S3E140 – 2 Samuel 20-24: Forgiven and Forgotten

How could he say he was innocent?

Hi there!

This is the LifeSpring Family Audio Bible, and coming to you from Riverside, California,

podcasting since 2004, I'm your OG Godcaster, Steve Webb.

This is the Daily Podcast where we're reading through the entire Bible in a year.

How are you today?

Welcome!

Today we're going to complete the Book of Second Samuel.

We'll read chapters 20 through 24, and I'm calling today's episode, Forgiven and Forgotten.

The show notes page for today's episode is LifeSpringMedia.com slash S12E148.

Let's get started!

Second Samuel, Chapter 20

A troublemaker from the tribe of Benjamin was there.

His name was Shiba, the son of Bikrai, and he blew a trumpet to get everyone's attention.

Then he said, people of Israel, David, the son of Jesse, doesn't belong to us, let's go home.

So they stopped following David and went off with Shiba, but the people of Judah stayed close to David all the way from the Jordan to Jerusalem.

David had left ten of his wives in Jerusalem to take care of his palace, but when he came back, he had them taken to another house, and he placed soldiers there to guard them.

He gave them whatever they needed, but he never slept with any of them again.

They had to live there for the rest of their lives as if they were widows.

David said to Amasa, three days from now I want you and all of Judah's army to be here.

Amasa started bringing the army together, but it was taking him more than three days.

So David said to Abishai, Shiba will hurt us more than Absalom ever did.

Take my best soldiers and go after him.

We don't want him to take over any walled cities and get away from us.

Abishai left Jerusalem to try and capture Shiba. He took along Joab into soldiers, as well as David's bodyguard in best troops.

They had gone as far as the big rocket gibbon when Amasa caught up with him.

Joab had a dagger strapped around his waist over his military uniform, but it fell out as he started toward Amasa.

Joab said, Amasa my cousin, how are you?

Then Joab took hold of Amasa's beard with his right hand so that he could greet him with a kiss.

Amasa did not see the dagger in Joab's other hand.

Joab stuck it in Amasa's stomach and his insides spilled out on the ground.

Joab only struck him once, but Amasa was dying.

Joab and his brother Abishai went off to chase Shiba.

One of Joab's soldiers stood by Amasa and shouted, if any of you are for Joab and David, then follow Joab.

Amasa was still rolling in his own blood in the middle of the road.

The soldier who had shouted noticed that everyone who passed by would stop so he dragged Amasa off the road and covered him with a blanket.

After this no one else stopped. They all walked straight past him on their way to help Joab capture Shiba.

Shiba had gone through all of the tribes of Israel when he came to the town of Abel Bethmeika.

All of his best soldiers met him there and followed him into the town.

Joab and his troops came and surrounded Abel so that no one could go in or come out.

They made a dirt ramp up to the town wall and then started to use a battering ramp to knock the wall down.

A wise woman shouted from the top of the wall, listen to me, listen to me, I have to talk to Joab.

Tell him to come here. When he came the woman said, are you Joab? Yes, I am, he answered.

She said, please listen to what I have to say. All right, he said, I'll listen.

She said, long ago people used to say, if you want good advice, go to the town of Abel to get it.

The answers they got here were all that was needed to settle any problem.

We are Israelites and we want peace. You can trust us. Why are you trying to destroy a town that's like a mother in Israel?

Why do you want to wipe out the Lord's people? Joab answered.

No, no, I'm not trying to wipe you out or destroy your town. That's not it at all.

There's a man in your town from the hill country of Ephraim. His name is Shiba and he is the leader of a rebellion against King David.

Turn him over to me and we will leave your town alone.

The woman told Joab, we will throw his head over the wall.

She went to the people of the town and talked them into doing it. They cut off Shiba's head and threw it to Joab.

Joab blew a signal on his trumpet and the soldiers returned to their homes.

Joab went back to David in Jerusalem.

Joab was the commander of Israel's entire army. Benea, the son of Jeholyeda, was in command of David's bodyguard.

Adoram was in charge of the slave labor force.

Jehoshaphat, the son of a highlight, kept government records. Shival was the secretary. Zadok and Abiyathar were the priests.

Ira from Jair was David's priest. Second Samuel, chapter 21.

While David was king, there were three years in a row when the nation of Israel could not grow enough food.

So David asked the Lord for help and the Lord answered,

Saul and his family are guilty of murder because he had the Ghibbionites killed.

The Ghibbionites were not Israelites. They were descendants of the Amorites.

The people of Israel had promised not to kill them, but Saul had tried to kill them because he wanted Israel and Judah to control all the land.

David had the Ghibbionites come and he talked with them. He said,

What can I do to make up for what Saul did so that you'll ask the Lord to be kind to his people again?

The Ghibbionites answered.

Silver and gold from Saul and his family are not enough. On the other hand, we don't have the right to put any Israelite to death.

David said, I'll do whatever you ask.

They replied,

Saul tried to kill all our people so that none of us would be left in the land of Israel.

Give us seven of us descendants. We will hang these men near the place where the Lord is worshipped in Ghibbia,

the hometown of Saul, the Lord's chosen king.

I'll give them to you, David said.

David had made a promise to Jonathan with the Lord is his witness, so he spared Jonathan's son Mothibesheth, the grandson of Saul.

But Saul and Rispa, the daughter of Ayah, had two sons named Armoni and Mothibesheth.

Saul's daughter Mirab had five sons whose father was Adriel, the son of Barzilli, from Mahola.

David took Rispa's two sons and Mirab's five sons and turned them over to the Ghibbionites,

who hanged all seven of them on the mountain near the place where the Lord was worshipped.

This happened right at the beginning of the barley harvest.

Rispa spread out some sack cloth on a nearby rock.

She wouldn't let the birds land on the bodies during the day, and she kept the wild animals away at night.

She stayed there from the beginning of the harvest until it started to rain.

Earlier, the Philistines had killed Saul and Jonathan on Mount Gilboah and had hung their bodies in the town square at Bethshan.

The people of J. Bash and Gilead had secretly taken the bodies away, but David found out what Saul's wife Rispa had done,

and he went to the leaders of J. Bash to get the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan.

David had their bones taken to the land of Benjamin and buried in a side room in Saul's family burial place.

Then he gave orders for the bones of the men who had been hanged to be buried there.

It was done, and God answered prayers to bless the land.

One time David got very tired when he and his soldiers were fighting the Philistines.

One of the Philistine warriors was Ishpai Binov, who was a descendant of the Rafayim, and he tried to kill David.

Ishpai Binov was armed with a new sword, and his bronze spearhead alone weighed about three and a half kilograms,

but Abyshai came to the rescue and killed the Philistine.

David's soldiers told him, we can't let you risk your life in battle anymore.

You give light to our nation, and we want that flame to keep burning.

There was another battle with the Philistines at God, where Sybachi from Husha killed the descendant of the Rafayim named Saf.

There was still another battle with the Philistines at God.

A soldier named Elhanen killed Goliath from Gath, whose spear shaft was like a weaver's beam.

Elhanen's father was Jair from Bethlehem.

There was another war, this time in Gath.

One of the enemy soldiers was a descendant of the Rafayim.

He was as big as a giant and had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot.

But when he made fun of Israel, David's nephew Jonathan killed him.

Jonathan was the son of David's brother, Shimei.

David and his soldiers killed these four men who were descendants of the Rafayim from Gath.

Second Samuel, chapter 22.

David sang a song to the Lord after the Lord had rescued him from his enemies, especially Saul.

These are the words to David's song.

Our Lord and our God, you are my mighty rock, my fortress, my protector.

You are the rock where I am safe.

You are my shield, my powerful weapon, and my place of shelter.

You rescue me and keep me safe from violence.

I praise you, our Lord.

I prayed to you and you rescued me from my enemies.

Death, like ocean waves, surrounded me and I was almost swallowed by its flooding waters.

Roaps from the world of the dead had coiled around me and death had set a trap in my path.

I was in terrible trouble when I called out to you, but from your temple you heard me and answered my prayer.

Earth shook and shivered.

The columns supporting the sky rocked back and forth.

You were angry and breathed out smoke.

Scorching heat and fiery flames spewed from your mouth.

You opened the heavens like curtains and you came down with storm clouds under your feet.

You rode on the backs of flying creatures.

You appeared with the wind as wings.

Darkness was your tent.

Thunder clouds filled the sky, hiding you from sight.

Fire recalls lit up the sky in front of you.

Lord, most high, your voice thundered from the heavens.

You scattered your enemies with arrows of lightning.

You roared at the sea and its deepest channels could be seen.

You snorted in the earth shook to its foundations.

You reached down from heaven and you lifted me from deep in the ocean.

You rescued me from enemies who were hateful and too powerful for me.

On the day disaster struck, they came and attacked me, but you defended me.

When I was fenced in, you freed me and rescued me because you loved me.

You are good to me, Lord, because I do right and you reward me because I am innocent.

I do what you want and never turn to do evil.

I keep your laws in mind and never turn away from your teachings.

I obey you completely and guard against sin.

You have been good to me because I do right.

You have never awarded me for being innocent by your standards.

You are always loyal to your loyal people and you are faithful to the faithful.

With all who are sincere, you are sincere, but you treat the unfaithful as their deeds deserve.

You rescue the humble, but you look for ways to put down the proud.

Our Lord and God, you are my lamp.

You turn darkness to light.

You help me defeat armies and capture cities.

Your way is perfect, Lord, and your word is correct.

You are a shield for those who run to you for help.

You alone are God. Only you are a mighty rock.

You are my strong fortress and you set me free.

You make my feet run as fast as those of a deer and you help me stand on the mountains.

You teach my hands to fight and my arms to use a bow of bronze.

You alone are my shield and by coming to help me, you have made me famous.

You clear the way for me and now I won't stumble.

I kept chasing my enemies until I caught them and destroyed them.

I destroyed them.

I stuck my sword through my enemies and they were crushed under my feet.

You helped me win victories and forced my attackers to fall victim to me.

You made my enemies run and I killed them.

They cried out for help, but no one saved them.

They called out to you, but there was no answer.

I ground them to dust and I squashed them like mud in the streets.

You rescued me from my stubborn people and made me the leader of foreign nations who are now my slaves.

They obey and come crawling.

They have lost all courage and from their fortresses they come trembling.

You are the living Lord. I will praise you.

You are a mighty rock. I will honor you for keeping me safe.

You took revenge for me and you put nations in my power.

You protected me from violent enemies and you made me much greater than all of them.

I will praise you, Lord, and I will honor you among the nations.

You give glorious victories to your chosen King.

Your faithful love for David and for his descendants will never end.

Second Samuel, chapter 23

These are the last words of David.

This is the message of David, son of Jesse.

The man made great by the most high God speaks.

He is the appointed King of the God of Jacob.

He is the sweet singer of Israel.

The Lord's Spirit spoke through me and his word was on my tongue.

The God of Israel spoke. The rock of Israel said to me,

whoever rules fairly over people,

who rules with respect for God,

is like the morning light at dawn,

like a morning without clouds.

He is like sunshine after a rain that makes the grass sprout from the ground.

This is how God has cared for my family.

God made a lasting agreement with me, right, insure in every way.

He will accomplish my salvation and satisfy all my desires.

But all evil people will be thrown away like thorns that cannot be held in a hand.

No one can touch them except with a tool of iron or wood.

They will be thrown in the fire and burned where they lie.

These are the names of David's warriors.

Jocheb Bashibef, the Tekemenite, was head of the three.

He killed 800 men at one time.

Next was Eliasar, son of Dodai, the Ohohite.

Eliasar was one of the three soldiers who were with David when they challenged the Philistines.

The Philistines were gathered for battle and the Israelites drew back.

But Eliasar stayed where he was and fought the Philistines until he was so tired his hand stuck to his sword.

The Lord gave a great victory for the Israelites that day.

The troops came back after Eliasar won the battle, but only to take weapons and armor from the enemy.

Next there was Shama, son of Aegee the Herahite.

The Philistines came together to fight in a vegetable field.

Israel's troops ran away from the Philistines, but Shama stood in the middle of the field and fought for it

and killed the Philistines, and the Lord gave a great victory.

Once three of the thirty, David's chief soldiers came down to him at the cave of Adolam during harvest.

The Philistine army had camped in the valley of her fame.

At that time David was in the stronghold, and some of the Philistines were in Bethlehem.

David had a strong desire for some water.

He said, Oh, I wish someone would get me water from the well near the city gate of Bethlehem.

So the three warriors broke through the Philistine army and took water from the well near the city gate of Bethlehem.

Then they brought it to David, but he refused to drink it.

He poured it out before the Lord, saying, May the Lord keep me from drinking this water.

It would be like drinking the blood of the men who risked their lives.

So David refused to drink it. These were the brave things that the three warriors did.

Abysheye, brother of Joab, son of Zuruya, was captain of the three.

Abysheye fought three hundred soldiers with his spear and killed them.

He became as famous as the three, and was more honored than the three.

He became their commander, even though he was not one of them.

Banea, son of Jehoeda, was a brave fighter from Kapsil, who did mighty things.

He killed two of the best warriors from Moab.

He also went down into a pit and killed a lion on a snowy day.

Banea killed a large Egyptian who had a spear in his hand.

Banea had a club, but he grabbed the spear from the Egyptian's hand and killed him with his own spear.

These were the things Banea, son of Jehoeda, did.

He was as famous as the three.

He received more honor than the thirty, but he did not become a member of the three.

David made him leader of his bodyguards.

The following men were among the thirty.

Asahel, brother of Joab, El-Henon, son of Dodo from Bethlehem, Shama, the Herodite,

Elyka, the Herodite, he lezzed the Palthite, Ira, son of Ikesh, from Takoa,

a by-easer, the Anathothite, Mbunai, the Hushathite, Zalman, the Ahohite,

Mayharae the Nithafathite, he lezzed, son of Bayana the Nithafathite,

Ithai, son of Rybai from Gibbia in Benjamin, Banea the Pirathonite,

Hidai from the ravines of Gaysh, a by-alban, the Arbathite,

Asma-Veth of the Bar-Humite, Alayaba, the Shae-albanite, the sons of Jation,

Jonathan, son of Shama, the Herodite, Ahyam, son of Shara, the Herodite,

a Lifelette, son of a Hasbai, the Mayakathite,

Alayam, son of a Hithafel, the Gylinite,

Hezro, the Carmelite, Paira, the Arbite,

Igal, son of Nathan from Zoba, the son of Hagrai, Zilek, the Ammonite,

Nehari, the Beerathite, who carried the Armor of Joab, son of Zuruya,

Ira, the Yithrite, Garib, the Yithrite, and Yeraya, the Hittite,

there were thirty-seven in all. Second Samuel, chapter 24.

The Lord was angry with Israel again, and He caused David to turn against the Israelites.

He said, go count the people of Israel in Judah.

So King David said to Joab, the commander of the army,

go through all the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beershiba, and count the people,

then I will know how many there are.

But Joab said to the King, may the Lord your God give you a hundred times more people,

and may my master the King live to see this happen.

Why do you want to do this?

But the King commanded Joab in the commanders of the army,

so they left the King to count the Israelites.

After crossing the Jordan River, they kept near a rower on the south side of the city in the ravine.

They went through Gat and on to Jayzer,

then they went to Gilead in the land of Tatum Hodshai,

and to Dan Jain, and around to Sidon.

They went to the strong, walled city of Tyre,

into all the cities of the Highvites and the Canaanites.

Finally, they went to southern Judah to Beershiba.

After nine months and twenty days, they had gone through all the land,

then they came back to Jerusalem.

Joab gave the list of the people to the King.

There were 800,000 men in Israel who could use the sword,

and 500,000 men in Judah.

David felt ashamed after he had counted the people.

He said to the Lord, I have sinned greatly by what I have done.

Lord, I beg you to forgive me your servant

because I have been very foolish.

When David got up in the morning,

the Lord spoke his word to Gat,

who was a prophet and David's seer.

The Lord told Gat, go and tell David,

this is what the Lord says.

I offer you three choices,

choose one of them, and I will do it to you.

So Gat went to David and said to him,

should three years of hunger come to you in your land

or should your enemies chase you for three months?

Or should there be three days of disease in your land?

Think about it, then decide which of these things

I should tell the Lord who sent me.

David said to Gat, I am in great trouble.

Let the Lord punish us because the Lord is very merciful.

Don't let my punishment come from human beings.

So the Lord sent a terrible disease on Israel.

It began in the morning and continued until the chosen time to stop.

From Dandabir Shiba, seventy thousand people died.

When the angel raised his arm toward Jerusalem to destroy it,

the Lord felt very sorry about the terrible things that had happened.

He said to the angel who was destroying the people,

that is enough, put down your arm.

The angel of the Lord was then by the threshing floor of Arana,

the Jebusite.

When David saw the angel that killed the people,

he said to the Lord, I am the one who sinned and did wrong.

These people only followed me like sheep.

They did nothing wrong.

Please punish me and my family.

That day Gat came to David and said,

go and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Arana,

the Jebusite.

So David did what Gat told him to do, just as the Lord commanded.

Arana looked and saw the king and his servants coming to him.

So he went out and bowed face down on the ground before the king.

He said, why is my master the king come to me?

David answered, to buy the threshing floor from you so I can build an altar to the Lord,

then the terrible disease will stop.

Arana said to David, my master and king,

you may take anything you want for a sacrifice.

Here are some oxen for the whole burnt offering

and the threshing boards and the yokes for the wood.

My king, I give everything to you.

Arana also said to the king, may the Lord your God be pleased with you.

But the king answered Arana, no, I will pay you for the land.

I won't offer to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.

So David bought the threshing floor in the oxen for one and one fourth pounds of silver.

He built an altar to the Lord there and offered whole burnt offerings and fellowship offerings.

Then the Lord answered his prayer for the country and the disease in Israel stopped.

Well, beloved, let's talk a little bit about chapter 22.

This is David's wonderful song of praise to God who, of course, he served his entire life.

As David wrote this, he included the highs and the lows from his life.

How God had delivered him from his enemies and how he was blessed.

He gave praise for who God is and how incomparable he is.

He acknowledged that God was his source of, well, everything.

As I was reading this chapter, did any particular part stand out to you?

What stood out for me was verses 21 through 25.

Let me read that to you again.

David said, you are good to me, Lord, because I do right and you reward me because I am innocent.

I do what you want and never turn to do evil.

I keep your laws in mind and never turn away from your teachings.

I obey you completely and guard against sin.

You have been good to me because I do right.

You have rewarded me for being innocent by your standards.

Wait a minute.

What?

My guess is that part grabbed you as well because we know that David was not plainless.

Was he?

He was an adulterer, a schemer, a murderer.

How could he say he was innocent?

Here's how.

Because God had forgiven him.

In 2 Samuel 12 13, Nathan the Prophet told David,

the Lord also has put away your sin, you shall not die.

Listen, beloved, when God forgives, he forgets.

He no longer holds it against you.

It's as if it never happened.

David wrote in Psalm 10312, as far as the east is from the west,

so far as he removed our transgressions from us.

Beloved, David put his faith in God and he trusted God's mercy,

and he was called the friend of God.

So what does that mean for you and me?

It means that when we remember our sins, it's only in our own memory.

It's not coming from God if we're in Christ.

If you've confessed your sins to him and you have trusted Jesus as your Savior,

you can join David in this song and say,

you reward me because I am innocent.

Beloved, I can guarantee that this is the best news you'll hear all days long.

What do you think?

Let me know.

Go to lifespringmedia.com slash S12e148 and sound off.

A reading tomorrow is Psalms 63 through 65.

Boost!

Here's an update on my raspberry pie.

I am making progress.

It's not fully set up, but downloading the Bitcoin blockchain and the lighting network completed overnight.

I've loaded some software on the pie that enables me to add funds and move them around,

but there's a bit of learning curve on actually doing that, and that's where I'm at now.

It might take a few days before I get up to speed on this stuff,

because Leanne has a friend coming in out of town tomorrow,

and we're going to be spending most of the day with her.

So I'll need to get a show up, but I think that's probably about the only thing I'm going to have time for tomorrow.

It'll probably be good for me to get away from this pie for a couple of days anyway.

Gotta refresh my brain.

On this date in church history, January 25th, 1949,

Peter Marshall died.

He was the Scottish-born American Presbyterian minister we've talked about before.

He pastored New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. from 1939 to 49,

and served as a U.S. Senate chaplain.

He died at the young age of like 47, I think it was,

and his wife, Catherine Marshall, wrote a book about him, a man called Peter in 1951,

and then a movie was made out of that book,

which was nominated for an Academy Award for its cinematography.

You might remember us talking about that.

Prayer Requests

Jeffrey, a long-time life-spring family member, asked for prayer for his dad,

who's been admitted to the hospital with breathing problems from COVID,

so we need to pray for Jeffrey's dad.

Let's pray.

Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for the promise that when we accept Jesus,

our sins are forgiven, and we are clean in your sight.

I pray for Jeffrey's dad, Lord, that you would bring healing,

and allow him to breathe normally.

Heal him from this virus, Lord, we ask in Jesus' name.

And I pray for all of the life-spring family that where there are needs,

you would provide whatever is needed.

I ask that you would bless each life-spring family member today.

I pray this in Jesus' name, amen.

Send your prayer requests and praises in at prayer.lifespringmedia.com.

I welcome your comments on today's show.

Go to lifespringmedia.com slash S12E148.

You can email me at Steve at lifespringmedia.com

and please support the show at lifespringmedia.com slash support.

Until tomorrow, may God bless you richly.

Thank you for being here.

I'm Steve Webb.

It's been great seeing you today.

Bye.