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. Well, good evening, everyone. Welcome to Mountain Baptist Church. Take your song books and turn to song 257. Song 257 in your song books. We'll sing Look and Live, and if you would stand we'll sing song 257. Look and live. Tis recorded in his word, hallelujah, it is only that you look and live. I've a message full of love, hallelujah, a message, oh, my friend, for you. Tis a message, hallelujah, Jesus said it and I know it is true. Look and live, my brother, live. Love to Jesus now and live. Tis recorded in his word, hallelujah, it is only that you look and live. Life is offered unto you, hallelujah, eternal life thy soul shall have. If you'll only look to him, hallelujah, look to Jesus who alone can save. Look and live, my brother, live. Love to Jesus now and live. Tis recorded in his word, hallelujah, it is only that you look and live. I will tell you how I came, hallelujah, to Jesus when he made me whole. Twas believing on his name, hallelujah, I trusted and he saved my soul. Look and live, my brother, live. Love to Jesus now and live. Tis recorded in his word, hallelujah, it is only that you look and live. And let's pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, again, we just want to thank you, God, just for another night that we get to hear your holy word preached to us, God. I pray, Lord, that you would just be with our pastor, God, filled with your Holy Spirit, and we love you and we'll praise you. For it's in Jesus' name we ask all, but amen. All right, you may be seated and take your Mountain Baptist songbooks, your Mountain Baptist psalms, hymns, and spiritual songbooks, and turn to page number six. We'll sing Psalm 96 on page number six. O Lord, bless his name, show forth his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the heathen, his wonders among all people. For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised, he is to be feared above all gods. Give unto the Lord, all ye kindreds of the people, give unto the Lord glory and strength. O sing unto the Lord, new song, sing unto the Lord, all the earth. Sing unto the Lord, bless his name, show forth his salvation from day to day. For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Honor and majesty are before him, strength and beauty are in his sanctuary. Give unto the Lord, all ye kindreds of the people, give unto the Lord glory and strength. Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name, bring an offering and come into his courts. O worship the Lord and the beauty of holiness, fear before him all the earth. Say among the heathen that the Lord reigneth, the world also shall be established, that it shall not be moved, he shall judge the people righteously. Let the heavens rejoice and let the earth be glad, let the sea roar and the fullness thereof Be joyful and all that's therein, then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice. Before the Lord, for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with righteousness and the people with his truth. O sing unto the Lord a new song, sing unto the Lord all the earth. Sing unto the Lord, bless his name, show forth his salvation from day to day. Just some announcements here. Announcements are pretty much the same as on Sunday, but as far as service times are concerned, for this coming Sunday, everything will be normal there. And so hopefully we'll have our new modem and all that stuff and get the internet back up. So this is a time where it's good to be in church as far as, I mean, you're the only ones hearing it right now. You don't get this specialness all the time, right? I'm just kidding. But honestly, that modem lasted like seven years, so it's run its course. So, Lord willing, we'll get that all set up and so we'll have feedback online, hopefully Sunday. And then as far as sowing, our main sowing time will be on Sunday, normal time, one o'clock. Regional sowing time is Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. And then upcoming events, we do have the women's prayer meeting that'll be coming up this Sunday between the services there. And then the men's prayer meeting will be that next Friday. So, sowing marathons, we have one at the end of this month, next month, and then September as well. So Cumberland, Maryland, July 27th, Moorfield, West Virginia, August 31st, and Canonsburg, PA, September 21st. So, if you can't make it to one, maybe you can make it to the other. And so, be in prayer for those, you know, anyway. But our chapter memory for the month is Psalm 126. And our memory verse for the week is 1 Timothy 3.15. And then on the pregnancy list there, be in prayer for Crystal McCloy due in August with twins. And then be in prayer for Rachel Hiles on the pregnancy list there as well. I think they're due in January, I think is what they were saying. So, but be in prayer for these. And about what I have for announcements, we're going to be continuing our study through the book of 2 Samuel. We're going to be in chapter 14. So, Brother Anthony is going to be reading that if we do another song. The offering box is in the back there. If you want to give a tithe or an offering. The mother baby room is for the mothers and babies only. Brother Dave is going to come sing one more song. Again, Brother Anthony is going to read 2 Samuel chapter 14 after that. All right, if you would take your psalm books again and turn to song 138. Song 138 in your psalm books. We'll sing the Haven of Rest, song 138. My soul in sad acts I was of a life sea So burdened with sin and distress Till I heard a sweet voice saying make me your choice And I entered the Haven of Rest I've anchored my soul in the Haven of Rest I'll sail the wide seas no more The tempest may sweep or the wild stormy deep In Jesus I'm safe evermore I yielded myself to His tender embrace And faith taking hold of the Word My fetters fell off and I anchored my soul The Haven of Rest is my Lord I've anchored my soul in the Haven of Rest I'll sail the wide seas no more The tempest may sweep or the wild stormy deep In Jesus I'm safe evermore The song of my soul since the Lord made me whole Has been the old story so blessed Of Jesus who'll save whosoever will have A home in the Haven of Rest I've anchored my soul in the Haven of Rest I'll sail the wide seas no more The tempest may sweep or the wild stormy deep In Jesus I'm safe evermore Oh come to the Savior He patiently waits To save by His power divine Come anchor your soul in the Haven of Rest And save my beloved is mine I've anchored my soul in the Haven of Rest I'll sail the wide seas no more The tempest may sweep or the wild stormy deep In Jesus I'm safe evermore All right take your Bibles and turn to the book of 2 Samuel chapter number 14 2 Samuel chapter number 14 in your Bibles and we'll have brother Anthony come and read that for us 2 Samuel chapter 14 the Bible reads Now Joab the son of Zeruiah perceived that the king's heart was toward Absalom And Joab sent to Tekoa and fetched thence a wise woman and said unto her I pray thee feign thyself to be a mourner and put on now morning apparel And anoint not thyself with oil but be as a woman that had a long time mourned for the dead And come to the king and speak on this manner unto him So Joab put the words in her mouth And the woman of Tekoa spake to the king she fell on her face to the ground and did obeisance And said help oh king and the king said unto her What aileth thee and she answered I am indeed a widow woman and mine husband is dead And thine handmaid had two sons and they too strove together in the field And there was none to part them but the one smote the other and slew him And behold the whole family is risen against thine handmaid And they said deliver him that smote his brother that we may kill him For the life of his brother whom he slew And we will destroy the heir also And so they shall quench my coal which is left And shall not leave to my husband neither name nor remainder upon the earth And the king said unto the woman Go to thine house and I will give charge concerning thee And the woman of Tekoa said unto the king My lord oh king the iniquity be on me and on my father's house And the king and his throne be guiltless And the king said Whosoever sayeth unto thee bring him to me And he shall not touch thee anymore Then she said I pray thee let the king remember the lord thy God That thou wouldest not suffer the revengers of blood To destroy any more lest they destroy my son And he said as the lord liveth there shall not one hair of thy son fall to the earth Then the woman said let thine handmaid I pray thee speak one word unto my lord the king And he said say on And the woman said wherefore then hast thou thought such a thing against the people of God For the king doth speak this thing as one which is faulty And that the king doth not fetch home again his banished For we must needs die and are as water spilt on the ground Which cannot be gathered up again Neither doth God respect any person Yet doth he devise means that his banished be not expelled from him Now therefore that I am come to speak of this thing unto my lord the king It is because the people have made me afraid And thine handmaid said I will now speak unto the king It may be that the king will perform the request of his handmaid For the king will hear to deliver his handmaid out of the hand of the man that would destroy me And my son together out of the inheritance of God Then thine handmaid said the word of my lord the king shall now be comfortable For as an angel of God so is my lord the king to discern good and bad Therefore the lord thy God will be with thee Then the king answered and said unto the woman hide not from me I pray thee the thing that I shall ask thee And the woman said let my lord the king now speak And the king said is not the hand of Joab with thee in all this And the woman answered and said as thy soul liveth my lord the king None can turn to the right hand or to the left from aught that my lord the king hath spoken For thy servant Joab he bade me and he put all these words in not mouth of thine handmaid To fetch about this form of speech hath thy servant Joab done this thing And my lord is wise according to the wisdom of an angel of God to know all things that are in the earth And the king said unto Joab behold now I have done this thing Go therefore bring the young man Absalom again And Joab fell to the ground on his face and bowed himself and thanked the king And Joab said to they thy servant knoweth that I have found grace in thy sight my lord O king in that the king hath fulfilled the request of his servant So Joab arose and went to Gishur and brought Absalom to Jerusalem And the king said let him turn to his own house and let him not see my face So Absalom returned to his own house and saw not the kings face But in all Israel there was none to be so much praised as Absalom for his beauty For the sole of his foot even to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him And when he pulled his head for it was at every years end that he pulled it Because the hair was heavy on him therefore he pulled it He weighed the hair of his head at two hundred shekels after the kings weight And unto Absalom there were born three sons and one daughter whose name was Tamar She was a woman of fair countenance And Absalom dwelt two full years in Jerusalem and saw not the kings face Therefore Absalom sent for Joab to have him sent to the king But he would not come to him and when he sent again the second time he would not come Therefore he said unto his servants see Joab's field is near mine And he hath barley there go and set it on fire And Absalom's servants set the field on fire Then Joab arose and came to Absalom unto his house and said unto him Wherefore have thy servants set my field on fire And Absalom answered Joab behold I sent unto thee saying come hither That I may send thee to thy king to say wherefore am I come from Gishur It had been good for me to have been there still Now therefore let me see the kings face And if there be any iniquity in me let him kill me So Joab came to the king and told him And when he had called for Absalom he came to the king And bowed himself on his face to the ground before the king And the king kissed Absalom Dear Lord thank you for this night We continue to gather through second salmon I pray it should be with Pastor Robinson and fill him with the Holy Spirit Help us all to learn tonight in the same we pray, Amen Amen, so you're there in second Samuel chapter 14 And obviously in the last chapter We see that Absalom has Amnon his brother killed Because he forced Absalom's sister And in this chapter we see that Absalom is going to come back to Jerusalem So he's fled and in the beginning of this chapter Basically Joab is perceiving that the king's heart is towards Absalom We saw that at the end of the last chapter That obviously David longed for his son And he's been there for three years So it's been a little while obviously since all this has happened But basically what Joab is going to do here is He's going to basically try to He's obviously tricking David into realizing his fault But basically using a story or something that's going on That's supposedly unrelated to him And using that to point out his own fault Of what's going on with him and Absalom Now Nathan kind of does the same thing Only he doesn't have some other person do this for him Nathan the prophet comes up and basically tells a story about this rich man, this poor guy And dealing with lambs and all this other stuff But basically kind of does something very similar to that And the thing that I kind of noticed with that Is that Nathan the prophet nor does Joab basically come up And just start rebuking the king for not doing basically whatever he's doing Is that basically they come up to him with respect And obviously he's kind of like an entreaty Of hey let me give you this example Hey this is where you're wrong And it's kind of like making him out of his own mouth State what's right and wrong before it even gets into what he did Does that make sense? This person obviously has done wickedness because of the Ulam And then Nathan's like well you're the man though Thou art the man So if you think that's wrong then it's wrong what you did And the same thing with this story is that This woman's going to come up and basically give a scenario That's very similar to David's scenario And he judges a certain way on that And then basically once he judges that Once he states this is how it should be dealt with Then it's turned around and saying hey but you haven't done that So that's something that's used as a tactic there And I think it's a wise thing to do In the fact that instead of just starting attacking the person Be like hey what would you do in this situation that's detached from you Because when it comes to judging matters A lot of times you have kind of like a personal You're biased to certain things You have a personal like you got skin in the game Whereas if you're judging something that doesn't really pertain to you It's not something that affects you personally You're more likely to make an honest You know basically judgment call on something Because it doesn't affect you personally But as soon as it affects you personally Then you end up maybe not making the right judgment calls and stuff like that So that's kind of what's going on here And it's a good way to approach Someone especially in leadership is instead of just like coming at them Be like you're wrong this is why you're wrong and all this other stuff Is more so say like hey would this be right over here So if this isn't right then why is this right And that's kind of the way that the approach is there But I was just thinking about before we get into that Into the reading of the story of this woman here That we just read Go to Proverbs chapter 14, Proverbs chapter 14 and verse 35 Proverbs chapter 14 I just thought of a few different principles in Proverbs When it comes to how to speak to leadership Or how to speak to those that are in authority And obviously David isn't in authority right he's the king So as far as authority goes in Israel David's the top man right Obviously God is number one But as far as physical humanly speaking David isn't the highest in command there But that's what it says here in Proverbs 14 verse 35 It says the king's favor is toward a wise servant But his wrath is against them that cause the shame And there's no marvel here that Joab fetches not only a woman You know the Tekoa But fetches a wise woman right And basically brings in this woman that's obviously very intelligent And knows how to speak and knows how to discern things and everything else So go to Proverbs chapter 18 verse 23 I thought of this verse when it comes to how you talk to the king And notice that she's extremely respectful to the king Even when she's turning it around on him She's not like gotcha It's more just like but you're at fault And you know basically she's very much in kind of obedience of like getting that point across And verse 23 here it says the poor uses entreaties but the rich answers roughly And you can look at this in the fact that the poor and the rich are dealing with someone Maybe that's higher in authority and someone that's lower in authority As far as like how would a boss speak to somebody And how would the employee speak to the boss right And the fact is that there's a different way in which people speak to each other Based off of that authority structure And the fact that if you're in authority you don't really have to use entreaties Because you're the boss right But if you're low on the totem pole you need to make sure that you're really respectful Now this doesn't mean that the boss can be disrespectful Or should be disrespectful or should be condescending or anything like that But there is a difference Like when it comes to like if you're the boss at work You say hey I need this done I need you to get this done by this time But an employee doesn't say hey listen I told you about this you need to get this done on this time Like you don't You're like you know I asked you for that raise you need to do that now Like you don't, that's not how you go about it You know because then you're not getting the raise and you might actually lose your job Unless you work for the state and then at that point you know I don't think it's possible to lose a job when you're working for like the government and stuff like that Unless you're a Christian, unless you have like morals and stuff so So anyway, but this actually I believe ties in very well with First Timothy chapter 5 as well Go to First Timothy chapter 5 verse 1 First Timothy chapter 5 verse 1 I just kind of thought of this with how Nathan approaches David, Nathan the prophet But then how Joab approaches this as well with this woman And how the woman approaches it as well Obviously I think this whole story is made up So I'm not saying like what the woman does here or what Joab does here is right necessarily As far as like how to approach it I'm not saying to just make up some story and go in and be like hey You know I'm about to die let me tell you like why you're wrong in this area It's like well no like don't lie Don't like be deceiving But at the same time like the approach as far as not going in there just guns a blazing When it comes to like rebuking someone in authority Notice what it says here in First Timothy chapter 5 verse 1 It says rebuke not an elder but entreat him as a father And the younger men as brethren, the elder women as mothers, the younger as sisters with all purity Meaning that we're all supposed to treat each other with respect But when it comes to those that are in authority You know it's just kind of like the poor uses entreaties You think about the poor as being maybe not those that are in authority To the rich you know like as far as that goes Not that I'm rich and you're poor or anything like that But the idea there is that you entreat them You don't just like put them on blast Right? And this is something that you know we all need to take heed to When it comes to how we speak to those that are above us Or that those are in authority Children you need to know this as well when it comes to talking to your parents Is that you don't just rebuke your parents You don't just tell your parents like you're wrong And like just start putting them on blast Even if they are wrong If they are wrong then you can kindly say Hey I thought this was wrong I thought this isn't the way we should be doing this right? And be gentle and entreat them right? And so you know that's how we should go about it Anyway but going into the story here in verse 1 it says 2 Samuel 14 verse 1 it says Now Joab the son of Jeruiah perceived that the king's heart was toward Absalom And Joab sent to Tekoa and fetched thence a wise woman And said unto her, I pray thee, feign thyself to be a mourner Basically it's basically the idea of make your appearance Make it look like you're a woman that's in mourning It says put on now mourning apparel And anoint not thyself with oil But put as a woman that had a long time mourning for the dead So basically make it look like you've been mourning for a really long time Like this has been rough And come to the king and speak on this manner unto him So Joab put the words in her mouth So this is why this story is just completely made up right? I mean what she's saying is just what Joab tells her to say But the reason I believe it's a wise woman Because obviously she's going to speak for herself at some point right? She's going to say this story But then she kind of has to answer for Especially when it says Joab I sense Joab's hand in this right? In verse 14 it says And when the woman of Tekoa spake to the king She fell on her face to the ground and did obeisance and said, Helbo king And the king said unto her, What aleth thee? And she answered, I am indeed a widow woman and my husband is dead That's kind of redundant right? You know it's like okay, you're a widow But it's just very clear right? A widow woman, my husband is dead Notice that it says indeed a widow woman Which like I said kind of linking this back to 1 Timothy 5 The whole chapter is dealing with widows that are widows indeed And the idea that respect and taking care of your own And all these different things I believe this chapter actually very well ties in with that idea of leadership But also just the idea of taking care of your family This whole chapter is kind of dealing with family And the idea of sons and all that So anyway Verse 6 here And the handmaid had two sons They two strove together in the field And there was none to part them But the one smote the other and slew him Now do you see the correlation? Right? Because what happened with Absalom? He had his brother killed right? So there's two brothers involved in this whole thing in chapter 13 Which is Amnon and Absalom And so this story is obviously different Than David's scenario But it's also very similar And whenever you're wanting to try to convince somebody on something When it comes to trying to convince them on an argument or something like that A lot of times you got to take it from a different angle But there has to be a similarity there You don't want to be comparing apples with oranges right? If this woman came in with some story that had nothing to do with sons Or someone killing someone else Or anything like that How would that relate to what David is dealing with right? Or what they're requesting David for It has to be semi-similar Just as much as the Eulam story That Nathan tells To say hey that's you It has to correlate So in verse 7 here he says And behold the whole family is risen against thine handmaid And they said deliver him that smote his brother That we may kill him For the life of his brother whom he slew And we will destroy the heir also And so they shall quench my coal Which is left And shall not leave to my husband Neither name nor remainder upon the earth So basically her son is all she has left right? At this point she's a widow woman Who had two sons and that's all she had left Now I don't believe that basically it was necessarily murder It's more like probably manslaughter or negligence Or like second degree murder How you would state this But it's not like he hated them in time past It sounds like they got into a fight And the person accidentally killed the other person right? The brother accidentally And obviously this is a made up story anyway right? It's not like hey let's figure this out Let's see what really happened here But at the same time It's more of kind of like a manslaughter type of thing here To where you know when it comes to that There's going to be a revenger of blood That's wanting to get revenge on the person that was killed And in the Bible in the law If someone were to let's say accidentally kill somebody They throw something but they didn't mean to kill the person or whatever Then they can flee to the city of refuge and all that stuff So it's kind of that situation I think Being brought forth as an example to David But it says in verse 8 here It says the king said unto the woman Go to thine house and I will give charge concerning me And the woman of Tekoa said unto the king My lord O king, the iniquity be on me and on my father's house And the king and his throne be guiltless So she's basically saying You know whatever happened with my sons You know like with the person You know basically let all that lay upon us And not upon you So basically he's like go to your house And basically I'm going to figure this out But then she's basically saying Just know that we're holding you guiltless to this And it's not going to be laid on you kind of thing Lost my spot Yeah there we go Verse 10 And the king said Whosoever saith ought unto thee bring him to me And he shall not touch thee anymore Then said she I pray thee Let the king remember the Lord thy God That thou wouldst not suffer the revenge of the blood To destroy any more Lest they destroy my son And he said as the Lord liveth There shall not one hair of thy son fall to the earth So basically he's saying like They're not going to touch him He's under his protection now So at this point she gets the answer You know basically the I guess the mercy of the king here And the fact that hey no your son's not going to be killed I'm not going to let this happen You know he's going to be preserved and all this stuff And at this point this is where the woman switches it to him So that's kind of like the whole premise of why she's even coming here And why Joab is sending her Is to basically turn it back on David Because notice what it says here in verse 12 Then the woman said Let thine handmaid I pray thee speak one word unto my lord the king And he said say on And the woman said Wherefore then hast thou Thought such a thing against the people of God Now that's quite a statement right there right But then she's going to explain For the king doth speak this thing as one which is faulty In that the king doth not fetch home again his banish So basically what she's stating here is that You're willing to deal with this situation over here That's not related to you at all But you haven't taken care of stuff that's at home And if there's anything to learn from this When it comes to what's the application What do we take away from the story Is that make sure your house is in order Make sure that you have stuff taken care of at home And that all that stuff is taken care of Before you start dealing out judgment To dealing with other people's matters And obviously as the king he needs to deal with certain matters He needs to deal with all that stuff And it's just like me as a pastor I need to deal with certain matters in the church But I need to make sure the matters at home are dealt with first It's just like the idea that If you bring a gift to the altar Obviously back in the Old Testament Jesus was walking on the earth, it was still under the Old Testament And he states that basically if you want to give a gift to the altar But you have a fault toward your brother You need to go deal with that first Before you bring the gift to the altar And I'll say this when it comes to going to church Or when it comes to doing things for God You know what, I think that we need to make sure that Hey, things are getting done here at home Things are set in order at home And that that stuff is being taken care of Before you start branching off to other things I'm not saying don't come to church I'm not saying to not go soul winning or anything like that But when it comes to going forward to do other things Or expanding yourself into other realms Make sure your house is set in order Make sure that all of the problems that you're dealing with Are for the most case taken care of We all have problems and we're not just getting rid of all the problems And don't be that person that's just like Well as soon as I get rid of all my problems I'm going to start serving God Well then you're never going to serve him Because you're just going to have problems until you die So just deal with it I'm talking about major problems Obviously we're dealing with like banished children And like different things like that, right? But that being said And this really gets into being a leader too As far as, you know, this specifically Is dealing with, hey you're going to be a leader You're going to do this, well you need to have your house set in order This is why the pastor's qualifications The fact that he's rolling his house well And that is, how can you take care of the church of God If you don't roll your own house well, right? So, and this is something in the ministry that seems to happen And it seems to happen in the past Where pastors will literally let their house fall apart For the ministry And that ought not to be done Okay, that ought not to be so Make sure your house is in order and all that And really it comes into this, they're faulty Right, there's a fault with them They're over here judging other people's like marriages But their marriage is falling apart, right? They're judging other people's, you know, as far as like Here's what you should do with your kids, but their kids are falling apart You know, that's something that, hey, take care of things at home And then, hey, if you can, help other people out Okay, the idea of like bearing your own burden But also, bear one another's burdens, right? But the bearing other people's burdens You know, don't do that if you're not bearing your own burdens, right? If you're not taking care of your own problems Okay, just as much as like giving But don't give above and beyond what you can give, right? Cause you don't want to give And then they're filled and you're in need, right? You know, there needs to be kind of some common sense in there when it comes to that So if you hear me preaching a full paycheck Sunday, just disregard that, okay? Cause you gotta pay the bills, okay? Before you start giving a whole bunch of money You need to make sure that your family's taken care of Your bills are being paid and all that And then if you have a surplus, then great, you know, if you want to give, you can In what verse did I stop on? Verse 14 I think is where I stopped, right? In verse 15 it says Now therefore that I am come to speak of this thing unto my Lord the King It is because the people have made me afraid And I am handmade said I will now speak unto the King It may be that the King will perform the request of his handmaid For the King will hear to deliver his handmaid out of the hand of the man that would destroy me And my son together out of the inheritance of God Then thine handmaid said The word of my Lord the King shall now be comfortable For as an angel of God so is my Lord the King to discern good and bad Therefore the Lord thy God will be with thee Now I don't think she's just being like flowery or anything like that I think she's just being really submissive and very reverent to the King As far as, notice that like my Lord the King, thine handmaid, all this And this is language that's used in other places where other people That's how they address people in authority And the idea that you're not trying to assert their authority But you're trying to convince them, right? You're trying to persuade them, but you're at the same time Understanding like, hey, you're in authority, you're the one that makes this call And hopefully you'll make the right choice here But notice that she's basically, not only is this whole story made up, right? But she's also saying like the reason that I told you this story Or the reason that I came to you is because the people made me fear This is why I'm bringing this up about your banish, about your son Is because, you know, the people made me fear And they figure that I can take care of my situation and that situation It's kind of like killing two birds with one stone But David is not an idiot, okay? So David perceives that this is Joab Which, you know, kind of starts off, this whole chapter starts off with Joab Basically knowing that David's heart was towards Absalom So there's probably conversation that was going on I mean, there had to have been some kind of conversation where Joab is talking about like Hey, you're going to bring back Absalom, you know, all this stuff Because why would David just be like, it's Joab So there must be some kind of relationship there with Joab and Absalom Verse 18 there Then the king answered and said unto the woman Hide not from me, I pray thee the thing that I shall ask thee And the woman said, Let my lord the king now speak And the king said, Is not the hand of Joab with thee in all this? Right, it's just like he nailed it He knew exactly where this was coming from Because I'm sure at the first he's probably just like, man, this is a rough situation, I'm going to take care of this And then she starts bringing up his stuff and he's like, wait a minute Wait a minute, right, what's going on here? And the woman answered and said, As I so liveth my lord the king None can turn to the right hand or to the left Ought that my lord the king has spoken And for thy servant Joab he bade me And he put all these words in the mouth of thine handmaid To fetch about this form of speech Hath thy servant Joab done this thing? And my lord is wise according to the wisdom of an angel of God To know all things that are in the earth So obviously, at this point she's probably stunned He saw right through that He knew exactly what was going on as soon as it got turned on him But notice that David obviously is a very wise man I mean, we're talking about the sweet psalmist of Israel, a man after God's own heart He knows the Bible, he knows the word, he's got a close relationship with the Lord Even though obviously he's messed up Like in the past there, with Uriah and Bathsheba and all that stuff But at the same time he's still a very wise person And a very wise king It's just the fact that even the wisest person has faults And even the best leaders can mess up and not have things taken care of at home And so this is a lesson to know that even the best leaders have major faults Or have things that they need to set in order And as leaders we should always be looking to leaders in the Bible and see Hey, what did they do well? But more importantly, what did they do wrong? Where did they mess up? Because that's where we can learn and say, hey, I don't want that to take place When you think of David, for example, what's a big thing you don't want to repeat in your life? Is the fact that, well, I want my marriage to be well I don't want there to be this turmoil there with the marriage to where adultery can happen And God forbid, murder would happen out of that But then also, when it comes to your children Having a good relationship with your children and taking care of that stuff And being just when it comes to how you deal with your children And how justice wasn't served with Tamar, with Amnon And all these different things that happen there To where it led to Absalom eventually taking vengeance himself And then Absalom is then basically banished or he's fleeing into another country And what we see here is that he's going to come back He's going to come back but then David's like, but I'm not going to see his face And the thing that I just noticed before we get into where Absalom is going to take over the kingdom Where he's going to basically have this coup where he takes the kingdom from David for a little while Is just what led up to that What caused that to happen And what could have been prevented to see this downfall of this son to his father Verse 21 it says, And the king said unto Joab, Behold now, I have done this thing Go therefore, bring the young man Absalom again And Joab fell to the ground on his face and bowed himself and thanked the king And Joab said, Today thy servant knoweth that I have found grace in thy sight, my lord o king In that the king hath fulfilled the request of his servant So Joab arose and went to Geshur and brought Absalom to Jerusalem So obviously this was the request of Joab, this is what Joab wanted In verse 24, but it says, And the king said, Let him turn to his own house and let him not see my face So Absalom returned to his own house and saw not the king's face So basically he's allowed to return but I don't want to see his face We're not going to commune with each other So at this point, it's been three years He comes back and he's basically still kind of banished And the fact that, you know, it's actually going to be two years So ultimately it's going to be five years before he sees David, his father And that's just not a good relationship You want to have, you know, when you think, I imagine that David when all this stuff goes down Probably thinking in his head, you know, maybe that wasn't a good idea to be apart from my son for that long To where obviously there's not this close relationship But the next thing that I see, we see a description of Absalom And it's always interesting when there's a description of somebody Because a lot of times we don't see a description Right, sometimes you'll see it but then it's like David, you know, his description was when he was a young man So we don't, you know, it kind of talks about like him being young and obviously ruddy And the idea of being like youthful and all that We see in another place that he has a beard, you know, there's different things And sometimes you'll see descriptions But here we see a description of Absalom In verse 25 here it says, but in all Israel there was none to be such so much praised as Absalom for his beauty So Absalom is obviously a very good looking guy It says from the sole of his foot even to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him So I mean straight up Fabio, you know Younger people are like, who's Fabio? The only thing I remember about Fabio is he got hit in the face with a goose or a duck when he was on a roller coaster But he did have long hair, you know, he had this like flowing long hair Anyway, all I have to say is that this guy's a good looking guy Brad Pitt, no? Still not? Who's the like good looking guy now or something like that? Brad Pitt's probably like in the 90s Anyway But basically, obviously a good looking guy Verse 25 here, talking about his hair It says, and when he pulled his head, for it was at every year's end that he pulled it Because the hair was heavy on him, therefore he pulled it He weighed the hair of his head at 200 shekels after the king's weight That's intense He has some thick hair And when it comes to pulling, what's pulling mean? Well, let me just show you a verse to show you this but it just means he cut his hair I think you can kind of figure that out with the context But just to show you that it's not shaving his head, it's cutting it Because notice what it says in Ezekiel 44 Ezekiel 44 and verse 20 Ezekiel 44 and verse 20, it says Neither shall they shave their heads, nor suffer their locks to grow long They shall only pull their heads So if they can't shave their heads, but they can't let it grow long, the only way to deal with that is to cut it So pulling is just an old way of saying cutting your hair Now, I don't believe that Absalom necessarily had long hair because he cut it every year And on average, your hair grows about a half an inch a month Obviously that can vary a little bit But let's say it's half an inch, just on average Then that's six inches So six inches, you're talking like this long So I don't think that that long is necessarily dealing with like He looked like a woman or he had hair down to his shoulders or anything like that And he cut it every year, so obviously it didn't just keep letting it grow And obviously I'm not saying Absalom is like the poster boy child for what our hair length should be Just let it grow for a year But I'll tell you this, the cost of everything going up is tempting As far as haircuts are concerned But I get my hair cut every month because I can't stand when it touches my ears And so I need it cut My wife did cut my hair there for a little bit when COVID hit and everything was closed up And she did a fine job But it's just so messy and all that stuff when we're at home, I just like doing it separately Anyway, all I'll say is that if you don't get your hair cut for months on end And you have like shaggy hair, I don't think you're in sin You know, you don't have to have a buzz cut or anything like that But in the end, all I'll say is that I don't believe that Absalom had this like long flowing Fabio hair going on To where, but it is stating that his hair was obviously very thick to the point where it weighed a lot So basically, extremely attractive guy, like had this like hair that was flowing And the reason I believe this is being brought up Because in the next chapter, he's going to win the hearts of the people And like it or not, you know, people tend to gravitate towards attractive people Okay I don't know this from experience, but I've heard this is true Okay But it just happens, you know, people tend to like being around people that are attractive, all this stuff So you have the idea of like what he does to get people, to win the people's hearts But also like he's a really attractive looking guy, people just like being around them, right And so you can just see like why is this being brought up Why is it being brought up that he's, you know, looks, you know, attractive Like he's beautiful looking, all this stuff The interesting thing about Absalom is kind of the pictures of Christ that are there Although he's kind of like an anti-type, okay And what's said about Jesus though, the complete opposite, right I don't believe that he was, you know, like he wasn't deformed, right He wasn't like some like, you know, like he just looked normal, right He said there was no beauty that one should desire him, right It was actually kind of quite the opposite of what's said about Absalom And obviously Absalom is like usurping the authority of the king All these different things that he's doing to where this obviously isn't like Christ But there are a lot of things that point to kind of a picture of Christ when it comes to that Same thing with Samson, Samson has some of those pictures Even though Samson obviously made a lot of mistakes And obviously we're not saying that like Samson, the mistakes that Samson made is like, you know, picturing Christ But at the same time there are things that picture that, you know, when it comes to him being caught in the oak All these different things that, you know, getting thrust through with a dart while he's caught up in this oak tree Like there's a lot of different pictures that are there And maybe we'll get into that But I do see quite more so the opposite of the description of Jesus when it comes to this, okay But don't take that too far, obviously Jesus had no blemish, right He didn't have deformities, he wasn't, it's just that he wasn't like a Brad Pitt walking down the road, right I don't know why that's being brought, I can't think of anybody else, okay But he's just not like, he's not an Absalom walking down the road, okay And so, but notice here it says in verse 27 And unto Absalom there were born three sons and one daughter whose name was Tamar She was a woman of a fair countenance So, it's interesting too because his sister's name was Tamar, right And so I don't know if she was named after her sister I mean it's probably very plausible that that's the case But the thing that I kind of want to point out here Where some people will say a contradiction in the Bible, obviously that's not true But here's a case where actually I see kind of a tragedy in Absalom's life, okay And where you can have a lot of sympathy for Absalom And again I'm not like, I'm not like on Absalom's team here Like you should take over the kingdom from David and all this stuff Obviously he did wrong But if you remember his sister Tamar was forced by his brother Nothing happened to Amnon, there was no retribution there So then he takes it into his own hands to get vengeance Then he's banished and he's gone for three years being banished Then he finally can come back, but then he's basically can't see the king's face for two years But this is something that just kind of stuck out to me Especially you know when people are like, oh there's a contradiction But here's the thing, this is actually vital information What we see stated here is that there were born unto him three sons Okay, three sons Go to 2 Samuel 18 So when Absalom dies there's something stated about him 2 Samuel 18 verse 18 It says, Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself a pillar which is in the king's dale 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 Well over here it says he had three sons, over here it says he has no son to keep his name It doesn't say that he never had a son It doesn't say that there were no sons born unto him It says he has no son to keep his name Which means very likely what's going on here is that those three sons died Those three sons could have died at a very young age Who knows what happened to them But I want you to think about the idea of like obviously that I'm sure happened before Cause he reared this up in his lifetime This isn't like, well he went to battle and his sons died fighting against David and his men This is just stating a fact that he reared this up in his lifetime Basically because he had no son to keep after his name Meaning like he had no son to take his name after him Therefore he reared up this place That's obviously a tragedy that happened to Absalom So a lot of times in the Bible when you think of like why people do certain things And obviously you think of like why Pharaoh and all that stuff Well yeah obviously Pharaoh hardened his heart and God hardened his heart because you know He wasn't thankful and all that right But then you just think about like normal people Why they are led to do certain things or why they go down a certain path And not excusing the outcome of what Absalom does But at the same time like he didn't exactly have the best go of it right In the fact of what happened with his sister Probably the tragedy of what happened with his sons Whether they died, maybe they died as children Maybe it could very well be that the children were born and they died at birth Because it says they were born unto him But notice the names aren't mentioned right Tamar is mentioned, his daughter is mentioned But that's just something that sticks out to me To where Absalom is just kind of like this outcast in his family And injustice was done to his sister Then when he takes his vengeance he's basically treated like a black sheep And all this stuff going down the line I think adds up to what ends up happening later on Now the next portion, the end of the chapter here is one of my favorite stories I don't know why, it's just funny to me When Absalom has Joab's field burned, like set on fire You're like why is that funny to you? I don't know why, I just read the story and think it's hilarious I think Joab's response is hilarious And I don't know, I'm just imagining it as going on So in verse 28 here So Absalom dwelt two full years in Jerusalem and saw not the king's face So two years go by and the king still will not see him It says, Therefore Absalom sent for Joab to have sent him to the king But would not come to him And when he's sent again the second time he would not come Therefore he said unto his servants, See Joab's field is near mine And he hath barley there, go and set it on fire And Absalom's servants set the field on fire Then Joab arose and came to ask unto his house and said unto him Wherefore have thy servants set my field on fire? I don't know why, it's just hilarious to me It's just basically like I called for you two times You didn't answer to me so I set your field on fire I got you over here didn't it? His response is like why did you set my field on fire? Just like a neighbor's dispute kind of thing It's like answer me the next time I call for you then Because then in verse 31 it says, Then Joab arose and came to Absalom unto his house And said unto him, Wherefore have thy servants set my field on fire? And Absalom answered Joab, Behold I sent unto thee, saying, Come hither That I may send thee to the king, to say, Wherefore am I come from Geshur? It had been good for me to have been there still Now therefore let me see the king's face And if there be any iniquity in me, let him kill me So obviously Joab goes to the king But the thing to think about here is that He says that basically it would be better for him to be there still Where was he at? He was basically where his grandfather was at Because his mother's father is the king of Geshur So where he was banished to or where he basically fled to He had family there, right? It was his mom's side of the family But he had family there and basically he's coming back to basically be an outcast And at this point he's basically like, Why am I even here? I'm just basically, I can't go see the king, I can't do anything I'm just stuck basically in kind of like a halfway house, right? Where he's like on house arrest or something like that To where he can't go see the king But Joab, you would think that he'd learn from that But he gets his field set on fire again Anyway, it's just hilarious, it's like that's how you get a hold of people You set their field on fire apparently, you know It's like, yeah, you'll come then Verse 33 So Joab came to the king and told him And when he had called for Absalom He came to the king and bowed himself on his face To the ground before the king and the king kissed Absalom So obviously David cares for Absalom I mean when Absalom dies, it's one of the saddest types of responses that you see from David Is talking about Absalom, his son And really I think when it comes to that David didn't want Absalom to die He didn't want anything to happen to him And you can imagine all the regret that David has Of what happened before all this went down As far as how he failed as his father And so, you know, these are lessons to be learned here As far as how to deal with certain situations But, yeah, I just It's one of those things that reading through this, going through 2 Samuel And specifically dealing with the story with Absalom I'm just seeing a lot of basically tragedies that have led to The actions that take place later And I just think about a lot of things that could have been done differently To where that would have never been the case That would have never happened Or, you know, it's just I think something we should always look at and say Hey, let's deal with this problem before it becomes worse So 2 Samuel 14 We deal with Absalom coming back to Jerusalem He finally sees his father But when you get to chapter 15 I hope now you can probably see there's a reasoning behind Absalom I don't think he's just inherently evil Where he's just like, alright, you know what, I'm going to serve authority I think there's a backstory there That is leading to what happens in chapter 15 To where that happens And obviously God foresaw that that was going to happen Obviously there's actually a prophecy fulfilled As far as what Nathan says as far as the punishment that's going on there But I think ultimately If David didn't commit adultery to Bathsheba And have Uriah killed I don't think any of this probably would have happened Maybe the Amnon-Tamar thing would have happened But David probably would have dealt with it differently Because when you're guilty of the same type of sin or same type of thing Or you are worthy of death It's hard to dish that out to somebody that is later on And just how that snowballs into other problems And how it affects other people's lives Something we should take note of But that's 2 Samuel 14 Let's end with a word of prayer Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for today Thank you for your word, thank you for this passage And Lord help us to apply it to our lives Help us to learn from it And help us to be good leaders And specifically with our families, with our kids And Lord just pray that you'd help us to lead them rightly And Lord help us to not hold grudges or anything like that Or to basically have any type of animosity toward anybody And Lord we just pray that you'd be with us as we go home Give us safe travels And we love you and pray all this in Jesus Christ's name For the day will come to sing one more song and that will be dismissed Alright, take your songbooks and turn to song 150 Song 150 In your songbooks we'll sing My Faith Has Found a Resting Place If you would stand, we'll sing song 150 My faith has found a resting place Not in device nor creed I trust the ever living one His wounds for me shall plead I trust the ever living one His wounds for me shall plead