Winter may seem long but they help us appreciate Spring even more!

2 Samuel 20, 21

I’m kind of stuck on these chapters. I’ve been reading them the last couple of days but I’m not really getting any inspirational message here. Chapter 20 is more cloak and dagger intrigue with David’s general Joab. Chapter 21 is more interesting but reveals a side of God that few of us want to deal with, including me. We tend to “create God in our own image”. In other words we like to think of God with qualities to match up with our view of Him. Chapter 21 does not describe God the way I would create  Him in my image of who I think He should be. With sarcasm I say, “my God wouldn’t do what He did in this chapter.” I say that with sarcasm toward myself because God is far greater and just plain “far more” in every way than I can conceive Him to be. Nevertheless, this chapter is not comfortable.

Your word is your bond

The principle of this story is covenants are sacred to God. They cannot be broken. If they are broken then someone will pay with their blood. There was a famine in the land of Israel for three years. People suffered greatly. So David sought the presence of the Lord and “the Lord said, it (the famine) is for Saul and his bloody house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.” This takes us back to when Joshua led Israel into the promised land and he made a covenant with the Gibeonites, (Joshua 9). As Joshua was moving in to take over the land, the Gibeonites heard of Israel’s victory in Jericho and feared for their lives. So they pretended to be from a faraway land and tricked Joshua into making a covenant of peace with them. Joshua made this covenant without seeking counsel from the Lord. When Joshua discovered they weren’t from faraway but were nearby residents of the promised land, he was angry. Nevertheless, the covenant of peace had been made so they did not kill the Gibeonites but instead made them laborers to serve Israel.

Don’t break God’s Covenants

Now fast forward 400 years to the time of Saul. Saul, in his zeal for military dominance, killed many of the Gibeonites in direct defiance against this well-known covenant. And now Saul is dead, and God is now dealing with the consequences of Saul’s bloody sin. Thus He sent the famine to get David’s attention. So David went to the Gibeonites and asked what he could do to make atonement. They said give us seven heirs of the man who consumed us and planned to exterminate our people so that we can hang them before the Lord. David agreed. He chose seven male heirs of Saul (none of them were Jonathan’s sons because of the covenant he had made with Jonathan). So, the Gibeonites hung the seven men and the Lord removed the drought and the famine.

What can we learn?

This is not an easy chapter to read devotionally. But, what I know for sure is the following: Covenants are important to God. As application to our lives, we should assume that our word should be sacred as well. What we say we are going to do, we must do. Even if we later regret it, we should keep our word. Secondly, do not make the mistake that Joshua did and make a covenant or commitment without seeking God’s counsel first. Too often we do what seems right to us in our own mind. Seek the Lord in all decisions. Do not make decision out of pride, fear or anger. Lastly, by faith accept God for Who He is and the way the Bible describes Him. By faith, understand that God’s ways are not haphazard or random. He always has a purpose for His ways. Some of His ways in the OT are odd but everything He does is moving toward the fulfillment of the New Covenant, fulfilled in Jesus! Amen.