1. 2 Samuel – FNG Friday, Nov 2, 2012
Intro to the book
This month we are looking at the book of 2. Samuel. You may remember me
telling you last month how in the days gone by 1. and 2. Samuel were one book,
and at times also joined up with 1. and 2. Kings. And now you can probably see
why. 1. Samuel ends with the death of Saul and Jonathan and 2. Samuel
continues the story right where it left off. David hears the news of the death of
Saul and Jonathan, laments for their loss, and then we move on to how David
became king, first of Judah and then of all the tribes of Israel. This book will take
us right to the end of David’s reign. The story will continue in 1. Kings when
David transfers the kingdom to Solomon and then passes away in the first 2
chapters. So 2. Samuel is basically the account of David’s reign as king.
Historical accounts are a bit more abundant for this period of time, and so we
have a bit more accuracy in establishing the point in time when all this took
place. As you may remember David first ruled just over the tribe of Judah for 7
and a half years, which is thought to be from 1010 BC to 1002 BC. Through a
series of events described in 2. Samuel, David then becomes the king of all the
tribes of Israel, a fairly short period of time when the whole of Israel was a united
kingdom. It is thought that David ruled the whole of Israel from 1002 BC to 970
BC for a total of 40 years on the throne. So it is this period from 1010 BC to 970
BC that we are looking at in the book of 2. Samuel.
God is worthy of worship and respect
I have to say, it is a good thing to sometimes go back and read through the Bible
once again. Yeah, I know, I’m stating the obvious. It’s easy to remember David
as the young man who slew Goliath, ran from a crazy king called Saul and
eventually wound up as the king of Israel, ushering in a golden era for Israel. And
so he is remembered as the greatest king Israel had. In all honesty I have
forgotten just how messy his life was – not just while he was on the run from
Saul, but even when he was on the throne!
So you have just finished reading 2. Samuel with all the various indiscretions of
David and his family so nicely laid out. Probably the most troublesome is the
ghastly treatment of Uriah the Hittite, one of David’s loyal mighty men, all
because David wanted to cover up his illicit affair with Uriah’s wife Bathsheba.
And you are barely 3 chapters into 1. Kings when God says to Solomon: “And if
you walk in my ways and obey my statutes and commands AS DAVID YOUR
FATHER DID, I will give you a long life.” (1. Kings 3:14) God, you cannot be
serious! Didn’t you just read 2. Samuel?! Come to think of it, weren’t you there
watching it happen?!

2. When Samuel was searching for Saul’s replacement, God famously said of David
“Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1.
Samuel 16:7) And it is the story of Uzzah, which Charles just read for us, that is a
great case study for what is at the heart of the matter.
On the surface of it, you may consider it one of the darkest pictures of God. Here
is this grand procession of people bringing back the Ark, when the ox pulling the
cart stumble. Seeing trouble this guy Uzzah hangs on to the Ark to make sure it
doesn’t topple over and gets zapped for his trouble! Yeah, real nice of you God.
To help us understand the story, it is helpful to review just how it came to pass
that the Ark needed bringing back in the first place. And this takes us back to 1.
Samuel chapters 4 thru 6, a time even before Saul was anointed as king over
Israel. It was a time when Eli was the high priest, and his sons had turned the
temple into their own personal bar and brothel. Rather than consult the God
whose presence was manifested between the cherubim on the top of the Ark,
they decided to go up and attack the Philistines. When the Philistines gave them
a good whipping they wondered why the Lord had allowed them to be defeated.
Rather than consult God at this stage, they figured they would just bring this
magic box to go ahead of them in the fighting the next day, as a lucky charm of
sorts. Eli’s sons, Hophni and Phinehas were more than happy to oblige. The next
day, the Philistines gave them yet another good whipping, 30,000 Israelites were
dead, Hophni and Phinehas were dead and the Ark of the Covenant was
captured and carried off to a Philestine town called Ashdod.
Now, you may remember how on a few occasions in this trip through the Bible
we have seen how God was reaching out and interacting with other nations
around Israel. In that same vain, I just love this next part of the story, because it
is classic God at work. In Ashdod, the Philistines put the Ark in the temple of their
god Dagon, the reasoning being we beat you up, therefore our God is bigger and
better than yours, so He can stay in the temple of our god as his servant. Except,
when they came in the following morning, their mighty god Dagon – in reality
nothing but an idol made of wood or stone, lay toppled over in front of the Ark.
Well that was kind of embarrassing, so they quickly propped him back up in time
for morning prayers, and went merrily on their way. The next morning, not only
had Dagon toppled over, but had now shattered into several pieces. So they
quickly reassembled him and propped him back up, but I can only imagine that
by now saner heads spent the morning prayers scratching their heads,
wondering why they were worshipping something they had just superglued
together a few moments ago! Long story short, the citizens of Ashdod had so
much trouble on the account of this box, they decided to get rid of it, so they sent
it to the city of Gath. Their residents had heard the stories, so they refused the
thing and sent it on to Ekron. The citizens of this town had also heard the stories
and wanted no part of it. So after the Ark had been in Philistine territory for 7
months, they gathered their wise men and asked the question – how do we send
this thing back? And part of the answer was: “Now then, get a new cart ready,

3. with two cows that have calved and have never been yoked. Hitch the cows to
the cart, but take their calves away and pen them up. Take the ark of the Lord
and put it on the cart, and in a chest beside it put the gold objects you are
sending back to Him as a guilt offering. Send it on its way,” (1. Samuel 6:7,8)
Which brings us back to our story – the story of Uzzah. How were they
transporting the Ark? “They set the ark of God on a new cart and brought it from
the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab,
were guiding the new cart with the ark of God on it and Ahio was walking in front
of it.” (2. Samuel 6:3,4) So which method of transportation were they employing?
The Philistine method! How was the Ark supposed to be transported? “This is the
work of the Kohathites (one of the clans of Levites) in the Tent of the Meeting:
the care of the most holy things. When the camp is to move, Aaron and his sons
are to go in and take down the shielding curtain and cover the ark of the
Testimony with it. Then they are to cover this with hides of sea cows, spread a
cloth of solid blue over that and put the poles in place. After Aaron and his sons
have finished covering the holy articles, and when the camp is ready to move,
the Kohathites are to come to do the carrying. But they must not touch the holy
things or they will die. The Kohathites are to carry those things that are in the
Tent of Meeting. (Numbers 4:4-6, 15.) The Priests were supposed to prepare it
for transport and the Levites were supposed to carry it. The Philistines didn’t
know that, but the Israelites should have. In fact, 1. Chronicles, which covers a
lot of the same ground as 2. Samuel gives a bit of an explanation. “After David
had constructed buildings for himself in the City of David, he prepared a place for
the ark of God and pitched a tent for it. Then David said, “No one but the Levites
may carry the ark of God, because the Lord chose them to carry the ark of the
Lord and to minister before him forever.” Then David summoned Zadok and
Abiathar the priests, and Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shmaiah, Eliel and Amminadab the
Levites. He said to them, “You are the heads of the Levitical families; you and
your fellow Levites are to consecrate yourselves and bring up the ark of the Lord,
the God of Israel, to the place I have prepared for it. It was because you, the
Levites, did not bring it up the first time that the Lord our God broke out in anger
against us. We did not enquire of him about how to do it in the prescribed way.””
(1. Chronicles 15:1,2,11-13.)
This may seem like a lot of nit picking on God’s part, but remember what the
context was. They had lost the Ark to the Philistines, because they treated it
irreverently and used it as one would use a rabbits foot – as a good luck charm.
The Ark was lost during the time of judges, and had been returned after a mere 7
months. Since then, Saul became king and reigned for 42 years, yet he never
brought the Ark back from where it landed after the Philistines sent it back, he
never went to consult with God there, choosing instead to consult a witch in the
town of Endor.
David was now king, and while he had relied on God in tough times, would the
power corrupt him now that he was on the throne? We don’t really know, but

4. reading the account it does seem like his attitude is more on the lines of: I’d like
this box to be with me. He became angry with God when his plan was foiled,
asking: “How can the ark of the Lord ever come to me?” (2. Samuel 6:9) One
thing is for sure – from that moment on, David and all of Israel took God and the
Ark of the Covenant seriously. It was only at this point that they took the time to
researched the matter and found out the proper way to handle the Ark. It was
shortly thereafter that David looked at his opulent house and said – it is not right
that God is still residing in a tent, and proposed to build a magnificent temple.
This is what made David a man after God’s heart, a man whom God Himself
describes as walking in his ways. David’s heart was turned towards God. Sure,
he messed up on a number of occasions, but he always came to God, open to
receive correction and guidance from God. Being a person after God’s own heart
is not a matter of living a faultless life. It is a matter of attitude, it is a matter of
respect, it is a matter of worship.
Yes, I did say worship. True worship requires respect for the object of our
worship. Ultimately however, it is our attitude that will determine our level of
respect and our worship. We are coming right back to the heart of the question:
what is sin? At the beginning of Jesus’ ministry you may remember that Satan
took Jesus through a series of temptations. In the final one, Satan showed Jesus
the kingdoms of this world and said: “All this I will give you if you will bow down
and worship me.” (Matthew 4:9) Astonishing! The chutzpah of it all – to ask God
to bow down and worship one of his creatures! But that is where it’s at. Is our
attitude self centered or others centered? Is our religion a God-management
system to get what we want, a kind of celestial vending machine, or is our
religion about putting God in His proper place? Was God and the Ark of the
Covenant something that was going to serve David as he ruled HIS kingdom, or
was God and the Ark of the Covenant that which guided David as he ruled over
God’s people and the inheritance God gave them on this earth? Were the
kingdoms of this world really Satan’s to give away in exchange for worship of the
God who created those kingdoms in the first place?
The story of Uzzah and the Ark reminded David, and reminds us that God is
worthy of our respect. He is loving and benevolent to be sure, but He is still the
creator of the Universe and the giver of life itself. He is good to provide all that we
need for life, but He is not to be treated as some kind of a cosmic vending
machine, catering to all our whims and wants, bowing down to worship us. We
need Him to stay alive, not the other way around!
That is why, in the depiction of the final events before Christ’s return and the
finale of this great struggle between God and Satan, the book of Revelation
depicts three angels carrying messages to the world. “Then I saw another angel
flying in mid-air, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on
the earth – to every nation, tribe, language and people. He said in a loud voice,
“Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgement has come.

5. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of
water.”” (Revelation 14:6,7). It comes down to worship. We are called to respect
God and worship the One who is the creator and sustainer of everything, the only
One worthy of our worship, because in the final analysis, that is what this entire
conflict is about: a creature and his Creator vying for the worship of the entire
Universe. And occasionally God has to remind us that the choices we make in
this conflict have serious consequences – we are literally talking about life and
death, eternal life and death. David accepted those reminders and opened his
heart to God, and it is this that God proclaimed as walking in His ways.
Final benediction
Probably the biggest low point of David’s life was when he had one of his most
loyal warriors, Uriah the Hittite killed in order to cover up the illicit affair he had
with his wife. After Nathan the prophet confronted him about that, David repented
and penned what has to be one of the most beautiful personal prayers recorded
in the Bible – Psalm 51. It is my hope that this will also be our prayer. Shall we
bow our heads for prayer as Charles reads the words of Psalm 51.

6. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of
water.”” (Revelation 14:6,7). It comes down to worship. We are called to respect
God and worship the One who is the creator and sustainer of everything, the only
One worthy of our worship, because in the final analysis, that is what this entire
conflict is about: a creature and his Creator vying for the worship of the entire
Universe. And occasionally God has to remind us that the choices we make in
this conflict have serious consequences – we are literally talking about life and
death, eternal life and death. David accepted those reminders and opened his
heart to God, and it is this that God proclaimed as walking in His ways.
Final benediction
Probably the biggest low point of David’s life was when he had one of his most
loyal warriors, Uriah the Hittite killed in order to cover up the illicit affair he had
with his wife. After Nathan the prophet confronted him about that, David repented
and penned what has to be one of the most beautiful personal prayers recorded
in the Bible – Psalm 51. It is my hope that this will also be our prayer. Shall we
bow our heads for prayer as Charles reads the words of Psalm 51.