Confidence in Chaos
Notes
Transcript
As we do every Sunday morning, we open God’s Word and continue through whichever book of the Bible we’re studying at the moment.
For the last few months, we’ve been in the OT book of 2 Samuel. We’ve primarily focused on the life of David. We like David. He’s been a mostly positive example for us—he’s God’s chosen king at this point in history.
He’s a pretty good guy, and a mostly good king. But he’s not perfect. We’ll see as we turn the page from 2 Samuel 10 to 2 Samuel 11 that he’s a sinner, like all the rest of us.
The danger is: looking up to him to the point we put him on a pedestal, making him our hero or the hero of the story.
A twin danger is: looking down our noses at him, thinking his sin is somehow worse than ours. That we’re better than him.
He isn’t worse than us; we’re not better than him. He’s not the hero of the story. He’s a sinner. He’s just like us.
The account we’re going to look at this morning is really good. It’s different. There are a couple of odd moments and an awkward moment.
We’re going to read the word “buttocks”, which is a strange thing to read in the Bible. But it’s there. We don’t avoid any section of the Bible. I’m going to preach every part of it. Because every part of it—each and every word of it—is God’s Word for us. It’s breathed-out by God for the benefit of His people.
If you have your Bible (and I hope you do), please turn with me to 2 Samuel 10. If you don’t have a Bible, we have one for you. They’re located at each entrance, or you can come ask me and I’ll get you your own copy.
If you’re following along in the pew Bible, the text for today starts on page _____.
Please follow along in your copy of the Bible with me as we work our way through this chapter, bit-by-bit.
1 In the course of time, the king of the Ammonites died, and his son Hanun succeeded him as king. 2 David thought, “I will show kindness to Hanun son of Nahash, just as his father showed kindness to me.” So David sent a delegation to express his sympathy to Hanun concerning his father.
When David’s men came to the land of the Ammonites, 3 the Ammonite commanders said to Hanun their lord, “Do you think David is honoring your father by sending envoys to you to express sympathy? Hasn’t David sent them to you only to explore the city and spy it out and overthrow it?” 4 So Hanun seized David’s envoys, shaved off half of each man’s beard, cut off their garments at the buttocks, and sent them away.
5 When David was told about this, he sent messengers to meet the men, for they were greatly humiliated. The king said, “Stay at Jericho till your beards have grown, and then come back.”
6 When the Ammonites realized that they had become obnoxious to David, they hired twenty thousand Aramean foot soldiers from Beth Rehob and Zobah, as well as the king of Maakah with a thousand men, and also twelve thousand men from Tob.
7 On hearing this, David sent Joab out with the entire army of fighting men. 8 The Ammonites came out and drew up in battle formation at the entrance of their city gate, while the Arameans of Zobah and Rehob and the men of Tob and Maakah were by themselves in the open country.
It’s a strange start to the story. I initially entitled the sermon “Beards and Buttocks” but that felt really weird, even if it is the action that causes the main conflict. I decided “Confidence in Chaos” was a better title for the sermon.
Anyhow, if you look back at 2 Samuel 9, the theme of that chapter is David’s kindness to Saul’s one living grandson. Jonathan’s son Mephibosheth is shown kindness by King David.
David brings Mephibosheth to the palace, tells him not to be afraid, promises to restore to him all the land that once belonged to Saul, invites Mephibosheth to eat at his table always, and pretty much adopts him, making him like one of his own sons.
This is kindness. Hesed. A promised, covenant, dedicated love.
David shows kindness in 2 Samuel 9. And that’s how chapter 10 starts out. In 2 Samuel 10:2, David, the kind king, says: “I will show kindness to Hanun son of Nahash, just as his father showed kindness to me.”
We don’t know for sure why David wants to show kindness to the house of Nahash, or what kind of kindness Nahash had shown to David in the past. There was apparently some friendship struck between David and Nahash when David was running from Saul.
And now, in light of the death of Nahash, David wants to show kindness to his family. He’s expressing his sympathy.
“Taking 2 Samuel 9-10 together, we are given a portrait of David as a faithful, covenant-keeping servant of God. The author of 2 Samuel wants to cast David as the hesed-keeping king.” -R.D. Phillips
Unfortunately, as is sometimes the case, kindness is met with something less than kind.
It seems odd that the Ammonites float a conspiracy—they say, “David sent them to you only to explore the city and spy it out and overthrow it.”
But, even more strange, is what Hanun decides to do to David’s envoys. He shaves off half of each of their beards and cut off their garments at the buttocks.
It could have been worse. The Ammonites, if you remember from 1 Samuel 11, like to scoop out the right eyes of their captured enemies. The Ammonites are known for the horrible things they do (some of it too horrible to mention here amongst little ears).
It’s not strange that the Ammonites shave beards and cut clothes; it’s odd they don’t do worse, but also that they react so quickly and so negatively to a kind gesture.
Shaving off each man’s beard and cutting of their garments above the waist was purely to shame David’s men. David’s men were humiliated (v. 5).
David’s kindness is met with hostility and humiliation. The clothing, David’s men could replace rather quickly. But it would take some time for the fellas’ beards to grow back.
I could shave off my beard and it’d be back to this length in a week or so. But these men probably had beards like Stephen. To be half unbearded was a humiliation.
In exchange for David’s kindness, they handed out humiliation. This is foolish and incredibly rash (to put it lightly). The thing is: the Ammonites know they goofed.
Have you ever been there? Do or say something in the heat of the moment and then immediately regret it?
I think that’s where the Ammonites were. Not that they felt bad about what they did, but they realized they had made an enemy out of the wrong guy. You mess with David and his mighty men and you’re going to regret it.
We read that the Ammonites realized they had become obnoxious to David.
Literally, the word is “stink”—they stank before David. “What have we done?! We’ve made ourselves obnoxious to David?!?”
Hanun had committed foreign folly. Realizing his stupid blunder, Hanun hires 33,000 mercenaries to help him out of the situation he created for himself.
David started out by sending a delegation to express his sympathy and kindness. And now, David sends out his entire army of fighting men.
What started out as a kind gesture has been rejected, and now they’re braced for all-out war. That got out-of-hand quickly. It’s chaos.
Life is Full of Chaos
Life is Full of Chaos
This is chaotic, isn’t it? The Ammonite king dies, David sends a sympathy party, the Ammonites decide they’re spies, they humiliate David’s men, David reacts to their insult, the Ammonites hire a bunch of men to help fight the Israelites.
Whackadoodle. Chaos.
Chaos here stems from a misunderstanding, and it moves quickly. "That escalated quickly. I mean, that really got out of hand fast. It jumped up a notch.”
You almost want to take them by the shoulders, give them a good shake, and say, “Really? Stop!”
In the best of times, even, chaos abounds. Reading the OT, you kind of feel like saying, “It’s chaos out there!” Everywhere you turn, every page you read there’s something horrible, dark, destructive going on.
It’s actual chaos, actual warfare. The Ammonites have inadvertently picked a fight with David and the Israelites because of their general mistrust of a kind deed.
Here’s the truth: you never know what’s going to happen. Life can be chaotic.
Job and family and kids and politics. Schedules and conflicts and health scares. Friends and enemies, loved ones and people you try to avoid.
You never know what’s going to happen. You can’t know what’s going to happen. In this world, there is no guarantee that life is going to go the way you think it should.
David had no way of knowing that by sending some men in sympathy and kindness, they’d end up here on the brink of war.
David was absolutely right to show kindness, even to the Ammonites. It was a good impulse; a commendable act.
The same principle is expected of us, if we call ourselves Christians (followers of Jesus).
15 Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.
For each other—that’s your fellow Christian. For everyone else—that’s, well, everyone else: Ammonites and Arameans, people from Adrian and Archie, even.
David showing kindness/hesed wasn’t wrong. Neither was it foolish. It is right behavior. The reason it devolved into chaos is the reason chaos exists anywhere it does: sin.
Sin breaks everything. Sin affects all of our relationships, one with another. Sin alienates us from everyone, including God.
Chaos is simply the result of the Fall of man. Nothing is as it should be. We’re all ruined and broken by sin, separated from God, kicked out of the Garden, unable to make our way back.
Only through Jesus are we invited back into God’s presence, back into the Garden. Through Jesus, the division that exists between us can be mended, for He has torn-down the wall of hostility and made us into one people (Ephesians 2).
Life is chaotic, because this life is full of sin and depravity and chaos. You are not exempt. Neither am I.
We cannot sort out the chaos ourselves, try as we might. Trying to sort it out ourselves will only result in more chaos.
Think about the situation here between David and the Ammonites. They pooched it, assuming the wrong motive, overreacted, angered the king of Israel, hired a bunch of foreign mercenaries (soldiers from Aramea, Beth Rehob, Zobah, Maakah and Tob).
Trying to sort out the chaos we made only results in more chaos. We need Someone outside of us to help us, Someone to make things right.
9 Joab saw that there were battle lines in front of him and behind him; so he selected some of the best troops in Israel and deployed them against the Arameans. 10 He put the rest of the men under the command of Abishai his brother and deployed them against the Ammonites. 11 Joab said, “If the Arameans are too strong for me, then you are to come to my rescue; but if the Ammonites are too strong for you, then I will come to rescue you. 12 Be strong, and let us fight bravely for our people and the cities of our God. The Lord will do what is good in his sight.”
13 Then Joab and the troops with him advanced to fight the Arameans, and they fled before him. 14 When the Ammonites realized that the Arameans were fleeing, they fled before Abishai and went inside the city. So Joab returned from fighting the Ammonites and came to Jerusalem.
15 After the Arameans saw that they had been routed by Israel, they regrouped. 16 Hadadezer had Arameans brought from beyond the Euphrates River; they went to Helam, with Shobak the commander of Hadadezer’s army leading them.
17 When David was told of this, he gathered all Israel, crossed the Jordan and went to Helam. The Arameans formed their battle lines to meet David and fought against him. 18 But they fled before Israel, and David killed seven hundred of their charioteers and forty thousand of their foot soldiers. He also struck down Shobak the commander of their army, and he died there. 19 When all the kings who were vassals of Hadadezer saw that they had been routed by Israel, they made peace with the Israelites and became subject to them.
So the Arameans were afraid to help the Ammonites anymore.
The commander of David’s army, Joab, realizes the Ammonites and their hired soldiers have come at them from two sides. They’re surrounded on both sides, so they divide. And they conquer (but we’re getting ahead of ourselves).
Joab’s brother, Abishai, and the men with him were to hold off the Ammonites. Joab and his company were to take on the Arameans.
We don’t get the details of the fight like I want. All we get is a little statement at the end of verse 13—and they fled before him. And another in verse 14—they fled before Abishai.
No other details? I mean, come on, man. All that build up, the hiring of extra soldiers only to flee and go back inside the walls. What kind of story is that?
The reason, I think, for the lack of battle detail is that author would rather highlight Joab’s speech to his brother Abishai.
It’s the advice Joab gives to his brother we need to hear. It’s central in the chapter, and central to the story.
Verses 11 and 12:
11 Joab said, “If the Arameans are too strong for me, then you are to come to my rescue; but if the Ammonites are too strong for you, then I will come to rescue you. 12 Be strong, and let us fight bravely for our people and the cities of our God. The Lord will do what is good in his sight.”
This is the only explicit theology in the chapter. It’s only here in the chapter that we hear anything about the LORD.
It’s significant teaching, for then and for now. It addresses the chaos of the situation then and the chaos of whatever situation we find ourselves in here and now.
Our problem with this the theological note is the person who speaks it. If David had said this, we wouldn’t be surprised, wouldn’t even think twice.
But Joab, well, Joab is a bit of a scalawag.
In 2 Samuel 2-3, Joab is a vindictive, murderous, blood-thirsty, look-out-for-number-one military commander.
Here, he’s suddenly spouting theology. He’s preaching truth. He stands here believing the LORD even while surrounded by enemies before and behind.
It’s from an unlikely source—Joab—that we find the resting place of God’s weary people. It’s that one beautiful phrase: The LORD will do what is good in His sight.
In the midst of chaos; in the midst of life in this sinful, chaotic world:
Our Only Confidence is that God Will Do Good
Our Only Confidence is that God Will Do Good
If there’s any part of 2 Samuel 10 that should be underlined, highlighted, memorized, it’s the end of verse 12.
Joab, of all people, speaks the truest and most comforting word: The LORD will do what is good in His sight.
It’s a big deal, what Joab says. His confidence in the battle wasn’t based on military might. His fighting ability was what he had depended upon in the past. He was a great military commander. Capable. Tried. Tested.
But Joab’s confidence here was based on his knowledge of God, that the LORD will do what seems good to Him.
Joab didn’t know in advance what the LORD would do.
The LORD doesn’t speak to Joab and assure him of a sweeping victory. He doesn’t have details—none whatsoever. He doesn’t know what’s comin’ round the mountain. Joab has zero information.
Joab doesn’t know in advance what the LORD would do. But he does know THAT the LORD would do what is good in His sight.
This is our exact situation, isn’t it? Take whatever you’re in the middle of right now. And think about it like this:
You don’t know in advance what the LORD will do. You don’t have a crystal ball. There’s no map before you. You can’t see what’s going to happen tomorrow.
You don’t know in advance what the LORD will do. BUT, if you believe in the LORD and trust in the LORD, YOU KNOW THAT THE LORD WILL DO WHAT IS GOOD IN HIS SIGHT.
You KNOW it!
The words of verse 12—The LORD will do what is good in His sight—are a wonderful expression of faith in God.
Faith is knowing the LORD is good and that He does what is good.
We must remember, especially in difficult/chaotic times, that what is good is decided by God, and not by us.
With faith that the LORD will do what is good, we can face any enemy, any situation, any threat with the strength that comes from this faith.
The LORD will do what is good in His sight.
Even when the enemy regroups (like they do here in verses 15-19), the LORD is still at work, doing what is good in His sight.
The Arameans and Hadadezer and Shobak all end up routed by David and the Israelites. That’s what they get for helping the Ammonites. Understandably, as the chapter ends, we read the Arameans were afraid to help the Ammonites anymore.
The Ammonites’ foolish wickedness of despising the hesed-kindness of God’s king is made clear. It was a bad call on their part.
It could have been very different. If only the Ammonites had welcomed David’s kindness, if only they had sought David’s mercy while there was still time.
We—you and me—experience the kindness of God every day we live, and it’s meant to lead us to repentance.
Our response to the kindness of Jesus should be one of welcome and appreciation, of gratitude that comes from knowing He is good—always and forever.
In any given situation—whatever you’re facing at this moment—God may deliver you, or He may not. He may intervene just as we hope and pray. And He may not.
But we can be confident that the LORD will do what is good in His sight.
And we can be confident in our ultimate, eternal salvation by faith in Jesus: the Risen Savior who has conquered sin and death.
We can be brave, no matter what we face, because with the LORD, we cannot and will not fail—not ultimately.
Christians can be (should be) absolutely certain of God’s granting victory to His people. Jesus has promised that the gates of hell shall not prevail against His Church.
Whether the LORD wills for our particular battle to succeed is for Him, the Sovereign LORD, to decide.
The hand of the LORD guides events toward His intended outcomes, regardless of human opposition or error.
Even in chaotic circumstances, God is sovereignly working out His purposes for our good and His glory, inviting us to trust in His wisdom and providential care.
God rules over chaos, and has since the beginning, He can bring order to the chaos in our own lives.
God’s purpose will ultimately prevail despite present challenges. God is at work even when the outcome is uncertain.
Life is full of chaos. Our only confidence is that He will do what is good.
Trust Him.
Celebrate His goodness.
Be confident in Him, even in times of chaos.
The LORD will do what is good in His sight.
