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Tara Leigh Cobble
Hey, Bible readers, I'm Tara Leigh Cobble and I'm your host for the Bible Recap. When we last saw David, he was fleeing Jerusalem because Absalom had staged a coup. On his way out of town, David found out that his advisor Ahithophel was a traitor. He also ran into his friend Hushai and asked him to keep him posted on everything that was happening in Jerusalem after he left. Today, when we pick up on the story, David has just crossed over the mountain on his way out of town when he runs into Ziba, one of the servants of Mephibosheth. As a reminder, Mephibosheth is the son of Jonathan, who was David's best friend and who helped save David's life when his father Saul tried to kill him. David had sworn an oath to Jonathan to take care of his family. So when David found out that Mephibosheth was Jonathan's only surviving son, he took him into his home and promised to provide for him forever. But here, things take an interesting turn. Mephibosheth servant Ziba brings David a bunch of food, wine and donkeys as gifts, and then tells David that Mephibosheth is going to try to assume the throne that David stole from his father, Jonathan. You can imagine how hurt and angry this makes David, after all he's done for Mephibosheth. Plus, God gave David the throne, he didn't take it. So David hands all of Mephibosheth's blessings over to Ziba, his servant instead. Put a pin in this story. We'll come back to it. As David and his crew continue on, they encounter a man named Shimei who is cursing him, calling him a murderer, which he is. David's servant wants to kill him, but David's trust in the Lord allows him to incur insult without fighting back. He's able to humbly receive whatever comes to him as though it were from God's hand. He holds his anger and doesn't retaliate. I can't imagine the weight of emotional defeat David must feel at this point. He's been betrayed by his son, Absalom, his mentor Ahithophel, his beneficiary Mephibosheth, and now this rando Shimei is verbally attacking him in front of the few men who've stuck by him. Shimei was a Benjamite, a relative of Saul. The Benjamites never totally warmed up to having David as king since he was from the tribe of Judah, because they felt the royal line should have continued through their tribe. So it's not completely abnormal for a Benjaminite to hurl these kinds of curses at David, but. But it was still illegal and punishable by death. But David spared Shimei. Meanwhile, back in Jerusalem, Absalom runs into David's friend Hushai, the one David asked to be a spy for him. Absalom is suspicious of him, but Hushai puts on a good front and pretends to be on Team Absalom. Then Absalom seeks counsel from Ahithophel, the adviser he stole from David, who tells him he should sleep with David's concubines. We saw the same thing on day 111, when Ishbosheth, Saul's son, accused his servant Abner of sleeping with one of Saul's concubines. Sleeping with a king's wife or concubine is a way of making a claim on the throne. And because Ahithophel's advice is so highly regarded, Absalom does what he says. And probably without even knowing it, they bring about the fulfillment of what God foretold as one of the fourfold consequences of David's sin. In 2 Samuel 12, God said, I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this son. After this, Ahithophel unpacks his plan for killing David so Absalom can take the throne right away. But Absalom decides to get a second opinion. So he calls in Hushai, who criticizes Ahithophel's advice, and then, with his quick thinking, comes up with an elaborate, prolonged plan that would allow David some time to escape, or at least plan his retaliation against their attack. Hushai is sly in his delivery. He praises Absalom as he explains his plan, but also gives Absalom a few subtle reminders that his dad and his men are really good warriors. Which probably plants some doubt in Absalom's head about fighting them. Absalom decides to take Hushai's advice instead of Ahithophel's, and Ahithophel sees the writing on the wall. God is not with his counsel, and God is not with Absalom because David is the man God has placed on the throne. Ahithophel also knows this means he'll be killed for treason when David inevitably returns to Jerusalem. So he goes home and hangs himself. Meanwhile, Hushai secretly appoints two messengers to let David know the plan. It's about 20 miles from Jerusalem to where David and his men are staying. So. So it's a long journey by foot. Some of Absalom's people spot the messengers on their way out of town, but they can't track them down because a woman hides them in a well. This reminds me of when Rahab hid the spies in Jericho. Then the messengers make it to David and tell him to cross the Jordan river and continue fleeing away from Jerusalem. They stop about 40 more miles to the north. Three men bring food and provision and beds for them from far away. And in the midst of such great betrayal, this had to really encourage David's heart. Following Hushai's advice, Absalom gathers his army and tries to find David. David splits his army into thirds and sends them out to do battle, but tells them not to harm Absalom if they find him. They fight in the fields and in the forest, and 20,000 men die, most of them in the forest, which is a tough place to do battle, apparently. While Absalom is trying to ride his mule through the forest, he gets his head caught in a tree. And most commentators think this refers to his thick hair getting caught up in a branch. So his glory becomes his downfall. His mule keeps going, and he's left hanging in the tree by his head. A soldier witnesses all this and reports it to Joab, his commander. Joab is angry that the soldier didn't just kill Absalom when he had the chance, even though that warrior was obeying David's commands. So Joab goes to find Absalom and stabs him in the heart. Then 10 of his armor bearers put him out of his misery. Joab declares an end to the battle. Then two messengers race back to give David the news. The first just tells him the good news that they won the battle, even when David specifically asks about Absalom. Then the second messenger arrives and tells him the truth, that his son Absalom has died. And David goes off to be alone to weep and mourn. Where did you see your God shot today? Mine was in the nuances of the way God worked through Ahithophel's advice. The first time he gave Absalom counsel, Absalom took it, which lined up perfectly for God to bring about the fulfillment of what had said in 1211. But the second time Ahithophel gave counsel, Absalom did not take it, which lined up perfectly to answer David's prayer in 1534. God's providence and sovereignty brought all this to pass. 1714 puts it like the Lord had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel so that the Lord might bring harm upon Absalom once Ahithophel's advice was received and once it was rejected and both responses lined up perfectly with God's sovereign plan. He's in the subtle nuances. He in the seemingly coincidental timing of David running into Hushai as he was fleeing Jerusalem. He's in the curious timing of Hushai arriving back in Jerusalem just as Absalom gets there. He's in the hesitation in Absalom's mind as he gets a second opinion from Hushai. God is working in all the things seen and unseen to bring about his good plan. He can be trusted with timing, he can be trusted with chance encounters, and he can be trusted even with the thoughts and plans of our enemies. He's in control and he's where the joy is. Here at tbr, we love the local church and we hope you do too. We never want to exist in a vacuum and we hope that your daily Bible reading with TBR is happening in addition to the discipleship and shepherding you're getting at your local church. If not, we encourage you to seek out a Bible believing church and join it. We hope that your increase in knowledge of God's Word increases your love for him and in turn, your love for his people People, part of the vision of the Bible Recap is to partner with churches in the pursuit of discipling the Body of Christ. So if you want your church to join you and us, check out thebiblerecap.com church.