Just in the nick of time, David slipped out of Jerusalem with his crew of warriors, advisors, and family when Absalom rolled in with his rebel army.
Fortunately, he was able to set up a counter-intelligence operation before his escape.
It consisted of Hushai and the two High Priests, Tzadok and Evyatar.
Hushai would pass on what he heard to the two High Priests.
They would then inform their oldest sons, who would in turn deliver the news to David.
Now, I think the time is ripe to point out something about King David.
And it’s that there is no greater hero in the Scriptures than King David.
Yes, he sinned greatly and was cursed by God in his lifetime for his behavior.
We’re currently reading about the consequences of that behavior.
Yet, that still doesn’t change the fact that David will go down in history as one of the greatest heroes of the Bible.
This isn’t speculation.
We don’t have to wonder about how the Lord felt about David because it’s recorded for us:
“Sh’mu’el said to Sha’ul, ‘You did a foolish thing. You didn’t observe the mitzvah of ADONAI, which he gave you. If you had, ADONAI would have set up your kingship over Israel forever. But as it is, your kingship will not be established. ADONAI has sought for himself a man after his own heart, and ADONAI has appointed him to be prince over his people, because you did not observe what ADONAI ordered you to do.”-2 Samuel 13:13-14
The Apostle Paul repeated God’s sentiment about David with this statement:
“Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Sha’ul Ben-Kish, a man from the tribe of Binyamin. After forty years, God removed him and raised up David as king for them, making his approval known with these words, ‘I found David Ben-Yishai to be a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want.‘ “In keeping with his promise, God has brought to Isra’el from this man’s descendants a deliverer, Yeshua.”-Acts 13:21-23
Now, isn’t that interesting?
The Lord refers to David as “a man after His own heart”…
And someone who will “do everything I want.”
Yet, David was a man who had committed both murder and adultery.
These were death penalty offenses according to the Torah.
What does this tell us?
It tells us that one’s day-to-day behavior isn’t the measure of God’s love or eternal salvation.
It wasn’t for David…
And it isn’t for us.
And that’s your takeaway for today.
As long as we maintain our trust in the Lord…
We can depend on God’s grace to save us when we stumble.
David understood that the Lord would have mercy on whom He chose to have mercy.
It was his trust combined with this divine reality that brought David a saving righteousness, not strict obedience to Torah.
Yet, we must not overlook that David suffered greatly for his sins.
Yes, you have gained spiritual salvation when you put your full trust in the Lord by believing in His Son.
But if you choose to disobey His commandments, expect hard times and the weight of God’s anger to fall upon you.
Just as it did to David.
Ya feel me?
The next time we meet, we’ll look at another Psalm that David composed during this time.
What we’ll discover in it will be MIND-BLOWING!
So stay tuned for that.
I wonder how many people ever think about the fact that the people call David King over Israel, but God calls him prince over my people?
Yes, to the world he is a king, but in God’s eyes he is just a prince.
Christianity has made this mistake with Yeshua (Jesus), in that he is prince over the world, not king, and although Christianity has made Yeshua both a spiritual and physical king, God still reigns supreme, and it is sad that Christianity doesn’t recognize this fact, even though Yeshua did.
Good point and angle that I haven’t considered before.
The Christian world also refers to Yeshua as the “Prince of Peace.”