Ignorance is Weakness • 2 Samuel 5

45:45 Teaching begins

Notes

We say, “Ignorance is bliss.” “What you don’t know won’t hurt you.”

That’s stupid and dangerous when you’re talking about God.

Today we see a milestone in the history of the world. David is made king of Israel. He is blessed by God, helped by God to be king for the benefit of God’s people.

But we also see a strange ignorance of God that carries with it seeds of destruction.

Ignorance of the word of God is not bliss, it’s weakness.

I’m reading in 2 Samuel 5, verses 1-5.

1. David is anointed king over all Israel, vv. 1-5.

A. All the tribes of Israel come directly to David now. Not because of a middleman power broker like Abner. Not because David is making a move or campaigning to be king. God called David to be king. He has to fulfil His word and make David king.

B. The tribes of Israel have three reasons for them to make David their king.

1. We are your bone and your flesh. We are related to you, not you related to us. They emphasise the fact that David is special, called by God, and they want to be bound to him.

2. You were the one who led Israel in and out even while Saul was king. This means militarily. David was doing the job of leading Israel into battle with victory. They knew David when he killed Goliath as a boy. Remember the song that they were singing that got David in trouble with Saul: “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.” They knew that God was with David.

3. They also knew the word of the Lord to David calling him to be their shepherd. They knew these things.

C. Don’t you think it’s weird that they knew all these things, and yet Israel didn’t act on what they knew to be true? They allowed themselves to be dominated by Abner’s strong personality and Ish-bosheth’s relation to his father Saul.

D. The result of not acting on what they knew to be true was wasted time, wasted life. They could have been ruled by David these last seven and a half years. But instead they wasted their time, and energy, and good things, and their own lives in a futile civil war that accomplished nothing. Where was God in all that? He was blessing the tribe of Judah because David was their king. But not Israel. They became weaker and weaker.

E. This is a principle: when you know the word of God and don’t act on it you are wasting your time and energy, your possessions, and your life. When you are ruled by Jesus then all you are and all you have are used by Jesus for eternal purposes as He directs. You lay up treasures in heaven, for example. But if you spend your money on what you like, you can do that, but to what eternal purpose? No, it’s for the here and now, and it’s ultimately for nothing. Life is a complete waste apart from God.

F. But now begins a golden age for Israel. David makes step after step that is eternally significant.

2. To start, David chooses Jerusalem as his capital city, vv. 6-10.

A. Saul’s capital was Gibeah in Benjamin, a natural choice because Saul was of the tribe of Benjamin.

B. David chooses Jerusalem. It’s right on the border between Judah and Israel, and especially the tribe of Benjamin. As if to say, “I’m not putting you to one side. I’m including you in the nation.”

C. But this city doesn’t belong to Judah, nor does it belong to Benjamin. Jebusites live there. It’s their capital city.

1. They shouldn’t even be there still. They were to be wiped out with the rest of the Canaanites when Israel entered the Promised Land some 400 years before. They still live there and refuse to budge because Israel did not obey God.

2. David is obeying God. These Jebusites have to go. They do not belong here anymore, they are 400 years overdue to be evicted. We’re going to do that right now. We will possess what the Lord gives us.

D. The long term results are that David brings the ark of God to Jerusalem and it becomes the holy city where God will establish His Messiah to rule over the whole earth. The new Jerusalem is where God and man will dwell together forever. That all starts here, with David choosing this city.

3. David realises afresh that God is blessing him for a greater reason than just himself, vv. 10-12.

A. David is becoming greater and greater continually in power and influence.

B. It dawns on David, becomes remarkable when Hiram king of Tyre sends David the materials and builders for a palace.

1. Hiram decides to send a kingly kind of gift, just between us royal types. Here, why don’t you step up and have a royal dwelling appropriate to your station. I’ll have my guys come around with some real materials and we’ll put you in some kingly digs. This is nicer than anything David or Saul lived in, way nicer than any normal house. Nice.

2. Hiram is saying in effect, you’re in the club. You’re one of us. You’re in that top echelon of being a king.

C. David thinks: God really has done it. Samuel anointed me king of Israel when I was a kid. He didn’t live to see this day. I never made a move to make it happen. It’s been so gradual. It’s really the course of my whole life, not a decision I made one day. But here I am. God brought me to this place. He really fulfilled His word toward me.

D. Notice, David none of this goes to his head, hey, I got me a heckin’ palace! He can see the greater purpose in him being king.

1. God blessed him, yes. But the blessing goes further than just him, in order to bless God’s people. That’s the greater purpose. In order to benefit God’s people, He raised up a shepherd who would take care of them.

2. This is how God’s promise to Abraham works out. I will bless you and make you a blessing, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Realise that God does intend to bless Abraham, but His blessing is not intended to stop there. God’s blessing Abraham is intended to go beyond Abraham, to his descendants, to his acquaintances, to the whole earth.

3. That’s why God blesses you, by the way. It’s supposed to go on to everyone around you. If it doesn’t go beyond you, there’s something wrong there. It’s not, “I’m done, I’m fine, that’s all that matters.” It’s what about my family, my friends, my colleagues? Why don’t they get blessed?

E. That means God is working in David, revealing what David needs to know about being God’s shepherd.

4. That makes it all the more strange that we read that David took more wives and concubines, vv. 13-16.

A. David already had seven wives. He marries more wives and also has concubines, a lower status wife. She’s there to bear children and for sex.

B. We are given a list of children born in Jerusalem. Solomon wasn’t born until after the mess with Bathsheba, so realise this covers all David’s time in Jerusalem.

C. We read this and ask, what was David thinking?

1. This is regarded as the right of kings. David is acting like a king, he gets to in one sense. Nobody thinks he’s doing anything other than what kings get to do.

2. But it’s different when you are a king according to the word of God. Deuteronomy 17:14-20

a. “When you enter the land which the LORD your God gives you, and you possess it and live in it, and you say, ‘I will set a king over me like all the nations who are around me,’ you shall surely set a king over you whom the LORD your God chooses, one from among your countrymen you shall set as king over yourselves; you may not put a foreigner over yourselves who is not your countryman. Moreover, he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor shall he cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, since the LORD has said to you, ‘You shall never again return that way.’ He shall not multiply wives for himself, or else his heart will turn away; nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself.

b. “Now it shall come about when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests. It shall be with him and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, by carefully observing all the words of this law and these statutes, that his heart may not be lifted up above his countrymen and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, to the right or the left, so that he and his sons may continue long in his kingdom in the midst of Israel.

D. Either David knew and deliberately disobeyed or he didn’t know that part of the law.

1. It’s possible that he wasn’t familiar with that part of the law because we’ll see in the next chapter that he didn’t know the biblical way to move the ark.

2. At this point it’s hard to believe that David is living in hardened disobedience to God. So I tend to think that David does not know the laws about being king.

3. But he might think, well, this doesn’t apply to me (not for any specific reason, people do think that: doesn’t apply to me). Saul had at least one concubine, he did it. I have wives and concubines, nothing’s happening here. Everything’s okay. No problemo.

E. What David doesn’t know about the word of God will cause him grief, suffering, heartache, loss. It’s not good, what David is doing here.

F. But we also realise that God knows and He ultimately causes all things to work together for good.

1. God is going to bless the whole nation through Solomon.

2. God will continue the line of David through Nathan. Through his descendants will come the Messiah.

3. This is not, “Let us do evil that good may come.”

4. This is God being merciful and gracious for His name’s sake. He is establishing His eternal purposes in the face of human ignorance and sin.

5. David declares his independence from the Philistines, vv. 17-25.

A. That is, the Philistines wake up and realise they have a situation on their hands.

1. Remember that before David became king of Judah he was a vassal of one of the Philistine kings, Achish king of Gath. Not a big deal, except the other lords of the Philistines didn’t trust him enough to go into battle against Israel with him. Otherwise, they didn’t care.

2. When David became king of Judah, that was just one tribe, and Israel was fighting against David. The Philistines don’t care—let them beat each other up.

3. Now that David is king of a united Israel the Philistines are alarmed. A united Israel could oppose them, resist them and even destroy them. Not good. They can’t permit David to grow stronger. They want to nip this in the bud.

B. David hears about the Philistine advance and he inquires of God. He seeks divine guidance and divine enabling against Israel’s enemies.

1. God says, “You’ll have victory.”

2. David breaks through the Philistine lines like a flood of water sweeping all resistance away.

3. The Philistines flee for their lives. They abandon their gods who could not save them. David burns them.

C. The Philistines repeat their attack, everything as it was the first time, only better.

1. Most likely they have surprises in their front line. If David thinks he’s going to just burst out like last time, we’re ready for him.

2. But David inquires of God and God wises him up. Now David is to circle behind and wait for God’s signal. He will hit them hard on their front and then David will hit them from behind. Israel hits the Philistines so hard that they take back miles and miles of territory.

6. So what?

A. First we notice that God is using David even though David is not perfect.

1. David does have significant knowledge and experience of God. He has God’s Holy Spirit upon him. Even so, David is not perfect. There are gaps in his knowledge and gaps in his obedience.

2. If you wait until you’re perfect to serve God and you know everything, you will never serve God. That’s not a legitimate excuse. It’s just an excuse.

3. In reality, you will miss out on being used by God. It is amazing to have God enable you and overcome your weakness and sin and do amazing things through you. You shouldn’t be afraid of serving God.

4. You ought to say, use me, God! Use me! Serve God with what you know. I didn’t know all the answers when I started witnessing about Jesus. I don’t know that I have all the answers even now. People can be really silly and ask silly questions. But you can still tell people about Jesus. Look for your way to do it. Pali said I can’t play guitar like you. I showed him my card with John 3:16 on the back. Why not use that? Or whatever your way is?

B. But it’s not good to be without knowledge. What you don’t know about God will hurt you. David is a prime example of that.

C. Every word of God is significant and weighty. He doesn’t speak lightly and trivially, and, “Oh, you can ignore Me. Sometimes I’m silly and sometimes I’m serious.” There is reason and purpose in everything God says. It’s not an idle word, indeed, it is your very life.

D. So you want to know your Bible. Be familiar with it. Meditate in it. Realise God means what He says. Be prepared so you can do the word of God. That’s why you meditate: so you let the truth rule in your life so you do what is true and right.

E. What if you’re like Israel? What if you know what is right, but you don’t do it? You are in that situation in order to learn a new way to live, where you don’t look to yourself for strength and inner power. You look to Jesus to enable you through His Holy Spirit. You say, “You know, I don’t really want to do this but I know it’s right. Please help me.” And you learn to depend on Jesus for everything.

F. Psalm 146:5 Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is the Lord His God. Happy because you know by experience that God is faithful and He will help you.

Let’s pray.