Lessons from David’s Loss

2 Samuel 1:1-27

Recall where we left off – Philistines were going to war against Israel.

A) David was going to march with the Philistines- Princes refused him

B) Back home to Zigzag – Amalakites attacked …….. captive

1) God is using this to get David’s attention – severely backslidden state

C) David turns to the Lord – the Lord says go pursue

1) David does and is Victorious –

D) Now David returned to Ziglag – It is there he hears about Israel’s defeat and Saul and Jonathan’s Death –

That is where 2 Samuel begins

A) 1 and 2 SAMUEL were originally ONE book

A)Their division into 2 books has its origin in the Septuagint

C) In the Septuagint, the books of 1 Sam, 2 Sam, 1 and 2 Kings are called the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Books of the Kingdoms

D) The PLURAL word kingdoms refers to the 2 kingdoms of Israel in the North and Judah in the South

Later, in the 4th century, the Latin Vulgate (Jerome's famous translation of the entire Bible into Latin) continues the division of these books in the same form as the Septuagint, only they are called the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th books of the Kings

The Book of 2nd Samuel is the book of David's 40 year reign

A) The book falls into TWO main divisions

David’s Triumphs in Ch.1-10

David’s troubles in Ch.13-24

B) In the first part we hail David's triumphs.... In the second part we hurt for his failures and troubles

C) David's great sin recorded in CHAPTER 11-12 marks the SAD divide in the book

1) Right in the middle of the book and the middle of his 40 years reign is his great fall!

D) In the 2nd half of the book we see that ALL sin, whether in king or commoner,

1) whether in the godly or godless, ALWAYS brings bitter fruit

E) SIN destroys fruitfulness

However full and beautiful the tree may look, IF rot is eating away at the trunk, THEN the tree will break and fall, or become a leafless and fruitless skeleton

RD V.1-10

As we get into chapter 2, we get just a slightly different account of Saul’s death told by this young man who brought the news to David from 1 Sam 31

A) There are two possibilities:

B)The first possibility is as Saul fell upon his sword, it is possible that he missed his heart.

1) The idea was to set your sword by your heart, then you throw yourself against it.

C) It could be that he missed his heart & was still alive, when this young fellow, the Amalekite came by.

1) Saul asked him to finish the Job!!

D) Now If that is true ironic turn of events

See God had commanded Saul to utterly wipe out the Amalekites.

A) But He left some of them alive, and his failure to obey completely the Word of God cost him his own life.

B) That is, one that he should have wiped out, because of God’s command, ultimately wiped him out.

C) Now if that is what happened it also paints a symbolic picture

 

 

In the Scriptures, that the Amalekites are a type of our flesh life, or our life after the flesh.

A)Now, we live in a body: and living in a body, we have body appetites.

B) That’s the way we were created. That’s biological, and it’s just part of God’s marvelous creation.

C) However, what God did not intend is that man be ruled by his body appetites.

1) God intended that man be ruled by His Spirit in fellowship with God;

D) That’s God’s intent and purpose for me, for you: that He is the Lord.

1) That’s what we mean when we say, "Christ is Lord": it means that He rules over our lives.

E) We are not ruled over by the flesh, but we are ruled over by the Spirit.

Saul is the picture of the man who was ruled by his flesh / who disobeyed God & it ended up killing him

A)I pray we will get the message

B)Disobedience.... Violating God's Word..... came back to kill Saul 25 years later

C)He COMPROMISED on the command of God and it ended up killing him

D) Maybe tonight you are in a compromised situation

"I'm not doing to badly... I know that I can be doing better in some areas of my life, but I'm content with where I'm at"

E) THAT is a dangerous place to be - THAT is where Saul's heart was at after his victory over the Amalakites

In fact, sometimes our victories give us a false sense of security

A) "God must not be too upset with that area of my flesh or else I wouldn't have had such a great victory"

B) "God is blessing, so I must be O.K."

C) NOTE: IF you do NOT put to death your flesh.... Your flesh will kill you

D) Those LITTLE compromises come back to kill you

Ga 6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap.

E) That little bit of lust that is held on to will end up killing you

1) That little bit of covetousness will kill you

 

 

 

Rom 7:5

.5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death

Flesh is aroused or stimulated to break the law

A) Here is the idea – there is something inside of the natural man that automatically wants to do what we are told not to do – No trespassing / Wet paint

B) The law says don’t and the sinful passions protest – why not

C) But Paul goes on to say! Rom 7:6

6 But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.

Here is what Paul is saying – now there is this new passion to be aroused – Spiritual passion

A) The thing that is interesting about these two passions is neither are ever going to be quenched

B)They both are aroused the more that they are fed.

C) You feed the flesh – gets hungrier – but if you feed your spirit it likewise gets hungrier

1) Here is the flip side – You Starve one & feed the other the one that is fed will almost die!

D) The one that is fed will become more and more aroused – more and more stimulated

I have experienced this is my own life – Flesh stimulated watching TV – Moderation

A) See a commercial - flesh is stimulated – that looks interesting ………..

B) Sinful passions of the flesh have been sparked

C) But the opposite is true when I am arousing my spirit –

1) Get into the word – or a good book – allow the Spirit to be stimulated – result is the things of the flesh no longer stir me

So it is possible that this young amalekite – put Saul out of his misery – which creates this interesting picture

A) However, what probably happened is that this young Amalekite was trying to make himself sort of a hero in David’s eyes:

B) knowing David’s problems w/ Saul - He probably figured that David would reward him if he had been the one who had killed Saul.

1) He was definitely looking for a reward.

Boy was He wrong – RD v.11-16

So we find that David rewarded the guy, but not like he was expecting.

A) David executes the Amalekite because he claimed to kill the Lord’s anointed king (Saul)

B) David’s grief over Saul was real; he didn’t put on an act and then secretly honor the man who claimed to kill Saul

C) At this moment we see how David dealt with grief.

1)David teaches us important lessons in DEALING WITH GRIEF

Let's look at the things that David did in DEALING WITH GRIEF

A) The FIRST thing that David does upon receiving the tragic news is tear his clothes v.11

B) To us, this seems like an odd thing to do.

C) But it was a COMMON practice in that culture and in that time

1) It was done often in extreme sorrow or rage – in this case it was sorrow

The SECOND thing that David did was he wept and fasted for the rest of the day – until evening v.12

A) NOTE: RELEASING tears is beneficial – Scientific research

B) God created the tear duct and the capacity of weeping for the expression of emotion

1) Good to release that emotion

C) My Dad first time – reading his Bible

1) Emotional people – Wrong to suppress that

When a loved one dies we mourn

A) because of a life that is cut short

B) We weep for our loss

We weep because we are going to miss that person

C) We weep for what might have been – Jonathan and David

So David mourned all day afterwards 3rd thing he does is he Spontaneously wrote this Beautiful song /

A) ( Song of the Bow ) that Praised Saul & Jonathan for their good qualities.

B) It was the spontaneous over flow of emotion of DAVID’S heart over the death of these two mighty men

Read v.17-27

C) The THIRD thing that David does is compose a eulogy- He created a MEMORIAL

1) Teach this to the kids – Don’t forget them!

D) Good thing to do – Jim Donnelly memorial fund

So David writes this song – where he reflected upon their lives and how he looked at them and thought of them a song that was to be remembered –

A) Recorded here and in the book of Jasher

B) The book of Jashar is also mentioned in Joshua 10:13; it evidently contained a collection of early poetry

1) Jewish History book – Biblical stories

This "Song of the Bow" shows David’s true feelings for Saul and Jonathan: Mighty have fallen 4X

A) He refers to Saul as the beauty of Israel

B) Saul, as we have seen, was ALWAYS after David

BUT, David finds good things to say about him

VERSE 19 - He acknowledges Saul's beauty

VERSE 21 - He acknowledges Saul's unrivaled strength

VERSE 22 - He acknowledges his military might

VERSE 24 - He acknowledges his generosity

C) David was a man that was able to find good even in the man that hated him and wanted to destroy him

1 Cor. 13: 6 Rejoices not in iniquity

D) David truly loved Saul, and thus could NOT bring himself to tear Saul apart for his sins

Know no MAN after the flesh – see the good !

He ALSO mourns for Jonathan, and remembers their deep and committed friendship

The love Jonathan had for David was not merely

expressed in feelings, but in sacrificial actions –

Jonathan voluntarily renounced the throne in favor of David, whom he perceived to be God’s chosen king