1-2 Samuel Week Thirty-Two: 2 Samuel 5:6-23

Now the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, and they said to David, “You shall not come in here, but the blind and lame will turn you away”; thinking, “David cannot enter here.” 7 Nevertheless, David captured the stronghold of Zion, that is the city of David. 8 David said on that day, “Whoever would strike the Jebusites, let him reach the lame and the blind, who are hated by David’s soul, through the water tunnel.” Therefore they say, “The blind or the lame shall not come into the house.” 9 So David lived in the stronghold and called it the city of David. And David built all around from the Millo and inward. 10 David became greater and greater, for the Lord God of hosts was with him.

11 Then Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David with cedar trees and carpenters and stonemasons; and they built a house for David. 12 And David realized that the Lord had established him as king over Israel, and that He had exalted his kingdom for the sake of His people Israel.

13 Meanwhile David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem, after he came from Hebron; and more sons and daughters were born to David. 14 Now these are the names of those who were born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, 15 Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia, 16 Elishama, Eliada and Eliphelet.

17 When the Philistines heard that they had anointed David king over Israel, all the Philistines went up to seek out David; and when David heard of it, he went down to the stronghold. 18 Now the Philistines came and spread themselves out in the valley of Rephaim. 19 Then David inquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will You give them into my hand?” And the Lord said to David, “Go up, for I will certainly give the Philistines into your hand.” 20 So David came to Baal-perazim and defeated them there; and he said, “The Lord has broken through my enemies before me like the breakthrough of waters.” Therefore he named that place Baal-perazim. 21 They abandoned their idols there, so David and his men carried them away.

22 Now the Philistines came up once again and spread themselves out in the valley of Rephaim. 23 When David inquired of the Lord, He said, “You shall not go directly up; circle around behind them and come at them in front of the balsam trees. 24 It shall be, when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then you shall act promptly, for then the Lord will have gone out before you to strike the army of the Philistines.” 25 Then David did so, just as the Lord had commanded him, and struck down the Philistines from Geba as far as Gezer.

—2 Samuel 5:6-25

Sermon Outline

1. God’s Presence (MULTILINE)
2. Your Weakness (MULTILINE)
3. God’s Direction (MULTILINE)

References

Weekly Study Guide

One of the joys of parenthood is watching your children learn, grow, and mature. As parents, we carefully watch how they navigate the decisions of life, and we do our best to mold and shape them to make wise decisions. I love watching my granddaughter reach for something she knows is off limits, while looking back at momma to gauge her reaction. The early defiance we sometimes call “the terrible twos” is merely an awakening to the reality of agency in their little hearts. They are learning what it means to make their own choices. As they grow, we watch the successes of when they listen to our guidance and make positive choices. Perhaps even more often, we also watch as they give into the temptation to make the wrong choices. Deciding how to guide them through that process of rewards and consequences is one of the biggest challenges parents face. As God raised up His people Israel, they, too, struggled to learn obedience.

One of the most important ideas to grasp when looking at the Mosaic Covenant is that it is conditional. The question is, why? We covered in length how the Abrahamic Covenant is unconditional and explored why that is important. It’s because our own salvation is anchored in the unconditionality of the Abrahamic Covenant—meaning that there are no conditions upon which our salvation rests. There is nothing we can do to earn or deserve our salvation, thus, there is nothing we can do to lose it. The Abrahamic Covenant is God’s declaration that He will save the world—through a covenant people from which will come the Messiah.

When we get to the Mosaic Covenant, we see that it is different. It is clearly conditional. It is expressed as an “if-then” statement. In Exodus 19:5-6 God tells Moses to tell the people:

“Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.

The conditionality of the Mosaic Covenant was the necessary mechanism through which God tutored His people in making godly choices.

We’ve mentioned before that this kind of covenant was called a Suzerain-Vassal treaty. And just like the “Royal Grant treaty” used in the Abrahamic Covenant, the Suzerain-Vassal treaty was also a common type of covenant or contract that the people in that day would have been familiar with. We previously discussed that God used different commonly-known covenant structures for different purposes. Since the purpose of the Mosaic Covenant was the regulation of life and blessings for the people of God prior to Messiah, then the conditional Suzerain-Vassal treaty was the one that made sense for God to use. In establishing this covenant with Israel, God categorically declared “If you obey, you will be blessed, and if you disobey, you will be cursed.”

In book two of our study, we discussed how there is an abundance of archeological evidence for this kind of treaty, from even before the time of Moses. A typical Suzerain-Vassal treaty had six components: 1) preamble, 2) prologue, 3) covenant obligations, 4) storage and reading instructions, 5) witnesses, and 6) blessings and curses. If you look at how the book of Deuteronomy is structured, it is laid out very much like this kind of treaty, containing all of these components.

You see a preamble in Deuteronomy 1:1-5. Then you move into the prologue (Deut 1:6-4:40) which traces the history of the parties. Following this, you have the covenant obligations in Deuteronomy chapters 5 – 26. Here, Moses lays out the 10 commandments, as well as the rest of the 613 commandments of the Mosaic Law. These are the covenant obligations of the people. After this would come the storage and reading instructions, where the Suzerain would give the vassal instruction on where the covenant should be stored and how it should be read periodically (Deut 27:2-3, 31:9, 24, 26). That’s exactly what we see in the history of Israel. They stored God’s Law in the Ark of the Covenant, and would periodically read God’s Law publicly. This was so the people would remember their obligations under this treaty.

Next, Suzerain-Vassal treaties always had witnesses to the signing. But who would be qualified to serve as witnesses for God? Nobody, right? So, in Deuteronomy 32:1, God calls Heaven and Earth to be His witnesses. Finally, these types of treaties listed their associated blessings and curses. As mentioned, the blessings and curses of the Mosaic Covenant are all explained in Deuteronomy in chapter 28. These are initially enumerated in Leviticus 26 at the beginning of Israel’s journey in the wilderness. But when that generation died out, God repeated the entire message of the Mosaic Covenant for the new generation, as recorded in the book of Deuteronomy. This is what the word Deuteronomy means: “second law”. The purpose of the book is to restate Israel’s journey and experience related to this new generation by Moses before he dies.

If you examine the parallel passages of Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28, you see the history of Israel laid out in advance. God told them in these chapters what to expect. Clearly, God knew the choices they would make, and so we see a great amount of detail here about what would later happen in their history. In both chapters, God begins with the promised blessings, and then details the promised curses. Here is a sample of the blessings God promised Israel:

If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments so as to carry them out, then I shall give you rains in their season, so that the land will yield its produce and the trees of the field will bear their fruit. Indeed, your threshing season will last for you until grape gathering, and grape gathering will last until sowing time. So you will eat your food to the full and live securely in your land. I shall also grant peace in the land, so that you may lie down, with no one to make you afraid. I shall also eliminate harmful animals from the land, and no sword will pass through your land … So I will turn toward you and make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will confirm My covenant with you … I will also walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people. (Lev 26:3-6, 9, 12)

These are all very real, very tangible promises of blessing for the people if they obeyed. God tells them, you will be the head and not the tail. You will be the lender and not the borrower. You will be victorious in battle, even against overwhelming odds. And this is what we see with the generation led by Joshua. With a couple of exceptions, the people followed and trusted God according to these covenant obligations, and thus, they were able to conquer the land—despite the fact that Canaan was filled with giants and armies that outnumbered them. But in these early years, Israel won battle after battle because they obeyed the covenant.

Yet obedience to the covenant requirements was unfortunately an exception rather than the rule, so what comes next are the curses for disobedience. Here is a sample:

But if you do not obey Me and do not carry out all these commandments, if, instead, you reject My statutes, and if your soul loathes My ordinances so as not to carry out all My commandments, but rather to break My covenant, I, in turn, will do this to you: I will summon a sudden terror against you, consumption and fever that will make the eyes fail and the soul languish; also, you will sow your seed uselessly, for your enemies will eat it. And I will set My face against you so that you will be defeated before your enemies; and those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee when no one is pursuing you … I will turn your cities into ruins as well and make your sanctuaries desolate, and I will not smell your soothing aromas. And I will make the land desolate so that your enemies who settle in it will be appalled at it. You, however, I will scatter among the nations, and I will draw out a sword after you, as your land becomes desolate and your cities become ruins. Then the land will restore its Sabbaths all the days of the desolation, while you are in your enemies’ land; then the land will rest and restore its Sabbaths. All the days of its desolation it will have the rest which it did not have on your Sabbaths, while you were living on it. (Lev 26:14-17, 31-35)

So now God says, because of your disobedience, you will no longer be the head, but you will be the tail. You will not be the lender, but the borrower. And now you will be defeated in battle. You will come at your enemy from one direction, but flee from them in seven. Why will all these things come upon Israel? Because they entered into a conditional covenant with God which laid out very specific and precise promises for blessing and for cursing. This was the choice aspect of this covenant. Israel always had the choice to obey God, but chose not to. God graciously gave them the Law. He gave them the sacrificial system for when they fell short. And He sent them prophet after prophet pointing them back to the agreement they signed. Once again, it’s not too difficult to look in the mirror ourselves and see the same kind of response. God has given us grace upon grace, and yet we continue to fall short. But God is faithful and patient. He does not, and will not, give up on us.

(MULTILINE)

Discussion Questions

1. Against overwhelming odds, David captured the impregnable city of Jerusalem from the Jebusites. Describe a time when you proved someone wrong who doubted what you could accomplish. (MULTILINE)
2. Why do you think building a palace came so early in the reign of David? What in his life might have prompted this? How do we deal with the contradictions in David’s life? On the one hand, he is seeking the Lord regarding the battles he faces. On the other hand, he is disobeying God when it comes to the command to not multiply wives (Deut 17:16-17). What does this tell us about David? What does this tell us about God? What does this very common reality tell us about ourselves? (MULTILINE)
3. In what ways does David demonstrate obedience and trust in this chapter? What do you think contributed to obedience and trust really characterizing David’s life? What truths do you see expressed in verse 12? How do we see God at work in this chapter? What lessons do we see God continuing to teach David? (MULTILINE)
4. When David inquired of the Lord, he knew that endeavor would be successful. What role does fear play in our decision-making? If we knew God would bless our efforts, how would that change our priorities or our plans? How can we be confident that God will bless our plans? How does the world operate differently than Christians—not having confidence in a God who is sovereign? How does this affect their hope? Their peace? Their confidence? (MULTILINE)
5. As David is beginning to build a palace for himself, what do you think he might have been feeling? What was David’s journey to get to this point? When he finally arrived, how difficult do you think it was for him not to just relax and coast? How has this temptation appeared in your own life? What steps can we take to avoid this danger? (MULTILINE)

Going Deeper

1. The Philistines seemed to be the thorn in the side of Israel throughout much of their early history. What does this teach us about the role of trials in our lives? What does this also teach us about the consequences of disobedience (Israel failed to drive them out of the land under Joshua)? When we face those same kinds of thorns in our own side, what are some practical steps we can take to seek God’s guidance? What role does overcoming such obstacles play in growing our faith? (MULTILINE)
2. David’s journey took him from a humble shepherd, to a war hero, to a hunted fugitive, to a king. In the twists and turns we all face in life, how can you relate to David’s journey? What elements of preparation, blessing, surprise, provision, and trust has God worked in your life? In what sort of seasons has your faith grown the most? Looking back, what are you most grateful for? (MULTILINE)

Transformational Activity

Prayer

David always triumphed when he sought after and obeyed God. What does that teach us about being a person after God’s own heart? How easy is it to forget this simple formula—trust and obey? Perhaps devote your prayer time this week to asking God to help you see more clearly where you fall short in this regard. Are you failing to seek Him about everything? Are you worried or anxious about the future—not truly trusting Him? Ask God to reveal what you need to submit and surrender over to Him. Come back next week and share what God revealed to you.