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So we're First Chronicles, Chapter 11 and I'll bring us all up to date. If you weren't here for the studies or if you've forgotten what we talked about, I had to look back at my own notes too. Like where were we and what did we talk about? I'll bring you up to speed. First Chronicles chapter 11. This is in your Old Testament Bibles. First Chronicles chapter 11. Let's pray first. Lord, it's always good to be here in your house and to study your word together. I thank you for all those who are here, thank you for those who are watching. And we just commit this time to you, Lord, that you would be glorified and that you would use your word to speak to our hearts tonight. There are many principles we can glean from scripture as we go through cover to cover. And we just pray that we would glean some of those things tonight by the help of your holy Spirit. We love you and praise you together in Jesus name. Everybody said amen. So to remind you or to inform you if you haven't been here for our study over 1st Chronicles 1 and 2 Chronicles in the Hebrew Bible are one book. It's called in Hebrew Devrei Hayemim. It literally means words of the days. And that seems like an odd title, but it's called that because Chronicles was basically a handbook for the Jew people to know their own history. And the reason why the writer of Chronicles was giving a concise version of their own Jewish history is because the Jews had been taken captive by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. they had been then deported to Babylon, which is modern Iraq, and they had been kept there for 70 years. Now that was God's plan. The Bible tells us that God used the Babylonians as the rod of his discipline to correct the Jewish people because they had been living in idolatry. And when they would come back after 70 years, they would in fact be purged of their idolatry. Now we can always make idols out of things. In fact, John Calvin said that the heart is a perpetual idol factory. So there are, you know, many things in life that we can elevate to a place where we shouldn't and begin to give objects or people more worship than we do God. It happens especially in a materialistic culture in which we live. Live. But when the Jewish people were allowed to return to their homeland after 70 years of captivity in Babylon, the vast majority of these people had no clue about their own Jewish history. Over 70 years, most of them had been born in Babylon. They had never even seen their homeland. And those who were children when they were taken captive 70 years earlier are now returning, what, in their 80s? If they live that long. And very few of them will actually go back to the homeland. Many will end up making lives there in Babylon. So for the sake of those Jews who would return to the homeland, the writer of Chronicles puts a concise and condensed version of their history in this book of Chronicles, for the benefit of educating those who are unfamiliar with their own Jewish history. So by the time we come here to chapter 11, the first king of Israel, Saul, is dead. He has died in battle along with three of his sons. And the one to succeed Saul is David and David. There's only one David mentioned in the whole Bible, and that's this David. King David. He will be anointed by Samuel the prophet when he's just a boy, probably somewhere around 10 to 15 years of age. Most Bible scholars believe David was just a child when he was anointed to be the next king of Israel. But it would be at least 15 years until that would actually come to fruition. David will not become king until he's 30. And when he becomes king at the age of 30, he doesn't even rule over the entire nation of Israel. At first, there's only one tribe, his own tribe, the tribe of Judah, that acknowledges David as king for the first seven and a half years. But at the end of those seven and a half years, eventually the rest of Israel gets on board and Saul has now effectively been replaced. And the Israelites come to David and say, we see now that you are really God's anointed to be king. And so that's where chapter 11 begins. The writer of Chronicles skips over the fact that David was first king in Hebron for seven and a half years to just the one tribe of Judah. The writer of Chronicles just jumps right into the fact that, hey, in Hebron, all of Israel gathered and made David king. So by the time he's acknowledged to be king by the entire country, he's now 37 years of age. And so this is where first Chronicles, chapter 11 begins, verse one. Then all Israel came together to David at Hebron, saying, indeed, we are your bone and flesh. Also, in time past, even when Saul was king and you were the one who led Israel out and brought them in, and the Lord your God said to you, you shall shepherd my people Israel and be ruler over my people Israel. So that's the quotation mark. So that's where the Israelites begin to recognize, okay, we get it. God's hand has been upon you. We see it now. We want to make you king. And verse three says, therefore all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord. And they anointed David king over Israel according to the word of the Lord by Samuel. Now, again, Samuel had anointed him when he was a boy. But this is just a confirmation and kind of a coronation officially of David now as king over all of Israel. Verse 4 says, and David and all Israel went to Jerusalem, which is Jebus, where the Jebusites were the inhabitants of the land. So please note with me that David now wants to make Jerusalem the capital of the nation of Israel. But Jerusalem is in the hands of the Jebusites. Who were the Jebusites? They were descendants of Canaan. When you look at the geographic. The geological. The geological. The. The geographical. That isn't even the right word either. The genealogical chart, I'll find it. I'll find. Give me time. When you look at the genealogical chart, Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth and Shem. His descendants were the Semites, the Jewish people. But the descendants of one of Noah's other sons, Ham, were the Canaanites. The Jebusites were a tribe of the Canaanite people, so they were distant cousins of the Israelites. But these were. These were perennial enemies. And the Jebusites were a tribe that had made Jerusalem their own fortified city. And David basically says, I want that city, Jerusalem. Yerushalayim. Yerushalom. It means the City of Peace. And so he wants to name this the City of Peace, and he wants it to be his capital, the headquarters for the nation of Israel. So here's what he does. Verse 5. But the inhabitants of Jebus said to David, you shall not come in here. Nevertheless, David took the stronghold of Zion, that is the city of David, which would be called later. And now David said, whoever attacks, this is how they. This is how they conquered Jerusalem. He said, whoever attacks the Jebusites first shall be chief and captain. Okay? So he turns to his ragtag army, and he says to the guys, whoever can take the Jebusites, you take this fortified city, you're going to be chief. In other words, you're going to be head of the army. You're going to be secretary of War. So he's like, putting it out there. You want to be secretary of war, you got to take the city. And it says, and then David dwelt in the stronghold. Therefore they called it the city of David. And he built the city around it from the Milo to the surrounding area. And, and Joab, note that name. Joab repaired the rest of the city. And so David went on and became great, and the Lord of hosts was with him. Now what Chronicles doesn't tell us. Again, this is a condensed version of their history. But, but when you look at the book of first and second Samuel, what we learn is the guy who. This is second Samuel, chapter five. The guy who took the Jebusites. The, the guy who took the city of Jerusalem was Joab. So in Hebrew there's no. His name is Joab or really with a Y, it's Yoav. There's no J in the Hebrew Alphabet, so it's Yoav is his name. And he becomes the commander of David's army. Why? Because he successfully penetrated this city of the Jebusites. And how did he do it? Well, in 2nd Samuel 5 it tells us that this is how he did it. There was a water shaft. The. And when we go to Israel and we go into Hezekiah's tunnel, you can we point out where there is this vertical shaft. From this, Hezekiah's tunnel brings in the spring of Gihon. And then they would be able to get the water from a water shaft that went higher up into the city. And because Hezekiah's tunnel is way underground, like 660ft underground. And so what, what Joab did, Yoav, what he did was he shimmied up the water shaft and got into the city and then was able to subdue it, open the gates and let the army to come in. So he gets awarded to be Secretary of War here. What's interesting is that water shaft was not discovered until more recently, not in any of our lifetime. But 1867, that's pretty relatively recent when you consider Israel's history thousands of years. 1867, a guy by the name of Charles Warren discovered it. So now today it's called Warren's shaft. It is 42ft vertical and it is on average six and a half feet wide. Now you think about how can you shimmy up something that is 42ft vertical? This, this shaft underground, and it's six and a half feet wide on average. So you know, Joab was quite the man of skill because look, you can't even use your full length body to try to shimmy up a shaft like that. Do you know, this might, this might create a little disillusionment for you, but in Jesus day and and we're talking now, you know, centuries before Jesus Day, because David is around a thousand B.C. but in Jesus Day in the first century, they've discovered archeological remains and human remains. The average height of a man in Jesus day was 5ft to 5 5. Jesus likely was no taller than 5 5. So I know when you watch like the Chosen, you know, and he's, he's like head and shoulders over everybody, it's like five, five. Sorry, that's probably the tallest Jesus was. So I don't know how tall they were a thousand years before Jesus. But this takes a lot of athleticism to shimmy up a shaft that's six and a half feet wide. So probably he's using a weapon or a staff to position his body against this. And he's like a ninja. He's crawling up this thing and he gets into the city and then he opens it up for the rest of the army to come in. And that's how they subdue Jerusalem, or Jebus, until it was renamed Jerusalem. And so that becomes the headquarters. And then Joab, or Joab becomes the head of the army, becomes Secretary of War. And then the rest of chapter 11 here is going to talk about David's mighty men. So David's got, among the, the Israeli army, he's got like special forces, and he's got guys who are the elite of the elite. And it starts to name them here. So notice with me in verse 10. Now, these were the heads of the mighty men whom David had who strengthened themselves with him in his kingdom with all Israel to make him king according to the word of the Lord concerning Israel. And this is the number of the mighty men whom David had. And he's, he's going to name. There are three mighty men. Now, in general, the mighty men of David, the special forces numbered 37. They are sometimes referred to as the 30. It's just a round number. But when you look at all the names, it really counts to 37. These are the, these are the special ops. These are the elite of the elite. And among the special ops, there are three in particular who were the most elite of the special forces. And this is the name of the first guy, Joshua Beam, the son of Hakamanite, chief of the captains. He had lifted up his spear against 300 killed by him at one time. Okay, this guy is a warrior. And after him was. Here's the second guy, Eleazar, the son of Dodo. Yeah, I mean, you got to overcome that in order to be a mighty man. Like, who's Your daddy, Dodo. All right. And so he's the son of Dodo the Ahohite, who was one of the three mighty men. And notice that there's three of them. And this is the second guy. Verse 13 says he was with David at Pas Damim. And now there the Philistines were gathered for battle, and there was a piece of ground full of barley. So the people fled from the Philistines, but they stationed themselves in the middle of that field, defended it, and killed the Philistines. And so the Lord brought about a great victory. Now it doesn't mention the third guy. I feel bad for him. It only mentions the 2 out of the 3 of the elite. The third guy is mentioned in 2nd Samuel 23. He only gets 2 verses. 2 Samuel 23, 11, 12. His name is Shema. I like this guy. Because all it says about this guy in second Samuel is that Shema stood in a field of beans and defended it from the Philistines. That's all it says. I'm like, I like this guy. He just stood in a field of beans. But let me tell you why it speaks to me. Because Shamma defended the territory where he stood. That always spoke to me. It's like, you know what? God wants us to fight for our territory. And I don't mean that in a global, national sense. I mean it like your family, like where God has planted you. Like, fight for what is valuable and important where God has planted you. And Shammah is this guy who stands his ground. And yes, he knows if he gives up the bean field, then they're going to take the valley. And if they take the valley, then they'll end up taking the mountains. And if they end up taking the mountains and the valley, they're going to end up taking the country. And so it all starts with each of us, like, defending our little bean patch. Like, fight for what is important to you. And, you know, trust God. So I like Shema, even though it doesn't get a mention here in Chronicles. So those are the three guys, Joshua, Beam and Eleazar and Shema. And it says in verse 15, keep reading with me. It says now three of the 30 chief men went down to the rock to David, into the cave of Adullam, and the army of the Philistines encamped in the valley of Rephaim. And David was then in the stronghold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem. Now, let me point something out to us. What we're reading here is going back in time. This is Talking about a time when David was on the run from King Saul. Saul was so jealous of David that he tried to kill him several times. And so David, before David becomes king, is on the run. He's on the run for, like, 10, 12 years, running from King Saul. And one of the times that he's running from King Saul, he's hiding in this cave of Adullam. And it mentions, as I just read there in verse 16, that there was a garrison of Philistines in Bethlehem. Now, just note that Bethlehem becomes a stronghold of the Philistines. The Philistines, again, they are also perennial enemies of the Israelites. So Bethlehem is being dominated by the Philistines. And it says here in verse 17. And David said with longing, oh, that someone would give me a drink of water from the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate. Now, he's just talking out loud, folks. He's just, like, reminiscing. Remember, where was David born? Where was David born? Bethlehem. Okay? David was born in Bethlehem. He's in the cave of Adilam, which is about 13 miles west of Bethlehem. And he's sitting in this cave because he's hiding from King Saul. And he's got, you know, some of his. He's got his mighty men around him, okay? They're traveling with him, kind of on the run together. And David just starts reminiscing. He's like, yeah. He's like, wow, you know what I'd love? I'd love to drink from the spring, the well there in my own hometown where I grew up. And I. That water was, like, delicious. Like, I just. Boy, I wish I could have a drink of water. Well, his three elite of the special forces hear him talking out loud. And then they say to each other, you know what? We ought to go to Bethlehem and get our king a drink of water. I mean, he's not officially king yet, but they see him as king. They want to honor him this way. So look what happens. It says in verse 18. So the three broke through the camp of the Philistines, drew water from the well of Bethlehem. Okay? Again, it's 13 miles away. They drew water from the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate and took it and brought it to David. Nevertheless, David would not drink it, but poured it out to the Lord. He did that like an offering to the Lord. And he said, far be it from me, O my God, that I should do this. Shall I drink the blood of these men who have put their lives in jeopardy for at the risk of their lives, they brought and therefore he would not drink it. These things were done by the three mighty men. Now, it gives no reaction to the three mighty men here. I don't know how they were feeling that, you know, I don't know if they were talking amongst themselves like, you know, dang, we just, you know, risked our whole lives. We went 13 miles there and 13 miles back, and we were carrying this cup of water the whole way, you know, and then David doesn't even want to drink it. Now, they might have been a little disappointed, but you have to, to love David's heart here because he's like, these guys put their lives on the line for me to give me a drink of water. I was just kind of talking out loud. I was reminiscing about my hometown and wishing I could drink water from the well there in Bethlehem. And these guys took it upon themselves to do something so incredible, I can't even drink it. I feel like I'm unworthy of this. And he pours it out as a drink offering to the Lord. And this. This spoke to me, folks. And here's. We're. We try to glean different principles from these chapters. And here's one from chapter 11. Be thankful for loyal friends who would do anything for you, like David's three mighty men, because that kind of a friend is rare. If you. If you have that kind of a friend who will do anything for you. I don't mean anything illegal or unethical. I just, I. You know, when I say anything, I mean anything that's good and right, you know, and they sacrifice, you know, their time, effort, energy because they would give you the shirt off their back. They would do anything for you. You are blessed. You are blessed if you have a friend like that. They are rare in this life. They are rare. If you can count on one hand a friend like that, you are blessed. And David had three like that who were willing to do 26 miles round trip to bring the guy a cup of water. They were willing to do anything for him. And I tell you, it is. It is something very special when you have loyal friends who are willing to do anything for you. Well, verse 20, it says Abishai, the brother of Joab, was chief of another three. Okay? Now, these were not quite as elite as the first three as you're going to see in a minute, but you have another grouping here, and it says that he had lifted up his spear against 300 men, killed them, and won a name among these three. Of the three, he was more honored than the other two men, therefore he became their captain. However, he did not attain to the first three. Okay, so the first three guys were really the elite. But then you have another step down. And Abishai was a part of another elite group, just not quite as good as the first group of three. Verse 22 names another guy. Benaiah was the son of Jehoiad, the son of a valiant man from Kasbeel who had done many deeds. He had killed two lion like heroes of Moab. He also had gone down and killed a lion in the midst of a pit on a snowy day. And he killed an Egyptian, a man of great height. Note this, five cubits tall. Okay? A cubit back in those days was typically the measurement between the. A man's, the tip of a man's middle finger and his elbow. It's roughly 18 inches. So five cubits, he's seven and a half feet tall. And that's, that's pretty big. Now Goliath was six cubits and a span. A span is the distance between a man's pinky and his thumb stretched out. That's roughly 9 inches. So Goliath was at least 9ft 9 inches. So that guy was quite the giant. This guy is pretty close though. He's seven and a half feet. And again, if the average height is, you know, five to five and a half feet in that day, or at least in Jesus day, this is considerably taller, like 2ft taller than that. But this guy, he killed an Egyptian who was seven and a half feet tall. It says in the Egyptian's hand there was a spear like a weaver's beam. And he went down to him with a staff, wrestled the spear out of the Egyptian's hand and killed him with his own spear. Verse 24 says these things. Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada did and won a name among three mighty men. Indeed, he was more honored than the 30, but he did not attain to the first three. And David appointed him over his guard. All right, so that would be the equivalent of his secret service. Those are his bodyguards. So this guy becomes head of the secret service. And it says in verse 26 also the mighty warriors were. And I'm not going to read this whole list. It, it begins to list out the 37 who were, who were a part of this, the 30 Special Forces all the way through. The end of this chapter just lists all the names. I would butcher them anyway, so I'm not going to read them, but I do want to point out one name. Go to verse 41, verse 41. Among David's special forces was verse 41, Uriah the Hittite. Does that name ring a bell to anybody? Uriah the Hittite was the husband of Bathsheba. And David will later have an affair with this man's wife. Uriah was part of his special forces, one of those loyal guys, and David betrayed him by sleeping with his wife. And so it speaks kind of the opposite principle here. Number two, be careful to never betray loyal friends who would do anything for you, like David did to Uriah. For those of you who aren't familiar with the story, most people know about David and Bathsheba, but they don't necessarily know that David had Uriah killed in order to cover up his sin. Uriah was fighting on the front line. Well, not on the front lines at the time. Uriah was fighting in the army of Israel and David recalled him from battle. Want to give you a little R and R, Ur Uriah. This is when David is officially king. And. And David's like, I want to just bless you and honor you. See, David had slept with Bathsheba. Bathsheba got pregnant. So now what can he do to make it look like it's Uriah's child? I'll bring Uriah back from war, encourage him to have a little rnr with his wife. Everybody will think he got her pregnant, and then my sin will be covered. The problem is Uriah had such, you know, respect for his fighting buddies that he had left fighting in the battlefield that he's like, I can't just go in and enjoy my wife while my buddies are dying on the battlefield. So he sleeps outside the palace and he never goes in to be with his wife. And now David's got a problem on his hands because he couldn't get Uriah to sleep with his own wife, with Bathsheba. And so David sends a little note to Joab and says, when Uriah comes back to war, put him on the front line. And then Uriah is killed in battle. And so David is guilty of adultery, he's guilty of murder, he's guilty of coveting another man's wife. I mean, that's three out of the ten Commandments. So David, David was guilty. Now God is a merciful God, and David will eventually come clean and God will forgive him. But. But I just wanted to point out here that among this elite fighting force, guys who were very loyal to David, he's not as loyal, at least not to the one he cheats by taking Uriah's wife. Well, chapter 12. Now these were the men who came to David at Ziklag while he was still a fugitive from Saul the son of Kish. Again, this is looking back. He's not king at this time. He's still on the run. And they were among the mighty men, helpers in the war, armed with bows, using both the right hand and the left in hurling stones and shooting arrows with the bow. They were of Benjamin, Saul's brethren. This is pretty amazing where you've got people in your armed forces who are so ambidextrous that they can use a slingshot or they can shoot arrows with either their right hand or their left hand. What's interesting there, it says they were of Benjamin. Okay, that's another tribe, the tribe of Benjamin, which happens to be the tribe that Saul was from. So remember, David's on the run from King Saul and his own people. Saul's own people of the tribe of Benjamin have turned against Saul, and they have turned to David because they believe that God's hand was on David. It says in verse three that the chief was Ahiezer, then Joash the sons of Shema. I'm not going to read a bunch of names. Again, jump down to verse 8. Some Gadites joined David at the stronghold in the wilderness. Mighty men of valor, men trained for battle, who could handle shield and spear, whose faces were like the faces of lions. I don't know if that means they had a really manly beard. I don't know what that means. Like, their face was like the face of a lion. They had, you know, a lot of hair and a lot of beard probably. And they were as swift as gazelles on the mountains. Azer the first, Obadiah ii. Again, it lists a bunch of names. We can jump down to verse 16. And then some of the sons of Benjamin and Judah came to David at the stronghold. And David went out to meet them and answered and said to them, if you have come peaceably to me to help me, my heart will be united with you. But if to betray me to my enemies, since there is no wrong in my hands, may the God of our fathers look and bring judgment. And then the Spirit came upon Amasai, chief of the captains, and he said, now please note with me the Holy Spirit does not come upon all flesh until you get to the New Testament, until you get to the Book of Acts. And now the Holy Spirit is available to all. When you trust Christ as your Savior, you get God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. There's a different Bible study about the fullness of the Spirit and the baptism of the Spirit. But I point this out because in Old Testament times, before the Holy Spirit came initially at the giving of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit only came upon individuals as God assigned the Holy Spirit. And this is one of those occasions where this guy Amasai is filled with the Spirit, the Holy Spirit. And he prophesies. And this is what he prophesies. He says, we are yours, O David. We are on your side, O Son of Jesse. Peace, peace to you and peace to your helpers, for your God helps you. And so David received them and made them captain of the troop. And some from Manasseh defected to David when he was going with the Philistines to battle against Saul. But they did not help them, for the lords of the Philistines sent him away by agreement, saying he may defect to his master Saul and endanger our heads. Let me just clarify that. There was this brief period when David was on the run from Saul that he actually joins forces with the Philistine enemies. And I know that sounds bizarre to us, but David basically appealed to the king of the Philistines and said, I'm on the run from Saul. He's my enemy. I'll help you fight him. The king was. Was open to that, and he allowed David to march with his troops. But as they started to get into war, then the thought came, can we really trust David? You know, maybe he's a spy and he's come in like a mole to our army, and so he gets dismissed and so he doesn't end up fighting with the Philistines. Verse 20. And when he went to Ziklag, those of Manasseh who defected to him were Adna, Jozabad, Jediel, Michael, Jozabad, Elihu, and Zillathi, captains of the thousands who were from Manasseh. And they helped David against the bands of raiders, for they were almighty men of valor and they were captains in the army. For at that time they came to David day by day to help him until it was a great army like the army of God. Verse 23. Now, these were the numbers of the divisions that were equipped for war and came to David at Hebron to turn over the kingdom of Saul to him according to the word of the Lord. And then you have there a colon and you again have a long list of names. So we're going to skip it and go right to near the end of the chapter. Go to verse 38, verse 38. And it says, all these men of war who could keep ranks came to Hebron with A loyal heart. Circle that or underline it in your Bibles. They had a loyal heart to make David king over all Israel, and all the rest of Israel were of one mind. Underline that to make David king. And they were there with David three days eating and drinking, for their brethren had prepared for them. Moreover, those who were near to them, from as far away as Issachar and Zebulun and Naphtali, were bringing food on donkeys and camels, on mules and oxen, provisions of flour and cakes of figs and cakes of raisin, wine and oil, and oxen and sheep abundantly. Notice, for there was joy in Israel. This chapter ends on this high note that finally they had made David king. And there was a great celebration, there was a great feast, and all Israel was joyful. I asked you, as I was reading it, to underline loyal heart and one mind, because this is the idea of loyalty and unity. They had loyalty and unity. And folks, here's an important principle. Loyalty and unity are the building blocks for a joyful community. And whether we're talking a church or a family, a team, a company, those of you who you know are a part of some organization or you run your own business or even in your family, right? If you don't have loyalty and unity, you don't have joy. There has to be loyalty. There has to be unity. Now, loyalty doesn't mean you always agree with each other. Okay, half the time I don't agree with myself, right? But loyalty means the mission is greater than the individual, and you have to get behind the mission, and you have to put differences aside enough to have, as it says here, one mind. But that's another way of saying they had unity. They had unity. I mean, you know, look at, for those of you who love football, I love football. And you know, when, when you think about how the play is called and you're in the huddle, you know, if, if every player decides, I'm going to run a different route, you're never going to win the game. And some in the huddle might think, I know a better route, I know a better game plan than the one that's just been called. But you have to kind of surrender that for the sake of the whole team. And so when, you know, wherever the, if the play is called in from the sideline or the quarterback calls an audible, you know, you better all be of one mind to carry this thing out. Because if somebody decides I'm going to do something different, then it's chaos. It's the same thing. In an orchestra, those of you who are musical, you know, you have sheet music. And if one person decides, you know, I know it says G, but I'm going to play a B flat, you're going to sound ugly and it won't sound harmonious. The only way it can is you got to play off of the same sheet of music or in the course you know, of football, you got to play off of the same schematic, the same playbook. There's got to be a unity here, and there's got to be a loyalty to the greater mission of the organization or the family or whatever it might be. If you don't have those things, you don't have joy. The reason why they had joy is because they had loyalty and they had unity, and that's what brought joy to the community. Well, we still have a little bit of time. Let's go into chapter 13. It says, then David consulted with the captains of thousands and hundreds and with every leader. And David said to all the assembly of Israel, if it seems good to you, and if it is of the Lord our God, let us send out to our brethren everywhere who are left in all the land of Israel, and with them to the priests and Levites who are in their cities and their common lands, so that they may gather together to us and bring us. Let us bring notice this, the Ark of our God back to us, for we have not inquired at it since the days of Saul. And then all the assembly said that they would do so, for the thing was right in the eyes of the people. Now pause there. Let me explain what David is doing here. David has a heart for worship. One of the central articles of their worship was this item called the Ark of our God or the Ark of the Covenant. Now, Moses was originally given the design in, in Exodus about what the ark was to look like and what the purpose of the ark was for. And here's just a brief description of it. It was made of acacia wood and it was overlaid with gold. The dimensions or the size in modern measurements was it was three and three quarters by two and a quarter by two and a quarter. So it was three and three quarters long, two and a quarter high, two and a quarter wide feet. And the lid was made of solid gold with gold cherubim or angels on the top of the lid. And the angels were facing each other with their wings outstretched towards each other. This lid was also known in the Bible as the mercy seat. And inside the Ark of the Covenant were kept articles of Israel's history. The Ten commandments, Aaron's bunning staff, and a sample of manna. The manna was, you know, this special food that God put out on the ground every morning. They were to collect it. It just said it was sweet, that manna. Manna in Hebrew just means, what is it? What is it? And so I have, I, as I've said many times, I love to think of manna just simply as Krispy Kreme doughnuts. I think that's what it was. And they helped themselves all day long. I think it's in the Bible, Krispy Kreme. But anyway, those were the elements that were inside the Ark of the Covenant. Now, the Ark of the Covenant was a very sacred article because it was placed in the tabernacle, which was like this mobile sanctuary, until later it was placed in the temple that was built in Jerusalem by Solomon, David's son. And the Bible says that God, his presence, the glory of God, would settle between the cherubim, that the presence of God would fall within the sanctuary, between the cherubim there. And so this sacred article represented the very presence of God. And David realizes that the Ark of the Covenant is not in Jerusalem. Where has it been? It's been in a city called Kiriath Jarem. It's about nine miles away from Jerusalem, and it's been in Kiryath Jarem for 70 years. And why was it in Kiriath Jarem? The history is important to understand what. What's about to transpire here. It was in Kiryath Jarem because it had been captured in one of the battles of. That the Israelites had with the Philistines. The Philistines had captured this sacred article, taken it back to their godless cities until. Until God broke out among the Philistines tumors, and they realized, this is a curse for us having this. We need to give it back. Now. I. I love the King James version when it talks about how the Philistines got tumors. It says in King James they got EM rods. Does that sound like anything? Em rods. EM rods. Just stretch it out. Emerods, emruds, Hemorrhoids. Hemorrhoids. Hemorrhoids. That's actually what it believed to have been. But we kind of, you know, make it sound nicer, if you could use the word nicer and say tumors. But these were hemorrhoids. Everybody. Does God have a sense of humor or what? And so the Philistines are like, you know, we can't even sit down. We ought to give this back. Nobody can sit down. We need to give this thing back. They put it on a cart drawn by some oxen. They slap the oxen on the beehive, and then they say, get out of town. And it ends up in Kiriath Jearim, a Jewish town. And they take it off and they put it in the home of this guy who's a Levite. His name is Abinadab. And it has been there now for 70 years. And David says, we need to go get that. We need to bring it in Jerusalem. It's gotta be central to our worship. Now, there's no temple yet, but he wants to bring the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem because it's a sacred object that represents the very presence of the Lord. And he wants worship, and he wants the presence of the Lord to be central to their nation. So this is a good thing. But now look, something tragic happens. Keep reading. This chapter isn't very long. We'll get through it. Verse 5. And so David gathered all Israel together from Shiloh. Sorry, from Shehor in Egypt to as far as the entrance of Hamath to bring the Ark of God from Kiriath Jearim and David and all Israel went up to Baalah to Kiriath Jearim, which belonged to Judah, to bring up from there the Ark of God, the Lord who dwells between the cherubim where his name is proclaimed. And so they carried the Ark of God on a new cart from the house of Abinadab, and Uzzah and Ahio drove the cart. And then David and all Israel played music. Look at how joyful this is. They're playing music before God with all their might, with singing on harps and on stringed instruments, on tambourines and cymbals and with trumpets. And when they came to Kidon's threshing floor, Uzzah put out his hand to hold the ark, for the oxen stumbled. And then the anger of the Lord was aroused against Uzzah, and he struck him because he put his hand on the Ark and he died there before God. Okay, I'm gonna. I'm gonna explain this. And David became angry. He became angry because of the Lord's outbreak against Uzzah. And therefore that place is called Perez Uzz, which you can see your footnotes. It says, literally, outburst against Uzzah. It's called that to this day. And David was afraid of God that day, saying, how can I bring the Ark of God to me? And so David would not move the ark with him into the city of David, but took it aside into the house of Obed Edom. The Gittite, the Ark of God remained with the family of Obed Edom in his house three months. And the Lord blessed the house of Obed Edom and all that he had. So here's what David does. David gets angry. He's like, what in the world? I'm doing a good thing. I'm bringing the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. The oxen stumble, God. And Uzzah reaches out his hand to try to steady the ark so it doesn't slide off the cart and you kill him. So David's angry, by the way, you know, God can take our emotions. There might be times where something has happened in your life that has not made sense and you get angry. It's okay. God can take our emotion. He's a big God. And God took David's emotion. He didn't strike him dead. David got angry. And God's a big God. And he knows that in our humanness, sometimes we don't understand things. And sometimes we get angry with him. And so David decides, I don't get this. So I'm going to just put a pause on this. We're going to put the Ark of the Covenant here in Obed Edom's house. And for three months he's just like praying through, like, what in the world? What went wrong? Why did God do this? Uza was just doing a good thing. This doesn't make sense. Okay, now, spoiler alert. I just want you to jump to chapter 15. I want you to see how it works out. After three months, he's going to go back and get it. And look, it's going to be different. Chapter 15. I'm just going to read a couple verses. Look at verse 11. And David called for Zadok and Abiathar, the priests, and for the Levites for Uriel and Asiah and Joel and Shemaiah and Eliel and Amminadab. And he said to them, you are the heads of the fathers houses of the Levites. Sanctify yourselves, you and your brethren, and that you may bring up the Ark of the Lord God of Israel to the place I have prepared for it. And notice he's calling on the priest of the Levites to do this in a sacred way he didn't before. And notice the difference. Verse 13. For because you did not do it the first time, the Lord our God broke out against us because we did not consult him about the proper order. And so the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the Ark of the Lord God of Israel. And the children of the Levites bore the Ark of God on their shoulders by its poles, as Moses had commanded according to the word of the Lord. Your attention for a minute. I know these are really like almost cheesy graphics, but take a look here. This is the first way that they brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem on a cart drawn by oxen. That's the wrong way. This is the way that David first brought it up, and with fanfare. I mean, they're worshiping, they're singing, they got the band out there, they're doing what they think is a wonderful thing. But why did they transport the Ark of the Covenant this way when it wasn't God's prescribed way? And it takes David three months when he prays through this. And like, what did we do wrong? To realize that the only prescribed way that God had designated through Moses that the Ark of the Covenant should ever be transported was on the shoulders of the priests? That it is a sacred object to be lifted up and carried by the poles by the priests. Question is, where did David get the idea for the cart to begin with? The answer is because that's how the Philistines had sent it back. Do you know how we can often resort to doing things the way the world does it when that's not God's prescribed way? That's why God was upset. Sure, Uzzah did a an honorable thing, but it wasn't God's prescribed way. And so God has to get their attention. This is the world's way. This is the Philistines way. I'm not calling you to be like, the Philistines. Don't do that. Where'd you get this idea? The cart and the oxen. That's never been the prescribed way. And after three months, David prays through it and he realizes, I guess I should look in the Bible and see the way that it's supposed to be transported. Oh, yeah, the Levites are supposed to sanctify themselves and then lift up the Ark of the Covenant and carry it on their shoulders. That's how it is to be transported. And I'll just end tonight with this principle here from chapter 13, which is good intentions do not justify wrong actions. David had good intentions with a lot of worship around it too, but he did it the wrong way. And we have to be mindful of this, everybody. You might have good intentions about something, but if you go about it the wrong way, God will not honor it. So even with good intentions, we have to make sure good intentions are coupled with right actions. They will eventually get the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem when they do it the right way. But it took some time for David to realize we were just following the ways of the world and we were not really doing it God's way. May God always remind us, do it his way, everybody. Do it his way. It'll be blessed. Do it the world's way, not so much. Right? Amen. Father, thank you for this time in your word tonight. And we pray that you would continue to impress these things upon our hearts even as we leave here tonight taking with us these different principles from your word. We thank you for meeting us here, Lord. Be glorified, we ask in our lives, in our church, may we always be mindful to do things your way. The world may mock us, laugh at us, scorn us, but we know, Lord, if we do things your way, we'll be blessed. And so we thank you for this time in your word tonight. Be with us as we go home. In Jesus name and everybody said amen. Amen.