Surviving Drama

Welcome to our Women's Bible Study on the book of 2 Samuel, which we've called The Reigning King. There is a study guide that accompanies this study. It's on the back table. It's in the bookstore. If you're watching online, you can order it from ccontario.com. You might want to turn to page four because I did a few fill-in-the-blank things there to help you follow along with this introduction. So we're pretty excited for this sequel. I call 2 Samuel the sequel to 1 Samuel. It's like when you're watching a series or something and there's a season ender and you're like, I have to wait. I have to wait a whole year to find out what happens. And really this is the sequel to 1 Samuel. The two books of 1 and 2 Samuel really are one continuous book, but they've been broken into two parts. And I think brilliantly broken into two parts because it does feel like a season closer and then an opener again, right where this has been broken up. We called the book of 1 Samuel, The Reigning, or excuse me, The Coming King. And the book of 2 Samuel, we called this The Reigning Thing, The Reigning King. I can't even talk because this combined study is really could be called The Life of David. This is really focused on David. He is the central figure in 1 and 2 Samuel. And the central concept in 1 and 2 Samuel is covenant, God's covenant, God's promises. So let's first talk about the central figure, David. He's not only a prominent figure in Samuel, but David is a prominent figure in all of the Bible. In the Old Testament, there are 62 chapters that either narrate or reference David, 62 chapters. And then when you move to the New Testament, there are 59 references to David in the New Testament, more than any other Old Testament character, more than Abraham, more than Moses. And so David, we can see really is a central figure in all of the Bible. But this study, the book of 2 Samuel is going to cover about 40 years on our timeline from the end of Saul's reign to roughly the end of David's life, those 40 years. In fact, let me show you in 2 Samuel 5, 4, it says David was 30 years old when he began to reign and he reigned over Israel for 40 years. And that is what we're going to study is those 40 years. And what we're going to do is we'll observe the life of a king, we will observe the personal life of a man, and we'll also observe the spiritual life of a psalmist. Now, I said the central concept of the books of 1 and 2 Samuel was covenant, God's promises. Over and over, we are meant to observe a covenant God who makes covenant promises to a covenant king through whom he will bless and preserve his covenant people. I want to give you a for example, when we get to 2 Samuel chapter 7, listen to these words in verse 16, God says to David, and your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me, your throne shall be established forever. That is a promise that God makes to David, but that's not the end of it because we just had Christmas. And when we have Christmas, we like to read through the narratives of Jesus's birth. And so I want to show you also in Luke, it's Luke 1 31, what the Lord said to Mary,

There's a covenant here, covenant promises that carry through the word and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom, there will be no end. And so we remind ourselves that Jesus Christ is the true reigning king who is to come. We're calling David the reigning king in this study, but Jesus, our Messiah is the true reigning king. And this is an example of why in women of the word, we move back and forth every season from old Testament to new Testament is to discover these things because every page of the old Testament informs us of history that points us to Jesus the Messiah in the new Testament. And every page in the new Testament has a foundation in the old Testament because the Bible is one continuous story of God's plan of redemption, God's work of redemption. And so it all fits together. Well, last season, when we studied first Samuel, we had a much more interesting introduction to that because as you study first Samuel, you right away, you hit Hannah, this woman who was barren, who was distressed, who needed the Lord's help and God met her and God gave her Samuel and we loved Samuel. We thought the boy Samuel was just wonderful. And so we had this warm opening to first Samuel that had all the fields. And now we open second Samuel and there's war and there's confrontation and there's death and there's no warm fuzzies. And I thought they're not going to come back except I know my girls and I know they will come back because they know God's word is exactly as it is meant to be. And I'm excited to go through these 25 chapters with you. We're going to discover familiar things. For example, in first Samuel, we have the familiar story of David and Goliath. Everyone knows David and Goliath, even if they don't know their Bible, they know David and Goliath. Now in second Samuel, we have the other story, David and Bathsheba. Everyone knows David and Bathsheba, even if they don't know their Bible. So we do have familiar stories, but we'll have unfamiliar things that will hit us. For example, if I told you that there was a king between Saul and David, you would say, really? But there was, and you'll discover it this week in your lesson. If I told you that when David's son Absalom rose up against his father to take the nation away from him and he had a commander, once Absalom died, David went and hired that commander for himself, you would say, that doesn't sound smart. But he did. So there's some unfamiliar things that we're going to discover. Now this is going to be a verse by verse study, but I can't say all of the 694 verses when I teach. So what this means is when you do your study guide, you will study every single verse of second Samuel. But as I teach, I will condense and highlight a few things. So I just want you to know that. And then the last thing that I want to say is that before we, when we studied first Samuel, we had lessons each week, which I called lessons on leading. I think you really enjoyed those. We will do the same thing through second Samuel. Every week in your study guide, we'll have lessons on leading that you can discuss in your groups. Now, not every woman considers themselves a leader or an influencer, but I want to remind you once again, if you are a mother, you are an influencer. If you're a teacher, either professional or not, you are a leader. You are an influencer. If you are a coach, if you are a boss, if you are really a peer in a team that works together, if you are my age or older, you're an older woman and you are an influencer. So suddenly almost everyone in this room realizes I am a leader. I am a leader. So lessons on leading are relevant to me. So what we're going to do this morning is we're going to jump right in and use chapter one as our introduction. You can open up your Bibles to second Samuel chapter one, and we are going to begin to look at all of chapter one together. Verse one says, after the death of Saul, and this is our time stamp. This is what I mean about a great place to break these two into two books. When David had returned from striking down the Amalekites, David remained two days in Ziklag. And on the third day, behold, a man came from Saul's camp and his clothes torn and dirt on his head, which was a sign of distress or mourning. And he came to David. He fell to the ground and he paid homage. Verse three, David said, where do you come from? And the man said, well, I have escaped from the camp of Israel. And David said to him, well, how did it go? Tell me. And he answered the people fled from the battle. And also, many of the people have fallen and are dead, and Saul and his son Jonathan are also dead. And then David said to the young man, How do you know that Saul and his son Jonathan are dead? And the young man said, Well, by chance I happened to be on Mount Gilboa, and there was Saul leaning on his spear, and behold, the chariots and the horsemen were close upon him. And when he looked behind me, he saw me, and he called to me, and he said to me, Who are you? And I answered, I am an Amalekite. And he said, Stand beside me and kill me, for anguish has seized me, and yet my life still lingers. So I stood beside him, and I killed him, because I was sure that he could not live after he had fallen. And I took the crown that was on his head, and the armlet that was on his arm, and have brought them here to my Lord. All right. Now, we don't know why this man was in the battle. He was an Amalekite. He was not an Israelite. He could have been a mercenary that had hired himself to the Israelite army, but it sounds fishy. But he did have Saul's crown. He was there. Obviously, he had these items. And clearly, he thought that he was bringing these items to their rightful owner. He thought he was bringing good news to David. Probably the problems between Saul and David had been well-publicized throughout the whole area for many years. And so in his mind, your enemies, you're going to be happy about this. And so this story that we start 2 Samuel with is completely different than the story we ended 1 Samuel with, where it said in verse 4, 31-4, Saul took his own sword and fell upon it. So which one is it? Did Saul fall upon his own sword, or did the Amalekite kill him, as it says in this narrative? It's somewhat uncomfortable when we read the Bible and we find two different stories, and we're left to ponder it and think it through. But for me, the explanation is very simple. And that is there's a high likelihood that the Amalekite is simply lying about this. I've always had trouble trusting Amalekites. I don't know about you. But it does not seem likely to me that if Saul did not want to be killed by a Philistine, that an Amalekite was any better. So I think that this is a fabricated story by this man. Let's see what David does, verse 11. And then David took hold of his clothes and tore them, and so did all the men who were with him. And they mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Saul, and for Jonathan his son, and for the people of the Lord, and for the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword. Verse 14. David said to the Amalekite, How is it that you are not afraid to put out your hand to destroy the Lord's anointed? And then David called one of the young men and said, Go, execute him. And he struck him down so that he died. And David said to him, Your blood be on your own head. For your own mouth has testified against you, saying, I have killed the Lord's anointed. So in a severe twist of irony, the Amalekite actually did get his reward. It just wasn't the reward he thought he was going to get when he was bringing these items to David. And the reason that he did not get the reward that he expected was because he mischaracterized David. The Amalekite thought, Here's a man who will rejoice when his enemy has fallen. And if I'm the one that tells him that, clearly he will rejoice even more that I have brought the news. But David was not that sort of a man at all. Now David was so filled with sorrow that he invited now all of Judah to mourn with him. All of Judah to enter into his emotions in this moment, which was their responsibility and their privilege. This was their king. And so the remainder of this chapter now is a study in grief. And that's why I have titled this lesson, A Time to Grieve. Because we face that in life. We enter into a time to grieve. All right, verse 17. And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and Jonathan his son. Now stop there just for a minute. Because a lament is more than just grief. It is thoughtful grief. A lament is like a poem that others can enter into because it is structured. You might call it a structured sorrow. And David, of course, was an expert at poetry. And so he pens this lament so that others could enter into it. And in verse 18, he said he taught it. It should be taught to the people of Judah. Now, that could mean two things. It could mean teach it to my tribe. I'm from the tribe of Judah. I want this to be taught to my tribe. I want you all to know it. Because as we are grieving the loss of Saul from the tribe of Benjamin, I don't want there to be any sign of partisanship going on here. So maybe he truly was saying, Judah, my people should sing this. Or maybe he was using the word Judah. You know how in the Bible sometimes we use the word Israel, and it means the northern tribe? And sometimes it means all of them together, all the sons of Jacob. This could have meant using Judah in that sense of all the sons of Jacob. So we don't know. Even though David was filled with sorrow, he could see here an opportunity that this could be a military rallying point. As a leader, David knew how to read a room. He knew how to read a nation. And when your leader is killed by the enemy, there is a time for unity. There is a ease of unity that doesn't come at any other time. Some of you are old enough to remember your parents' responses to JFK being assassinated. It was a time for unity. Easy to unify the nation in a situation like that. All of you can remember 9-11. Fairly easy to unify a nation over a time of tragedy. And David could read the sense of the nation, and he knew that not only was this a time for him to grieve, but it was also a time for him to unify people. Gilboa was not going to be the last time that Israel would face the Philistines. They could use a little bit of stirring up. Remember Gilboa, and remember the Philistines for next time. So here it begins in verse 19. David says, Your glory, O Israel, is slain on your high places. How the mighty have fallen! Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Ashkelon, lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised exult. You mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew or rain upon you, nor fields of offerings. For there the shield of the mighty was defiled, the shield of Saul not anointed with oil. From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, the bow of Jonathan turned back, and the sword of Saul returned not empty. Saul and Jonathan, beloved and lovely, in life and in death they are not divided, which is a very small measure of consolation or comfort. In other words, at least they went together, and neither one of them had to grieve the other. They were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions. You daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you luxuriously in scarlet. It was a time of prosperity. Who put ornaments of gold on your apparel. How the mighty have fallen in the midst of the battle. I want to pause right there, because as I meditated on this and studied it, and with that last statement there, I just personally believe that this next little short section is like a coda in music that David tacked on that was his personal feelings. You know, in a coda it ends kind of the same, but it changes key or it has a little variation of the theme. And I think these next words are now not part of the national lament, but part of David's personal lament with the I, me, my. Let's read it. Jonathan, and that's the focus, Jonathan lies slain on your high places. I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan. Very pleasant have you been to me. Your love to me was extraordinary, surpassing the love of women. Pause there. This is not a comparison of the friendship of Jonathan with romantic love. Romantic love with women. I really thought about this, and this is the way I see it. You can disagree with me. But as a mom, have you not observed families, larger families, whatever, and the babies are born, the babies are born, and the tail enders. Mom is half mom, half grandma by the time the tail enders are born. And along comes a baby boy like David at the end of the tribe, who's handsome, ruddy. What happens in those families? All the older sisters dote. They love the baby boys. All the older brothers think those baby boys need to learn a thing or two. That's what we saw with Joseph. His brothers didn't care for him at all. And did we not see this with David and his brothers, an antagonistic relationship with brothers? But what kind of a relationship do you suppose he had with the women in his life growing up? Probably a very comforting, comfortable relationship with women in his life. I think David grew up with more girl friends than boy friends, because that's just the dynamic of how things work. And so now in this lament, we see that he thinks back to a time when he met Jonathan. And it was surprising to him. It's like, here is a guy that's not antagonistic toward me or kindred spirits. Like, he loves me the way my sisters, my aunties, loved me. And I just think that he is reflecting back and saying, your love, the love that we had for each other, the bonding, the brotherly love, that was even better, even smoother than what I grew up with. And then he ends it again, how the mighty have fallen and how the weapons of war perished. The mighty are not supposed to fall, but sometimes they do. Accidents are not supposed to happen, but sometimes they do. Marriages are not supposed to end, but sometimes they do. Illness is not supposed to take the young, but sometimes it does. And these are just a sampling of things in our lives that produce this sort of grief. It wasn't supposed to be this way. Doors have been closed. Things have been lost. And so we need to grieve. We need to take a time to grieve. And it's not a condition to get over. Grief actually helps us bring resolution to what could have been, what should have been, what never will be. David would never reconcile with Saul. The door was closed. David would never walk through life with Jonathan. The door was closed. It will never happen. Death closes doors. And so this lament reminds us that shared grief can actually be a beneficial process for everyone, a necessary process. But we cannot live in the process for the rest of our lives. We cannot live in the shadow of grief. So the last thing I want to add to this is something that David's son would write in Ecclesiastes 3.1.

Isn't that a truth? For David, this was a time to grieve and a time to lament. But the time would soon come upon him when it was time to step out of the shadow and do the next thing, move into the next season. In fact, the first words that you're going to read in your passage that you go through are, after this, David inquired of the Lord. And so perhaps there's one thing that we can take home from this passage. And that is to look at David's example, first of all, to read the moment and realize the opportunity for bonding in this time, to take the time to grieve, but to remember for us to remember to step out of our grief into the next season because there is a time for every matter under heaven. Isn't that the truth? Father, thank you for this chapter. It teaches us actually quite a bit about how to respond to the things in life that were not supposed to be as they have been. And Lord, it reminds us of a couple of things. It reminds us that you are always there. You are always stable. We can rest in you. We can trust in you. And it also reminds us that this is not heaven and that we have heaven to look forward to. But while we are walking through this earth, things happen that are not supposed to happen. And so Lord, I pray that through the power of your Holy Spirit, there would be a morsel here for everyone to ponder, to think about. I also pray that you would give us everything that we need to move forward now and do our own investigation and our own study of the coming chapters. And I thank you for this passage. In Jesus' name, amen.