Tues.’s Devo - David Returns to Jerusalem

Read: 2 Samuel 19:11-20:13; John 21:1-25; Psalm 120:1-7; Proverbs 16:16-17 David sent news to Zadok and Abiathar who were the priests in Jerusalem to convince the elders to bring him back as their king. He also send word to Amasa to remind him that David had been made him commander of his army instead of Joab. So the men of Judah came to Gilgal to meet David and bring him over the Jordan. *** Shimei, the man who had cursed David came out to meet him along with a thousand men from Benjamin. He fell down before David and begged for forgiveness. David’s men wanted to kill him but David spared his life for the time being. Ziba of the house of Saul came down with his fifteen sons and twenty servants and helped bring all David’s people across the the Jordan. *** Mephibosheth also came to meet David. He had not trimmed his beard or washed his clothes since David left Jerusalem. When David asked him why he didn’t go with David when he fled, he said that Ziba tricked him. He told him he would bring him a donkey, but then didn’t. David gave him back his half of his land he had given to Ziba. *** Barzillai the old man from Gilead came to meet David. He had provided food and provisions for David and his men while they were away. David tried to get him to move to Jerusalem so he could take care of him, but Barzillai wanted to go home and live out the rest of his days at his own home. David took Barzillai’s youngest son, Chimham to serve with him. Later, he would give Chimham an inn in Bethlehem which was believed to be the one Jesus was born in. *** The men of Israel showed up and were angry with the men of Judah for not letting them be the ones to help David return to Jerusalem. They argued with the men of Judah till one of them from Benjamin, Sheba blew his trumpet and declared that Bichri, another Benjamite was their king. So all of Israel changed their allegiance from David to Bichri. *** When David returned to his palace in Jerusalem, he took the ten concubines who had been taken by Absalom and placed them in a separate house where they lived as widows. *** David had Amasa call all Judah to meet with him in three days. When Amasa was not back in the three days, David sent Abishai with an army to pursue Bichri. Abishai met Joab and his men who were also going to kill Bichri. Joab killed Abishai for taking his place, then continued to lead the army to find Bichri. *** In John, Peter was with Thomas, the sons of Zebedee and two other disciples. Peter announced he was going back to fishing. The others went with him but they caught nothing all night. *** Just as the day was dawning, Jesus stood on the shore and asked them if they had caught anything. They didn’t recognize him. He told them to cast their net to the right side of the boat. When they did, they were not able to haul in the fish there were so many. This reminded Peter of the first time Jesus had done this. John recognized him as the Lord and jumped into the sea and swam to shore. The other men dragged the fish to the shore. *** Jesus had prepared a fire and told them to bring their fish to cook them. They had caught 153 fish. Jesus gave them bread and fish to eat. *** After eating Jesus asked Peter if he loved him three times. Each time Peter told him he did and Jesus told him to feed his sheep. He encouraged him to follow him. *** Peter asked Jesus about John, and Jesus told him John was not his business. He would take care of John. John, who wrote this book said that Jesus did so many miracles that books could not contain them. *** Lord, thank you that you are such a personal God and you have explicit plans for each of us. May we follow our path that you have set for us and not be distracted by what you have planned for others. We are all part of your wonderful family.