2 Samuel 22:16

2 Samuel 22:16 says, And the channels of the sea appeared, the foundations of the world were discovered, at the rebuking of the LORD, at the blast of the breath of his nostrils.  David said that God could shake the foundations of the earth and even dry up the seas with His breath alone.  God did not need David in order to defeat His enemies, but He chose to work through Him.  The same is true for Christians today.  Verse seventeen adds, He sent from above, he took me; he drew me out of many waters;  I believe that David is acknowledging that it was God from above who gave him victory over his enemies at all times.  We need to let the world know that as followers of Christ our victory over sin in the world comes from Jesus Christ alone.  Verse eighteen continues,  He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them that hated me: for they were too strong for me.  David continued to give God credit for his victories, saying that his enemies were too strong for him to defeat on his own, and as Christians, our enemies will never be too strong for God to defeat if we put our faith in Him.  Verse nineteen states,They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the LORD was my stay.   David said that when his enemies kept him from victory that God was his stay, his source of strength and peace.  God has already given Christians victory over sin and death, so we should live at peace secure in our everlasting salvation.  Verse twenty adds, He brought me forth also into a large place: he delivered me, because he delighted in me.  I believe that David was saying God gave him authority over Israel because God delighted in him.  I believe that as long as we as Christians are doing what God has called us to do that He will delight in us and that is all that should matter.  Verse twenty-one continues, The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness: according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me.  David said that God rewarded him for his righteousness according to how well he obeyed God, but we know that our own righteousness will only bring us condemnation.  The righteousness is Jesus Christ is all that can save us.  Verse twenty-two says, I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God.  David said that he had kept the ways of the LORD, and he may have kept many, but he failed in some.  We cannot find salvation by our own following of God's commandments, because we all rail to keep them all.  Verse twenty-three adds, For all his judgments were before me: and as for his statutes, I did not depart from them.  Again David said he kept God's statutes before and did not deviate from them.  Again, this was not true of all of God's commandments or there would have been no purpose in Jesus coming to die for the sins of all mankind.  If David had perfectly kept all of God's laws he could have been saved by the law, and no one can.  Verse twenty-four continues,, I was also upright before him, and have kept myself from mine iniquity.  David continues to speak about his faithfulness  in keeping God's commandments, and we should try to keep them, but we cannot be saved by doing so.  Verse twenty-five states, Therefore the LORD hath recompensed me according to my righteousness; according to my cleanness in his eye sight.  Again, I don't believe that God chose David because of his own merit but because of what God knew He could do through David as long as David was faithful to Him.  Our usefulness to God comes from our relationship to Jesus Christ and not from our own righteousness.  Verse twenty-six adds, With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful, and with the upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright.  David said God would show mercy to the merciful and would be upright with those who were upright, but we can never earn God's forgiveness by our own actions, other than accepting Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord.  Verse twenty-seven continues, With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself unsavoury.  I do believe that once we accept Jesus Christ we are made pure through His shed blood and we should live in purity before God, but we often fail.  Verse twenty-eight states, And the afflicted people thou wilt save: but thine eyes are upon the haughty, that thou mayest bring them down.  David said God would save the afflicted and bring down the haughty, but this is true only if we accept Jesus Christ.  Being afflicted does not save us, nor does being haughty condemn us.  Verse twenty-nine adds, For thou art my lamp, O LORD: and the LORD will lighten my darkness.  As Dassid then, God is our light as Christians and He will brighten our darkness.  Verse thirty concludes, For by thee I have run through a troop: by my God have I leaped over a wall.  David said that God was the One Who empowered him, and as Christians,  God is still the One Who empowers us today as long as we are obedient to Him.

2 Samuel 22:1

2 Samuel 22:1 says, And David spake unto the LORD the words of this song in the day that the LORD had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul:  This chapter is actually a song, or psalm of David.  Verse two adds, And he said, The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer;  David declared God to be his, rock, his fortress, and his deliverer.  God is still all those things to us today, but most importantly He is our Deliverer through our faith in His Son, Jesus Christ.  Verse three adds, The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence. David continued to list all the things that God was for him, and said that he would trust in Him as his rock and the horn of his salvation.  Jesus Christ is our rock today, and He is the horn of our salvation, pouring His love and blessings out on us freely if we remain faithful to Him.  Verse four states, I will call on the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.  We, like David said then, must call on the Lord, Who alone is worthy to be praised, and Who alone can save us forever from our enemies.  Verse five adds, When the waves of death compassed me, the floods of ungodly men made me afraid; David began to list some of the times that God had saved him from a terrible situation.  Though we have everlasting salvation through our faith in Jesus Christ, He will still many times save us from bad situations in this world, and we need to thank Him for it.  Verse six continues, The sorrows of hell compassed me about; the snares of death prevented me;  Though David was speaking of times when he was physically in danger, we need to realize that as Christians, spiritually Jesus Christ has saved us from the sorrows of hell.  Verse seven says, In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried to my God: and he did hear my voice out of his temple, and my cry did enter into his ears.  Just like David said God heard him when he cried out in distress,  God will hear us today when we cry out to Him when we are in distress or at any time.  Verse eight adds, Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations of heaven moved and shook, because he was wroth.  David said God shook the earth and the foundations of heaven because He was wroth or angry.  God is still in control of all His creation, except for people who refuse to accept His call and Satan and his forces who have been allowed temporary power.  One day, God will assert His authority over them as well.  Verse nine continues, There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it.  David said God could send fire out of His mouth to devour His enemies, and since He spoke everything into existence, we should not be surprised that He can speak everything into destruction.  Verse ten states, He bowed the heavens also, and came down; and darkness was under his feet.  God has always been in control of heaven and earth, and the darkness of sin can never exist in the light of God's love.  Verse eleven adds, And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: and he was seen upon the wings of the wind.  God can be seen everywhere if we are looking to Him by faith.  Verse twelve continues, And he made darkness pavilions round about him, dark waters, and thick clouds of the skies.  God can make all the darkness fall under His light.  Verse thirteen says, Through the brightness before him were coals of fire kindled.  God does kindle the fires of hell through the brightness of the salvation made available by His Son Jesus Christ.  Verse fourteen adds, The LORD thundered from heaven, and the most High uttered his voice.  Matthew Henry said many of these things did not happen in David’s lifetime, but David knew of them because of His scripture, and we may not see all these things in our lifetime, but if we put our faith in God and read the Bible, we will know of His power to do them. Verse fifteen continues, And he sent out arrows, and scattered them; lightning, and discomfited them.  God can still scatter all our enemies even when we feel helpless, if we put our faith in Him.

2 Samuel 21:15

2 Samuel 21:15 says, Moreover the Philistines had yet war again with Israel; and David went down, and his servants with him, and fought against the Philistines: and David waxed faint.  The Philistines were once again at war with Israel, and though he was now old as Matthew Henry points out, David went to fight against them.  After fighting against them, David became faint from his efforts.  We are always going to be at war with the lost and sinful world today and at times we may become faint from the battle. David’s strength was no longer what it had been, but his willingness to go into battle was still strong.  As we get older, our strength may wane, but our willingness to fight against the enemies of God never should.  Verse sixteen adds, And Ishbibenob, which was of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear weighed three hundred shekels of brass in weight, he being girded with a new sword, thought to have slain David.  Ishbibenob, the son of the giant, sought to kill David.  Like David, at times we may be facing giants, but also like David, our God will always be bigger than them.  Verse seventeen continues, But Abishai the son of Zeruiah succoured him, and smote the Philistine, and killed him. Then the men of David sware unto him, saying, Thou shalt go no more out with us to battle, that thou quench not the light of Israel.  Abishai helped David regain his strength, and Matthew Henry says that it was David who then killed the giant.  As followers of Christ, we may at times be the one in need of help and at other times be the one giving help, but we are all in the battle together and need to support one another.  The people of Israel told David that he would no longer go into battle with them and risk being killed and quenching the light of Israel.   As Christians, Jesus Christ is our Light, and we never have to fear that He will be defeated. Verse eighteen states, And it came to pass after this, that there was again a battle with the Philistines at Gob: then Sibbechai the Hushathite slew Saph, which was of the sons of the giant.  The battle against the Philistines continued, and David’s men continued to beat the giants, first with Sibbechai defeating one at Gob.  As Christian leaders get older, we need to know that God is calling others to replace them.  Verse nineteen adds, And there was again a battle in Gob with the Philistines, where Elhanan the son of Jaareoregim, a Bethlehemite, slew the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.  In another battle, Elhanan killed the brother of Goliath, another giant.  Earlier, when David killed Goliath, the men of the army of Israel had been afraid to face him, but now they were facing and defeating giants.  We should grow in faith as we begin to understand more what it means to be a follower of Christ.  We are already victorious through faith in Christ, so there should be no giant that we are afraid to face.  Verse twenty says, And there was yet a battle in Gath, where was a man of great stature, that had on every hand six fingers, and on every foot six toes, four and twenty in number; and he also was born to the giant.  Verse twenty-one adds, And when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimea the brother of David slew him.  At Gath, there was a giant with six fingers 9n each hand and six toes on each foot who defied Israel, and Jonathan, David’s nephew and not Saul's son, killed him.  David’s family may have questioned his ability to be king, but at least some were now supporting him.  We never need to question Jesus Christ's ability to rule, and we need to be willing to face anyone or anything that attempts to defeat us today, and we need to do it for His glory.  Verse twenty-two continues, These four were born to the giant in Gath, and fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.  The giants all fell by the hand of David and his men, just as all the giants we face today will fall as long a we are faithful to Jesus Christ. 

2 Samuel 21:10

2 Samuel 21:10 says, And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven, and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night.  Rizpah, one of the mothers of those hanged, set up a tent of sackcloth where she could sit and mourn them.  She didn't attempt to do more than that since their bodies hanging in public was part of their sentence, but she did show her love for them.  We should mourn our dead, but not to the point that we do nothing else, and once someone dies, their everlasting sentence is already passed, and it can never be changed.  Verse eleven adds, And it was told David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done.  Someone brought news to David about what the woman, Rizpah, was doing.  No one has to bring news to our King, God Himself, about what we are doing, but if someone is grieving excessively someone needs to be made aware of it. Verse twelve continues, And David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabeshgilead, which had stolen them from the street of Bethshan, where the Philistines had hanged them, when the Philistines had slain Saul in Gilboa:  David went to Jabeshgilead and got the bones of Saul and Jonathan from where they had been buried after being stolen from the Philistines.  Matthew Henry says they had been buried as common men instead of being buried with the honors of a king and his son, but I personally think that we are all equal in death, so the funeral of one person is no more important than the funeral of another.  Verse thirteen states, And he brought up from thence the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son; and they gathered the bones of them that were hanged.  When David brought the bones of Saul and Jonathan, he took the bodies of those hanged as well.  They were descendants of Saul's after all and like Jonathan would have been in line to become king. David evidently believed there was no need for the further humiliation of having their bodies hanging unburied.  I don't believe that as followers of Christ we should ever abuse the dody of someone who is dead, even if they had been our worst enemy.  The body is going to be reduced to nothing in time anyway, and the fate of the soul is already determined.  Verse fourteen adds, And the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son buried they in the country of Benjamin in Zelah, in the sepulchre of Kish his father: and they performed all that the king commanded. And after that God was intreated for the land.  They buried the bones of Saul with Kish his father, and I assume the others as well. Then, they entreated God about rain on the part of the people.  We can do nothing to help those who have died, but we do need to always be in prayer for the living.

2 Samuel 21:1

2 Samuel 21:1 says, Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David inquired of the LORD. And the LORD answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites.  After David was returned as king, there was a drought in the land.  David asked God why, or prayed about.  God answered him that it was because of Saul's having slain the Gibeonites.   When we have concerns, we should take them to God in prayer, and He will answer if we are listening.  Verse two adds, And the king called the Gibeonites, and said unto them; (now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; and the children of Israel had sworn unto them: and Saul sought to slay them in his zeal to the children of Israel and Judah.)  David called out to the Gibeonites, who were not Israelites, but were the descendants of the Amorites, whom the people of Israel had made an agreement with to not harm them, and Saul had broken that agreement.  We as Christians come from different backgrounds, but we need to support one another instead of trying to destroy one another, and w are not called on to destroy others in order to keep Christianity pure.  Verse three continues, Wherefore David said unto the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you? and wherewith shall I make the atonement, that ye may bless the inheritance of the LORD?  David asked the Gibeonites what he could do for them to make atonement for Saul’s actions.  If we as followers of Christ have harmed others, we need to be the ones to ask what we can do for them to make atonement.  Of course, our atonement with God can only come from putting our faith in Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord.  Verse four states, And the Gibeonites said unto him, We will have no silver nor gold of Saul, nor of his house; neither for us shalt thou kill any man in Israel. And he said, What ye shall say, that will I do for you.  The Gibeonites told David that they didn't want silver or gold, nor did they want David to kill any Israelites to avenge what Saul had done.  As Christians, we should never look for material reward if someone has harmed us, nor should we want them to suffer.  We should reach out to them with the love of Christ instead.  Verse five adds, And they answered the king, The man that consumed us, and that devised against us that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the coasts of Israel,  Verse slx continues, Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, and we will hang them up unto the LORD in Gibeah of Saul, whom the LORD did choose. And the king said, I will give them.  Though they said they didn't want David to kill any man of Israel because of them, they then told Dato send them seven sons of Saul and they would hang them in Gibeah, Saul’s home.  They said they would do this to the Lord.  We cannot seek vengeance against others and claim it is being done for God.  David agreed with their request.  Verse seven says, But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of the LORD’s oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.  David spared Mephibosheth because of his covenant with Jonathan, just as God will spare Christians because of their covenant with Jesus Christ.  Verse eight adds, But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bare unto Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite:  Matthew Henry says these were the sons Michal had when Saul had given her as a wife to another man.  Verse nine continues, And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the hill before the LORD: and they fell all seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of barley harvest.  David delivered seven of Saul's sons, two from one of his concubines and five of his grandsons from Michal, to the Gibeonites and they were hanged.  These seven may have had nothing to do with Saul's mistreatment of the Gibeonites, but they paid the price.  Jesus has nothing to do with our sinful actions, but He willingly paid the price for them, and if we put our faith in Him as our personal Savior and Lord, then we are forever restored to God.

2 Samuel 20:16

2 Samuel 20:16 says, Then cried a wise woman out of the city, Hear, hear; say, I pray you, unto Joab, Come near hither, that I may speak with thee.  As Joab and his men were attempting to tear down the walls of Abel, a woman came to him and asked to speak to him.  Once more, a woman was taking charge, but of course a man coming to them from the city might have been killed before he had a chance to speak.  Woman are still too often having to bear the responsibility for sharing the gospel and doing God's work today.  Verse seventeen adds, And when he was come near unto her, the woman said, Art thou Joab? And he answered, I am he. Then she said unto him, Hear the words of thine handmaid. And he answered, I do hear.  When Joab came near her, she asked if he were Joab and if he would hear her, and he said yes to both questions.  If we are to be forgiven for our sins, we must first know Who Jesus is, and we can be certain that He will always hear us when we call on Him by faith.  Verse eighteen continues, Then she spake, saying, They were wont to speak in old time, saying, They shall surely ask counsel at Abel: and so they ended the matter.  She said that the city of Abel had long been known as a city of wisdom and people had accepted what was said there as the truth.  Of course, true wisdom only comes from God, so we cannot appeal to Him based on our knowledge.  Verse nineteen concludes, I am one of them that are peaceable and faithful in Israel: thou seekest to destroy a city and a mother in Israel: why wilt thou swallow up the inheritance of the LORD?  She aaid she was one who was peaceable and faithful to Israel, as were most of the people of the city, and she asked Joab why he would destroy the city and them.  All Christians are a part of God's family, and we should never be attempting to destroy each other.  Verse twenty states, And Joab answered and said, Far be it, far be it from me, that I should swallow up or destroy.  Joab said far be it from him to do such a thing.  Verse twenty-one adds, The matter is not so: but a man of mount Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichri by name, hath lifted up his hand against the king, even against David: deliver him only, and I will depart from the city. And the woman said unto Joab, Behold, his head shall be thrown to thee over the wall.  Joab said that he only wanted one man, Sheba, who had risen up against David and that if they delivered him, Joab would leave the city alone.  She said Sheba's head would be thrown over the wall.  Though we need to remove the enemies of God from the church, we certainly should not destroy other Christians to do so, and it really isn't our responsibility to kill them.  We should always reach out to them with the gospel.  Verse twenty-two continues, Then the woman went unto all the people in her wisdom. And they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri, and cast it out to Joab. And he blew a trumpet, and they retired from the city, every man to his tent. And Joab returned to Jerusalem unto the king.   The woman went to the people in the city with the knowledge of what Joab wanted, and they did as she promised him and and cut off Sheba's head and threw it over the wall. It was better for one man who was rebelling against David to die than for the whole city to be destroyed.  Joab sounded the trumpet for the army to retreat and returned to Jerusalem and David.  Though I believe that we should leave their fate up to God, we certainly need to weed out those who are in our fellowship of believers but who are working against God, and when we do, we need to simply continue to faithfully serve Him.  Verse twenty-three says, Now Joab was over all the host of Israel: and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and over the Pelethites:  Verse twenty-four adds, And Adoram was over the tribute: and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder:  Verse twenty-five continues, And Sheva was scribe: and Zadok and Abiathar were the priests:  Verse twenty-six concludes, And Ira also the Jairite was a chief ruler about David.  We are then told who was in what position of leadership of those who were serving David.  Of  course, Joab was only in his position because he had killed the man David had appointed.  There are still power hungry people in the church today unfortunately, who put themselves ahead of what God wants.

2 Samuel 20:7

2 Samuel 20:7 says, And there went out after him Joab’s men, and the Cherethites, and the Pelethites, and all the mighty men: and they went out of Jerusalem, to pursue after Sheba the son of Bichri.  Joab and his men left in pursuit of Sheba, who was now attempting to take the throne away from David.  Just because one threat to our relationship is Jesus Christ as our King, or even to His authority, dies doesn't mean that another will not immediately arise, so we need to always be ready for the battle.   Verse eight adds, When they were at the great stone which is in Gibeon, Amasa went before them. And Joab’s garment that he had put on was girded unto him, and upon it a girdle with a sword fastened upon his loins in the sheath thereof; and as he went forth it fell out.  Joab had a sword sewn into his garment, but as he went along, it fell out.  Sometimes, the things that we may secretly put our faith in may fail us.  That is why we should publicly proclaim our faith in Jesus Christ alone at all times.  Verse nine continues, And Joab said to Amasa, Art thou in health, my brother? And Joab took Amasa by the beard with the right hand to kiss him.  Along the way, Joab pretended to care about Amasa's well-being, taking him by the beard as if to kiss him in a friendly gesture. There are still people today who pretend to care about us, but who secretly want to destroy us.  Verse ten concludes, But Amasa took no heed to the sword that was in Joab’s hand: so he smote him therewith in the fifth rib, and shed out his bowels to the ground, and struck him not again; and he died. So Joab and Abishai his brother pursued after Sheba the son of Bichri. Amasa didn't pay attention to the sword in Joab’s hand, not thinking of him as a threat.  Joab once again murdered someone that he had reason to dislike.  When we put our own desires above those of others, especially if we have reason to dislike them, we often do things that God would not approve of.  Afterwards, Joab and Abishi continued to pursue Sheba as if nothing bad had happened.  We cannot ignore God's law and do evil things and just go on with our life as if nothing bad has happened and be successful as followers of Christ and expect to never be held accountable.  Verse eleven states, And one of Joab’s men stood by him, and said, He that favoureth Joab, and he that is for David, let him go after Joab.  One of Joab’s men called for those who favored Joab and were for David to follow Joab, but the two things were not necessarily the same.  David would not have approved of what Joab did.  We cannot ask people to follow us if they want to be obedient to God if we are doing things against God's will.  Verse twelve adds, And Amasa wallowed in blood in the midst of the highway. And when the man saw that all the people stood still, he removed Amasa out of the highway into the field, and cast a cloth upon him, when he saw that every one that came by him stood still.  Amasa was bleeding to death in the highway when a man saw people standing still around him.  Even though we were told he was dead, we are also told that he wallowed in blood, so his death may  not have been immediate, and evidently no one was attempting to help him.  If we see hurting people today, hopefully we will do more than just stand and look at them.  Verse thirteen continues, When he was removed out of the highway, all the people went on after Joab, to pursue after Sheba the son of Bichri.  It seems the only help anyone offered Amasa was to move him out of the highway.  Sometimes, if we are in distress today, all people seem to want to do is move us out of the way so that they will not have to see us.  They then followed Joab as he pursued Sheba.  We need to be careful what leader we follow today.  Joab seemed to be doing whatever kept him in a position of power and making choices that brought him satisfaction over his enemies with no honor or compassion, and some people are still this way today.  We should never blindly follow after them. Verse fourteen says. And he went through all the tribes of Israel unto Abel, and to Bethmaachah, and all the Berites: and they were gathered together, and went also after him.  Sheba went throughout Israel trying to gather the people to follow him.  Matthew Henry says that Sheba was able to get a few people to follow him, but it was very few.  It seems that there will always be a few people who will follow anyone.  Verse fifteen adds, And they came and besieged him in Abel of Bethmaachah, and they cast up a bank against the city, and it stood in the trench: and all the people that were with Joab battered the wall, to throw it down.  Sheba and those following him eventually hold up in Abel, and Joab’s force battered the wall.  We may need to knock down some walls that have been built up against God in order to reach people with the gospel.