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you you you you you Good evening everyone. Welcome to Mountain Baptist Church. Take your song books and turn to song 223 Song 223 and your song books will sing Springs of Living Water and if you would stand We'll sing song 223 I Thirsted in the barren land of sin and shame and nothing satisfying there. I found But to the Blessed Cross of Christ one day I came where Springs of Living Water did abound Drinking at the Springs of Living Water Happy now am I my soul is satisfied Drinking at the Springs of Living Water. Oh wonderful and bountiful supply How sweet the living water from the hills of God it makes me glad and happy all the way Now glory grace and blessing mark the path I've trod I'm shouting hallelujah every day Drinking at the Springs of Living Water Happy now am I my soul is satisfied drinking at the Springs of Living Water Oh wonderful and bountiful supply Oh sinner won't you come today to Calvary A fountain there is flowing deep and wide The Savior now invites you to the water free where thirsting spirits can be satisfied Drinking at the Springs of Living Water Happy now am I my soul is satisfied drinking at the Springs of Living Water Happy now am I my soul is satisfied Drinking at the Springs of Living Water Oh wonderful and bountiful supply And let's pray heavenly father lord again We just want to thank you lord just for another night the week to meet midweek be Just uplifted by your word. I pray lord that you would just be with our pastor and fill me with the power and spirit You may be seated and take your mountain baptist Psalms hymns and spiritual song books and turn to page number seven Page number seven in your mountain baptist psalms hymns and spiritual song books We'll sing psalm 117 on page number seven Oh praise the lord all ye nations Praise him all ye people For as merciful kindness is great toward us And the truth of the lord endure forever Praise ye the lord Praise ye the lord Amen and welcome to mountain baptist church on this wednesday evening just some announcements here get started As far as service times and everything everything should be normal this week so nothing out of the ordinary there Tonight we'll be continuing our study through the book of second samuel So we'll be in chapter 18 tonight As far as soul winning times the regional times obviously just be in a church group there for that Uh, the women's prayer meeting on the 25th of this month the men's prayer meeting on the 30th and then the soul winning marathon in morefield on the 24th So that's saturday the 24th And then we have the the canonsburg Uh pa soul winning marathon in september so september 21st, and then we'll have our Our seven year anniversary service That on the 22nd and we'll have a fellowship in between all that fun stuff um That'd be here before you know it so, um and then Uh chapter memory for the month first john chapter one and then ephesians 1 13 is our memory verse for the week Um, and then on the pregnancy list, uh be in prayer for Rachel hyles, uh, but also keep mccloy family in your prayers, uh crystal mccloy during that the whole recovery process and everything there Just be in prayer for them and I think that's about all I have for announcements that I can think of um Offering boxes back to everyone give a tie there an offering mother baby rooms for the mothers babies only I think But david you're reading this morning or this evening, uh, so brother david's going to be reading Second samuel chapter 18 for us after we do one more song All right, take your song books and turn to song number 44 Song number 44 in your song books will sing will work till jesus comes song number 44 Oh land of rest for thee I sigh when will the moment come When I shall lay my armor by and dwell in peace at home Will work Till jesus comes will work Till jesus come will work Till jesus comes and will be gathered home To jesus christ, I fled for rest. He bade me cease to roam And lean for soccer on his breast till he Conduct me home Will work Till jesus comes will work till jesus comes will work Till jesus comes and will be gathered home I sought at once my savior's side no more My steps shall roam With him i'll brave death chilly Tied and reach my heavenly home Will work Till jesus comes will work till jesus comes work Till jesus comes and will be gathered home All right, take your bibles and turn the book of second samuel chapter number 18 Samuel chapter number 18 your bibles and my brother david read that for us All right second samuel 18 if you found your place amen And the battle reads and david numbered the people that were with them and set captains of thousands and captains of hundreds over them And david sent forth the third part of the people under the hand of joab and the third part under the hand of abbessai the son of zariah Joab's brother and a third part under the hand of ittai the gitai and the king said unto the people I will surely go forth with you myself also But the people answered thou shalt not go forth for if we flee away They will not care for us neither neither if half of us die will they care for us But now thou art with ten thousand of us. Therefore now it is better that thou sucker us out of the city And the king said and the king said unto them What seemeth you best I will do and the king stood by the gate side and all the people came out by hundreds and by Thousands and the king demanded joab and abbessai and ittai saying deal gently for my sake with the young man Even epsilon and all the people heard when the king gave all the captains charged concerning epsilon So the people went out into the field against israel and the battle was in the wood of ephraim Where the people of israel were slain before the service of david and there was and there was there a great slaughter that day of twenty thousand men For the battle was there scattered over the face of all the country and the wood devoured more people than And the wood devoured more people that day than the so devoured And epsilon met the servants of david and epsilon rode upon a meal and the meal went under the thick birds of the great oak And his head caught hold of the earth and he was taken up between the heaven and the earth and the meal that was under him Went away And a certain man saw it and told jarab and said behold. I saw epsilon hanged in an oak And jarab said the man that told him and behold thou saw sir Why does thou not smite him there to the ground and I would have given thee ten cycles of silver and a girdle And the man said to jarab though It should receive a thousand cycles of silver in my hand yet would I not put forth my hand against the king's son Who in our hearing the king charged thee and arisai and ittai saying beware that none touched the young man epsilon Otherwise, I said of rot falsehood against mine own life for there is no matter had from the king and thou thyself would have set thyself against me Then said jarab I may not tarry thus with thee And he took three darts in his hand and thrust him through the heart of epsilon while he was yet alive in the midst of the Oak and the ten young men that bear jarab's armor compassed him and smelt epsilon and slew him And jarab blew with the trumpet and the people returned from pursuing after israel for jarab held back the people And they took epsilon and cast him into a very great pit in the wood and laid a very great heap of stones upon him And all israel fled everyone to his tent now epsilon 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 epsilon's place Then said ahime as the son of zadok Let me now run and bear the king's tidings how that the lord hath avenged him of his enemies And jarab said to him thou shalt not bear tidings this day, but thou shalt bear tidings another day But this day that shall bear no tidings because the king's son is dead Then said jarab to kusai go tell the king what's that has seen and kusai borrowed himself into jarab and ran And then said ahime as the son of zadok yet again to jarab the house forever Let me I pray thee also run after kusai and jarab said wherefore wilt thou run my son seeing that has no tidings ready But house forever said he let me run and he said to him run then ahime as ran by the way of the plane and over Ran kusai And david sat between the two gates and the watchman went up to the roof over the gate under the wall And lifted up his eyes and looked and behold a man running alone And the watchman cried and told the king and the king said if he be alone there's tidings in his mouth And he came apace and drew near and the watchman saw another man running and the watchman called him to the porter And said behold another man running alone and the king said he also bringeth tidings And the watchman said me thinketh the running of the firmest is like the running of ahime as the son of zadok And the king said he is a good man and come and cometh with good tidings And ahime has called and said unto the king all is well And he fell down to the earth upon his face before the king and said blessed be the lord thy god Who set the livid up that man that lifted up their hand against my lord the king and the king said is the young man is the young man asked him i'm safe and ahime has answered when joel sent the king's servant And me thy servant. I saw a great tumult, but I knew not what it was And the king said to him turn aside and stand here and he turned aside and stood still and behold kusai came And kusai said tidings my lord the king the lord hath avenged thee this day of all Me of all them that rose up against me And the king said unto kusai is the young man epsilon safe and kusai answered the enemies of the lord the king The enemies of my lord the king and all that rise up against thee to do the hurt be as that young man is And the king was much moved and went up to the chamber over the gate and wept and as he went thus He said oh my son epsilon my son my son epsilon would god I had died for thee or epsilon my son my son Let's pray dear lord, I thank you for this opportunity to come back to your house Please feel past with the spirit help us all to be edified. Please. Let me pray. Amen Amen So you're there in second samuel chapter 18 And uh, we're continuing on uh through the book of second samuel here and as you know, absalom has taken over jerusalem. David has fled um last chapter we see where we had, uh, the council of ahithophel and the council of huishai And obviously huishai defeated the council of ahithophel And so they were going with huishai instead of ahithophel's advice there um and in chapter 18, we see that david is basically getting all his troops together all his men that's with him so he has Uh, we know that 600 men went with him out but that's not all who went with him, but I think it it when it's stated that it's more so stating that Uh those same 600 that were with him from the very beginning Uh before he even started reigning they went with him out, but also other people came out with him as well um, and so he's going to actually uh set captains over thousands and over hundreds and um And he's going to set up three different captains and basically break it up into three different groups Okay And so in verse one here says david numbered the people that were with him And set captains of thousands of captains of hundreds over them and david sent forth a third part of the people under the hand of joab And a third part under the hand of abishai the son of xeruiah Joab's brother and a third part under the hand of atayai Atayai the gettite and the king said unto the people I will surely go Go forth with you myself also now The thing that's interesting about this as far as we all there's no there's no uh, what? like Uh marvel that he's setting joab over a portion of them or abishai. So there are two mighty men of valor Uh, they're mentioned a lot as far as uh, david's mighty men The one that's interesting is atayai the gettite And I thought that was very interesting that he sets him to be captain over A third part of his forces and if you remember atayai was actually The stranger that was in exile From where from obviously where he's from and just to show you that in second samuels chapter 15 verse 19 when david's leaving Atayia the gettite wants to go with him and there's this whole conversation as far as you know Why would you want to come with me and that that? Uh conversation right here really shows you that atayai wasn't like this long serving, uh, you know Person under david it's more more like he just uh, it sounds like david gave him exile from wherever he was at and uh, And atay I wanted to follow him because of obviously david's mercy and and everything else But no, this isn't verse 19. It says then said the king to atayi the get tight Wherefore goest thou also with us return to thy place and abide 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 Uh mercy and truth be with thee and atay I 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 and david said that atay I go and pass over and atay to get thy get thy Passed over and all his men and all the little ones that were with him now We don't really know how many men were with him but It seems that atay I probably had some military experience for david to set him up as a captain but this makes me think of uh new testament and the fact of Dealing with the disciples and there there was a certain disciple one of the 12 that was not Technically of the lineage of israel And that's simon the kainanite and it's just interesting um that idea of uh Of this this atay I just being in the midst there and basically he was a stranger a minute ago uh in exile and now they're putting him in in the front of the battle leading forces and uh go to matthew chapter 10 just just to show you that that One of the disciples was not An israelite now, I believe he was an israelite in the fact that he became an israelite. So don't get me wrong here I do believe he was circumcised and he was a part of that nation Okay, and a part of that, you know, uh You know with them and all that but the idea was That he was not You know of the lineage he wasn't like, you know, like what where paul was they i'm of the tribe of benjamin um That would not be simon the kainanite, right? So, um, but just to show you that here in matthew chapter 10 verse 2 It says now the names of the 12 apostles are these The first simon who is called peter andrew his brother james the son of zebedee and john his brother philip and bartholomew Thomas and matt and matthew the publican james the son of alpheus and libias whose surname was the dias Simon the kainanite And judas iscariot who also betrayed him I love when it always messes you it's like who was the traitor who betrayed him, right? It's just like yeah uh It's like you can't even read you as a scary without knowing that he's the traitor um But look at luke chapter 6 6 luke chapter 6 and verse 15 when it gives the list of the the apostles there Uh, so in this in matthew chapter 10, it calls him simon the kainanite, okay and Which means that Basically he's up kainan now It's it's a little broad because you know, obviously the kainanites There was there was like the hitites the high vice parasytes, you know, like all that right so but in the end he was up kainan And you say well, I thought they were all you know taken out by joshua. Nope Actually, you know when you look through when you read joshua and judges you'll know that that not all of the Inhabitants were taken out that they'd be thorns in their flesh all of that. Okay, so um, but in luke chapter 6 verse 15, it says uh It says matthew and thomas james the son of alpheus and simon called zalotes Which is a moniker for basically someone that has zeal, okay? so that's just a transliteration of You know a greek word that means zeal which is actually where we get our term zeal So it actually makes sense Or you don't really need to know too much about greek to know that when you see zeal You can see zeal in that right zalotes So he is known for his zeal and it's just interesting how things kind of uh Are just constantly repeating themselves if you will throughout the bible where you'll see things happening that are very similar Uh when it comes to the disciples when it comes to David's men now david's men a lot of his men were just a bunch of misfits So it's not that out of the ordinary that he would set up someone that wouldn't be of his lineage, but If you remember joab and avishai are his sister's sons, okay So they're obviously very very closely related to david but atai is a stranger Right, he's a stranger and it just makes me think of the fact of how God can use someone even when they just get saved right when you think about the fact of I've seen people That get saved and then turn around and win like their spouse to the lord And win someone to the lord right after that And it's just interesting to think of how you can go from not being saved to to now like winning someone to christ And just how fast that can happen okay And uh, this is just a testament of that that he was a stranger yesterday now. He's a captain over a third of david's men Right, and I don't think that that's there by accident. Obviously, I believe that this the story of Atai even talking with david Was a setup to what was going to happen here just as much as the the story of hushai coming up to him Right. It's like everything that happens when david was leaving was Information that was pertinent for later on and so Because when you're reading about when you're reading about these men are meeting up with like what does this matter like why It just kind of seems Like is that information important what's going on here and then you read later and you're like, yeah, that was important information. So So anyway, that's just interesting that I I you know noticed just reading through and studying this that Atai the stranger that was in exile is now leading a third of the army for david. Okay, and so uh going back to second sam chapter 18 Well In chapter in verse two there at the end of verse two The king or david is saying to the people I will go I will surely go with you Myself also. Okay, so he's stating i'm gonna go with you And all the people are like no No, you're not going and um And I want I want you to see what they say here It says in verse three it says but the people answered thou shalt not go forth for if we flee away They will not care for us neither if half of us die will they care for us? But now thou art worth ten thousand of us therefore now it is better that thou Sucker us out of the city now sucker just means help just an old way an old term there for help So basically it's better that you help us out of the city Of the city It says in verse four and the king said to them what seemeth you best I will do And the king stood by the gate side and all the people came out by hundreds and by thousands now what you understand is that When they say that you're worth ten thousand of us What you have is the grand scheme of things I don't think they're necessarily saying like your life is just worth so much more than ours. It's just the idea that in this battle All they care about is killing you Right. I mean even when you think of a hit the fells advice What did he say? His advice was we're going to go there Everybody's going to flee away and we're going to take and take out the king only and everybody else is going to come back Right. That's what they wanted to do from the very beginning So if you know that obviously ahima has and and uh, jonathan The sons of the priest came and told them that information that this is a hit the fells advice. This is huge eyes advice. So They all know what they're wanting to do but just to give you uh, another example of that I was actually just reading through, you know second chronicles and this story came up with Jehoshaphat and and ahab when they were in battle and I want you to see just see this because this isn't just something Like that a hit the fell was saying this is something that when the idea is cut off the head of the serpent and you'll and you basically cut off the head and then Uh, that's how you'll destroy I mean, how do you kill a snake right you cut off the head, right? But the thing is is that uh smite the shepherd and sheep shall be scattered, right? I mean obviously Jesus that was a prophecy of jesus all that but go to second chronicles chapter 18 Let me just show you a little bit of the story here with Ahab and jehoshaphat and obviously jehoshaphat was not right with god to go out and help ahab chapter 19. He gets rebuked For doing that but in this case What you see here that uh They all the syrians all they wanted to kill ahab that's that was their ultimate goal And ahab knew this and joab was just a pawn in his scheme, right? It's just so Ridiculous that jehoshaphat's just like yeah, i'll go along with this. I mean think about this in verse 26 So the king of israel and jehoshaphat the king of judah went uh went up to ramoth gilead And the king of israel said unto jehoshaphat I will disguise myself and will go to the battle But put thou on thy robes. So the king of israel disguised himself and they went to the battle So basically he's like i'm gonna make myself look like i'm not the king You go ahead and look like a king right It's just kind of like I want all the focus to be on you jehoshaphat And at that point wouldn't you be like well nuts to you i'm i'm out of here right like what in the world? Because notice what it says here in verse 30 It says now the king of syria had commanded the captains of the chariots that were with him saying fight He not with small or great save only with the king of israel So, what is their modus operandi what what are they trying to do they're trying to kill the king and this is exactly What all of david's men knew is that their goal it doesn't matter how it says whether they kill half of us It doesn't matter they would rather kill you than all than half of us And that's why they're saying that you're worth in ten thousand of men Because of the fact that if you die, it's kind of like chess right you take out the king you're done checkmate Now I got I got the attention of some chess players, right Some people woke up no, i'm just kidding No, um But the idea there is that obviously you take out the king battles over conflict over right And so that is what's going on But just to finish off here It says in verse 31 it says and it came to pass when the captains of the chariots saw jehoshaphat That they said it is the king of israel because he's the one wearing the robes. No one else is Therefore they compassed him compassed about him to fight but joshaphat Cried out and the lord helped him and god moved them to depart from him So basically he cried out they realized it's not the king of israel and uh but same thing they know they're The syrians are are just trying to kill the king and basically take out the king. So the battle's over okay and David's men know this and uh know that hey You know you're worth In this battle in the whole grand scheme of things You're worth a lot more as far as you surviving and so they don't want to take the risk of him going out the battle and something happening to him and then Basically, they're all toast at that point right because they're they're all against basically at this point They would all be traitors to the crown if you will obviously it's the opposite because absalom and his men are actually traitors to the crown, but Um, but we see that going forth there, okay Now He basically dave is like, okay and uh And basically submits to what they they're wanting him to do verse five here though It says in the king commanded joab and abishai and atai saying Deal gently for my sake with the young man even with absalom and all the people heard when the king gave all the captains charged concerning absalom so So David you can see here that even though absalom Has done all this evil And that he's taken his kingdom. He's even out to try to kill him But he still loves his son And so this does show you that david does have a heart. I mean think about amnon right what amnon did with to his daughter Yet he still was mourning over amnon when absalom killed him, right Now I think that david in a lot of cases and what we'll see actually in the next chapter Is that david's love for his enemies sometimes goes too far? Okay We should love our enemies, but we shouldn't love our enemies to the point where we hate our friends or hate our, you know hate our You know family and stuff like that, right and so or that we're basically neglecting You know that and that goes with a lot of different things right love your neighbor But don't love your neighbor so much to where you're not loving your family like you should and and all that. So anyway, um So he's basically telling them and again When you're reading through these stories notice this is a setup, right when I say a setup meaning like this verse right here It says deal gently for my sake with young man Even with absolom and it says in all the people heard when the king gave all the captain's charge concerning absolom So basically it's it's very clear that everybody heard David say that okay, so that comes up later when Joe's like why did you kill him? It's like I know what the king said, right? So, uh, it's very pertinent information there Now there's this battle And This battle is in a wood now we would call it the woods or forest uh, but basically it's Kind of this this guerrilla warfare type of battle where it's not just an open field where everybody's just clashing in the middle But it's in this this forest if you will of ephraim so and uh, and this is just interesting What happens here? Okay Um Second same chapter 18 verse 6 it says so the people went out Into the field against israel and the battle was in the wood of ephraim so basically Obviously they're out in the field, but it ended up going into the the woods And it says Where the people of israel were slain before the servants of david so we see that david served david's men are winning this battle And there was there a great slaughter that day of twenty thousand men So twenty thousand men die in this battle And it's in verse eight for the battle was there Scattered over the face of all the country And the wood devoured more people that day than the sword devoured and that to me is very interesting So There there's a lot of and obviously I believe the lord was in this I mean when you're reading through the the book of first and second kings or second chronicles You'll see these stories of these battles, right? If you remember even with david remember the mulberry trees when when when they come into the mulberry trees And there's like this whole thing as far as this this tactic of Dealing with trees and dealing with the surroundings and all that now What does it mean that the wood devoured More people that day Than the sword devoured does this mean the trees came alive and it's like the lord of the rings And they're just like trees are talking and throwing People around no, I don't believe that. Okay. I don't believe the trees came alive though the bible does talk about the trees like praising the lord and all that so But at the same time what I believe is going on here It could be two things one it could just be the fact that The terrain is so treacherous that when they're fighting people are falling in the pits. They're falling, you know, basically The they're they're basically getting injured by the terrain Okay Think about if you're fighting up at cooper's rock, for example, right or just something like that Where you're in this because mount ephraim is called mount ephraim for a reason now I'm not saying all of ephraim was a mountain but we do know that ephraim was mountainous and When you have treacherous terrain like that You could have very well the case that it wasn't necessarily the sword to kill them. They actually died by falling or they died by Whatever right there could be other elements there. How about animals? Okay beasts The bible says this in psalm 80 psalm 80 and verse 13 It says the boar and it's talking about the jerusalem being wasted, but it says the boar out of the wood doth waste it Boar meaning like a wild pig right wild boar And it says in the wild beast of the field that devour it And go to revelation chapter 6 revelation chapter 6 because this is something that's going to happen in the future that people are going to be killed by animals and When you think about it there's probably some ferocious animal it doesn't say beasts kill them but In the wood and a lot of things can be encompassed in that right So just something to think about I mean, uh Either way, I believe the bible that it says they were more were killed. So think about that More than 10 000 people died because of either the terrain or the animals or Maybe I think about it there could be poisonous snakes there could be poisonous Plants there could be all kinds of different things that could take them out, okay And it says in revelation chapter 6 and verse 8 it says and I and I looked and behold a pale horse And his name that sat on him was death and hell followed with him And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth to kill with the with sword and with hunger and with death And with the beasts of the earth, so basically beasts obviously in the bible is just talking about animals So You know even in the end times Animals are going to be used to take people out and so You know when you're reading through the bible when you see something like this Sometimes we read past that really quick But to me that's one of the most interesting phrases in this whole story is that Not only did the wood devour people it devoured more people than the sword That means that over 10 000 people 10 000 men were killed by the environment that was there Whatever that may entail whether it's them falling off like rocks whether that's falling into a pit whether that's Getting taken out by a lion or taken out by like some poisonous serpent That's intense I mean, it's one thing to be fighting in a battle and all that It's another thing to be fighting in a battle and then you're fighting the environment around you at the same time And so and I don't know, you know, maybe maybe david's men set up traps, you know straight up like Some kind of guerrilla warfare or something like that when it comes to it. I don't know But either way That one little portion of that sentence is just extremely interesting to me to know like what Happened, you know, like could you imagine just seeing like what's going on? And you know, what's interesting about this is that we actually see A tree taking out somebody actually absolom. So if you're like, well, how did it take them out? Well, we have an exact an example of absolom and so There must have been some thick woods there as far as what's going on, but um but go to the chapter second samuels chapter 18 verse 9 Now what i'm gonna go through because absolom gets his head caught in an oak tree Okay So you're like, well, how did the wood take him out like that? I mean, I don't know if they all got hanged by the trees, but Could be But That'd be insane right just like 10 000 people just hung up on trees and animals taking them out. I mean anyway, so My imagination is going a little wild here just thinking about what it could possibly be talking about but What I want to get into with this with absolom here is How a lot of what happens here and what's stated here Parallels to the lord. Jesus now, obviously absolom's not a good character Okay, but there's thing called an anti-type, you know, meaning like it's it's obviously Uh, and here's the thing anybody that's a picture of christ is not perfect Anyway, right. I mean all the pictures of christ whether you're talking about joseph or whether you're talking about isaac like obviously none of them Are sinless and would perfectly represent christ anyway, okay But I want you to think about just some different elements here Obviously him being hanged on a tree You can see that one just kind of off the cuff Okay, but I want to see I want you to see some different ones here And again, i'm not gonna i'm not saying this is all-inclusive or anything like that But to me there's too many things that just picture that to just say well, this is just all coincidence So in verse nine here, he says an absolute met the servants of david and absolom rode upon a mule now And again, just to kind of look at the picture here. Jesus is called the son. David now, we all know that obviously Solomon is the one that's really representing that More so like if you're to look at like the actual type Of representation it'd be solomon, but absolom's also a son of david, right? And he's riding on a mule now What does jesus ride on? Going into jerusalem before he goes to the cross On an ass right? Cult the fall of an ass you're like well is a mule and an ass the same thing not exactly What's interesting is that a mule is actually a mixture between a horse and an ass And Jesus first rides on the cult the fall of an ass into jerusalem, but then Eventually, he's going to be riding on a white horse And you can kind of see that kind of being melded there as far as the idea of uh, picturing the fact that Jesus is going to ride on an ass, but he's also going to ride on a horse and you know anyway, so But a mule does look like an ass right? I mean if you were to look at a mule I mean unless you're somebody that's just like really into like donkeys You know what I mean that you're going to really tell a difference here But anyway, so he's riding on this mule it says the mule went under the thick bowels of the great of a great oak and his head Caught hold of the oak and he was taken up between the heaven and the earth and the mule was under him Sorry the mule that was under him went away so get the picture he's riding on the mule i'm sure he's probably fleeing And his head got caught in there now I've always imagined that it's his hair that got caught in there because it talks about solomon's hair It doesn't say hair could be part of the equation Right as far as his head his hair and everything else getting caught up into this tree But But he's caught up into this tree and he's taken between the earth or the heaven and the earth And you know the bible talks about if I be lifted up I will I'll draw all men unto me right and talks about as the serpent was lifted up in the wilderness even so Shall the son of man be lifted up that whosoever believed in him should not perish but have eternal life. So Um that idea of being like being lifted up hung on the tree Definitely can see the correlation there It says in joab said unto the man that told him Or did I yeah, so verse verse 10 I can't remember if I read that or not verse 10 It says a certain man saw it and told joab and said behold. I saw absolom hanged in oak And joab said unto the man that told him behold thou saw that sawest him and why didst thou not Smite him there to the ground and I would have given the 10 shekels of silver and a girdle Now it doesn't say 30 pieces of silver here, but it is talking about silver Okay, and like I said, none of this is like necessarily perfect. I'm not saying that jesus was crucified on an oak cross Okay or that You know, i'm just saying that there's I do believe there's correlations here when it comes to this But notice what this guy says though He says I would have given you 10 shekels of silver and a girdle right if you would have come back and told me you killed him and the man said unto joab Though I should receive a thousand shekels of silver in mine hand Yet would I not put forth my hand against the king's son? So think about that You know judas obviously took the 30 pieces of silver But this guy's like I wouldn't care if they gave me a thousand There's no way i'm taking put my hand against the king's son, right? And it says For in our hearing the king charged thee and abishai anitai saying beware that none touched the young man. Absalom So, I mean here's think joe I was like, why didn't you kill him? It's like we all heard what the king said So he's like I don't care if you gave me a thousand pieces of silver because notice what he says here Is that otherwise I should have wrought falsehood against my own life Listen, dave is the same person that killed that messenger that said I smote the lord's anointed So, I mean his men know what david thinks about that or ish boshas when they killed ish boshas in his bed They know what david did to them. So this guy's not an idiot, right? This guy's like We all heard what he said, you know, it's it's anyway so he goes otherwise should I have There are falsehood against my own life for there is no matter hid from the king and now would that and thou thyself Would have set thyself against me. So and he's like you would have killed me, right? It's like you're telling me that you would give me this silver But you know what the king would have been against me and he probably would have told you to kill me That's basically what it's like What would have happened? I just love that conversation because it's just like no I know what the king said and I know how this would have turned out so But I do think that there is a correlation there as far as The money that would have been given for killing him right The money that judas received for killing Jesus because ultimately obviously judas was responsible for the death of christ and But this guy realizes, you know that it's not worth it Verse 14 it says then said joab. I may not tarry thus with thee So he's like I I gotta go right. This is kind of like the way I read this is like I gotta go. Where's he at? So joe is like i'm gonna go do this But it says he took three darts in his hand and thrust them through the heart of absalom While he was yet alive in the midst of the oak And 10 young men that bear joab's armor compassed about And smote absolom and slew him now Here's the thing. Obviously the darts you could see how that could picture the spear into jesus's side Obviously, this isn't like a perfect representation Like i'm not i'm not claiming this is just like lock and step Just as much as absolom is not a great representation of the lord. Jesus when it comes to his life and everything, right? But I mean absolom's kind of opposite of him anyway in the fact that he was fair and beautiful, right? he had a fair countenance and it says that about jesus that there's no beauty that that any man should desire right it's the idea there is that He's kind of the complete opposite of the lord, but the way he dies and everything that happens here. There's a lot of Parallels if you will to that Um You know, just like antichrist is going to have a lot of parallels but obviously he's The antichrist, right? He's not the christ. Okay, so um so anyway, you can see how that could correlate to But here absolom's alive when they do it. Jesus is already dead when they stab him with the spear obviously Not a perfect representation. I can see people just listening to be like, oh, he doesn't know what he's talking about He doesn't even know that jesus was dead, you know, it's like obviously I know that these things don't represent perfectly I know it's 30 pieces of silver and not 10 shekels. Okay, but To look through these different correlations and not see a parallel. I I don't there's too much there For this not to have uh a correlation there um So it's not only joab but all his his armor bearers and everything that that made sure absolom was dead And joab blew the trumpet And people returned from pursuing after israel where joab held back the people So basically it's kind of the same thing right if david would have died it would all been over absolom's dead It's all over at this point game over Your king's dead We win right But then it says in verse 17 and they took absolom and cast them into a great pit in the wood and laid A very great heap of stones upon him and all israel fled over Every one to his tent and even in that you can see a correlation there, right? That jesus was obviously put into a tomb a stone was rolled over but he also went to the bottomless pit, right? He went to hell and You know the bible talks about the pit with no water all of that Anyway, there's a lot of correlations this whole this isn't a whole sermon about the correlations of absolom and and jesus and everything but To read this story and not see those parallels is kind of How do you not see those parallels? Okay. So anyway But that that being said is that um, obviously it says who who are whose own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree And that language of being hanged on a tree he's made a curse because for the scripture says Curses is everyone that hangeth on a tree And That even in itself is different than the crucifixion right? I mean, obviously when we're talking about hanging somebody You know, that's not crucifixion back when that was mentioned but obviously crucifying somebody is Hanging them on a tree. I mean, I mean, it's just a different way of hanging them on the tree um so Just I I think some neat correlations there when it comes to that So obviously joeb didn't listen to david's advice there when it comes to dealing gently with joe with with absolom Now in verse 18, I kind of touched on this when we were talking about absolom in earlier chapters But kind of this tragedy of absolom's life and the idea here that when he died notice what it says in verse 18 It says now absolom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself a pillar which is in the king's dale Now dale is just another way of saying a veil or a valley. Okay, so dale veil Valley It's all the same thing. Okay. So if you're ever reading through and you're like the king's dale Or like the dale the veil in the veil right That's what it's like. It's talking about a valley. Okay. So anyway That one's for free But it says 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 absolom's place now I I I brought up this verse because it talks about absolutely having sons but What I believe this shows you is a tragedy that none of his sons survived to keep his name to bring up his name So uh That's a great and I had daughters as well um And actually, uh, it talks about like ria bohme. I believe ria bohme marries absolom's daughter So i'm just reading through second chronicles anyway, so that being said He doesn't have a son to carry on his name and say well, is there a correlation there with the lord? Well, I I do believe there's a correlation to this go to isaiah chapter 53 isaiah chapter 53 So Jesus didn't have any physical children, obviously, right? But notice what it says here about jesus in isaiah 53 in verse eight It says in verse eight it says he was taken from prison and from judgment and who shall declare his generation For he was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people was he stricken So absolom obviously wasn't killed for Dying for the sins of the world, right? But he was cut off out of the land of living and basically He doesn't have anybody to carry on his name Like that's the last thing said about him is the fact that there is no he had no son to carry on his name So Now with jesus though when it says that obviously jesus is going to rise from the dead all that But notice what it says in psalm 22. So isaiah 53 and psalm 22 are obviously both Very much prophecies of the lord jesus specifically with the death barrel and resurrection But look what it says when you couple this of isaiah 53 who shall declare his generation. So that's the question It says in in psalm 22 in verse 30 It says a seed shall serve him it shall be accounted to the lord for a generation They shall come and they shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born that he had done this And it even talks about You know in in hebrews, uh, the the children which god had given me Right We're talking about the lord and you know, and again I will trust in him and again, you know, i'll declare his name among the church And all of that and so Absalom truly didn't have anybody to declare his generation And that would have been said about jesus except for the fact that he rose from the dead and that Uh, he's not ashamed to call his brethren and the children that are given to him And who are who are the children of god? Those that believe on jesus christ, right? The seed of abraham all of that, right? So anyway, uh Just some correlations there I don't think it's there by accident. I don't I don't believe all that information there about aslam is there by accident or Everything that happens there there's just so much correlation from riding on a mule to being caught up into an oak to being stabbed to to Also, uh say hey, you should get money for killing Him get silver for killing him to the point of stabbing him with darts To throwing him into a pit and rolling stone and and putting stones on top of it And then saying who's gonna declare a generation. There's no one to declare his generation like that to me is just Step by step just a parallel there when it comes to that not perfect, but no parallel is perfect, right? I mean think about it the parallel of isaac Uh, you know being offered up upon the altar. Is that a perfect representation? I mean jesus wasn't put on a burnt offering You know and he wasn't He wasn't burned As a burnt offering right as far as physically he was crucified The ram caught in the thicket, you know, you think about the crown of thorns And the ram was offered But obviously jesus was offered as a lamb right And so obviously there's no picture is going to be perfect but at the same time Just throughout the bible. You just see constant Pictures and parallels to what jesus is going to do. So when you think about luke Uh chapter 24 when they're on the road to Emmaus And he's opening up to them the scriptures Think about what he was talking about, right? Because we could all say well he's talking about isaac, you know, that's just so clear right? He's talking about isaiah. That's just so clear You know, he could have been talking about any of this stuff, right? There's so many different places in the bible that show jesus that point to jesus So when people are like well is jesus in second samuel? definitely Right, I mean Is jesus in first thing definitely I mean all the books of the bible are pointing to the lord Jesus and everything is pointing to the cross Pointing to the gospel And so this is just another representation or just another place of that So in chapter 18 go back to the second same chapter 18 verse 19 So absalom's killed And now it's time to send the message to david. So david's obviously not with them that was the whole point so that he didn't get killed and Then the whole battle would be over but There's two men that are in this story and ahima has now ahima has obviously one of the sons of the priests, right? So he's been sending messages and everything to to david. He wants to send this mess. He wants to go give tidings to the king Problem is he doesn't really know what really happened, right? He doesn't really have the full message to give to david But kushai does and so this is a this is an interesting story and this is a sermon for another day Honestly on getting into what does this spiritually represent? Like how do we apply this? Definitely to soul winning but just to other things as well when it comes to this When you think about giving tidings And you're running right? I mean if you don't see soul winning there, I don't know what to tell you, right? How beautiful are the feet of them the priests the gospel piece, right? So anyway, um But in that in in verse 19 here it says then said ahima has the son of zadok Let me now run and bear the king tidings how that the lord hath avenged him of his enemies And joab said unto him thou shalt not bear tidings this day, but thou shalt bear tidings another day But this day shalt thou bear no tidings because the king's son is dead King's son is dead Then said joab to kushai go tell the king what thou hast seen and kushai bowed himself onto joab and ran now What you have to understand is that maybe haima has Has heard that that absolutely is that kushai saw it, right? So what you understand here is that there's a difference between being an eyewitness with tidings and someone that just is hearing stuff right kind of like hearsay and so um kind of like at the mouth of two or three witnesses let every word be established the idea here is that Let's send the tidings with someone that saw what happened Right, they they were there. They saw it. They're the ones that should be giving the tidings, right? and so, uh so kushai and and that's the difference that I see there right is the fact that Ahima has once to give the tidings, but he wasn't there. He didn't see it. Okay, whereas kushai was there And he and joab specifically telling him Go tell him what thou hast seen, okay So kushai bowed himself onto joab and ran Then said haima has the son of zadok yet again to joab but howsoever let me I pray thee also run after kushai And joab said wherefore wilt thou run my son seeing that thou hast no tidings ready So he's like why? You don't have tidings to give right It says but howsoever said he let me run And he said unto him run. I it's just kind of like all right, whatever, you know, just go So he runs it says run run then haima has ran by the way of the plane and over ran kushai Now, can you think of a story that's very similar to that? You think of obviously peter running to the tomb and The disciple whom jesus loved obviously, I believe is john outran him And if you remember the story John outruns him comes to the tomb looks in but doesn't go in But peter When he comes obviously he comes there and then he just goes straight in Kind of the same thing that happens here is where haima has is going to come And then he's going to be like, I don't know what happened, right? That doesn't have the tidings and then kushai is going to come after him and then give him the tidings, okay? And so I definitely see a parallel there with with that story there because both these men are good men, okay It's not like ahima has like you I guess you could look at this passage is Paralleling it with like being a false prophet or something like that And having a false gospel, but I mean in the story dave is like he's a good man He's also a good man, right? So in this story really you're dealing with two good guys Just as much as when you're dealing with peter and john you're dealing with two good guys, okay? One's obviously more zealous than the other or better shape. I don't however you want to look at it You know better shape, you know, I always try to tell brother dave this, you know We're working out that you know, basically being stronger means i'm more spiritual And basically i'm better than you, you know that type of anyway all joking aside In this story kushai outruns And I'm sorry kushai is overran by ahima has It says in verse 24 and david sat between the two gates and the watchman went up to the roof Over the gate unto the wall and lifted up his eyes and looked and behold a man Running alone and the watchman cried and told the king and the king said if he be alone There is tidings in his mouth and he came apace and drew near and the watchman Saw another man running and the watchman called out unto the porter and said behold another man running alone And the king said he also bring the tidings and the watchman said Me thinketh the running of the foremost is the run is is like the running of ahima has the son of zadok and The king said he is a good man and cometh with good tidings Now the question that I have and this is this is not spiritual at all Is how did he know that it looks like the running of ahima has Right. Is there some kind of way that he's running like what about that? And all I can think about is that when I run I look like an ogre right and maybe you know Maybe I'd be more like kushai because i'd get outrun, you know, but You ever just think about details like that like The running looks like ahima has and it just makes you wonder like how is he running? Like what about that is like that's ahima has right? Was he known for running like I mean, obviously asahel was known as being a good runner, right? So maybe that's it. Maybe it's just like well, we know ahima has a really good runner um anyway I think about things like this. So And anyway um Verse 28 It says and haima has called and said unto the king all is well And he fell down to the earth upon his face before the king now He knows the battle's over. He knows that All is well in the fact that's that's kind of the message that he has like everything's over Like we won the battle That's what he knows but he doesn't know the details He doesn't know exactly what happened or where we're at, you know, like if absolom did absolutely die, you know all that Um because you could be hearing rumors of absolom's dead absolom's dead, you know, like they killed absolom, but if you didn't see it It's kind of hard to confirm it. Okay, so Um all is well and he fell down to the earth upon his face before the king and said blessed be the lord thy God which hath delivered up the men that lifted up their hand against my lord the king and the king said is the young man Absalom safe so notice that the the the thing that he cares about the most here is is absolom alive is what happened to absolom And haima has answered when joab sent the king's servant and me thy servant. I saw a great molt Uh tumult, but I knew not what it was and this really just shows you that he didn't he didn't see it Right. He saw the tumult. He saw like he's kind of like an outside and there's all the stuff commotion going on He knows they won the battle He's probably hearing that absolom's dead, but he doesn't have the confidence to say that absolom's dead to the king Right because if you didn't see it You don't really have the confirmation do you? Because at that point if he said you're you know, absolom's dead. He'd be like, how do you know? Well, I heard it from joab who heard it from this part, you know or hurt You know Well, that's not a witness or an eyewitness anyway, okay, so So And then the king said unto him turn aside and stand here and he turned aside and stood still and behold kushai came And kushai said tidings my lord the king For the lord hath avenged thee this day Of all them that rose up against thee and the king said unto kushai is the young man absolom safe and kushai answered The enemies of my lord the king and all that rise up against thee to do the hurt be as that young man is Now someone needs to tell kushai about like, uh, You know being a little more softer in his response there, right, you know They I can imagine kushai is probably thinking like he's gonna be really excited like hey, he's dead. Whereas david's like, please like hopefully he's alive and he's just like To the point where it's like he's not just dead You know, let him be like your worst enemy. That's that's what happened to him, you know, so So kushai gets the message across again, there's a whole sermon there when it comes to that that whole uh idea of Being zealous but not having the tidings, right? You can think about just soul winning and you can think about that aspect there as far as being prepared having the tidings prepared um and knowing what you're doing when you're going out there then going out there and then Again, both two good men You know, they're both wanting to run but You're better off not running as fast but having the good tidings like having the tidings prepared. Okay, so that's just That's my short little sermonette on that as far as the correlation there with soul winning um Uh going in verse 33 here ending the chapter we see david's obviously grief for the news that he hears um It says in verse 33 and the king was much moved and went up to the chamber over the gate and wept and as he went Thus he said oh my son. Absalom my son my son. Absalom would god I had died for thee Oh absalom my son my son Now obviously this just obviously in the story The the compassion and the love that he has for his son absolom And you can imagine that all the regret that he has as far as what led to this If you remember there's a lot of mistakes that david made That led to this starting with committing adultery with that shiba And obviously having uraya killed that all basically escalated all this other stuff. But then on top of that Not dealing with amnon like he should have when What he did to tamar absolom's sister and then? Absalom ends up killing amnon But then the whole like bringing him back and not seeing his face and all these different things that led up to this point To where you can imagine that david is very regretful on his actions and what he did and what Led to this event, okay But I want you to think about this when we're talking about parallels Think about what jesus says when he's on the cross My god my god why hast thou forsaken me and that's obviously the son to the father, right? But think about the father to the son For god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that who's ever believed in him should not perish but ever everlasting life The father sent the son sent the son of the world to be the savior of the world right and the bible talks about the fact that You know in this is manifest the love of god toward us That god sent his only begotten son into the world that we might live through him and thinking about When jesus died what the father was going through You know because a lot of people that are modalist and you know, they they mock You know the fact that that god the father Would make his son die right but what you understand is that well Jesus the son of god dying was the only way possible and god the father Loved the world so much that he allowed his son to take on the sin of the world and to die for us But to think about when his son's on the cross crying out to him Saying my god my god. Why has not forsaken me when you read I when you read psalm 22 when it says why are that far from the the the sound of my roaring like the idea of just Having to turn your back on your son and to punish your son for the sins of the world what Had to be going through god the father's mind, right because I think sometimes we forget that god The father is the person a person of god, right the three persons of the trinity god the father loves the son and just thinking about Maybe that correlation of david the absolute as far as the idea of the correlation of the father god the father to his son and specifically dealing with the cross And the fact that jesus was dead three days and three nights So, you know soul was in hell body was in the tomb And that he made his soul an offering for sin and Just what was going you know, just what was what was the father what was what was going on? at that time what was going through his mind at that time and Yeah, I think this might be a little glimpse into that of how david felt when absalom died And you say well, you know absolom was david's enemy well here's the thing Jesus became an enemy of god to die for our sins By taking on the whole the sin of the whole world So Enmity was destroyed through christ and I just think that's interesting if you think that i'm reaching with that. Okay, fine But to me I see that kind of opposite where jesus is saying my god my god why has not forsaken me right father? Right when he's crying out to the father in the garden of gethsemane when he's speaking to the heavenly father but think about How the father looks to the son in that time right Because I don't believe god the father could have died for the sins of the world because He had to become a man right there had to be the flesh and blood god manifest in the flesh So jesus died was the only possible way And therefore you can kind of think about this As far as would god I had died for thee right and the idea that That's the way it had to be Anyway, I just think that's an interesting thought process there Of that love there, but then the love of the spirit, too I mean you think about that just going on from that and what what what was going through the spirit's mind, you know during that time and What you have to understand is that god was in perfect unity and love With the father son the holy spirit for all eternity For eternity past not that you can comprehend that But then when jesus died on the cross You know, he laid down his life and it's just something I you know, uh The love of the father I would obviously the love of the son for us, but the love that the father had of course and has for us It's it's something that we can't measure. It's something that We'll never comprehend in this life, that's for sure so let's end with a word of prayer the only father we thank you today Thank you for the book of second samuel. Thank you for this chapter And lord just prayed you'd help us to learn from it help us to apply to our lives And lord, we just want to thank you for loving us And for dying for us and lord for going through all of that So that we could be with you and be saved from our sins lord. We love you Pray also in jesus christ's name. Amen. My name is going to come and sing one more song and then we'll be dismissed All right, take your song books and turn to song 154 Song 154 in your song books we'll sing bless be the tie that binds If you would stand we'll sing song number 54 Bless be the tie that binds our hearts In christian love the fellowship Before Mother's throne We pour our art and prayers our fears our hopes our aims are one our comfort and our cares We share our mutual woes our mutual Thens bear and often for each other flows the Sympathizing tear when we asunder part and gives us inward pain, but we Shall still be joined in heart at home to meet again