Absalom’s Rejection Makes Perfect Sense

In exactly one day, upon hearing one sentence, David went from reigning king to fugitive. That one sentence was a punch in the gut. And there came a messenger to David, saying, The hearts of the men of Israel are after Absalom. (2 Sam 15:13)

David knew what that meant. How? Remember after his sin with Bathsheba, the prophet Nathan delivered God’s message of punishment to David, which David did not forget these years later: Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife. Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house. (2 Sam 12:10-11a)

Here it came. His son Absalom was on the march with his sword to overthrow him. Absalom had deceived the people and stolen their hearts. David immediately ran away with 600 of his men.

The Bible is a hologram. Pictures of Christ weave in and out. If you have eyes to see and ears to hear, you will get that. The Bible is about God and where He’s been and where He’s going. It’s about His kingdom. He made the Bible a picture book. A pattern. What happened in Bible history repeats itself. It points to either Christ’s first coming, second coming, Jews in the tribulation or all three. 

Back to our story. David, a type of Christ, is rejected by his own in 2 Sam 15. Absalom wants to replace him—by killing him if necessary. It was foretold by Nathan the prophet.

With this hint of Christ in the front of your mind now, you can’t read this next verse taken from David’s flight from Absalom without having a lightbulb moment.

And David went up by the ascent of mount Olivet, (same as Mount of Olives) and wept as he went up, and had his head covered, and he went barefoot: and all the people that was with him covered every man his head, and they went up, weeping as they went up. (2 Sam 15:30)

Compare this with Jesus.

And he came out, and went, as he was wont, to the mount of Olives; and his disciples also followed him…And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. (Luke 22:39, 44)

Hopefully you see it. And having seen the similarity… the hologram… the picture… let’s go back to the prophet Nathan’s prophesy to David that we looked at earlier:

Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; … Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house. (2 Sam 12:10a-11a)

The sword never departed from David’s house. Jesus was the ultimate seed that came from David’s household, and in the Luke passage, Judas was on the march to meet Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, located at the foot of the Mount of Olives to betray Him.

This seems a grievous experience. But look. God was in control! Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house. This rejection in David’s life was from the hand of God for a purpose that mirrored the rejection in Christ’s life from the hand of God for a purpose. What was that, you ask? For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

By the way, the sword still never departs from David’s house. There’s still the tribulation to come where the sword comes against the Jews. This prophesy from the mouth of Nathan doesn’t end until Christ returns. The whole plan of God is still playing out!

Jody

There's More to David and Goliath

Who doesn’t love the story of David and Goliath? When you read it, it’s like watching a movie in your mind. The underdog kid takes a stone in his slingshot and conks the nasty giant on the head and he falls over dead. Applause!

This movie reel that we are watching in our mind that happens in 1 Sam 17… I want to pause it on one frame. Before that frame, I want to highlight what has led up to this spot in the story. … Young David has already been anointed to be the next king by Samuel, unbeknownst to God-rejected current king Saul (1 Sam 16:1-2). David has become Saul’s music therapist by others’ persuasion (1 Sam. 16:14-23). David’s father Jesse has commissioned David to go feed bread to his brothers on the battle line (1 Sam 17:17). In this process, David hears Goliath’s challenge of 40 days for someone of Israel to step up and fight him like a man (1 Sam 17:16, 23). David’s brothers have rejected him being there (1 Sam 17:28-29). Perhaps because of his music-therapist connection with Saul, David gets an audience with Saul where this young whipper snapper presents himself as the one to take on Goliath (1 Sam 17:31-32).

Before I push “play” on our movie reel, I must stall briefly to lift our eyes out of the historical account to what’s going on prophetically. If you read my last post, you see that David was a type of Christ—seen from the verse where God tells us he has “provided me a king among his (Jesse’s) sons.” (1 Sam 16:1 confirmed in Isa. 11:1)

Okay. Back to our movie. Take a handful of popcorn. Here we go.

These two verses  begin the identity of David not only as a conquering king after God’s own heart (before he was installed as king), but also as a prophet. Here are some points to ponder:

• When you read the continuing story of David killing Goliath, don’t miss the fact that he acted kingly in this famous moment before he was king, just as Jesus accomplished his greatest salvation feats before being installed as king (which is yet to happen!)
• Notice also that the testimony David was driving at in the verses above was that “there is a God in Israel.” This story prophetically is about a king in Israel. This will be the case in the Millennium after Jesus has returned as King.
• But the biggest point I want you to see is how that David launched his identity as a prophet in these verses. BTW, was he actually a prophet as well as king? Yeppers. See Acts 2:30 and additionally, consider the “Messianic Psalms.” All those are prophetic and written by David. So yes, he was also a prophet.

Now let’s read the verses again, and this time, ask yourself, “how did David know that? Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. 46 This day will the LORD deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. (1 Sam 17:45-46)

He knew how this story was going to end because the Spirit of the Lord was with him. He was future king, yes, but he was also a prophet. You read those two verses a third time and you get a glimpse into how God worked with prophets to record the scriptures. What the prophets recorded in the Bible didn’t come from their imagination or their gifted writing abilities. They were dropped in their pens/head/mouths just as the words David said in our verses were dropped into his mouth (2 Pet 1:20-21). What he told Goliath in that prophetic moment was God-breathed into David’s mouth. And then it was lived out. He took off Goliath’s head “this day.”

Just as a closing thought. That “feeding dead bodies to the fowls of the air.” In our story, Goliath had just told David he was going to kill him and give his flesh to the fowls of the air. Um. It didn’t happen like that. Instead, David turned that on Goliath and told him. No, he was going to give the carcases of the host of the Philistines to the fowls of the air. This also points to the future, Look at Rev. 19:17-18. Those fowls of the air will be the clean-up crew after the Battle of Armageddon. For David historically, it happened “this day.” Prophetically, it will happen “that day,” and that’s a whole different study!

There is certainly more to this whole story than the fascinating historical event that it was! It speaks of the future.

Tell me what you think.

Jody

I Wonder Why...

Some of my best Bible studies, especially when reading the Old Testament, start with the question, “I wonder why…”

Going through 1 Samuel, I’m in chapter 16 where Samuel and God are communing about God’s rejection of king Saul. But before even getting past verse 1, I just find it intriguing that the first king the Israelites got (Saul) was not up to snuff. He wasn’t good enough. Another king was needed. I wonder why? Did God make a mistake in having Samuel anoint Saul as king in 1 Sam 10:1? I’ve learned that there is always a bigger picture in play in the telling of historical events. And, in the telling of history, there are glimpses of Jesus. I watch how things are worded. And I found something today I’ve never seen before. I hope you will see it with me.

1 Sam 16:1: And the LORD said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill thine horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite: for I have provided me a king among his sons.

What’s going on historically is plain. No need to repeat. But what’s happening prophetically? It’s in the words. Compare the verses in the graphic and tell me if you see it.

I’ve long heard Bible teachers talk about how you can see Jesus in the Genesis story of Abraham offering Isaac. Partly you see that in the phrase “God will provide himself a lamb,” meaning He would be the lamb (in Jesus) prophetically. Well, that same thing applies to our passage. Through a prophetic lens, God was saying just what He said. “I have provided me a king…”

Go with me into God’s plan for the yet future. If you think what’s happening in the world today is mind boggling, just consider the tribulation when there will be a wicked king (the antichrist) the likes of whom no one has seen. He will start out exemplary, just like Saul did. To the Jews, the antichrist will be a welcome sight with his promise of peace for Israel. Saul was a welcome sight to the Israelites. They just wanted a king. Unfortunately, their king did not know the Lord. How do I know that? After Saul had sinned by not obeying God’s command to destroy everything of the enemy Amalekites, Samuel confronted Saul with his sin. He made excuses for his sin, revealing his disobedient lackadaisical heart. The prophet Samuel told Saul that God was done with him as king. Saul’s response was… ponderous. Then he said, I have sinned: yet honour me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may worship the LORD thy God. (1 Sam 15:30)

Have you heard the term “saving face?” That’s what’s going on in this verse. Saul admits to messenger prophet Samuel that he sinned. But he doesn’t want his honor as king stripped away. He asks Samuel to honor him in front of the people. Honestly. That’s what’s going on in this verse. Read it again. His face-saving request is to “worship the Lord thy God” in front of the people. He wants to keep up appearances. Hmm. And looking at every word, do you notice that Saul requests to worship “the Lord thy God?” I guess he figures he isn’t fooling Samuel anymore, so he doesn’t find it necessary to confess the Lord as his own God. It’s “thy God” he asks to “worship.”

And so we see the bigger picture in type. Saul, the antichrist—not the true saving king. The next king, Jesus, whom David pictures, will be right after the antichrist to wrap up the tribulation and return as King.

Let’s end with the turning of the page to 1 Samuel 16:1 again—and now read it with fresh eyes:

And the LORD said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill thine horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite: for I have provided me a king among his sons.

(Isa 11:1) And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:

Learn to read the Old Testament through the lens of the future. You'll notice that God is the author of the concept "history repeats itself."

Tell me what you think.

Jody