THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

The Books Of The Chronicles: God's Preservation Of His Davidic And Levitical Covenants

IV. David's Rise: A Lesson In Building Trust In Leaders

(1 Chronicles 11:1-3 et al.)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

There is a significant lack of trust in leaders in a variety of institutions today:

(1) The mainstream media last week was full of news on impeachment hearings over President Trump's effort to get Ukraine to give him information of corruption by former Vice President Joe Biden. The Democrats claimed the President threatened to withhold aid to Ukraine as leverage to obtain this information, and then tried to cover it all up.

However, U. S. Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., told "Fox & Friends" that "(t)he very thing they're accusing President Trump of doing, Biden did" as Vice President. (Jake Gibson, Alex Pappas, "Source says whistleblower didn't have 'firsthand knowledge' of Trump call with Ukrainian president," September 24, 2019; foxnews.com)

Such charges of corruption in the current and former administrations signal distrust in our nation's leaders!

(2) We face it on the climate change issue: the September 21, 2019 Republican-American, p. 1A, reported, "Young people afraid for their futures protested around the globe to implore leaders to tackle climate change."

However, Robert G. Davis of Naugatuck with a Ph. D. from Purdue University, in a letter (Ibid., p. 8A) told how when "Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. . . . lectured us a year ago that the earth will be reduced to an uninhabitable cinder within 12 years . . ., the U. S. Senate submitted her Green New Deal banning cow flatulence and airplanes to a vote," but lest they "expose themselves to public ridicule, not a single senator cast an assenting vote."

Thus, many climate change alarmists distrust their leaders, but many of their leaders and many of their constituents, seen in how the Senate voted on the Green New Deal, distrust the claims of climate change scientists.

(3) We face it in the business realm: Stephen M. R. Covey ("How The Best Leaders Build Trust," leadershipnow.com/CoveyOnTrust.html) reported, "In 2004, one estimate put the cost of complying with federal rules and regulations alone in the United States -- put in place essentially due to a lack of trust -- at $1.1 trillion."

Need: So, we ask, "What is God's solution for the lack of trust in leaders in various institutions today?!"

I. Though 1 Chronicles 11:1 reports that after Saul's death, all Israel gathered to David at Hebron to ask him to be king, for many years before this, David had lacked enough trust from the people to be king:

A. In 1 Samuel 23:1-12, David had heeded God's leading to deliver the city of Keilah in his tribal territory of Judah from the Philistines, but even after David had rescued the city, the men of Keilah planned to hand him over to Saul so he could execute David. (Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, ftn. to 1 Samuel 23:1)

B. In 1 Samuel 23:19-29, the men of the town of Ziph in Judah informed Saul where he might capture David, and David had to flee for his life from Saul, Ibid., ftn. to 1 Samuel 23:14.

C. In 1 Samuel 25:1-17, the man Nabal who lived in Judah (Ibid., ftn. to 1 Samuel 25:2) ridiculed David as being Saul's runaway slave, so he refused to pay David for David's services rendered in protecting Nabal's livestock.

D. In 1 Samuel 26:1, the Ziphites again informed Saul on David's whereabouts so Saul might kill him.

E. Eventually, 1 Samuel 27:1 reports that David decided to move from his tribal territory of Judah into enemy Philistine country, for he believed he would be safer there than in his own tribal homeland!

II. Saul's death created a vacuum in protective leadership, gradually moving Israel to accept David as king:

A. When Saul eventually died, 2 Samuel 2:1-4 reports the men of Judah asked David to rule over their tribe.

B. For the next 7 1/2 years, there was war between the followers of David and the followers of Saul, with David's men steadily gaining in power and Saul's side steadily waning in might, 2 Samuel 2:11 with 3:1.

C. Only with the assassination of Saul's son Ish-bosheth, Saul's last son fit for the throne, along with David's execution of the assassins, did all Israel finally gather to David to ask him to rule over them, 2 Samuel 4:1-5:1!

III. However, 1 Chronicles 11:1b-3 gives the CAUSES for Israel's GROWTH in TRUST of David (as follows):

A. The people of Israel eventually realized that David was Biblically qualified to be their king:

1. The Mosaic Law required that Israel crown a man as king who was not a foreigner, but one of them, Deut. 17:15b. All Israel acknowledged this, claiming they were of David's "bone" and "flesh," 1 Chron. 11:1b.

2. The Mosaic Law also required that Israel crown one whom God chose, Deut. 17:15a. Israel acknowledged this of David, that the credible prophet Samuel had said he would shepherd Israel, 1 Chronicles 11:2b, 3b:

a. Samuel who had anointed David as king (1 Sam. 16:13) had gained nationwide recognition of being God's prophet when the Lord called him in childhood, the High Priest Eli acting as witness, 1 Sam. 3:1-21.

b. Thus, credible prophet Samuel's anointing of David to be king certified before the nation that God had chosen David to be king in accord with the requirement of Deuteronomy 17:15a; cf. 1 Samuel 16:1-13.

B. The people also finally realized that David's track record indicated he was qualified to be their king:

1. Israel's people finally acknowledged that all during Saul's reign, David had been the one who had successfully led the nation into battle, leading them "out" and "in" in times of war, 1 Chronicles 11:2.

2. Israel's history during Saul's reign as king clarifies the accuracy of this acknowledgment (as follows):

a. When no man in Israel's army dared fight the Philistine challenger Goliath, it was a young David who chose to challenge and defeat the giant with a sling, putting the Philistine army to flight, 1 Samuel 17:1-58.

b. Israel's women acknowledged this achievement by David when he returned from defeating Goliath, singing of Saul's slaying his thousands but of David's slaying his ten thousands, 1 Samuel 18:6-7.

c. When a distrusting Saul made David his army leader, hoping David might die in battle, David led the army in repeat conquests of the Philistines, gaining the confidence and love of all Israel, 1 Sam. 18:12-16.

d. Even when David fled from Saul as an outlaw of the court, with many siding with their king in Saul, David still helped Israel: he then rescued Keilah from the Philistines (1 Sam. 23:1-5) and shared the booty he gained in defeating the Amalekites with his tribesmen in Judah who distrusted him. (1 Sam. 30:1-31)

e. By thus consistently doing good for Israel even if some of the people mistreated him in their distrust of David as an outlaw of Saul's court, David's persistent goodness eventually won the people's confidence!

C. Psalms 18, 34, 52, 54, 56, 57, 59 and 142 recorded in David's days as an outlaw from Saul's court reveal that though he was distrusted and mistreated, David achieved persistently good living by trusting in the Lord.

Lesson: Though long distrusted by Israel, David's consistent reliance on the Lord enabled him to function well until his nation at Saul's death unitedly realized David's Biblical and track record qualifications to be king.

Application: (1) May we trust in Christ for salvation, John 3:16. (2) If God calls us to lead where we lack trust from subordinates, may we consistently rely on the Holy Spirit to obey Scripture (Galatians 5:15; 1 John 1:5-7) until our Biblical and track record qualifications show our subordinates that we are to be trusted to oversee them.

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . . )

To apply this sermon, I must faithfully address issues noted in our introduction by Bible teaching as follows:

(1) As for distrust in today's government leaders, since Jesus in Matthew 5:18 taught the literal interpretation of Bible prophecy by valuing each letter and each tittle of a letter in the text that affects its word's meaning, if we then interpret the prophecy of the Book of Revelation literally, we find Revelation 4:14-22 predicted our era of the Church. In our era, leaders in the world would be marked by intrigue and oppressiveness, but God offers to fill the vacuum left by such leaders with His own edifying leadership through Bible exposition. (Revelation 3:21; 7:17) May we then heed Scripture's exposition for the balm of God's leadership that compensates us for facing man's bad leadership.

(2) as for "climate change," we have often noted that God in Genesis 8:21-22 promised to preserve the earth's climate as long as our planet exists, to supply a habitable environment for mankind throughout the earth's history.

(3) As for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's effort to outlaw flatulent (gas producing) cows and (petroleum burning) airplanes, we note that (a) regarding flatulent cows, in Genesis 18:1-8, Abraham prepared a meal from killing and cooking a "calf-of-the-herd" (Hebrew ben-baqar, B. D. B., A Heb. and Eng. Lex. of the O. T., p. 133) and feeding it to God Who appeared to Abraham. In eating this veal Himself, God sanctioned the raising of cattle!

(b) As for the burning of carbon fuels to fly airplanes, (i) the risen Lord Jesus in John 21:9 prepared a fire of "wood charcoal" (Greek anthrakia; Zon. Pict. Ency. Bib., vol. One, p. 779) for His disciples, and the burning of wood charcoal or firewood produces over twice the nitrogen oxide, soot, carbon monoxide and volatile organic matter as the burning of even coal, what climate change alarmists in particular oppose. (John Upton, "What's worse than burning coal? Burning wood," April 3, 2014; grist.org; burningissues.org/smoke.htm [Clean Air Revival, Inc.]) In addition, (ii) Leviticus 6:8-13 called Israel's priests to keep a wood fire burning perpetually on the altar of burnt offering, and (iii) Exodus 27:20-21 called them to keep the olive oil lamps perpetually burning in the lampstand in the Holy Place of the tabernacle. God thus sanctioned the responsible use of carbon fuels to meet human needs!

(3) As for the cost of distrust at work, Proverbs 11:3, 5, 6 (et al.) claims one's integrity will guide him to avoid destruction and that his righteousness will keep his way straight, help him avoid destruction and deliver him from captivity to destructive lust. Thus, integrity and righteousness will save one much financial cost and trouble at work.

May we trust in Christ for salvation. If called of God to lead in an institution where we lack trust, may we rely on the Holy Spirit to heed Scripture consistently, building trust over time from our subordinates.