The People of II Samuel

We are enjoying a great Mission's Conference and it is touching all of our hearts for the need of sharing the Gospel whereever we are.  I Samuel ends with the death of Saul and Jonathan, and II Samuel begins with the death of Saul.  It adds that Saul was not quite dead and an Amalakite came by to finish him off.  It is interesting to me that in I Samuel 15, Saul was told to wipe out the Amalakites, and if he had obeyed, there would not have been one left to finally kill him.  Interesting!!  II Samuel is about people.  If you get the people down, you will understand what is taking place and what their roles are.  Abner and Joab.  Abner was the general of Saul and his son Ishbotheth.  Joab was David's general.  Abner was a great warrior and very loyal.  Joab was a fierce warrior, but had his own agenda.  Joab, like many Christians, wanted to do what Joab wanted to do.  It really didn't matter to him the desires of the king, he only did those things that pleased him, and in the end, it cost him his life.  Joab fained friendship to Abner, and as he greeted him, he put a knife in his ribs and took his life.  From this comes the thought:  Only your friends can hurt you!  Only those close enough to help you are close enough to hurt you.  But to me the choice is clear.... have open arms for friends and risk occasional hurts along the way.  David- David was anointed king over Hebron and latter over all of Israel.  Judah followed him.  He started reigning at 30 and reigned until he was 70!  Forty years as the King.  David had his ups and downs, but was a man chosen by God to be the King.  Uzzah- Uzzah reached out and touched the ark while it was being moved.  For this he died.  He thought he was helping, but he was in fact disobeying God's command not to touch the Ark lest ye die.  He died!  God keeps His word even when we don't like the results.  David didn't like the results, but in fact it was David's own fault Uzzah died.  For the Ark was never meant to be on a cart, but carried on the shoulders of the priest with staves.  The cart is how the Philistines carried it, but they were not God's people.  David spent over a year with the Philistines and learned their ways!!  We had better not be learning the world's ways!!  Obededom-- Obededom was the man that David left the Ark with.  Since Uzzah died, David was distressed and put the Ark in the care of Obededom and meant to leave it there and forget about bringing it up to Jerusalem.  But... while with Obededom... God blessed all his household.  So much so, that even after David heard of the blessings from the Ark and came to bring it to Jerusalem the right way, Obededom followed the Ark and served God the rest of his life around the Ark.  When God's Word list the singers who served around the Ark, Obededom's name is mentioned.  When the movers of the Ark are mentioned, Obededom's name is mentioned.  In fact when about 5 or 6 duties are mentioned by name, Obededom's name is found.  In other words, the Ark blessed his household so much that he wanted to camp around it!!  Well, that's how I feel about church!  God has used His church to be such a blessing to my Father and Mother, my brother and sisters, my own family, that I want to practically live there!!  It is such a blessing!!  Well, these are some of the names.  We will look again tomorrow.  May God bless you today.  Dr. Mike Mutchler, Pastor and Friend.

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