Build With Wisdom • 2 Samuel 19

1:00:14 Teaching begins

Notes

How do you build up a nation? How do you keep it from sliding into chaos? If you read the news, it seems like one issue after another threatens stability and unity. Special interest groups are against other groups and they’re tearing down the fabric of society.

Not just nations, but businesses are fragmenting, families are breaking up. It’s crazy.

There is a pattern for what is happening. Those who build up are wise. They are thinking about others. Those who tear down only think about themselves.

Proverbs 24:3-4 By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; and by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches.

Proverbs 14:1 The wise woman builds her house, but the foolish tears it down with her own hands.

Israel has just had a civil war and is in disruption and disunity. Something has to happen to unify and build up the nation again.

You build with wisdom.

1. Wisdom starts building with the king, vv. 1-8.

A. If the king is going to put the nation back together as a unity, he has to get it together himself—and he’s not together. He is emotionally blasted, unfit to act as king. He’s off in his room weeping and mourning for Absalom. This is partly the result of his own sin. There’s been waste and regrets and who knows what else. But David is indulging that and giving way to that. It fills his perspective, it’s all he can see. He’s in shut-down mode—aaaaaaaaah!

B. Joab comes in to rebuke the king, like a slap to the face.

1. You are shaming the people who risked their lives to save your life, your wives, and your whole kingdom.

2. You love those who hate you and hate those who love you—does that make any sense at all? Would you be happier if Absalom were still alive and we were all dead? He’d probably kill you!

3. You are being a fool because you’re only thinking about yourself.

4. If you don’t get out there quick and do your job as king they are going to desert you and that will be the worst thing that’s ever happened to you.

C. David listens to Joab and goes out there and speaks to the people because Joab is right.

1. Proverbs 1:5 A wise man will hear and increase in learning, and a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel. A wise man listens for wisdom and learns from anyone. A fool says, “I’m better than you so you have nothing to tell me.” Proverbs 26:12 Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him. Even if it’s Joab, David can recognise wisdom when he hears it.

2. And the wisdom from above is reasonable, says James 3:18. You use your mind to think in rational orderly ways to discern and make decisions based on reason, not emotion.

3. Does David want to hear what Joab is saying? Absolutely not! Does he need to hear it? Yes! It’s for his good and the good of the nation. This is about more than his little emotional crisis. He has to think about others, and that is wise.

D. So when the king begins to function again in wisdom, thinking of others, then the people come back to him. He’s acknowledging them, they say, okay, it’s going to be all right now. They continue to follow him in unity. Wisdom begins when the king thinks of others.

2. The king returns to being king through wisdom, vv. 9-15.

A. All Israel is stuck, wavering in indecision and quarreling—do we bring back the king? Why doesn’t somebody do something? I’m not going to do that, are you? Is this wise or foolish? They’re all thinking of themselves. That’s foolish.

B. David solves the problem with wisdom: he asks his own tribe to ask him to return.

1. David could walk in and bust heads—“You didn’t support me.” “And you didn’t support me!” He could kill all his enemies. Would the people receive him gladly? No, they would accept him but think, “He’s only out for himself.” That would not create unity in the nation.

2. The king demonstrates his wisdom by his gentleness. James 3:13 Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. Gentle means free from harshness, sternness, or violence, toward others.

3. So he says, “C’mon, you guys! What are you waiting for? You’re my own family, my own relatives! You want to ask me to come back?”

4. So because David is gentle, as one man, in unity, they command David: “Return!”

3. David deals wisely with a foolish enemy, vv. 16-23.

A. Shimei hurries to meet David before he even gets back to Jerusalem. This is at least shrewd on his part.

1. When it seemed that David was out of power and an exile Shimei thought it was a good thing to insult him, curse him, and throw rocks at him and his people. When David didn’t defend himself, Shimei thought that was great and kept on cursing David. What fun!

2. Now David is returning as king and Shimei figures he’s a dead man, first on David’s hit list. I’m a dead man if I don’t do something quick.

3. So he comes down with 1000 men from his tribe, Benjamin, the first to greet the king and ask for mercy. If David kills Shimei on the spot like Abishai wants to, 1000 Benjamites will see that and they will never forget it. That’s pretty smart of Shimei.

B. David is not thinking of his private affairs. He’s thinking of the unity of the nation, for the good of the nation. You don’t build unity by thinking only of yourself. So he swears to Shimei, “You shall not die.”

C. Some people look ahead to when David is about to die and he says to Solomon, “Make sure that you kill Shimei.” Is that wisdom? Is that love?, people ask.

1. It’s only David’s wisdom that is keeping Shimei alive, not Shimei’s wisdom. He is a worthless man and a fool, because he thinks only of himself.

2. Later Solomon says to Shimei, “Build a house in Jerusalem and live there. When you leave Jerusalem for any reason, you will die.” Shimei says, okay. Then three years later Shimei’s slave runs away to Gath, and Shimei saddles up his donkey and brings him back. Solomon says, “You said, that is okay with me, and then you leave Jerusalem. Your blood is on your own head.” David didn’t kill Shimei; Solomon didn’t kill Shimei; Shimei killed Shimei because he was a fool who only thought about himself.

D. Everyone who disobeys God and sends themselves to hell forever is a fool.

4. Mephibosheth’s wisdom is to choose the anointed one of God above all else, vv. 24-31.

A. Mephibosheth deliberately did not groom himself the whole time David was gone, publicly mourning David’s exile.

B. Mephibosheth exposes Ziba for the opportunist and back-stabber that he is.

1. David asks him, “Why didn’t you go with me?”

2. “I asked him to saddle that donkey he used to get in good with you with all those supplies.”

3. David was irritated that Mephibosheth thought the kingdom was going to be returned to him, and he told Ziba, all of it belongs to you now. And Ziba thought that was pretty cool. Jackpot! Now I don’t have to work for Mephibosheth anymore! That’s the real story.

C. David believes Mephibosheth and tries to get this scheming and traitorous Ziba out of his hair for good. I have said, you and Ziba shall divide the land. That’s not what he said. He said to Ziba, you take it all. Now he’s saying split it up. Everybody have his own piece. Let there be peace.

D. Mephibosheth makes it clear: I don’t want servants, lands, houses, possessions. I want you.

1. Mephibosheth figured he was dead because kings generally clear out the previous dynasty and friends so there will be no claim to the throne nor hurt feelings that lead to rebellion.

2. Instead, Mephibosheth experienced the chesed of God through David. He’s experienced eating at the king’s table like one of his sons. I’m sure he found that the greatest experience of his life. How many times in your life have you met someone who you know, this person knows God? A person who is filled with the Holy Spirit of God? You get up close and you realise, “I’m closer to God because this guy is close to God.”?

E. This is wisdom, to forego the whole world to get God. Ziba gets the whole estate, which he can’t keep. That’s foolish.

F. Have you made that choice, to lose the whole world that you may gain Christ, and be found in Him not having your own righteousness derived from the law but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God on the basis of faith (Philippians 3:8-9)? He is no fool, who gives up that which he cannot keep, in order to gain that which he cannot lose.

5. Barzillai shows wisdom in paying attention to the main thing in life, vv. 31-38.

A. David wants to pay back Barzillai for supporting him in exile. I can do a lot for you.

B. Barzillai says, you couldn’t do much for me at all. I’m past really good food and great music. I don’t want to fuss with things I can no longer enjoy. They’re all side issues now.

C. I’m thinking about what’s ahead—leaving this life. The next step, leaving this world. You don’t need the food and the music, but you do need to die rightly. That day is inevitable. Are you preparing for that day?

D. Look at Chimham. Barzillai says, do for him what you would have done for me, according to all that you want. If Chimham is wise, and he is, he will pay attention to what David wants for him. Whatever that is is better than what Chimham could do for himself.

E. Here’s wisdom for Chimham, use your youth while you have it seeking the kingdom of God, doing what Jesus wants for you. You say, “Whatever You want, Lord Jesus, that’s what I want.” You keep praying that, and see what He does. Whatever He does it will be better than anything you could do on your own because He has better taste and better ideas than you do. Why don’t you find out what He wants?

6. Just as wisdom builds up because it thinks of others, foolishness tears down because it thinks only of itself, vv. 40-43.

A. David is going on in a procession now, with the men of Judah and half the men of Israel. I would guess they are the thousand Benjamites.

B. A larger group of Israel, the northern tribes, show up, and then there’s a conflict.

1. Israel, the northern tribes, says to the king, why have our brothers, the men of Judah stolen you away? You wish you could hear the inflection because then you’d know if that was a light, joky kind of thing or a real accusation, hey, what’s the deal?

2. But what they are emphasising is unity. They’re saying our brothers, we have ten shares in the king. We’re in this together. This is about receiving the king together in unity.

C. The men of Judah answer before the king can answer.

1. They are very quick to defend themselves—we haven’t taken advantage of the king. Everything is fine. What’s your big problem? We know this was harsher than what the men of Israel said.

2. Proverbs 15:1 A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. In fact, this is going to break up the nation again, before it can come together and heal.

D. The words of the men of Judah are harsh because they not thinking about others, but only of themselves. They are being foolish.

1. Remember that David said, “Why are you the last to bring back the king?” Maybe they thought, “Yeah, it does look bad.”

2. They want to look right, and they defend themselves before the king can even talk. Their defense is a strong offense.

3. This doesn’t represent the king at all. David has shown gentleness, forbearance, patience, mercy, grace. He’s not defending himself at all. He’s letting worthless people live because that’s wise and builds unity which is the great need. That’s more important than his own grief, his own revenge, his desires and wishes. He put all those aside for the sake of unity. That’s wise.

4. But these men of Judah blow that up in a second by thinking of how it looks to others, and they’re so bent on looking good that they torch their brothers and tear down the nation by their foolish attitude.

7. So what?

A. Wisdom builds up because it thinks of others. Foolishness tears down because it thinks only of itself.

B. This is true of any group of people anywhere, any time. Nations, businesses, families, and churches. You either build up in wisdom or tear down in foolishness.

C. It’s useless to be like Israel and say, “Who’s going to bring back the king? Why doesn’t somebody do something about it?” It’s not for someone else to do.

D. You bring back the king. That is, you be part of the solution by living in wisdom and thinking about others.

1. The only wise God (Romans 16:27) thought about others. He sent His Son to do something about it, to make peace in wisdom through thinking about others and dying for our sins.

2. It’s wise to invite Him and receive Him into your heart to be your Saviour and your Lord. Because you must think about how you’re going to die. Will you die wisely or foolishly? If you receive Jesus then you are acting wisely because He will rule all the nations, and the one who refuses Him will die. This is fair warning just like warning Shimei. You leave Jerusalem, you will die. You reject Jesus, you will die. God will not kill you; you will kill yourself. So we say, choose life and live.

E. Now, Jesus is building His church, and the gates of hell will not prevail, except when people misrepresent Jesus. To represent Jesus rightly love one another. All men will know you are His disciple if you love one another. But if you think only about yourself, you will tear down the work of God and that is foolish beyond words.

F. And in building His church Jesus also builds up nations, businesses, and families. It’s a side-benefit of being born again of the Holy Spirit. That thinking about others is to work in all your groups, so that you act wisely. That’s going to build up everyone. If you are not wise toward God you will tear down His work. You are no better than the devil. Woe to you if you are out for yourself.

G. Be wise and build up the work of God.

Let’s pray.