March 25 2012
2 Samuel, Chapters 11 – 18
Kingship:
- What are positives and negatives of having a king/leader?
- What does the Bible say about it? 1 Samuel 8:4-22.
- What was Israel’s experience with kings?
Saul: reigned for 42 years. Did some good things, but became inebriated with power and acted as a paranoid, jealous dictator at time trying to hold onto power.
David: David does good (2 Samuel 8:15). But then we run into the story of David and Bathsheeba. David essentially kills Uriah. David is an interesting character because he responds justly to Nathan’s story and recognizes his own sinfulness when called on it.
Solomon: For all his wisdom, he had a problem with lust and allowed the women in his harem to pull him away from the Lord.
After Solomon: the divided kingdom where there were only a few kings who did well by the Lord. Most led Israel into idolatry and were oppressive.
- David and Solomon are some of the heroes of the Bible, and they were messed up people. David was a man after God’s own heart, and he messed up big time – he was majorly broken.
- what makes him a man after God’s own heart is his recognition of his sinfulness and his holding his identity strongly in the Lord.
- David’s lesson is not one of power or greatness, but of humility and repentance.
- read Psalm 51.
Conclusions:
The lesson we learn is that greatness is not about position but disposition.
We also learn not to give absolute trust or allegiance to anyone other than God (Barmen Declaration)
