Hope From the Word

Bill Luebkemann: What is the goal of your life? We'll be challenged to set our priorities straight next on Hope From the Word. We as Christians, our goal in life should be, at the end of our life, that people would remember the Lord and not remember us.

If you die and people remember you, what a great person you were—wasn't he something else, wasn't she the greatest thing, he did this, she did that—well, then you've kind of missed the point of the whole thing. Really, what matters is, do people remember Jesus?

Guest (Male): Welcome to Hope From the Word. Pastor Bill Luebkemann will join us in just a moment to continue his study of 2 Samuel. Our Lord and Savior went to great lengths to restore our relationship with God. The Lord sent his one and only Son to Earth so that we might experience new life and a right relationship with him.

Today on the broadcast, we'll see how David and his broken relationship with the nation of Israel is restored. This is a helpful guide to those days when we are wrong or wronged. So let's join Pastor Bill now in 2 Samuel 18 and 19.

Bill Luebkemann: During his lifetime, Absalom had taken a pillar and erected it in the King's Valley as a monument to himself, for he thought, "I have no son to carry on the memory of my name." He named the pillar after himself, and it is called Absalom's monument to this day.

So we see that this guy is very self-centered, this Absalom guy. He's very much concerned about himself—me, myself, and I. Now, he had three sons and a daughter, yet he says here, "I have no son to carry on after me." Josephus says that what he said was, "Just in case my sons die, just in case they don't live, I'll have this monument for me." It's possible maybe his sons had died previous to this, so he wanted to have a monument to remember himself. He wanted to be remembered.

We as Christians, our goal in life should be, at the end of our life, that people would remember the Lord and not remember us. If you die and people remember you—what a great person you were, wasn't he something else, wasn't she the greatest thing, he did this, she did that, wasn't that person amazing—well, then you've kind of missed the point of the whole thing. Really, what matters is, do people remember Jesus?

This guy here, Absalom, was mixed up. He was interested in having people remember him. He wanted to have things revolve around me, myself, and I, the three most important people in the universe. He actually went so far—there are all kinds of monuments in the world. There were monuments back in this day, there are monuments today. There are monuments in Philadelphia, there are monuments in DC. You can go down and see the Jefferson Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument. There are monuments and memorials to everything.

What's one thing they all have in common? They were set up by somebody else. Lincoln didn't build the Lincoln Memorial; somebody else did. Washington didn't build the Washington Monument. Jefferson didn't build his, but here, this guy built his own monument. When you think about how whacked out this was, you look around the world today, different people that did things, different monuments to different people in different places that were heroes or famous or did something.

Can you think of one that the person made themselves? This is like the epitome of self-centeredness. This guy was not only a murderer, a rapist, a power-grabber, and didn't honor his father and his mother and whatever else you could think of, but at the same time, he was awful high on himself. And he wanted to be remembered. It's funny, he built this monument wanting to be remembered, but is he remembered more for the monument or more for the pile of rocks that was on his body, which is more of a monument to what he really deserved?

Now Ahimaaz, son of Zadok, said, "Let me run and take the news to the king that the Lord has delivered him from the hand of his enemies." Joab told him, "You are not the one to take the news today. You may take the news another time, but you must not do so today because the king's son is dead." This guy wants to run to the king because what happened was—it doesn't say it in here, but according to Josephus, we know their DSL line was down and they couldn't send the news by email. So this is the way they got the news there: they run.

This guy says, "Man, I've got to tell the king. We've got to tell the king he won. Let me be the runner. I'm going to go. I'll get down there. I'll give the king the news." Joab said, "No, no, no. Are you crazy? His son died. What do you want to be the one to do that for? He might accidentally kill you when he gets mad." Then Joab said to a Cushite, "Go tell the king what you have seen." The Cushite bowed down before Joab and ran off.

Ahimaaz, son of Zadok, again said to Joab, "Come what may, please let me run behind the Cushite." But Joab replied, "My son, why do you want to go? You don't have any news that will bring you a reward. You really don't want to be there when the king gets this bad news. Let this other poor fool go. It's not beneficial. You're not going to get a reward. You might get in trouble. It's not going to be good. You don't want to be around. You want to steer away from there."

Verse 23, he said, "Come what may, I want to run." So Joab said, "Run." Then Ahimaaz ran by way of the plain and outran the Cushite. So he was like a kid who said, "I want to go. I want to go." "No." "I want to go." "No." "I want to go, I want to go." "No." "Can I have ice cream?" "No." "I really want to have the ice cream." "No, you can't have any ice cream." Finally, you give in. "Okay, if I say yes, will you shut up?"

This guy was like a kid who asked and asked and asked. Finally, Joab is like saying, "Okay, you want to go? You want to hear the bad news? You want to get spit on by the king? Whatever. Fine. You want to be an idiot? Go do that. But you're crazy." So Joab ran, and not only did he run, but he outran the Cushite.

Now here we have David back wondering what's going on. So verse 24, while David was sitting between the inner and outer gates, the watchman went up to the roof of the gateway by the wall. As he looked out, he saw a man running alone. The watchman called out to the king and reported it. The king said, "If he is alone, he must have good news." The man came closer and closer. Well, it's not an army running at me here; it's just a messenger and he's running at me, so it's probably good news.

King David was trying to be optimistic. I don't see Israel coming with their army, Absalom ready to fight a battle, just one guy. It's probably good news. Then the watchman saw another man running and he called down to the gatekeeper, "Look, another man running alone." The king said, "He must be bringing good news too." The watchman said, "It seems to me that the first one runs like Ahimaaz, son of Zadok." "He is a good man," the king said. "He comes with good news." Now why does just because he's a good man, why does it mean he's necessarily bringing good news? I don't know that.

Interesting here. I don't know how the guy ran, if he ran faster than a one-armed paper hanger, if he hopped on one foot, if he was like Tigger—the wonderful thing about Tiggers, Tiggers are a wonderful thing—if he was bouncy, wouncy, flouncy, pouncy, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun as he went down the street. I don't know what he did here. Somehow, the watchman could recognize this was this guy Ahimaaz.

Then Ahimaaz called out to the king, "All is well." Well, that's not true; your son is dead. He bowed down before the king with his face to the ground and said, "Praise be to the Lord your God. He has delivered up the men who lifted their hands against my lord the king." In other words, "You won, King. Praise God." The king asked, "Is the young man Absalom safe?" The very first question.

David here, we're going to see in chapter 19, he's a little bit off base on this. Ahimaaz answered, "I saw great confusion just as Joab was about to send the king's servant and me, your servant, but I don't know what it was." So he lied. He was there. He knew the king's son was dead. All of a sudden, he's tongue-tied. He wanted to bring the news. He brought the good news that the king's army had won the battle, but now he doesn't want to share the bad news, which was, "You know, there's a small problem: your son is dead."

The king said, "Stand aside and wait here." So he stepped aside and stood there. Then the Cushite arrived and said, "My lord the king, hear the good news. The Lord has delivered you today from all who rose up against you." The king asked the Cushite, "Is the young man Absalom safe?" One of the problems here, David is so concerned with his son, which is okay, but he seems to minimize these 4,000 men who have been fighting for him and 20,000 other people died.

The Bible does say, "Love your enemies," but there's nothing wrong with loving your friends as well, as somebody said. Love your enemies but not necessarily at the expense of your friends. Love them all. We're going to see that more in chapter 19. The king asked the Cushite again. He doesn't ask, "How's the rest of my army? Did we lose a lot of troops? Did we lose thousands of men, hundreds of men? What was the loss of life?" Other questions that on the global scene were arguably bigger questions. He's just concerned about his son.

The Cushite replied—now maybe the Cushite, who was a foreigner, he didn't know what the king had said about keeping his son safe, he didn't understand all the dynamics here—the Cushite replied, "May the enemies of my lord the king and all who rise up to harm you be like that young man." The king was shaken. He went up to the room over the gateway and wept. As he went, he said, "Oh my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom. If only I had died instead of you. Oh Absalom, my son, my son."

He was moved to grief here about his son had died. One of the commentators said, "If only David had said, 'Oh Uriah, Uriah, my friend Uriah,'" the guy that King David killed. He has all this grief for his son who died in battle fighting against his father, who was a rapist, a murderer, and all this other stuff, his son was. And here's Uriah, an innocent man, killed in battle. At no point—you can go through all these pages back and forth—nowhere in here does it say that David was weeping over Uriah, Bathsheba's husband. So you see, there's a serious little problem of balance here, and he's like a little bit out of balance.

Joab was told, "The king is weeping and mourning for Absalom," and for the whole army, the victory that day was turned into mourning because on that day the troops heard it said, "The king is grieving for his son." The men stole into the city that day as men steal in who are ashamed when they flee from battle. The king covered his face and cried aloud, "Oh my son Absalom, oh Absalom, my son, my son."

Joab was told about this and the whole army's victory was turned sour. The victory was turned into weeping, and the party and the celebration was turned into mourning. The troops who were happy—"We love David, we serve David, we won the battle, we were outnumbered and God gave us the victory"—they wind up coming back to the city and they were ashamed that they won the victory. They snuck in tiptoe, not to be noticed. "Don't look at us. We're going to hide somewhere."

We're ashamed of what we did. It was almost like that. They were like ones who had fled from the battle while the king is mourning for his son over and over and over again. It takes Joab to straighten him out in verse 5. Then Joab went into the house to the king and said, "Today you have humiliated all your men who have just saved your life and the lives of your sons and daughters and the lives of your wives and concubines.

"You love those who hate you and hate those who love you. You have made it clear today that the commanders and their men mean nothing to you. I see that you would be pleased if Absalom were alive today and all of us were dead. Now go out and encourage your men. I swear by the Lord that if you don't go out, not a man will be left with you by nightfall. This will be worse for you than all the calamities that have come upon you from your youth till now."

So the king got up and took his seat in the gateway. When the men were told, "The king is sitting in the gateway," they all came before him. So Joab here needs to give this guy a punch in the face and tell him to wake up here. He said, "You've humiliated your men. They went out and they fought for you and they saved your life, and they saved the lives of your sons and daughters and your wives and concubines and all kinds of people. And yet, it seems to me," Joab is saying, "it seems to me you would rather we all be dead if he was alive."

He's the one that caused all the problem. What's the matter with you? What are you, crazy? You don't get it? You love those who hate you. It's okay. Look, on Sunday I talked about loving your enemies, and that's good. We should do that. But we also can love our friends as well. He said, "You've made it clear today that the commanders and their men mean nothing to you." In other words, by your actions, by the words that you've said, you have valued your son's life over all this other stuff, over all this loss of life. Twenty thousand lives were lost, and your son in your mind is more important than all of them.

"You're the king. When the high priest was working in the temple, if the high priest was on duty and his mother died, he wasn't allowed to grieve because he was the high priest. He was on duty, and what he was doing was more important than grieving for his mother. He had to represent God to the people. There were times when your duty comes before your family or whatever else. You're the king, and so you've got to act like the king," is what he's saying here.

"Now go out and encourage your men because if you don't get out there and encourage them, they're not going to hang around. They're going to desert you. They're going to leave. They're not going to be here much longer." So the king got out and sat out there in the gateway and the men were able to come to him and see him and bow down before him and pay their respects to him. They felt perhaps some more importance or self-worth or something that he validated and the king could thank them for what they did. Joab here, I think in effect is saying, "These guys worked hard for you. They gave everything for you, and you're acting like they didn't do anything just because your son died." Of course, Joab could have solved the whole problem by not killing his son, but that's a whole other thing. He does pay for that eventually.

Meanwhile, the Israelites had fled to their homes. Absalom was dead, 20,000 of them were dead. The rest of them took off, man. They high-tailed it out of there, went back to their homes. I guess they resumed their normal lives. "Oh, we weren't in any battle. We weren't fighting against David. Oh, no. We were here the whole time. Wasn't I here? We were here the whole time. We didn't do anything."

The Israelites had fled to their homes throughout the tribes of Israel. The people were all arguing with each other saying—this was like a political contest here, it was like an election—all throughout the land, all the tribes, all the people are arguing. "You should vote for this one. You should vote for that one. This one's going to win. That one's going to win. We should raise the taxes, lower the taxes, do this, do that. We should be in this country, we shouldn't be there. We should be fighting the war, we shouldn't be fighting the war." All this division and strife going on.

The people were all arguing with each other saying, "The king delivered us from the hand of our enemies. He is the one who rescued us from the hand of the Philistines. But now he has fled the country because of Absalom. And Absalom, whom we anointed to rule over us, has died in battle. So why do you say nothing about bringing the king back?" So there was arguing going on, and there were people saying, "David is the guy that rescued us from our enemies. David is the guy that took on Goliath. David is the guy that took on the Philistines. David is the guy that took on all of our enemies. He's the guy that rescued us."

And now he's fled the country and Absalom, we anointed Absalom but Absalom died. Maybe we should be bringing David back. They were starting to talk about, "Let's bring David back. Something went wrong here. Let's bring David back." King David sent this message to Zadok and Abiathar the priests: "Ask the elders of Judah, why should you be the last to bring the king back to his palace since what is being said throughout Israel has reached the king at his quarters?" In other words, the king has heard about all this discussion, all the talk. We're talking about some period of time that has passed there.

The word goes around the land and it gets back to the king and he sends a message to the elders of Judah. Remember, the elders of Judah are the ones that anointed him king first in Hebron before he took over seven years later as king of all of Israel. He's from the tribe of Judah. "Why should you, the elders of Judah, be the last to bring the king back to his palace since that's what everyone's talking about? You guys, you're my brothers, my own flesh and blood. So why should you be the last to bring back the king?"

And say to Amasa, "Are you not my own flesh and blood? May God deal with me, be it ever so severely, if from now on you are not the commander of my army in place of Joab." So kind of like an olive branch here. This guy Amasa had been commanding Absalom's army, and David offers him Joab's job. David at this point must have figured out or found out or heard about the fact that Joab was really the one that had killed his son.

He won over the hearts of all the men of Judah as though they were one man. They sent word to the king: "Return, you and all your men." Then the king returned and went as far as the Jordan. So David won over their hearts. He didn't come back and fight a battle. He didn't say, "That's it, I'm coming back. Clear out of here. I'm taking over." He won their hearts. It was like he waited until he was drafted. They talked about it and they drafted him to be the king again, almost.

And he said to the elders of Judah, "Why don't you get in on this? Why is everyone else talking about it? My own flesh and blood aren't talking about it." So they finally agreed, "Come back." Now the men of Judah had come to Gilgal to go out and meet the king and to bring him across the Jordan. So at this point, he had returned as far as the Jordan River.

Shimei, son of Gera, the Benjamite from Bahurim, hurried down with the men of Judah to meet King David. Now remember who he is? He was the guy that was calling out curses on King David when King David was leaving the town. If you go back just a few chapters to chapter 16, as King David was leaving, chapter 16, verse 5: "As King David approached Bahurim, a man from the same clan as Saul's family came out from there. His name was Shimei, son of Gera, and he cursed as he came out. He pelted David and all the king's officials with stones, though all the troops and the special guard were on David's right and left.

"As he cursed, 'Get out! Get out, you man of blood, you scoundrel! The Lord has repaid you for all the blood you shed in the household of Saul, in whose place you have reigned. The Lord has handed the kingdom over to your son Absalom. You have come to ruin because you are a man of blood.'" This guy was throwing dirt and stones on the king and calling out curses and foul language, and now that David's coming back, he's the first guy out there in the greeting party.

He's no dummy. He figures he's going to have to do some kissing here or he's going to be in big trouble. Shimei, son of Gera, the Benjamite from Bahurim, hurried down with the men of Judah to meet King David. He didn't just go down; he hurried down. He figured, "I better get right on this or, man, I am in trouble because I was on the wrong side and my guy lost."

With him were 1,000 Benjamites, along with Ziba, the steward of Saul's household, and his 15 sons and 20 servants. They rushed to the Jordan where the king was. So we saw they hurried, we see they rushed. In other words, they got there quickly. They crossed at the ford to take the king's household over and to do whatever he wished.

When Shimei, son of Gera, crossed the Jordan, he fell prostrate before the king and said to him, "May my lord not hold me guilty." This is called repentance, I guess, or saying you're sorry or asking for forgiveness, or there are some other terms we could use also. "May my lord not hold me guilty. Do not remember how your servant did wrong on the day my lord the king left Jerusalem. May the king put it out of his mind. For I, your servant, know that I have sinned. But today I have come here as the first of the whole house of Joseph to come down and meet my lord the king."

What this is, is begging for forgiveness. "I know that I have sinned," he said. He bowed down first of all. He bowed down. He showed David, left no doubt about it: David's the king, he's not the king. He bowed down. He fell prostrate before him and he asked David, "Don't remember what I did, my foolishness. Put it out of your mind. I know I sinned, but I want to make it up to you and I came here today, the first one among the whole house. And I've got these thousand guys with me, and we want to welcome you home."

Then Abishai, son of Zeruiah, said, "Shouldn't Shimei be put to death for this? He cursed the Lord's anointed." David replied, "What do you and I have in common, you sons of Zeruiah? This day you have become my adversaries. Should anyone be put to death in Israel today? Do I not know that today I am king over Israel?" So the king said to Shimei, "You shall not die." And the king promised him on oath.

Guest (Male): You've been listening to Hope From the Word. We're currently in a study of 2 Samuel. You can hear this message or more Hope From the Word with Pastor Bill Luebkemann by going to ccmarlton.org. Pastor Bill's messages can also be found by downloading the Hope FM app on your smartphone or tablet. Or if you'd prefer to listen via podcast, go wherever you find your podcasts and sign up there.

We'd love to have you join us at Calvary Chapel of Marlton, either in person or online. Our Sunday service begins at 10 a.m., and there's a Wednesday evening service at 7. To catch us online, you can subscribe to our YouTube channel at Calvary Chapel of Marlton, or just go to our website for the link at ccmarlton.org.

And if you'd take a moment to write to Pastor Bill, it would be such a blessing to us. We're thankful each and every time we hear what God is doing in our listeners' lives, and we want to pray for you too. Either email us through the website at ccmarlton.org or call 856-983-1662. We'll continue our study in 2 Samuel next time on Hope From the Word with Pastor Bill Luebkemann, a presentation of Calvary Chapel of Marlton.