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2 Samuel 15 In the course of time, Absalom provided himself with a chariot and horses and with fifty men to run ahead of him. 2 He would get up early and stand by the side of the road leading to the city gate. .
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2 Samuel 15 In the course of time, Absalom provided himself with a chariot and horses and with fifty men to run ahead of him. 2 He would get up early and stand by the side of the road leading to the city gate.
Whenever anyone came with a complaint to be placed before the king for a decision, Absalom would call out to him, “What town are you from?” He would answer, “Your servant is from one of the tribes of Israel.”
3 Then Absalom would say to him, “Look, your claims are valid and proper, but there is no representative of the king to hear you.” 4 And Absalom would add, “If only I were appointed judge in the land! Then everyone who has a complaint or case could come to me and I would see that he gets justice.”
5 Also, whenever anyone approached him to bow down before him, Absalom would reach out his hand, take hold of him and kiss him. 6 Absalom behaved in this way toward all the Israelites who came to the king asking for justice, and so he stole the hearts of the men of Israel.
Beware of Those You Know2 Samuel 15 - 24 We are taught to worry about strangers “Don’t talk to strangers” Yet it is often those we know, those closest to us, who do us harm Stories of strangers committing crimes make headlines
We will study the story of David and his down fall… When we examine his challengers… When we inspect names of enemies… The names, for the most part, are recognizable
Chapter 15 The first name is Absalom Not some stranger from a foreign land David’s own son He has a grudge to settle with his father Absalom wants to embarrass his father
Chapter 16 Ziba, a servant of Jonathan’s son who came to David’s aid Shimei, a man from Saul’s clan comes out to curse David and pelt him with stones
Ahithophel, switched sides and became Absalom’s counselor But Hushai stays behind to pretend to be on Absalom’s side to create chaos within the ranks
Chapter 17 Ahithophel Sleep with your father’s concubines in broad daylight Then go after David and kill him Hushai David is a great warrior Amass a great army or he will take you down
Chapter 18 4 …So the king stood beside the gate while all the men marched out in units of hundreds and of thousands. 5 The king commanded Joab, Abishai and Ittai, “Be gentle with the young man Absalom for my sake.” And all the troops heard the king giving orders concerning Absalom to each of the commanders.
Defeating Absalom is not easy It is a no-win situation If Absalom wins it is bad and if Absalom dies it is bad Sadness fills the kings heart when he hears his son has died
Chapter 19 5 Then Joab went into the house to the king and said, “Today you have humiliated all your men, who have just saved your life and the lives of your sons and daughters and the lives of your wives and concubines.
6 You love those who hate you and hate those who love you. You have made it clear today that the commanders and their men mean nothing to you. I see that you would be pleased if Absalom were alive today and all of us were dead.
Chapter 20 Sheba: a trouble maker Now a troublemaker named Sheba son of Bicri, a Benjamite, happened to be there. He sounded the trumpet and shouted, “We have no share in David, no part in Jesse’s son! Every man to his tent, O Israel!”
Sheba is the stranger The one we fear And he creates plenty of trouble for David and his men But like most troublemakers things did not end well for him He lost his head
Chapter 21 Famine Chapter 22 Song of praise
Chapter 23 David’s mighty warriors Chapter 24 David takes a census David sins and has to atone
We live, and have always lived, in a culture of fear and distrust We distrust those we do not know We think we can trust those we know
Putting it all together We do a real disservice to our generation when we teach people to fear strangers We are a very lonely generation As a generation we live on media with people we think we know We do not know or do not teach how to vet people
Putting it all together Know your family and your friends Trust is earned not given We often live under the illusion of knowing those close to us We often assume that strangers are inherently dangerous
Kidnapping stats Strangers 24% Acquaintance 27% Relative 49% Rape stats Stranger 18% Someone you know 82% 60% of rapes occur to those 18 and under
Putting it all together We may need to challenge our view of strangers Of course there are dangerous people out there There are many wonderful people out there we have not met People we will never meet unless we venture to say hello
Smile Say hello Give someone a chance to prove themselves a friend