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.