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

R. Prudently Discerning And Responding To Abusive Evil

(2 Samuel 15:1-16:14)

Introduction: (To show the need . . .)

As we have before taught, 2 Timothy 3:1-5a predicted that in our era, the latter days of Church History, hard times would come, for men would be self-centered, lovers of money, boasters, arrogant, injurious in speech, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, heartless, irreconcilable, slanderous, without self-control, untamed, not love the good, traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God and have an outward form of religious piety but deny its spiritual power. Last week's shooting of a congressman certainly typifies this problem.

We have also before noted how 2 Timothy 3:5b directs us to shrink back from such abusers, but the problem is not only widespread, it is not always transparent so that one can identify it and thus respond well to it, and there is only so far a believer can shrink back from abusers since he still must function in today's world! We thus need insight on prudently discerning as well as responding to abusively evil parties we face. We illustrate (as follows):

A letter by Ed Selender of Derby in the June 8, 2017 Republican-American, p. 6A critiqued President Trump's withdrawal of the U. S. from the Paris Climate Accord, and in it Mr. Selender referred to an earlier June 2 Associated Press story, "U. S. quits climate accord," to express concern over its claim that "the U. S.' withdrawal could permit up to '3 billion tons of additional carbon dioxide a year,' sufficient to result in ice sheets melting more quickly, seas rising to higher levels, and an increase in the occurrence of the extreme weather conditions we have been seeing."

We previously noted that God in Genesis 8:22 has promised to keep the earth's climate moderate enough as long as the world exists so man might grow his crops, that catastrophic climate change cannot occur! However, one may ask if the mainstream media and secular academia have just been mistaken on this whole climate change issue or if they have an agenda in abusively giving out errant information to upset the public, and how we should respond!

Need: So we ask, "How should we prudently discern and respond to abusively evil parties we face today?!"

I. David faced abusive treatment from his own son Absalom: David's son was embittered against him for his mishandling of Amnon's rape of Absalom's sister and for his mishandling of Absalom's killing of Amnon that Absalom politicked against David to win followers to overthrow his father, 2 Sam. 15:1-12.

II. This insurrection would in part fulfill God's 2 Samuel 12:10-11 prediction that David would face the sword in his family life and also that his harem would be publicly repossessed by another:

A. Absalom's rising against him in war fulfilled 2 Samuel 12:10 that the sword would afflict David's family.

B. In 2 Samuel 16:20-22, Absalom publicly repossessed ten of David's concubines, fulfilling 2 Samuel 12:11.

III. However, in the Holy Spirit's power (cf. 1 Samuel 16:13), David responded prudently to this evil abuse, exampling how we may discern and prudently respond to abusers we face today, 2 Samuel 15:13-16:14:

A. David fled from obvious, imminent physical danger, 2 Samuel 15:13-17:

1. When he heard of Absalom's uprising, David knew that war with him was imminent, 2 Sam. 15:13, 14d.

2. David also realized that to remain in Jerusalem would turn the city and its inhabitants into a battleground, creating havoc and loss of much innocent life there, 2 Samuel 15:14:b,c.

3. Thus, David immediately directed his servants to flee with him from the city, 2 Samuel 15:14a, 15-17.

B. David relied on proven supporters while facing abusive evil, 2 Samuel 15:18-23:

1. As he made his emotionally difficult flight from Jerusalem, David urged his Philistine mercenary friends who had been with him since he was in Gath to stay back in Jerusalem, but they refused, maintaining allegiance to David regardless what he faced, 2 Samuel 15:18-20; Bible Know. Com., O. T., p. 471.

2. When these Gentiles led by Ittai swore in God's name to remain loyal to David in life or in death even though David was in trouble, he realized they were loyal, so he let them come with him, 2 Sam. 15:21-23.

C. David paid attention to what his foes did to discern their agenda and thus avoid harm, 2 Sam. 15:24-29, 32-37:

1. He arranged for loyal priests Zadok, Ahimaaz and Jonathan to stay in Jerusalem as his informers on Absalom (2 Samuel 15:24-29) and for Hushai to endear himself to Absalom to thwart the counsel of the respected adviser Ahithophel who had switched allegiance from David to Absalom (2 Samuel 15:32-37).

2. David told Hushai to give reports on Absalom's and Ahithophel's acts to Ahimaaz and Jonathan that these young men might act as runners, quickly getting Hushai's reports to David, 2 Samuel 15:35-36.

D. David prayed for God's intervention, 2 Sam. 15:30-31: when he heard that his respected adviser Ahithophel had decided to help Absalom, David asked God to thwart Ahithophel's counsel, 2 Samuel 15:31 with 16:23.

E. David ceased relying on people with questionable conduct toward him, 2 Samuel 16:1-4:

1. Though David had treated Saul's grandson Mephibosheth well, only Saul's servant Ziba came to affirm his loyalty to the fleeing David, and Ziba claimed Mephibosheth did not come with David since he looked for an opening in Absalom's uprising to replace David as king through asserting Saul's dynasty, 2 Sam. 16:1-3.

2. David thus withdrew his trust in Mephibosheth due to his questionable conduct, and he granted Ziba instead of Mephibosheth all of the former estate of king Saul, 2 Samuel 16:4.

F. David let intense hatred expressed toward himself go unchecked that God might handle it, 2 Samuel 16:5-14:

1. Shimei, a man of Saul's line, took the opportunity David's flight from Jerusalem provided him to mock, curse and throw stones and dirt at David and his supporters, to claim God was turning the kingdom from David over to Absalom to punish David for having mistreated Saul's people, 2 Samuel 16:5-8.

2. When one of his supporters asked David if he could kill Shimei, David refused, saying God might have allowed Shimei to curse to discipline David (2 Sam. 16:9-11). If God let David's own son rise up against him, he reasoned that God may have directed Shimei to oppose him, that David should let the Lord look on his affliction and possibly have mercy on him so as to reverse the tragic situation, 2 Sam. 16:11, 12-14.

Lesson: When Absalom opposed him, David prudently (1) fled from clear, imminent danger, (2) he relied on proven support, (3) he was attentive to what his foes did to discern their agenda and avoid harm, (4) he prayed for God's help, (5) he ceased relying on questionable support and (6) left expressed hatred by others for God to handle.

Application: If facing abusively evil parties, (1) may we trust in Christ to be saved and receive the Holy Spirit, John 3:16; Romans 8:9b. (2) Then, (a) relying on the Holy Spirit to guide us via Scripture (Gal. 5:16; John 16:13; Psa. 119:105), may we (b) heed David's example (i) to flee from imminent physical danger, (ii) to rely on proven supporters, (iii) to pay attention to what abusers do to discern their agenda and avoid harm, (iv) to pray for God's intervention, (v) to cease relying on people of questionable support and (vi) let God handle hatred from others.

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . .)

In our sermon, we noted the difficulty one has in responding to the promotion by the mainstream media and secular academia of "climate change" ideology that upsets so many. One wonders if the media and academia are just mistaken or if they have an abusive agenda we must avoid. To answer this question, we apply the practice David used of paying attention to what the parties in question do to discern their agenda and thus avoid being harmed:

(1) First, we recall the mainstream media and secular academia currently warn of global warming by man's use of fossil fuels that allegedly produce the melting of ice sheets, rising ocean levels and catastrophic weather events.

(2) However, (a) we note that Newsweek back on April 28, 1975, p. 64 ran the story, "The Cooling World" to warn, "There are ominous signs that the earth's weather patterns have begun to change dramatically . . . (T)he earth's climate seems to be cooling down" and "(m)eteorologists . . . are almost unanimous in the view that the trend will reduce agricultural productivity," with some saying "the resulting famines could be catastrophic." (emphases ours)

(b) The rest of the mainstream media and secular academia at that time held this global cooling view, too: George F. Will of The Washington Post, in his piece, "Dark Green Doomsayers," February 15, 2009, reported The New York Times on May 21, 1975 warned of "'a major cooling of the planet'" that, according to the Time's September 14, 1975 issue "could result in 'a return to another ice age.'" Science Digest, February 1973, claimed, "'The world's climatologists are agreed' that we must 'prepare for the next ice age'" and International Wildlife, July 1975 warned "'a new ice age must now stand alongside nuclear war as a likely source of wholesale death and misery.'" (Ibid., Will)

(c) Also, James Barrante, a retired college professor of physical chemistry, in "Scant wisdom from people on the street," Republican-American, March 8, 2017, p. 7A, wrote, "Many people . . . believe that if all the glacier ice in Greenland melts, the oceans will flood the coastlines." Yet, "(d)uring the Medieval Warm Period (approximately 900 A. D. to 1300 A. D. [sic]), there was little glacier ice in Greenland" and "(n)o writings of this time period indicate that any coastal European cities were under water" when "(c)ertainly Venice should have been destroyed"!

(d) Even the Encyclopedia Britannica claims, "(W)arm conditions . . . prevailed . . . from Greenland eastward through Europe and parts of Asia" in this era. (John P. Rafferty, "Medieval warm period (MWP)," britannica.com)

(3) So, viewing the conduct of the mainstream media and secular academia for the last 45 years reveals they have been far too inconsistent and errant NOT to have an abusive agenda, that we must carefully test all their claims!

May we trust in Christ to be saved. Then, may we heed David's lead prudently to respond to abusers.