huffing a horse. And that's what David did to overcome his adversaries. Notice that the Lord is the one who preserved David. It says in verse 6, God kept him by his power. Then verses 9 through 12, David's gifts, the spoils that he gets and his pious use of them. It says in verse 11 that he dedicated the things that were given to him as well as the spoils he got from these Gentiles. He would take those riches and he would make them holy, it says. That's literally what it means. When it says dedicate, kodeshe, he made them holy unto God. He took things from this ordinary common life and he sanctified them. And we must do likewise in all that God gives us. We must even present our bodies as a living sacrifice. Our body is a common thing. We hold it in common with ungodly people. And yet our bodies are to be a temple of the Holy Spirit sanctified unto God. So must our wealth as David's wealth. He enriches the kingdom of God. David then in verses 13 and 14 is granted by God's grace a great name and ongoing prosperity. The Lord preserved him and so we see our preservation is dependent on God's grace. David then in response to God's grace has a righteous kingdom. Verse 15, it says, David executed justice and judgment. Again, this is as a type of Jesus Christ. Christ's kingdom will be victorious, but it'll also be fully just. Christ will never make any judgment that is not in accordance with truth. And his kingdom is more righteous and more just than David's. Verses 16 through 18, we see the officers of David's kingdom. The Cherethites were a personal bodyguard of mercenaries, possibly even from the Isle of Crete, some people believe. The Pelethites, in verse 18, were the guardsmen, like a personal detail to make sure that David didn't get hurt when he shouldn't. Then that brings us to chapter nine, 2 Samuel chapter nine. This whole chapter is taken up detailing David's fidelity to his covenant, his faithfulness to the agreement that he and Jonathan entered into their covenant of friendship. Verses one through four, David is diligent and he is abundant in his faithfulness to his promise to Jonathan. It says in verse one that what he's going to do here is for Jonathan's sake. that I may show him kindness. Is there anyone, even from Saul's house, not just from Jonathan? He says, anybody from Saul's house that I can do good to them for Jonathan's sake. So Christ our Lord, who is typified here, is faithful to every promise that he makes. David also serves as an example to us how we ought to keep our promises to others. He says, verse three, that he wants to keep the kindness of God with the house of Saul. God has shown me kindness. This is David's mindset. And therefore I must be faithful and kind in fulfilling my promises to the household of Saul, to Jonathan, my friend. Remember the day of atonement? In the year of Jubilee, the first day of that year of charity is a day of piety. the forgiveness of your sins, the atonement for all the wrongs you've done against God, that's what enables you to go and be charitable toward your neighbor, to restore him to his family, to restore him to his lands, to forgive all of his debts, is because God has forgiven you your debts. David wants to give the kindness of God to the household of Saul. Verses five through eight, David then graciously receives Jonathan's son, Mephibosheth. Notice verse eight, how does Mephibosheth think of himself? He bows himself, he says, what is thy servant? That thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am. This is not exaggeration, this is how Mephibosheth thinks about himself. I am worthless and unclean. That's what a dead dog is. If you have a dog that's alive, it's still unclean, but it's worth something. You can do something with it. They would have dogs. But when you have a dog that is dead, it is both unclean and defiling and worthless. That's what I am, he says. His humility is exemplary. Do we think of ourselves as dead dogs? I dare say I do not think of myself that way. And this is how I must think of myself. This is what I am in my own nature. Without the grace of God, I'm like an unclean, useless beast, dead dog. And so he sees what David is doing for him and he says, I don't deserve this. He is grateful as a result of his humility. He is crushed, not just in his feet, he is crushed in his spirit. And remember, the Lord draws near to those who are of a crushed spirit. Providence crushed his feet. We see this in 2 Samuel 4, 4, which we looked at earlier, but grace crushed his pride. And when providence crushes us in our bodies, in our minds, in our relations, in our goods, we must allow God's grace to crush our spirits along with it, to rid us of the stain of pride. Then verses 9 through 13, David gives a charge to Ziba, Saul's servant, to care for Mephibosheth. Verse 13 tells us that Mephibosheth did eat continually at the king's table. Remember our Lord said, if you have a hand that offends you, or a foot, what are you supposed to do? Cut it off. Why? Because he said it's better to enter into the kingdom, or to life, halt, without your foot working, or maimed, without your hand attached, than to go with your hand and your foot into eternal flames. Mephibosheth is better off lame in his feet and at the table of the king of Israel than he would be having his feet restored out fighting against him. Mephibosheth then is a type of a believer who has been chastened and humbled by God, crushed in his spirit. That brings us then to chapter 10. Verses 1 through 6, we have David's kindness spurned by the children of Ammon. Verses 7 through 14, Ammon and their Syrian allies are routed by God's armies. Verses 15 through 19, David defeats the Syrians a second time. First then, verses 1 and 2, David returns the kindness of the king of Ammon. He says in verse 2, as his father showed kindness to me, so I want to show kindness to his son. His father is dead. I want to send to comfort him. Gratitude produces kindness. David is a grateful person for what good has been done to him and therefore it produces kindness in him. On the other hand, if we are ungrateful, will we be kind people? We will be unkind. We will be stingy. We will be censorious as the Ammonites are. So then verses three through five, the Ammonites make an uncharitable surmise. That's where you assume something about someone's actions or words. and then they shamefully mistreat David's servants. They ask the king, thinkest thou, you think, you really think that he cares that much? No. He's in it for himself. He wants to spy out the land. He wants to come and attack you. They assume the worst. Then the Ammonites, once they saw that they stank, it says in verse six, made preparations for war. Once you say the words, once the deed is done, the words can't go back into your mouth out of the mind and ears of those who heard you. Their beards aren't going to miraculously grow in a moment. The shame of having their buttocks exposed and their beard half cut off, that's not gonna go away like that. It was too late. They saw that they stank and we must take warning. We must be cautious. And they should have come to sue for peace. They should have pled and confess their sins and ask David and the servants, will you please forgive us? But instead, what do they do? They prepare for their doom. They hire mercenaries. So we must sue for peace with God. He threatens us with a menace of eternal punishment, much worse than a temporal army coming against you. Do not dig in your heels and fight against God, but rather sue him for peace. And also for our actions, we must be careful beforehand. Think before you speak and before you act. Do not have to be in their position where afterwards you realize you stink and you will be destroyed. Verses 7 and 8, the beating of the war drum. Preparations are made for war. Verses 9 through 12, Joab has a plan for the war. He encourages manliness among the soldiers and he demonstrates a confidence in divine providence. First is his plan, verse 11. He says, if the Syrians be too strong for us, you come and help us. And if the Ammonites are too strong for you, we will come and help you. This is very prudent because they were surrounded on both sides. If they went all for one, they'd be attacked from the back. So they had to attack both. We must be wise then and plan. We must use strategy in our lives. Then he says, verse 12, be of good courage. Literally, be hard as stone. That's the idea there, hardness. That's the idea of courage. You're not moved by these external factors. You continue to do your duty regardless of the cost. Your internal strength should rule over the outer man instead of your outer man and your fears in your body ruling your mind and your will. He says for them to play the man, to have manly courage, to do their duty though there was much danger. The Geneva Bible comments on this. It says here is declared why war should be undertaken. What are the reasons that people should go to war? Is it because they won't fly the rainbow flag in that country? Oh, how horrible. Do we need their oil and that's why we go to war? They say, for the defense of the true religion and God's people. That's what he says. That's what Joab says. For the cities of our God, for the glory of God, for the good of his people, we must fight and be courageous. So not only does he have a plan for war, he has an encouragement for these men to be of good courage, play the man, and for the cities of our God, and for our people, the people of the Lord. These are the things that encourage them to fight and to kill and to overcome. And generally, when armies have been armed with this kind of faith, they win. That's the general rule of history. But notice also verse 12, and let the Lord do that which seemeth him good. We will rely on God's providence. We will obey his commandments. We will fight for the right things. We will be courageous and act ourselves as men. And we will leave the results in God's hands. That's exactly how we ought to live our lives. do our duty and leave the results to God. And notice verse 13, they fled. The men armed with piety, with love for their kingdom and their God, with manly courage, they are generally very difficult to overcome, almost impossible historically to defeat such an army with a confidence in God, with a manly strength and a sense of duty. And so the Syrians and the Ammonites both take flight. Verses 15 and 16, the Syrians, like the Philistines, they ain't learned their lesson yet. They want to fight again. Their pride, once they saw that they were routed, their pride made them want to go back for more. But all it was was slaughter. Syria then is rooted in verses 17 and 18. They are undone. David then comes into their land and sets up himself as their effective head and ruler. Why? Because they were helping the Ammonites. How foolish is that? And finally, verse 19, they lose their spirit in Syria to help Ammon anymore. That's good. They should have learned that the first time, not have to be whipped twice. So they made peace with Israel. And this is the part of wisdom. When you cannot win, when you cannot overcome God, you sue him for peace. You don't fight against him. But the Syrians had to learn that lesson the hard way. The kingdom of David should have been submitted to, but it was fought against, and therefore they paid the price. In conclusion, unlike Ish-bosheth, let us learn not to put our confidence in man or in princes, Unlike the elders of Israel, if we know what God says in his word, let us do it and not delay to do it. We've seen David as a type of Jesus Christ and his kingdom and in being preserved by God and subduing the Gentiles in both his grace as well as his justice. We see in these passages the victory and promotion that comes from God. Just as grace, redemption and salvation are from him, so our promotion and victory and prosperity is from him as well. We saw the duty of piety in all things, David destroying the monuments of the Philistine idolatry, his devotion of spoils to the building of God's house, so we ought to make ourselves holy in our bodies, in our spirits devoted unto the Lord. We saw our duty to pray without ceasing, as David would often inquire of God and would fail when he didn't. Unlike Uzziah and David and the people, we must not cover over false worship with good intentions. We must rejoice in the grace that is given to David as we see the promise that God's son would come through his seed. We must with David give thanks for those promises, turn those promises into prayers and trust in God to preserve us and to keep his words. We saw how David was a type of our Lord Jesus Christ in fulfilling his covenants and promises to David and his house very faithfully, and how Christ even more so than David fulfills every good thing that he has promised to do for us. We also saw our duty to be loyal to our friends, to keep our covenants and other such commitments. We also finally saw in Joab An example of manly courage and fortitude, of doing his duty, being wise and planning, and yet trusting God for the results. And thus far, our third part of our survey of the life of David from 2 Samuel chapter 4 through 2 Samuel chapter 10.