Good Christadelphian Talks Extended Bible Class

John Martin - Class 6: Against Thee, Thee Only Have I Sinned

December 1, 2021 1h 13m

Class 1 from this series was used for GCT Episode 164.

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Transcript 187 sections, automatically transcribed

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

0:00
My dear brethren and sisters and young people, in our last consideration of King David, we saw him come to Hebron, a place, of course, the name of which means fellowship. And we saw him there begin his grand attempt to bring the nation together unitedly in fellowship one with the other. And we saw Abner, Saul's uncle, the son of Ner, go to Manahem, that he might continue the division that was in Israel.
0:35
And Manahem, of course, means the two camps. And the names of those places was an index to the purpose of both David and Abner. David wanting nothing more or less than fellowship on the basis of truth, and Abner determined to keep the nation in two camps. And if you think, brethren and sisters, that there's nothing in the meaning of those names, you wait.
1:01
Well, it's not the last time we're going to hear of the names of Hebron and Manahem in relation to one another. When we hear of them again, it's going to amaze you. But for the moment, we're looking at David now in Hebron. We saw, did we not, brethren and sisters, the way he conducted himself there, and that after being king there for seven years or more, we had the incident of when Ish-bosheth, the man of shame, was murdered.
1:27
The puppet king of Abner. And we saw how David reacted to the words of Rechab and Baanah, who came to him thinking that because they had murdered Ish-bosheth, that David would reward them. And we saw, didn't we not, brethren and sisters, how David had a single mind. He was not a politician. He was a spiritual man.
1:48
And because he was a spiritual man, despite the fact that what these two Beersites, Gibeonites, had done, despite the fact that it would have been to his political advantage, he cut off the hands that shed innocent blood, and the feet that were swift to run into mischief, and he hung them up over a public place in Hebron, that all who saw that might know how he was going to act in all circumstances of life, with friend or enemy.
2:16
Whenever they crossed the truth, they crossed David. And he showed, brethren and sisters, once and for all, not only to Judah, but to all Israel, that he was a man of supreme honesty and integrity. And that opened the floodgates for the other tribes, the ten tribes, to pour over the borders of Judah, and to come to David with one accord, and to make him king.
2:39
And we read, did we not, in that first of Chronicles chapter 12, of the heartwarming story of how the men of Israel, sick to death of Saul's kingdom, sick to death of the way that the kingdom had been allowed to run down in the hands of a man like Doeg the Edomite, of Abner the son of Ner, and of others like them, who let that nation run down because of personal ambitions and hatred.
3:02
Sick to death of that, they poured over the borders and came to David with a perfect heart, with one heart, the record says. They subscribed their names to David, and gave him their allegiance on the basis of the truth of God. And they provided victuals, one for each other, the tribes from the north bringing victuals, and the Judah providing a feast for them, and so there was joy in Israel, fellowship at last, because the nation had what they'd been lacking for 40 years.
3:30
A good leader. They'd been lacking that for 40 years. And now they had him. And when David, of course, was put in that position, we saw, brethren and sisters, that he was a man who wanted to sweep away all barriers to fellowship, to take away any hindrances between brethren. And rather than stay in Hebron and be king over all Israel there, he decided for political, as well as for spiritual reasons, that he would take the city of Jebus, and he would reign over all Israel from that city.
4:02
Two-thirds of that city were in Benjamin, and the other third lay in the tribe of Judah. And he could not have picked a better place, because the two rival houses were the house of David, Judah, the house of Saul, Benjamin. And there was inveterate hate between the two. And so David thought, on that occasion, no doubt, that if he was to go to Jebus and take that city and reign from that city, he would alleviate some of the problems.
4:26
And he did. And he took the city of Jebus. And we pointed out, did we not, that Jebus literally means trodden down. And Jerusalem was trodden down of the Gentiles until the days of David, king of Israel. And for the first time, Jebus, the city of Jerusalem, came into the hands of the children of Israel completely.
4:49
It had been conquered before, part of it, by Joshua. They lost it again. But now for the first time, the whole of the site of Jebus became into the hands of the children of Israel. And he was able to seize that kingdom, or that city, because of the courage of that man of supreme courage, Joab.
5:08
And matching that courage was a ruthlessness. And a courage that was absolutely merciless to people. And yet it was through the superlative courage of Joab that the city fell. And no doubt David, as I pointed out, would have been somewhat disappointed that a man like Joab should have earned the right to be captain of his host.
5:33
For Joab and David, as I've said, and I'll say again, were completely incompatible, one with each other. Because as I pointed out, there was fundamentally a difference between them. David was soft, and Joab was hard. And they never could see eye to eye on that score. And yet it was the brave Joab who took the city of Jerusalem.
5:52
And so he left David in that blaze of triumph and glory. And this was going to continue, brothers and sisters, a march of glory. He was going to go to greater and greater things. So the record says of him, David grew on and on. And Yahweh was with him. And tonight we're going to see a lot of that growth.
6:10
A lot of that growth where David grew on and on. But you see, when he came to the kingdom and all Israel had crowned him king, there was a nation to the west of him who immediately noticed this. And in the second of Samuel, chapter 5, we read in verse 17. But when the Philistines heard that they had anointed David king over Israel, all the Philistines came up to seek David.
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Now, brethren and sisters, we've pointed out before that whilst we, of course, have got no affinity with the Philistines, and every time we use that term, we almost say it with contempt, like Israel did, those uncircumcised, yet one thing can never be doubted, and that is this, that the Philistines were incredibly brave.
7:03
They were brave, there's no doubt about that. Not only were they brave, but they were never a people who were prepared to rest upon their defences. They were forever on the attack. And they are an example in that record, and as I pointed out, Paul quotes their example, that when the Philistines went and defeated Israel and Aphek and took away the ark of God from them, they said, quit yourselves like men, be strong ye Philistines.
7:26
And Paul quoted that in the 1 Corinthians 16, verse 3, for the Christians to emulate that example. Not of false worship, not of the immoral and evil ways of the Philistines, but there was no question about the bravery of the Philistines. And when the Philistines heard that David was crowned king over all Israel, that was a colossal threat to the coastal kingdom of the Philistines.
7:51
For behind them was the Mediterranean and nothing else. And the Philistines knew that as long as they were on that plain and there was a powerful kingdom up here in the hills, they had no hope. Because once that kingdom grew powerful enough, they were decidedly had the advantage over the coastal plain because it was a straight downhill run.
8:12
Whereas the Philistines had nothing behind them but the Mediterranean. And so they moved immediately into the central hills that they might come to seek David. And that of course in those days was a very brave thing to do because David's renown was everywhere. Now we read something very strange at the end of that 17th verse.
8:32
It says that when David heard of it, he went down to the hold. Now the hold here in question is the cave of Adullam. We know that not simply because the cave of Adullam is called the hold, but because of the companion record in the book of Chronicles we're told he went to the cave of Adullam.
8:50
Now brethren and sisters, it would seem then that the Philistines having come from the west, we learn from the book of Chronicles, that they took the city of Bethlehem. And if David went to the cave of Adullam which was, shall we say, south west of Bethlehem, it would seem to me that the Philistine attack took place before David took the city of Jebus because it would seem unreasonable to me that if the Philistines came up the vale of Elah or Sorek here and came into Bethlehem that if David was already in the city of Jebus which was a commanding position as far as Bethlehem was concerned, it would seem rather incredible for him to vacate that and to go to the cave of Adullam.
9:33
So I'm just suggesting here that I believe that when they first crowned him king over all Israel in Hebron, it was at that precise moment that the Philistines moved straight in and they didn't wait for him to go to Jerusalem. And the record in Samuel as well as in Chronicles is not in chronological order.
9:50
On the other hand, of course, it is feasible that at this time the city of Jebus was only a very small city and Joab was the man who fortified it and he would not have had time to fortify it and it's feasible to think that David may have, for the sake of strategic reasons, gone to the cave of Adullam.
10:07
But that I believe is hard to accept. So I think that the attack of the Philistines came before David took the city of Jebus. Be that as it may, it doesn't really matter. All we know is this, that in the 80s verse we read the Philistines also came and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim or the valley of the giants.
10:28
Now the valley of the giants, brethren and sisters, was a valley which was just southwest of Jerusalem and it ran for about three miles and practically joined the city of Jerusalem with Bethlehem. The long valley winding its way down through the Judean hills southwest of the city of Jerusalem and it's called the valley of the giants.
10:51
So named because the Canaanites occupied it and held it for many years even when Joshua was in the land. And it was a renowned place, the valley of the giants and it was into the valley of the giants that the Philistines came. And it was on this occasion that they occupied the city of Bethlehem.
11:08
And you've all heard the story of the three courageous men of David who broke through the ranks of the Philistines and brought him a glass of water from the city of Bethlehem merely because the king expressed a wish that he could partake of the pristine waters of that city. Three men overheard that and in the first of Chronicles chapter 11 we have the record of what they did.
11:33
And in the first of Chronicles chapter 11 and verse 15 now three of the thirty captains went down to the rock to David into the cave of Adullam and the host of the Philistines encamped in the valley of Rephaim. And David was then in the hole and the Philistine garrison was then at Bethlehem.
12:06
And David longed and said oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem that is at the gate. And the three break through the host of the Philistines and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate and took it and brought it to David.
12:19
But David would not drink of it but poured it out unto Yahweh and said my God forbid it me that I should do this thing. Shall I drink the blood of these men that have put their lives in jeopardy? For with the jeopardy of their lives they brought it. Therefore he would not drink it.
12:34
These things did the three mightiest. And those three mightiest are named in the second of Samuel 23 and they were three mighty men. Now brethren and sisters what's the point of all this? I believe it illustrates the influence that David had over his men. Now Saul could never have commanded such service as that.
12:55
He could never have commanded such service as that. And their spontaneous service brethren and sisters given on the basis of a mutual love of a man that they all looked up to and they were mighty men. They were David's three mightiest and they were not Joab, they were not Abishai, they were not Asahel, they were not Benaiah.
13:15
They were men that hardly appear in the record at all and they were the mightiest of all of them. And there they were, they overheard him speak these words. They broke through the ranks of the Philistines and they brought him that water and David by his action demonstrated his respect for those men.
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But the point of the record is I believe brethren and sisters what men will do for a man that they love and respect because of what he is. And his very wish was their command. Saul could never, he could never command the respect that that man commanded. And it was an illustration I believe of the power which David exercised over his men.
13:56
You know brethren and sisters, it's rather interesting to note just by the way but in that first of Chronicles chapter 11 when these three great men broke through that host the record of Chronicles goes on to give a list of the mighty men of David. Included amongst them in verse 20 is Abishai the brother of Joab.
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In verse 26 we have Asahel the brother of Joab. And in verse 39 Nahari the armor bearer of Joab. But we don't find Joab. And neither in that record nor in the record of 2 Samuel 23 do you find the name of Joab. And yet three times his name appears there. Abishai the brother of Joab, Asahel his brother and his armor bearer, Joab's armor bearer but not Joab.
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And yet there was no question of his might or of his courage. And yet I believe that that record as it stands just shows David's mind towards that man. Uriah the Hittite's in there. Uriah the Hittite is in there. But Joab's not. And yet three times his name appears because of his relationship to other mighty men.
15:07
But Joab's residence was not written among David's living men. And all people like Joab will not be written among the living in Jerusalem. because he had a fundamental weakness. And his weakness was hardness. And because he loved self above all else. And because in the undivided loyalty that he gave David all through his life was finally overcome by his love of self.
15:30
When at the moment of crisis Joab failed brothers and sisters because self had entered into his life so much. And because he had been so merciless to other people that when he himself implored mercy from God he found no reservoir of mercy. He had never shown it. He had never forgiven it. And he's not in that list.
15:49
But those three mighty men are along with plenty of others. When we go back to the second of Samuel chapter six rather five to the record when David defeated the Philistines. We see what a wonderful victory was wrought on that day. By the day the Philistines are in the plain of Rephaim. They've taken the city of Bethlehem.
16:09
David's in the hold of Adullam. And in verse 19 we read that David inquired of Yahweh as always he did characteristic of the man. He inquired of Yahweh what will I do? And he was told that the Philistines would be delivered into his hand. And in verse 20 David came to Baal-Perezim. And David smote them there and said Yahweh have broken forth upon my enemies before me as a breach of waters.
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And although brethren and sisters of course there was no water there, David saw a mighty flood going before him breaking forth upon the Philistines carrying them away. So he called the name of that place Baal-Perezim. The place of the plain of breaches or the plain of breaking forth. And they were swept away out of the valley of Rephaim.
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But back they came. And there's the character of the Philistines. But the Philistines came up yet again. They were a determined people. That's why Paul quotes the example in the first chapter 16. They had never accepted defeat. Back they come again. And again they were defeated. And these defeats of the Philistines are recorded by the prophet Isaiah as being amongst the great acts of God.
17:15
And he says that God was going to perform in the latter days his strange act as he did at Baal-Perezim. And this victory became renowned brethren and sisters not only in Israel but among the nations because the Philistines were considered to be the best of the nations as far as this sort of warfare was concerned.
17:32
And on the second occasion we read that when they came up again that in verse 23 that David inquired of Yahweh. And again he got his answer. Yes go up but fetch a compass behind them and come upon them over against the mulberry trees. When we put the record of chronicles with that one we find that what the information was was this.
17:53
That they were to fetch a compass behind the Philistines they were also to attack the Philistines and then they were to retreat from before the Philistines and they were to go back and back and back until they came back to the mulberry trees. As chronicles tells us they were to attack them and then draw away in defeat as it were until they came to the mulberry tree.
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And these mulberry trees by the way were the balsam tree not a mulberry tree. The word in the Hebrew is bakar means a weeping tree. The weeping tree. So named they say because of the way the gum would ooze out of the tree. And those trees would be called the weeping tree. And I can imagine David as he went towards these fierce and hostile Philistines brave men terrific in battle going up to the front of them and then drawing away and the Philistines going in the upper hand and driving him back to the mulberry trees.
18:44
But then he had to wait there until he saw the wind bend the tops of the trees over. And he knew then brethren and sisters that the tree no longer was needed. Because going in the top of the mulberry trees is one who called himself Yahweh of armies. And he would know then that the armies of heaven were above him and all around him and that the chariots of God encamped around about those who love and fear him and that there was no might on earth could stop them.
19:09
And he drove forward when he heard the going at the top of the mulberry trees. Swept over the top of the Philistines and drove them right back to Gaza. Right back to the western coast where they'd come from. And the Philistines were finally defeated. That is in respect to David's kingdom. They came again.
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But for the moment the Philistines are put to flight. In the first of Chronicles chapter 14 and verse 7 or verse 17 this made a profound effect upon the nations.
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And so in the first of Chronicles chapter 14 and in verse 17 when David had won these two great victories we have a notification of how the effect of these victories brought the fame of David into all lands. And so we read in the first of Chronicles chapter 14 and verse 17 and the fame of David went out into all lands and Yahweh brought the fear of him upon all nations.
20:06
And David was going on and on and Yahweh was going to make him great. But now brethren and sisters the Philistines the immediate enemy the one who had always been the neighbor to Israel and the immediate threat are for the moment quiet. David's got them under control. Now he's taken the city of Jerusalem.
20:26
He's king over all Israel and one thing is dominating David's thinking. It had been dominating his thinking for many years. And the thing that David was worrying about brethren and sisters was that up at Kirjath or just beyond Kirjath-Jerim was the ark of God. Was the ark of God in Kirjath-Jerim the city of the wood.
20:50
And it had been there for more than 70 years. 70 years the ark of God had been up there. And in all the days of Saul it never entered into Saul's mind during the 40 years of his reign to go and get that ark and to bring it back. He never worried about it.
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Never thought about it. And for 40 years there was a tabernacle at Gibeon north of Jerusalem and the ark of God was at Kirjath-Jerim. And what a state of the nation brethren and sisters spiritually when in the ecclesia of God as represented by the tabernacle being the central portion of worship the brethren and sisters were prepared for over 70 years to accept the fact that it didn't need the presence of God in the tabernacle for them to be saved.
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No one worried about it but it never left David's mind. It agitated him. It worried him. And so we read in the first of Chronicles 13 that the first thing he did when he came to power in Jerusalem that he consulted with the captains of thousands and hundreds and every leader and said in verse 3 or verse 2 and David said unto all the congregation of Israel if it seem good unto you and that it be of the Lord our God let us send abroad unto our brethren everywhere that are left in all the land of Israel and with them also to the priests and Levites which are in their cities and suburbs that they may gather themselves unto us and let us bring again the ark of our God to us for we inquired not at him in the days of Saul.
22:33
And verse 5 says so David gathered all Israel together. Now have a look where he gathered them from. He gathered them from Shihor of Egypt even under the entering in of Hamath to bring the ark of God from the city of the woods to Jathjurim. He gathered them brethren and sisters from Shihor in Egypt and if we can take Jeremiah as an authority Shihor is another name for the river Nile.
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And the entering in of Hamath this map doesn't go far enough north to show it. goes right up nearly to the border of modern Turkey. And David gathered them from the Nile right to the top of the land as far as he could go. As far as his influence went brethren and sisters he gathered the brethren and sisters from everywhere that they might see the ark of God brought from Kirjastirim a mere ten mile from Kirjastirim to Jerusalem.
23:32
And that they might see what is going to be done. And this was of course one of the great things of David's life. It was one of the great things of David's life. We inquired not it in the days of Saul. That was the difference between the two men. And yet all David could think about is how he's going to bring that ark to him.
23:47
And so he made preparations to bring that ark. He consulted with all the elders of Israel. He consulted with the heads of thousands. He consulted with the heads of hundreds. He called the whole congregation together. They talked about it, they talked about it, and they talked about it. And then they went and made a fundamental error.
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You can't understand how they did make the error. Except in this. that David was so carried away by what he was about to do, that he made this fundamental error, brethren and sisters, and he paid heavily for it. And it just shows us, does it not, that in all circumstances of life we've got to be dreadfully careful what we do.
24:26
Because when David was hunted like a fugitive, he inquired of Yahweh. When he went to battle against the Philistines, he inquired of Yahweh. But now he's coming to a point in his life, that he's been waiting for ever since he was a boy. When he can not only be king of the nation, but that he can preside over the nation as the vice region of Yahweh, bringing everybody to the central, vocal centre of their life, to the God of Israel, and to see that David was nothing in comparison.
24:53
And this is all David cared about. It was his whole desire, all his salvation. He couldn't think about anything else. And yet in the moment of triumph and glory, the very enthusiasm of the man, so overcame him that in that enthusiasm, he failed, brothers and sisters, to do what he had been doing all his life.
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And that's to inquire of Yahweh and to work out the proper approach unto him. And he made a fundamental error. And he paid heavily for it. Back in the second of Samuel chapter five, or chapter six, we take up the record from here and we follow this story and it becomes a very interesting story indeed.
25:37
Now David had thought as to how he should bring the ark up unto God. And we read in verse three of the second of Samuel chapter six, that they set the ark of God upon a new cart. Now that's an eloquent expression. They set the ark of God upon a new cart. So you see, there was some thought went into this, because obviously they went into the trouble of getting a new cart, one that had never been used before perhaps, as the word new here in the ark.
26:06
It had never been used before, so that here was an act of reverence towards the ark, which the very fact of getting a new cart evidences that they did think about this. And this of course made matters worse, because if they had thought about it carefully, they would not have got a new cart at all.
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But a new cart that they did get. David ought to have known as a man that was taught wonderful things out of God's law. And who spoke profound things of God's law. But the ark ought to be carried upon the shoulders of the children of Kohath. There were three families of the Levites, Gershon, Merari, and Kohath.
26:46
Gershon carried all the heavy things of the tabernacle. Merari, the lighter materials, the curtains and so forth. But to the children of Kohath alone pertained, brethren and sisters, the carrying of the most holy vessels, including the ark, and they had a carry that upon their shoulders. And David got a new cart. The Philistines had brought it back on a cart and perhaps he had thought to himself, well, the Philistines sent it from Beth Shemesh through to Kirjasturim, or from Philistines, from Philistines, rather, through to Beth Shemesh on a cart.
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And perhaps his mind being clouded about the issue and thinking, well, that's how it came to us. I'll do better than the Philistines. I'll get a new cart. But he didn't think clearly, brethren and sisters, and it doesn't matter what circumstances of life we have found, whether in adversity or in prosperity, pay to do what we're told.
27:40
After all said and done, this is the sort of thing that lost Saul the kingdom. Thoughtlessness. But of course, there's a different reason here. Saul, because he was influenced by the people and was a weak-natured man. He had a weak characteristic. He was influenced by pressure from without. David was never influenced by pressure from men.
27:59
Anything but. David's trouble was an over-enthusiastic approach and a failure to ponder on this occasion his steps carefully when all the circumstances of life he did. And so he thought a new cart would be an ideal place, an ideal way to bring the ark back into Jerusalem. And so we read that in verse 5 that David and all the house of Israel prayed before Yahweh on all manner of instruments made of fur wood and so on.
28:24
Until we come in verse 6. And they came to Nacong's threshing floor. That's rather interesting. Nacong's threshing floor. There doesn't seem to be an individual in the record called Nacong, brethren and sisters. And I don't believe the threshing floor belonged to a man called Nacor at all. I think it was called the threshing floor of Nacor because of what the word means.
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And we find this threshing floor called two names. One here in the book of Samuel called the threshing floor of Nacor. But if you look in the margin you'll see that in Chronicles it is called the threshing floor of Kaidon. And the word Nacom means preparation. And they came to the threshing floor of preparation.
29:11
And there had been certain preparations too. They got a new car. There was musical instruments. There was joy. All Israel had been gathered together. And so they came to a place called the threshing floor of preparation. And of course threshing floors were merely a flat piece of ground on the top of a hill which was fairly hard, either rocky or hard soil, where of course they threshed their grain.
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And so right out in the open they came to the threshing floor of preparation. But Chronicles calls it the threshing floor of Kaidon, a word which means to strike with disaster. And God did strike them with disaster. And on that occasion we know the story only too well. But as one man, Ohio, drove the ark and the oxen stumbled, but Uzzah put forth his hand, touched the ark and God smote him dead.
30:07
And the joy and the gladness, the enthusiasm of the brethren and sisters all went cold. And David would have been amongst the most embarrassed men upon the face of the earth at that moment of time, as he froze in his tracks. What had gone wrong? And brethren and sisters, David was a man that feared Yahweh above all else.
30:28
And he knew that something had gone wrong. And to give himself time to think, he took that ark into the closest place at hand and he took it into a house. A most significant house. He took it into the house of Obed-Edom. And we'll reserve the meaning of that man's name until we come to the point of it.
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But just remember that he took it into the house of a man called Obed-Edom. And in verse 9 we read, And David was afraid of Yahweh that day and said, How shall the ark of Yahweh come to me? And he thought about it. Now let's get one thing clear, brethren and sisters. The man at fault on that day was not only Uzzah.
31:05
The man at fault on that day was King David. And he recognized it. And in the first of Chronicles chapter 15, he frankly admits that he was at fault. Speaking to the Levites, in the first of Chronicles chapter 15 and verse 13, he says, For because ye did it not at the first, that is, carried the ark on your shoulders, Yahweh our God made a breach upon us, for that we sought him not after the due order.
31:45
And neither did he seek him after the due order, brethren and sisters, and a man lost his life. Do you know what David did? He went away, and I'll show you what he did in a moment, but he went away and for three months he pondered that problem. And we've got a psalm written about that problem and we know exactly what he was thinking during that three months.
32:01
He went and asked Yahweh a number of questions and he got a number of answers. And then he went back and he got that ark and he broke the law again.
32:11
And nobody died. Because David had a purpose in his mind in bringing that ark to Jerusalem, which went far beyond just bringing the box into the tent. David's mind, brethren and sisters, was about 10,000 miles ahead of the mind of any man in Israel on this occasion. And I'm going to deal with a matter tonight that a lot of you have heard and some of you haven't.
32:34
One of the most profound matter that you can get out of the life of David is David's mind on this occasion. It's staggering as to what David was going to do with that ark. But for the moment, his purpose has been frustrated. And the ark has dropped at the house of Obed-Edom. And the burning question is, how shall the ark of Yahweh come to me?
32:55
We sought him not after the due order. And so it says there that the ark was in the house of Obed-Edom and the Gittite for three months. And during that three months, brethren and sisters, David spent a sleepless existence. Now in Psalm 132, we have a psalm, I believe, which was written of David's experiences and thought during the time that the ark was three months in the house of Obed-Edom.
33:21
Now you listen to this. We read first of all verses 4 to 6. I will not give sleep to mine eyes or slumber to mine eyelids until I find out a place for Yahweh and habitation for the mighty God of Jacob. No, we heard of it at Ephrathah. We found it in the fields of the woods and so on.
33:53
And there's the mind of David, brethren and sisters, as you can imagine, pacing up and down. I will not give sleep to mine eyelids. I will not rest until I find a place and a habitation for Yahweh, for the mighty God of Jacob and the people of Israel. We're hearing it in Ephrathah.
34:12
We hear it in the fields of the woods. The man can talk about nothing else. I will not give rest to mine eyes until I find a place for the ark of Yahweh. And Saul was prepared for 40 years to ignore the fact that the ark was at Kirgaz-Jerim and the tabernacle was at Gibeon and no one cared less.
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And this man for three months turned over on his bed, popped backwards and forwards. How shall the ark of Yahweh come to me? All he cared about, brethren and sisters. And what are we worried about? The Lord Jesus Christ said, I am he that walks in the midst of the Ecclesia. And that walking in the midst of the Ecclesia is consequent upon the Ecclesia doing what they're told.
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And we hope, brethren and sisters, above everything else that the Lord does walk in the midst of the Ecclesia. We hope above all else that he does walk amongst the brethren and sisters. He'll never walk in two houses, however.
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He only can walk in one. It just depends how much we want him to walk amongst us. As to whether he's in our meeting. We can be like Saul and say, well, what does the presence of Christ mean to us? We're all right. No need to worry. An Ecclesia without Christ, brethren and sisters, of course, might as well be a Roman Catholic church.
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But Saul didn't care about that. But this man couldn't sleep. He couldn't sleep because the ark of God had not come to that city. And he wasn't going to sleep until he found the answers why it didn't. And now he starts to question Yahweh. And you go through this psalm with me and see how he puts a question and gets an answer.
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First of all, in verse 1 and 2, he asks a question. Lord, remember David and all his afflictions, how he swear unto Yahweh and vowed unto the mighty God of Jacob. Verse 11, he gets his answer. Yahweh hath sworn in truth unto David. He will not turn from it. Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne.
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You see, brethren and sisters, David thought that when Yahweh had smitten us, that perhaps there needed to be, he'd gone somewhere fundamentally wrong in his life. What had he done wrong? So the first thing he answers about the great promise, the vow, the great promise that Yahweh made to, perhaps that he'd gone wrong in this.
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No, Yahweh says, I've sworn in truth unto you, David, I won't turn from it. Well, in verse 4 and 5, he asks another question. I won't give sleep to mine eyes and slumber to mine eyelids until I find a place for Yahweh and habitation for the mighty God of Jacob. And he gets his answer in verse 13, for Yahweh hath chosen Zion.
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He hath desired it for his habitation. So, all right, he was heading towards the right place. You might say to yourself, well, didn't he know that Yahweh's going to dwell in Zion? Well, you wait and see. There was a problem there, brethren and sisters, and it had to be answered. Was he heading towards the right place?
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Yes, it was God. You were, David. So he reinforces that with another question in verse 8. He says, arise, O Yahweh, into thy rest. Thou and the ark of thy strength. So you see, he wanted to find out whether or not the ark should go to that place and that that should represent the presence of God.
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He gets his answer in verse 14. This is my rest forever. Here will I dwell, for I have desired it. All right, we've got another problem now in verse 9. He says, let thy priests be clothed with righteousness and let thy saints shout for joy. Why would he say that? Because, brethren and sisters, David had in his mind, and now we're getting some hints as to the great purpose that David had in bringing it up to Jerusalem.
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David had in his mind a period of transition, a tremendous period of transition, and he was going to do something that had never been done before in that nation. He was virtually going to serve notice of a great change in the constitution of Israel. And the question he wants to ask here, let thy priests be clothed with righteousness.
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Now, if you ask a Jew, what was the clothing of the priests he'd tell you, the robes for beauty and glory in Exodus 28? The robe of the ephod, the ephod itself, the breastplate of judgment, the stones, the setting of the stones on the shoulders, the mitre, and all those sort of things.
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But David doesn't want all that, brethren. He wants the priests to be clothed with one thing, righteousness. And in the seventh chapter of Hebrews, which we don't have to turn to now because you people know it backwards, Paul tells us that the order of Melchizedek, there's only one single qualification for it. You don't have to be a son of Aaron.
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You don't have to be physically perfect. You don't have to have a pedigree that's pure. You don't have to have a wife that's pure and come from a line of Levi. You don't have to be of a certain age. You can be Chinese with half an eye, having had previously coming to the truth three wives, if you like, and you can still be a priest, providing you have one single qualification, key of righteousness.
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And on this occasion, David was saying, let thy priests be clothed with righteousness, and let thy saints shout for joy. He gets his answer in verse 16. I will also clothe her priests with salvation, and her saints shall shout aloud for joy. That's why David put a little nephod on, brethren and sisters.
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Strapped it to himself. He had two sets of garments on that day. He had one of pure linen, which all the other priests wore in common with him. And he also had a linen ephod. Questions. The promises made to David, do they still stand? Yes. The habitation of Yahweh, where is it? Zion.
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Is the ark come to rest here? Is this your rest? Yes, it's my rest. Can the priest be clothed with righteousness to do away with the Aaronic order? Yes, David, that's the ultimate purpose I have. Well, then what about your anointed? Is he associated with all this? The anointed of Yahweh? Verse 17 is the answer.
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There will I make the horn of David to bud. I have ordained a lamp for mine anointed. And so there we have, brethren and sisters, the final verification to David that he was on the right track. And with that ringing in his ears, the questions and the answers, David goes back to get that ark.
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But there was one factor, one more factor that influenced him, brethren and sisters, in getting that ark. If you come back to the first of Samuel chapter six, we have here another factor which influenced David in bringing that ark back.
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And it's rather interesting to note this. In verse 11 of the second of Samuel chapter six. In the second of Samuel six, verse 11, we read in the ark of Yahweh continued in the house of Obed-Edom, the Gittite, three months. And Yahweh blessed Obed-Edom and all his household. And it was told King David saying, Yahweh hath blessed the house of Obed-Edom and all that pertained unto him because of the ark of God.
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So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom into the city of David with gladness. And I believe that after asking all those questions, spending those sleepless nights and the anxiety of those three months and gathering to himself the information that he required, the final thing which convinced David that he was on the right track was the fact that God had blessed Obed-Edom.
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Now why had God blessed Obed-Edom? Well because of the ark, we're told here. Obviously so. But David saw in the blessing of that man the signal to go and get that ark. The final signal. And there were two reasons I believe, brethren and sisters, why it was that David saw in the blessing of that particular man that he was on the right track.
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The first of those reasons is this. That Obed-Edom is called the Gittite. Gittite. Now a Gittite was not a Gentile. There were Gentiles called Gittites. But on this occasion the word Gittite doesn't signify a Gentile at all. It signifies an inhabitant of the city of Gath-Rimon. And Gath-Rimon was to the north of Israel here in the territory which lay up there in Manasseh up here in the region of Samaria.
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And Gath-Rimon, brethren and sisters, was given by Joshua to the priests. And this particular city out of Manasseh was given to the tribe or the family of Kohath. And when we go through the record of Chronicles we learn that Obed-Edom was of the children of Kohath. And he was one of the men that were appointed by God to carry the ark on his shoulders.
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And when David saw that he blessed that man, David said, David said in the first of Chronicles chapter 2, that none ought to carry the ark but the Levites. Now, brethren and sisters, why was it so important that a man should be struck dead because he did not carry the ark upon the shoulders of the children of Kohath?
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Why should Uzzah lose his life? Well, let me tell you what it signifies. And you don't have to be a brilliant student of the word of God to come to this conclusion. All you need is a concordance. Why do you imagine that the ark of the children of Kohath had to go and get that ark and lift it up and carry it on their shoulder?
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Settle it on their shoulder comfortably and off they march with the ark on their shoulder. You've only got to get older of the concordance and look at the word shoulder and go through its usage and define what was meant. Because whenever you have the word shoulder used in any spiritual sense it means that a person takes upon himself personal responsibility.
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For example, the government shall be upon his shoulder. There's an outstanding issue to the word. Whose shoulder? Who's going to be responsible for the government of this world? The Lord Jesus Christ. And to him the world will answer and he will answer to God. Because it will be his responsibility to rule this world in righteousness and therefore the government shall be upon his shoulder.
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Zechariah 7 and verse 11 tells us that Yahweh appealed to the children of Israel but they pulled away their shoulder from responsibility. And you see, brothers and sisters, the ark represented the manifestation of the glory of God. And who carries that?
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Every single individual Christadelphian. And if you don't carry the ark of God on your shoulders, you're going to be struck dead. And that's the lesson that David had to learn. It's all right, brothers and sisters, bearing the responsibility of a persecuted man in the wilderness. It's all right bearing the responsibility of a man who has hated his brethren and going through all the trials of life.
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But now David's coming to Zion to bear on his shoulder the responsibility to carry the glory of Yahweh to the nation. And he got it on a new cart. And there are Christadelphians who believe that they can carry the glory of Yahweh on a cart. And they can't. And they'll never get away with it.
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And I wouldn't care if it was a brand new cart. I wouldn't care if it was a brand new valiant. They cannot carry the glory of God on four wheels. The glory of God, brothers and sisters, is carried there on your shoulders and on my shoulders. And if we're not prepared to carry the glory of God on our shoulders, we're going to be struck dead.
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And us his name means strength. He had strength. And they were carrying the thing on a cart. And that's what the lesson was all about, I believe. I don't have any shadow of a doubt about it. And we've got a tremendous issue before us here. The Lord Jesus Christ, John says, we beheld his glory as the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
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And he, brothers and sisters, bore personal responsibility in carrying that glory to Israel. He never asked anybody else to bear it with him. He never called upon any expedient to make it any easier. He rested that glory heavily upon his shoulders and carted it into Israel, that he might manifest to them, that far as he was concerned, there's only one way to carry the glory of God.
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And that's personally. And David had to learn that lesson. And there was a man called Obed Edom who was a member of the children of Kohat, a man who was personally responsible for carrying the Ark on his shoulder. And when David had gone all through that, and he got that final verification that he was on the right track, in the first of Chronicles chapter 15, he goes back and he makes preparations to make the second attempt to bring the Ark back into Jerusalem.
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Now then, in verse 2 of the first of Chronicles chapter 15, David said, none ought to carry the Ark of God but the Levites. For them hath Yahweh chosen to carry the Ark of God and to minister unto him forever. And we, Levites, brothers and sisters, separated unto God for the service of the truth.
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And we ought to carry the glory of God and to minister unto him. And so, verse 11, he calls together Zadok and Abiyah to the priests. With their brethren. And he says in verse 12, and he said unto them, ye are the chief of the fathers of the Levites. Sanctify yourselves. Separate yourselves, you and your brethren, that ye may bring up the Ark of Yahweh God of Israel.
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unto the place that I have prepared for it. For because ye did it not at the first, Yahweh our God made a breach upon us, for though we sought him not after the due order. And we read in verse 15, and the children of the Levites bear the Ark of God upon their shoulders with the staves thereon, as Moses commanded according to the word of Yahweh.
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And then David, brethren and sisters, goes into tremendous preparation. And you could go all night on the preparations that he made here. Tremendous occasion. Remember this now, that the Ark of God had left Kerjah, Jerem. He's only a short distance from the city of Jerusalem. And yet that short journey was going to be one that was going to be burnt into the memory of everyone who saw it.
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So David gathered together. Those who could lift up their voice with joy. He had choirs on this occasion. He gathered together the instruments of brass, the cymbals. He had the wood instruments. He had the stringed instruments. He had them all in order. He had a choir and then the orchestra. A choir and an orchestra.
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And he had them marching towards that city in perfect harmony. And he had the glory of God being personally born on the shoulders of those who represented the nation. And away they went towards that city. And verse 20 tells us, at the end of that chapter, at the end of that verse, that there were those with psalteries on Alamoth.
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And the word Alamoth means the maidens. Evidently, brethren and sisters, there was a female choir singing to the tunes of the psalteries, the stringed instruments. And here was a female choir singing to the melody of the stringed instruments. You know, there's a powerful exhortation in this. You know that David uses several words in the psalm for the word praise.
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One word he uses means to lift up the voice. Another word he uses means to pluck with the fingers. As if you were playing a harp. And the apostle Paul takes those two words and he tells the Ephesians to lift up their voices to Yahweh, singing spiritual songs and making melody in your heart.
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And the word melody in the Greek literally means to pluck with the fingers. And here was a marvellous occasion. The maidens, the female choir, the bride of Christ, the ecclesia, singing with the voice, brethren and sisters, that their heart was in tune. Not H-A-R-P, but the heart. And they were plucking with their fingers on hearts in those days.
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What are we going to do? We lift up our voice with singing. But that tongue, brethren and sisters, which causes words to be formed to come out of our mouth is in accordance with the harp inside a cavity of our chest, which we're plucking with the fingers of the Spirit and his melody.
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And Paul said when an ecclesia sings like that, it's beautiful. And David combined those things. There were also, we read at the end of verse 21, there was another orchestra playing on harps on Sheminis to excel. The word Sheminis means the eighth. The eighth. And these were men who represented, I believe, the Abrahamic covenant.
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The covenant in which the right of circumcision took prominent place when the flesh was cut off. They were the eighth. They were the excellent of Israel. Do you know, brethren and sisters, that there were eight souls saved by water when Noah went into the ark? You ever notice what Peter calls him? He calls him on one occasion the preacher of righteousness.
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But he calls him the eighth person. How did he know he was the eighth person? He could have been the fifth. Could have been the first too. But Peter calls him the eighth person. And the word person is not in the original Greek. Peter calls him the eighth. So Peter saw that of that eighth, Noah represented the eighth.
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Because Noah represented what the flood represented. The cutting off of the flesh. Because that man had cut the flesh off in his life. And here was a whole choir of men like that. They were all called the eighth. Because they represented those in Israel. Who were true to the covenant of Abraham. And who were prepared to cut off the flesh.
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We read in verse 22. Of a man called Keneiah. He, we note, was chief of the Levites. And he was for song. But look at the margin. He was for the lifting up of the carriage. And he, brethren and sisters, Keneiah, on this occasion, was a man especially pointed by David, who was to supervise the lifting up of the ark upon the shoulders of the children of Kareth to make sure it got on their shoulders.
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David was taking no chances. And so here was a man who was for the lifting up of the carriage. And I can imagine Keneiah standing there. And supervising the lifting up of that carriage. And his name means Yahweh has planted. And he was chief of the Levites. But he was something else too, which we'll talk about a little later.
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And all these wonderful preparations were made. So the whole procession gets ready to march. You can imagine Keneiah, brethren and sisters, walking over and saying, right, the hour has come. All the orchestras are there. The maiden's choir is there. The eighth choir is there. The men of Israel. They're all ready. There's a further excitement.
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Keneiah gives the word. They bow down. They lift up the ark. And gently, firmly, put it upon their shoulders. Everybody's ready. And David orders them. We read, and we read tonight, and we won't turn to it now, but in the second of Samuel chapter six, he orders them to take six experimental steps.
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And you can imagine, brethren and sisters, on that occasion, that hush concourse. As the whole concourse moved, I believe, six experimental steps. And you can imagine the silence. One, two, three, four, five, six.
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Nothing happened. Nobody was struck dead. And David went wild. He just gave them to his feelings. He sacrificed, first of all. And he went wild, brethren and sisters, because now he could see, with those six experimental steps having been taken, and Yahweh silenced, that the blessing of God was upon him. And he went out in front of that concourse, and he gave himself over, brethren and sisters, to X, X, X, X, X, X, as he's never been given before.
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And this nation saw the king, down off of his high horse, down off of his throne, away from the court, where he stood head and shoulders above the people, down to ground level, one with the people, unity, fellowship, wearing the ephod, representing the priesthood. There was a king, priest in Israel, brethren and sisters, and he went wild with ecstasy, because he knew he got his answer, and his lifelong ambition was fulfilled.
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God was with them. And you can imagine the contrast with Saul under the shadow of Gilboa in the tent of a witch. God has departed from them. And you can see the contrast between the two men. And David danced with all his might. And we read in verse 26, and it came to pass, when God helped the Levites, God helped the Levites, that there the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, they offered seven bullocks and seven rams, and David was clothed with a robe of fine linen, and all the Levites that bear the ark and the singers, and Kenai, the master of the song, with the singers.
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David also had upon him an ephod of linen. And with that, brethren and sisters, David danced into the city of Jerusalem. There art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, and there was a king, priest before the nation, and he danced with all his might into that city. And yet, in all that joy and gladness on that supreme occasion, it was Michael that cast a shadow over it all.
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And it brought forth from David on a day that no man or woman in Israel should have ever lifted up their voice in a negative way. Everybody should have been caught up with a fervor of excitement in the joy of it all, brethren and sisters. There was one woman who couldn't see the point of it all.
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And do you know this? That in the record of Samuel twice, and in the record of Chronicles twice, that woman is called on that occasion, not David's wife, but the daughter of Saul.
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That's what she's called. But when Michael, the daughter of Saul, Saul was going on, she despised David in her heart. But before that, she's called David's wife. She's no longer David's wife. She's a chip off the old block. She's the daughter of Saul. Because her father didn't care a rush that for 40 years that her heart stood in isolation.
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He couldn't have cared less. And neither could his daughter. And she couldn't see the point of it all. And there are brethren and sisters oft times, in the midst of great joy and rejoicing, who can never see the point of our exuberance in the Word of God. Because they haven't been touched by the power of it.
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And there are times, brethren and sisters, in our life, when we ought to give ourselves over to ecstasy in the things of the truth and enjoy those things which God has given us to enjoy. And there's no finer enjoyment on this earth than to get down to the study of the Word of God.
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There's no finer enjoyment on this earth. And I didn't care less about the rain today. So as I was concerned, it was a blessing because I stayed home and I had a wonderful day thinking about the aspects of David and Bathsheba and the revolt of Absalom and the coming to the throne again of David.
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And I was transported and I don't care less. What anybody thought about the day, I thought it was wonderful. By the way, for the sake of the Americans here, it's summer. But anyway, it was the daughter of Saul on this occasion who couldn't see the point of it all. But you know what David did?
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We read in the 1 Chronicles chapter 15 that in the 26th verse came to pass when God helped the Levites that they offered seven bullocks and seven rams. And those were burnt offerings and peace offerings. Now when you come back to the 2 Samuel chapter 6 and you compare this record, you find this, brothers and sisters, you find this fact about these offerings.
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In the 18th and 19th verses of the 2nd of Samuel chapter 6. And as soon as David had made an end of offerings, burnt offerings and peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of Yahweh of armies. And he dealt among all the people, even among the whole multitude of Israel, as well as to the women as men, to everyone a cake of bread and a good piece of flesh and a flagon of wine.
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So all the people departed everyone to his house. Now look what David did on this occasion. When the congregation came to the conclusion of their journey, the ark was brought back into the city of Jerusalem. What did David do? He blessed the people in the name of Yahweh of armies. It was not his right to bless the people in the name of Yahweh of armies.
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For the law of Moses had specified that none but the priest could bless in the name of Yahweh and we sing that blessing every time someone's baptized. The Lord bless thee and keep thee. And that was a formal blessing to be put upon the children of Israel by Aaron because he represented Yahweh and nobody else could put that blessing upon the people but David put it upon them.
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And Paul says without contradiction the less are always blessed by the better. And the greatest of men are those only who can bless. That's why in the Sermon on the Mount brethren and sisters when he taught with authority not as described he kept saying blessed are the poor blessed are the these blessed are these blessed are those blessed are so and so.
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Who do you think he was? He was obviously the greater as David was on this occasion. He blessed all the people. But more than that David makes a sacrifice. David divides it. David gives the people the portions of the offerings. He had no right to do that according to the law. But here were burnt offerings dedication.
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Here were peace offerings fellowship. And with the burnt offering and peace offering there always went bread and wine. Never with the sin and trespass offering but always with the burnt and peace offering. So here's David giving them a portion of the sacrifice a good piece of flesh and he's giving them the accompaniment bread and wine.
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But he wasn't a Levite. He wasn't of the sons of Aaron. And there was another man in the upper root of Jerusalem in the same tribe as David who sat down with his disciples and brought out bread and wine and as soon as he brought bread and wine out of the table the disciples knew that they were in the presence of a burnt offering and a peace offering.
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Not the sin and trespass offering. They were offered in the upper root of Jerusalem far more than he offered the world out on the stake of Calvary. For what was offered out of Calvary was offered outside the camp but it was a burnt offering. Burnt outside the camp with no bread and wine attached to it.
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But that was for the sins of the world that he was offering to the disciples at the table of the upper room fellowship on the base of dedication and they would have known that immediately he brought out bread and wine and he was from the tribe of Judah such as David was. So you see on this grand occasion brethren and sisters much more was foreshadowed than it's in this record from just a cursory reading of it.
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But now I said to you didn't I that David had another purpose of bringing the ark back to Jerusalem. Those of you who have heard this will know the importance and power of it. Those of you who haven't listen carefully because this is just simply majestic. In the first of Samuel chapter 15 we read a very significant statement.
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I'm sorry the first of Chronicles 15 and in the first of Chronicles chapter 15 and verse 1 we read that David made him houses in the city of David and prepared a place for the ark of God and pitched for it a tent. The word of course is ohel. He pitched for it a tabernacle.
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Have you ever heard of the tabernacle of David? Oh yes of course we've heard about the tabernacle of David. We heard about the tabernacle of David in the 15th chapter of Acts. What is the tabernacle of David? You're reading about it now but look what it signifies. Now let's just go through this carefully quote by quote and I'll show you something.
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Now this is just demonstrating brothers and sisters not just simply a wonder of the word of God but think of the expansive mind that was in David's head. Now this man's doing this deliberately and it was an absolute daring thing to do. He pitched for the ark of God a tabernacle. The fact of the matter was there was already a tabernacle pitched.
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Now there were two. And in the first of Chronicles chapter 16 and verses 37 and 39 we find they operate together concurrently. In verse 37 he left there before that is he left in his tabernacle before the ark of the covenant of Yahweh Asaph and his brethren to minister before the ark continually as every day required and Obed-Edom with their brethren three score and eight Obed-Edom also the son of Judah and Hosea to be porters and Zadok the priest and his brethren the priest before the tabernacle of Yahweh in the high place that was at Gibeon to offer burnt offerings unto Yahweh upon the altar of the burnt offering continually morning and evening and to do according to all that is written in the law of Yahweh which he commanded Israel.
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Now get the picture. Here's a tabernacle in Jerusalem and there's a tabernacle at Gibeon. The tabernacle at Gibeon is full of furniture and it's operating on the basis of the law of Moses. The tabernacle in Jerusalem only has one piece of furniture. Zadok is priest up here. Abither is priest down there. And the two tabernacles are operating together brethren and this is at one and the same time.
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And although this one's operating here at Gibeon under the law of Moses it lacks the essential piece of furniture which represented the presence of God and that was with David. Now how significant was this? Now strangely enough there was at this time with David an enormous congregation of Gentiles. An enormous congregation of Gentiles worshipping at Jerusalem.
1:03:39
And the children of Israel were going north to Gibeon to worship in accordance with the law of Moses. There came a time in David's life brethren and sisters when he had numbered the people of Israel and he was caught out by Yahweh that perhaps singing and his face being shaken for a while that he'd done the wrong thing in dividing the ark from the tabernacle a thing a man wouldn't dare to do.
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You talk about Arthur putting his hand forth to steady the ark and being smitten dead. David took the ark from the tabernacle and set another one up in opposition virtually to it. Nobody died. But there was occasion when David numbered the people when he fled to Gibeon to worship thinking that he'd made a mistake.
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And we turn to the 1st of Chronicles chapter 21 and we read this in verse 28 of the 1st of Chronicles 21 at that time when David saw that Yahweh had answered him in the threshing floor of all of the Jebusites then he sacrificed there for the tabernacle of Yahweh which Moses made in the wilderness and the altar of burnt offering which were at that season in the high place of Gibeon but David could not go before it to inquire of God for he was afraid because of the sword of the angel of Yahweh he was on his way to Gibeon brothers and sisters because he'd numbered the people he knew what he'd done wrong and he was fleeing to Gibeon perhaps thinking to himself well look I've done wrong perhaps the whole thing I've been wrong and for a moment his face was shaken and he hurried up to get him and the angel said no David go right where you are and the angel of Yahweh brothers and sisters stood across his path David you're not going to Gibeon I won't let you worship there and Yahweh reinforced the idea that David had in his mind of what he was doing now I want you to notice what David did immediately upon that in chapter 22 then David said this is the house of Yahweh and this is the altar of burned offering for Israel and David commanded to gather together the strangers that were in the land of Israel and he set mason's to give rort stones to build the house of God immediately upon being stopped to go to Gibeon brethren and
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sisters he goes straight back knows now that he's been reinforced in his idea that Zion is the place of the great temple and he starts to gather together the strangers and when Solomon came to the world and he got all the strangers together that David had gathered together you know how many he counted 153,600 of them 153,600 Gentiles that David had gathered together to build the temple and to be associated in the worship and there came a day in the ecclesia of God when certain men from Judea came down and said except a man be circumcised after the manner of Moses he cannot be saved he made two mistakes in that statement in the 15th chapter of Acts don't turn to it because you know it you just listen except a man be circumcised after the manner of Moses he cannot be saved the two mistakes were these that circumcision wasn't necessary seeing that Christ had died and the law had been taken out of the way and secondly who ever said that circumcision was of Moses they were wrong because circumcision wasn't of Moses at all it was of the father and Jesus reminded them about in the 7th chapter of John so these judaistic minded people who had come down to the jerusalem conference or the jerusalem ecclesia were wrong on two counts and so they called a conference of the apostles to discuss this heresy which had crept into the ecclesia but there was a wider question brothers and sisters it wasn't so much now not only of keeping circumcision but as the conference proceeded it became obvious the judaism were saying
1:07:35
that not only is a man to be circumcised and keep the law of Moses but were the gentiles did they have any right to be in the truth was it right to incorporate gentiles they were dogs why should they come into the truth of God why it's exclusive to the Jews and so Paul got up and he told them about his experiences among the gentiles or rather Peter did first of all told them about his experiences among the gentiles I'd seen the power of the spirit given to the gentiles I believe that they're in the truth sat down Paul got up and he supported him so did Barnabas and all the three of them Peter Paul and Barnabas spoke about the same thing their experiences among the gentiles but you can imagine the Jews listening to Peter Paul and Barnabas and saying oh that's all very well for you to talk we weren't there to see it we've only got your word for that and they did too they only had their word for that but James knowing there was one thing alone that could convince the Jew and that was the scriptures especially the Old Testament he knew that he said now listen brethren hearken unto me God is taking out of the gentiles the people for his name and to this agree the words of the prophet after this I will return and build again the tabernacle of David for what reason that's the residue of men and all the Gentiles upon whom my name is called might seek after the Lord and that was the end of the matter nobody argued any further
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James dictated the letter they wrote it and they sent it to the Ecclesiast and the Judaizers walked out defeated because there was no answer to that because after this I will return and build again the tabernacle of who there were two in the days of David his and Moses the children of Israel worshipped there under the law and David gathered Gentiles there under grace and after this I will return to build again the tabernacle of David that the residue of men might seek after the Lord and all the Gentiles upon whom my name is called saith the Lord who doeth all these things no argument the argument terminated with that and they knew straight away there's no need to argue anymore because that brethren and sisters was unanswerable and that's what the tabernacle of David meant it was a magnificent argument but now listen to this James was quoting we won't turn to this either because you know it James was quoting the ninth chapter of Amos and in the quotation that he made he said after this I will return and build again the tabernacle of David that the residue of men might seek after the Lord but Amos didn't say that James was interpreting Amos Amos said that after this I will return and build again the tabernacle of David that the residue of Edom might seek the Lord and the ark was in the house of a man called Obed Edom and the word Obed means a helper and there the ark came to rest and a man that carried the ark upon his shoulders and he was a helper of Edom
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and he was the one that was found down in Jerusalem with David's ark in his tabernacle supervising the worship of the Gentiles and when David saw that Yahweh had blessed the house of a man who was prepared to work for Edom he went and got that ark and he brought it into the tabernacle that he had pitched for it because he knew by the very indications that he was given that he how is that for thinking how do you like that for a mind in David that thought that out no wonder that Peter says that he was a prophet no wonder that Peter said that David foresaw the Lord always before his faith no wonder that Peter said he's seeing this before no wonder that time and time again we have in the record that David had a tremendous insight into the principles of the truth no wonder do we read in Revelation that he's the root and the offspring of David because there's the expansive mind brothers and sisters that saw the whole turning of the purpose of God that he would embrace all nations and bring them into his truth what a glorious man he was and he set up that tabernacle for that very purpose that he might incorporate into the truth all nations what a wonderful man he was and all Israel would have seen that to a degree they would have seen it to this degree that David dared to divide the worship between Gibeon and Jerusalem and to take the ark for the first time in history out of that tabernacle and put it into another one and there
1:12:16
would have been many questions asked on that occasion as to why David should do this now I want to skip the 2 Samuel chapter 7 I know you might say well goodness with young people here this would be the ideal thing to do is to deal with the promises made in the 2 Samuel chapter 7 but of course if we don't know nothing about the 2 Samuel 7 now it's time we did and with your permission I'd like to skip that because I want to finish tonight on the 8th chapter and in preparation for our last study and I want to show you brothers and sisters a tremendous build up in the 8th chapter the 2nd of Samuel which leads us of course to our consideration of the last phase of David's life and we read in the 8th chapter of the 2nd of Samuel how that David made his kingdom into an empire and after this it came to pass that David smote the Philistines and subdued them and David took Meshach Amar the word Meshach Amar means the bridle of the mother city if you want to know what that means you'll find in the 1st of chronicles chapter 18 and verse 1 that it's described as Gath and her daughters so we're not left in any doubt as to what that means so the bridle of the mother city was Gath and her daughters and of course the city of Gath was about here and because it was the city which was further most eastward of the main cities of the Philistines and it kept the guard of Ashkelon Gage and Ashdod and
1:13:36
so on because it was over here it was the bridle by which the land of the Philistines was controlled and David took the bridle of the mother city Gath and her daughters so they were absolutely held in check David had all of the brains and the bride or the mother said he's got them in check we read he smoked Moab he came across here and he smoked the land of Moab over here on the east of the Dead Sea they were friendly with David previously because he'd sent his mother and father over there for protection from Saul and of course the Moab were related to David through Ruth and one of the relations of David happened to be a man called Hoban quite interesting isn't it and Ruth happened to be a Gentile these things were all presegated before David came to the throne and so he subdued Moab we read in this record that in verse 3 that David smote also had a Reza the son of Rehob king of Zobar in verse 3 and on this occasion brothers and sisters he went right up north right up past the Sea of Galilee and he smote had a Reza right up in the land of Lebanon and there on the Bekar plain the plain which goes for 75 miles running almost north and south for 75 miles 12 miles wide and flanked on either side by the glorious Lebanese ranges the Lebanese range and the anti-Lebanese range a place of exquisite beauty a place you could spend days just wandering around just absorbing the history of the place a magnificent locality and we went
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up that plain brethren and we thought of the day when David went up there and he fought against Hadariza Hadad is my help and Hadad was the son god of the syrians and David fought against him took his chariot destroyed them and kept 100 of them and took them back into Jerusalem and wrote the 20th psalm some trust in chariots and some in horses but we will trust in Yahweh our God and he brought a great victory on that occasion it was on that occasion remember brethren and sisters that we pointed out that when he was right up north up here in Zobar as the 60th psalm says the heading of the 60th psalm he suddenly found the Edomites had invaded the south so the Edomites taking the opportunity to invade the south while David is north they come pouring in from the south and David of course is in a major conflict up here because Hadariza was the captain of a great northern confederacy as the 2nd of Samuel 10 and verse 19 tells us he was the head of a great northern confederacy and David has got the battle of his life on his hands up here to Bekar plain 12 miles wide as flat as a board
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David had a victory on that occasion and he knew that victory was given to him by God but in the midst of that battle he hears a report the Edomites have invaded the land down the south so he assigned two very powerful men Joab and Abishai the brothers to go down there to see what they could do about it and Joab with a forced march came right down south about a hundred miles he would have marched and came under the valley of salt the bottom end of the dead sea and immediately went into a pitched battle with the Edomites and slew eighteen thousand of them and then Joab spent the next six months of his life getting around just killing Edomites six months and he'd enjoyed every day of it too so much so that remember that Hadad another man with the name of Hadad fled into Egypt and when Joab was dead he said to Pharaoh I can go home now Joab's dead and that was the dreadful scourge of Joab as he went down to the city of Edom and later on we learn in the 60th psalm that David says who shall bring me into the strong city and we rode into the city of Petra the capital of Edom through the sick S-I-Q we rode through this great canyon they called the sick a mile and a quarter long brethren and sisters and you've never seen anything like it in all your life I've heard about it I've read about it I've seen photos of it I studied it to go there and I was staggered when I went there you couldn't
1:17:28
believe it that a man could take that city and the things you read about you think you know all about it when you go there and it staggers you as you ride a horse into that place and you've got to sort of just breathe in to get between the rocks on places and you look straight up for about 50 to 60 feet in some place and you can hardly see the light of day as this narrow torturous winding defile into the rock red city of Petra and David said who shall lead me into the strong city and God led him into the strong city and he overthrew Edom so what do we find now the Philistines are being bridled Hadad the sun god he's gone out there's no light up there Joab's come down here for six months he's been beating down the Edomites and all the kingdoms around him are being subdued by David and then Joab and Abishai go across here and they're going to attack the Ammonites but whilst they're fighting with the Ammonites remember the other night down come the Syrians and they're jammed between the two of them the two great brethren Joab and Abishai are powerful men who would never admit defeat and you know the words as well as I do as Joab said to Abishai if the Syrians are too strong for me you come and help me and if the Ammonites are too strong for you Abishai I'll come and help you got the point yes says Abishai we'll be strong says Joab for the cities of our God and for our God and quit yourselves
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like men and as I said before nobody suggested what would happen if the Syrians and the Ammonites were too strong for the both of them because they wouldn't admit defeat and because of the faith
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and sisters and they chased the Syrians home Joab was the first one to be successful he came back and with Abishai his brother he drove the Ammonites into the city of Rabah today the capital of Jordan Amman and he drove them into the city of Rabah a city built on seven hills a city whose sender saw the worshiper of the god Molech and when the children of Ammon went into the city of Rabah Joab went home to Jerusalem the Syrians came again Hadad got them all organised and they attacked again and Joab went back again and he defeated the Syrians and the conquests were complete except for one city there only remained one city to complete the conquest of David the only city that was holding out was Rabah the capital of Amman or the capital of Ammon and at the turn of the year in the spring Joab and his men sallied forth to complete the victories of David one remaining stronghold and David was king of the world and as Joab marched out of Jerusalem to go to that city David goes and lays on his bed near to the roof of his house and the life of David was about to take a dramatic turn change the whole course of the man's life alter his character perfect and he was to go be plunged into the deepest pits of despair that has ever overtaken a man right at the very epoch when one more city had fallen and he was absolutely supreme in the world the greatest man on the earth and he was lying on his bed having a rest while Joab
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went forth to fight the wars of Yahweh and the rest of that story we'll tell you Saturday night we'll tell you we'll tell you we'll tell you we'll tell you we'll tell you we'll tell you we'll tell you we'll tell you we'll tell you we'll tell you we'll tell you we'll tell you we'll tell you we'll tell you we'll tell you we'll tell you we'll tell you we'll tell you we'll tell you we'll tell you we'll tell you !
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we'll tell you we'll tell you !

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