A King on the run
2 samuel 15:13-16:14
Psalm 3:1-2: O Lord, how many are my foes!
Many are rising against me;
many are saying of my soul,
“There is no salvation for him in God.”
Main Idea: What do you do when it seems that God has forsaken you?
Introduction: 2 Samuel 15:13-18
Intermission #1: 2 Samuel 15:19-22
Ittai is an island of fidelity in a sea of treachery. The irony is clear: David’s own son, ‘whom he had loaded with undeserved kindness, was conspiring against him, while this stranger, who owed him nothing in comparison, was risking everything in his cause.’
~ Dale Ralph Davis, 2 Samuel: Out of Every Adversity
Intermission #2: 2 Samuel 15:23-30
David says his restoration (should there be such) does not depend on whether he has Yahweh’s furniture but on whether he has Yahweh’s favor.
~ Dale Ralph Davis, 2 Samuel: Out of Every Adversity
Intermission #3: 2 Samuel 15:31-37
Intermission #4: 2 Samuel 16:1-4
Intermission #5: 2 Samuel 16:5-14
The question does not imply that God was the author of Shimei’s misinformation or mean-spiritedness, just that it was possible that God purposed to use Shimei, sins, bad motives and all, to humble David. And why should David be righteously angry about Shimei’s sins against him, when he himself was guilty of far greater sins? This was God’s way of putting David’s problems in their true perspective, for God had certainly not punished him as his iniquities deserved, for all the difficulties he was going through!
~ V. Philips Long, 1 and 2 Samuel: An Introduction and Commentary
Psalm 3:1-2: But you, O Lord, are a shield about me,
my glory, and the lifter of my head.
I cried aloud to the Lord,
and he answered me from his holy hill.
I lay down and slept;
I woke again, for the Lord sustained me.
I will not be afraid of many thousands of people
who have set themselves against me all around.
Arise, O Lord!
Save me, O my God!
For you strike all my enemies on the cheek;
you break the teeth of the wicked.
Salvation belongs to the Lord;
your blessing be on your people!
What does God do/what is God doing when it seems like God has forsaken you?
