Peter Barnes | 2 Samuel 20
SERMON NOTES
MORE REBELLION
2 Samuel 20
– more rebellion, more violence, more instability, more struggles.
1. The wickedness of rebellion.
– 20:1-2. Blaise Pascal: ‘Civil wars are the greatest of evils.’ But this is more; this is a repudiation of God’s declared will for His people.
2. The brutality of murderous ambition.
– 20:4-13; the ‘Old Testament kiss of Judas’. Amasa was Joab’s cousin (2 Samuel 17:25; 19:13-14).
– Joab has murdered Absalom – 18:14-15; Abner – 3:26-30; he was also involved in the murder of Uriah – 11:16-21. Joab does what he likes yet he never rebels against David.
3. Justice can be rough.
– Sheba ends out being besieged in Abel, which is located in the north – 20:14-20.
– the wise woman has a solution – 20:21-22. The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 were dreadful events, but it can be argued that they saved hundreds of thousands of lives. The justice is rough, but it is justice.
4. The weakness of David.
– 20:3 (see 16:21-22). Imprisonment or protection?
– 20:23-26. Joab is back in authority. Here is a shaky king with a shaky kingdom. Yet it points us to a far greater kingdom – Heb.12:28.