Fri.’s Devo - David’s Escape

Read: 2 Samuel 17:1-29; John 19:23-42; Psalm 119:129-152; Proverbs 16:12-13
Ahithophel gave Absalom his advice which was to attack immediately. David and his men would be tired, while his men were refreshed. They would only have to kill David and the people could come home unharmed. It was great advise and would have probably worked but remember, David had prayed that God would confuse Ahithophel’s council. God had heard his prayer.
Absalom decided to ask Hushai his advise, who was secretly a spy of David’s. Hushai told Absalom that Ahithophel’s advise was not good this time. What he should do was to rally all Israel and then go after David. David and his men were too good of fighters to kill with a few men; he would need all of Israel. God turned Absalom’s heart to follow Hushai’s advice. Ahithophel was so rejected that his advise had not been used that he went home and hung himself.
In the meantime, Hushai was able to get word to David to get as far away from Israel as he could. Hushai had bought David some time for David and his men to rest up and be ready for the battle. David fled to the land of Gilead where he had made friends with the leaders of the Ammonites during his days of running from Saul. Three of the Ammonite leaders gave him and his army food and supplies. Once again, God had gone before David and prepared for him.
In John, Jesus was crucified and his garments divided among the soldiers. When it came to his robe they saw that there was no way to tear it because it had no seams. So they cast lots for it fulfilling Psalms 22:18 that says, “They part my garments among them, and cast lot upon my vesture.”
The last words of Jesus were “It is finished.” These were the same words being spoken by the priest at the same time on the other side of Jerusalem. At 3:00 in the afternoon on Passover, the high priest would slay the Passover Lamb which was to atone for the sin of all Israel. When he finished, he would say “it is finished” and everyone would leave and go home. Little did they realize that it was finished for all time. They would have no more need for sacrifices because THE LAMB of God had been sacrificed once and for all and sin had been atoned for, for eternity.
The next day would be the Sabbath so they asked Pilate to make sure the men on the crosses were dead so they could prepare their bodies before the Sabbath, since they couldn’t touch a dead person on the Sabbath. Pilate agreed and sent a soldier to make sure they were dead. If they weren’t, he would break their legs so they wouldn’t be able to push up with their legs and breathe. They would die of asphyxiation. When they came to Jesus, he was already dead fulfilling Psalms 34:20 which says, “He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken.”
Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus got permission from Pilate to take Jesus’ body and bury it. They laid Jesus in a tomb in a garden and anointed his body with spices.
I keep seeing Pilates’ name mentioned and I wonder what he is thinking this whole time. He knows Jesus is not guilty of anything worthy of death but he can’t get away from the memory. He is approached all during the process with requests about him. He gives them anything they ask probably to try to rid himself of the guilt of what he has allowed to happen.
Lord, I gain more and more appreciation for what you did for us on the cross and am overwhelmed with gratefulness. Thank you for enduring all the shame and pain to purchase our salvation. You are the lamb that was slain from the foundation of the earth.