DETERMINED TO UNDERSTAND

JANUARY 27, 2008
MF Blume

  Scripture Text:


2 Samuel 21:1-10  Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David enquired of the LORD. And the LORD answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites.  And the king called the Gibeonites, and said unto them; (now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; and the children of Israel had sworn unto them: and Saul sought to slay them in his zeal to the children of Israel and Judah.) Wherefore David said unto the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you? and wherewith shall I make the atonement, that ye may bless the inheritance of the LORD? And the Gibeonites said unto him, We will have no silver nor gold of Saul, nor of his house; neither for us shalt thou kill any man in Israel. And he said, What ye shall say, that will I do for you.   And they answered the king, The man that consumed us, and that devised against us that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the coasts of Israel,  Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, and we will hang them up unto the LORD in Gibeah of Saul, whom the LORD did choose. And the king said, I will give them. But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of the LORD'S oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul. But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bare unto Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite:  And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the hill before the LORD: and they fell all seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of barley harvest. And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven, and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night.

Hosea 6:1-3  Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.  After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.   Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.

  Message:




A famine occurred in David's day for three consecutive years.

Lack of rain is a cursing:

Deuteronomy 28:24 KJV  The LORD shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed.

Abundance of rain is blessing:

Deuteronomy 28:12 KJV  The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.


God informed him that Saul's family had slain the Gibeonites after Israel, in the days of Joshua, had made an oath with them.

Joshua 9:15 KJV  And Joshua made peace with them, and made a league with them, to let them live: and the princes of the congregation sware unto them.

Joshua 9:18-20 KJV  And the children of Israel smote them not, because the princes of the congregation had sworn unto them by the LORD God of Israel. And all the congregation murmured against the princes.  (19)  But all the princes said unto all the congregation, We have sworn unto them by the LORD God of Israel: now therefore we may not touch them.  (20)  This we will do to them; we will even let them live, lest wrath be upon us, because of the oath which we sware unto them.

The Bible does not tell us anything about this massacre other than the Lord's word to David in 2 Sam 21:1.


David asked the Gibeonites what he could do to settle the problem with them so that God would bless Israel again.

Their response was:

2 Samuel 21:4-6 KJV  And the Gibeonites said unto him, We will have no silver nor gold of Saul, nor of his house; neither for us shalt thou kill any man in Israel. And he said, What ye shall say, that will I do for you.  (5)  And they answered the king, The man that consumed us, and that devised against us that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the coasts of Israel,  (6)  Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, and we will hang them up unto the LORD in Gibeah of Saul, whom the LORD did choose. And the king said, I will give them.

Of these seven sons, Saul's concubine, Rizpah, had given birth to two.

2 Samuel 21:8 KJV  But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bare unto Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite:

And Rizpah was distinctly noticed in the Word of God to have been so hurt and distraught -- the love of a mother shines through the pages of the Holy Writ -- and we read:

2 Samuel 21:10 KJV  And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven, and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night.



Since the famine was affecting the harvest, David chose to allow the hanging on the second day of PASSOVER:

2 Samuel 21:9 KJV  And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the hill before the LORD: and they fell all seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of barley harvest.


This connects us with the cross in more ways than one.

Rizpah is our focus today.

In this story, God brings together the two pictures of a mother's struggle with trying to UNDERSTAND, finally coming to realization and resolution, and Israel's time of famine and the waiting period between the time the hangings occurred and God finally came through as a result of the hangings.


The moment Rizpah resolved the problem after staring at the hangings for much time and left, the rain started falling on Israel as well.

Scholars say that this amount of time lasted from the beginning of April until the rain came when the bodies would be removed.

Normally bodies could not be hanged over a night:

Deuteronomy 21:22-23 KJV  (22)  And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree:  (23)  His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.

But these men did not die for THEIR sins but for their family's.

They had to hang until God was satisfied.

Some Scholars believe this waiting period was from April through to October, when the latter rain came!

David was so moved by Rizpah's efforts and sent for their bodies and caused a proper burial to occur.

Rizpah came to grips with it all, and David, who could easily have held a grudge against Saul and his house, showed no signs of revenge, but insisted on a proper burial.

2 Samuel 21:11-14 KJV  And it was told David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done.  (12)  And David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabeshgilead, which had stolen them from the street of Bethshan, where the Philistines had hanged them, when the Philistines had slain Saul in Gilboa:  (13)  And he brought up from thence the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son; and they gathered the bones of them that were hanged.  (14)  And the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son buried they in the country of Benjamin in Zelah, in the sepulchre of Kish his father: and they performed all that the king commanded. And after that God was intreated for the land.

BLESSING CAME!

Saul represents the OLD MAN of flesh, which was our old lives before we were saved.

And the fact is that OUR OLD MAN WAS CRUCIFIED WITH JESUS.

Romans 6:6 KJV  Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

Just as Saul's family put a curse on Israel for sinning, ADAM cursed the earth and mankind for his sin.

Romans 5:12  Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

Romans 5:19  For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

Our old lives are gone now, and everything to do with them is gone, too!

When the cross took place, and we believed and got saved, OUR OLD LIVES ARE TOTALLY GONE.
WHAT DISPLEASED GOD IS FOREVER GONE NOW!

But if we have not come to grips with this and still are concerned for what pleases God, GOD CANNOT BLESS.

And there are SAVED PEOPLE who have not come to grips with the full purpose of the cross, and they ARE NOT BEING BLESSED.

It took MUCH TIME from the point of the hanging until the rains fell.

A few weeks ago I preached this passage:

Isaiah 53:10-11  Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.  He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.

God is SATISFIED with the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.


Galatians 3:13-14  Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

And until their beliefs match the truth of what satisfies God, THEY CANNOT BE BLESSED.

The cross was the most important thing to ever occur.

Rizpah sat there until SHE ABSORBED THE WHOLE THING and finally clued into the reality!

You will not be blessed until you come to grips with the fact that THIS CROSS OF JESUS SATISFIED GOD so you could go to glory!

Look at the cross.

She had to drive away buzzards and scavengers from the bodies.

Matthew 13:4 KJV  And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up:

Matthew 13:19 KJV  When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.

To understand it is to not allow the wicked one to come and remove the WORD.

We have to learn that these things are scavengers against our faith and are meant to ruin our understanding of what the cross was really about.

Drive away condemnation, and continue LOOKING TO THE TRUTHS OF THE CROSS in God's Word.

Before the word has a chance to work in your heart, the devil wants to get you all messed up, so you have to DRIVE HIM AWAY, like buzzards and crows need to be driven away from a dead body.

The blessings do not come until you agree with the purpose of the cross.

You are trying to achieve what the cross has already achieved!

If you look at your past life and know it did not please God and get saved and try to please Him to make up for it all, YOU DID NOT ACCEPT THE DEATH THAT ALREADY OCCURRED.

Titus 3:5 KJV  Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;

He saved us... NOT OUR WORKS.

Ephesians 2:8-10 KJV  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:  (9)  Not of works, lest any man should boast.  (10)  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

ARE WE THE WORKMAN, OR THE WORKMANSHIP?

"HIS WORKMANSHIP" tells us that the WORKMAN is GOD, and NOT US!

We are not seeing our LAND blessed because we never settled the WHY of the Cross.

ABANDON SELF IMPROVEMENT!

Condemnation can take a flying leap when we KNOW THE TRUTH!



But be BALANCED.

We can give no sacrifice to go to heaven... but losing self at the cross, and keeping self lost, but there is MUCH SACRIFICE STILL NEEDED TO REACH THE LOST!


Another symptom of why no blessing exists are things that CONTRADICT THE CROSS OF SACRIFICE in our lives.

You never understood CRUCIFIXION of yourself yet.

Stare at the cross -- glare at the truths until YOU GET THE REVELATION!

Paul never gloried in all the awesome works he did as a Christian.

Galatians 6:14 KJV  But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.

The blessings cannot come until you GET IT.