God Answered David's Prayers

INTRO

This week, we’ll finish 2 Samuel and jump into 1 Kings. Second Samuel has had one big moment after another. In chapter 7, we looked at the Davidic Covenant and the Eternal Throne. David’s sin life after this anointing proves that we can’t lose our anointing, regardless of what we do. As David messed up (2 Samuel 11) in an adulterous relationship with Bathsheba which led to murder, and the chaos that spread through his family in the years afterwards, the Davidic Covenant stayed in place. In today’s study, things in David’s kingdom will get even messier than what we’ve seen so far in 2 Samuel. In 2 Samuel 9, David showed kindness to Mephibosheth, the son of his best friend Jonathan. Between this show of kindness and the encounter with Shimei (2 Samuel 16) was a period of three years. This period of time is detailed in 2 Samuel 21, not in its chronological position.

TEACHING

2 Samuel 21:1-4: this three-year period, Israel experienced a famine. When David asked God why, he was told it was because Saul and his family had shed the blood of the Gibeonites (v. 1). MacArthur explains that, by attempting to clear the Promised Land of the non-Israelites as God had instructed, “Saul had broken a covenant that had been made 400 years before between Joshua and the Gibeonites, who were in the land when Israel took possession of it” (Joshua 9:3-27; 2 Samuel 21:2).¹This brings up the question of why God allows people to suffer, and why God lets bad things happen to good people. In his suffering, David sought the Lord (Psalm 50:15.)

Romans 8:28 says, “We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to his purpose.” John Piper has shared five purposes for suffering:²

1. Repentance. Our suffering is a call for us to turn away from anything that gets in the way of our relationship with God so we can turn back to Him (Luke 13:4-5).
2. Reliance. Our suffering calls us back to trusting in God for our subsistence (2 Corinthians 1:8-9). Pastor Gordy said to us one day as we were driving around that we have to give God the space to work in the moment.
3. Righteousness. Our suffering teaches us God’s discipline so we can learn to dwell in His righteousness and holiness (Hebrews 12:6, 10-11). Our suffering makes us look more like Him.
4. Reward. Our suffering helps prepare us for our reward in heaven (2 Corinthians 4:17).
5. Reminder. Our suffering helps us remember how Jesus suffered for us so we would not suffer from God’s condemnation (Philippians 3:10).

What David did in the face of the famine pointed to the coming Messiah.

2 Samuel 21:3-9: After hearing from the Lord, David summoned the Gibeonites to find out how he could make atonement for Saul’s actions to them (v. 3). The Gibeonites did not want money, but asked that seven of Saul’s male descendants be given to them to hang in the presence of the Lord. David agreed (vv. 4-6). David spared Jonathan’s son Mephibosheth because of his oath with Jonathan, but handed over seven other descendants (including another family member named Mephibosheth) (vv. 7-8). The seven were hanged on a hill on the first days of the barley harvest (v. 9).

2 Samuel 21:10-14: Two of Rizpah’s sons were among the seven hanged, so she went out to the hill and spread sackcloth out for herself so she could protect the bodies from birds and wild animals. While she was there, the rain poured down upon the bodies. The famine had ended because David did what God had commanded (v. 10). When David heard what Rizpah had done, he got the bones of Saul and Jonathan from Jabesh-gilead and brought them to where Rizpah was. They gathered the bones of the seven descendants who had been hung, and buried them all in the tomb of Saul’s father Kish (vv. 11-14). And, God answered the prayers for the land.

CLOSING

In the church today, we tend to try to sweep things under the rug and not confront or deal with them. But the Lord demanded that the broken covenant be addressed––it had to be dealt with and made right. The amazing thing is that we don’t have to hang seven people to make something right, because Jesus has already hung on the cross for us. Yet, all of us who do not depend upon the Lord are in a season of famine. Praise the Lord that when we come to the cross, we will receive life!

Because David sought after the Lord, He answered David’s prayers. And, the Lord wants to do that for us as well. But it can only happen through a relationship with Christ.