Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20030202.htm

1 AND 2 SAMUEL: GOD'S SOLUTIONS TO PROBLEMS IN OVERSIGHT
Part LX: Learning As A Leader To Adjust Our Functions For The Institution's Benefit
(2 Samuel 21:15-22)
  1. Introduction
    1. Faithfulness in leadership is a must: Paul commanded it for Timothy in the pastorate in 2 Timothy 4:5-8, and Moses commanded it for Israel's kings in Deuteronomy 17:18-20.
    2. However, faithfulness in ministry is to be distinguished from ministry function, and what we do in our ministry efforts for the Lord must be open for adjustment for the benefit of the institution we lead.
    3. David learned this lesson as Israel's king in 2 Samuel 21:15-22 as follows:
  2. Learning As A Leader To Adjust Our Functions For The Institution's Benefit, 2 Samuel 21:15-22.
    1. As a young man around age seventeen, God used David to slay the Philistine giant, Goliath, 1 Sam. 17.
    2. However, when he went out to fight the Philistines in his later years, and was confronted by another Philistine giant, David had to be rescued by one of his mighty warriors, 2 Samuel 21:15-17a:
      1. Faithful to his calling as king, David led the armies of Israel against the Philistines when these perpetual enemies of the land sought war with him, 2 Samuel 21:15a,b versus 2 Samuel 11:1.
      2. However, due to his age, David became faint in the battle, a life-threatening position in which to be while in combat, 2 Samuel 21:15c; Bible Knowledge Commentary, Old Testament, p. 477.
      3. A Philistine giant named Ishbi-benob saw David's plight, and, apparently hoping to take revenge against David for his past slaying of Goliath, Ishbi-benob began to advance on David to kill him with a huge spear (the head of which weighed 7 pounds) and a new weapon David was unaccustomed to facing, 2 Samuel 21:16. (The Hebrew text claims the giant was "armed with a new thing,'" Ibid.)
      4. However, Abishai the son of Zeruiah, one of David's mighty warriors who had once single-handedly killed 300 enemy soldiers in an incident (cf. 2 Sam. 23:18-19), came to David's rescue and killed the giant threatening David, 2 Samuel 21:17a.
    3. Concerned that losing David in war would be an unnecessary spiritual and leadership price for Israel to pay, David's men swore in God's name that David would no longer come with them into battle and be exposed to such unnecessary danger, 2 Samuel 21:17b; Ibid.
    4. Evidence that this new arrangement was workable even in God's view, the author of 2 Samuel noted the successful results of battles with Philistine forces and their giants that came AFTER this event:
      1. Following the decision for David not to fight in Israel's battles, Israel fought the Philistines at Gob, and there Sibbechai the Hushathite killed Saph, another of the Philistine giants, 2 Samuel 21:18.
      2. Again, another battle later occurred at the same place of God saw Israel war with the Philistines, and there Elhanan, the son of Jaareoregim, a man of David's home town of Bethlehem, killed another (?) giant (also?) named Goliath, 2 Samuel 21:19; Ibid. According to 1 Chronicles 20:5, the spear head of this giant weighed about seventeen pounds! (Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, ftn. to 1 Chronicles 20:5)
      3. A third battle subsequent to the arrangement to keep David out of such battles arose between Israel and the Philistines in which a giant Philistine with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot confronted Israel; he was slain by Jonathan, one of David's nephews, 2 Samuel 21:20-21.
      4. Thus, the last of the giants who had troubled Israel were all slain by David's men in his absence!
Lesson: Though God had called David to LEAD Israel FAITHFULLY in accord with His Word (cf. Deuteronomy 17:18-20 with 1 Samuel 16:1-13), as David AGED and his FOLLOWERS became more SKILLED in trusting God to fight in the battles, his FUNCTION of leading in BATTLE was phased OUT to extend the TIME of David's INVALUABLE presence and leadership in the nation of Israel.

Application: (1) We must learn to distinguish between FAITHFULNESS and FUNCTION in leadership: AS the group we LEAD begins to MATURE, the GROUP will need to take on more of its regular responsibilities, and WE will need to exercise better STEWARDSHIP of our RESOURCES of energy and time ELSEWHERE for the BENEFIT of the GROUP. (2) When the GROUP we lead starts to assume more responsibility with SUCCESS, that SUCCESS needs to be RECOGNIZED as it was in David's kingdom for the encouragement not only of the group, but of the leaders rising in the group.