Bringing Problems to the Problem Solver

Bringing Problems to the Problem Solver

2 Samuel 21:1-14     

 

In chapter 21 of 2 Samuel, we find ourselves near the end of the book of 2 Samuel and also near the end of the life of King David. Throughout the books of 1st and 2nd Samuel, we have been following chronologically through the circumstances surrounding God’s people, their first king, Saul, his downfall, and the story of a young shepherd boy named David, known as a man after God’s own heart. We have seen many high and lows in David’s story, life, and family. What we have seen has been instructional and insightful for you and me. As Paul wrote in Romans 15:4, the things written regarding the former days were written for our instruction, so that we might have hope!

As we come to the last few chapters of 2 Samuel, the Scriptures recorded are not given to us in chronological order. In large part, they serve as a look back on certain situations in David’s life that give us insight into some circumstances we have not previously studied or seen. In chapter 23, we will read David’s last words, then in chapter 24, we will read of another situation that took place in David’s life. These chapters, 21 to 24, though not in chronological order, still give us insights into David’s story and life.  With that said, my aim this morning will be to navigate the ways in which these texts can be applied to you and I.

In Chapter 21, we are given the details of a time when David and the people of Israel were faced with a big problem…a famine in the land.

 

2 Samuel 21:1(a), Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year…

 

            From verse one, we learn that there was a time during David’s reign that the nation of Israel was in a season of famine for three years. After three years, David seeks the Lord and learns that there was a reason for the famine, and he takes steps toward the solution. David brought his problem to the Problem Solver. The way the situation plays out is in many ways a sad and difficult read. But my hope and prayer is that through this story, you will see the importance of bringing the problems of life to the Lord, and a recognition that in the biggest problems of life, He is the Problem Solver we should seek.

 

Illus. Unwanted Solution.

 

2 Samuel 21:1, Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and David sought the presence of the Lord. And the Lord said, “It is because of Saul and his bloody house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.”

 

Famine in the land was a big problem for King David and the people, though the problem persisted year after year, it wasn’t until three years in that David sought the Lord on the subject. This leads us to an important point when we are faced with problems…

 

1. Call on The Lord Early and Often

 

• The famine David and the people were dealing with left the nation hungry, at the point of starvation or worse.

 

• It was a prolonged season, and while we aren’t sure what David did to reconcile the situation throughout the three years, we know that nothing really changed until he sought the presence of the Lord.

 

• When David “sought the presence” of the Lord, that reads in other translations, he “sought the face of the Lord.”

 

• To seek the face of the Lord was to seek His presence, and vice versa. The Hebrew word for “face” is often translated “presence.”

 

• There are many Scriptures that press the importance of seeking God’s face.

 

Psalm 27:8, When You said, “Seek My face,” my heart said to You, “I shall seek Your face, Lord.”

 

• Psalm 24:3-6, David wrote about the earth belonging to the Lord, how those with clean hands and pure heart will receive blessing from the Lord. They would receive righteousness from God, this, he wrote, “is the generation of those who keep Him, who seek His face” (Psalm 24:6).

 

Psalm 105:4, Seek the Lord and His strength; seek His face continually.

 

• David knew the importance of seeking the presence of the Lord, of seeking His face, not every three years, but continually, yet the story begs the question…Why didn’t he?

 

• Answer: I am not sure.

 

• We don’t know what David did during the entirety of the three-year famine. We aren’t given the details of what he attempted, what he tried, what sort of policies he put in place, what sort of horticultural best practices he tried to implement. We don’t know when exactly in David’s reign this famine occurred, or what was going on at the time personally.

 

• We can ask certain questions: Was he afraid of the answer God would give? Was it pride? Was it arrogance? Was it indifference? We don’t know.

 

• We can certainly look at David’s delay and ask the question why, but as I think about his circumstances, I can’t help but think about you and me.

 

Illus. A good neighbor.

 

Illus. Prayer.

 

2 Chronicles 7:14, If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. (NIV)

 

• I encourage you to seek the Lord’s presence and ask Him to be present in the face of problems. He is the Problem Solver!

 

 

1. Consider His Reason for Your Season

 

• After three years David seeks the Lord and the Lord responds…

 

2 Samuel 21:1(b), And the Lord said, “It is because of Saul and his bloody house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.”

 

• The Lord gave the reason for the prolonged season of famine in the land. It was because of Saul and his bloody household. Because of something Saul and his household did.

 

• And the Lord was specific: Saul and his household put the Gibeonites to death.

 

• We aren’t sure if David knew that Saul and his household had done this. We aren’t sure when it happened or the circumstances. We just know that it happened, and the Lord is telling David, “This is the situation that has brought trouble on the land.”

 

• While David may not have been aware of what Saul had done to the Gibeonites, he would have known why it was a problem.

 

• It is a problem because of a promise, a covenant that had been made between God’s people and the Gibeonites around 450 years earlier.

 

• It all started back in Joshua chapter 9.

 

• When the children of Israel first entered the promised land in the book of Joshua, after they had defeated Jericho and Ai, many of the surrounding nations decided to band together and attack Joshua and the Israelites.

 

• The Gibeonites, however, looked at the situation differently. They saw the strength of Israel and, in response to them, the Gibeonites decided to trick them.

 

• They went to meet the Israelites, but when they did, they pretended to be from a faraway land. They wore torn-up clothes and sandals, put worn-out sacks on their donkeys, and had old, dry bread for their provisions.

 

• They told Joshua that they had traveled many days from a land far, far away. That it took them a long time to get there, and they were there because they had heard about the fame of their Lord. That bread they had was hot when they left and was now so old that it was crumbly and cold.

 

• The reality is, they had just come from right over the ridge in Gibeon, “right down the street,” so to speak.

 

• They then asked Joshua to make a covenant with them, that they would serve the children of Israel, and they would serve Joshua. They wanted Joshua, however, to make a covenant with them, a covenant of peace, that they would not be put to death by the Israelites.

 

2 Samuel 21:14-15, So the men of Israel took some of their provisions, and did not ask for the counsel of the Lord. And Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them, to let them live; and the leaders of the congregation swore an oath to them.

 

• Notice, God’s people did not ask for His counsel on the matter; they just did what they wanted to do. And they made the covenant.

 

• At the end of Joshua 9, the secret gets out; the people want the Gibeonites punished, put to death, but the leaders of the land say, “We made an oath, a covenant.”

 

Joshua 9:19-21(a), But all the leaders said to the whole congregation, “We have sworn to them by the Lord, the God of Israel, and now we cannot touch them. This we will do to them, even let them live, so that wrath will not be on us because of the oath which we swore to them.” So the leaders said to them, “Let them live.”

 

• They had made a covenant. A promise, an oath. They had sworn to them by the Lord.

 

• And now we learn that over 400 years later, with that promise in place, Saul, the first king of Israel, and his bloody household, decided he was going to go take out the Gibeonites and put many of them to death.

 

• Why he did it, we don’t know? The circumstances? We aren’t sure. Who was involved? Saul and his household.

 

• David could have thought, “Saul and his sons were the ones to cause the problem. I was probably hiding out in a cave somewhere at the time. Why the famine on my watch?”

 

• We aren’t sure, but what we are aware of here is that God takes our covenants, our oaths, our promises seriously.

 

Illus. Covenants.

 

• The people, God’s people had made a promise, a covenant, an oath, the Lord expected them to keep their promise, they didn’t, it was broken, and God revealed that it is the reason for their season.

 

• In the Bible, there are many times we read about famines in the land. There were times when a famine was brought upon the land due to the consequences of God’s people rejecting Him and His instruction. There are other times when it seemed to just happen naturally on the land, and God would use it to bring people to Him and His will for them (Genesis 41). Other times, the Bible speaks of spiritual famines (Amos 8:11-12), when people won’t hear the Lord’s words, won’t accept His truth, and the spiritual famine leads to moral and spiritual decline (Isaiah 5:13).

 

• There are problems in our lives that come about and when they do, we aren’t sure of the reason, sometimes that is not revealed until later.

 

Illus. Consider the reason.

 

Psalm 119:71, It is good for me that I was afflicted, so that I may learn Your statutes.

 

Psalm 139:23-24, Search me, God, and know my heart; put me to the test and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there is any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.

 

III.   Count on Him for a Better Conclusion

 

2 Samuel 21:2-6, So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them (now the Gibeonites were not of the sons of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites, and the sons of Israel had made a covenant with them, but Saul had sought to kill them in his zeal for the sons of Israel and Judah). David said to the Gibeonites, “What should I do for you? And how can I make amends, so that you will bless the inheritance of the Lord?” Then the Gibeonites said to him, “For us it is not a matter of silver or gold with Saul or his house, nor is it for us to put anyone to death in Israel.” Nevertheless David said, “I will do for you whatever you say.” So they said to the king, “The man who destroyed us and who planned to eliminate us so that we would not exist within any border of Israel— let seven men from his sons be given to us, and we will hang them before the Lord in Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of the Lord.” And the king said, “I will give them.”

 

• Some commentators note that after David seeks the Lord about the problem, he is not seen seeking the Lord again for the solution. After hearing from the Lord, David heads to the Gibeonites to try to make it right rather than seeking the Lord again and again.

 

• That is understood, and throughout our study of David’s life, we have seen the importance of inquiring of the Lord and inquiring again…and again.

 

• We have seen the tragedy when David doesn’t inquire of the Lord, and the victory when he does.

 

• Here we don’t get all of the details as it is looking back on a situation in David’s life rather than detailing it out as written in real time.

 

• What we do see, is David asking the Gibeonites for their preferred solution, and the results look like another tragedy physically.

 

• Like many stories in 1st and 2nd Samuel, this story is not an exception that the physical realities in the Old Testament are often the spiritual realities in the New Testament.

 

• There was sin committed, covenant broken, and it needed to be reconciled before things would be made right.

 

• David agreed to give seven sons of Saul to the Gibeonites to be put to death. It is Saul’s household, his sons, who are given to the Gibeonites.

 

• It was Saul and his bloody household that had put the people to death, and here, his household is held to account.

 

• In ancient societies, the common principle for crimes committed, even up to Roman times, was “lex talionis,” or, the law of retribution.

 

Exodus 21:23(b)-25, …life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.

 

• The law of retribution was not put in place for the purpose of exacting revenge, but rather, to limit trying to get even with another person.

 

Matthew 5:38-39, You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I say to you, do not show opposition against an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other toward him also.

 

• In David’s day, the law of retribution was still very much in place. David complies with the ancient law and hands over the sons of Saul.

 

2 Samuel 21:7-9, But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the oath of the Lord which was between them, between David and Saul’s son Jonathan. So the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, Armoni and Mephibosheth whom she had borne to Saul, and the five sons of Merab the daughter of Saul, whom she had borne to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite. Then he handed them over to the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the mountain before the Lord, so that the seven of them fell together; and they were put to death in the first days of harvest at the beginning of barley harvest.

 

2 Samuel 21:10, And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it out for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until it rained on them from the sky; and she allowed neither the birds of the sky to rest on them by day nor the wild animals by night.

 

• From the beginning of harvest which was late March or early April, until it rained, likely into May, she stayed at the place her sons were hung.

 

• In Israel, when a person was hung, they were not allowed to remain hanging over night. They had to bury that body. But the Gibeonites were not Israelites, they operated according to different law. It was their belief that bodies should remain hung up until the rains, which to them meant their gods were appeased.

 

• As this section closes, David hears what this mother is doing. And he decided to gather up the bones of Jonathan and Saul, and these from household of Saul and give them a proper burial.

 

2 Samuel 21:14, So they did everything that the king commanded, and after that God responded to prayer for the land.

 

• Saul and his bloody household were held to account for their sin.

 

• David and the Gibeonites came to the conclusion that the wages of that sin, was death.

 

Romans 6:23, For the wages of sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

• Sin has consequences, death. But Jesus has made the way salvation from sin and made the way for eternal life.

 

Illus. Clean.

 

John 3:16-17, For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him.

 

Romans 10:9, if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

 

Romans 10:13, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

 

2 Samuel 21:1-14