THE LORD IS MY ROCK
2 Samuel 21-24

2 Samuel 21-24

• Story of Rizpah (21:1-14)
  – The Giant Killers List (21:15-22)
  • David’s Song (22:1-51)
  • David’s Last Words (23:1-7)
  – The List of Mighty Men (23:8-39)
• Story of Threshing Floor (24:1-24)

Two Stories

1. David ignores God
2. David sins
3. God sends a disaster
4. David responds – intercedes for Israel
5. Others players (Rizpah and Araunah)

The Righteousness of Rizpah

1. Joshua 9:15 – Pact with Gibeonites. Saul broke the pact
2. David surrenders seven descendents of Saul
3. Rizpah (2 Samuel 3:7) – Saul’s concubine, Abner’s concubine
4. She has no power, but acts where she can
5. She shames David into action and admitting the injustice

David’s Songs

1. The Lord is My Rock
2. Righteous Rulers vs Evil Men
3. God’s Covenant and Unfailing Love
4. David “enters into” the exodus with poetic language – he experiences it again.

The Threshing Floor

• Two Parts:
  - The Census
  • Counting the people is an assessment of strength
  • Reliance on military power (see Psalm 20)
  • Numbers rather than names
  • Euphemisms of war and politics – doublespeak
  • Where is our trust and confidence?
  - The Altar
  • The destroying angel is stopped at Mount Moriah (Abraham’s mountain)
  • Araunah the Jebusite has a threshing floor there
  • Will become the site of the Temple (1 Chron. 21:15)

Full Circle

• Hannah praying at Shiloh
• David praying at the altar
• Israel is saved through humbling themselves before God
• Our king is God alone

Chris Benjamin

West-Ark Church of Christ, Fort Smith, AR
Evening Sermon, 29 November 2009

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