John Martin - Class 7: The Sure Mercies of David

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

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   My dear brethren and sisters and young people, in our last consideration together of the life of David, we left him extending his power on every side. We saw him conquer the Philistines to the west. He took the city of Gath, you remember, which is called Meshag Amar, the bridal of the mother city.

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   So called because whoever held Gath held the entrance to the main cities of the Philistines. So David had the Philistines under control. He took the kingdom to the north, the king of Zobar and of the Syrians. He conquered the Ammonites, you remember, and sent Jehovah and Abishai before him to conquer the Edomites.

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   And on every hand, to the west, to the east, to the north and the south, David's power was extending, brethren and sisters and young people. And he was climbing to the greatest triumph of history. The shepherd boy of Israel who had been exiled from his own house, whose life had been sought by his brethren who had come through all those circumstances of life, crowned king in Hebron, fellowship.

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   And after seven years there, brought the whole nation together under one head. Took the city of Jebus, trodden down, until the times of the Gentiles should be fulfilled. And David brought an end to that time. And made it the capital of his dominion. And from thence he extended his power on every side.

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   And it was, brethren and sisters, during this period of time that a great change came over David's life. And you remember that we spoke about how that Jehovah and Abishai had gone eastward. And they had fought against the children of the Ammonites. And the Syrians had joined in that battle. And they had, of course, were in great straits at that time.

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   But they managed by courage and faith in their God to overcome the armies of the combined Syrians and the Ammonites. And they came home again, brethren and sisters, because it was winter. And they didn't prosecute war in winter in those days because of the difficulty involved. And we learn that the time came for Joab to go back and to complete the conquest of Rabah.

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   And we read in the 2nd of Samuel, chapter 11 and verse 1. And it came to pass. After the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel. And they destroyed the children of Ammon. And they besieged Rabah.

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   And while Rabah, brethren and sisters, was under heavy siege of Joab's forces, we read for a reason which we don't know that David tarried still at Jerusalem. Now this was not characteristic of this man. There was an occasion when all Israel had to protest to him not to get out to battle. As an aged warrior who had lost some of his ability, they protested to David that he should not go out to battle.

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   And he almost forced the issue and almost went into battle. And there was an occasion, brethren and sisters, when Abishai had a step right between him and a giant to save his life. Because the man's determination was that even in human weakness, he was prepared to go and fight the wars of Yahweh.

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    What on earth he's doing in the city of Jerusalem at this time, nobody knows. And it was a tragedy that he was there. Because this was the one cloud, brethren and sisters, that was going to cloud this man's life. And yet for all that, it was going to change his character for the better.

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    And it was going to bring out of David other qualities which needed to be expressed by him in order to perfect him for the kingdom. But oh, how he paid for this mistake. And there he was, carrying in the city of Jerusalem. And Jehovah and the men of war were out on the open field, fighting the wars of Yahweh.

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    And we read, brethren and sisters, of all things, that he was on his bed. As the custom was, of course, in those days and in that climate, men used to take an afternoon siesta. And the siesta having been finished, it says that David arose from of his bed and he walked upon the roof of the king's house.

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    And in those days, in accordance with the law of Moses, the law as stated in Deuteronomy chapter 22 and verse 8, they used to build their homes with a flat roof. And the law stated that when they built that with a flat roof, they had to build a battlement around the roof to prevent any accidents.

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    Why would they build a home with a flat roof? Jesus referred to it in his words. He said, Let him that is upon the housetop come not down into the house to take his stuff when he flees. Now, in order to be able to perform those words, there would have had to have been an outside staircase to the house whereby a man may come home, go up to the rooftop without anybody in the house knowing he was there.

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    Or if he wanted to depart, he could depart down the staircase again and go and nobody would have known that he would have been home on top of his roof. And it's obvious, brothers and sisters and young people, that the law having specified that they should build their houses in this way, it was obvious that God meant that some spiritual activity should be undertaken upon the rooftop.

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    And I don't think we're left in any doubt either as to what sort of spiritual activity went on up there. For we learn in the 10th chapter of Acts, which we all know so well, that Peter was on the housetop praying when he saw a vision of a great sheep let down by the four corners.

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    And he had the message to go and get Cornelius. He was on the housetop praying. And it's fairly obvious that the law so specified the building that if a man felt so inclined, he could come home from the field and if he wished to express gratitude under Yahweh for a harvest or a good day, or if he'd been troubled in that day with some problem and he wished to pray unto God for some answer of peace, that before he should enter into the domestic circle and all the distractions of that circle, he could walk up the outside staircase on his own and in the solitude of the rooftop, he could gaze out and implore his God in whatever way he wished to.

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    And it was on the rooftop that David was walking. And he'd been lying on his bed. And he looked down, brethren and sisters, and he saw a woman, the record says, washing herself.

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    You know, I've heard it suggested that Bathsheba was displaying herself before David. That she was deliberately drawing this man on. I don't believe that for a moment. But I'll tell you what I do believe. I do believe, brethren and sisters, from this record which is before us here, that it was no ordinary washing that she was undertaking.

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    For we read in verse 4 that when David sent messengers and took her and she came in unto him, he lay with her. And then we read, for she was purified from her uncleanness. And she returned unto her house. Now the statement for she was purified from her uncleanness is a remark in parenthesis.

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    In the structure of the Hebrew, that remark is in parenthesis. And it doesn't mean, brethren and sisters and young people, that she had the audacity to purify herself according to the law, having committed adultery. Although the law specified in the laws of uncleanness, that when a man and a woman had come together, that they should so purify themselves.

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    But the words also are in the past tense. And the Revised Standard Version, I believe, catches the spirit of it when it says, for she was in the act of purifying herself. Now you have a look at this. Here's a king walking on the rooftop, filled in accordance with the specifications of the law, that he might meditate upon the holy and just laws of God to bring the best out in him.

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    And he sees in the next courtyard a woman in the act of purifying herself. And women, of course, regularly had to wash themselves for purification. And the law of Moses, brethren and sisters, when it's specified the cleansing from the issues of the flesh, in every case that had spoke of issues of the flesh, had to do with those parts of the body from which the human race has emanated.

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    And the law was quite explicit on this point, and over and over again made that point, and brought the mind of the true Israelite back to the Garden of Eden. For there in the Garden of Eden was perpetrated that crime, not only the taking of the fruit of the tree, but the opening of the eyes, the inflating of passion, the bringing forth of that man-child of sin, whom John says was of that wicked one, and from whom the whole human race has sprung, so that every one of us has within us the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, and God so inscribed in his law, in the laws of issues of uncleanness, this fact that it sent every mind of the children of Israel back to the Garden of Eden, to the original crime, and David knew all that, teach me wondrous things out of thy law.

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    And here was a woman going through the ritual ceremonial cleansing under the law, which spoke of the evil that men and women commit in unbridled lust. And when we opened this meeting, we sung one of David's psalms. Blessed are they that are undefiled and straight are in thy way. Who in the Lord's most holy law do walk and do not stray.

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    And the undefiled under the law of Moses, brethren and sisters, David wasn't referring to those who were ceremonially undefiled. He knew the point. But the law was just holy and good. And it had in it the elements of grace and truth. And he knew what was indicated by these things better than anybody else in Israel.

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    And he had a mind capable of thinking on these things. And there's a lesson of the brotherhood today. That if a man like that in a moment of idleness on his bed and afterwards walking in the perhaps in the evening cool air with an empty head could be overcome, brethren and sisters, by our very human weakness, where do you think we stand today?

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    And we don't have to see today women washing themselves. We just have to look straight ahead. Anywhere you look doesn't make any difference. Even in a Christadelphian hall don't make any difference. You just got to look straight ahead.

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    And a great warning is contained in this lesson, brethren and sisters, with the sin of David and Bathsheba. But you know, we talk about adultery and murder and we're not going to attempt tonight to blacken David's character any more than the Word of God does. And I'll tell you something else we're not going to attempt to do either.

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    We're not going to attempt to minimize this crime, brethren and sisters, because we want to see it in its fullness. To learn from it. Not that we might gloat over David's weakness, for the Lord Jesus Christ said, he that looketh on a woman in any degree with the sword in his heart is guilty of adultery, hands up the innocent.

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    So we're not here to gloat over him, brethren and sisters. But we're here to learn, and learn we will. And let us take this point first of all. Here is a man that not only committed adultery and premeditated cold-blooded murder, but when you come to understand who he killed and what family he broke up, the crime becomes worse and worse until it horrifies you and chills you to the marriage.

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    For this was no ordinary marriage that he smashed. It was no ordinary marriage, brethren and sisters. And the enormity of this crime is that it was committed against two wonderful people who had evidently settled out in a very harmonious and a very happy married life. And in ages, when a man was permitted, or should I say it was tolerated by God, because of the hardness of their hearts to have more than one wife, this man only wanted one.

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    And that's the tragedy of the situation. And look what David did, brethren and sisters. Who was this Uriah the Higgot? Bathsheba, his wife, her name means daughter of the oath. She was related to the covenant. She was the daughter of the oath. What about Uriah? His name means the flame of Yahweh. He'd been set on fire by Yahweh, brethren and sisters.

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    He was the flame or the light of Yahweh. And he was a Hittite. He'd come out of a nation that was renowned for its sexual immorality. And that Joshua had warned the people about. He was a member of the Canaanites, brethren and sisters, the worshiper of whom was sex. The God that the world today bows down to.

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    He came out of that and became a flame of Yahweh. And he became a true-hearted, sincere, genuine proselyte. So that when David said to him, you go home and sleep with your wife, never on your life. He said, the ark, Joab, and the men of Israel are out in tents. And you think, I'm going to go home and enjoy the comfort of my home.

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    I'd sleep on your doorstep rather than do that. A Hittite, brethren and sisters, were saying that. A Gentile. The flame of Yahweh. So he was a genuine and a sincere proselyte. He had married a girl who was the daughter of one of his brother officers, daughter she was. He had an officer with him.

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    And together they fought the battles of Yahweh and it's perhaps through his companionship with this brother officer that he came into contact with Bathsheba. And that officer is mentioned, as Uriah is mentioned, as being amongst one of the 37 men in David's room who stood head and shoulders above all else. And Uriah the Hittite, brethren and sisters, is in the list of David's mighty men.

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    Joab's not there, but Uriah the Hittite is, and he stands head and shoulders above a lot of other men in Israel. This is the sort of man that David committed that crime against. Not only that, but it's evident from the records also that these two, Bathsheba and Uriah lived in quite good circumstances.

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    They had a very comfortable home because they lived right alongside the palace. And nobody lived right alongside of the palace in a hovel. Not only that, but the very words of Uriah that he would not go home and participate in the comforts of his home showed what he thought of his home. It was a very comfortable home brethren and sisters.

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    And I repeat, there was only one wife in that house. And that was a standing example to many in Israel, who at this time had more than one. Not only that, brethren and sisters, but this girl, Bathsheba, was not only the daughter of one of his officers who fought the battles of Yahweh, but her father, or rather her grandfather, walked around in Israel, and when they looked at him, the record says that whatever he said was almost like the word of God talking.

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    There was a family relationship that her grandfather was looked upon as being the expression of the word of God. And not only that, but we learn from the parable of Nathan, that this marriage in Israel was a notable marriage because everybody looked upon it as being one of the ideal marriages. Because in the parable of the Ulan, which must have been based upon fact, not fiction, Nathan used this very tender term and said that a man had one little Ulan, which he took to him in his bosom, and expressions of great tenderness, brethren and sisters.

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    And it was that home that David smashed to pieces. You see, this is a dreadful thing that had happened. And when you put all those facts together, a Gentile comes out of the world from immorality, it was unspeakable sexual immorality. Comes out of that, comes into Israel, joins the ranks of David's army, so excels in the army that he's exalted to be amongst the first 37 in that room, and there were thousands of them who fought for David.

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    He met one of his, he became friendly perhaps with his officer, through him met his daughter, the daughter of the Oath. He so loved her, brethren and sisters, that he sought no other, he just took one, and she became his wife, and when men around him, all had several wives, Uriah was satisfied to have the one woman, and their marriage became known as being a very tender relationship, and they built a wonderful home next to the palace, and they settled down to live happily ever after,

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    until David walked upon the roof of the king's roof, and he'd forgotten all about the undefiled who walk in the Lord's most holy law, and a moment of idleness when he would have been far better to be out next to Joach, this thought entered into his mind, and he committed adultery. Look at the sixth chapter of Proverbs, brothers and sisters.

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    In the sixth chapter of Proverbs, in verse 32, we read, but whoso committeth adultery with a woman, lack of understanding, he that doeth it destroys his own soul, a wound and dishonor shall he get, and his reproach shall not be wiped away, for jealousy is the rage of man, therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance.

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    whoso committeth adultery, lack of understanding, and David was that king of Israel, brethren and sisters, that was forever writing about the need for understanding, impressing it upon Israel, both in word and in song, impressing them that the understanding of the word opened up the eyes of the simple, but the Proverbs says that he lacked understanding because he committed adultery, and he that commits adultery, commits adultery against his own soul, for they too shall be one flesh.

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    When a man commits adultery, he sins against himself as well as against his God and his fellow man, and this is the enormity of David's crime, and in the second of Samuel chapter 11, when we go back to that record, we see, brethren and sisters, that when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin, and it wasn't long before the message came back into the palace, a desperate message, verse 5, I am with child.

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    Oh, this was a desperate situation, brethren and sisters, her husband had been out on the field for some time, I am with child. What a desperate situation that is. This is not a man who's down the road a bit and can cover it up, this is the king of the world.

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    He's got control virtually of the world. And here's the message, I'm with child. Lust is conceived and has brought forth its result. The law of nature inexorably took its course. And David's court, brethren and sisters, and you know the story as well as I do, in desperation he seeks an avenue of escape.

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    And in this crime of David we're going to see that this was unique in his life because we read in a certain place in the scripture that it says that he followed Yahweh all the days of his life and did that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh except in the matter of Bathsheba.

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    And we know there were other things that David did wrong. What made this so different? Because it was so enormous? Yes. But another factor too, which we will show in a minute, that David did not immediately confess his sin. And furthermore, brethren and sisters, he kept this within himself for a considerable period of time because he didn't know which way to turn.

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    And one crime leads to another and step by step by step because he concealed this thing, because he tried to gloss it over, because he thought the time would heal it. Step by step by step he was led further and further and further down the road until he came to the point of no return and the enormity of all had to come home to him with his father better, brothers and sisters, at the very outset to come out with a matter, but he didn't.

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    He brings Uriah home, sends a letter to Joab, send me back Uriah. Asked him about the battle, how's it going, oh pretty good. Well, alright, that's very well, nice to hear the news, glad to see you're home. You can have some leave if you like, you've been a very good soldier, go home and have some rest and enjoy the comfort of your home.

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    Oh, cut it out. Look, the Ark's out there, David. Evidently they still carried the Ark into battle with a different purpose though. Joab's out there, David. My brother officers are out there. Go home into the circumstances of my house that is renowned in Israel. No, no, I'll sleep with your servants. Darn it.

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    bring him back next night, get him drunk, that's what I'll do, I'll get him drunk. This is David we're talking about, I'll get him drunk. So he plies him with strong drink, until Uriah is really sending him home, but finds next morning he didn't go home. But even though his mind was inebriated, residents and sisters, the integrity of the heart of that Gentile Hittite was a standing rebuke to David, that he just went home and he slept virtually on the doorstep.

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    He wouldn't go home. And step by step, further and further, David thinks what he'll do next. And into his mind comes an individual that he hated. A man that he could never get on with. A man that stood opposite to him, brethren and sisters in all circumstances of life except one. A man that was hard and David was soft.

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    Joab, the son of Zeruiah. And now coming into David's mind is that perhaps Joab can help him. Now could you imagine it? This man that just was incompatible with Joab. At last find, brethren and sisters, in the desperation of the moment, a kindred spirit with Joab. There's a bit of hardness here now.

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    And there's one man that can help him. Look at the track this fellow's on. And so he did a dreadful thing in verse 14. that came to pass in the morning. That David wrote a letter to Joab. A letter to Joab. Fancy giving that man a letter. A letter to Joab. And don't make any mistake about this, brethren and sisters.

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    Joab knew the implications of that letter. And Joab knew the power that he could wield over his Lord through that letter. And he wrung the life out of David over that letter. And he got away with things that no other man on the earth could get away with from that moment onward. And he was the one that was dominating the kingdom before very long.

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    He wrote Joab a letter. And then of all things, he seals it down. And he sent it by the hand of the flame of Yahweh, Uriah. And in the clothes of Uriah was tucked away his own death wife. And he carried that into the battles of Yahweh.

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    And this is David we're talking about, brethren and sisters. Not Ammon, Abner, Ahithophel, or anybody like that. We're talking about David. And there's the flame of Yahweh, eager and anxious to get back to the open fields where his men were, that he might fight the battles of Yahweh. And in his pocket, his own death warrant.

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    And handing that to Joab. And you know the story, Joab just cooling in a very calculating manner, thought, well that's the most difficult part of the world. The fellows up there are valiant men. I've watched this. He would, as a general, brethren and sisters, he had no peer in the land. He knew in the city of Rabar exactly where to send him.

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    They were excellent archers up there. Joab had observed that. And you can imagine that in his tactics he would never go near that wall but now he wants to go near that wall. And he sends up a force up there with Uriah. Uriah is killed. And Joab sends the messenger back to David.

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    And if you want proof that Joab knew the implications of what David had written, look what he told that messenger. You go back, he said, and tell David what's happened. Go and tell him that I sent a force right up under the wall, which was the highest point, where the archers were the best.

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    You go and tell him that. And when you tell him, he'll go off his head. And he'll read the riot after you and he'll talk about Abimelech who was foolish enough to walk up under that wall, says Joab. But a woman, a woman could cast a piece of millstone upon his head and kill him.

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    He'll remind you of that incident. And when he gets in the heat of his anger, you tell him that Uriah's dead. See, Joab knew, he had no need to tell the messenger that. He had no need, brethren and sisters, to recount all the way that David would react. He had no need to do it that way because the messenger would know what Joab was getting at.

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    The messenger would know that there was something between David and Uriah, although he would have no idea just what. The jealousies and rivalries in those days were open and right. And Joab spelled out that messenger in unmistakable terms the implications of that letter. And back he went. He just blurted out the way what all that Job had said.

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    And Uriah hit on his dead also. And Joab says, oh, look, go back and tell Joab, don't let this thing dishearten him. I mean to say, the sword devours one as well as another. Sorry to lose Uriah, but then it could have been anybody else, could have been Joab. I wouldn't be disheartened about it.

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    Tell him to go to the battle again, to reconstitute the battle and be more careful and victory will be ours. Hypocrisy! This follows upon adultery, murder, hypocrisy, in cohoots to one of the cold-bloodest murderers in history is Joab. And now their hand in glove and David and Joab are one for the first time in their existence and for the last.

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    Sin is added to sin, brethren and sisters. And we read at the end of the 2nd of Samuel chapter 11, that she mourned for her husband and then when the morning was past, David sent and fetched her to his house and she became his wife. Did she? Did she, brethren and sisters? She became his wife.

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    That's what he thought. she never became his wife. Oh yes, I'm well aware that Yahweh blessed the offspring of that marriage later on in the birth of Solomon and he loved Solomon, who by the way brought ruin to Israel. But there was, in the words of the scripture, the love of Yahweh expressed towards the birth of Solomon, I believe for a good reason, which we'll see in a moment.

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    But I'm asking the question, did she become David's wife? The scriptures doesn't think so, brethren and sisters. For we learn that when that little baby boy dies, it says in the scripture in chapter 12 and in verse 15, 2nd Samuel 12 and verse 15, it says there, And Nathan departed unto his house, and Yahweh struck the child, but Uriah's wife bear unto David.

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    And it was very sick. Uriah's wife. Oh, but you might say, so she was when they committed adultery, but of course she became David's wife, did she? In the first chapter of Matthew, brethren and sisters, and young people, look at this,

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    in the genealogy of our Lord, these are the words we read. Leaving out the words in italics which form no part of the original scripture, in Matthew 1 and verse 6, we read, And Jesse begat David, the king, and David begat Solomon of her, of Uriah. Now look what Matthew said, that Jesse begat David, the king, and David begat Solomon of her, of Uriah.

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    She never became David's wife at all. Matthew, writing in the New Testament times, brethren and sisters, 14 generations later, says that she belonged to Uriah, and the day is going to come in the resurrection of the dead, when that eternal triangle which Uriah knows nothing about, it's all going to be relived all over again, brethren and sisters.

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    David's not finished with this by a long stretch, and the day is going to come in the judgment seat of Christ, when we're going to see the daughter of the covenant there, Bathsheba, we're going to see the flame of Yahweh there, and we're going to see the beloved there, and there's no doubt in anybody's mind as to whose wife she is, she belongs to Uriah, so says Matthew 1 and verse 6,

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    and David's going to have to face that, not finished with this, brethren and sisters, it's a tremendous issue that's before us, and there's terrific lessons to learn out of this, now David lived with this, king of Israel, he's guilty of murder, he's guilty of collaboration with a cold-blooded man, he's guilty of adultery, he's guilty of smashing one of the finest homes in the nation, he's guilty of hypocrisy, and all these things are in David, brethren and sisters, and they're being suppressed, suppressed, he didn't know what to say to Yahweh, there's only one penalty under the law of Moses for adultery, there's no forgiveness under the law at all, one penalty for adultery, and that was stoning to death, let alone adding murder on top of it, there was never any question of forgiveness under the law of Moses, what could he say, and so he suppressed that, he didn't confess his sin, furthermore he suppressed it for at least nine months, more likely nearer twelve, for it wasn't until the boy was born, that Nathan had to come into him, brethren and sisters, with the horrifying realization, thou art the man, and David of course suppressing this, and what happens when you suppress iniquity, brethren and sisters, and you keep it contained in yourself, and think that time is the factor that's going to heal it, if only I can get time, time is all I need, and of course with us time is all we need, a few days, a few weeks perhaps, depending upon the seriousness of the Christ, why, we come out one day and all is clear, no worries, it's all

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    forgotten but God doesn't forget it, brethren and sisters, and David found that to his utter horror, but in the thirty-second psalm he speaks of the way in which the, but even in this moment of weakness and he would not confess this crime, it had to come, it had to come,

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    and so in the thirty-second psalm we read, blessed is he whose transgressions is forgiven, whose sin is covered, blessed is the man unto whom Yahweh imputes not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile, when I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring, all the day long, for day and night thy hand was heavy upon me, my moisture is turned in the drought of summer, I acknowledge my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid, I said I will confess my transgressions unto Yahweh, and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin, consider that, for this shall everyone that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found, surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him, and there was David's experience brothers and sisters, when I kept silent, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long, and you can imagine them, I suppose you've even felt this way, even physically, so when a man is depressed, and he's tired, and he's bottling up problems and troubles, when he's walking in a way that is not pleasing unto his God, even his bones ache, and he becomes uncomfortable, he twists and turns on his bed at night, his bones are roaring, roaring, roaring all the day long, and he feels the hand of God is heavy upon him, until he knows that he's got to come to that moment of truth, he's got to come right out in the open, and he's got to confess his sins, and David found to his utter amazement, brethren and sisters, that God

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    did forgive him, and he said that this will be, not my example of transgression, that's going to teach us nothing else but to be wary, but God's example in forgiveness, he said, will never be forgotten by those people, the godly people, it will become an outstanding example of God's mercy and grace, that if he can forgive David, he can forgive us, and as Nathan told David, he'd certainly give the enemies of Yahweh great occasion to blaspheme, but Yahweh strength of him, brethren and sisters, has given the Christadelphians great occasion to lift up their heads and rejoice, and to think, well, if he could be in the kingdom, I reckon I might have a chance, and there's great lessons to be learnt from the sin of David, there's no doubt about that, no doubt about that, but let's come back and see what Nathan said to him about this crime, in the second of Samuel chapter 12,

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    Nathan came in with a parable, he says in the first verse of the second of Samuel 12, that he came unto him and said unto him, there were two men in one city, the one rich and the other poor, the rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds, and the poor man had nothing save one little ewe lamb which he had bought and nourished up, and it grew up together with him and with his children, it did eat of his meat and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom and was unto him as a daughter, and he told the story, and as he recounted that story, David, the man whose heart was soft, was lifting to this with growing and mounting anger, and when Nathan related to him, how a rich man had took the little ewe lamb and killed it, because he would not take one of his own blocks, David would have left to his feet and said, that man is worthy of death, but wait a minute, he might have been worthy of death, but the law of Moses didn't prescribe death for that crime,

82. 36:37

    Exodus 22 and verse 1 tells us that when a man stole a lamb, he restored that lamb fourfold, now I want to show you something, well I won't show you, I'll just tell you, because to show you would take me about a half an hour, but I'll tell you something, that's written in the law,

83. 36:53

    in the law of Moses there were two types of crimes, one's called sins, another one's called transgressions, you'll notice in Psalm 32 that David puts transgressions first, trespasses, there's a sin and a trespass, they're different, a sin is something we do which only affects ourselves, and our relationship to God of course, but a trespass is something we do which affects a third party, if we steal from our brother, if we lie about our brother, if we bear false witness concerning our brother, that's a trespass, we have injured a third party, there was no forgiveness for adultery, but adultery in the word of God is considered a trespass of the highest order, and when the children of Israel came back under Ezra and Nehemiah into the land and they'd married strange wives, Ezra pointed out to them that they had committed a trespass, because they were already married to Yahweh, and therefore it involved, in the human analogy, a third party.

84. 38:01

    What David had done, brethren and sisters, was clearly a trespass. Now there was no forgiveness, as I repeat, for adultery and murder, we're not dealing with this in a literal way, but when you committed a trespass in Israel, there were two courses open to you. If you immediately confessed your sin, then the trespass offering was available to you for immediate confession, and then if you had stolen a lamb and you confessed your sin, you would restore that lamb, and the trespass offering said that you would also pay the equivalent of the lamb's price, plus a fifth part, so that all you would lose by immediate confession was the price of that lamb, plus a fifth.

85. 38:47

    But Exodus 22 says that if a man did not confess his crime, and he stole it a lamb, and he was convicted in a judicial court of law, then he had to pay four for it. And David did not confess, until the judge came in, Yahweh, in the person of Nathan, indicted him, and as David stood blazing with anger, that man is worthy of death, he shall restore fourfold, the finger of scorn went out to him, thou art that man.

86. 39:18

    And he was condemned out of his own mouth, and he hadn't confessed, and he paid, brethren and sisters, fourfold. He lost that boy, it wasn't long before he lost Ammon, Absalom followed, and Adonijah followed him, and this boy died, this little boy died before he was seven days old, and the other three died horrible violent deaths, and David paid four files for his crime because he was convicted in a judicial court of law, and what was his crime?

87. 39:51

    We read in verse nine, wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of Yahweh? Verse ten, now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house, because you have despised me. You imagine those words to a sensitive man like David, brethren and sisters, who lived under the shadow of the providence of his God, and who thought the world of his God, and who thought that his God was everything to him, and those words come out of the mouth of Nathan, and they would have gone through him like barbed swords, you've despised the commandment of Yahweh.

88. 40:24

    David, you've despised me, Yahweh, that would have smitten him, look, I don't think we can understand how that would have smitten David, that he was despising the commandment of Yahweh, and he was going to pay, brethren and sisters, or he was going to be forgiven, he was forgiven, but forgiveness doesn't mean that we go off scot-free, oh no, we'll pay for our crimes, brethren and sisters, but ultimately the forgiveness of God will so overlook those things that we will go into the kingdom of God, but it's not in our interest for God just to say indiscriminately I forgive you, you've got scot-free, we don't do, God doesn't do that, forgiveness doesn't mean that, brethren and sisters, the goodness of God and the forgiveness of God is that principle that despite the punishment, the chastisement which comes upon us for our weaknesses in order that we may not do those things again, the goodness of God over and above that is that we should enter into his kingdom, but it's not in your interest or in my interest that we get away with these things scot-free and David didn't, and he paid a heavy penalty for his crime, but no more than it deserved, and the thing that it really deserved was his life, but he never paid that for it, and then we learn here that God, one of the ways in which God was going to punish him was this, verse 11, thus saith Yahweh, behold I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eye, and give them unto thy neighbour, and he shall

89. 41:50

    lie with thy wives in the sight of the sun, for thou did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun, and he did, and David's wives, brothers and sisters, were taken in the sight of all Israel, and a neighbour did that, a neighbour so close that he came out of David's loins, and his own boy took ten or twelve of his concubines in the sight of all Israel, as they might see it, and went into the tent to them, and in the blaze of the sun, God brought the attention of all Israel to that act, and David had done this thing secretly, that's the difference between God and us,

90. 42:37

    when God acts, brothers and sisters, he's never afraid to act out in the open, because there's never any need for him to cover it up, that was a just punishment, more was to come, but then I want you to notice verse 13, and David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against Yahweh, and Nathan said unto David, Yahweh hath also put away thy sin, thou shalt not die, and you know, Paul takes that incident, brethren and sisters, he takes that very incident to propound a doctrine to us, not just a moral principle, he takes that incident to propound a doctrine to the brethren and sisters of Christ, that they might understand what forgiveness of sin means, what the power of God is, brethren and sisters, and how magnificent is our heavenly father, he takes that incident, and in the fourth chapter of Romans, I'd like you to look at this, the apostle shows what was involved in the forgiveness of David,

91. 43:51

    and in the fourth chapter of Romans, and at verse four, we read, now, to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt, but to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness, even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, saying, and he quotes Psalm 32, blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered, now, notice what Paul's saying, brethren and sisters, David describes the blessedness, well, how did he describe the blessedness?

92. 44:28

    Well, blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are covered, but where on earth does Paul get the point that all of this came about because David had done no works, and Paul points out that if we are forgiven by God because we work for God, then we can say to God, well, our forgiveness has been earned because we've worked for it, but he says, David describes the blessedness of the man unto whom the Lord will not impute iniquity, and he does so without works, how does David describe that?

93. 44:58

    Because we've just read about it, now here's David, Nathan's before him and he's saying, thou art the man, you've done so and so and so and so to David, you've done this thing secretly, I'm going to do it in the blaze of the sun, you have despised the commandment of Yahweh, you have despised me, you have sinned, Yahweh has put away your sin, in the same breath, where was the time in between that statement for David to work?

94. 45:23

    There was no time, it wasn't possible brethren and sisters for work to be performed, there was no time for work, and all that David could do was to accept in all humility and faith that what Nathan said was true, could you accept brethren and sisters that God had forgiven you for those crimes?

95. 45:40

    Would you really believe that God had overlooked the crime of cold-blooded premeditated murder, added to adultery, and the smashing of a delightful home in Israel, and a transgression or a trespass against one of the mightiest men in the nation, who was a convert from one of the worst types of people? Could you believe that God had forgiven you?

96. 46:03

    David did, and the mere fact, we might state, of believing was sufficient to impute unto David righteousness without works. There was no time to prepare for works. What did he do? What could he do? Tell me this, what work could David perform to be forgiven? There was none available to him. The law certainly didn't prescribe any, and there was the wonder of his God.

97. 46:30

    There was the wonder of his God. And now, brethren and sisters, we learn that David was a man after God's own heart. And this had been his principle in life. He had forgiven without works. He had let men asked for crimes against him, never considering to take vengeance on them, but had always exercised towards other men the quality of mercy.

98. 46:54

    And brethren and sisters and young people, because David had acted that way, he had built up for himself that bank account, if you like, of mercy, that in the day of judgment which came upon him, he found that Yahweh was a man after his own heart. Or rather, he was a man after Yahweh's heart, and that Yahweh acted like he acted.

99. 47:09

    and he frankly forgave him because of the fact that David believed that he would. And because Yahweh saw into that heart, brethren and sisters, and he saw that a murderer and an adulterer, such as he was, was nonetheless a man, basically, who had those wonderful attributes and qualities that could rise above all these weaknesses and go on and on and on to glory.

100. 47:32

     And you know, in the Psalms, David speaks, in Psalm 18, in this way. He used to speak like this. Here was righteousness imputed without works. Well, in the 18th Psalm, David said, in verse 23, I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity. Therefore, hath Yahweh recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight.

101. 48:13

     So he'd kept the commandments of Yahweh, so that Yahweh hath recompensed him according to my righteousness. But you turn to Psalm 51. Here in Psalm 51, we have a different note, brethren and sisters and young people. We read that the heading of the Psalm, that this was the Psalm of David, when Nathan, the prophet, came unto him after he had gone into Bathsheba.

102. 48:40

     And he says in verse 3, I acknowledge my transgression, and my sin is ever before thee. Against thee, thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. And Paul quotes that in Romans also to show the principle that confession is absolutely necessary to forgiveness.

103. 49:00

     And David, because he was forgiven, says in verse 14, deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. And that's the only righteousness we are capable of getting, brethren and sisters. Because he was made sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

104. 49:23

     And Paul doesn't finish the sentence, he doesn't have to, because you just take the equation. He was made sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. And we can tend the word, who know no righteousness, and neither we do. And when we speak about righteousness, we speak about thy righteousness, as David did in Psalm 51.

105. 49:45

     And David says in verse 16, For thou desirest not sacrifice, else would I give it. What could he give? What did the law ask for? Nothing. He says, The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. And this was the only sacrifice, brethren and sisters, that he was capable of giving.

106. 50:07

     And so the incident was passed. The boy died. And you know the story as well as I do, that David lay prostrate, brethren and sisters, praying fervently for the life of that child. And David knew the grief of mine that it would bring, not only to himself but to Bathsheba. And as that boy, of course, lingered on in his sickness, we read in the 2nd of Samuel chapter 12 and at verse 18, And it came to pass on the seventh day that the child died.

107. 50:38

     And how dramatic, brethren and sisters, is that? It came to pass on the seventh day and you can imagine David pouring his heart out unto God for the life of that child. Pouring his heart out for it. As a soft-hearted, tender-hearted man that he was, knowing what a grief of mine it would have been to that woman.

108. 50:55

     And the boy lingered for seven days and he just got near to the eighth day when he would have been circumcised. It was never to be. And that boy died in the flesh. Oh, we're not suggesting that circumcision saved the child at all. But it was nonetheless a symbol, brethren and sisters, that those children were accepted as being children of parents who were embraced in the Abrahamic covenant of circumcision and he just died one day short of it.

109. 51:24

     And David got the message, washed himself, came to eat, so that his servants were whispering, afraid to tell him the boy had died, thinking it would absolutely kill him. And when he saw them whispering together, knew that the boy had passed away one day short. He knew. And he came out of there and composed himself and they were amazed.

110. 51:45

     But he knew the principle, brethren and sisters. While there was life, there was hope. But that was the answer. What could he say? That God was unjust? No. But the sword was never going to depart out of his house. And there were three boys born to him in Hebron amongst many others. And there were three boys who were going to lose their lives, brethren and sisters, and were going to cause their father great embarrassment and pain, such as children can cause us.

111. 52:13

     And their names were Ammon, Absalom, Adonijah. And Ammon, brethren and sisters, his name means faithful. And he proved to be the exact opposite of that and was unfaithful, not only in his life before God, but in his own family. As his desire towards his half-sister Tamar, the sister of Absalom, was so great, brethren and sisters, that he forced her, he raped the girl, and then sent her out in disgrace, and proved absolutely unfaithful, and brought death upon himself by the hand of Tamar's brother Absalom, and died violently.

112. 52:48

     The sword will never depart out of your house, David. And David's heart was being cut to shreds. Look where this had led him. Absalom. Absalem. The father of peace. And we're going to learn a little bit more about him later on, brethren and sisters. The father of peace, the boy, who grew up to disgrace his father, and brought war into the ecclesia, and who died violently at the hands of Joab.

113. 53:14

     Adon-Aijah. Adon-Yahweh. Adon-Aijah. Yahweh is Lord. And he stood up in Jerusalem at a time when his father was promoting Solomon to the throne, in accordance with the promise he'd made to Bathsheba, and the promise which was made through him. And instead of recognizing that Yahweh was Adon, he said, I want to be Lord.

114. 53:36

     And he forced a division in Israel. And he died violently at the hands of the men of Solomon. The soul will never depart out of your house, David. And neither it did, brethren and sisters. And David had barely closed his eyes in sleep before Adon-Aijah's blood ran away. He'd never departed out of his house.

115. 53:58

     Because he'd broken up that family, his own family, brethren and sisters and young people were shattered. And you know, that's where sin leads us, does it not? You know, all these circumstances of life are brought upon us for our good. And if we succeed in life, it's because God has blessed us. And if we fail in life, it's because of our own stupidity.

116. 54:20

     And I can openly and personally testify to you with all my troubles that are brought upon me. I know why they come upon me. And it's not because I work in the truth. Don't ever think that. Because I can testify in all sincerity that David said that the study of the Word is healthier bones.

117. 54:37

     No, brethren and sisters, the things that get my ulcers working is not effort such as this that we should talk about the Word of God. It's the lack of preparation for that effort. It's the lack of dedication that I've given to it that worries me. It's the things which I do at work that you don't know about that eat me out.

118. 54:53

     And those are the things that bring us to a piece of bread and bring us to the very edge of doom and despair. Never let it be said that the work of the truth does that. Because it doesn't. Because when we find that we can climb above the circumstances of life, when we can forget the present, when we can get down to the Word of God and glean from its pages, we get a strength that we know nothing about and it carries us on the wings of a cloud, brethren and sisters.

119. 55:16

     And we feel, we feel above the problems of life because we are one with God. And all these things came into David's life because he was foolish enough in a moment of idleness and weakness, in a place where he should have been meditating upon the Word of God to forget that there were wonderful things written in the law.

120. 55:35

     And instead of looking at this woman and perhaps turning immediately away and contemplating the laws of uncleanness and realising that God was against this sort of thing and this is why the woman was washing herself instead of thinking that he allowed his mind to be carried away by the lust of the flesh.

121. 55:49

     And all these things, the sword came into his home divided it and carved up his family and cut his own heart to shreds. Oh my son Absalom, Absalom my son, my son Absalom. And these things happened because of him. Nobody else. David brought this on himself, brethren and sisters. And we'll see that in a moment.

122. 56:06

     And this boy Absalom, he gave him the most trouble and brought upon David great despair. Look who he was in the second of Samuel chapter three.

123. 56:17

     Here was one that was raised up that should have been he should have been the pride of his father but he wasn't. And we read in the second of Samuel chapter three that David's second son in Hebron was Piliam of Abigail, the wife of Nabal, the Carmelite. And the third, Absalom, the son of Maacah, the daughter of Talmaah, king of Gesha.

124. 56:43

     So here was a boy, brethren and sisters, that had causing in his veins royal blood from both sides of his family. In his veins caused the royal blood of Judah. But he was the daughter of Maacah and she was the daughter of the king of Gesha. Now Gesha is a little independent kingdom here between Syria and the kingdoms of Zobar.

125. 57:05

     It was a little independent kingdom kept going in this region. And remarkably enough, the region is the Golan Heights. And the Golan Heights, of course, famous for the Six Day War, but this is the region of the king of Gesha. And it was a region, brethren and sisters, noted for its ruggedness and its fierce independence and that was Absalom.

126. 57:25

     And although he had the blood of the royal house of Judah in his veins, he also had causing in his veins the blood of the independent fierce house of the Gentiles. And this boy was to bring the sword into David's house as no other. For he was a great fellow. In the second of Samuel, chapter 14, we read about him.

127. 57:47

     Here's a lesson for our young men. Learn this one. Look at the characteristics of this boy, brethren and sisters. In the second of Samuel 14, in verse 25, we read, But in all Israel there was none to be so much praised as Absalom for his beauty. From the sole of his foot even to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him.

128. 58:10

     And when he pulled or cut his head, for it was at every year's end that he cut it, because the hair was heavy on him therefore he cut it, he weighed the hair of his head at 200 shekels after the king's weight. Oh, he was a beautiful fellow, was Absalom, brethren and sisters and young people.

129. 58:31

     And he had long hair. Not only did he have long hair, but he loved long hair. And it stood him out as being different from all the other fellows. He was lovely. And he cut that hair, brethren and sisters, every year, weighed it, and because we read it was weighed 200 shekels after the king's weight, there were certain weights, you know, there was such a thing as called the shekel of the sanctuary, a special weight in the sanctuary for weighing certain sacrifices and offerings.

130. 59:10

     Here was a king's weight, evidently a certain weight which was kept to weigh publicly. And because it was weighed by the king's weight, we understand from that that when he weighed that hair he published the weight of it. My hair weighed seven pounds.

131. 59:27

     So? And that's the sort of man Absalom was. But let's look a little bit further into his character. We read that he had three sons in verse 27. But you know, brethren and sisters, they never grew to maturity. Because we read that later on that in the record of Samuel that he had these three sons but they never grew to maturity because when he died he had no posterity.

132. 59:53

     He had no posterity to continue his life. And we read in the 18th chapter I think it is of the 2nd of Samuel in verse 18 what he did in order that he might perpetuate his name. And in the 2nd of Samuel 18 and verse 18 we read that now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself a pillar which is in the king's dale.

133. 1:00:19

     For he said, I have no son to keep my name in remembrance. And he called the pillar after his own name. And it is called unto this day Absalom's place. So his three boys evidently never grew to maturity. They must have died at an early age. So that when he grew up of course he realised that time was going on that he had no posterity.

134. 1:00:39

     And so in order that Absalom's great name might be perpetuated and that people might be able to conjure up a picture of his flowing tresses and of no blemish from the crown of his hair to his foot. In order that people might never forget mighty, beautiful, gracious, lordly Absalom. He would erect himself a pillar.

135. 1:00:58

     But look where he erected it. In the king's dale of all places. In the king's dale. You know what the king's dale was? The king's dale brothers and sisters was where Abraham met Melchizedek. And they joined together in covenant relationship. And well Melchizedek blessed Abraham. And Abraham was Abraham. Father of many nations.

136. 1:01:23

     Melchizedek was king of Salem. And here's a man that said I am Ab-Salem. I'm a combination of the two. And my pillar is where they met. I'm a royal priesthood. I'm a true son of Abraham. And if ever there was a child of a serpent there was one. And that's the sort of thing that Absalom was for his own and sisters.

137. 1:01:48

     He also had a daughter. And he called her name Tamar because it was Tamar his sister that Ammon had fought. And Tamar was a beautiful girl evidently like her brother. But not like Abigail. She probably didn't have any brains. But she was evidently as beautiful as her brother and he called her Tamar because he loved his sister because she was beautiful too.

138. 1:02:09

     Because the word Tamar means upright. It's a word for a palm tree actually. Not that Tamar looked like a palm tree but the word Tamar means upright as a palm tree. And so these were wonderful girls according to the flesh. And these are the things that commended Absalom to the people. These are the things brothers and sisters that commended Absalom to the people.

139. 1:02:31

     And he grew very powerful because of his good looks. And not only women but men were swept off their feet by him. And perhaps there were those in Israel too who wanted to emulate him. And today we have the same things in our midst today. Make no mistake about that. It's no laughing matter when we talk about this man with long hair.

140. 1:02:50

     No laughing matter at all brothers and sisters. We're laughing at our soul. We've got the same thing in our midst today. Our young people forever wanting to be like the idiots and the fools outside the ecclesia. Who get on the radio with their blooming guitars and try and make themselves sound as horrible as they possibly can with tremendous success.

141. 1:03:08

     And here's our young people trying to emulate that. In some quarters I've seen it done. And they get this fleshly aspect thinking that this is the criteria for glory. This is what Absalom thought, brothers and sisters. And he plotted against his father. But what a vain young fellow he was as he went through Israel.

142. 1:03:27

     Look at the damage that he'd done. 20,000 people lost their lives with this idiot. Oh, he was beautiful all right. In the eyes of the flesh. Now listen briefly his history because I want to bridge a bit of history here. Ammon his brother forced his sister Tamar so he organised a little party and got his brothers to kill him which they did.

143. 1:03:46

     Which of course was brought to David's attention and Absalom fled for his life to Geshe up here in the north east of Israel. And he was up there for a full three years until we learn in the second of Samuel chapter 14 a rather peculiar thing happened.

144. 1:04:07

     Very peculiar thing happened. Now Joab the son of Zeruiah perceived that the king's heart was towards Absalom. Joab of all people perceived that the king's heart was towards Absalom. He could see that David had exiled his son because of course he'd committed murder. He'd murdered one of his brethren. But Joab could see that David's heart was towards Absalom.

145. 1:04:26

     Now I don't believe that Joab was moved brethren and sisters by any aspect of emotion. It was beyond Joab. He was a machine. But I believe that he saw David's heart towards Absalom and thought well I can sort of get in good here and so he intrigued with a woman from Tekoa and he sent her with a message to David with a little message how there was family strife and they were now going to kill her only son and shouldn't he have mercy extended to him and David said of course he should because she said what about your boy?

146. 1:04:52

     And he said the hand of Joab's in this. And Joab and Absalom at this date were friends. And so the cocky Absalom came home but still his father wouldn't see him and he sent him into his own house and there he was in his own house for two years and the king would not see him face to face.

147. 1:05:13

     So he went to Joab and said listen this is no good to me I might as well be up there. I'm in disgrace amongst my own brethren. I don't like this and you can imagine that this would really chafe on a man like Absalom. Why should I be in disgrace? Why should I?

148. 1:05:28

     Mind you I'm not like Absalom. But you could imagine him couldn't you you know well what's all this about? I shouldn't you know I should not be in disgrace. Joab Joab listen I want you to see my father. Oh says Joab look I've had enough I've done all I can I've brought you home.

149. 1:05:44

     Oh alright so Joab goes home. So this cocky upstart Absalom he went and set light to Joab's field. A dangerous thing to do. That was a dangerous thing to do brethren and sisters and young people but it shows that there was such an affinity between Joab and Absalom that struck up this affinity that Absalom dared to do this as much as Joab dared to go to the kingdom and bring him back.

150. 1:06:08

     There was a strange affinity between these two men. It didn't last very long but for the moment there's this affinity that you be set to light to Joab's field so Joab comes in blazing with him. What do you think you're doing? Well I want to see him with dad. You reckon he wouldn't go?

151. 1:06:20

     Get there. So Joab came and told David and the king kissed Absalom. We read at the end of chapter 14. And so Absalom's restored the favor of brethren and sisters. And then he prepares the revolt. And we read it that it came to pass after this that Absalom prepared him chariots and horses and 50 men to run before him.

152. 1:06:42

     And you can imagine him coming down driving in his chariot with his 50 men running before him. Prepare the way for Absalom. And everybody sort of bowing and scraping and his hair blowing in the breeze as he drove his royal steeds down the street with his 50 men preparing the way before him.

153. 1:06:56

     And this vain fellow, brethren and sisters, son of the king was preparing to overthrow his own father. And Absalom rose up early and stood beside the way of the gate. Beside the way of the gate. The word means, the word beside, means aside, a side road. And what was happening was this, that we believe, brethren and sisters, from inferences in the 41st Psalm, which was written about this occasion, that David was sick.

154. 1:07:23

     We learn that David speaks about a man on his sick bed and his enemies plotting against his life and that God would raise him up to help and strength again to handle the situation. So that David had grown sick. The sin of Bathsheba lay heavily upon him, brethren and sisters, he was never the same man and they found that the judgment of the gate, where the king used to exercise, was not always what it used to be.

155. 1:07:44

     And Absalom with his chariot driving down the street, these 50 men would go up the side road that led, that went off of the road that led to the way of the gate. And as men were walking up this road leading to the gate, he was down a side road and he would call to them and say, verse 3, see thy matters are good and right, but there is no man deputed of the king to hear thee.

156. 1:08:07

     Absalom said moreover, oh, that I were made a judge in Israel, that every man which had any suit or cause might come unto me and I would do him justice. As Absalom called them as they went past the side road, oh, brother, your causes are right. He didn't even know what they were.

157. 1:08:24

     I know that you're a just man. Look, I agree with you. Have you got any grievance? But look, you know what? There's nobody been deputed to hear your case. How do they know? And you see, I believe up this side road from where he called them off the way as they were going up there, thinking that he was a representative of the king, that he was telling them that their particular case couldn't be heard that day.

158. 1:08:44

     The king hadn't even considered it worthy of the hearing. But I know you're right. I don't know what it's all about. But you're right. And so he called them. He said, oh, look, if you made me a judge in Israel, oh, I'd do justice. You would get justice. And it was so that when any man came nigh to him to do him a basin, he put forth his hand and took him and kissed him.

159. 1:09:05

     So as they came towards Absalom, he called them off the way. They would immediately get off their chariots or their mules, whatever they were riding. Or if they were walking, they would come to him and they would go to bow down. Oh, no, look, don't do that. And he would bring them to him and he would kiss them.

160. 1:09:17

     After all, said and done, we don't want to stand on any ceremony. There's no class distinction here. I'm a communist. You see, he was all for the people. He was all for the people and he stole the hearts of the children of Israel. Look what it says at the end of verse 6.

161. 1:09:34

     He stole the hearts of the men of Israel. And that word men in the Hebrew is enosh. Worthless, sickly, weak men of Israel and they're the hearts he stole.

162. 1:09:48

     Do you know what he did? He went to David. Verse 7. And it came to pass after 40 years, the reading should we believe be four years, that Absalom said unto the king, I pray thee, let me go and pay my vow which I have vowed unto Yahweh in Hebron. So in verse 9, the king said unto him, go in peace.

163. 1:10:09

     So he arose and he went to Hebron. He went to Hebron. He went to Hebron. Now you know, make a note of that. And you know what he did, brothers and sisters? He went to Hebron and he took 200 men with him who didn't know why they were going. He sent spies throughout the land of Israel and he intrigued among the nations and he was bringing men to him, to Hebron.

164. 1:10:36

     Why did he go to Hebron? I believe there were several reasons why he went to Hebron. One, he was born there. Two, probably they were a bit peeved because David had moved the capital from Hebron to Jerusalem. I say probably that is the case. Three, Hebron was not very far from a place called Gilon and that's where Ahithophel was living.

165. 1:10:57

     So Hebron suited his purpose admirably. Hebron as we pointed out means fellowship. And David went to Hebron, brothers and sisters to be made king over all Israel and he brought fellowship with the nation. And who was opposing him? Abner the son of Myr who was determined to keep Israel in two camps. Where was he?

166. 1:11:13

     He was at Mananaim up in the eastern side of the river George which means two camps. And when the conspiracy grew and grew and people flocked to Absalom and David heard, David fled from Jerusalem. And where do you imagine he went? He went to Mananaim. And there was fellowship in Israel on the basis of good looks and long hair and vanity and vexation of spirits.

167. 1:11:36

     And there were once again two camps in Israel. And whose fault was it? Whose fault was it, president and sister? Well I'll tell you whose fault it was. It was David's fault and nobody else's. And this upstart here wasn't his fault. The blame, the full responsibility for being two camps in Israel rested heavily upon the shoulders of David.

168. 1:11:59

     And what a tragedy in the cycle of history. But here is Absalom in Hebron and David in Mananaim. And the cycle had been reversed and they were once again. Two camps. Why? Because a man lost control of himself. Because he forgot the power of the word of God. And because one sin had led to another.

169. 1:12:19

     And because inexorably he was led through the greatest crimes of history. And brought disgrace on himself, upon the nation, and upon his God. And now there were two camps. And this is what always happens in the truth, president and sisters. The vision is always the result of somebody somewhere along the line going wrong.

170. 1:12:39

     And doing those things which are not pleasing in God's sight. And so the revolt grew and grew and grew. And now we're going to have to be quick. And just to point out a few factors of what went on on this occasion. You know it's a tragedy as we come back to that 2 Samuel chapter 15.

171. 1:12:58

     But in verse 11 we read that with Absalom went 200 men out of Jerusalem that were called and they went in their simplicity and they knew not anything. And Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilemonite. Ahithophel the Gilemonite. Who was Ahithophel brothers and sisters? Well let me tell you a little bit about Ahithophel and see what we can learn from Ahithophel.

172. 1:13:22

     We've got some tremendous characters before us in the record of David and here's another one. Look at the lesson we learned from Absalom. Now let's learn something from Ahithophel. Ahithophel his name means brother of folly. And the word folly comes from a root word meaning to smear. And that's exactly what he did to David.

173. 1:13:40

     He commenced a smear campaign against David. But Ahithophel brothers and sisters was not always like that because Ahithophel was that man in Israel the grandfather of Bathsheba that when men pointed to him in the 16th chapter of the second of Samuel in verse 23 we read the counsel of Ahithophel which he counseled in those days was as if a man had inquired at the oracle or as the margin says at the word of God.

174. 1:14:10

     So when you spoke to Ahithophel you were talking to the word made flesh. This is why they considered him in Israel. And not only that but in Psalm 55 we believe David speaks of him here. Look what sort of man he was.

175. 1:14:29

     And in Psalm 55 David speaks of him. And here in this Psalm David says in verse 12 For it was not an enemy that reproached me then I could have borne it. Neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me then I would have hid myself from him. But it was thou.

176. 1:14:56

     A man mine equal. My guide. Mine acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together. And walked under the house of God in company. That's the sort of man he was brethren and sisters. David's guide. His counsellor. They walked into the ecclesia together. Talking about the truth. And Ahithophel feeding David as he's called in the first of Chronicles chapter 27 and verse 33.

177. 1:15:24

     The king's counsellor. Feeding David the word of God. Bolstering David up and talking about the beauties of the kingdom. What had gone wrong? What had gone wrong to a man of that nature?

178. 1:15:36

     The worst was brought out of him brethren and sisters when somebody disgraced his family. And into the ecclesia he came with David. Took his seat in the temple of God with David. Worship Yahweh of armies before the mercy seat with him. Spoke to the beauties of God's word and everything else. But there was one thing in the ecclesia that meant more to David than anything else in life and that was his family relationships.

179. 1:16:02

     And if there's one thing that I detest above many other things in the ecclesia of God it's family relationships that are based upon other things than that of the truth. And Ahithophel forgot the lesson which was the Lord Jesus Christ later on brought out so powerfully. Here's my mother and my brethren and my sisters.

180. 1:16:26

     Here they are. They're all here. And Ahithophel forgot that and he was as if someone had spoken to him as if the word of God taught him. But in his heart there was one thing that dominated above all. And I could imagine him brethren and sisters going to the home of Uriah the Hittite and Bathsheba.

181. 1:16:46

     I can imagine him going to their home with other members of the family and congregating together and talking over the things of God and the aged grandfather. You know the seal of the family, the sage of the family talking about the truth of the family. And this meant more to him than anything else in life.

182. 1:17:02

     And when David had brought that family in disgrace he stood up before Ahithophel and said I want him, I want him, I want him, I'll kill him. I'll kill him he said what had gone wrong? Nothing. There was something basically wrong with that man all his life. And the truth brethren and sisters hadn't got right down deep inside of him and rid of all those things in that flesh that were abhorrent to God.

183. 1:17:26

     And when he was touched at that weak point it came out of him like a poison. And it poisoned the whole nation. Until David went out of Jerusalem and he heard the message Ahithophel is with them. Ahithophel. Ahithophel. Ahithophel. And David knew brethren and said that this man was a good counsellor. He said let God turn his counsel to foolishness and God did turn it to foolishness.

184. 1:17:50

     He did turn it to foolishness. And the counsel that Ahithophel gave was good counsel so we learn from the word of God. And Hushai's counsel which was in opposition to him was poor counsel but Hushai's counsel prevailed because God was with him. And he brought the downfall of Ahithophel. And if you want proof that Ahithophel was eaten out with pride you don't need any more proof than this.

185. 1:18:11

     There was a man who could hear that his counsel had not been followed. Do you know Ahithophel that your counsel was defeated today? They're not going to follow it. What? My counsel's not being followed. The aged grandfather in Israel. My counsel not being followed. My counsel. And he went and hung himself. Now there's proof positive of the thing that was eating that man out.

186. 1:18:34

     Pride, brethren and sisters. Pride was eating him out. He was master of his family. Great grandfather in Israel. Yeah, sure. He was David's counsel and everything else with it. Yeah, sure. But pride had eaten him right out. And when the finger of God had touched his weak spot it brought it all out of him and he wanted to kill David.

187. 1:18:56

     A man that took sweet counsel together with him and walked in company in the house of God. What a dreadful thing. And I'm going to finish this study, brethren and sisters, by a brief consideration of the second of Samuel 15 as we go out of Jerusalem with David. Just a few little points here.

188. 1:19:11

     Pity we have to leave him there but this is a beautiful chapter and we learn here how David went out of his city. And we pick him up in verse 14. And David said unto all his servants that were with him at Jerusalem, Arise, let us flee. See in verse 13 he got the message, the hearts of the men of Israel are after Absalom.

189. 1:19:31

     Now brethren and sisters it says immediately, now notice this, it says David said Arise, let us flee. Why did he say that? Because I'm going to tell you something. In this record it becomes palpably obvious when you consider this record that David had no need to flee that city. He had no need whatsoever to flee that city.

190. 1:19:50

     Politically, strategically, and in a military way he had no need to flee that city. The whole of the land was behind him except for the conspiracy in Hebron. It says when he left that all the country wept. Not only that but the core of Absalom's army were 200 Enoshes, weak and sickly men.

191. 1:20:13

     David still had surrounding him 600 giants who could have squashed Absalom's revolt in two seconds flat. And David was perched on the hill of Jebus. Absalom had not minded buckling for getting into that city. And yet it says that David said to the riot and let us flee. Why on earth did he do that?

192. 1:20:33

     And no one in that nation could understand him because he went down the valley of the Kidron and made his way up the slopes of Olivet. It says that all the country wept with a loud voice. Why? Because they knew this was not only a tragedy, a personal tragedy to David, but why should he leave?

193. 1:20:48

     You know why he left? Read verse falling again. And David said unto his servants that were with him at Jerusalem, Arise and let us flee, for we shall not escape from Absalom. Make speed to depart, lest he overtake us suddenly, and bring evil upon us, and smite the city with the edge of the sword.

194. 1:21:08

     Now David knew that Absalom never had the power to do that. Now I've got proof of that in the word of God. Because when Joab and Abishai and Itaah and Philistine went out to fight with Absalom, David stood at the gate of Mananaim and said, deal gently with the young man. He knew full well that Joab would lick him.

195. 1:21:28

     He knew that Joab was no match with that fellow. But you see the thing that worried David was, he will bring evil upon us. And in the Hebrew, brethren and sisters, it literally means he will drive the calamity over us. What calamity? The sword will never depart out of your house. And David wasn't concerned with the weakness of Absalom, nor with the strength of Joab in his own position.

196. 1:21:51

     As soon as he heard the heart of the men of Israel, after Absalom, all he could think, brothers and sisters, was that this was it. He will drive the calamity over the top of us. What calamity? The calamity predicted by Nathan. And he went out in a position of strength that left Jerusalem.

197. 1:22:07

     Just left it, just like that. In years gone by, he would have laughed that rebellion to scorn. And probably sent Joab down there with Abishai's brother, just the two of them. And they would have handled the whole situation. But not now, brethren and sisters. He knows that there's a power going out against him he can't handle.

198. 1:22:24

     And as he made his way out of that city, briefly I've got to tell you the story, as he made his way out of there, some remarkable things happened. They went to a place afar off, the house of the distance, it's the name of a place actually. They walked outside of the city walls in verse 17, they stopped at a house of the distance, evidently just outside the city walls.

199. 1:22:41

     And outside those city walls, men came to him. And you can see when you read the record, the position of strength that David was in, as the might of the nation came to him. He had no need to flee that city. And we read that the Kerasites and the Pelasites, Gentiles, came to him.

200. 1:22:55

     And the 600 men we read in verse 18, which came after him from Gath, passed on before the king, the old brigade, brethren and sisters, the mighty men, the mighty 600 who followed him in all his temptation, and had been brought to positions of honour in the kingdom, still with him, still that old faithful brigade, surrounding David, chasing their minds and thinking to themselves, oh let's have a go.

201. 1:23:16

     But no, David is saying, let's go out, let's get away, he'll drive the calamity over the top of us. And then there came out a wonderful man, Itai, in verse 19. Itai the Gittite. And do you know who Itai the Gittite was? He was a Philistine chief who had recently come into the truth.

202. 1:23:33

     David speaks in verse 20 as if it was yesterday. Where else thou cameest but yesterday? And we read that he was a stranger and an exile in the end of verse 19. Itai the Gittite, brethren and sisters, a Philistine chief who had recently come into the truth. He was a stranger in Israel and an exile from his own country.

203. 1:23:50

     And David said to him, look Itai, this is not necessary. This is outside the walls of Jerusalem. This is not necessary, Itai. Look, you've just come into the truth. Don't enter into ecclesial politics here. That's not your position to worry about that. You get down and God will show you mercy and truth.

204. 1:24:05

     Note the words. Mercy and truth he will show him. In other words, go back and learn the foundation principles of Israel and get down to the political division between me and Absalom. It's got nothing to do with you, Itai. You've got no need to come. Where my Lord goes, I go. In death or life there will never be division between you and me, David.

205. 1:24:26

     And David stood out of his way and he passed on with all his little ones. And when Joab, the son of Zeruiah, went out with a third of the army against Absalom and Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, went out with another third of the army, who brought the next third up? Itai the Philistine.

206. 1:24:44

     Such was that man, the character of that man. Only a few days have it been the truth. But such was his character. And all the country wept. And David, we read in verse 23, passed over the brook Kidron. Beyond where Kidron's waters flow, behold the suffering saviour go. You know, brethren and sisters, it's a remarkable fact.

207. 1:25:03

     There are only two historical incidents in the record of the truth involved in the valley of Kidron. That's when David went out of that city in tragedy, and sorrow, having been betrayed by the friend who lifted up his heel against him, and when the Lord Jesus Christ did likewise. And the two great men, David and his greatest son, brethren and sisters, went that tragic journey down the valley of the Kidron.

208. 1:25:25

     And as he went out, wonderful things happened, and great detail is recorded here. He sees a buyer that come out, and Zadok, and they're bearing the ark of God, as if they say, well look, David just belongs to you. And David turns around and says, look, the ark, why, you don't understand. Take it home.

209. 1:25:41

     You don't understand what's going on here. I'm an exile, not because of Absalom. He's got nothing to do with this. That's the presence of God you're bringing here. Don't you understand that I'm being driven from the presence of God? Take that back. You don't understand. It's God that's driving me up. You take that back.

210. 1:25:59

     And if his face shines upon me, I'll come back to it. If not, well then let him do whatever he wishes. And they took the ark back into Jerusalem. And as he went up the Mount of Olives, barefoot we read in verse 30, he learns the message that Ahithophel is among the conspirators.

211. 1:26:14

     And immediately, brethren and sisters, he comes to the top of the mount and he prays unto God where he was wont to pray in times gone by. And evidently David was a hallowed spot as far as David was concerned, the top of Olivet, which overlooked the city of Jerusalem. And quite often David would have gone there as the record indicates and prayed unto God.

212. 1:26:29

     And as he gets to that vital spot on the top of Olivet, overlooking the valley of the Kidron, and the city of Jerusalem, he learns that Ahithophel is among the conspirators. But immediately, Hushai the Archite comes up to him. Running out of the city, Hushai the Archite, and who was he? Why? He's merely called in the record the king's friend.

213. 1:26:48

     But he was a friend indeed, brethren and sisters. And do you know what the verse of Scripture that says he was the king's friend? The first of Chronicles 27 verse 33, the same verse that says that Ahithophel was his counsellor. And there were two men who were friends of David. And Ahithophel betrayed him.

214. 1:27:06

     And Hushai stuck with him at the very end. And it's evident from this record, brethren and sisters, that Ahithophel was either physically handicapped, which I don't believe, or he was an old man. And I do believe he was old. For David said, look, if you come with me, you'll be a burden to me.

215. 1:27:20

     And I think it's quite dramatic that David, Hushai, didn't meet him until he went to the top of Olivet, evidently because he found great difficulty to catch up with the company. But he caught them at the top of Olivet where David was praying. And as David got the message, Ahithophel's with him, he turned around, Oh, how are you, Hushai?

216. 1:27:36

     He lost one friend, but he stuck with another. And he sent him back. And it was Hushai's counsel. It was poor counsel. But God was with it. And he overcome the conspiracy. And as David passed on, brothers and sisters, he got over the brow of Olivet and Ziba, the servant of Mephibosheth, came to him and told a blatant lie about Mephibosheth to gain for himself material possession.

217. 1:27:58

     And as he went further on in Ba'hirim, just as they went down to the slopes towards Jericho, a man came out of Ba'hirim, one of the family of Saul, a man called Shimei, a man whose name means famous. And he went across the hill with David. And his name was a little lower than him.

218. 1:28:12

     And as he went along, he was calling out to him, Go on, go out, go on, get out, get out, you man of blood, you man of worthlessness. Yes, it's come upon you, hasn't it? Yes, all this evil's come upon you. Get out, get out, go on, get out, picking up stones, throwing him at David and following him down the valley.

219. 1:28:29

     And Abishai says, let me across that valley. Let me across that valley. And David says, what have I to do with you, oh you sons of Zeruiah? A formula in the word of God which means we've got nothing in common. When the Lord Jesus Christ spoke to his own mother, what have I got to do with you?

220. 1:28:46

     When she said something which was in opposition to the word of God, we've got nothing in common, mother, on this issue. And they had nothing in common either. He said, look Abishai, you don't understand, nobody understands, that man's been sent by Yahweh. I deserve that. And with his head covered, no shoes on his feet, he continued on his way down the valley of the Jordan and came to the fords of Jordan and encamped for the night.

221. 1:29:10

     And such is the record, brethren and sisters, of the mighty king of Israel going out of that city. And we leave him on that note, perhaps we'll take this up in about 12 months time or thereabouts. And we leave him on that note as he goes out of that city. But as we do so, let us remember the principles involved in that man's life.

222. 1:29:26

     Yes, he had sinned in the matter of Bathsheba and he was accepting all the responsibility for which that crime had brought upon him. Leaving that city in circumstances of great tragedy and sorrow. But he was to return, brethren and sisters. He was to return but he was never the same man. And you know the kingdom ran down under David after that, simply because he could never exercise the justice that he should have done so because of one factor, that he himself had so sinned that he could not exercise the justice that he knew he should exercise.

223. 1:30:00

     And so in his last words he said, He that ruleth over men must be just. Ruling in the fear of God. God said, that my house is not saved. And he could see, brethren and sisters, that in the circumstance which had overtaken him and his own weaknesses, that he could not do that.

224. 1:30:21

     But speaking of the coming Messiah, he said, but when he comes he shall be as the light of the sun after a night of rain in which it revivifies the earth. And righteousness will spring out of the earth because of the effects of the sun of righteousness. And here it is that will exercise justice in the fear of God.

225. 1:30:37

     God. And David knew, brethren and sisters, that for all the glory that had passed over him, for all the wonderful promises that had been given to him, that he couldn't do that. And he had to wait like we all got to wait. For the realisation of all our hopes and aspirations. For the thing which is all our salvation and all our desire, brethren and sisters, we can't do anything about bringing it to pass.

226. 1:30:57

     And we've all got to wait like David got to wait for his greater son. And when he comes, may it be, brethren and sisters, and young people, that we'll be joined with David in fellowship at Hebron, with the fathers of Israel, as well as in Zion and all other places of the land, to speak with him of all that we've been speaking about in these last few days, and to relive those times again, and to learn the wonderful lessons of life, and to be associated with David forevermore, and to lift up our voices in singing with psalms that possibly he will compose.

227. 1:31:26

     And what greater joy could we look forward to than that joy? And may it be that the studies which we've had together, the moral lessons which have been spelled out to you, brethren and sisters, may have dwelt in all our hearts by faith, may it be that we shall strive to emulate the character of David, that it could be said of us that we're people after God's own heart.

228. 1:31:44

     the character the the