2 Samuel 15:7-12

2 Samuel 15, 7 to 12. And it came to pass after 40 years that Absalom said unto the king, I pray thee let me go and pay my vow, which I have vowed under the Lord in Hebron. For thy servant vowed a vow while I abode at Gesher and Syria, saying, if the Lord shall bring me again indeed to Jerusalem, then I will serve the Lord. And the king said on him, go in peace. So he arose and went to Hebron. But Absalom sent spies through all the tribes of Israel, saying, As soon as ye hear the sound of the trumpet, then you shall say Absalom reigneth in Hebron. And with Absalom went 200 men out of Jerusalem that were called, and they went into this in with their simplicity. They knew not anything. And Absalom sent for Ahithrafell, the Gileonite, David’s kiosk. counselor from his city, even from gillow, while he offered sacrifices. And the conspiracy was strong for the people increased continually with Absalom. May God bless to us his sacred and holy word this evening. In Esop’s fables, we find that one winter, a farmer, found a viper, frozen and numb out in the field. And so feeling sorry for the poor snake, he decided to pick it up and place it inside his coat against his chest that he might keep it warm and revive it. Well, no sooner did the viper revive after it had been warmed up, and it bit the farmer, sank its fangs into him, and the venom affected the farmer immediately. The bitten farmer lay dying. And he cried out, I’ve only gotten what I deserve for taking compassion on such a villainous creature. King David has had compassion on his son, Absalom, and restored him to the royal court, as we saw last week. Absalom deserved to put to death according to the law of God. He didn’t deserve to be kept alive. But David, as the chief judge of the nation, couldn’t bring himself to the point of putting him to death, and so Absalom is spared the swords blow. Is Absalom grateful to his father? No, he cold-heartedly here plots to snatch the throne away from David, as we saw last week. Absalom was a very shrewd man, and he wages a successful campaign for the hearts of the people, and we see his godless ambition at work. Now Absalom is about to see. strike his benefactor, just as the viper did, the poor farmer. I want to speak tonight on God’s purpose in the wicked’s rise to power. Now, there is a textual note that we need to address. That’s found in verse 7, the very first phrase about, it came to pass after 40 years, but some question as to exactly what does this mean? In alternative reading of some text, is possibly correct. It says four years. If so, then it probably dates to the time when David restored Absalom, and he spent four years cultivating the people, getting ready for this revolution, stealing their hearts. If 40 years is the correct rendering of the text, then the question is, what does this refer to? Well, it can’t refer to David’s coronation because he’s He hasn’t reigned for 40 years. That’s the total number of years he will reign. And we’ll look at 2nd Samuel 21. There’s going to be three years of famine that’s going to come. So that doesn’t seem to fit. Some have referred this to David’s anointing by Samuel. That was seven years before Hebron and where he was his coronation. So this would be the 33rd, the 33rd year. of David’s reign. That’s possible. Some have referred the date to the time that the people desired a king from Samuel, like the other nations. If that’s the case, we’re about 10 years before David’s began his coronation and his reign, so we’re about the 30th years of his reign. That’s possible as well. Some have said, well, this could refer to Absalom’s age, but David only rained 40 years, and he, Absalom was born. in Hebron, after he started reigning as king, it doesn’t seem to fit in that. So I suggest that one of the other two is certainly a possibility. Let me begin tonight by saying this. You often see the success of the wicked in gaining political power. You find the wicked’s life ambition is to gain political power, and we saw that in the first six verses of this chapter. All this is, crookedness, all this cunning activity by Absalon is carried on with unwearied vigor, that he might get power. Absalom is resolutely devoted to his work of stealing the hearts of the people of Israel. For he seems to have labored at this task without interruption for a number of years. You can see how persistent the children of this world are to rise in power. It’s one of their chief goals in life. Absalom gets up early in the morning to rush down to the gates of Jerusalem, to mix with the people who have a grievance to get in with them, to get their ear. And it would appear he did this for a period of time. He never missed an opportunity to win people over. Like so many of his ilk, His thirst for power is really unmatched, for his whole life is focused upon it. Everything hinges on Absalom getting power. Men love to have the preeminence over others, to have people under their authority. Unless we see politicians will lie, chill, steal, cheat. They’ll do whatever it takes, whatever underhanded tactic is necessary to get ahead. and to be the winner. I wish that Christians were half as diligent in promoting the kingdom of God as the wicked are and promoting themselves. But you find the wicked’s life ambition is to gain political power, and you find the wicked take full advantage of any weakness in the opposition to do so. Now, while all this trouble is brewing, the question in our mind is, where’s David? Isn’t he paying attention to what’s going on? in his kingdom? He seems strangely passive. Maybe we could say paralyzed. How could the king be ignorant about what’s taking place? Why doesn’t he nift this conspiracy in the butt? A careful reading the Psalms has suggested that David was suffering from a serious and prolonged illness at this particular time. If you look with me at Psalm 41. Psalm 41 and verses 1 to 9. Psalm 41 verses 1 to 9. Blessed is he that considereth the poor, the Lord will deliver him in the time of trouble. The Lord will preserve him and keep him alive, and he shall be blessed upon the earth, and thou wilt not deliver him under the will of his enemies. The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing. Thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness. I said, Lord, be merciful. unto me. Heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee. My enemies speak evil of me. When shall he die? And his name perish? And if he come to see me, he speaketh vanity. His heart gather in the iniquity. When he goeth abroad, he telleth it. All that hate me whisper together against me, against me, do they devise my hurt? And evil disease say they cleaveth unto him. Now that he lieth, he shall rise, he shall rise. up no more, yea, my own familiar friend in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me. This, of course, many refer to Ahithrafell that we read about. Of course, the greater Hithrafell is Judas, and his betrayal of Christ, which I think a Hithrafell is just a type of of Judas in the Old Testament. But we can see if this is the case if David is actually sick at this time. You can see the hardness of Absalon’s heart. He doesn’t care. He’s going to take advantage. Any chink in the armor, any weakness that he sees in David, he’s going to take advantage of it. So he sees this perhaps is the key point at which he can take over. Politics is a dirty business. So exploiting any chink in your enemy’s armor is commonplace. You know, a new generation has now risen and David is getting old-fashioned. Where Absalom is, you know, he’s hip, he’s handsome, he’s up to date, he’s more in tune, and the people like him. David is too frail and weak to rule the kingdom anymore. It’s time for someone more vigorous, young, to take the reins of the government. You can see all arguments that could be used in order to oust David. These indictments are made today, certainly the same kind of indictments are made in the political realm. You learn from this that the people of this world are merciless in their treatment of the righteous. David here is the righteous man. It doesn’t matter. You know, he’s going to be treated terribly and taken advantage of by Absalom. Don’t expect our political foes to go easy on us. They will crush the Christian by exploiting any weakness they can find in us. That’s the way Absalom was. So you find that we could take full advantage of any weakness in the opposition. You find the wicked also will use the guise of religion to further their cause. Now in verses 7 and 9, we read here about Absalon’s vow that he tells David that he’s made this vow when he was at Hebron and he has to return and excuse me, he made the vow while he was at Gesher and he has to go to Hebron to fulfill it. And so Absalon sought David’s permission to go. Now the vow itself is in the nature of sort of a bargain with God if you do this and then I’ll do that as verse 8 indicates. I think it’s doubtful that Absalom actually made such a vow. Look at the tenor of Absalon’s character. And it seems all so convenient that a seven or eight-year-old vow now fit right into his bid for the throne. And it suggests it was contrived. When did we ever see any personal piety in this man in the scriptures? We don’t see him doing anything spiritual at all. And even under the guise of religion, he’s going to use this for an evil purpose. So he uses his religion to pull David and gain permission to go to Hebron. How could David refuse such an act of devotion to God? David doesn’t suspect anything, but now the die is cast. They’ve crossed the Rubicon. There’s no turning back at this point. There’s no fear of God before the eyes of Abs of Absalom. He deliberately lies, it seems to me, about going to worship God. Now, we shouldn’t think that politicians would not stoop to quoting scripture or attending church to gain votes. They will use religion to gain votes. Politicians will readily use religion to obtain support for their cause regardless of how personally ungodly they may be. It’s amazing the scriptures that they come up with to support their particular viewpoint. When they won’t talk about scripture at any other time, but in order to bash the Christians, they certainly will use scripture. Let’s put it this, and they will twist the scriptures to their own advantage. Don’t be fooled by this. Remember, Satan himself could quote quote scriptures. So it’s no big thing that scripture is quoted. Jesus had to clarify the lies in Satan’s attempts to deceive Christ. There are many marine creatures who have their own natural shell to live in. But crabs take possession of discarded sea snail shells and they bear them about as if they’re their own. They live in them. And the crab lives in the shell as long as it suits him. And then when he needs a larger one, he goes and gets a larger one. one or when he gets a better one, he uses that one. When it becomes inconvenient, he discards it. The shell isn’t part of the crab. It’s just a tool he uses for his all purposes. Beware of anyone who uses religion for his own purposes. It’s not part of his character. It’s not part of him. It’s just a tool that he’s using. People put on the shell of religion when it helps them easily discard it any other time. So you find the wicked will use the guise of religion to further their cause. Notice something else here. You find the wicked seek to make their cause appear stronger than it actually is. Versus 10 and 11 here. We find Absalom sending out the spies and the 200 men out of Jerusalem that come to Hebron and so forth. First, Absalom sends the spies. These are secret messengers that were you are secret messengers that were united to his cause and when they went out and told everybody that was his supporters out in the country, what was going to happen and when it was going to happen. As soon as they heard the sound of trumpets, they were instructed to proclaim throughout the land that Absalom reigns. Absalom wished to have the nation believe it was a fate accomplished. It was all done and over with. Either that David had died or that the king had turned over the kingdom to his son, Absalom. Second, Absalom summons 200 prominent men from Jerusalem to accompany him to Hebron. Now, we’re told here these men really had no idea that was going to happen. But it doesn’t look good, does it? It seems like these people are right with Absalom, even though he’s just playing, and he’s using them as pawns in his scheme. And imagine how they must have felt. If they rejected what Absalom had done at Hebron, then they would irk him. And of course, if they didn’t reject it, they would be traitors to David. So they were sort of between a rock and a hard place in this situation. In politics, appearances are everything. The media is sort of like those spies or the secret messengers. They influence people. They shade things. They make proclamations the favor of their candidate. To spread news helpful to that person they want in office. Politicians used, biased, and even rigged polls that we saw from our last election to make things appear to be in their favor. That’s like the 200 people that they were kind of, it looked like they were on, on, on, on, on reality, they were not. It was all rigged. So you find the wicked secret. to make their cause appear stronger than it actually is. Notice, fifthly, you find the wicked employing the brightest minds to aid their cause. Here we find ithraffel, verse 12, David’s counselor, and we’ll find later on that his counsel was, if you ask, counsel of God. He was a brilliant man. Hithraffel was a man full of worldly wisdom. No one in the kingdom could hold a king. candle to him. He was a bright and brilliant mind. He was the man upon whose counsel the whole rebellion would rest. He was the astute political thinker who brilliantly guided Absalom. He was the brains behind everything. He was the familiar friend, as I mentioned, from Psalm 41-9, who betrayed, David. Have you ever noticed that the godly, often find themselves up against the most brilliant masterminds who champion the cause of the wicked. We seem like we’re always the little guy. We’re always the David against the Goliath in this world. And there’s always that situation where the best and the brightest of this world seem to be aligned against us. And it’s a fearful thing to be placed in that position. But it doesn’t appear that you have a chance. chance to win. You’re out-thought. You’re out-maneuvered before you realize what has actually happened. It’s a frightening situation. The people of this world are often humanly wiser than the children of light, is what Jesus said. And they are shrewd, they are cunning, they are crafty, they are devious, and they take advantage of us. So you often see the success of the wicked in gaining political power. Now, secondly, You should realize the success of the wicked to gain political power fulfills God’s purpose. Now, you find God mysteriously allows the wicked to be successful. For at the end of this chapter, or the end of this section, verse 12 there, the conspiracy was strong and the people increased, continue with Absalom. Everything’s going good. He is winning. Why does God let this? happened. Absalon’s rebellion is wrong. It stands in direct opposition to God’s word and the advancement of God’s kingdom, and yet God mysteriously allows the wicked to be successful. It’s a puzzling situation. That the omnipotent God, who determines all things, lets the wicked be successful. Now, the Roman Catholics and the Armenians will tell you, well, God is clever enough to outwit man. And he’s able to be successful. And he’s able to do, to control the general course of history and bring it to a satisfactory conclusion, but man has his free will and man can do as he pleases. this implies that many of the details of history God can’t actually control. he just has to react to these things. some people liken God to a world champion chess master who masterfully plays all the pieces so that he outplays man. Man’s doing his best, but God just outplays him. And finally, checkmates him. Scripture, however, tells us something completely different, doesn’t it? Scripture tells us that God predestinates all things, and that nothing happens outside of his will or purpose. It must be acknowledged then that God determines the choices of men, and that since evil choices are made by men, God’s purposes and he determines evil for his own wise ends. the Bible says the preparations of the heart in man and the answer the tongue is from the Lord. the Bible says the king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord and he as the rivers of water, he turneth it withersoever he will. the Bible says this in Psalm 105.25, he turneth their heart, meaning the Egyptians, to hate his people, to deal subtly with his servants. what? That God would turn the Egyptians’ hearts to hate the Israelites and then mistreat them? How can that be? But isn’t this the plain teaching of Scripture? Man’s will is not free, even though he may think it is. And what all this means is that Absalom’s rebellion, and its present success was fully determined and purposed by God. All his plots and schemes, all of Ahithrafels’ brilliant planning, everything comes to pass, exactly as God purposed it to come to pass. This raises the question, why does God decree evil when it appears to be at cross purposes with the advancement of his kingdom on the earth? So you find God mysteriously allows the wicked to be successful. Then you find that God often punishes a godless people by giving them a wicked roar. Years ago, at my health club, I struck up a friendship one. There was several FBI agents that used to work out at the club I used to go to. And during election time, this was Obama versus McCain. It was eight years ago. And there was a conservative there who loved Ronald Reagan and At one point, knowing that I was a minister, he said this. He said, you know, I don’t think God would allow Obama to become president of the United States because he thought Obama had communistic ties here and thinking. I replied, you’re mistaken because the scriptures teach that God sometimes gives wicked leaders in order to punish people. Now, that is a pretty scary thought, but I want you to look at Josea Chapter 13 with me. And I believe it. Notice what God says here in verses 9 through 11. O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself, but in me is thine help. I will be thy king. Where is any other that will save thee in all thy cities? And thy judges of whom thou said, give me a king and princes. I gave thee a king in mine anger and took him away in my wrath. Here Israel they wanted a king and they wanted a king like the other nation. God says, okay, I’ll give you a king. But it wasn’t something that benefited them. So they destroyed themselves by these kings that they clamored after, as the text indicates to us. And this is what we find the scriptures revealing to us. While man will follow his own wicked schemes, God may let it succeed for a time for his own wise ends. Sometimes political leaders are given to the people because God is angry with them. And he’s punishing them by giving them these leaders. Psalm 1096 says, set thou a wicked man over him. Let Satan stand at his right hand. Set a wicked man over him. Now, we can’t. judge things by the initial success because kings can be given in anger and taken away in wrath. Remember all the evil policies men pursue, no matter how initially successful they may be, they must ultimately fail if God’s wrath is hanging over them. The people of Israel will suffer a great loss of life by siding with Absalom. There are going to be many people that are going to die in this civil war that’s coming up. they’re going to be killed. And they’re going to regret their choice. And they’re going to have to eat it because they’re going to have to bring David back, as we’ll see later on. So we find that God often punishes the godless people by giving them a wicked ruler. And you find that God uses the rise of a wicked ruler to chasten his people. Absalom’s rebellion at the same time was a rod of correction for David. Was it not? Isn’t this what we already heard in the past from chapter 12 and verse 11? Read the book of judges. When God people stray from true worship, God sends a king, a wicked king, a heathing king to rule over them. And only when they cry out to him does he send a judge to deliver them. By raising up some foreign king to conquer and rule over them, he has to bring his people to repentance. Now, we’ve covered this before, so I’m going to be. not going to dwell on it tonight or belabor the point. But notice how the same event here may bring about two different purposes. First, it will bring about the ruin of the wicked, because Absalom is wicked, and those who follow him are wicked, and they’re going to all be put to death. The judgment is going to fall against Ahithrafel and Absalom and those in leadership capacity. But for the elect, it is also going to be something. that God is doing, it’s going to be a chastening for David. And those who perhaps have done the wrong thing in God’s sight among the people of God there. So for the non-elect, it leads to their ruin. But for the elect, it’s for their spiritual benefit, but it’s the same event. So when it comes to a dark providence from God, its purpose depends on who you are. It depends on whether you’re godly or ungodly. A believer or an unbelie. as a believer in Christ when a wicked leader arises it’s a call to repentance it’s a call for us to humble ourselves before the Lord God seeing the danger that the nation is in seeing the trouble that is going to come as the scripture says knowing the time it’s high time to wake out of sleep and sometimes wicked leaders wake us up spiritually so we’ve called the renewal when the wicked rise to power so you’ve called the find God uses the rise of a wicked ruler to chases his people. And finally, you find God’s purpose in giving the wicked political power often is to reveal his might and power over them. Look at Romans chapter 9. Romans 9, verses 17 and 18. The scripture saith on the Pharaoh, even for this same purpose, if I raise thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore, hath he mercy on whom we have mercy on whom we have mercy in whom he will. He hardened it. God gave Pharaoh personal being and position and honor and greatness and power and talents and his kingdom. God does this for every wicked ruler. What do we talk about Absalom? What were we talking about Nero? Where do we talk about Hitler or Putin or whoever we’re talking about? Notice God raises up Pharaoh in his wickedness. He was raised up so that he should pursue a course of rebellion against God. Not letting the people of Israel go. Why? That he may go down to his destruction in the Red Sea. His rebellion against God was not contrary to God’s purpose. It fulfilled God’s purpose. And Scripture tells you that Pharaoh even vindicated God after being told that God raised them up and hardened them. Here’s what he says in Exodus 9. I have sinned this time, the Lord is righteous, I and my people are wicked. So notice here, either the wicked triumph in their wickedness by their own strength or their own free will, or they do so according to God’s purpose for an eventual good end, their destruction. So wicked rulers do not get their position on their own. God puts them there. The power of them. that be ordained of God. God raises up wicked rulers for the ultimate purpose of revealing and displaying his power and his glory in the earth. So God hardens their heart. They stubbornly oppose his revealed will and they show themselves vessels of wrath fitted for destruction. And God is glorified in defeating and destroying them. Thus, Proverbs 16, 4, The Lord have made all things for himself, for his own glory, yet even the wicked for the day of evil. Let me close tonight by saying this. The farmer who placed the frozen and numb viper inside his coat to warm him soon regretted because he got bit and he died. David was guilty of doing the same kind of thing with regard to Absalom, who was a dangerous person, and yet he didn’t put him to death. And he gets bitten as well. You often see the success of the wicked and gaining political power. That’s great. commonplace. But we should realize that the success of the wicked is still in the purpose of God, and he has a good end in it. One is the destruction of the wicked, and the other is the chastening of the righteous. And we should always keep that in mind. Let us pray for the prayer tonight.