April 28, 2025 • 25 mins
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Welcome to the Westside church’s special Monday Morning Coffee podcast with Mark Roberts. Mark is a disciple, a husband, father and grand dad, as well as a certified coffee geek, fan of CS Lewis’ writings and he loves his big red Jeep. He’s also the preacher for Westside church.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:01):
Hello, and welcome to the Westside Church's special
Monday Morning Coffee podcast.
On this podcast, our preacher,Mark Roberts, will help you get
your week started right with alook back at yesterday's sermon
so that we can think through itfurther and better work the
(00:24):
applications into our dailylives.
Mark will then look forward intothis week's Bible reading so
that we can know what to expectand watch for.
And he may have some extra bonusthoughts from time to time.
So grab a cup of coffee as westart the week together on
Monday Morning Coffee with Mark.
SPEAKER_01 (00:52):
Good morning, good morning.
Welcome to the Monday MorningCoffee podcast for Monday, April
the 28th.
I'm Mark, and I'm in Beaumont,Texas.
That's right, I'm in Beaumont.
You're listening to this.
I'm probably in a hotel roomdrinking that first cup of
coffee out of my AeroPressbecause I'm with the Northwest
Church of Christ here, and I'mpreaching in a special gospel
meeting.
I would ask for your prayers onbehalf of this gospel meeting.
(01:15):
It's a Monday-Tuesday meeting.
They've done a ton ofadvertising in the community.
I'm speaking on how to read thebook of Revelation for yourself,
trying to get some interest inthe Word of God instead of all
that end times business wheresomebody comes in with their
charts and timelines and graphsand pushes out all this
premillennial doctrine.
Let's just talk about how toread the Bible for ourselves and
(01:38):
see what the Bible has to say.
That is absolutely the bestdefense against the false
doctrines of premillennialism.
And that's what I'm here to talkabout.
Would appreciate your prayersover Monday and Tuesday.
And since we're talking aboutreading the Bible for ourselves
And since I wasn't at Westsideyesterday, so I can't talk about
the sermon, give you additionalnotes about that, we just need
(01:58):
to open our Bibles to 2 Samuel,the 19th chapter.
Let's do it.
Pour that cup of coffee.
Let's get ready.
Let's get set.
Let's go.
UNKNOWN (02:07):
Let's go.
SPEAKER_01 (02:09):
Our reading for Monday is 2 Samuel 19, verses 1
to 15.
And this is the chapter thatbegins to tie up the threads of
what's left of Absalom'srebellion and the problems that
it just continues to cause.
And that starts in the firsteight verses with David's
sorrow.
He just can't seem to get overit.
His grief goes on and on.
(02:30):
There is lots that needs to goon here to put the kingdom back
together, and he's not doing anyof that.
And that puts Joab front andcenter again.
One scholar said, I think thisis a great place to say a word
(03:00):
or two about grief.
There is a place for grief, yetthere is a caution that needs to
be sounded about that.
We can't let grief immobilize usso that we neglect what God
wants us to do.
There's a period of mourning,and the Bible shows us that, for
example, in Genesis chapter 50.
People need to process and workthrough some things.
(03:21):
Don't push that away.
Grief is real.
We don't deny that because weare Christians.
God is the one who gave usemotions, and if a loved one, a
friend passes away, even if theyhave gone to be with the Lord,
we miss them.
And there's going to be grief.
But we want to be careful not toallow that grief to just go on
forever.
And particularly, we don't wantto let grief for God's enemies
(03:47):
take us over.
David is mourning for theenemies of God's people, and he
is not doing his job.
He's not doing what God wantshim to do as the king of God's
people.
And Joab needed to remind him ofthat.
Maybe sometimes we need aprofessional counselor to help
us shift our life back intodrive.
If we're sort of stuck inneutral or in reverse.
There's a time to be sorrowful,but then there's a time to get
(04:11):
back to life and to doing whatGod wants us to do.
And that begins for David thenin verse 9, and there is just
all kinds of trouble here withthe empty throne.
David seems to be set here onputting the past behind and
moving forward as the king overa united country, but Israel
seems to be somewhat unhappywith Judah because they don't
seem to be ready to accept Davidagain, and We just see all of
(04:34):
the seeds of division have beendeeply sown in the country.
Forty years from now, thecountry will split into the
northern kingdom and thesouthern kingdom, and all of
this that we're reading in 2Samuel 19 will come to mind once
again.
And so David gets wind of what'sgoing on and says, hey, what's
the problem here?
especially since Absalom beganhis rebellion in Hebron, which
(04:57):
is in Judah, and maybe peoplethought that the leaders of the
tribe of Judah had cooperatedwith him.
They need to display theirallegiance to David, who is the
right king.
I'm not sure what to say inverse 13 about Joab being
replaced by Amasa.
The rebel general who lost thebattle replaces this very loyal
man.
Maybe that is done for politicalpurposes.
(05:18):
Notice verse 14.
David is always so savvy and sogood at doing what is the right
thing at the right time to winpeople back over, but there just
seems to be a lot of issuesgoing on here.
In verse 15, it's kind ofdifficult.
One writer said on this occasiononly Judah was officially
invited to meet the king and tobring the king over to Jordan,
and that was divisive, and thatseems to be what's happening
(05:41):
here.
Please notice the operativeexpression used in verse 10,
verse 11, verse 12, and verse 15is bring the king back.
Who's bringing the king back?
Who'll be first in bringing theking back?
This almost sounds likesiblings.
I want to do it.
No, I want to do I want to helpmom.
No, I'm going to help mom.
Oh, wow.
David has his hands full tryingto put things back together
(06:01):
again.
It is a good place to bereminded that division and
strife is easy to start, and itis hard to heal.
Maybe one of the reasons why theNew Testament has so many things
to say about how wrong it is todivide the New Testament church.
Our reading for Monday, 2 Samuel19, 1-15.
(06:21):
See you tomorrow.
Welcome to Tuesday.
Today we finish 2 Samuel 19.
We'll read 2 Samuel 19 verses 16to 43 as David continues to work
through all of the problems thatare now sitting on his doorstep
as he tries to put the countryback together again.
And that begins with Shammai,the son of Gerah the Benjamite,
(06:44):
verse 16.
This is the guy who's yellingall kinds of hateful and mean
things at David as he ran out ofthe city of Jerusalem, being
chased out of there by Absalom.
And we may wonder why David isso willing to forgive Shammai,
and sometimes I've said somepretty hard things about Shammai
being pretty dumb, because heis.
Later on, we're going to seesome things in 1 Kings 2 that
(07:05):
he's just unbelievably foolish.
But he shows up here with athousand men, verse 17, and I
think he is representing himselfas being pro-Israel.
Notice verse 20, first of all,the house of Joseph.
I represent the pro-Absalom sideof things, wanting to come back,
(07:25):
wanting to be loyal again.
And that may account for whyDavid says, we're not killing
anybody today.
Verse 21 and 22, Abishai, putyour sword away.
And one writer noted, if Davidacts Shammai, the other
Benjamites in the northerntribes might wonder, is a purge
coming?
Would more heads start rolling?
(07:45):
So David meets Shammai withclemency.
And again, David is just very,Very politically sharp.
Really has a lot on the ball.
This isn't the time to startinstilling doubt and fear in
anybody who maybe was on thewrong side.
in this last rebellion.
Let's see if we can get thekingdom back together.
(08:06):
Then there's some word hereabout Mephibosheth and Ziba.
This hurts my heart.
I've never believed Ziba.
Mephibosheth, I don't think, hasany claim to the throne, and I
don't think he has any thoughtthat he could have the throne,
and he ends up with half of whathe had before because David just
doesn't seem to be able to tellthe difference, and so he just
splits the difference betweenthe two.
I think Ziba took advantage ofMephibosheth, and I don't like
(08:27):
any of this.
Please notice verse 28.
This is what happens to theformer king's family.
They just all get wiped out, andMephibosheth is very aware of
that.
As bad as the Mephibosheth storyis, I love Barzillai.
He's such a wonderful character,and he represents what you can
be to serve God even when youare older.
(08:47):
I hope older people won't beoffended if I say you're older
when you're 80.
He's 80, and he says, listen, Ican't go enjoy the court.
Take this other guy.
Take Chimham.
He will be able to enjoy thethings of the court, but I did
all I could for you here, andthat's all that I can do.
And I just love Barzillai a lot.
I think older folks, silversaints, if you will, should
(09:09):
study his example and to try tobe like him.
Instead of discouraging people,what if we tried to supply
people, resupply people,encourage folks, especially
those who are down and beingtaken advantage of by others.
The chapter then ends on a downnote.
More trouble between Judah andIsrael, verses 40 to 43.
There's all these tensionsbetween the two groups and the
(09:32):
The text here is a little bitdifficult.
In verse 42, the ESV isfollowing the Septuagint
translation there, but the wholeidea seems to be, is the
monarchy built around the houseof David, or is the monarchy an
institution in Israel, andeveryone should be loyal to the
idea of having a king, notnecessarily loyal to the idea of
having King David.
(09:52):
But there's lots of unhappygoing around by the time we get
to verse 43, and David's goingto have to deal with all of
that.
A reading for Tuesdays.
2 Samuel 19, verses 16 to 43.
And of course, Westsiders, I'min Beaumont, so we can't Zoom
tonight, but I'll be hometomorrow, and I'll see you in
Bible class.
The reading for Tuesday, 2Samuel 19, verses 16 to 43.
(10:15):
It is Wednesday.
It is Wednesday.
And the best thing about that...
is I'm coming home today.
I'll be home tonight, Westside,so that I can teach Bible class,
have Bible talk, be able to tellyou all about the meeting in
Beaumont.
I'm excited about being home.
Today we are reading.
The reading for Wednesday is 2Samuel chapter 20.
And this is not the mostdifficult read.
(10:37):
In fact, it's just full ofaction of every kind.
I think if you made a movie outof 2 Samuel chapter 20, it would
do really well at the boxoffice.
And sometimes when I see thelatest offering from Hollywood,
Flintstones 5 or Rocky 200 Iwonder, have they completely run
out of ideas out there?
How about shooting 2 Samuel 20?
This would make an amazingmovie.
(10:59):
But it's kind of a mess, andit's not exactly the most
pleasant chapter to read by anystretch of the imagination.
To start with, we end up withanother revolt.
Who's this Sheba guy?
Well, he seems to be aBenjamite.
I wonder if he's a former armyofficer, and he seems to be
playing on the idea once againthat David isn't the rightful
king.
(11:19):
We need somebody of the house ofSaul.
Is that where he's going?
And it doesn't really seem likehe's intent on attacking David
because He just seems like whathe wants to do is rally the
north to follow after him.
He's trying to split thekingdom.
It seems to be that the northerntribes had troubles with
following a king from Judah.
(11:39):
And we've seen already lots ofdissension and troubles between
the north and the south already.
Along the way, we deal withDavid's concubines.
Verse 3 seems kind of likethey're almost under virtual
house arrest, and some havethought that that meant David
stopped using them as a harem,that he had learned his I
certainly hope so.
One writer said, Sin hurts somany people, doesn't it?
(12:16):
It hurts so many people who arejust innocent.
Then we have some stuff hereabout Amasa, and I don't know
what to make of this guy.
Amasa, Amasa, however you wantto say his name, he reminds me a
little bit of General McClellanduring the Civil War.
If you're familiar with CivilWar history, you know that
McClellan had an enormous armyunder his command, and it was
never big enough, and Lincolncould never get him to take the
(12:38):
field and actually engage therebels in some kind of battle.
Finally, Lincoln fights Andreplaced him with Grant.
That worked out pretty well.
And in the same way, David firesAmasa here and says, we've got
to do something different orthis Sheba guy is going to run
off with half the kingdom.
But he replaces him withAbishai.
I think that is significant.
(13:00):
There's still some hard feelingsabout Joab.
All that Joab does, he has atendency to just randomly kill
people, and he did kill Absalom.
Speaking of randomly killingpeople, guess what Joab does to
Amasa?
He kills him.
And the text is really uncertainhere in verse 8, 9, and 10 as to
how exactly Joab manages to pullthis off.
(13:24):
Most people have tried to seesome kind of manner in which
Joab tips forward and tips hissword out of its sheath and
falls on the ground.
so that Amasa isn't worriedabout weaponry, or maybe he hid
it in the fold of his garments.
The key is that his right handis empty.
His right hand is empty.
(13:45):
So Amasa isn't worried aboutanything, but Joab manages to
get the weapon and strike him inthe stomach.
What a terrible way to die.
Joab really is a ruthless,cold-blooded killer.
He can look someone in the eyeright up close to him, face to
face, and stick him.
(14:06):
You don't want to mess withJoab.
And the text moves on from here.
Verse 10, that's the last wehear of Abishai.
It's Joab, Joab, Joab from hereon in.
He is in charge.
And maybe...
If you're reading this andthinking, whoa, deja vu, it is
deja vu.
Joab killed Saul's head general,Abner, in chapter 3 and verse
(14:28):
27, in cold blood.
And recently, he brutally killedAbsalom.
You don't want to mess withJoab.
He doesn't ever seem to lose,but boy, his tactics leave a lot
to be desired.
Then we get a wise woman, verses14 to 22.
This is at Abel Beth Maka,which...
(14:48):
which Dean and I have actuallyseen.
You go to Israel, you can seeAbel Beth Maka.
I'll tell you what it lookslike.
It looks like a big hill.
They haven't done any excavationthere at all.
Nothing.
There are so many of thesebiblical sites, they have not
gotten to even a small fractionof all of them.
Many of them are still, it'scalled a tell, T-E-L-L.
(15:09):
They're just a big hump, a bighill, and under that hill is the
various layers of the city.
It'd be burned and then rebuilt,burned and then rebuilt, and
gradually a hill builds up.
You can go see Abel Beth Maka,but it is not much to look like.
And once again, we get deja vubecause here's a wise woman who
says, hey...
Don't tear up our whole city andkill all of us.
(15:30):
You're just looking for this oneguy.
We'll give him to you.
And the next thing you know, hishead comes over the wall.
And this is the third time inthe David story that a woman
changes everything.
A wise woman.
Abigail was the first, 1 Samuel25.
The wise woman of Tekoa was thesecond in 2 Samuel 14.
And now we have this wise womanof Abel with Maka in 2 Samuel
(15:51):
20.
And that finally then sets us upwith the notes about David's
government, which rolls us backto 2 Samuel 8.
The statement seems to be, we'reback in power.
We're getting the kingdom goingagain.
We've got leaders.
We've got officials.
Notice there's no mention ofDavid here, just Joab.
Joab is the leader of the armystill, even though David doesn't
(16:13):
really want him to be.
And that may say that That maysay that David is back, but that
he is a very weak leader now.
And I think maybe as I watchJoab, verse 23, still in command
of the army, that certainlyseems to be the case.
Our reading for Wednesday, then,is 2 Samuel chapter 20.
See you tonight, West Side.
Everybody else, see you tomorrowas we continue in 2 Samuel.
(16:37):
Welcome to Thursday.
Today we will read 2 Samuel, the21st chapter.
There's a couple of things thatare very important for you to
note here, and I'm so glad Ihave the podcast to talk about
these things.
First and foremost, chapter 21begins an appendix to David's
reign.
This material is out ofchronological order, and we can
tell some of that because atvarious points here, there's
material that has to go withearlier happenings.
(16:59):
For example, there is a searchfor Saul's heirs that will
happen here in 2 Samuel 21, andThat already happened back in
chapter 9.
So this is not in chronologicalorder.
What we get here is the causefor a famine, verses 1 to 9, and
then we get something about avery loyal wife, Rizpah, in
verses 10 to 14, and then we getsome things about David's mighty
(17:22):
men.
So let's talk about 2 Samuel 21just briefly.
A couple things you need tonotice here.
First, I wonder how long it tookthem to realize something was
seriously wrong because if we'refaithful to God, we're supposed
to get good rain.
Deuteronomy chapter 28, verses 1to 14.
So finally, someone said, hey,what's the deal?
And it was revealed that theGibeonites, who made a covenant
(17:43):
with the Israelites back inJoshua chapter 9, they tricked
Joshua and the Israelites, andthey made a covenant of peace
with them.
The Gibeonites had beenassaulted and destroyed by King
Saul.
What do we make of that?
What do we make of that?
I think there's a contrast herebetween David, who is loyal to
(18:05):
his oaths, and Saul, who brokethem.
Notice verse 7, the king sparedMephibosheth, the son of Saul's
son Jonathan, because of theoath of the Lord that was
between them.
So Saul, and please notice, it'sSaul and his house, verse 4,
Saul and his sons were involvedin this terrible matter of
putting the Gibeonites to death.
(18:27):
And so those men must pay fortheir crimes.
And sometimes people get trickedhere and think that David hung a
bunch of innocent people.
But Numbers chapter 35,beginning in verse 30, shows you
cannot buy your way out ofmurder.
Life is sacred and justice mustbe done.
And if David did the wrong thinghere, it still wouldn't reign.
So David keeps his oath.
(18:48):
Saul did not.
And this is just one more noteagainst Saul.
I think about Saul who wasunwilling to destroy the
Amalekites in 1 Samuel 15 whenGod told him to do so, and then
he destroyed the Gibeonites whohe was not supposed to destroy.
Saul, what are you doing?
There's a marvelous little notethen about Rizpah and how she is
loyal.
(19:08):
She was Saul's concubine,chapter 3 and verse 7, and she
cares for these bodies.
And we do not know how long thiswent on, but this is grisly and
difficult work.
And finally, David says, we Weneed to take care of this and
bury them all together.
Apparently...
Apparently with some honor,showing some respect here, but
we just need to put this behindus.
(19:30):
And the story does seem toanswer anyone who had any
questions about David'streatment of the house of Saul.
He did this because theyviolated God's will, and this is
what David needed to do to dowhat's right.
So then beginning in verse 15,we begin to read about some of
David's mighty men and howpowerful they are and the kind
of things that they canaccomplish and the kind of
(19:51):
things that they can do.
It is an important read.
because David is the mightiestof these warriors.
I've said it before, and I'mgoing to say it again.
If you have this image in yourmind of David being this little
shrimpy, effeminate little boy,he's the little shepherd boy, so
sweet and so kind, you need toseriously rethink that.
(20:12):
These guys are powerful warriorswho can kill hundreds of
Philistines at any one time, andthey wouldn't follow somebody
like that.
They follow somebody who'sbigger than them.
And that's who David mostcertainly is.
By the way, there's not acontradiction in verse 19.
1 Chronicles chapter 20 clearsthis up by saying that Elhanan
(20:34):
killed the brother of Goliath,not Goliath himself.
So that brings us to the closeof 2 Samuel chapter 21.
Let's get ready to move into thePsalms tomorrow.
The reading for Thursday is 2Samuel 21.
Welcome to Friday.
Welcome to Friday.
And today, we are in the Psalms,of course, reading Psalm 17.
(20:57):
The reading for Friday is Psalm17.
I wish I could tie this Psalm toa specific place in David's
life, but David has so manyenemies and so many people out
to get him all through his life,it's hard to choose just one
particular period of time.
Maybe this fits the rebellion ofAbsalom, the rebellion of Sheba.
Maybe it's the time when Saul'schasing him around, or Goliath.
(21:17):
Just lots going on in David'slife all the time.
And David meets the This is acry for help.
This is a lament.
It also comes with it a prayerof innocence.
Please be careful here.
This is not, let's make a dealwith God.
This is saying that I should bevindicated because I stand with
(21:37):
the Lord.
This isn't about, I'm soperfect, I'm so righteous.
It is, I'm standing with you,God, and I need your help.
Notice verse 1, David is alwaysso concerned about his
integrity, about what is right.
Prayer requires sincerity, nothypocrisy.
And we get a little bit of thisin verse 3, when in the night
(21:59):
hours, when we are in a time oftrial, what do we do?
We go over our actions, over ourdeeds, over our words in our
head.
We take self-inventory.
And then there's a prayer basedon the attack of the enemy,
beginning in verses 6 to 12,where the psalmist asks for God
to hear him, to reveal himselfin deliverance, and to protect
him.
(22:19):
And the God's nature to help.
and hear.
That's who God is.
God is good.
You may have a translation inverse 10 that uses the word fat,
but that is a reference probablyto the heart.
It's a difficult Hebrewexpression there.
It appears to be a reference tonarcissism and self-love.
(22:39):
The NIV has callous hearts.
The ESV has they close theirhearts.
And the psalm then closes verse14 with a very difficult
expression that's translated ina number of different ways.
Literally, it is.
Here's the actual Hebrew.
Your hidden will be full there.
Belly sons will have plenty andleave the remains to children.
(23:05):
So that's a hard thing to puttogether.
How does this go?
The ESV has the sense of itcontinuing the judgment on
evildoers, but the NIV changesit to you still the hunger of
those you cherish.
Their sons will have plenty.
They store up wealth for theirchildren.
It was a very complicatedquestion.
That kind of high-end Hebrew,that's way past anything that I
(23:27):
can work with.
Just have to make some decisionsbased on the context and read
some different translations andsee what conclusions we can
draw.
Probably more importantly isverse 15.
The wicked will be made to bowdown, but the righteous will
exult in the presence of God.
And I think the thing to noticehere is that the psalm began
with the psalmist praying thatGod would see right things.
(23:47):
Now...
Now the psalmist prays to seeGod.
What a beautiful psalm.
I love the idea, for example, inverse 8, keep me as the apple of
your eye.
This is a wonderful lamentpsalm, and it helps us.
The reading for Friday, Psalm17.
That concludes the podcast forthe week.
(24:08):
Thanks so much for listening.
I do appreciate every listener.
So until next week, when we'llopen our Bibles together again,
I'm Mark Roberts.
I want to go to heaven.
I want you to come too.
I'll see you Monday with a cupof coffee.
SPEAKER_00 (24:30):
Thanks for listening to the Westside Church of Christ
podcast, Monday Morning Coffeewith Mark.
For more information aboutWestside, you can connect with
us through our website,justchristians.com, and our
Facebook page.
Our music is from upbeat.io.
That's upbeat with two P's,U-P-P-B-E-A-T, where creators
(24:55):
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Please share our podcast withothers, and we look forward to
seeing you again, with a cup ofcoffee, of course, on next
Monday.
Hello, and welcome to the Westside Church's special
Monday Morning Coffee podcast.
On this podcast, our preacher,Mark Roberts, will help you get
your week started right with alook back at yesterday's sermon
so that we can think through itfurther and better work the
(00:24):
applications into our dailylives.
Mark will then look forward intothis week's Bible reading so
that we can know what to expectand watch for.
And he may have some extra bonusthoughts from time to time.
So grab a cup of coffee as westart the week together on
Monday Morning Coffee with Mark.
SPEAKER_01 (00:52):
Good morning, good morning.
Welcome to the Monday MorningCoffee podcast for Monday, April
the 28th.
I'm Mark, and I'm in Beaumont,Texas.
That's right, I'm in Beaumont.
You're listening to this.
I'm probably in a hotel roomdrinking that first cup of
coffee out of my AeroPressbecause I'm with the Northwest
Church of Christ here, and I'mpreaching in a special gospel
meeting.
I would ask for your prayers onbehalf of this gospel meeting.
(01:15):
It's a Monday-Tuesday meeting.
They've done a ton ofadvertising in the community.
I'm speaking on how to read thebook of Revelation for yourself,
trying to get some interest inthe Word of God instead of all
that end times business wheresomebody comes in with their
charts and timelines and graphsand pushes out all this
premillennial doctrine.
Let's just talk about how toread the Bible for ourselves and
(01:38):
see what the Bible has to say.
That is absolutely the bestdefense against the false
doctrines of premillennialism.
And that's what I'm here to talkabout.
Would appreciate your prayersover Monday and Tuesday.
And since we're talking aboutreading the Bible for ourselves
And since I wasn't at Westsideyesterday, so I can't talk about
the sermon, give you additionalnotes about that, we just need
(01:58):
to open our Bibles to 2 Samuel,the 19th chapter.
Let's do it.
Pour that cup of coffee.
Let's get ready.
Let's get set.
Let's go.
UNKNOWN (02:07):
Let's go.
SPEAKER_01 (02:09):
Our reading for Monday is 2 Samuel 19, verses 1
to 15.
And this is the chapter thatbegins to tie up the threads of
what's left of Absalom'srebellion and the problems that
it just continues to cause.
And that starts in the firsteight verses with David's
sorrow.
He just can't seem to get overit.
His grief goes on and on.
(02:30):
There is lots that needs to goon here to put the kingdom back
together, and he's not doing anyof that.
And that puts Joab front andcenter again.
One scholar said, I think thisis a great place to say a word
(03:00):
or two about grief.
There is a place for grief, yetthere is a caution that needs to
be sounded about that.
We can't let grief immobilize usso that we neglect what God
wants us to do.
There's a period of mourning,and the Bible shows us that, for
example, in Genesis chapter 50.
People need to process and workthrough some things.
(03:21):
Don't push that away.
Grief is real.
We don't deny that because weare Christians.
God is the one who gave usemotions, and if a loved one, a
friend passes away, even if theyhave gone to be with the Lord,
we miss them.
And there's going to be grief.
But we want to be careful not toallow that grief to just go on
forever.
And particularly, we don't wantto let grief for God's enemies
(03:47):
take us over.
David is mourning for theenemies of God's people, and he
is not doing his job.
He's not doing what God wantshim to do as the king of God's
people.
And Joab needed to remind him ofthat.
Maybe sometimes we need aprofessional counselor to help
us shift our life back intodrive.
If we're sort of stuck inneutral or in reverse.
There's a time to be sorrowful,but then there's a time to get
(04:11):
back to life and to doing whatGod wants us to do.
And that begins for David thenin verse 9, and there is just
all kinds of trouble here withthe empty throne.
David seems to be set here onputting the past behind and
moving forward as the king overa united country, but Israel
seems to be somewhat unhappywith Judah because they don't
seem to be ready to accept Davidagain, and We just see all of
(04:34):
the seeds of division have beendeeply sown in the country.
Forty years from now, thecountry will split into the
northern kingdom and thesouthern kingdom, and all of
this that we're reading in 2Samuel 19 will come to mind once
again.
And so David gets wind of what'sgoing on and says, hey, what's
the problem here?
especially since Absalom beganhis rebellion in Hebron, which
(04:57):
is in Judah, and maybe peoplethought that the leaders of the
tribe of Judah had cooperatedwith him.
They need to display theirallegiance to David, who is the
right king.
I'm not sure what to say inverse 13 about Joab being
replaced by Amasa.
The rebel general who lost thebattle replaces this very loyal
man.
Maybe that is done for politicalpurposes.
(05:18):
Notice verse 14.
David is always so savvy and sogood at doing what is the right
thing at the right time to winpeople back over, but there just
seems to be a lot of issuesgoing on here.
In verse 15, it's kind ofdifficult.
One writer said on this occasiononly Judah was officially
invited to meet the king and tobring the king over to Jordan,
and that was divisive, and thatseems to be what's happening
(05:41):
here.
Please notice the operativeexpression used in verse 10,
verse 11, verse 12, and verse 15is bring the king back.
Who's bringing the king back?
Who'll be first in bringing theking back?
This almost sounds likesiblings.
I want to do it.
No, I want to do I want to helpmom.
No, I'm going to help mom.
Oh, wow.
David has his hands full tryingto put things back together
(06:01):
again.
It is a good place to bereminded that division and
strife is easy to start, and itis hard to heal.
Maybe one of the reasons why theNew Testament has so many things
to say about how wrong it is todivide the New Testament church.
Our reading for Monday, 2 Samuel19, 1-15.
(06:21):
See you tomorrow.
Welcome to Tuesday.
Today we finish 2 Samuel 19.
We'll read 2 Samuel 19 verses 16to 43 as David continues to work
through all of the problems thatare now sitting on his doorstep
as he tries to put the countryback together again.
And that begins with Shammai,the son of Gerah the Benjamite,
(06:44):
verse 16.
This is the guy who's yellingall kinds of hateful and mean
things at David as he ran out ofthe city of Jerusalem, being
chased out of there by Absalom.
And we may wonder why David isso willing to forgive Shammai,
and sometimes I've said somepretty hard things about Shammai
being pretty dumb, because heis.
Later on, we're going to seesome things in 1 Kings 2 that
(07:05):
he's just unbelievably foolish.
But he shows up here with athousand men, verse 17, and I
think he is representing himselfas being pro-Israel.
Notice verse 20, first of all,the house of Joseph.
I represent the pro-Absalom sideof things, wanting to come back,
(07:25):
wanting to be loyal again.
And that may account for whyDavid says, we're not killing
anybody today.
Verse 21 and 22, Abishai, putyour sword away.
And one writer noted, if Davidacts Shammai, the other
Benjamites in the northerntribes might wonder, is a purge
coming?
Would more heads start rolling?
(07:45):
So David meets Shammai withclemency.
And again, David is just very,Very politically sharp.
Really has a lot on the ball.
This isn't the time to startinstilling doubt and fear in
anybody who maybe was on thewrong side.
in this last rebellion.
Let's see if we can get thekingdom back together.
(08:06):
Then there's some word hereabout Mephibosheth and Ziba.
This hurts my heart.
I've never believed Ziba.
Mephibosheth, I don't think, hasany claim to the throne, and I
don't think he has any thoughtthat he could have the throne,
and he ends up with half of whathe had before because David just
doesn't seem to be able to tellthe difference, and so he just
splits the difference betweenthe two.
I think Ziba took advantage ofMephibosheth, and I don't like
(08:27):
any of this.
Please notice verse 28.
This is what happens to theformer king's family.
They just all get wiped out, andMephibosheth is very aware of
that.
As bad as the Mephibosheth storyis, I love Barzillai.
He's such a wonderful character,and he represents what you can
be to serve God even when youare older.
(08:47):
I hope older people won't beoffended if I say you're older
when you're 80.
He's 80, and he says, listen, Ican't go enjoy the court.
Take this other guy.
Take Chimham.
He will be able to enjoy thethings of the court, but I did
all I could for you here, andthat's all that I can do.
And I just love Barzillai a lot.
I think older folks, silversaints, if you will, should
(09:09):
study his example and to try tobe like him.
Instead of discouraging people,what if we tried to supply
people, resupply people,encourage folks, especially
those who are down and beingtaken advantage of by others.
The chapter then ends on a downnote.
More trouble between Judah andIsrael, verses 40 to 43.
There's all these tensionsbetween the two groups and the
(09:32):
The text here is a little bitdifficult.
In verse 42, the ESV isfollowing the Septuagint
translation there, but the wholeidea seems to be, is the
monarchy built around the houseof David, or is the monarchy an
institution in Israel, andeveryone should be loyal to the
idea of having a king, notnecessarily loyal to the idea of
having King David.
(09:52):
But there's lots of unhappygoing around by the time we get
to verse 43, and David's goingto have to deal with all of
that.
A reading for Tuesdays.
2 Samuel 19, verses 16 to 43.
And of course, Westsiders, I'min Beaumont, so we can't Zoom
tonight, but I'll be hometomorrow, and I'll see you in
Bible class.
The reading for Tuesday, 2Samuel 19, verses 16 to 43.
(10:15):
It is Wednesday.
It is Wednesday.
And the best thing about that...
is I'm coming home today.
I'll be home tonight, Westside,so that I can teach Bible class,
have Bible talk, be able to tellyou all about the meeting in
Beaumont.
I'm excited about being home.
Today we are reading.
The reading for Wednesday is 2Samuel chapter 20.
And this is not the mostdifficult read.
(10:37):
In fact, it's just full ofaction of every kind.
I think if you made a movie outof 2 Samuel chapter 20, it would
do really well at the boxoffice.
And sometimes when I see thelatest offering from Hollywood,
Flintstones 5 or Rocky 200 Iwonder, have they completely run
out of ideas out there?
How about shooting 2 Samuel 20?
This would make an amazingmovie.
(10:59):
But it's kind of a mess, andit's not exactly the most
pleasant chapter to read by anystretch of the imagination.
To start with, we end up withanother revolt.
Who's this Sheba guy?
Well, he seems to be aBenjamite.
I wonder if he's a former armyofficer, and he seems to be
playing on the idea once againthat David isn't the rightful
king.
(11:19):
We need somebody of the house ofSaul.
Is that where he's going?
And it doesn't really seem likehe's intent on attacking David
because He just seems like whathe wants to do is rally the
north to follow after him.
He's trying to split thekingdom.
It seems to be that the northerntribes had troubles with
following a king from Judah.
(11:39):
And we've seen already lots ofdissension and troubles between
the north and the south already.
Along the way, we deal withDavid's concubines.
Verse 3 seems kind of likethey're almost under virtual
house arrest, and some havethought that that meant David
stopped using them as a harem,that he had learned his I
certainly hope so.
One writer said, Sin hurts somany people, doesn't it?
(12:16):
It hurts so many people who arejust innocent.
Then we have some stuff hereabout Amasa, and I don't know
what to make of this guy.
Amasa, Amasa, however you wantto say his name, he reminds me a
little bit of General McClellanduring the Civil War.
If you're familiar with CivilWar history, you know that
McClellan had an enormous armyunder his command, and it was
never big enough, and Lincolncould never get him to take the
(12:38):
field and actually engage therebels in some kind of battle.
Finally, Lincoln fights Andreplaced him with Grant.
That worked out pretty well.
And in the same way, David firesAmasa here and says, we've got
to do something different orthis Sheba guy is going to run
off with half the kingdom.
But he replaces him withAbishai.
I think that is significant.
(13:00):
There's still some hard feelingsabout Joab.
All that Joab does, he has atendency to just randomly kill
people, and he did kill Absalom.
Speaking of randomly killingpeople, guess what Joab does to
Amasa?
He kills him.
And the text is really uncertainhere in verse 8, 9, and 10 as to
how exactly Joab manages to pullthis off.
(13:24):
Most people have tried to seesome kind of manner in which
Joab tips forward and tips hissword out of its sheath and
falls on the ground.
so that Amasa isn't worriedabout weaponry, or maybe he hid
it in the fold of his garments.
The key is that his right handis empty.
His right hand is empty.
(13:45):
So Amasa isn't worried aboutanything, but Joab manages to
get the weapon and strike him inthe stomach.
What a terrible way to die.
Joab really is a ruthless,cold-blooded killer.
He can look someone in the eyeright up close to him, face to
face, and stick him.
(14:06):
You don't want to mess withJoab.
And the text moves on from here.
Verse 10, that's the last wehear of Abishai.
It's Joab, Joab, Joab from hereon in.
He is in charge.
And maybe...
If you're reading this andthinking, whoa, deja vu, it is
deja vu.
Joab killed Saul's head general,Abner, in chapter 3 and verse
(14:28):
27, in cold blood.
And recently, he brutally killedAbsalom.
You don't want to mess withJoab.
He doesn't ever seem to lose,but boy, his tactics leave a lot
to be desired.
Then we get a wise woman, verses14 to 22.
This is at Abel Beth Maka,which...
(14:48):
which Dean and I have actuallyseen.
You go to Israel, you can seeAbel Beth Maka.
I'll tell you what it lookslike.
It looks like a big hill.
They haven't done any excavationthere at all.
Nothing.
There are so many of thesebiblical sites, they have not
gotten to even a small fractionof all of them.
Many of them are still, it'scalled a tell, T-E-L-L.
(15:09):
They're just a big hump, a bighill, and under that hill is the
various layers of the city.
It'd be burned and then rebuilt,burned and then rebuilt, and
gradually a hill builds up.
You can go see Abel Beth Maka,but it is not much to look like.
And once again, we get deja vubecause here's a wise woman who
says, hey...
Don't tear up our whole city andkill all of us.
(15:30):
You're just looking for this oneguy.
We'll give him to you.
And the next thing you know, hishead comes over the wall.
And this is the third time inthe David story that a woman
changes everything.
A wise woman.
Abigail was the first, 1 Samuel25.
The wise woman of Tekoa was thesecond in 2 Samuel 14.
And now we have this wise womanof Abel with Maka in 2 Samuel
(15:51):
20.
And that finally then sets us upwith the notes about David's
government, which rolls us backto 2 Samuel 8.
The statement seems to be, we'reback in power.
We're getting the kingdom goingagain.
We've got leaders.
We've got officials.
Notice there's no mention ofDavid here, just Joab.
Joab is the leader of the armystill, even though David doesn't
(16:13):
really want him to be.
And that may say that That maysay that David is back, but that
he is a very weak leader now.
And I think maybe as I watchJoab, verse 23, still in command
of the army, that certainlyseems to be the case.
Our reading for Wednesday, then,is 2 Samuel chapter 20.
See you tonight, West Side.
Everybody else, see you tomorrowas we continue in 2 Samuel.
(16:37):
Welcome to Thursday.
Today we will read 2 Samuel, the21st chapter.
There's a couple of things thatare very important for you to
note here, and I'm so glad Ihave the podcast to talk about
these things.
First and foremost, chapter 21begins an appendix to David's
reign.
This material is out ofchronological order, and we can
tell some of that because atvarious points here, there's
material that has to go withearlier happenings.
(16:59):
For example, there is a searchfor Saul's heirs that will
happen here in 2 Samuel 21, andThat already happened back in
chapter 9.
So this is not in chronologicalorder.
What we get here is the causefor a famine, verses 1 to 9, and
then we get something about avery loyal wife, Rizpah, in
verses 10 to 14, and then we getsome things about David's mighty
(17:22):
men.
So let's talk about 2 Samuel 21just briefly.
A couple things you need tonotice here.
First, I wonder how long it tookthem to realize something was
seriously wrong because if we'refaithful to God, we're supposed
to get good rain.
Deuteronomy chapter 28, verses 1to 14.
So finally, someone said, hey,what's the deal?
And it was revealed that theGibeonites, who made a covenant
(17:43):
with the Israelites back inJoshua chapter 9, they tricked
Joshua and the Israelites, andthey made a covenant of peace
with them.
The Gibeonites had beenassaulted and destroyed by King
Saul.
What do we make of that?
What do we make of that?
I think there's a contrast herebetween David, who is loyal to
(18:05):
his oaths, and Saul, who brokethem.
Notice verse 7, the king sparedMephibosheth, the son of Saul's
son Jonathan, because of theoath of the Lord that was
between them.
So Saul, and please notice, it'sSaul and his house, verse 4,
Saul and his sons were involvedin this terrible matter of
putting the Gibeonites to death.
(18:27):
And so those men must pay fortheir crimes.
And sometimes people get trickedhere and think that David hung a
bunch of innocent people.
But Numbers chapter 35,beginning in verse 30, shows you
cannot buy your way out ofmurder.
Life is sacred and justice mustbe done.
And if David did the wrong thinghere, it still wouldn't reign.
So David keeps his oath.
(18:48):
Saul did not.
And this is just one more noteagainst Saul.
I think about Saul who wasunwilling to destroy the
Amalekites in 1 Samuel 15 whenGod told him to do so, and then
he destroyed the Gibeonites whohe was not supposed to destroy.
Saul, what are you doing?
There's a marvelous little notethen about Rizpah and how she is
loyal.
(19:08):
She was Saul's concubine,chapter 3 and verse 7, and she
cares for these bodies.
And we do not know how long thiswent on, but this is grisly and
difficult work.
And finally, David says, we Weneed to take care of this and
bury them all together.
Apparently...
Apparently with some honor,showing some respect here, but
we just need to put this behindus.
(19:30):
And the story does seem toanswer anyone who had any
questions about David'streatment of the house of Saul.
He did this because theyviolated God's will, and this is
what David needed to do to dowhat's right.
So then beginning in verse 15,we begin to read about some of
David's mighty men and howpowerful they are and the kind
of things that they canaccomplish and the kind of
(19:51):
things that they can do.
It is an important read.
because David is the mightiestof these warriors.
I've said it before, and I'mgoing to say it again.
If you have this image in yourmind of David being this little
shrimpy, effeminate little boy,he's the little shepherd boy, so
sweet and so kind, you need toseriously rethink that.
(20:12):
These guys are powerful warriorswho can kill hundreds of
Philistines at any one time, andthey wouldn't follow somebody
like that.
They follow somebody who'sbigger than them.
And that's who David mostcertainly is.
By the way, there's not acontradiction in verse 19.
1 Chronicles chapter 20 clearsthis up by saying that Elhanan
(20:34):
killed the brother of Goliath,not Goliath himself.
So that brings us to the closeof 2 Samuel chapter 21.
Let's get ready to move into thePsalms tomorrow.
The reading for Thursday is 2Samuel 21.
Welcome to Friday.
Welcome to Friday.
And today, we are in the Psalms,of course, reading Psalm 17.
(20:57):
The reading for Friday is Psalm17.
I wish I could tie this Psalm toa specific place in David's
life, but David has so manyenemies and so many people out
to get him all through his life,it's hard to choose just one
particular period of time.
Maybe this fits the rebellion ofAbsalom, the rebellion of Sheba.
Maybe it's the time when Saul'schasing him around, or Goliath.
(21:17):
Just lots going on in David'slife all the time.
And David meets the This is acry for help.
This is a lament.
It also comes with it a prayerof innocence.
Please be careful here.
This is not, let's make a dealwith God.
This is saying that I should bevindicated because I stand with
(21:37):
the Lord.
This isn't about, I'm soperfect, I'm so righteous.
It is, I'm standing with you,God, and I need your help.
Notice verse 1, David is alwaysso concerned about his
integrity, about what is right.
Prayer requires sincerity, nothypocrisy.
And we get a little bit of thisin verse 3, when in the night
(21:59):
hours, when we are in a time oftrial, what do we do?
We go over our actions, over ourdeeds, over our words in our
head.
We take self-inventory.
And then there's a prayer basedon the attack of the enemy,
beginning in verses 6 to 12,where the psalmist asks for God
to hear him, to reveal himselfin deliverance, and to protect
him.
(22:19):
And the God's nature to help.
and hear.
That's who God is.
God is good.
You may have a translation inverse 10 that uses the word fat,
but that is a reference probablyto the heart.
It's a difficult Hebrewexpression there.
It appears to be a reference tonarcissism and self-love.
(22:39):
The NIV has callous hearts.
The ESV has they close theirhearts.
And the psalm then closes verse14 with a very difficult
expression that's translated ina number of different ways.
Literally, it is.
Here's the actual Hebrew.
Your hidden will be full there.
Belly sons will have plenty andleave the remains to children.
(23:05):
So that's a hard thing to puttogether.
How does this go?
The ESV has the sense of itcontinuing the judgment on
evildoers, but the NIV changesit to you still the hunger of
those you cherish.
Their sons will have plenty.
They store up wealth for theirchildren.
It was a very complicatedquestion.
That kind of high-end Hebrew,that's way past anything that I
(23:27):
can work with.
Just have to make some decisionsbased on the context and read
some different translations andsee what conclusions we can
draw.
Probably more importantly isverse 15.
The wicked will be made to bowdown, but the righteous will
exult in the presence of God.
And I think the thing to noticehere is that the psalm began
with the psalmist praying thatGod would see right things.
(23:47):
Now...
Now the psalmist prays to seeGod.
What a beautiful psalm.
I love the idea, for example, inverse 8, keep me as the apple of
your eye.
This is a wonderful lamentpsalm, and it helps us.
The reading for Friday, Psalm17.
That concludes the podcast forthe week.
(24:08):
Thanks so much for listening.
I do appreciate every listener.
So until next week, when we'llopen our Bibles together again,
I'm Mark Roberts.
I want to go to heaven.
I want you to come too.
I'll see you Monday with a cupof coffee.
SPEAKER_00 (24:30):
Thanks for listening to the Westside Church of Christ
podcast, Monday Morning Coffeewith Mark.
For more information aboutWestside, you can connect with
us through our website,justchristians.com, and our
Facebook page.
Our music is from upbeat.io.
That's upbeat with two P's,U-P-P-B-E-A-T, where creators
(24:55):
can get free music.
Please share our podcast withothers, and we look forward to
seeing you again, with a cup ofcoffee, of course, on next
Monday.
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