Let's go ahead and begin reading in 2 Samuel chapter 3. Now there was long war between the house of Saul and the house of David. But David waxed stronger and stronger, and the house of Saul waxed weaker and weaker. And unto David were born sons in Hebron. And his firstborn was Amnon of Ahinoam the Jezreelitus. And his second, Chiliab of Abigail, the wife of Nabal the Carmelite. And the third, Absalom, the son of Macca, the daughter of Talmai, king of Gesher. And the fourth, Adonijah, the son of Haggith. And the fifth, Shephatiah, the son of Abital. And the sixth, Ithraim, by Eglah, David's wife. These were born to David in Hebron. And it came to pass, while there was war between the house of Saul and the house of David, that Abner made himself strong for the house of Saul. And Saul had a concubine, whose name was Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah. And Ish-bosheth said to Abner, Wherefore hast thou gone in unto my father's concubine? Then was Abner very wroth for the words of Ish-bosheth, and said, Am I a dog's head, which against Judah do show kindness this day unto the house of Saul thy father, to his brethren, and to his friends? And have not delivered thee into the hand of David, that thou chargest me today with a fault concerning this woman? So do God to Abner and more also, except as the Lord hath sworn to David, even so I do to him, to translate the kingdom from the house of Saul and to set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah from Dan even to Beersheba. And he could not answer Abner a word again, because he feared him. And Abner sent messengers to David on his behalf, saying, Whose is the land? Saying also, Make thy league with me, and behold, my hand shall be with thee, to bring about all Israel unto thee. And he said, Well, I will make a league with thee. But one thing I require of thee, that is, thou shalt not see my face, except thou first bring Mikal, Saul's daughter, when thou comest to see my face. And David sent messengers to Ish-bosheth, Saul's son, saying, deliver me my wife Mikal, which I espoused to me for an hundred foreskins of the Philistines. And Ish-bosheth sent and took her from her husband, even from Phaltiel the son of Laish. And her husband went with her along, weeping behind her, to Baharim. Then said Abner unto him, Go, return. And he returned. And Abner had communication with the elders of Israel, saying, You sought for David in times past to be king over you. Now then do it, for the Lord has spoken of David, saying, By the hand of my servant David I will save my people Israel out of the hand of the Philistines, and out of the hand of all their enemies. And Abner also spake in the ears of Benjamin. And Abner went also to speak in the ears of David and Hebron, all that seemed good to Israel. And that seemed good to the whole house of Benjamin. So Abner came to David, to Hebron, and twenty men with him. And David made Abner and the men that were with him a feast. And Abner said unto David, I will arise and go, and will gather all Israel unto my Lord the King, that they may make a league with thee, and that thou mayest reign over all that thine heart desireth. And David sent Abner away, and he went in peace. And behold, the servants of David and Joab came from pursuing a troop, and brought in a great spoil with them. But Abner was not with David in Hebron, for he had sent him away, and he was gone in peace. When Joab and all the hosts that was with him were come, they told Joab, saying, Abner, the son of Ner, came to the king, and he has sent him away, and he is gone in peace. Then Joab came to the king and said, What hast thou done? Behold, Abner came unto thee? Why is it that thou hast sent him away, and he is quite gone? Thou knowest Abner the son of Ner, that he came to deceive thee, and to know thy going out and thy coming in, and to know all that thou doest. And when Joab was come out from David, he sent messengers after Abner, which brought him again from the well of Sirah. But David knew it not. And when Abner was returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside in the gate to speak with him quietly, and smote him there under the fifth rib, that he died for the blood of Asahel, his brother. And afterward, when David heard it, he said, I and my kingdom are guiltless before the Lord forever from the blood of Abner the son of Ner. Let it rest on the head of Joab, and on all his father's house, and let there not fail from the house of Joab one that hath an issue, or that is a leper, or that leaneth on a staff, or that falleth on the sword, or that lacketh bread. So Joab and Abishai, his brothers, slew Abner because he had slain their brother Asahel at Gibeon in the battle. And David said to Joab and to all the people that were with him, rend your clothes and gird you with sackcloth and mourn before Abner. And David himself followed the Beir. And they buried Abner and Hebron. And the king lifted up his voice and wept at the grave of Abner, and all the people wept. And the king lamented over Abner and said, Died Abner, as a fool dieth? Thy hands were not bound, nor thy feet put into fetters. As a man falleth before wicked men, so fellest thou. And all the people wept again over him. And when all the people came to cause David to eat meat while it was yet day, David swear saying, so do God to me and more also if I taste bread or ought else till the sun be down. And all the people took notice of it, and it pleased them, as whatsoever the king did pleased all the people. For all the people and all Israel understood that day that it was not of the king to slay Abner the son of Ner. And the king said unto his servants, Know ye not that there is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel? And I am this day weak, though anointed king, and these men, the sons of Zeruiah, be too hard for me. The Lord shall reward the doer of evil according to his wickedness. Wow, okay. Well, let's first begin by just looking at and considering what happened here in this chapter. This chapter is full of significant events, conversations, things that are going on, and so let's just look at what they are and then after we've considered what took place and what's recorded for us here, we will draw out from it some of the lessons that I believe we can draw from this text, from this chapter in 2 Samuel 3. It begins by drawing a connection with what we saw previously, that there was conflict, there was strife going on between the house of Saul and the house of David. And there's an example of that in chapter two, which ends in a ceasefire of sorts. But we learned from the first verse of chapter three that that was only temporary, but this struggle, this conflict continued on. This was a power struggle in the nation of Israel, among the tribes of Israel, between David and those that were loyal followers of him, and between the house of Saul and those that were loyal to him. David was appointed or was anointed by God, by the prophet Samuel, that he would, in fact, become king of Israel. And there were many that had gathered themselves to him and were his loyal followers. They were dedicated to him. But there was also the house of Saul. Now Saul and several of his sons, including Jonathan, had died in their battle against the Philistines, but he had some of his household that still remained, including a son, Ish-bosheth, who was now king over Israel, that is, over the tribes of Israel other than Judah, which were more or less united under the house of Saul. Among those loyal to the house of Saul was this man Abner. Abner was the captain of Saul's host going back for many years. We learn about Abner back in 1 Samuel. He comes up several times. He's the one that David calls out both times when David is able to sneak into Saul's camp and could have killed Saul but chose not to. And he calls out to Abner and basically rebukes Abner for not protecting his king. Abner was, in fact, the uncle of Saul. He was the son of Nur, who was Saul's grandfather. And he remained loyal to the house of Saul right up until what happens here in this chapter. And so during the whole time, there was strife between the house of David, between David and Saul. Abner remained loyal to Saul. And Abner is clearly a very powerful figure in the kingdom at this time. In fact, what we see is that even though Ish-bosheth, the son of Saul, is king, it's Abner that has the real power. He controls the military. Ish-bosheth is kind of like a puppet king at this point, because he tries in this chapter to even oppose Abner a little bit, and he's shot down right away, and he can't speak another word because he fears Abner. So we see Abner's the one here with the real power over the tribes of Israel at this time. He controls their military strength, and the fighting and the war goes on between their houses. As the chapter continues on, we're also now told, interjected here, is that the household of David is being built up, we might say. David is having sons. David's dynasty is growing. But we also see that as these sons are mentioned, each of the sons that it describes being born to David are born to him from a different wife. Now, I call your attention to the law of God back in Deuteronomy, chapter 17, verse 17. I'll read it to you. When it describes the king, the type of king that Israel should have over them, this is one of the things that it says about this king. Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away, neither shall he multiply himself silver and gold. So we see that one of the commandments of God for the king of Israel is that he wouldn't multiply wives to himself. We should keep that in the back of our mind as we learn about David and then later David's son Solomon. and the path that they went down where they followed the example in a respect of the kings of the world at that time. who sought to expand the power of their dynasty and their reign and their household by taking wives. And many times, these wives were taken for the point of strengthening their kingdom, for building alliances. In fact, we see here one of the wives that's mentioned here. It says, Absalom, this was the son of David, His name will come up again in this story. Absalom, the son of Macca, she was the daughter of Talmai, king of Gesher. So David made a marriage between himself and a princess of another kingdom. And through doing this, he was expanding his power, expanding the power of his kingdom. We'll return to that thought a little later when we draw some of the lessons out of this. But just take note of it here. Marriage, there was both political value to this, diplomatic value. There was symbolic value. And that comes up in Abner. and what he's charged with from Ish-bosheth. So, up to this point, we see Abner's very powerful. He's been captain of the host of Israel all through Saul's reign. Ish-bosheth is now king, but Abner's powerful, and it says that Ish-bosheth charges Saul, that Saul went into the concubine, that Abner went into the concubine of Saul, one of Saul's concubines. This was an act that represented a seizing of power. And so Abner, by this act, is asserting his power, his influence, and Ishbosheth tries to swat him down, but it doesn't go the way that he hopes. In fact, in Abner's response, Abner at this point basically declares, clearly declares, that he will now make it his mission to turn the kingdom over to David and thereby fulfill the word of the Lord, which we see apparently he was. and had been aware of now for some time, that God had promised the kingdom to David. And now he said, now he makes a vow. That's what it means when it says, so do God to me. We see this kind of language. So do God to Abner and more also. This is a way of making a vow of expressing the certainty of what they were going to do. It's a little bit of a, it's kind of euphemistic. It's kind of figure of speech because it doesn't express what is going to be done to him, but basically saying that something bad is going to befall me if I don't fulfill what I am hereby vowing to do. And he makes a vow, verse nine, as the Lord has sworn to David, even so do I do to him. Interesting. Let's come back to that too. That's an interesting concept here that Abner recognizes and is going to be a means of fulfilling the word of the Lord about David. As it goes on, next we have again the subject of marriage coming up. We have David saying, Abner, you're not going to see my face. And that's an expression of coming before the king, having an appearance before the king. David is in the position of highest authority here. And Abner is not going to have an audience with him until he accomplishes this. Remember Michal, Saul's daughter. This was David's first wife. It was the one that Saul offered to David. but with a pretext that Saul wanted to have David killed in battle. And so he said, I want you to marry my daughter Michal, which was a great honor to marry the daughter of the king. This was a great step up for David in human terms of being able to marry a princess. And he says, but you have to bring me as the price 104 skins of the Philistines thinking David's going to go out and get himself killed and Saul would be rid of his problem. And it didn't turn out that way. And so, but now David, when David had gone into exile, I also remember about Mithal, you might remember, she helped David escape. She helped him escape from Saul, save his life. But she didn't go out with him, and we don't know the whole background behind that, but she did love David and she helped him escape. And now David wants his wife back, except solid out of spite for David, given her to be the wife of another man. And we have this scene, this in the kind of understated biblical narrative way, we see that her husband is greatly grieved and moved at the loss of his wife and he follows her mourning the whole way until Abner says, go home. And We see here no one is, other than David himself, everyone's afraid to stand up to or mess with Abner. But it's really a heartbreaking scene that's going on here, because we don't know, at this point, David's motives in wanting to bring Mikhal back. It's not because he needs a wife, obviously. at least six at this point. It's hard to say it's even because of his love for her, but certainly being married to the daughter of the former king would have been valuable and influential to him in establishing his kingdom. But motives are somewhat obscured from us, but what is clear is that her husband was greatly grieved by this loss and seems to be a victim of this whole circumstance in this situation. Well, Abner goes on to then start to rally the tribes of Israel. It distinguishes Benjamin from the other tribes of Israel, but when it says Israel, here it's effectively talking about the ten tribes of Israel, other than Benjamin and Judah. in particular, because Judah was following David. Benjamin was where the house of Saul was from. So they are particularly called out because they would have been the ones who are most likely to maintain their loyalty to Saul. Abner himself is from the tribe of Benjamin. Remember he's related to Saul. And so he starts to gather them together and multiple times here in his interactions with David it mentions peace. David sends him away in peace. We see something starting to form here which is a that are coming together these kingdoms, finally. Ish-bosheth, the puppet king, he's not able to stand up to Abner. He's not able to stand up to David. He sends Mikal back. He seems powerless. Abner's going to gather the tribes to David. And at this point, probably almost everybody is going to be happy with this result, except for Joab. Why was Joab furious when he comes back and he hears Abner that is sent away? What he says, what he says is, you know, you can't trust Abner. Abner, David, Abner came here just to spy you out and deceive you. But what is in his heart is revenge. Revenge because his brother was killed in battle by Abner. And there is a difference between killing in battle and killing deceitfully under the pretext of a conversation. And if you recall, Abner didn't even want to kill. He actively did not want to kill Joab's brother. But Joab's brother, Asahel, was pursuing him in battle and wouldn't back down, even though three times Abner said, turn aside. But finally, he killed Asahel and Joab wanted revenge. So Joab takes revenge and then the chapter ends with David making it clear by his words and by his actions that he did not desire and had nothing to do with the death of Abner. And this is important. It is important, for one, because we see that David does not rise to power through blood guilt, as the Bible calls it. He didn't rise to power by deceitfully destroying his enemies. And so that's important. It's also important because David is attempting to unify the tribes of Israel and he wants to make it clear that Abner, who was a respected and in some sense loyal captain of the hosts of Israel, that David was not the one who ordered his death. And in fact, he had no part of it. And the narrative of the Bible itself tells us he knew it not. David makes that clear to the people and he mourns for Abner and he mourns for him giving him honor while rebuking Joab publicly speaking about his deceitfulness and the shameful way that Abner died. And it says, all the people took notice of it and it pleased them as whatsoever the king did pleased all the people. Verse 37, for all the people and all Israel understood that day that it was not of the king to slay Abner, the son of Ner. And It ends the chapter with David speaking about the sons of Zeruiah. Remember, these were his nephews. Zeruiah's his sister, Joab and Abishai and Asahel, who had been killed. But Joab and Abishai are leaders in his force, and they will remain and continue to be influential figures in his military in the days ahead. And he speaks about the difficulty, the hardness of dealing with these men. as he rises to his kingdom. And so going back to verse 1, we see even more fulfilling what it's saying here. David waxed stronger and stronger, and Saul and the house of Saul waxed weaker and weaker. So everything that has happened here all the twists and turns and the deceit and all these events, whatever else has taken place, they are serving to move David to a greater position of power and influence and of uniting the tribes of Israel under his kingdom. That's what it describes for us here. Now let's draw some lessons out from this text. One of the first things that just jumps out to me again and again and again in this text is the two-sided nature of event after event that's described here. Let me speak to some examples. First of all, in the passage about David's sons in Hebron, On one hand, we see that David's house, his household is being built up. His household is being strengthened. He has sons born, which for a king would be looked at as a positive thing of his power, his influence is growing. These are princes. These are perhaps future kings that are being born to him. His house is being built up on one hand. On the other hand, The seeds of strife within his own household are being sown, are being planted here. And we already drew attention to Deuteronomy 17, 17. Under Old Testament law and the way things functioned in the land of Israel this time, Polygamy was not necessarily against the law. It was at least accommodated under the law during that time. It was not a fulfillment of God's original design and plan for marriage. And when we come to the New Covenant, Jesus in no uncertain terms clarifies that. when he speaks about how in the beginning, in the beginning God created them male and female, therefore shall a man leave his father and mother and cleave unto his wife and the two shall become one flesh. And he speaks about God's original design for marriage. But under Old Testament law, and as we've seen with righteous men in the Old Testament, whether Abraham, or Jacob, or the husband of Ruth, we see that there were sometimes, and David himself, there was sometimes the practice of polygamy. But nonetheless, As we saw from Deuteronomy 17, 17, David, or any king of Israel, was not supposed to follow the path of the kings of this world and build up their house by multiplying their marriages. And so we see on the one hand, sons are being born. On the other hand, the seeds of strife in his own house are being planted. And another part of this, a lesson for us about reading the scripture as well, is the importance of the full context of what we're reading. The scriptural narrative is not always so simple to us. It's not always laying it out in simple terms. Sometimes we have to see the story unfold to draw out the lesson that is there. And so it would be here. These names that are mentioned, just reading up to here, we could think, OK, six sons are born to David. But then when you go on to read what Amnon did, and then what Absalom did, and then what Adonijah did. We see the consequences down the line of what's going on here. So there's a real two-sided nature to a lot of what's in here. Here's another example. Abner. On one hand, Abner expresses a desire to bring the kingdom over to David after his conflict with Ish-bosheth. And in that, he shows that he knows the Word of God concerning David and what the Lord had declared he would do. On the other hand, how many years had Abner been loyal to the household of Saul in spite of knowing those things? We have to be careful that we don't always take everything that they say, that these men say in their speech at face value. We have to understand the full context of what's being said. Another example, as we come to the later on at the end of this chapter, for David himself. I've wondered about this many times. On one hand, David clearly recognizes the problem that Joab is to him and to his kingdom. And the narrative is clear that David did not order or know about the death of Abner. And he clearly puts the guilt on Joab And from what follows in the years to come, we'll see that he was not happy about this. On the other hand, Joab remains in a position of power among David's army and among his men. And he remains close to David throughout David's reign over the kingdom of Israel. And there will be consequences to that as well. So we can speculate about why did David see him as useful to his kingdom? Was it useful to have an unscrupulous but loyal follower at his side? Maybe to do dirty work when he needed dirty work done? I don't know. I'm not saying that that's entirely the case, but I am saying that let's keep an eye on this account as it unfolds, because we see that things are not always so simple. And that would especially be the case for someone who is running a kingdom like David is with all kinds of complex variables that he's wrestling with, all kinds of different parties with different desires and interests. And he's trying to bring all of this together and lead it and unify the kingdom. And so we'll see some very complex things that unfold. And so I think this is an important lesson for us in reading the scriptural narrative to make sure that we see things in their full context. Because the Bible is not always presented to us so simple as, and this happened, and it was right, or this happened, and it was wrong. Many times, it tells us the account. And as the account unfolds, and as we see the consequences, and as we see the whole picture unfold, those lessons are presented to us in a clear but even more powerful and compelling way because we see them embodied in the lives of the people that were affected by those things. A second lesson that I believe we can draw from this is having to do with heroic figures or leaders in positions of power especially. But in a sense, this could be true of anyone in our life that we look up to, anyone that has great influence in our lives, someone we look to as an example in one part of our life or another. And especially, it's true of people in positions of leadership and power, a president, for example, a king, a leader that we look to. It's important for us to understand that these men are human, and they're complex, and they're flawed. And that's important for us to recognize that and keep that in mind, lest we fall into dangerous pitfalls in worshiping heroes that are not worthy of that worship. One of the pitfalls is that we would put our faith and our trust in man. We will be let down if we do that. If our faith and our trust is in a man, even a great man, David's a great man. David pleased all the people. The people were pleased with everything he was doing. He was a great man. But even David, as a man, is not worthy of our worship. He's not worthy of our undivided respect for everything that he does. Only God is perfectly faithful and trustworthy. And only the man Jesus Christ, the spotless Lamb of God, never errs. No other man never errs and is without flaw and is without error. And so one error we could fall into if we put too much on man is trusting in man rather than God. The only real hero of this whole account is the Lord himself. And it's his purpose that is ultimately fulfilled in the things that unfold. And I would say not because Abner wants it to be so and decides it's going to be so, but because the Lord will have his way. Here are other pitfalls that we can fall into. Let's say you look to a leader with great respect and loyalty, and let's say that they're worthy of your loyalty for the sake of argument. And then they make an error, an error in their judgment, an error in what they express or believe or pursue. Well, there's two errors you can fall into. If you were expecting them to be without flaw, you will probably make one of two errors. On one hand, you will say, I trusted them, I thought they were right, and now they've done this thing that's wrong, and now reject them and no longer be loyal. But that could be a pitfall if they're flawed but still deserving of your loyalty. Here's another pitfall on the other side. You could say, I look up to them, I trust them, and therefore, You follow them into that error. And that's what happens when we put our faith in man rather than God. But we must come back to God's word, come back to our loyalty first to God, and recognize that it's good to have heroes. It's not a bad thing to have those we look up to. It's not a bad thing to be loyal to those that are worthy of that loyalty. But it must be done where God is always first in our heart. And he is the standard. And we recognize that men are greatly flawed, even the heroes that we follow. And then the third and last lesson for now, I want to draw out of this chapter, is from the example of Abner. And it's about knowing the Word of God versus doing the Word of God. It is one thing to know the Word of God, and it is another thing to know the Word of God and do the Word of God. James would say, would write, be ye doers of the Word and not hearers only. We learn from this chapter something that I think really is a condemnation of Abner out of his own mouth, which is that he knew that God, that the Lord intended to give the kingdom to David. But he remained for however many years, seven years, however long it was, he remained loyal to the household of Saul. And it was only when it came to what seems to be personal interest, a questioning of his power and his actions, that he decides at this point he's going to work to bring about God's purpose for David. Let's not follow the example of Abner. We have been given the Word of the Lord. If we know what is right, if we know what we ought to do, let's do it. It is not enough to know the Word of the Lord. It is not enough to be a hearer of the Word of the Lord. We must be doers of God's Word and not hearers only. lest we fall into that kind of pit of knowing all along. And we can look at our lives. You can search your heart. You know what's right. Where you know what's right, where you know what God's word is, we must be ready to do and not just know, not just hear, but be doers of God's word.