2 Samuel
20 – 24
Verse 20:1 shows the divide David had in his kingdom:
A worthless
troublemaker, Sheba the Benjaminite, the son of Bichri, blasted a trumpet and
silenced everyone.
Sheba: We
don’t have any share in David, no interest in the son of Jesse! Israel, let’s
go back to our tents and show loyalty to only our own tribes!
David
was to unify the nation of Israel, but as you may expect with a nation that was
so hard headed in the wilderness, this is not as smooth as David would like. As
we continue reading we see that it takes time and some strife to bring the
nation of Israel back under on king. We see in Chapter 21 that some of this was
punishment for things Saul did not do as king, so David had a deep pit to dig
out of.
Verse
22:28 is a theme I like to point out when I can:
For You rescue
weak people,
but the proud You bring low.
God really has a problem with the
braggadocios and the proud. We see this over and over again with people think
it’s more them than God and they get humbled. I use to have this happen over
and over again in racing; when I was fast it was ME. When I was trying to get
fast I was talking with God on how that could happen. Problem was when it was
all about ME, I tended to get humbled quickly, either by a fast new guy, a
mechanical issue or a major crash. Not saying the God mixed up the day to
humble me, but rather as we get full of ourselves we start overlooking details
that could save our skins.
Verse 24:24 ends with David acknowledging
an offering is not a gift from someone else you decided to give:
David: 24 No,
I will buy these things from you. Name your price. I will not make an
offering to the Eternal One, my True God, that has cost me nothing.
Often we tend to give from excess and not
from scripture. See we are told to offer 10% of the first fruits. This tends to
follow with all offerings that God is looking for some skin in the game from
the giver. We are not told to give till it hurts, but rather out of joy. So
David is not only doing that, but making sure it is HIS offering and not
another’s.
Giving is so hard to discuss, but it is
something that is critical in our relationship with the Lord. I would suggest Robert
Morris’s book the Blessed Life if you want to dive into the Biblical reasons
for giving.