Wednesday Night Service 7PM - Absalom Pt 2 - 2 Samuel 15-16

If you would, open up in your Bibles to the book of 2 Samuel, chapter 15. 2 Samuel 15.

Tonight we come to Absalom, part 2. When last we were together, remember, there was an issue within David's family, ultimately springing from the sin that had taken place in his life. There were natural consequences he was having to deal with. And it started off with Absalom's stepbrother, Amnon, and his sister, Tamar. And there was an illicit relationship that took place there.

So Absalom took matters into his own hands and ultimately plotted the murder of his stepbrother, half-brother, Amnon. And then it took a long time for David to bring Absalom back after that. Ultimately he said, I forgive him, but it took him a long time to bring him back. And in that time, some bitterness had developed on the part of David's family. And so now as we come to chapter 15, we see that that bitterness turned into ultimately

a plot to try to take over the kingdom. And so the first thing that we see is Absalom begins to try to win the heart of the people of Israel. And so we start off in chapter 15, verse 1. And it says this. Now it came about after this that Absalom provided for himself a chariot and horses and 50 men as runners before him. Absalom used to rise early in the morning, and he would rise early in the morning, and

stand beside the way to the gate. When any man had a suit to come to the king for judgment, Absalom would call to him and say, from what city are you? And he would say, your servant is from one of the tribes of Israel. And Absalom would say, see, your claims are good and right, but no man listens to you on the part of the king. Moreover, Absalom would say, oh, that one would appoint me judge in the land.

Then every man who has any suit or cause could come to me, and I would give him justice. And when a man came near to prostrate himself before him, he would put out his hand and take hold of him and kiss him. And in this manner, Absalom dealt with all of Israel who came to the king for judgment. So Absalom stole away the hearts of the men of Israel. We've all met somebody like this.

Can we all agree? Somebody who just kind of makes themselves look really, really good in front of everybody. And that's kind of what Absalom does. It started off with he provided himself a chariot. In other words, he kind of gave himself a seat of authority, if you will. A chariot was a pretty important thing at that point in time. He provided himself with his own escalade, if you will.

And he had an entourage of men that went with him, something to really make him look very important. He was trying to build up his importance in the eyes of the people. And so everybody kind of started seeing Absalom and going, well, that's a pretty important guy. And we had learned something last chapter about Absalom, and that's he was a really good looking guy too.

Remember, he had that sweet head of hair that he had to cut every single year. And he was one of the most beautiful guys in the land. Right? Handsome men. I think it called him beautiful. He was a good looking dude. That's just all that there was to it. So then he puts himself in this position of looking important, but then he begins to ingratiate himself to the people.

You can imagine how it went, right? He's kind of hanging out there by the gate. He says, so where are you from? The guy proceeds to tell him where he's from. He goes, man, I bet you have a case to bring to the king, don't you? It's too bad the king's so busy. Isn't it terrible that he won't take the time to listen to the people? Isn't it? Isn't it too bad that he won't really take the time to listen to the people?

Isn't it? He won't really take the time to hear what maybe he would consider the small things. But of course, in your eyes, it's a really big thing, right? Man, if someone would put me in that kind of a position, gosh, I would take time to listen to everybody. And on the outside, he put himself out there as this guy who really pays attention to people, who really loves people, who really cares about people.

The problem was who he was putting himself on on the outside is not who he really was on the inside. Because who he really was on the inside was treacherous. Who he were... Who he really was on the inside was deceptive. Who he really was on the inside was rebellious. And that's what's building in Absalom. And so he's ingratiating himself to the people and continuing to put himself out there as

someone who's really important, somebody who really cares. And he even went so far as that when somebody knew he was the prince, somebody knew he was the son of the king, they would come and they would bow themselves before him. Because remember, he's made himself important. But then he was, no, no, don't do that. Really, I'm just one of you. And he would lift them up and he'd give them a kiss, right?

And again, sounds creepy in our culture, but in their culture, it's like he gave them a really solid handshake and said, I'm just one of you. He really put himself out there as this individual who was a man of the people, right? We just finished political season. You can imagine how this went, right? He was kissing babies and taking names everywhere that he went.

But I tell you, there's a couple of lessons that we learned from this. Number one, you should be aware of people who are always working behind the scenes. Because you have to be careful about people like that. People who are going around behind your back, people who are going around sort of pretending to be something that they're really not, and they're sort of building themselves up.

They're sort of making themselves look good. And you have to be aware of people like that. But second of all, we have to be aware of being people like that. People who are going around behind the scenes and trying to make ourselves look good to everybody else, ignoring who we really are and ignoring what's really going on on the inside of us. I think one of the best things we can do is constantly ask God to show us what our motives

really are. Why am I doing the things that I'm doing? Am I doing this because this is genuinely who I am? Or am I doing this because I want people to praise me? Am I doing this because I really care about individuals? Or am I doing this because I care about their opinions? And it reminds me of what Jesus has to say about us, and that's that we should let our

yes be yes and our no be no. In other words, we should be... We should be people of genuine character. We should be people who are genuine in everything that we do. And listen, the Bible tells us that the heart of man is deceitful. The heart of man is sinful, and it's wicked. And sometimes we don't even always know the motives that we have behind things, which

is why God's Word is so important in our lives, because it tells us that the Word of God is living and active. It's sharper than any two-edged sword. And it's able to pierce, even to cut between the bone and the marrow. In other words, it cuts past all of the pretend stuff that we put out there, and it gets down to the real person of who we are. Because what God wants us to be is He wants us to be sincere.

He wants us to be genuine articles. And that's something that we always have to fight for as people, to be who we are in private exactly the way that we are in public. because who you are in private is who you really are. Who you are in public is who you want people to think you are. And being the same, that's what it means to be genuine. That's what it means to be sincere

is that I just am who I am no matter who's around and no matter what the opinions of people are. But Absalom puts himself in this position where he begins to win the hearts of the people. And you can imagine how this goes, right? Slowly but surely, the talk of Absalom is going around the area, right? Gosh, you know that Absalom, he was gone for quite a while, wasn't he?

Man, ever since he's been back, that guy has been on it. I mean, he cares about us. Gosh, I kind of wish David cared about us as much as he does. You ever think to yourself, you kind of wish Absalom was king? Maybe he's gonna be the next king. Maybe he's gonna be the next guy that'll take over. I can't wait for that to happen. You can imagine how those conversations went, right?

Well, Absalom knows that that's what's going on. He's paying attention to it because it says he, in verse six, stole away the hearts of the men of Israel. Well, now we see the conspiracy begin to build. It says in verse seven, now it came about at the end of 40 years that Absalom said to the king, please let me go and pay my vow, which I have vowed to the Lord in Hebron.

For your servant vowed a vow while I was living at Gesher in Aram, saying, if the Lord shall indeed bring me back to Jerusalem, then I will serve the Lord. The king said to him, go in peace. And so he arose and he went to Hebron. But Absalom sent spies throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, as soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then you shall say, Absalom is king in Hebron.

Then 200 men went about with Absalom from Jerusalem who were invited and went, take note of this word here, innocently, and they did not know anything. And Absalom sent for Ahithophel, the Gilead, the Gileadite, David's counselor from his city, Gilo, while he was offering the sacrifices and the conspiracy was strong for the people increased continually with Absalom. Now, Absalom does what most people do in this situation and he cloaks his deception as something really good. He cloaks what he's about to do in something very godly.

Have you ever noticed that people like to do that? People like to act like what they're about to do is really righteous and holy. When really what they're about to do is incredibly rebellious and it's so easy for us to justify these things. There's a little bit of an interesting copyist, perhaps error in there when it says at the end of 40 years, because I don't even think David reigned a full 40 years.

So that's kind of an interesting, it probably should be four years, at the end of four years, four years after Absalom had come back. And even some of your translations, if you're in the NIV, maybe even the ESV, both say after four years is how long it took. He says, I made a vow to the Lord. The vow that I made to the Lord is that I would go to Hebron and I would make a sacrifice to him there if he would bring me back to Jerusalem.

Of course, David doesn't think anything about it. David doesn't pay attention. And so he says, go, go ahead and do this. Now I do have one question at this point in time. Had David not heard at all what Absalom was doing? Had he not paid attention at all to what was taking place? And the only answer I can give is, he must not have. He must not have been paying attention.

And to the fact that every day he's hanging out by the city gate, that every day he's telling everybody how much he cares about them, that every day he's kissing babies and taking names and sort of putting himself in a position, riding around in a chariot with 50 dudes running in front of him, right? Clearly he's not paying attention to what's going on. And so David says, sure, go ahead and go to Hebron. Now Hebron's an interesting choice for Absalom to make.

And it's an interesting choice because originally when David became king, Hebron was the capital of Israel. David moved the capital from Hebron to Jerusalem. So Absalom knew, because he was a calculated individual, he knew that if he went back to Hebron and declared himself king, the people of Hebron would be more likely to be friendly towards him because he was reestablishing that capital, perhaps, in Hebron. Maybe they were a little bit angry with David that he had moved it.

And so he goes up there and he says, here's what you need to know. When you hear the trumpet sound, go all throughout the land, Israel, and tell them that Absalom is the king. Now, about 200 guys came with him innocently, not really knowing what was going on, but there was one individual that came with him who was not innocent at all. Did you take note of his name?

His name was Ahithophel. And Ahithophel was David's most trusted counselor. We'll find out at the end of chapter 16 that there weren't very many men in all of the world at that point in time that were as wise as Ahithophel. It was as if David was the king. It was as if David was the king. It was as if David was the king. It was as if he spoke the words of God

because he was so wise and shrewd in the way that he handled everything. And Ahithophel, David's most trusted counselor, finds himself aligning with Absalom, David's son. And you should ask yourself, why would David's most trusted counselor, somebody who you would think would stick with David, finds himself defecting from David to align with a rebellion led by Absalom? Well, I'm gonna tell you, there's one reason and one reason only.

And that's that Ahithophel had a granddaughter. And Ahithophel's granddaughter's name was Bathsheba. And all of that sin that took place with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah led Ahithophel to plot and plan the entire time how he could eventually get back at David. And now here he is. He finally has his opportunity. If you're somebody who likes to, write in your Bible,

if it's not already in the margin of your Bible, you might write Psalm 55 in the margin of your Bible because Psalm 55 was pinned because of Ahithophel leaving David and going with his son Absalom. It's kind of a fascinating read to go back and look at at some point in time. But the conspiracy, it says, was very strong. And so David finds himself in a really precarious position because the kingdom is being taken from him without him even noticing it.

And so what we're going, what we're going to see next is we're going to see David have to flee Jerusalem. It says in verse 13, Then a messenger came to David, saying, The hearts of the men of Israel are with Absalom. And David said to all his servants who were with him at Jerusalem, Arise and let us flee, for otherwise none of us will escape from Absalom. Go in haste, or he will overtake us quickly.

And bring down calamity on us and strike the city with the edge of the sword. And the king's servants said to the king, Behold, your servants are ready to do whatever my lord, the king, chooses. Now, after the study last week, somebody came up to me and they said, I know what happens in the next chapter. Why does David flee Jerusalem instead of sticking around to fight against Absalom?

That's the part of this story that's always bothered me the most. And it is, it's really hard to understand. Because when you read this, you go, okay, David is arguably the best warrior Israel has ever seen, right? Arguably one of the best warriors in the world at that point in time because of some of the men that he's defeated. And he has the mighty men that are with him.

He has some of the guys that are arguably the best warriors alongside him in all of the known region at that point in time. And he's going against a son who's never seen war, who's never had to deal with these things before, who's not some military commander, some military leader. You would think that if anybody could earn a victory at this point in time, it would be David and all of his men. And yet, when you read this verse, David says to his servants, arise and let us flee, for otherwise none of us will escape from Absalom.

You find yourself going, that doesn't seem like what a warrior would say. That doesn't seem like what a warrior would say. That doesn't seem like what a warrior would say. That doesn't seem like what a warrior would say. That doesn't seem like what a warrior would do. And I really have kind of questioned myself this week, why? Why did David do this? Well, I think there's a handful of reasons

why David chooses to run. And I think that we're gonna see them throughout here, but let me give you what I think are some of the handful of reasons why David decided that it was time for him to go. Number one, I think David wanted to protect Jerusalem. Look at what it says right here. Middle of verse 14. It says, go in haste, or he will overtake us quickly.

Listen. And bring down calamity on us and strike the city with the edge of the sword. See, I think David wanted to protect and preserve the city that he was in charge of. I think David cared more about the people than he did about his honor. I think he cared more about the people than he did about his throne. Ultimately, even in the midst of him not really being at the top of his game as the king,

having stumbled worse than you could have ever imagined, in his heart, he was still a shepherd. In his heart, he still cared about people. And I think because of his love for his city and because of his love for his people, he made a decision to flee instead of staying there where he knew he probably could have fought and probably could have won. I think the second reason why David decides to flee is because David trusted God.

David ultimately knew that God was going to take care of him or God would allow him to take care of him. He was going to allow him to be killed. And we'll kind of see that as we go along. But ultimately, he trusted God and put his life in the hands of God and said, if God wants me to live, then I'm going to live. And if God wants me to die, then it's probably because I deserve it.

But ultimately, he trusted himself to God. And so he said, I'm not going to stick around and fight. I'm going to flee and let God do what God wants to do. In this way, I feel like David goes back to being the man that he was when he was running from Saul. Have you ever noticed that when you fall into things that you shouldn't do, you're not going to do? You're not going to do what you shouldn't do.

You're not going to do what you shouldn't do. You shouldn't be a part of. And you get back to really walking with the Lord again. You realize that sometimes the best place for you to be was in the place where you were completely broken and dependent upon God. And you find yourself almost going back to that same place. Like, hey, the best spot that I can be right now

is just completely trusting God every day and saying, Lord, my life's just in your hands. If I live, it's because of you. If I die, it's because of you. I'm just going to trust you. And I'm not going to trust you. I'm not going to trust you. I'm not going to trust you. I'm not going to trust you. I'm not going to trust you. I'm not going to fight for my rights.

I'm not going to try to fight for my life. I'm going to put myself in your hands and let you be in charge. I think David trusted God. Number three, I think David ultimately knew that it was God who would fight his battles. It was God that would fight his battles. It's a part of that trusting, but he knew that he could stick around and defend himself or he could allow God to defend him.

And if he allowed God to defend him, then he would know that he was justified in whatever took place as opposed to him defending himself and then having to end it. David didn't answer any of the questions that would come up. Again, he goes back to the same mentality that he had when he fled from Saul. Remember how many times Saul was right there and he could have killed him?

How many times Saul was right there and he could have taken his life and been done with all of the struggle, but he didn't? Instead, he said, I'm going to let God fight the battle and then there's no blood on my hands. I think the next reason is because, and I think this is the biggest reason, David was just simply broken. David was broken before the Lord. And as hard as it was for him to be in that place,

as hard as it was for him to be in that spot of being broken, he knew that the safest place for him to be was broken and humbled before the Lord. I think that's part of the reason why he wrote in the Psalms that the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit and a broken and a conjured spirit. He tried hard. And that's who he was before the Lord. He was ultimately broken and humbled.

And you know his men had a hard time with that, but I think he found great peace in that. And so he finds himself in this place before God. And so rather than stick around to fight, he decides it's time for him to flee. And I want you to notice what his king's servants say. They're like, behold, your servants are ready to do whatever my Lord the King, chooses.

And I think that that's a really cool place for his servants to be. And I think that there's a really good lesson for us there. Because I think David's servants were ready to go and fight to the death for him if he would have said, let's stick around and fight. But they also knew that if he said it's time to go, that they were gonna go. I think that's a really good lesson for us.

Because remember, David's also a picture for us of Jesus in our lives. He's a picture for us of submission to the King. And as God's servant, which is who we really are, the best place we can be is to say, whatever you decide to do, we will go. We will do. If you want me to fight, I'll fight. If you want me to flee, I'll flee. I'm just gonna submit myself to the authority of the King.

And that's the safest place for us to be as the servants of God. And so that's what they do. They decide to flee. And so there's kind of a long journey that we're gonna see take place. It says, verse 16, So the king went out and all his household, and he left behind ten concubines to keep the house. And the king went out and all the people with him, and they stopped at the last house.

And all his servants passed on beside him, all the Cherethites, all the Pelethites, and all the Gittites. Six hundred men who had come with him from Gath passed on before the king. The king said to Ittai the Gittite, Why will you go with us? Return and remain with the king, for you are a foreigner, and also an exile. Return to your own place. You came only yesterday,

and shall I today make you wander with us while I go where I will? Return and take back your brothers. Mercy and truth be with you. But Ittai answered the king and said, As the Lord lives, and as my lord the king lives, surely wherever my lord the king may be, whether for death or for life, there also your servant will be. Can you imagine what this was like for David

at this point in time? There was a group of men who were actually Philistines. That's who these guys are. But they had defected at some point in time to David, and they had decided that they were going to follow him. They decided they were going to commit themselves to him. And here he is fleeing for his life, and he says, Hey, you guys just defected to me.

I don't want to make you fight my battle. I don't want to make you flee with me. I don't even know what comes next for me. Why don't you guys just go back? Why don't you go back to where you came from, and don't worry about me anymore. They say, No. We're with you. We're with you 100%. Wherever you go, we're going to go. And can you imagine how good that was for David

at that point in time? To know that he was surrounded by people, even though the hearts of the men of Israel had found themselves following after Absalom, had rebelled against him, there was still a remnant who said, We will follow you. There was still a remnant who said, We will continue to be with you, and we are on your side 100%. I've said it before, and I'll keep saying it.

You need friends like that in your life. I need friends like that in my life. People that no matter what happens, they're with you. People that no matter what goes on, they're right beside you. And they say, I don't care if good things are going on, or bad things are going on, or ugly things are going on. I'm not leaving you alone because you're my friend. I'm not leaving you alone because I care about you.

We need those people in our lives. We need those people who will be there no matter what. And maybe you need to be one of those people, for someone else. And so they say, We're with you. And so David said, Go and pass over. So he passed over with all his men, and the little ones were with him. And while all the country was weeping with a loud voice, all the people passed over.

The king also passed over before the brook Kidron, and all the people passed over toward the way of the wilderness. Now behold, Zadok also came, and the Levites with him, carrying the ark of the covenant of God. And they set down the ark of God, and Abiathar came up, and all the people had finished passing from the city. The king said to Zadok, Return the ark of God to the city.

If I find favor in the sight of the Lord, he will bring me back again, and he will show me both it and its habitation. But if he should say thus, I have no delight in you. Behold, here I am. Let him do to me as seems good to him. The king also said to Zadok the priest, Are you not a seer? Return to the city in peace. Your two sons with you, your son Ahimaaz and Jonathan,

the son of Abel, the son of Abiathar. See, I'm going to wait at the fords of the wilderness until word comes from you to inform me. Therefore, Zadok and Abiathar returned the ark of God to Jerusalem, and remained there. It's a good reminder that David trusted God here. The ark of the covenant was coming with him and some of the priesthood, and he said, No. This is me to run.

The ark of the covenant needs to stay in the temple. The ark of the covenant needs to stay in Jerusalem. And you guys need to stay there too. I trust God. I trust God. I trust God. I trust God. If He finds favor in me, I'll be back. And if He doesn't, then I won't be. But at the end of the day, I trust God. And I trust His will in my life. But you and the priests, you go back.

And if there's a word that you need to bring to me, you can send it to me. So he continues on as they return with the ark to Jerusalem. It says, verse 30, And David went up the ascent of the Mount of Olives, and he wept as he went. And his head was covered, and he walked barefoot. And all the people who were with him each covered his head and went up weeping as they went.

Someone told David, saying, Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom. And David said, O Lord, I pray, make the counsel of Ahithophel foolish. Again, I'll remind you of two things. Number one, we see the brokenness of David. I just can't imagine what it must be like to be in the place where you would be able to see David. You were the king of all the land of Israel,

the most loved man in the entire nation. And now you find yourself running for your life because your son has decided to take over, because your son has formed a coup against you. And as he flees barefoot through the wilderness, going up the Mount of Olives, did you take note of what he was doing? He was weeping as he went. You know why? Because he's broken.

I think at the end of the day, he knew he only had himself to blame for the position he landed himself in. And the only thing that he could do is just weep before the Lord because he knew that this was what God was ultimately doing in him to make him who God wanted him to be. That these were consequences he brought on himself. And as much as it hurt, he had to accept the consequences from God as much as he accepted the grace from God.

And so he wept as he went. And of course, they told him, David, we got bad news for you, man. Like if you thought it was bad that Absalom turned against you, Ahithophel's with him. So David finds himself trusting God. He knows what he said. He said, oh Lord, let his counsel be turned against him. You're the only one that can save me now because you're the only one I can trust in

because that's a really good counselor. And so Lord turned his counsel against him. In verse 32, it says, it happened as David was coming to the summit where God was worshiped. That behold, Hushai the Archite met him with his coat torn and dust on his head. And David said, if you pass over with me, then you will be a burden to me. But if you return to the city and say to Absalom,

I will be your servant, O king, as I have been your father's servant in time past. So I will now be your servant. Then you can thwart the counsel of Ahithophel for me. Or not Zadok and Abiathar the priests with you there. So it shall be that whatever you hear from the king's house, you shall report to Zadok and Abiathar. Behold, their two sons are with them, Ahimeaz,

Zadok's son and Jonathan Abiathar's son. And by them you shall send me everything that you hear. So Hushai, David's friend, came into the city and Absalom came into Jerusalem. Of course, there was one other counselor who was also a very wise individual, this Hushai. And he came to David and David said, you know what, there's a better place for you to be right now.

I need you to be my spy inside of Jerusalem. I need you to be my spy inside of Jerusalem. I need you to do everything that you can to turn the counsel of Ahithophel against him. And if you hear anything that I need to know, you send it by the word of the priest's sons and they'll come and let me know. But I need you to be there with them. And so that's what he does.

He sends him back. And so this scene is created, but the fleeing is not done yet because as we come to chapter 16, we're gonna come across two more incidences that take place. It says, now when David had passed a little beyond the summit, behold, Zeba, the servant of Mephibosheth met him with a couple of saddled donkeys and on them were 200 loaves of bread, 100 clusters of raisins, 100 summer fruits and a jug of wine. The king said to Zeba, why do you have these?

And Zeba said, the donkeys are for the, yes, the donkeys are for the kings to ride and the bread and the summer fruit are for the young men to eat. The wine for whoever is faint in the wilderness to drink. The king said, and where's your master's son? And Zeba said to the king, behold, he's staying in Jerusalem. For he said, today, the house of Israel will restore the kingdom of my father to me.

So the king said to Zeba, behold, all that belongs to Mephibosheth is yours. And Zeba said, I prostrate myself. Let me find favor in your sight. Oh, my Lord, the king. Now, if you remember the story of Mephibosheth, he was the one who was the lame son of Jonathan. And David said, is there anyone left at the house of Jonathan that I can show kindness to in order to keep the promise

that I made to my really good friend? And they said, yeah, there's this kid named Mephibosheth. So he brought him into his house, gave him lands that somebody farmed for him, this guy named Zeba. He said, you'll eat at my table every single day. Well, as he's fleeing, Zeba, Mephibosheth's servant, brings him this wonderful gift that on the onset looks like it's just an incredibly friendly thing

that he's doing for him. And David said, this is a wonderful gift. But where's Mephibosheth? He says, that guy, he's hanging out in Jerusalem right now. Matter of fact, he's throwing a little party saying, all of my father's things are going to be restored to me. And can you imagine the broken heart of David at this point? Adding insult to injury, who he thought was a man

that he had shown so much kindness to, now appears to have turned against him just like that. And if you don't read the rest of the story, you find yourself going, why would that guy be that way? Well, spoiler alert, David's going to come back into the city. And when he comes back into the city, Mephibosheth is going to be there. And he hasn't shaved. He hasn't trimmed his nails.

He just looks completely disheveled. And David says, where were you? He said, Zeba ran off with some things. And I think he told you lies about me. I've been waiting for you here. Because what Zeba did is ultimately, he lied to David about what was going on because he can't believe it. And again, he wanted to ingratiate himself to the king. He saw an opportunity and he took it.

An opportunity for him to be lifted up in the eyes of the king. And he took that opportunity. Isn't it terrible when people take the opportunity to earn something for themselves on the back of something bad that happened to someone else? But that's what Zeba does here. And it ultimately hurts David even deeper. Well, there's one more scene that we see. It says, when King David came to Bahurim,

behold, there came out from there a man of the family of Saul whose name was Shimei, the son of Gerah. He came out cursing continually as he came. And he threw stones at David and at all the servants of King David. And all the people and all the mighty men were at his right hand and at his left. Thus, Shimei said when he cursed, Get out, get out, you man of bloodshed and you worthless fellow.

The Lord has returned upon you. All the bloodshed of the house of Saul in whose place you have reigned. And the Lord has given the kingdom into the hand of your son Absalom. And behold, you are taken in your own evil for you are a man of bloodshed. Now, this is the one scene in this that I always find just a little bit funny. Okay, I know it's sad and we'll get to the tragic part in just a moment.

But I picture everything in a Looney Tunes cartoon scene, right? And so this guy comes out and he's like stomping around and he's like throwing rocks and he's kicking dirt. And I picture, I picture Tommy Lasorda. That's actually who I picture at this point in time. Do you guys remember the old baseball manager for the LA Dodgers, Tommy Lasorda? And there's this famous fight that he gets into

with one of the umpires and he stands here like this and he's just, you know, just absolutely giving it to the umpire and he's kicking dirt on him and stuff like that. That's absolutely what I picture at this point in time, right? I picture a Jewish version of Tommy Lasorda. I don't exactly know what that name would be at that point in time. Kicking dirt and throwing rocks at David.

And David just sort of taking it, right? He's just like, kind of annoyed by the whole thing. But he's the son of Saul. He's one of Saul's descendants that David had left alive because David and his consideration, David and his compassion and mercy decided not to kill off all of the family members of Saul. And he comes out in his bitterness and he comes out in his anger.

He says, finally, you get what's coming to you. Finally, all of the bloodshed of the house of Saul is turned back on your head. And David, we're going to find, just kind of takes it. I want you to notice what happens. It says, verse 9, See, I don't think Absalom would have been a problem for these guys. I think that they would have fought hard. But the king said,

What have I to do with you, O sons of Zeruiah? If he curses, and if the Lord has told him, curse David, then who shall say, why have you done so? David said to Abishai and all his servants, Behold, my son who came from me seeks my life. How much more now this Benjamite? Let him alone and let him curse. For the Lord has told him. Perhaps the Lord will look on my affliction

and return good to me instead of cursing this day. I can't imagine being one of David's men at this point in time, right? Abishai looks at him and he's like, Can I just cut his head off? It's just going to make everything a lot happier. We won't have to listen to Tommy Lasorda anymore. There'll be no more kicking of dirt and throwing of rocks. This guy's obnoxious.

And David goes, What are you doing? Don't you understand the gravity of what's happening here? And David says, Maybe God's told him to do this. You talk about a guy that's broken. You talk about a guy that is humbled. Because you know why? I think he's saying, You know what's in the back of his mind? While he doesn't have blood on his hands from the house of Saul,

he does have blood on his hands. And he says, Maybe this is God. Maybe God's the one who told him to do this. And you know what? If God has mercy on me, I'll be back. But if not, my life's in God's hands. So who am I to tell this guy to stop? My own son wants to kill me. How much more, the son of Saul? I mean, that's just a broken place, right? Where he has fully, completely surrendered to whatever God has for him.

It says, So David and his men went on the way. And Shimei went along on the hillside, parallel with him. And as he went, he cursed and cast stones and threw dust at him. And then he threw his ball. I added that last part. And then the king and all the people who were with him arrived, weary, and he refreshed himself there. And so David flees from Jerusalem.

He and all of his men have gone into the wilderness, a place that David knew all too well, a place that David was all too familiar with. And he finds himself camped out there, where hopefully they can get a little bit of rest, regroup, and figure out what comes next. Meanwhile, Absalom is establishing himself as the king. It says, Then Absalom and all the people, the men of Israel, entered Jerusalem and Ahithophel with him.

Now it came about when Hushai the Archite, David's friend, came to Absalom that Hushai said to Absalom, Long live the king, long live the king. And Absalom said, Is this your loyalty to your friend? Why did you not go with your friend? Then Hushai said to Absalom, No, for whom the Lord, this people, and all the men of Israel have chosen, his I will be, and with him I will remain.

Besides, whom should I serve? Should I not serve in the presence of his son, as I have served in your father's presence? So I will be in your presence. And then Absalom said to Ahithophel, Give me your advice. What shall we do? And Ahithophel said to Absalom, Go into your father's concubines, whom he has left, to keep the house. And then all Israel will hear

that you have made yourself odious to your father. The hands of all who are with you will also be strengthened. So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, and Absalom went into his father's concubines in the sight of all Israel. And the advice of Ahithophel, which he gave in those days, was as if one inquired of God. So was all the advice of Ahithophel regarded by both David and Absalom.

So Absalom comes into Jerusalem, and Ahithophel addresses himself as king. And one of the first people he meets when he gets to Jerusalem is Hushai. He did exactly what David told him to. He shows up and he says, Long live the king. And he says, What are you doing here? Now, luckily, in his hubris, he doesn't notice that this guy is probably here for his evil.

But in his hubris, he allows him to stay. And he says, Oh, if I served your father, I'm going to serve you. You're the one who the Lord has chosen. You're the one who the people has chosen. You're who I'm going to serve. And so, Absalom says, Absalom accepts him in. And the first thing Absalom does is he looks at Ahithophel and he says, Ahithophel, what should I do?

What should I do to really establish myself as king? And Ahithophel gives him an interesting piece of advice that is both wise in the world's eyes, but also fits the bitterness that Ahithophel has. He says, You know what you should do? You should go and you should lay with all of your father's concubines in the sight of all of the nation of Israel. And that will tell everybody that not only have you made yourself odious

in the eyes of the king, but it will establish your authority as king. Because that was what kings did at that point in time, is if they took over another kingdom, they took that former king's wives for their own. And so what did they do? They set up a tent on the rooftop, and that's exactly where the immorality took place. Now, from the world's perspective,

it was wisdom because it established him as king. But it also plays into Ahithophel's bitterness. Because remember, David violated his granddaughter. And he knew that this was one of the best ways to get back at David for what he had done to his granddaughter. But we're also reminded of the words of God in 2 Samuel chapter 12, when God handed down the consequences to David.

He said, What you did was in private, but when it happens to you, it will be before the eyes of all of Israel. And that's what takes place. So Absalom establishes himself as king. But the bitterness of Ahithophel causes immorality to take place to a whole new level within the nation of Israel. And I was really struck by something as I was reading this. I thought, really, these two chapters,

this story is a long trail of bitterness. Have you noticed that? So the first person that we have is we have Absalom. Absalom was bitter with his father because it took forever for him to get back and it took forever for David to forgive him. It took forever for David to bring him back and it took forever for David to restore him. Remember, there was years that went by

where David would have nothing to do with Absalom because of what Absalom had done to Amnon. And in that time, there was a bitterness that built up. And I believe in that time is when he was establishing his plan for taking over the kingdom from his father. And because of the bitterness that had built up in Absalom, a kingdom was being destroyed. But the second person that I see bitterness building up in

is I see bitterness in Shimei because he had lived all of those years as one of Saul's descendants, bitter about the fact that Saul was no longer king. David was now the king. He was no longer in some sort of a position of authority because David had been put into the position of authority. And rather than accepting what God had done, rather than accepting God's word and God's anointed, he lived in bitterness the entire time.

And that bitterness spilled over into hatred and into disrespect of the king as the king went by. And you see him bitterly yelling and throwing rocks and kicking dirt and cursing David as he went. But the greatest story of bitterness is the story of Ahithophel because from the time that David had committed his sin with Bathsheba, I believe Ahithophel was planning for when he could get his revenge on David. And while I don't think he was the one that established Absalom and his plan, he definitely saw the opportunity and he was completely willing to seize the opportunity because rather than offering the same forgiveness that God did for David and what he had done, he instead lived in bitterness and was willing to take revenge upon David.

And that long trail of bitterness led to the place where David was right then. It's amazing how sin continues to compound upon itself. And there's only one thing that can change it. There is only one thing that can end that trail of bitterness and that's the grace of God. Because in the midst of all of this we are reminded that David and Bathsheba that helped cause all of this issue

were the very ones who would produce a line that would ultimately bring about Jesus. Because God takes the worst of situations and when his grace through Jesus is applied to it he turns it into something beautiful because that's what God's in the business of doing. He's in the business of redeeming the bad and turning it into something really, really beautiful. So hold on to that as we continue to go through this story of David and Absalom.

Amen. Father we come to you now and Lord I thank you for the time that we have in your word. Lord I thank you that you give us the good, the bad and the ugly and that we get to learn from it. And so Lord keep our hearts sincere before you. Keep our hearts genuine with other people. And Lord may your grace continue to flow through us. And Father we just pray these things in Jesus name.

Amen. Be blessed.