Sermon Tone Analysis

*31*

*ABANDONING OF **JERUSALEM** *

2 SAMUEL 15,16

 

TIMES WERE GETTING rougher and rougher for David, and things would get worse before \\ they got better.

The painful chastisements of David which we have seen in previous \\ studies were not all of David’s chastisements.

More chastisements for his adulterous sins \\ were coming, and much of the coming chastisements would be in the form of an \\ attempted insurrection against his government by his son Absalom.

The acceptance of \\ Absalom by David back to Jerusalem gave Absalom great opportunity to stage an \\ insurrection against David’s monarchy.

The insurrection would eventually be crushed, as \\ later Scripture reports.

But before it was crushed, it would deal some crushing blows to \\ David’s heart and home and honor.

His heart would be broken over the tragedy of \\ Absalom’s death, his home would suffer another tragic loss, and his honor would be \\ diminished among the people of Israel.

Oh, what great troubles David brought upon \\ himself because of the evening of illicit pleasure he had with Bathsheba.

And how \\ frequently and unfortunately this experience happens in every age.

A moment of sinful \\ pleasure results in a lifetime of serious problems for so many people.

But God’s Word \\ warns mankind.

If men would only heed the Word of God, they would eliminate a great \\ many troubles from their lives.

The study of the attempted insurrection of Absalom will take up several chapters in \\ our book.

In this chapter, we will look at the initial stages of the insurrection which \\ resulted in David having to abandon the capital city of Jerusalem where the seat of \\ government and religious center of Israel were located.

In examining this abandonment, \\ we will consider the prompting of the abandoning (2 Samuel 15:1–12), the preparations \\ for the abandoning (2 Samuel 15:13–22), the pathway in the abandoning (2 Samuel \\ 15:23–16:14), and the pollution after the abandoning (2 Samuel 16:15–23).

*A.

THE PROMPTING OF THE ABANDONING *

 

That which prompted David to abandon Jerusalem was “the conspiracy” (2 Samuel \\ 15:12) of Absalom against David.

The first part of the text for our study introduces us to \\ this conspiracy.

It tells us about the pomp, politicking, and progress in the conspiracy.

*1.

The Pomp in the Conspiracy *

 “It came to pass after this, that Absalom prepared him chariots and horses, and fifty \\ men to run before him” (2 Samuel 15:1).

Absalom’s conspiracy against David began to \\ manifest itself when he started parading before the Israelites in a very pompous way in a \\ chariot with horses and runners.

The purpose of this pompous parading by Absalom was \\ to promote Absalom for the throne by giving him (1) extra attention—the pomp would \\ really turn the eyes of the crowds towards him, (2) the appearance of importance—he \\ would look more important than David who only rode on a mule (1 Kings 1:33), and (3) \\ the guise of legality—the pomp would suggest David intended him to be the next king.

\\ Today, instead of using horses, chariots, and runners to promote himself, Absalom \\ would use such things as self-exalting press releases, high powered TV advertisements, \\ and expensive convertibles to ride in parades.

But in that day, horses, chariots, and \\ runners were the method used to promote one’s self.

Later, Adonijah, another son of \\ David, also used this same method to promote himself for the throne when he tried to \\ usurp the throne just before David died.

The Bible said he “exalted himself, saying, I \\ will be king; and he prepared him chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before \\ him” (1 Kings 1:5).

While these pompous promotional methods may succeed in impressing people and \\ gaining much popular support (they obviously helped Absalom in this way), they also \\ reveal much poor character on the part of those who exalt themselves.

If you must use \\ pompous means to promote yourself, you, like Absalom, have some serious character \\ problems.

People who are so eager for attention that they must be gaudy and noisy to get \\ it are the ones who should not have it.

People who must put on a show to make \\ themselves look important are the ones who are not important.

And people who parade \\ in front of the public are, like Absalom, only trying to beguile the public.

With the world being so vile today, it is not surprising that these methods are very \\ popular.

In fact, they are the predominate methods used in advertising and political \\ campaigns.

Unfortunately, many churches and other religious endeavors are also \\ adopting the principles of this pompous parading.

They advertise themselves in the \\ gaudiest of ways, boast of size and statistics which are grossly inflated, and lay claim to \\ positions they do not practice.

If you are looking for a church, do not choose one that \\ uses these methods; or you will get an Absalom church.

Also, do not give money to any \\ religious endeavor that uses these methods; or you will put your money in an Absalom \\ ministry which only opposes God’s Anointed One.

*2.

The Politicking in the Conspiracy *

Announcing his kingly ambitions by his prancing around pompously in a chariot \\ with horses and accompanying runners was not all that Absalom did to forward the cause \\ of his conspiracy against David.

Absalom also did a great deal of politicking with the \\ people to seduce them into supporting his conspiracy to take the throne from David.

To \\ examine this politicking, we note the pursuit, place, prejudging, propaganda, plea, \\ passion, and purloining in the politicking.

/The pursuit of the politicking/.

“Absalom rose up early, and stood beside the way of \\ the gate” (2 Samuel 15:2).

Absalom was very zealous in this politicking business, for he \\ got up early in the morning to pursue his evil.

He meant business in his conspiracy \\ against David.

Oh, that we would see as much zeal for good causes as we see in \\ Absalom for a bad cause.

How often good people are shamed for lack of zeal for good \\ causes by the zeal of bad people for evil causes.

The devil is not lazy; he is up early and \\ plotting late to do evil.

He does not sleep in late in the morning and quit work early in \\ the afternoon.

He is a workaholic.

He rises before the birds and burns the midnight oil.

\\ When was the last time you exerted yourself with anything akin to that zeal in your \\ service for God?

 

/The place in the politicking/.

“Absalom .stood

beside the way of the gate” (2 Samuel \\ 15:2).

The “way of the gate” spoke of the place of judgment.

Today it would be the \\ courtroom.

“Controversy” (v. 2), “thy matters” (v.

3), and “suit or cause” (v.

4) all refer \\ to lawsuits and other such complaints one finds in a courtroom.

This place would, \\ therefore, be a place where you would find a lot of disgruntlement and complaining.

And \\ when these things are present, evil causes thrive.

Absalom used this fact about “the way \\ of the gate” very effectively to advance his conspiracy against David.

He knew the \\ people at “the gate” would be more attentive than others to his complaints about the \\ government and his desire to change it.

Communists know this fact, too; and often stir up \\ disgruntlement in a land so they can better push their program.

Churches know about \\ this tactic of evil, too.

It is through the complaining and disgruntled Christians that the \\ devil can often do his most damaging work in the church.

/The prejudging in the politicking/.

“When any man that had a controversy came to the \\ king for judgment . . .

Absalom said unto him, See, thy matters are good and right” (2 \\ Samuel 15:2,3).

Absalom evilly used the “gate” location to try to ingratiate himself with \\ the people by appearing to side with them in whatever matter they were bringing to the \\ king for judgment.

This, of course, was despicable judgment; for it decided a case before \\ all sides were heard.

But Absalom was not interested in justice—he was interested in a \\ job—the job of a king.

So he said whatever would help him gain the people’s favor.

This \\ is a popular tactic of politicians.

They always try to appear to represent the people’s \\ interest.

Wherever they travel, they side with the people in that area.

This means they \\ will often contradict themselves.

But they could care less, for they are not interested in \\ bringing equity to the voters but in being elected by the voters.

/The propaganda in the politicking/.

“There is no man deputed of the king to hear \\ thee” (2 Samuel 15:3).

Absalom resorted to a clever, but corrupt, political tactic which is \\ to make false accusations if necessary in order to stir up people against your opponent.

\\ And in making these accusations, he did what many crafty politicians do—play on the \\ people’s impatience and emphasize the lack of service being provided for them.

People \\ do not like to wait, and they especially get upset if they think they are not getting \\ something due them, such as, if they are not getting their rights which we hear so much \\ about today.

Absalom endeavored to turn the people against David by charging that \\ David’s government was inefficient in dealing with the problems of its citizens.

But it \\ was a trumped-up charge.

David was taking care of the people’s complaints as was \\ evidenced by the fact that he heard the complaint of the woman of Tekoah (which we \\ noted in our previous chapter).

But there is no performance by the criticized that will \\ satisfy the evil criticizer.

/ /

/The plea in the politicking/.

“Oh that I were made judge in the land, that every man \\ which hath any suit or cause might come unto me, and I would do him justice” (2 \\ Samuel 15:4).

What a sick plea.

Absalom’s claim about doing justice is most \\ hypocritical, for he had already demonstrated in prejudging the people’s cases that he is \\ not interested in justice.

Furthermore, he was unqualified to be a judge, for he was a \\ gross lawbreaker (murderer and arsonist).

He did not obey the law yet wanted to be a \\ judge to promote obeying the law.

He is an example of the unqualified person pushing \\ himself for high office.

Matthew Henry said, “Those are commonly most ambitious of \\ preferment that are least fit for it, the best qualified are the most modest.”