Hope From the Word

Guest (Male): Trusting God every step of the way. Next on Hope From the Word.

Bill Luebkemann: We should trust God more instead of doing things on our own. But all too often I want to run off and fix something or make it right or be sure that it's done right. You have to find the line between doing it yourself and letting God do it, between letting God work out the details and you taking it on for yourself.

The Lord may make good things come out of evil things, but it's not okay for us to plan evil things thinking, "Well, we'll do something evil so God will make some good come out of it." No, it doesn't work that way.

Guest (Male): The St. Petersburg Times carried a news article about a thief who snatched some sausages from a local meat market, only to discover that they were part of a string 45 feet long. He tripped over them and was unable to get away before the police arrived. Ironically, the loot this man tried to take became the thing that trapped him.

Welcome to Hope From the Word. Today we resume our expositional study of 2 Samuel. In chapter four, we'll observe the deadly consequences of sin in the life of a Christian. Here's Pastor Bill Luebkemann to draw that out for us.

Bill Luebkemann: The best intentions don't get anything without action. The road to you-know-where is paved with good intentions, as the old saying goes. You can have all the great intentions in the world, but what do you do with your intentions?

Abner said, "You've been talking about it. Now's the time to do this." And guess what? The Lord promised David, "I'm going to rescue my people Israel from the hand of the Philistines and from the hand of all their enemies by the hand of David. He's the guy the Lord anointed him. He knows it, you know it, so just do it."

Verse 19, Abner also spoke to the Benjamites in person. Then he went to Hebron to tell David everything that Israel and the whole house of Benjamin wanted to do. So he was like the go-between. He was like the negotiator here.

Abner is the go-between. He's a sort of a diplomat here. He's like the shuttle diplomacy like when you see in the news they're flying around between Israel and Damascus and Syria and whatever. That's what this guy's doing. He spoke to the Benjamites in person, then he went to Hebron. That was where David was, to tell David everything that Israel and the whole house of Benjamin wanted to do. So he's brokering this deal here and he's bringing these people on. David's very happy.

You get the impression here, you have to be left with the impression the guy was an honorable guy. When he served Saul's house, he did so with all fervency. He was loyal and committed and dedicated and fervent to what he was doing there. When it was time to come over to David's house, he was going to be the same way about that. I think David recognizes that.

Maybe he didn't know when he helped Saul's son take the throne. Maybe he hadn't heard about David's claim to the throne at that point. So, let's see where we were. Abner also spoke to the Benjamites in person. Then he went to Hebron to tell David everything that Israel and the whole house of Benjamin wanted to do.

When Abner, who had 20 men with him, came to David at Hebron, David prepared a feast for him and his men. Then Abner said to David, "Let me go at once and assemble all Israel for my lord the king so that they may make a compact with you and that you may rule over all that your heart desires." So David sent Abner away, and he went in peace.

There's a reason why it says that here, and we're going to see it here in a few verses. David had a good relationship with this guy. David recognized the guy as a worthy opponent initially. When he was under Saul, he was loyal and dedicated to Saul. Now he's come to David, and obviously, the Lord is working this out here. He wants to bring them all over and help David, and David's all for that.

The entire thing is going to be done without bloodshed. This entire thing's going to be worked out. This is what God wants. Let's all get behind it. Let's all get together. We were off base. We wanted to get on and do it God's way. Now we have the opportunity to do it, and David prepares a feast for this guy.

I don't know why he brought 20 men with him. Maybe he was a little nervous, but David cooks them all a feast, and they make a deal. Abner says, "Let me go back to Benjamin. Let me tell all them what we worked out here so that we can get everybody together and then you can rule as the Lord would call you to rule." And he left in peace. David here didn't make it a habit going around killing people. He was letting God work. He didn't kill Saul. He didn't kill Saul's sons. He didn't kill Abner either.

But Joab doesn't like this. Remember, Abner killed Joab's brother who was chasing him in battle. He tried not to kill him. He said, "Don't chase me anymore. I don't want to kill you. Then I have to face your brother. Go chase somebody else and leave me alone." Abner, again a worthy opponent, didn't have any choice. Joab here is holding a grudge because Abner murdered his brother.

Abner leaves to go back where he came from. In verse 22, just then David's men and Joab returned from a raid and brought with them a great deal of plunder. But Abner was no longer with David in Hebron because David had sent him away and he had gone in peace. We see that again as the Lord wants us to be reminded of that fact.

When Joab and all the soldiers with him arrived, he was told that Abner son of Ner had come to the king and that the king had sent him away and that he had gone in peace. Do you get the idea here that the Lord wants us to make sure that we know that he left in peace?

So Joab wasn't there, and he comes back and he finds out, "Hey, Abner, the guy that killed your brother, he was just here. And you know what else? He had 20 guys with him. And you know what David did? David didn't fight them. In fact, he cooked them dinner and he had a big meal for them. And then he shook their hand, the guy that killed your brother, and he left in peace."

And Joab here is about to blow out his brains. He's beside himself. Joab lives many, many more years. He lives longer than David. But he's not happy about this. Actually, David's son Solomon kills Joab. We'll get to that. He does it because before David dies, he tells his son, "Remember Joab. Remember the things he did. You deal with him as you think is right." And then Solomon polished him off. I don't know why David let him live as long as he did.

So Joab went to the king and said, "What have you done? Look, Abner came to you. Why did you let him go? Now he's gone. You know Abner son of Ner. He came to deceive you and observe your movements and find out everything you are doing." In other words, don't trust the guy. He's really a sneak. He's a spy. He came in here, he took notes, he's got his GPS and his satellite pictures.

Joab says, "You can't trust Abner." Now, I don't know if Joab really felt that way or if he was just mad because Abner killed his brother. Maybe it was a little bit of each. We know the guy's mad that Abner killed his brother. We know he's carrying a grudge. We know he doesn't realize that Abner killed his brother in self-defense, or that his brother was chasing him, that he tried everything not to do it. He either doesn't know that or won't accept that or doesn't care. But besides all that, Joab is just plain mad, and maybe he really believes that Abner came to deceive. I'm not sure.

But here's a case where he should have trusted the king. David was the king, not Abner. So regardless of what Abner thought, whatever he knew, whatever he suspected, David was the one that was the king. So Abner says to David, "He came to deceive you and observe your movements and find out everything you are doing."

Joab then left David and sent messengers after Abner. They brought him back from the well of Sirah, but David did not know it. Now, when Abner returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside into the gateway as though to speak with him privately. And there, to avenge the blood of his brother Asahel, Joab stabbed him in the stomach and he died.

So Joab goes off here and sends some messengers out to catch Abner and say, "Hey, come back. We had a few more things to talk about." Abner comes back, doesn't know he's walking into a trap, and David didn't know about it. When he came back, Joab said, "I'd like to talk to you over here in private. Let's just go over here in the gateway in private," pretending to talk to him privately, but really intending to stab him in the stomach and kill him, which he did.

Now, it's interesting. Hebron was one of the cities of refuge. A city of refuge, there were six of them, was a place where if you were accused of murder, you could go and be safe while it was determined if you were innocent or not. Suppose you accidentally killed somebody and you ran over them with your tractor or something. Suppose that the avenger of blood, that person's next of kin, decided they're going to take you out because you killed. Well, you could, the idea was, you had to get to home base. You had to get to one of these cities of refuge, and if you got into the city of refuge, you were safe.

Then the avenger of blood, the family member of the deceased, the relative of the person you killed, could come to the city of refuge also and demand a trial. Then a trial was held and if you were guilty, you had to be executed, but if you were innocent, then you got off. The idea was it was a kind of a safe refuge for you to be until such time as your trial.

Hebron was one of the cities of refuge. If this guy Joab really felt like Abner should be tried, he could have demanded a trial. He's here, let's have a trial. If he's guilty, I want him executed. But he doesn't do that. He wants to take revenge himself. Notice he does it in the gateway outside. So he probably maybe he took some comfort in the fact, "Well, I didn't kill him in the city of refuge. You're not allowed to do that." He's an innocent guy. "I'm going to kill him outside in the gateway." You almost have to wonder if he didn't plan it that way.

Later, when David heard about this, he said, "I and my kingdom are forever innocent before the Lord concerning the blood of Abner son of Ner. May his blood fall upon the head of Joab and upon all his father's house. May Joab's house never be without someone who has a running sore or leprosy or who leans on a crutch or who falls by the sword or who lacks food."

Joab and his brother Abishai murdered Abner because he had killed their brother Asahel in the battle at Gibeon. David basically pronounces a curse on him. It's a pretty strong one. May someone in his house always have one of these problems: an open sore, leprosy, be crippled, or who gets killed, or who lacks food. And we see in verse 30 that Abishai apparently helped his brother Joab. So it was a partnership. They worked together to kill Abner.

Then David said to Joab and all the people with him, "Tear your clothes and put on sackcloth and walk in mourning in front of Abner." King David himself walked behind the bier. They buried Abner in Hebron and the king wept aloud at Abner's tomb. All the people wept also.

So basically, he made Joab mourn the guy that Joab had killed. They went out and they had a funeral for the guy and they buried him. The king sang this lament for Abner: "Should Abner have died as the lawless die? Your hands were not bound, your feet were not fettered. You fell as one falls before wicked men." And all the people wept over him again.

"You fell before wicked men." In other words, you weren't a prisoner, you weren't executed, there was no trial. You didn't fall in a legitimate battle. You fell as the victim of murder, cold-blooded, premeditated, thought out in advance murder. David is really broken up about it.

Then they all came and urged David to eat something while it was still day. But David took an oath saying, "May God deal with me be it ever so severely if I taste bread or anything else before the sun sets." All the people took note and were pleased. Indeed, everything the king did pleased them. So on that day, all the people and all Israel knew that the king had no part in the murder of Abner son of Ner.

We see a few things happening. One of them is that David is very unhappy about this murder. He's grieving about it. He's upset about it. He saw in Abner an honorable guy that was working to make peace. But we also see here, perhaps, that David wanted also to make sure that everybody else knew that he was guilty.

He doesn't want to start out being king on the wrong foot here. So he'll make sure everybody knows and it's clear as a bell. There's no confusion about it. He was fasting. They were trying to get him to eat. He said, "No, I'm not going to eat today." All the people took note, and it was pleasing to them. It was pleasing to them that he was fasting. It was pleasing to them that they knew he didn't do it. It was pleasing to them that he was a man that was seeking God and was doing the righteous and honorable thing, unlike the other side.

Then the king said to his men, "Do you not realize that a prince and a great man has fallen in Israel this day? And today, though I am the anointed king, I am weak. And these sons of Zeruiah are too strong for me. May the Lord repay the evildoer according to his evil deeds."

David basically saying, "I'm the king, I'm the anointed guy. Slowly but surely this whole kingdom thing is coming together here, but I'm still weak. I don't have enough guys to take these guys on directly. They're powerful guys, and I'm going to just trust God to deal with them."

And you know what? We should trust God more instead of doing things on our own. All too often, I want to run off and fix something or make it right or do be sure that it's done right or whatever. You have to find the line between doing it yourself and letting God do it, between letting God work out the details and you taking it on for yourself.

Clearly, there is a time when it comes time to do something. Abner said to the elders, "Now do it." It was time to do it. But that line is drawn at doing the wrong thing. Like, two wrongs don't make a right. Doing evil doesn't bring good. The Lord may make good things come out of evil things, but it's not okay for us to plan evil things thinking, "Well, we'll do something evil so God will make some good come out of it." No, it doesn't work that way. Once some evil person does some evil thing, God will often, if not all the time, redeem that.

Or to put it another way, the end does not justify the means, not always and not often. So David making it very clear here he had nothing to do with it. The Lord giving David favor in the sight of all the people, his kingdom coming together. He's not feeling at this point he can do anything about these two remaining sons of Zeruiah. That would be Joab and his brother Abishai, except that he's going to commit it to the Lord and let the Lord deal with it.

In fact, Joab is the commander of David's army for like 30 years or something. Like I said before, when he puts Solomon on the throne, David tells Solomon, "Don't forget the things that Joab did and you deal with him as you think."

When Ish-bosheth son of Saul heard that Abner had died in Hebron, he lost courage and all Israel became alarmed. The word gets back to Ish-bosheth, the commander of your guard died. They killed him. Now he's feeling helpless. This guy was my commander. Already was having I was on the outs with him. We weren't getting along. I shouldn't have accused him of what I did, and now he's not even around anymore. King David could come marching in here any day. I don't know why this guy Ish-bosheth doesn't call up David and try to work out a deal with him.

Now, Saul's son had two men who were leaders of raiding bands. One was named Baanah and the other Rechab. They were sons of Rimmon the Beerothite from the tribe of Benjamin. Beeroth is considered part of Benjamin because the people of Beeroth fled to Gittaim and have lived there as aliens to this day. So these people here were also of the tribe of Benjamin. Well, they were living among the Benjamites, but they weren't really of the tribe of Benjamin.

Now, Jonathan son of Saul had a son who was lame in both feet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel. His nurse picked him up and fled, but as she hurried to leave, he fell and became crippled. His name was Mephibosheth.

Now, I don't know why that's stuck in here, but this was Jonathan's son. So Saul has died. Three of his sons died in battle. This one son Ish-bosheth here, he's about to die. But who's left is this young boy who's the son of Jonathan who's crippled and lame, and eventually David befriends him and looks after him. But we'll get to that in a few more chapters.

Now, Rechab and Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, set out for the house of Ish-bosheth, and they arrived there in the heat of the day while he was taking his noonday rest. They went into the inner part of the house as if to get some wheat, and they stabbed him in the stomach. Then Rechab and his brother Baanah slipped away.

They had gone into the house while he was lying on the bed in his bedroom. After they stabbed and killed him, they cut off his head. Taking it with them, they traveled all night by way of the Arabah. They brought the head of Ish-bosheth to David at Hebron and said to the king, "Here is the head of Ish-bosheth son of Saul, your enemy, who tried to take your life. This day the Lord has avenged my lord the king against Saul and his offspring."

So we have two more confused, deluded guys who are foreigners. Remember, it was an Amalekite that killed King Saul or that claimed to. These guys here, they were sons of Rimmon the Beerothite from the tribe of Benjamin. But these two guys, Rechab and Baanah, what we do know about them is that they were heads of the raiding parties. Perhaps they worked underneath Abner. They decided, "We're going to kill the king. And we're going to do it like cowards. We're going to go into his bedroom when he's taking a nap and stab him while he's sleeping. We're not even willing to take him on one-on-one."

Now, why the king was napping without any kind of a guard, I have no idea. Josephus, the Jewish historian, says there was a woman that was guarding the king and she fell asleep. I don't know if that's true or not, but for whatever reason, they got in. Now they're thinking to themselves, "Look, we're going to help David out." They were just like the people that wanted to help David out by killing Saul. The guy that came to David and said, "I killed Saul," even though it's questionable whether he did or not.

They thought, "We're going to get some brownie points with David. We're going to cut this guy's head off, we're going to bring it to David. Here's the head of your enemy. The Lord has given you this victory." This day, they said, "The Lord has avenged my lord the king against Saul and his evil and his offspring." Remember what I said: two wrongs don't make a right and the ends don't always justify the means. And here's a case where the ends don't justify the means.

They decided, "We're going to help out. We're going to kill this guy and we're going to bring his head to King David and won't he be proud of us? Won't he be happy? He'll probably make us commanders in his army. He'll probably do something for us. Maybe we'll get a reward. Maybe we'll get a good job. We'll have a high position. Maybe we'll be famous or something. We're going to help David out. We're going to help God out. We're not content to let God do it."

And they did the wrong thing. And they had a lot of nerve in doing so. David answered Rechab and his brother Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, "As surely as the Lord lives, who has delivered me out of all trouble, when a man told me Saul is dead and thought he was bringing good news, I seized him and put him to death in Ziklag. That was the reward I gave him for his news. How much more when wicked men have killed an innocent man in his own house and on his own bed? Should I not now demand his blood from your hand and rid the earth of you?"

So David gave an order to his men and they killed them. They cut off their hands and feet and hung the bodies by the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ish-bosheth and buried it in Abner's tomb at Hebron.

David was not impressed, and David had seen his share of heads. He cut off Goliath's head and he paraded that around. So seeing a disembodied head was not something that was unusual to David. It would be unusual to most of us. I've never seen one. Probably I don't think any of you have either. That was not the problem.

The problem was they lifted the hand against the Lord's anointed. David, they thought they were helping David get power from this guy. David didn't want their help or need their help. David was content to wait on God. And they thought, "Well, this guy's your enemy just like his father was the enemy." David never once said Saul was his enemy. David lamented over Saul when he died, wrote a song about him. Saul may have considered David his enemy. David did not consider Saul his enemy. And that same mistake that man made who brought the news about Saul to David in Ziklag, these two guys made the same mistake here.

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 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.