8/29/2010
7:07:02 AM
SPIRITUAL
DIARY
My Worship Time Focus:
Ish-Bosheth the loser
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
2Samuel 4:1-12
Message
of the verses: “1 ¶ Now when Ish-bosheth, Saul’s son, heard that
Abner had died in Hebron, he lost courage, and all Israel was disturbed. 2 Saul’s son had two men who were commanders of
bands: the name of the one was Baanah and the name of the other Rechab, sons of
Rimmon the Beerothite, of the sons of Benjamin (for Beeroth is also considered
part of Benjamin, 3 and the Beerothites
fled to Gittaim and have been aliens there until this day). 4 Now Jonathan, Saul’s son, had a son crippled
in his feet. He was five years old when the report of Saul and Jonathan came
from Jezreel, and his nurse took him up and fled. And it happened that in her
hurry to flee, he fell and became lame. And his name was Mephibosheth. 5 So the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab
and Baanah, departed and came to the house of Ish-bosheth in the heat of the
day while he was taking his midday rest. 6
They came to the middle of the house as if to get wheat, and they struck
him in the belly; and Rechab and Baanah his brother escaped. 7 Now when they came into the house, as he was
lying on his bed in his bedroom, they struck him and killed him and beheaded
him. And they took his head and traveled by way of the Arabah all night. 8 Then they brought the head of Ish-bosheth to
David at Hebron and said to the king, "Behold, the head of Ish-bosheth the
son of Saul, your enemy, who sought your life; thus the LORD has given my lord
the king vengeance this day on Saul and his descendants."
“ 9 ¶
David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite,
and said to them, "As the LORD lives, who has redeemed my life from all
distress, 10 when one told me, saying,
’Behold, Saul is dead,’ and thought he was bringing good news, I seized him and
killed him in Ziklag, which was the reward I gave him for his news. 11 "How much more, when wicked men have
killed a righteous man in his own house on his bed, shall I not now require his
blood from your hand and destroy you from the earth?" 12 Then David commanded the young men, and they
killed them and cut off their hands and feet and hung them up beside the pool
in Hebron. But they took the head of Ish-bosheth and buried it in the grave of
Abner in Hebron.”
Chapter four is a story of sin and
is seen by the murder of another innocent man, Ish-bosheth, who was the son of
Saul, was killed because he was the son of Saul and that was no reason to have
him killed. This story is a reminder of
when Saul was killed or rather killed himself and someone else told David that he
had killed him. David rewarded him by
killing him because he had said that he killed the Lord’s anointed.
This is a political story of a
nation that was divided and a righteous king wanting to unite the nation, but
because of two murders many would suspect that David, the righteous king, was
doing underhanded things to accomplish his purpose. David did not physically do anything about
the death of Abner, but he did curse his cousins for doing such a horrible
thing. However in the case of the
killing of the innocent king of Israel David did show that he had nothing to do
with it by killing the men who killed him and hanging their corpses up to show
that he had nothing to do with this murder.
“22 "If a man has committed
a sin worthy of death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree,
23 his corpse shall not hang all night
on the tree, but you shall surely bury him on the same day (for he who is
hanged is accursed of God), so that you do not defile your land which the LORD
your God gives you as an inheritance.
(Deuteronomy 21:22-23)
I want to copy a portion from Dr.
Wiersbe’s commentary in which he uses a word “kings” in a way that I have never
seen it used before, but I do think that I understand the point that he is
trying to make by using the word.
“The four ‘kings’ that Paul wrote
about in Romans 5 were certainly active in these scenes from David’s life. Sin was reigning (Romans 5:21) as men lied to
each other, hated each other, and sought to destroy each other. Death also reigned (5:14, 17) as Asahel,
Abner, and Ish-Bosheth were slain, along with nearly four hundred soldiers who
died at the battle of the pool of Gibeon.
But God’s grace also reigned (5:21), for He protected David and
overruled men’s sins to accomplish His divine purposes. ‘Where sin abounded,
grace did much more abound’ (5:20 KJV).
But David ‘reigned in life’ (5:17) and let God control him as he faced
one emergency after another. He was a
man empowered by God, and God brought him through each crisis and helped him to
succeed.
“In the midst of today’s troubles
and trials, God’s people can ‘reign in life by Jesus Christ’ if we will
surrender to Him wait on Him, and trust His promises.”
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: “In the midst of today’s troubles and trials,
God’s people can ‘reign in life by Jesus Christ’ if we will surrender to Him
wait on Him, and trust His promises.”
My Steps of Faith for Today:
1. In the midst of today’s troubles
and trials, God’s people can ‘reign in life by Jesus Christ’ if we will
surrender to Him wait on Him, and trust His promises.
2. Give myself to the Lord for
worship and service.
3. Put on the spiritual armor, for I
am in a battle.
4. Continue to learn contentment
through the trials that I face each day.
5. Trust that the Holy Spirit will
search my heart for unconfessed sin that I may confess and repent of them.
8/29/2010
7:52:16 AM
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