Read: 2 Samuel 20:14-22:20; Acts 1:1-26; Psalm 121 1-8; Proverbs 16:18
Sheba fled with his army to Abel Beth Maacah. Joab and his troops surrounded the walled city and besieged it. No one could come in or out so they would eventually die of lack of water and food. A very wise woman asked to talk to Joab to find out why they were there. When she found out it had to do with one man, she told him that they would throw his head would over the wall. She convinced the city to kill Sheba to save their lives. When they did, Joab left them alone and went home.
A famine came on the land of Israel which is a sign of disobedience to God. David knew this so he asked the Lord, why he was angry with them. God told him it was because Saul had killed the Gibeonites in his zeal for Israel. The Gibeonites had been friends of Israel who aided them in passing into the promised land. God had told Israel not to hurt them, but Saul had tried to annihilate them.
David went to the Gibeonites and asked how he could atone for their loss. They wanted seven of Saul’s male descendants so they could kill them themselves. David spared Mephibosheth for Jonathan’s sake. When they killed them they left their bodies out in the open for the birds and the wild animals to eat. Rizpah, one of the daughters of the slain went out every day and kept the birds from eating them during the day and the wild animals from eating them at night. David found out about it and gathered their bones along with Saul and Jonathan’s and had them buried in Zela, Saul’s hometown.
Once again, David and his men went to war with the Philistines. When David was almost killed by a giant, Abishai rescued him and decided David did not need to be fighting anymore. He was too old. Four giants were killed in different battles with the Philistines.
David had written a song when he was delivered from Saul and sang it at every victory. It is a Messianic Psalm which means that it was a song written about Jesus also. (It is also word for word again in Psalm 18.) If you study it closely you will see it is the picture of what happened when the lights went off for 3 hours on the cross. God came down wrapped in a dark cloud and ministered to Jesus. It talks about the thundering and the lighting and the earthquake that happened at the cross.
Today we start reading the acts of the apostles. Jesus had appeared to many of his followers for forty days after his resurrection. During this time he instructed them to go to Jerusalem and wait for the gift. The gift was to baptize them with the Holy Spirit. All the the gospels talked about this baptism which was different from John’s baptism in water. This would be a baptism of fire. It would give them power to be witnesses to the world.
When Jesus went up to heaven, they saw him ascend through the clouds. Two angels told them that one day he would come back the same way. They went back to Jerusalem where they hid out upstairs in a room. There they stayed in constant fellowship and prayer. There were 120 of them and Peter stood up to report the death of Judas. His body was thrown into a field where his blood was spilled. They needed to replace him so there would be 12 again. They drew lots and it fell on Matthias.
Jesus, like David had come to the end of his fighting. He could now rest in heaven just as David would rest in his palace. It was time for an new army to arise and take over.
Every generation produces a new crop of soldiers for the army of God. It is our job to equip them and make them ready. We are all at different stages of our development but this is our time to live the kingdom of God on the earth.
Lord, let your kingdom shine through us.
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