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2 Samuel chapter number 15, the Bible reads, and it came to pass after this that Absalom prepared him chariots and horses and 50 men to run before him. And Absalom rose up early and stood beside the way of the gate, and it was so that when any man that had a controversy came to the king for judgment, then Absalom called unto him and said, Of what city art thou? And he said, Thy servant is of one of the tribes of Israel. And Absalom said unto him, See, thy matters are good and right, but there is no man deputed of the king to hear thee. Absalom said moreover, O that I were made judge in the land, that every man which hath any suit or cause might come unto me, and I would do him justice. And it was so that when any man came nigh to him to do him obeisance, he put forth his hand and took him and kissed him. And on this manner did Absalom to all Israel that came to the king for judgment. So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel. So what Absalom's doing here is he's pretending to be a loyal follower of King David, but he's planting these seeds in people's mind. Now David's very busy, and all kinds of people want to go see King David, and they're lined up to see him, and he's too busy to get to everybody. So Absalom just stands out there with all the time in the world. He'll sit down and talk with you, and he asks, What's going on? What do you need help with? It's too bad that David can't help you. And he basically is subverting these people. Now, one of the things that he's doing also is using flattery. And flattery is something that the Bible warns us about over and over again. Just if you look up the word flattery, especially all throughout the book of Proverbs, he says that those who flatter with their lips are laying a trap for you. They're laying a snare for you. So you have to be very careful when someone begins to flatter you. Now what does it mean to flatter? It's when you basically would give someone insincere compliments. You're complimenting them, but you don't really mean it. Or you'll get compliments that are just over the top, just way overboard. And people telling you how great you look, and you really don't look that great. Or people telling you that you did a really good job, and you didn't really do that good of a job type of thing. But people who just go overboard. I've had people do this to me where they'll just give me just over the top compliments where you get uncomfortable. It's kind of like, what's the deal? And then a lot of those people turned out to be bad people. And especially as a man, you need to beware of the strange woman. Now when the Bible talks about the strange woman, it doesn't mean that she's weird. Strange means foreign. And when the Bible talks about the strange woman, it's just talking about a woman other than your wife. A woman that's strange to you. Like we would use the word a stranger. That's what the Bible means when it talks about the strange woman. The woman that is not your wife. And the Bible warns us to beware of the strange woman which flattereth with her lips. So let's say you're a married man, and your wife doesn't really give you a lot of compliments, and she doesn't really tell you what a stud you are and whatever. Well then, some other woman who is the adulterous, who the Bible says will hunt for the precious life, she may come to you and start telling you how big your muscles are. And they're not that big. No, I'm just kidding. But anyway, she might tell you how big your muscles are, or how good looking you are, or how good at this you are, and good at that you are. And if you're not careful, you could fall into a prideful trap of saying, oh, yeah, really? You know? Alright. And a lot of men, you know, desire that affirmation from their wife and they're not getting it. So then when they get it from someone else, that opens the door to temptation. Also the same thing with women. You know, maybe they're not getting compliments from their husband, and then another man comes along and begins to compliment them and tell them how beautiful they are. So you just need to not be ignorant of Satan's devices. There are people out there who will use flattery in order to get you to commit fornication, or to get you to commit adultery. And then also there are people who will use flattery to gain your confidence in order to rip you off financially or otherwise. You know, you walk into the used car dealer, and he begins to tell you that you have such wonderful taste, and he loves the way you're dressed. It's not just because he thinks you're that cool. He's trying to sell you a car. I remember one time we were buying the car, and as soon as I mentioned the fact that I was a Christian, this guy came back a couple minutes later. He went in a room, came back a couple minutes later, and he's working at his computer, reaches into his shirt, and pulls out a cross, and it's just hanging there while he's making the deal. He's got the cross hanging there. And I was just thinking to myself, I joke with my wife when we got in the car, I said, you know what? I'll bet under that shirt he's got the Star of Rim fan, he's got a little crescent, he's got a yin yang, he's got every type of religion. He just reaches in and pulls out, you know, the Hindus are there, he pulls out the little pitchfork symbol, you know, the Taoists are there, he pulls out the yin yang, you know, he pulls out the crescent for the Muslims, whatever. Because what? He's trying to sell you something. And so you'll use flattery or try to act like, oh yeah, you know, we have all this in common. So you just have to beware of people who give you over the top compliments. There's nothing wrong with complimenting someone, and you know, everybody enjoys getting a compliment. But some compliments are out of place. They're a little overboard, a little too personal, or maybe just over the top, just way more praise than is deserved. You know, that's when you need to be careful. So beware of the flattering tongue. That's what he's using here. But not only that, he's actually criticizing the authority figure here too, his own dad, and the king of the land. Because look what it says in verse 3. And Absalom said unto him, See, thy matters are good and right. So there's the flattery. Oh yeah, you're right. He's pretty much telling everybody that they're right. Notice he says, everybody who comes along, this is what he does. He tells them they're right. Now do you think all these people are really right? He's just telling them all that they're right. Oh, your matters are good and right. But there's no man deputed of the king to hear thee. Absalom said, Moreover, oh, that I were made judge in the land, that every man which hath any suit or cause might come unto me, and I would do him justice. He's saying, if I were in charge, I'd be given time to everybody. I'd make time for everybody. I wouldn't be telling people, sorry, I don't have time. No, I'd make time for everybody who came for judgment, and I would do justice. So again, you have to beware of this type of a mentality. Now another way we could apply this would be, and this is a pretty common application, is a lot of people today, they work with people of the other gender. It's not like you just go to work anymore and just work with all men. Or ladies don't just go to work and they're just with all ladies. A lot of times there's a mixture of men and women, and there can be a tendency for people to go to work and they chat about their life and everything. And one of the most dangerous things that can happen is for somebody to go to work and start complaining about their spouse to people at work. And this is how adultery often begins, where a man will start to complain about his wife to a female coworker. Or a woman will complain about her husband to a male coworker, okay? And then basically start building that confidence. And that's kind of what Absalom's doing in a sense, because he's complaining about his dad to someone else and saying, hey, you know, I could be the king here. So basically what happens a lot of time is that people at work who want to commit adultery, they'll listen to all the marriage woes and, oh, that's so terrible that your husband did that to you. He doesn't appreciate you, you know, and he'll just sit and listen and, you know, that guy at work that's wearing the lavender tie and he's real nice and he understands, and he'll sit and he understands you and he'll listen to you. You know, not like your barbaric husband at home. I mean, you know, Bob down at the office really understands me, you know, and he'll listen to me and talk with me and, you know, and everything like that. And it's dangerous. And so you need to be aware this is how the devil often operates. And notice what Absalom does. First of all, he gets these 50 guys to run before him. So he gets his own personal little militia going, his own little army going, because his plan is to take over. He wants to overthrow his own father's kingdom. And think about all the bloodshed that's going to be associated with that. You know, only because of David's wisdom and humility is a lot of the bloodshed avoided. But he's willing to do this horrible thing of a coup d'etat, of a revolution where he overthrows his own father's kingdom. And he's using flattery, he's bad-mouthing David behind his back. David doesn't know that this is what he's doing, standing outside the palace every day. But that's what he's doing. And so it says in verse 6, this manor did Absalom to all Israel that came to the king for judgment. So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel. So that's what he's doing. He's a conspirator with other men that he's gotten together, these 50 men, and then eventually it's going to expand to all of the Israelites. And he's going to get the majority of the people to be on his side. Now look what it says in verse number 7. It says, and it came to pass after 40 years that Absalom said unto the king, I pray thee, let me go and pay my vow, which I have vowed unto the Lord, and he brought. Now I want to take a lot of time on this one verse because this is one of those verses that has been brought out as supposedly an error in the King James Bible. And the reason that this verse is often pointed to as an error in the King James Bible is because it says after 40 years. Now if you look at that number, 40 years, at face value reading this, you might think to yourself, oh okay, so Absalom is doing this for 40 years. Absalom is spending 40 years talking to the men of Israel and subverting King David and so on and so forth. But here's the problem with that. King David reigned for 40 years and 6 months. That was the length of his reign, 40 and a half years. Okay this is already deep into David's reign. David's already been reigning for a long time. So there's no way that Absalom actually spent 40 years doing this plan where he's trying to take over the kingdom and so on and so forth. So what the modern Bibles have done here is just change it. Just change what the Bible says. You know something doesn't add up, something doesn't make sense to us, we don't like what it says, just change it. I mean they change all kinds of things. So then what people will then do is they'll say this, they'll say, well you know the King James is wrong there, the modern Bibles got it right. But because they just change it from 40 to 4. And here's what they say, oh it's just a mistake. So we'll just fix it and put it to 4 instead of 40. Well here's the thing about that. To make that a King James issue is silly because of the fact that this is what all the Hebrew manuscripts say, they say 40. So if you're going to say, oh well that's a mistake, then you're not saying it's a mistake in the King James, you're saying it's a mistake in the Bible, you're saying it's a mistake in the Hebrew Old Testament because of the fact that the King James is just translating what the Hebrew Old Testament says. And when these new Bibles change it to 4, it's not that they're using a different manuscript, it's just that they're not translating from the Hebrew. Now that ceases to become a translation at that point. You know when you're changing 40 to 4, you're not translating anymore. Now you're basically putting your own interpretation and your own ideas and you're changing the Word of God. Now it's interesting that for thousands of years this has been preserved as 40 in all the manuscripts. You know that shows that the people who were copying down these scriptures, they were faithfully copying down what it said. They didn't take it upon themselves to fix stuff, quote unquote. It's a good thing that the editors of the NIV weren't some of the scribes that were responsible for passing this down. They would have fixed all kinds of things that didn't need fixing. Because when you actually study these things out, all of the apparent quote unquote contradictions in the Bible can be explained and once you study, it becomes clear what the answer is. But a lot of people who just haven't studied and have failed to understand what the Bible is saying, they'll just change things, okay? And it isn't right. Now, let me explain to you what's going on with this and I'm going to actually prove to you from the Bible why this number is accurate here when it says 40 and what people have said to try to criticize this number. Now first of all, what you have to understand is that in order to understand the Bible, the Bible says through faith we understand. You know who understands the Bible? People who believe the Bible. Because if you go into it believing it, then you study it and read it, then it's going to make sense to you. But if you go into it saying, well, I don't know if this is right or not, then it's real easy just to say, ah, it's a mistake. This isn't right. Okay. Now, if you study the Bible, like I said, David, and I want to explain this very clearly because this is an important point, David reigned for 40 years and 6 months, okay? Now according to 2 Samuel chapter 3, David first came to Hebron. That's where he started reigning, in Hebron. And he went to Hebron. He dwelled at Hebron and at some point the elders of Judah came to Hebron and they made David king in Hebron. And then he reigned in Hebron for 7 and a half years, okay? Then he basically reigned over all of Israel for 33 years and the total came out to 40 and a half years, the Bible tells us. Now while he was dwelling at Hebron where he was made king, the Bible tells us that he had a bunch of sons there. One of the sons that he had while he was there was Absalom, okay? Now what I believe that this scripture is saying in verse number 7 when it says, and it came to pass after 40 years, it's not starting the 40 years when he started to stand outside the palace and talk to these guys. He didn't do that for 40 years. I mean that would be an awfully long time to do that anyway. But when it says after 40 years, it could be one of two things and they really lead you to the same number. It could either be after 40 years, meaning that Absalom was 40 years old, as in after 40 years he stole the hearts of the men of Israel, meaning that he'd been around for 40 years, he'd been getting to know them for 40 years, they knew him for 40 years. After 40 years of this relationship between him and the Israelites, then basically that's when this story begins to take place. Or you could say after 40 years, as in 40 years into David's kingdom. Now you say, and those would both be the same number because Absalom was born right around the same time that David became king. So both of those are going to lead you to the same point, okay? Which would be about six months before David stops reigning. Does everybody understand? Because he reigned for 40 years and six months. So if the after 40 years is starting with the birth of Absalom or starting with the beginning of David's reign, then those would both take you about six months from the end of David's life and six months from the end of David's reign, okay? Does everybody understand so far? Now you say, well why would the Bible say that? But here's the thing, the Bible words a lot of things in ways that we would not normally word things. For example, it says that Jesus Christ rose again on the third day, right? On the third day? But we know that he was dead for three days and three nights. So in our American way of thinking, we'd say, well that's the fourth day, you know, three days went by and then he rose again after that. We would call that the fourth day. But the Bible calls that the third day. Because for example, in the book of Esther, she says don't eat any food or water for three days and three nights. And then on the third day, I'll come and stand before the king. Now we look at that and that proves to us, okay, that's exactly what the New Testament was saying about Jesus rising again on the third day. It's after three days. It's sort of like this, if you walk into a building in America and you walk in the front door and you go up the stairs, what floor are you then on if you went upstairs one level? What? The second floor in America, okay, because if you walk in the front door of the building on the ground level and you go upstairs, that's considered in America the second floor. The elevator's going to have a two by that button, okay? You go up another floor, it's three, four, five. But here's the thing, in Europe, if you were in Germany, you go upstairs, now you're on the first floor. They call the upstairs the first floor and we look at that like, what in the world? Are you nuts? When they're on the fourth floor, they'll call it the third floor. Sort of like the fourth day, they call it the third day. And here's the thing, because we grow up with a certain way of thinking, any other way of thinking is just wrong to us, it's just foreign. Like people who drive on the wrong side of the road, for example, or people who write from like Arabic and Persian, they write from right to left. You know, we write from left to right. We know that we're right and they're wrong. You know, just like we're right about the way that we drive the car on the right side of the road, okay? And they're doing it backwards. Okay, we're right about calling it the second floor, okay? We are right about everything because we're Americans. But anyway, the point is that people have different ways of saying things and different ways of thinking and a lot of times the way that God words things in the Bible is different than the way we would word it or the way that we would look at it. And God uses a lot of numbers in the Bible in a symbolic way. You know, he chose for whatever reason to start counting the number from the beginning of Absalom's life, from the beginning of David's reign, either of those two points would take you to the same place. That's when he chose to do that for whatever the reason. You know, and I'm sure that the number 40 has a symbolic meaning and so on and so forth. So that's what's going on. Now here's what people will say though, because when you bring that up to people and say, look, it's 40 years, that means Absalom's 40 years old and we're 40 years into David's reign. That is not saying that he stood out there for 40 years. It's not a mistake in the Bible. And again, don't let anybody tell you this is a mistake in the King James. If anything, it'd be a mistake in the Bible because all the King James is doing is translating from the Hebrew. I mean, they're not making changes willy-nilly. So what critics of this will bring up, they'll try to say, and this is what I've always heard, they'll say, well, there's no way that this story could have happened in the last year of David's life because they say there's a bunch of other stuff that happens after in the book of 2 Samuel and that proves that, you know, this is a mistake because there's no way. But here's the thing. I'm going to prove to you from the Bible that this story about the life of Absalom is the last thing that happens, the last story in David's life, according to the Bible, because a lot of people are mixed up and they think that a bunch of other stuff happened after. But honestly, this is the final chapter in David's life. This story with the rebellion of Absalom and also the story where there's an aftermath where another guy tries to take over, Sheba the son of Bichrai and so forth. This is the end of the story and I'm going to prove that to you. Flip over in 2 Samuel toward chapter number 24, okay? Because this is what people will point to. In fact, let's not even go to chapter 24 yet. Let's go to chapter 21 just to give an example. In chapter 21, for example, it says, then there was a famine in the days of David three years. So a lot of people will look at that and say, well, you know, there's a famine for three years. That proves, that proves that this story with Absalom did not take place in the last year of David's life, you know, six to nine months before he died. There's no way it could happen. But let me show you something because I'm going to show you how the end of the book of 2 Samuel is completely out of order, completely. Let me prove it to you. Look at chapter 23 verse 1. Chapter 23 verse 1. It says this, now these be the last words of David, okay? Now when it gives us these last words here, guess what? He says way more in chapter 24 and then he says a bunch of stuff in 1 Kings chapter 1. Not only that, but look at the beginning of chapter 22. Look at chapter 22 verse 1 and the Bible says this, and David spake unto the Lord the words of this song in the day that the Lord had delivered him out of the hands of all his enemies and out of the hand of Saul. Now let me ask you something. When was David delivered out of the hand of Saul? A long time ago. This isn't even in the book of 2 Samuel. This is like, we're going back to 1 Samuel now, okay? Now you say, well, what's going on Pastor Anderson? Why is this totally out of order? I'll tell you exactly why and this is a pattern in other Old Testament books also. The story ends, the story in the book of 2 Samuel ends in chapter 20 verse 22. This is the last verse of the story. Then after the story is over, God just tags on a whole bunch of extra stories at the end that are completely out of sequence of the narrative. Now here's the best way I could illustrate this to you. This is like when you buy a DVD and it has the film, right? And then it has like the DVD extras, you know, like the bonus material on the disc, right? So you watch the whole movie and then you get into the extras and the bonus material. Basically some of these Old Testament books have bonus material at the end of the DVD, you know, if that helps you understand this. And let me explain to you why. Because God doesn't want to interrupt the narrative of the story. God is telling a certain story in 2 Samuel. He has a certain narrative that he's bringing forth and he doesn't want to interrupt the flow of the story with irrelevant stories and just kind of take a break from the story about Absalom. Because here's the thing, the Absalom story follows a certain narrative where Tamar is defiled and then Absalom gets mad and then a couple of years go by, then Absalom kills his brother, then he's over in another country for a couple of years, then he comes back, then he's stealing the hearts of the men of Israel. And it's an ongoing story and God doesn't want to interrupt that story. So he tells this whole story, then when he gets completely done, he tags all the extras on. It's exactly the same way in the book of Judges. When you read the book of Judges, you go through the 12 judges in order, right? And you end on Samson, the last judge, and then after you're done with Samson, the last judge in the book of Judges, then it just starts telling you these random stories at the end that are just from the days of the judges. So you end, the story of the book of Judges ends at the end of chapter 16. And then chapter 17 just starts telling another story. And it'll say things like this in the book of Judges, in those days there was no king in Israel and in those days the tribe, it starts telling a story from those days. And then you get to another story, again in chapter 19, it came to pass in those days when there was no king, this happened. So again, Judges tells a chronological story, but at some point that story ends and you get into the bonus material. You know, you get into just extra stuff that didn't fit in the narrative and has to be tagged on to the end of the book. Okay, now first Samuel flows directly into second Samuel because they form one story. But then because second Samuel is the end of the book, then he tags on the bonus material. And look, let me just show you what I mean by that. Let me show you how some of this bonus material looks. Look at chapter 20, verse 22. This is the last statement in the narrative. And then he gets into the other bonus material. He says in verse 22, Then the woman went unto all the people in her wisdom, and they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichrai, and cast it out to Joab, and he blew a trumpet, and they returned from the city every man to his tent, and Joab returned to Jerusalem unto the king. Now after this, and let me just tell you what that verse means. After David defeats Absalom, another guy tries to take the kingdom, Sheba the son of Bichrai. That guy gets killed, and then they all go back to Jerusalem, and it's over. Battle's over, everything's back to normal. This is where 1 Kings is going to pick up. At the beginning of 1 Kings, you start out the story, David is 70 years old, and he gets sick. When he's old, but keep in mind, he's not that old, he's only 70. But the Bible says that he got no heat, so he's shivering in bed, and they're trying to keep him warm and everything like that. But before this is the story of Absalom. So the story where Absalom takes over the kingdom and David goes into exile, he is 70 years old right about that time when this whole story happens. Then shortly thereafter, maybe six months later, or you know, however many months later, he ends up getting sick and dying. You know, it's sort of like George Washington or something. You know, he's out riding his horse, working on the farm, very physical and everything, but then he gets a cold, it turns into pneumonia, next thing you know, he's shivering in bed for a couple weeks and dies. You know, that's how it is. Sometimes you can be in pretty good health, and then you go downhill, and that's it. So that's what we see with the life of David. But let me show you what some of these extras look like after the story. Look at verse 23 of chapter 20, because this is the first verse of what I would call the bonus material, okay. It says in verse 23, Now Joab was over all the host of Israel, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherithites and over the Pelethites, and Adoram was over the tribute, and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahad was recorder, and Sheva was scribe, and Zadok and Abiathar were priests, and Ira also the Jairite was a chief ruler about David. So it just starts giving you a rundown of who's in his government, okay. Then next, it tells the story about a three-year famine, where it says, Then there was a famine in the days of David, three years, year after year. Now notice the phrase, in the days of David. Now why would that phrase be there, in the days of David, if we're still in just a chronological order telling the story? Isn't that kind of like when it says, it came to pass also in the days of the judges, and it tells you those stories that are out of order? Why would you sit there and say, in the days of David, yet we know, we've been reading about David for the last, you know, scores of chapters between the two books. So the reason why it says, oh, this happened in the days of David, is he's just telling you a story that happened in the days of David. And then not only that, but it says in verse number one of chapter 22, David spake unto the Lord the words of this song, and it has this long song in chapter 22, that it clearly says is from the days when he's delivered out of the hand of Saul. This is going back many decades. Then in chapter 23, it gives us the last words of David. And again, proving that it's out of order, because he says a bunch of stuff in chapter 24, he says a bunch of stuff in 1 Kings 1, so how could the last words come before those things? He's just giving us all this bonus material in the end. Look at another thing. Verse 8 of chapter 23, he gives us a rundown of the mighty men, sort of like he gave that list of all the guys in David's government. Here he gives a list of the mighty men. These be the names of the mighty men whom David had. The Tachmanite that sat in his seat, chief among the captains. The same was Adonai, the Esnite, he lifted up his spear against 800, whom he slew at one time. And after him was Eleazar, the son of Dodo, the Ahohite. Look at this, just listing mighty men. If you get down into verse 25, Shammah the Herodite, Elikah the Herodite, Helaz the Paltite, Ira the son of Aikash the Tekohite, just listing off all the mighty men. Then it says in chapter 24 verse 1, and again, the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel and he moved David against them to say, go number Israel and Judah. So here's this story that he tells, again, that's out of the sequence. He's just stacking these up at the end. Now let me prove it to you, look down at verse 13. So Gad came to David and told him and said unto him, shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land? Notice he says, shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land? Now if he just said the last words, if he's saying his last words in chapter 23, these are the last words of David. And then it's like, okay, you want to have a famine for seven years? I mean, sure, that means I'm going to be alive for another seven years. The answer is because this is not in order. And if you look at it and actually look at the contents of chapters 21, 22, 23, and 24, they are clearly completely out of sequence and they are just additional material that basically God didn't want to interrupt the story to tell us those. So he saves them for the end and then gives us all the stuff that we missed. Now one thing you might ask yourself is, well, could we go over to 1 Chronicles to shed some light on this? Because 1 Chronicles tells the same story as 2 Samuel. They are parallel passages. But if we were to go to 1 Chronicles, it completely leaves out the story about Absalom, completely. It has all this other stuff, but it completely leaves out the entire story about Absalom completely. And you say, well, why would it leave it out? Because you have to understand that God has different purposes for different books of the Bible. It's just like we have Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and you say, well, why did Mark leave this out or why did Luke leave this out or why did John leave this out? Because each book has a specific purpose for which God has intended that book, certain points that he wants to make. Like for example, John has written that people might believe and have eternal life. So everything in the book of John is designed to point toward that goal. And stories that don't really fall in line with the message that the book of John is trying to put out are not going to be in the book of John. You're going to get those from the book of Matthew, which has a different purpose, or the book of Mark, which has a different purpose. And each book has a focus. You know, when you're reading the book of Mark, there's a lot of focus on the miracles of Jesus, and casting out of devils, and whereas John focuses more on the doctrine and the preaching of Jesus. There are different emphases in these different books, and it's the same thing with 2 Samuel and 1 Chronicles. If they're both going to tell the same thing, you wouldn't need both. But they're very different. 2 Samuel has this focus on the story with David and Bathsheba leading into the story with Absalom and everything. 1 Chronicles never mentions David and Bathsheba. 1 Chronicles never mentions Absalom. Why? Because it's telling a very positive story. It's not focusing on the negative. It just has a different emphasis, different purpose, different doctrine in those books. So if you do a little study, you realize, hey, the Bible is not contradicting itself, because it makes perfect sense that this story happened when David is an old man. And he's not that old, he's 70 years old. And it makes perfect sense. And it doesn't contradict anything. But to the unlearned, who haven't really studied this out, and to those who don't have the faith to just believe that God's Word is true, they're just going to glance at it and say, oh, 40 years, there's no way that this could have even happened in the end of his reign, because look at all this stuff that happened afterwards. Seven years here, three years here, there's no way. But here's the thing. If you look at it and study it, yeah, there is a way. Because that stuff is just extra stories on the end. And I wonder sometimes whether God puts little things like this in the Bible just to test people's faith, and just to be a stumbling block to those who refuse to believe the Word of God. Because I'm telling you something. When I was a kid, I remember reading the Bible and coming across stuff that didn't make sense to me and that I didn't understand, and stuff that seemed to contradict. And I remember thinking to myself, you know what? I don't understand this, but I believe that the Bible is true. I believe God's Word here. And then later, you'll figure it out, and then you'll feel like an idiot. Like oh man, why did I doubt the Bible? That was so, I mean some of the contradictions that I look back at, now looking back I feel like an idiot because the answer was so simple. And a lot of times people just don't know the answer. Like for example, people could really struggle, and it's funny because I was at the bookstore a few months ago, and there was a book on the shelf of all the contradictions in the Bible. Some atheists had just gone through, and because usually 99% of the time when you talk to atheists, and they tell you, oh the Bible's filled with contradictions, and you ask them to name one, they can't name it, or they name something really stupid like, oh well the Bible says to execute criminals, but then it says thou shalt not kill. You know, something just so stupid, like it's just obvious. Or, it says thou shalt not kill, but then they're killing animals, you know. Just dumb things of just people who lack understanding. But this book, I mean somebody had gone through the time, and I looked through this book, and I was looking at each one, and I knew the explanation for all of them. And some of them just had me shaking my head, like are you that dumb? Because I mean some of them, some of them you can kind of see their point, like yeah that does look like a contradiction until you dig deeper. But some of them just have you shaking your head. You know, like for example, here it says that this guy's dad's name was this, but then over here it says that his dad's name was this. Yeah, except that most people in the Bible had like two or three names. I mean think about Peter is also named Simon, he's also named, you know, Bar-Jonah, he's also named Cephas, you know, it's just like I have three names, you know, Stephen, Lee, Anderson, okay. And people went by different names in the Bible, and different ways that they're identified. And so the bottom line is this, you know, if you believe the word of God, you know, you have to, some things you accept by faith and you understand them later, okay. Like I remember as a kid, the first time I read James 2, and I knew salvation was by grace through faith, and I knew there was such an abundance of scripture that made it clear that it was by faith and not of works. And all the verses and all the scriptures that said that, and I remember I read James 2 and I didn't understand why it was talking about works and everything. And I remember thinking to myself, you know what, I don't understand this, but I know salvation is by faith, I know salvation is not by works. And I knew that, you know, one thing I asked myself is like, is the book of James not legitimate? You know, could that be? But then I thought to myself, you know what, I know the book of James is legitimate. Why? Because it's power. You know, you could look at the book, because you know, I don't need some, you know, oh the Catholic Church decided which books would go in, no, I don't need the Catholic Church to tell me, because the Word of God has power. And that which is a counterfeit does not. And that's why all these supposed missing books of the Bible, the lost books of the Bible, yeah, pick one up and read a couple pages and you'll realize why it's not in here. And I don't need any counsel of Nicaea or counsel of Trent or any, I don't need any counsel to tell me that the Gospel of Thomas is trash. You know, I mean, just look at it, it's junk. You know, I mean, you can pick up any of these counterfeits. And here's the thing, you say, whoa, what about the Apocrypha? Have you ever tried reading any of it? If you read a few chapters of it, you will immediately realize that it is not God's Word. It's like the difference between the diamond and the cubic zirconium. You know, the one that God made and the one that man made can be differentiated. It's the difference between the tree that grows outside and this tree, you know. This tree is not real, okay? And you don't have to be an arborist. You don't have to be a scientist to know that this tree is not real. Kids, I'm sorry to ruin your, what you believe about this tree, but it's fake. Why? Because there's a colossal difference between that which God makes and what man makes. And whenever you pick up any of these counterfeit scriptures, whether it's the Book of Mormon, the Koran, the Apocrypha, you read it and it's just instantly, you can see this is a cheap imitation. This is not, but when you read the Book of James, there's power there. It's instantly, it instantly shows itself to be the Word of God. And so what I'm saying is that there are going to be times when you run into things in the Bible that you don't understand. You just need to have faith in the Word of God. Say, oh, how could you have faith in this book? You know, but here's the thing. That is the mentality that will split hell wide open. That is the atheist of this world. Of course, there, of course, any atheist who heard this sermon would scoff and laugh at it and say, oh, you know, you're just making excuses for a mistake in the Bible. But you know what? They scoff at everything in the Word of God. They don't want to believe the Bible. And so they're going to scoff and no matter what you show them, it doesn't mean anything to them. But those of us who know that the Gospel is true, who have the Holy Spirit living inside of us, that know that the Word of God has power, we come across something that's confusing and we've got to have the faith to just say, you know what, I'll understand that sometime. I don't understand it now, but so what. And I didn't really, as a kid, James 2 didn't bother me. I knew it was God's Word, I didn't quite understand it, but it didn't really bother me that much because I just knew I just don't understand it and someday I will. And then later you study more and you understand it and then you kind of feel silly that you ever even questioned it, okay. And that's how it is with this. And you know, another thing about these counterfeit scriptures, a lot of people will say this, well, you know, you just believe the Bible because you grew up with it. So when you hear that style of the these and the those, it just sounds like God's Word to you because you grew up with it and that's why you, you know. And people who grew up with the Book of Mormon, that's how they feel about it. People who grew up with the Qur'an, that's, but here's the thing about that. I'm going to prove that to you false right now. Because the Apocrypha was translated by the King James translators. So it's the exact style of English. The exact same people who translated the Word of God also translated the Apocrypha for its quote historical and moral teachings. And they even clearly stated that they did not believe that it was authoritative or scripture. But yet people will try to say, oh, the King James Bible translated, put it in there and believed in it. No. And it was the official position of the church that they were a member of that it shall not be used for doctrine and that it's only for historical and moral value. Look up the 39 articles of the Church of England when it was written. And so therefore, the King James translators translated the Apocrypha. It's in the identical style. So why is it have no power? Why is it not the Word of God? You can just look at it and clearly tell after reading a few chapters, this is not legit. So again, it has nothing to do with the Elizabethan English, no. It could be in any vernacular. It could be in any language and it would still be God's Word if you were hearing it in Spanish or hearing it in Italian or whatever. Now let's finish up with the chapter. I took a lot of time on that. But I think it's important to cover that because this is something that people have struggled with and been confused on and wondered, hey, can I trust the Bible? And again, people try to turn it into a King James issue. No, it's a Bible issue. And any time, listen to me, any time there are number differences like this in the Old Testament, it's never a King James issue. It's always the difference between translating what the Hebrew actually says versus changing it. See, in the New Testament, there are different manuscripts. Like for example, if you've seen New World or Bible versions, you know that we talked about how the new versions came from the Westcott and Hort family of manuscripts. They come from Sinai Atticus and Vaticanus. That's where the new versions are coming from. Okay, but that's all New Testament. And then the Word of God, the King James Bible is translated from the Textus Receptus, okay? And that's New Testament. But when it comes to the Old Testament, there really is not a big debate about the Old Testament Hebrew text. I mean, the Old Testament Hebrew text is the Hebrew text. So it's not like the new versions are being translated from a different text like they are in the New Testament. But in the Old Testament, when there are differences, it's that these other versions are just deviating from what the Hebrew actually says. And sometimes they'll go to the Greek Septuagint. So basically at that point, they're making a translation of a translation, okay? They're not going back to the original Hebrew. And one of the things that the King James translators were instructed to do was that they must translate from the Hebrew in the Old Testament and the Greek in the New Testament, and not to deviate from that. And whereas these new versions do deviate from that. And they also just change things because they inject a lot of their liberal theology into the text. And they just have bad scholarship in many cases and just are stupid in some cases too. So anyway, let me finish up this chapter in 2 Samuel 15. So it says, And it came to pass after forty years that Absalom said unto the king, I pray thee, let me go and pay my vow, which I have vowed unto the Lord in Hebron. For thy servant vowed a vow while I abode at Geshur in Syria, saying, If the Lord shall bring me again indeed to Jerusalem, then I will serve the Lord. And the king said unto him, Go in peace. So your Rosen went to Hebron. But Absalom sent spies throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, As soon as ye hear the sound of the trumpet, then ye shall say, Absalom reigneth in Hebron. So Absalom's trying to take over the kingdom and he's trying to set up Hebron as like an alternate capital. So instead of just starting out by just storming into Jerusalem and taking over, he's going to start reigning in Hebron and make that his base. Now why did he choose Hebron? Well that's where King David used to reign from. Now he's in Jerusalem. So he says, okay, I'm going to reign from Hebron, then he's going to take over Jerusalem. That's the plan. Verse 11, And with Absalom went two hundred men out of Jerusalem that were called, and they went in their simplicity, and they knew not anything, meaning that they were just kind of stupid people or just useful idiots that he convinced to go along with this. And Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David's counselor, from his city, even from Gilo, while he offered sacrifices, and the conspiracy was strong for the people increased continually with Absalom. And there came a messenger to David, saying, The hearts of the men of Israel are after Absalom. And David said unto all his servants that were with him at Jerusalem, Arise and let us flee, for we shall not else 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. And the king's servants said unto the king, Behold, thy servants are ready to do whatsoever my lord the king shall appoint. And the king went forth, and all his household after him. And the king left ten women which were concubines to keep the house. And the king went forth, and all the people after him, and tarried in a place that was far off. And all his servants passed on beside him. And all the Carathites, and all the Pelethites, and the Gittites, six hundred men, which came after him from Geth, passed on before the king. So basically, David finds out from his counselors kind of which way the wind's blowing, that not only is Absalom raining from Hebron, but that the hearts of the men of Israel are with Absalom. He has a very large coalition. And so David doesn't want to just have a bloodbath or a major civil war, and he realizes, hey, there's a huge conspiracy here with Absalom. So he decides to just leave Jerusalem and just escape, just, you know, flee, live to fight another day. He doesn't know if they can even defeat Absalom, okay? Because there's such a strong conspiracy with Absalom. So they decide to leave. I thought it was interesting in verse 18 that he has six hundred men from Gath that are following him. Now if you remember, Gath is the city of the Philistines. And this is where David had defeated Goliath the Gittite. So these are six hundred even Gittites who've come over to David's side and they're following after David. Because if you remember, David did spend some time in the land of the Philistines. Now this shows us too that in the Old Testament, there were a lot of people of other nations who would come to Israel because of the name of the Lord, often. And the Bible prophesied that if they would be righteous and follow the word of God, that people would flock from other nations. And these six hundred men, you know, I think they went with David because the Lord's with David and they wanted to come and be in the nation of Israel. And there are all kinds of people who immigrated to Israel throughout Israel's history. And the Bible says that when they immigrated to Israel, they became Jews. If they would be circumcised and keep the Passover, you know, eventually when it was called Judea and they were called Jews, it said that they would inherit in whatever tribe they dwelled in. Because you say, oh, if they became, you know, if they became Israelites, which tribe were they? Hmm? That's what a lot of people try to bring up. These people are obsessed with the race, you know, and the DNA and, oh, the Jewish blood, the blood. I heard somebody say, you know, oh, whenever I get around a Jew, I just get so excited and I just feel the power because I know that the blood of my Savior is running through their veins because they're a relative of Jesus. I mean, it's so stupid. I mean, thousands of years later, are you serious? First of all, Jesus didn't have any kids. Okay. So, you know, they're not descended from Jesus, you know, oh, but they're related to him. I know they have blonde hair and blue eyes, but I'm telling you, they're related, you know, but, but the bottom line is they get all excited about, oh, and then when you try to tell them, hey, it's not about race, you know, it's, if you're, if you're, if you're the chosen people, it's if you're in Jesus Christ. It's not about race. It's not about descending or genealogies or whatever. And then they'll say, oh, you replacement theology guys, you know, you think you're Israel? You think you're the spiritual Israel? Well which tribe are you, hmm? Got you good. Yeah, but if you study the Old Testament, even in the Old Testament, people are coming from foreign lands. What tribe were they? The Bible says in Ezekiel that whatever tribe among which the sojourner dwells, he inherits with that tribe. That's what the Bible says. So if you're a foreigner and you show up, you're a get tight, you get circumcised, you keep the Passover and you're dwelling in Judah, well now you inherit in the land of Judah. You inherit with Simeon, you inherit with Asher, wherever you are. And here's the thing, guess what happens 100, 200 years later? Nobody even remembers that you ever came from anywhere else because you've lived there, you've intermarried and people forget that you ever came from Gath or wherever you're from because you get mingled in. But it says in verse 19, then said the king to Etai the get tight, wherefore goest thou also with us? Return to thy place and abide with the king, for thou art a stranger and also an exile. Whereas thou camest but yesterday, should I this day make thee go up and down with us, seeing I go whither I may, return thou and take back thy brethren, mercy and truth be with thee. And Etai answered the king and said, As the Lord liveth and as my lord the king liveth, surely in what place my lord the king shall be, whether in death or life, even there also will thy servant be. Now this isn't the 600 men, but this is one get tight. And what did he say? As the Lord liveth. Capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D. So what did I tell you? There's a foreigner who showed up, and who's he professing now? The name of the Lord. He's not worshipping Dagon anymore. He's worshipping the Lord God. It says in verse number 22, and David said to Etai, Go and pass over, and Etai the get tight passed over, and all his men and all the little ones that were with him, and all the country wept with a loud voice, and all the people passed over. The king also himself passed over the brook Cai-dron, and all the people passed over towards the way of the wilderness. Now I don't have time to go into it, but another interesting thing here is that David in his hour of being betrayed crosses over the book, brook Cai-dron, and Jesus in John chapter 18 verse 1 is going to pass over that exact brook. Jesus passes over the brook of Cai-dron in the hour of his betrayal at the hand of Judas. And there's a lot of symbolism between Absalom betraying David and Judas betraying Jesus. That's a whole teaching in and of itself. But the new modern versions, they'll ruin this because you look up John 18 in the NIV and he's no longer crossing the brook Cai-dron. He's just going through a valley of Cai-dron or something. It changes that parallel there. But it says in verse number 24, and lo Zadok also and all the Levites which are with him, carrying the ark of the covenant of God. And they set down the ark of God and Abiathar went up until all the people had done passing out of the city. And the king said unto Zadok, carry back the ark of God unto the city. If I shall find favor in the eyes of the Lord, he will bring me again and show me both it and his habitation. And if he thus say, I have no delight in thee, behold, here am I, let him do to me as seemeth good unto him. The king said also unto Zadok, the priests are now not a seer, return into the city in peace and your two sons with you. High may as thy son and Jonathan the son of Abiathar, see I will tarry in the plain of the wilderness until there come word from you to certify me. Zadok therefore and Abiathar carried the ark of God again to Jerusalem and they tarried there. And David went up by the ascent of Mount Olivet and wept as he went up and had his head covered and he went barefoot and all the people that was with him covered every man his head and they went up weeping as they went up. And one told David saying Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom. And David said, O Lord I pray thee, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness. And it came to pass when David was come up to the top of the mount where he worshipped God, behold, Hushai the Archite came to him with his coat wren and earth upon his head. So basically what this story is doing is just talking about all the people that are going with David. David's leaving the capital and a lot of people are siding with him and coming with him. And he's even being very gracious and telling people, hey, just go home, just go back, you don't have to come with me into the wilderness, just serve Absalom, just serve the king, you know, just stay here. But people are saying, no, we're going to be loyal to you, we're going to stay with you David, we're going to follow you wherever you go. And they're choosing to stay with him and not forsake him in his hour of need, you know, they're being a good friend unto him. And then they try to bring the ark of the covenant and he's saying, no, leave the ark of the covenant, you know, where it belongs, in Jerusalem, I'll be back if God will, and so forth. It says in verse 32, And it came to pass that when David was come to the top of the mount where he worshipped God, behold, Hushai the Archite came to meet him with his coat wren and earth upon his head, unto whom David said, If thou passest on with me, then thou shalt be a burden unto me. But if thou wilt return to the city in sand to Absalom, I will be thy servant, O king, as I have been thy father's servant hitherto, so will I now also be thy servant, then mayest thou for me defeat the council of Ahithophel. So basically he's telling this guy to go back and be a spy. He's saying, you know, you're going to be more helpful to me on the inside, basically helping me out to defeat the good council of Ahithophel, and you know, that's going to come into play later in the story. It says in verse 35, And hast thou not there with thee, Zadok and Abiathar the priest? Therefore it shall be that what thing soever thou shalt hear out of the king's house, thou shalt tell it to Zadok and Abiathar the priest. Behold, they have there with them their two sons, Ahimea, Zadok's son, and Jonathan, Abiathar's son, and by them ye shall send unto me everything that ye can hear. So he's saying, stay behind and get the intelligence of what's going on and then you can come tell us so that we're not victims of a surprise attack or something, we can get the information. So he's smart about having one guy stay on the inside to tell him what's going on. It says in verse 37, So Hushai, David's friend, came into the city, and Absalom came into Jerusalem. And of course the story's going to pick up in the next chapter. But Absalom comes into Jerusalem now, and of course Jerusalem fell without a fight. There's been no bloodshed yet. He just waltzed right in because David just left. David and all its supporters have left the city and Absalom just walks right in and takes control of the city of Jerusalem. But in the end there's going to be serious bloodshed. There's going to be a lot of killing and a lot of tragedy involved in this story. You know, because of this rebellion against his father and a rebellion against, you know, the king himself. And so we know that of course God had ordained David to be the king. And God had anointed him. And remember, David feared greatly to put forth his hand and touch God's anointing when it was Saul and to overthrow Saul. And so Absalom here has no fear of that. He's just ready to just go after David, and he's willing to go to war with David, I mean against his own dad. And to overthrow, you know, it's pretty sad when children will turn on their own parents like that. But the Bible teaches that some day in the last days in the tribulation, it says that the children shall rise up against their parents and cause them to be put to death. You know, that's a scary thought. Let's bow your heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord, and thank you that it is true. And Lord, there are scoffers out there who don't have the faith to believe in it, so they'll try to pick it apart and try to find error or contradiction, Lord. But the answers are always in there if you study. And so thank you so much, Lord, for giving us the word of God in our language that we can trust the King James Bible and believe it, Lord. And thank you so much for the stories that you've given us that we can learn from to be warned about the things that the devil will use in our lives through flattery and bad-mouthing authority figures in our life and try to turn us against them, Lord. Help us not to be like these simple fools who followed Absalom because they didn't know anything. Lord, help us to know what your will is so that we don't get sucked into those type of conspiracies and so forth. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.