Scripture: 2 Samuel 16:1-23
Sermon Series: 2 Samuel: When God is Your King! – Sermon 16
Unless you’ve fled an oppressive government, you may think a fugitive is someone like Harrison Ford in the Fugitive (picture) or on the FBI’s Most Wanted List (picture). Many famous people have been political fugitives.
Musician Gloria Estefan (picture) and her mother fled Cuba while her dad was a political prisoner. Actress Mila Kunis (picture) was born into a Ukrainian Jewish family while Ukraine was under Russian control and fled because of antisemitism. 1n 1979 Sergey Brin (picture) co-founder of Google, fled Russia to escape anti-Semitism. During the Kosovo War Singer Rita Ora (picture) fled Yugoslavia.
In 2Samuel 16 King David is a fugitive. Last Sunday we closed the chapter with three of David’s friends supporting him as he fled from Absalom: Ittai, Zadok and Abiathar. 1 Samuel 16 turns to the other side, David’s enemies, The Foes of the Fugitive. We’ll look at four individuals who make David’s life miserable as he flees from his son, Absalom.
David had enemies. We all have enemies. So, how should we respond?
Among David’s enemies you may recognize types of your own enemies. Ziba is a liar. Shimei is the false accuser. Abishai is short-tempered. Ahithophel is the Old Testament Judas, a perverse political advisor.
They remind us that our greatest enemy is Satan. The Bible describes him as a liar and an accuser. He’s angry like a roaring lion while perversion is his DNA, yet he disguises himself as an angel of light.
The prophet Nathan had warned David that he would reap consequences for his sin in his own family. David is suffering under God’s correction. In the midst of God’s correction, the overriding truth is: The Lord will vindicate His repentant servants when they humbly submit to His discipline.
Absalom killed his half-brother Amnon after Amnon raped his sister. He then fled for three years but finally returned to Jerusalem in a deal brokered by David’s general, Joab. Four years later Absalom goes to Hebron. While there, he musters men from all over Israel to join his rebellion. David flees Jerusalem with those loyal to him.
As 1 Samuel 15 is about David’s friends, 1 Samuel 16 is about David’s foes as he’s on the run for his life. If you’re taking notes…
1. Opportunist Liars, vss. 1-4
What do you think is the most dishonest job? According to Gallup, number one were members of Congress. Included among the top ones were lobbyists, telemarketers and those in advertising.
Managers aren’t on the list. Ziba is a type of manager. He brings needed supplies to the weary fugitives. “When David had passed a little beyond the summit, Ziba the servant of Mephibosheth met him, with a couple of donkeys saddled, bearing two hundred loaves of bread, a hundred bunches of raisins, a hundred of summer fruits, and a skin of wine. And the king said to Ziba, “Why have you brought these?” Ziba answered, “The donkeys are for the king’s household to ride on, the bread and summer fruit for the young men to eat, and the wine for those who faint in the wilderness to drink” (2 Samuel 16:1-2). He appears to be generous but he’s a man with an agenda. He’s lies about his master. We’ll complete his story when we get to chapter 19.
Unlike other kings of that day, David had a soft spot for his predecessor, the family of King Saul, primarily because of his close friendship with Saul’s son, Jonathan. He’d taken care of Mephibosheth, Jonathan’s disabled son. A new king coming into power usually wiped out all his predecessor’s dynasty.
Ziba isn’t all that generous. Everything he brought really belonged to David because David had given it to his master, Mephibosheth. Finally, David asks, “And where is your master’s son?” (Mephibosheth) Ziba said to the king, “Behold, he remains in Jerusalem, for he said, ‘Today the house of Israel will give me back the kingdom of my father’” (2 Samuel 16:3).
It’s a half truth. Mephibosheth is back in Jerusalem. He’s disabled. He’s stuck. The rest is a lie and not even a good one. Abasalom is coming to take the throne. He’s not going to restore a disabled grandson of Saul to the throne. That’s crazy! But David believes him.
“Then the king said to Ziba, “Behold, all that belonged to Mephibosheth is now yours” (2 Samuel 16:4).David isn’t thinking straight. He’s distressed and tired. When you’re under attack, you begin to suspect everyone. You wonder who you can trust.
Ziba plays both sides. He doesn’t volunteer to join David, yet by bringing supplies he secures David’s favor along with the property of Mephibosheth, which was probably his plan all along. But Absalom will never know that he supplied David. He can return to Jerusalem and see what the outcome will be. If Absalom wins, he’ll keep his mouth shut and support Absalom.
This isn’t unusual. We easily believe lies and slander. David did. He rushes to judgement and makes a snap decision after hearing just one report. But it doesn’t line up with what he knew about Mephibosheth. This crippled man loses everything because of a lie with no opportunity defend himself.
Would you want someone to do that to you? Then, why would we do it to someone else? This happens a lot, even in the Church. Let me share three words that will help all of us be wiser and not make rash judgements.
Appearance. In John 7:24, Jesus said, “Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.” It only appeared Mephibosheth was disloyal and that Ziba was loyal. The opposite was true. David misjudges Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth loved him and was loyal to him. Based on appearances in one report, David believed a liar and an opportunist.
Do you tend to rush to judgement? To jump to conclusions before you know all the facts? Proverbs 18:17 warns, “The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him.” We tend to believe the first report. We must though listen to both sides and have all of the facts before coming to a conclusion. Stoic philosopher, Epictetus (picture) wisely said, “God has given us two ears so that we can hear both sides of the story.” We live in a world of rumor, gossip and spin. If we rush to judgement, we’ll do great harm to others who deserve better from us.
Remember that Jesus was falsely accused by several false witnesses. They twisted His words. Let’s not do that to someone else. Never judge by appearances. Always ask the question: What if this were not true?
Measure. As part of His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you” (Matthew 7:1-2).
In other words, put yourself on the other side of this. Ask how you’d want people to react if an accusation was made about you? Remember that the measure you use in regard to others will often be what comes back to you.
Show grace and mercy to others as you’d hope they’d show grace and mercy to you if you were in their position. Slow things down, ask for all the facts. Only conclude something is true when you’ve heard the full story, and the evidence is conclusive. Think the best until you learn otherwise.
Time. The Apostle Paul writes “Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God” (1 Corinthians 4:5).
What should David have done? He could have said, “That doesn’t fit with what I know about Mephibosheth.” He could say, “I haven’t had the opportunity to hear from Mephibosheth and the other side, so I’m not going to come to a conclusion until I have all of the facts.”
Truth and time walk hand in hand. Time often makes things clear, revealing the whole story. There are very few situations where we must make a snap decision on what’s true. David ended up with egg on his face. He didn’t investigate and believed a lie. Be wise and don’t jump to conclusions based on partial information.
Unfortunately, I’ve learned the hard way, particularly in marital counseling to make sure that I have both sides. It’s easy to be manipulated by tears or a sob story only to be embarrassed later when the full story comes out.
Betty, the town gossip and self-appointed supervisor of the town’s morals, kept sticking her nose into other people’s business. People were unappreciative of her activities but feared her enough to not say anything. She blew it though when she accused Ted of being an alcoholic after she saw his pickup parked outside the town’s only bar one afternoon. Ted, a man of few words, stared at her for a moment and walked away without saying a word. Later that evening, he parked his pickup in front of her house and left it there all night. Things aren’t always what they seem.
Appearances. Measure. Time. They protect us and others in the long run. David is at a dark time, confronting the pain of rejection and now an Opportunist Liar. We can be easily deceived when we’re emotionally raw.
It should trouble us when unscrupulous individuals capitalize on someone’s problems. What moves Ziba isn’t loyalty to God’s king but greed.
What about us? Why do we do what we do? Do we serve out of loyalty to Christ, or to see our personal stock rise in the eyes of others? May God purify our motives. Ziba tells lies but David’s next enemy throws stones.
2. False Accusers, vss. 5-8
A little girl wrote this note to her pastor:
“Dear Pastor, I heard you say to love our enemies. I am only 6 years old, and I do not have any yet. I hope to have some when I am 7. Your friend, Amy.” Unfortunately, without trying, she’ll get them.
Bahurim was a small town, just 1.5 miles from Jerusalem (map). The refugees cross into the area of Benjamin. This man, Shimei, appears, a descendant of Saul and a Benjamite. He uses this opportunity to mock and curse David, throwing dirt and stones at him and those with him. He’s a human volcano, spewing bile. And he’s not very bright, definitely not a library card holder. David is with his soldiers but here’s Shimei verbally attacking and physically abusing David as he and his troops pass by.
You’ve probably met a Shimei. He’s the guy who knows exactly what God is doing! Ever meet someone like that? Be very careful of stating that you know God’s mind or His will apart from what God says in the Bible and be very cautious around those who state that they do.
Somehow, it doesn’t click that one of David’s bodyguards could take him out in a moment if David gave permission. In spite of superior fire power, he won’t be silenced or stopped.
He curses David. The last one who’d done that was Goliath. It didn’t end well. His accusations are interesting. He accuses David of being a “man of blood.” We think of Uriah and his murder. That’s not what Shimei is talking about. He accuses David of wiping out Saul and his house.
He’s totally out of line, calling David, God’s anointed king, a “worthless fellow,” accusing him of the blood of Saul. David wasn’t responsible. He wasn’t even in the region when Saul was killed by the Philistines.
Shimei has been bitter his whole life. Facts don’t matter. Twice David spared Saul’s life, but don’t bother him with the truth. His mind is made up. And Shimei violates the Mosaic Law, Exodus 22:28, “You shall not revile God, nor curse a ruler of your people.” Alexander Whyte (picture) calls him, “A reptile of the royal house of Saul.”
He kicks David when he’s down! With Ziba’s lies, Satan attacked David as a serpent who deceives. With Shimei’s accusations, Satan comes as a judge – the accuser. Revelation 12:10 calls Satan, “the accuser of our brothers…who accuses them day and night before our God.” In Job 1 Satan accuses Job before God. He does that today, accusing us. When you feel convicted about sin that you’ve confessed to God, 1 John 1:9 promises that God has forgiven us. The guilt and accusations are from Satan, not God or His Holy Spirit.
Shimei nursed this grudge for 20 years, ever since the royal dynasty shifted from Saul to David. His vision is blurred by hatred and now he has a chance for sweet revenge. But he’s wrong on every accusation. Fewer offenses plunge deeper into our hearts than false accusations, particularly when they’re hurled at us when we’re already hurting.
Shimei is separated from David and his party by a deep ravine. He goes along the opposite hill, casting stones and cursing. It’s amazing how bold people are when they’re out of range of a return shot. He’s like the accusers on social media. They post lies and are so self-righteous in their safe little bedrooms, free from retaliation. They’re keyboard terrorists. Some of the worst are those who make anonymous posts or send anonymous letters.
After a preacher gave a sermon on the spiritual gifts, a man came up to him and said, “That was a great sermon, but I believe I only have one talent.” The preacher smiled and asked, “What’s your talent? The man replied, “I have the gift of criticism.” The preacher wisely said, “The Bible says that the guy who had only one talent went out and buried it. You need to do that with yours.”
False accusations hurt more than true ones because you can’t really defend yourself. If you do, others conclude you’re defending yourself because you’re guilty. It’s best to leave it with God. Let Him settle the accounts.
It’s what Jesus did when He was falsely accused. He answered with silence. It’s often what we must do. Answering accusers rarely does any good.
Yet, God sometimes speaks even through accusers and critics. As Kenneth Chafin (picture) insightfully writes: “The willingness to listen to one’s critics and even to one’s enemies may be the only way to discover the truth of God. The natural tendency is to surround ourselves with friends who are often reluctant to tell us the things we need to know. This opens the possibility that we may do well at times to listen to people who wish us harm but tell us the truth. Here again we see David’s willingness to expose himself to God’s word for his life and to God’s judgment upon his life.”
3. Short Tempered Defenders, vss. 9-13
“Then Abishai the son of Zeruiah said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over and take off his head.” But the king said, “What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? If he is cursing because the Lord has said to him, ‘Curse David,’ who then shall say, ‘Why have you done so?’” (2 Samuel 16:9-10). Abishai called Shimei a dead dog, which means a useless piece of trash. Why should they listen to this useless piece of trash curse the king? Abishai knew how to shut Shimei up once and for all.
We’re hearing a lot about violent rhetoric these days and how violent words can cause violent acts. Abishai would have been all over that. Sadly, the spirit of Abishai is too often alive even among Christ-followers.
Do you remember during the recall of Scott Walker (picture), there were caricatures of him as Hitler. It was dishonest. The same is happening today with Biden and Trump. We can’t justify it with, “Their side does more of it” or “They started it.” King Jesus has called us to live differently. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” (Matthew 5:9).
David’s response gives us remarkable insight into his view of what was happening. He knew that the suffering he’s facing is part of God’s plan. Parts of it were consequences of his sin with Bathsheba. He rightly reasoned that if Shimei was cursing him, it might be because the Lord told him to…then so be it. David realized that God may have sent Shimei to further humble him though he was accusing him of the wrong sin or crime.
The Bible tells us that like a parent, God disciplines those He loves. Like David, we may become involved in a sin in one area of life but God’s discipline to correct us may show up in a completely different area of our lives. When God’s discipline shows up, we know God has brought some suffering to get our attention and to turn us from our sins.
In other words, God sometimes brings suffering into our lives to humble and correct us. He did that many times in the Old Testament. He doesn’t hate us. Instead, like a father, He corrects us because He loves us. “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word” (Psalm 119:67).
But David gives another reason for not taking off Shimei’s head and enduring his cursing. “It may be that the LORD will look on the wrong done to me, and that the LORD will repay me with good for his cursing today” (2 Samuel 16:12). When God’s people are mistreated, especially if it’s wrong done to them for the wrong reasons, God loves to intervene and bless His people for enduring suffering well. When we’re afflicted and people do hurtful things to us, even if their accusation is untrue, the right way to respond is not to get even. It’s to persevere and not return evil for evil.
It wasn’t Shimei’s opinion of David that mattered, it was God’s. The best way to please God was to have a humble not vengeful heart. “Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good” (1 Peter 4:19).
David believed it was possible that God was speaking to him through Shimei and thus he wouldn’t seek to silence one through whom God might be speaking. Instead, he proceeded on his way, trusting God for His vindication. In David’s mind, the cursing of Shimei, wrong as it is, was only a consequence of his real sin.
A friend once shared some advice from Charles Spurgeon (picture) in regard to criticism. It’s sobering. He said, “If a man thinks ill of you, do not be angry with him; for you are worse than he thinks you to be. If he charges you falsely on some point, yet be satisfied, for if he knew you better he might change the accusation, and you would be no gainer by the correction.”
David interprets Shimei’s actions as God’s reminder of his real sin. But no matter how big the mess, God is always in the mess. He even uses painful events to shape us for our good and His glory.
4. Perverse Counselors, vss. 15-23
Robert Louis Stevenson (picture) wrote, “Everybody, soon or late, sits down to a banquet of consequences.” David has sown sexual sin and will reap sexual sin. Sadly, others pay for David’s failure. David never curbed his lust for women and finally crossed the line from polygamy to adultery. Nathan prophesied the consequences.
The first crop was Amnon and Tamar. The second that literally fulfilled Nathan’s prophecy was Absalom. Taking over a king’s harem usurped his throne. Ahithophel knew Absalom’s action cut off any possibility of reconciliation. Put yourself in David’s place, feel the humiliation of knowing your son did such a shameful thing in full public view!
It took Absalom four years to build a base to dethrone David. David’s top advisor, Ahithophel, joins the rebellion. David’s double agent, Hushai, falsely pledges loyalty to the new regime and Absalom buys it.
Someone asked General Douglas Macarthur (picture) what the most valuable possession was of an army commander about to go into battle. Without hesitation he replied, “That’s easy. The most valuable thing you can possess before a battle is an accurate knowledge of the enemy.” With Hushai David has a spy in the enemy’s camp.
Ahithophel is the Judas Iscariot of the Old Testament. Absalom seeks his advice, vss. 20-22. It’s horrible. What he advises makes us gasp. “Then Absalom said to Ahithophel, “Give your counsel. What shall we do?’ Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Go in to your father’s concubines, whom he has left to keep the house, and all Israel will hear that you have made yourself a stench to your father, and the hands of all who are with you will be strengthened.” So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof. And Absalom went in to his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel.”
According to ancient protocol, a new king inherited the previous king’s harem. Absalom having sex with David’s concubines sends the message to the nation that he’s the new king. He’s declaring to all Israel the coup has been successful.
A portable bedroom is set up on the flat roof of the palace. Today major news networks would have vans on the scene, cameras zoomed in on the tent door. All Israel knew what was going on inside of that tent.
Absalom would have known these ten women. He grew up in the same household. Many may have been old enough to have been his mother. It’s humiliation and rape. They pleaded with Absalom the way Tamar had pleaded with Amnon. No doubt there were sobs and screams but Absalom and Ahithophel didn’t care. They were casualties of war. Absalom does worse, with no remorse, than Amnon, and does it in public for all to see from the same roof where David first spotted Bathsheba bathing years before.
Ahithophel wants to make sure there’s no hope of reconciliation between father and son. He’s protecting himself. If Absalom and David ever reconciled Ahithophel would be executed as a traitor, and he knows it.
Perhaps Ahithophel had a sense of satisfaction because David violated his granddaughter. There’s no turning back. This evil demanded the death sentence under the Law and the end will bring about both of their deaths.
Nathan’s prophecy is the dominant force in these last chapters of 2 Samuel. He’d told David years prior: “Thus says the Lord, “Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house. And 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 sun. For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun” (2 Samuel 12:11-12).
Please understand. God isn’t punishing David for his sin. God graciously forgave him, but forgiveness doesn’t negate consequences. The sad events of this chapter are the natural results of his sin. What David did in private is part of a cause-and-effect continuum that explodes into a national tragedy.
Galatians 6:7, “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.” There’s not a farmer who’d deny that what you sow, you reap. You don’t sow beans and get corn and you always reap much more than you sow. The same is true of sin.
David models for us how we’re to respond when confronted by consequences. There’s no blame-shifting or denials, just confession and humble submission to God’s sovereignty.
“Now in those days the counsel that Ahithophel gave was as if one consulted the word of God; so was all the counsel of Ahithophel esteemed, both by David and by Absalom” (2 Samule 16:23). There’s something very dangerous yet something wonderful about it too. The danger is in going to people who give counsel who are so definite in the things they say that they pass themselves off as if they’re actually counseling you from God’s Word. Please make sure when you seek advice from someone that they do it with an open Bible. Make sure they’ve counseled you from the clear instruction of Scripture, not out of their own human wisdom.
The wonderful part is that evil can never thwart God’s good purpose. Nor is evil ever justified because it’s used by God for good. It doesn’t transmute evil into a good. Evil is evil. It doesn’t become something else. But here, in the mystery of it all, the words of Ahithophel, unbeknownst to him, accomplish what God had said through His prophet years before.
Conclusion
How do you handle enemies, your foes? I love this story from the life of Nelson Mandela (picture). Mandela spent most of his life in a South African prison under the bigotry of Apartheid. In one of the most amazing transitions in history, Mandela was not only set free, but he became the President of South Africa. Heads of state from around the globe came to his inauguration, vying for the front row seats of honor. Do you know who Nelson Mandela invited to sit in those seats? He invited his prison guards.
That’s what the Lord Jesus did. David was a fugitive with foes that he fled. Ziba the liar; Shimei the accuser; Abishai a hothead and Ahithophel the Judas. Jesus died for all their sins, but it doesn’t end there. He also invites His enemies to be part of His Kingdom. Romans 5:10, “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His life.”
It doesn’t line up with human logic but if even Judas had repented, he would have been forgiven just like David or Ahithophel. Whatever you have done, no matter how vile or horrible, you can be forgiven too. David sinned horribly. It had consequences but God forgave him.
You cannot out sin the grace of God. When I was a child, at Easter we’d sing about the cross. In my childish brain, I thought that if I’d been there, I wouldn’t have let them crucify Jesus. But as I got older, I realized that if I’d been there, I would have been in the crowd screaming “Crucify Him.” Because of sin and a hard heart, I was His enemy. It’s why I needed rescuing. It why I needed a Savior. It’s what you need too. You need a Savior. We all do. Jesus came to rescue His enemies. Have you let Him rescue you?
David wasn’t just anybody. He’s God’s king – the anointed one. To rebel against him was to rebel against God. And yet we know we too are naturally God’s enemies. We’ve sought to overthrow His rule. People say the same thing they said to Pilate about Jesus – We will not have this Man rule over us.
The gospel is the good news that in our rebellion, God sent the Son of David to die for us. Romans 5:8, “But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
It’s not uncommon for a person to die sacrificially for a friend. A soldier throws himself on a grenade to save his buddies, but Jesus didn’t die for His friends, He died for His enemies. He died for me, and He died for you.
What’s truly amazing is He then makes us His friends and His family. He reverses the curse. Amazing love, how can it be? That thou my God shouldst die for me! Have you let Him come into your life and make you His friend, His family? If not, please let Him come into your life today!