THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

The Books Of Samuel: God's Shift Of Israel From Apostasy Under The Judges To David's Reign

II. 2 Samuel: The Reign Of David Over Israel

B. Understanding God's Plan When He Lets Us Face Inescapable Conflicts

(2 Samuel 2:1-3:1a)

Introduction: (To show the need . . .)

We believers often face inescapable conflicts even if we heed Scripture, and it can leave us wondering why:

(1) We face inescapable conflict on the international level: Jonah Goldberg's op-ed, "Why humiliate our neighbor?" (Republican-American, January 30, 2017, p. 6A) reacted to President Trump's hope to "build a wall on the border" with Mexico, asserting, "(D)on't make Mexico pay for it" as it would "be a punitive . . . act of humiliation."

(2) We face inescapable conflict on the national level: usatoday.com ran the January 30, 2017 story, "Obama backs Trump protesters on travel ban," but the Republican-American held, "Trump officials remained unapologetic . . . and insisted that everything was working well" on the issue. (Ibid., "Trump softens ban on some immigrants," p. 1A)

(3) We face inescapable conflict on the state level: in her letter to the Republican-American, Georgia Falk of Waterbury alluded to "House Bill 6709" that "would make Connecticut a sanctuary state," asserting, "We need to take a tough stand on this bill." (Ibid., p. 6A; emphasis ours)

Revealing the deep conflict we face on this illegal immigration issue, Rep. Robert C. Sampson, R-Wolcott, was cited in the Jan. 27th story in the same paper, "New immigration bills show policy rift among Democrats, GOP," Ibid., as saying, "I think people that live in rural or suburban districts are . . . universally . . . opposed to the policies of the majority party and the governor which have made Connecticut a magnet for illegal immigration." (Ibid., p. 6A)

(4) We face inescapable conflict locally: last Sunday, several of our Church members told me of an inescapable conflict they were facing!

Need: So, we ask, "Why do we face inescapable conflicts even if we heed Scripture, and how should we respond?"

I. After Saul's death, God told David to move to Hebron in Judah, so he moved to Hebron, 2 Samuel 2:1-3.

II. This relocation positioned David to begin to exercise sovereign rule as king over at least Judah in Israel in accord with God's leading of Samuel to anoint David as Israel's next king back in 1 Samuel 16:1, 13:

A. David's move to Judah following the Philistines' defeat of Saul and Israel ended David's errant league with the Philistines (1 Samuel 28:1-2), for it showed that he really sided with Israel. (Bible Know. Com., O. T., p. 458)

B. David's move to Hebron in Judah provided safety for his men who were refugees from Saul's era:

1. Hebron was a city of refuge where people who accidentally killed others could flee for immunity until they were acquitted by a proper trial of priests who lived in the cities of refuge, Joshua 20:1-9; Numbers 35:6.

2. Many of David's men were refugees from Saul's regime (1 Sam. 22:2; Ibid., p. 451), so Hebron gave them a place of relative safety and peace after Saul's death until David could rule as king and offer them justice.

C. In Hebron, the men of Judah came to David and anointed him king over their tribe of Judah, 2 Samuel 2:4a.

D. The men of Judah then told David of Jabesh-Gilead's valiant burial of Saul, so David sent word to praise them for their deed and to invite them to join his kingdom in line with God's will, 2 Sam. 2:4b-7; 1 Sam. 16:1, 13.

III. God's moving David to Hebron also contextually implied he was to wait on God to gain rule of all Israel:

A. Though David's home was in Bethlehem of Judah (1 Sam. 16:1), it was 7 miles from the border of Saul's tribe of Benjamin, so his moving there could incite war, R. S. B., KJV, 1978, map 4, "The Twelve Tribes of Israel."

B. God wanted David to let Him give David rule over all Israel, so He sent him to Hebron in Judah's heartland 17 miles south of Judah's border with Benjamin, Ibid.; map 2, "Palestine: Political Regions." This way, Judah's men could rally around him and David could peacefully wait upon God to subject the rest of Israel to him.

C. The history Abram in relation to Hebron also taught David to wait on God to give him rule over all Israel:

1. As one anointed to be king, David was directed by Deuteronomy 17:14-20 to read Scripture, and since Hebron was a city of refuge run by priests, experts in the Scriptures, David had access in Hebron to the book of Genesis and its history of Abraham, and plenty of experts there to clarify the Scriptures to him!

2. David would have understood that after Lot chose all the Jordan lowland he could see, God told Abram He would give him all the land Abram saw, what thus included all the land that Lot chose, Genesis 13:7-15.

3. Abram then went to Hebron and built an altar, waiting on the Lord to fulfill this promise, Gen. 13:16-18.

4. So, God's moving David to Hebron signaled that he was to heed Abram's example to go there and wait on God to give him the realm Saul's men claimed as Abram had waited there on God to give him Lot's realm!

IV. However, David's move to Hebron in line with God's agenda for him led to an inescapably long civil war between his men and the men of Saul due to spiritual problems in others around David, 2 Sam. 2:8-3:1a:

A. Saul's general Abner not only did not submit to God's will that David be king, he opposed it, 2 Samuel 2:8-12:

1. Abner relocated Saul's son Ish-bosheth east across the Jordan River to Mahanaim on the border of Gad, the tribal territory of Jabesh-gilead, and made Ish-bosheth king over all Israel but Judah, 2 Sam. 2:8-11; Ibid., Ryrie, ftn. to 2 Sam. 2:8-9. This effort countered David's (a) move to Hebron west of the Jordan River and (b) his appeal to the men of Jabesh-gilead in the tribal territory of Gad join him in his kingdom.

2. Abner then led Ish-bosheth's men to Gibeon in the territory of Saul's tribe of Benjamin just 2 miles north the border of Judah clearly to challenge David's reign in Judah, 2 Samuel 2:12; Ibid., Ryrie, map 4.

B. David was content to follow Abram's example and wait on God to address Abner's challenge, but David's general Joab and David's men chose to fight Abner. The two sides met at the pool of Gibeon and planned to settle their differences by having 12 sets of warriors from both opposing sides fight each other, 2 Samuel 2:13.

C. However, these combatants killed off one another in their matches, so a battle erupted between the two sides, with David's men defeating Ish-bosheth's servants who were with Abner, 2 Samuel 2:14-17.

D. In the battle, Abner accidentally killed Joab's brother Asahel: the latter refused Abner's request that he stop chasing Abner in his fleeing chariot, so Abner tried to push Asahel away with the back end of his spear, only to see that blunt end enter Asahel's body, leading to his death, 2 Samuel 2:18-23.

E. Joab had a sinfully vengeful spirit, so he kept trying to pursue Abner to avenge him of slaying his brother Asahel, but Joab had to withdraw when Abner reached a large group of men from Benjamin who stood their ground to protect their tribal territory from invasion by Joab, 2 Samuel 2:24-28.

F. Though this battle ended and Asahel was buried in Bethlehem, Joab's sinful attitude of vengeance still burned within him, leading to a long civil war between the house of Saul and the house of David, 2 Samuel 2:29-3:1a.

Lesson: Though David obeyed God by moving to Hebron to start to present himself in peace to Israel as her king, other people around him did not heed the divine agenda, leading to an inescapably long civil conflict. God thus had David go to Hebron to allow this conflict to rise that He might deal with obstacles to His plan regarding David.

Application: If we face unavoidable conflict, (1) may we trust in Christ to be saved from sin according to God's will, John 3:16; Acts 17:30. (2) Then, may we like David heed Scripture, God's Word in our era (2 Timothy 3:15-4:2). (3) If we still face inescapable conflict, may we realize God is letting it occur to deal with others who oppose God's agenda for us, and follow David's and Abram's examples of waiting on the Lord to rule in our lives.

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . . )

For several generations, we Christians who have held to the literal interpretation of the Genesis creation account have faced opposition from evolutionists because their views run opposite our view!

However, even secular academia is starting to become very disillusioned with their owntheory of evolution:

(1) Answers magazine (Jan.-Feb., 2017, p. 30, "Evolution Harms Human Rights") reports, "A sociologist at UC-San Diego recently established a disturbing link between a materialistic worldview and degrading views of human rights. In a survey of 3,500 adults in the United States, John H. Evans asked how much they agreed with different definitions of humanity. Then he delved into their views of human rights. Evans was shocked by the results. Twenty-five percent of participants agreed with a strictly biological definition of humanity. The more strongly they held this belief, the less likely they were to value the rights of others. Evans summarizes, 'Some ideas have unintended consequences.'"

(2) Also, "UCLA geologist Mark Harrison, commenting in The Atlantic on new findings that the accepted evolutionary history of the earth's formation is false" said: "'There is absolutely not a single scrap of observational evidence that requires that scenario ever took place. We as a scientific community created an origin myth that has no more intellectual value than 1 Genesis.'" (Ibid., Answers, p. 32)

We know Genesis 1 is intellectually valuable as it presents God as miraculously creating the universe, but since miracles are myth to many evolutionists, we discern the error in Mr. Harrison's low view of Genesis 1. Yet, it is encouraging to see some evolutionists starting to see how intellectually and morally destitute evolutionary theory is!

May we trust in Christ to be saved. If facing unavoidable conflict in doing God's will, may we accept it as a God-allowed matter to remove obstacles to His agenda for us, and simply wait on God to do His work!