2 Samuel, Chapter 1 - The Crown Passes | Prophets of Israel Daily

[music] Shalom friends. Welcome back to the Prophets of Israel Daily. This is chapter 1 of the second book of Samuel, brought to you by the land of Israel network at the land of Isisrael.com. I am Ari Yehuda Abrahamz, which means in Hebrew, lion of Judah, son of Abraham. And I'm here with Yeryahu, Jeremy Gel, my Revy, my friend, my commander. Shalom, Jeremy. >> Hey. >> So, listen. Today we are beginning the book of David, the story of the greatest king in Israel's history. But before we begin, it's important to understand that this is not really a fresh start. It's the continuation of a story that reached a devastating turning point on the slopes of Mount Gilboa, where King Saul and his sons fell in battle against the Philistines. And Israel was left grieving and leaderless and probably feeling very exposed. And the very first words really bring it all together. Verse one. Now it came to pass after the death of Saul. Right? Where have we heard that before? And it came to pass after the death of those are the exact words that open the book of Joshua after the death of Moshe, right, of Moses. We begin this whole journey hundreds of chapters ago with those words. And here they are again, right? A giant falls, an era closes, and these same questions hang in the air that once hung over the Jordan. Who's going to carry this mission forward? What's going to happen? Right? So, picture the scene. David is down in Ziklo in the south, having just returned from rescuing his family and the families of his men after the Amalachites who took them captive. He doesn't even know yet that the war in the north has ended in disaster. And on the third day, a man staggers in. His clothing is torn. Earth heaped on his head. Right? These are the ancient signs of of grief and mourning. And he throws himself to the ground before David. And David presses him. He's saying, "What happened? What happened? Tell me what happened." And the man delivers unthinkable news. The army fled. Many fell. Saul and his son, Yonatan, Jonathan, they're dead. Then the story goes in a little bit of a strange direction. David asks how he knows and the young man tells a tale. He says he happened to be on Mount Gilboa, found Saul wounded and leaning on his spear with the chariots closing in and that the king begged to be put out of his agony. So he finished it himself. And as proof, he hands David the crown from Saul's head and the band from his arm. Now, if you remember the end of First Samuel, this is actually not what happened there. Saul fell on his own sword. So, this young man is lying or definitely embellishing, but probably outright lying or claiming that he killed what he probably only witnessed. Either way, he made a deadly miscalculation. He assumes he's bringing good news. He assumes the man Saul hunted for years will reward whoever finished the job. And he could not have been more wrong because David does not celebrate. David tears his clothes and so do all of his men and they weep and mourn and fast until evening. For Saul, for Jonathan, for the people of the God of Israel, and for the house of Israel, for the devastation, for the sword that has just ravaged the nation. You know what gets me here, Ari, is that like everyone around would have understood, maybe even expected just like a sigh of relief, like the hunting is over. I mean, this is the man that chased David through the wilderness. He was like literally hunted like an animal and finally he's gone. The throne is open and David grieavves. I mean, real grief. It wasn't an act. And I think that's it like gives us a window into David's heart. No matter what, there was a part of David that really loved Sha. It's really makes the story so marvelous. I mean, he was the hero of Israel when David was a kid. Can you imagine how he admired Sha, the first king of Israel as a young boy, the defender of Israel. I mean, those memories never left him. David knew Sha personally at Sha's best. He had a relationship with him. He loved his daughter. He loved his son. He ate at his table. I mean, nothing about the relationship between Shaul and Davided was ever political. Everything was personal. And it's just a beautiful insight into David's heart who's described as a man after God's own heart. >> Yeah. And then and then what happens? David turns back to the messenger. He asks where he's from. And the answer is like boom, right? [clears throat] I am the son of Agar, a sojourer and a Malachite. And Amalachite, right? And what does David say? Verse 14. How are you not afraid to stretch out your hand to destroy the anointed of the Lord? And David orders him executed. Your blood is on your own head. He tells him, "Your own mouth testified against yourself when you said, I killed the Lord's Messiah." Right? The Lord's anointed. >> Ari, the detail that he's an Amalachite is not a coincidence. It's the whole key. I mean, think about who Amalecch is in the Torah. Amalch is the nation that attacked the weak and the weary stragglers from behind, the ones who couldn't defend themselves. Amalch is the one who shows up at the edge of someone else's catastrophe, and then like a scavenger tries to profit from it. He finds a dying king, strips him of the crown off his head to trade it for a reward with the guys who he thinks are king's are the king's rivals. I mean, and here's the part that really gives me chills. Evil Amalecch passes the crown to David. I mean, that symbolizes and represents a truth being taught, a prophecy. All forces of the world submit to the king of Israel. I mean, let that sink in. Amc evil, like all of the darkness of the world, ultimately it's being used now to pass the crown over to the king of Israel. That's so deep. And you know, how can we not point out the divine providence here? Sha's downfall began where he failed to deal with Amalch properly. He spared what he was told to eliminate. And now at the very end, it's an Amalachite who claims the final blow and carries Saul's crown off the mountain. I mean, the circle closes. It's like his mistake at Amalecch is what ripped the kingdom away from him and gave it to David personally. And now like a microcosm of that is being played out in his own personal life. Amalik is literally taking the crown and handing it over. The very thing Saul wouldn't face became the hand that delivered his crown to his successor. >> Yeah. You know, and now actually comes in an an action from King David that I think is really beautiful, right? He doesn't give a speech. He composes a song, a kina, right? a lament, something that transcends, I think, the intellectual element of just a sermon, right? It's much deeper. And he names it, right? He names it kashet, the like like the keshet, like the bow. And he commands that it be taught to the people of Judah. It opens in verse 19, Israel, the glory of Israel lies slain upon your high places. How have the mighty fallen? How have the mighty fallen? It's a line so perfect it is really echoed throughout 3,000 years of Jewish history of Israelite grief of of just the story of the human condition. Human grief. He cries out, "Tell it not in Gat. Proclaim it in the streets of Ashcolon. Don't let the Philistine cities turn our sorrow into their celebration." He curses the very mountain. Let no dew, no rain fall upon the hills of Gilboa. And then the heart of it, verse 23, Saul and Jonathan, beloved and cherished in their lives, and in their death they were not parted. And for his soulmate, write his brother in covenant where their souls were attached. Verse 26, I am in anguish over you, my brother Jonathan. Right? Theirs was one of the purest loves in the entire Bible. Jonathan, the crown prince, who knew full well that David would take the throne that many would say was rightfully his, at least in this realm and in this world. And Jonathan loved him anyways, protected him, gave it all up for him willingly from a place of love. And David never forgets it. Not here, not ever. You know, Ari, I just want to note that what David does with his pain is just beautiful because it really is the it's like a new insight that I think was brought into the world by King David. He doesn't bury his sorrows. He turns it into a song and then he commands that that song be taught to all of Judah. His grief becomes a Torah that he teaches. And until today in modern Israel, how heroes have fallen. That is like a saying that was taught by David that is passed down for thousands of years. I mean the sorrow of the love and friendship lost becomes national memory in its truest sense. So it's like a healthy nation. They don't suppress its losses. It doesn't collapse under the losses. It literally sings them. It hands them to the next generation. And look at the order of things. David his first act as a king rising to the honor of kings. It's like I want to give honor to the king who came before me. And the way that Joshua in the first chapter honored Moses before crossing the Jordan in Israel today, the day before we celebrate independence, Yomod, we celebrate a day of morning of Yoma of Israel's memorial day. It's like we cry before we celebrate that sequence is pure King David. The throne can wait. First we honor the fallen. >> Yeah, that's we that is that is until this very day. That's true. And friends, I have to tell you, living up here in the hills, this chapter hits very close to home. You know, David's curse on Gilboa that no should fall on it is one of those verses you can almost feel in the land. Travelers wrote for centuries about the strange barrenness of those slopes of Gilboa. And in our own generation, we've watched the people of Israel plant the Gilboa green again. As if the very curse of grief is slowly being lifted by a nation that's come home. And isn't that the whole story here, right? The mighty fall and yet the story does not end. Saul's sun sets so that David's can rise, right? the the era of the first failed kingship closes so that the kingdom of David, the line of Messiah, the very engine of redemption can begin. And maybe that's the that's the little bit of the message of this opening chapter, right? Ending in the life of Israel are never true endings. They're thresholds. After the death of Moshe gave us Joshua and the land. after the death of Sha gives us David and the eternal throne. Every fall we have ever mourned has somehow become the soil of the next rising. And we're living inside that very truth right now. So how do we respond when the mighty fall? Like David, we grieve with our whole heart. We refuse to let our enemies turn our pain into their party. We honor what was with dignity and without erasing it. And then only then we rise to carry the mission forward. And and I think I I think Jeremy, all of you, that instinct of David's to take a moment of grief and turn it into something the whole nation could carry together. That's really a part of what we're trying to build here in this generation, what we're building at the network, what we're building here in the hills of Judea. Because learning these chapters alone is one thing, but learning them together as a family week after week, voices from all over the world, that's where it really comes alive. And that's what our fellowship is. Every single week, we gather live from these hills in Judea. Hundreds of us from 35 countries to learn, to pray for one another, and to walk this journey side by side. It's honestly, it's hard to put into words until you're inside it. And uh and when you join, you're not just supporting the network, you're becoming a part of it. And now you can do so also on a trial level. Just see if it's right for you, how it feels. Sign up for it, but really go to one or two of them and see if it brings your soul to life. And so when you're joined, you're a part of us. You're strengthening us. [music] And please God, it's a blessing to you. So come find your place with us at the land of Isisrael.com, my friends. Bizarashem, we'll see you [music] tomorrow for chapter 2 with Jeremy.