Latest / The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal / 1 Chronicles 20 - God's Mercy and David's Sin

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1 Chronicles 20 - God's Mercy and David's Sin · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

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  Speaker 1: Well howdy, and good morning, friends and faithful listeners, and
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: welcome to the Bible Explain podcast on this lovely Monday morning.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: I am so glad that you're here, starting out your
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  Speaker 1: week nice and strong by sharing a delicious cup of
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  Speaker 1: coffee with me as we read First Chronicles, chapter twenty.
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  Speaker 1: So I hope that you guys have had a wonderful
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  Speaker 1: week so far. I don't know if I told you, guys,
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  Speaker 1: but I was out in my garden and I had
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  Speaker 1: a bunch of nice tomatoes coming in, and the deer
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  Speaker 1: came and just destroyed it. Okay, so I have no
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  Speaker 1: tomatoes in my garden, and I think that happened last
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  Speaker 1: year too. If I'm remembering correctly, I think the deer
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  Speaker 1: also ate my tomatoes last year. So I got to
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  Speaker 1: figure something out here, because you know, I like deer
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  Speaker 1: well enough, but they have a huge forest behind me.
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  Speaker 1: I live in the middle of the sticks, Okay, trees everywhere.
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  Speaker 1: They have an abundance of food. They don't need to
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  Speaker 1: come up to my garden and eat my tomatoes. They
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  Speaker 1: just don't need to do it. So I got to
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  Speaker 1: figure out something as to how I can get those
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  Speaker 1: deer out of my garden. But I hope that your
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  Speaker 1: gardening is going much better for you this year than
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  Speaker 1: it is for me. This is truly the worst year
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  Speaker 1: I have ever had for gardening. I don't know what's
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  Speaker 1: going on. Let's go ahead and read First Chronicles twenty
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  Speaker 1: the entire thing. This is a really short chapter. Actually,
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  Speaker 1: I think it's the shortest chapter in First Chronicles. It's
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  Speaker 1: only eight versus long. But we have a lot to
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  Speaker 1: talk about because we're going to be discussing David cheating
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  Speaker 1: with Bathsheba, and we'll also talk about some of the
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  Speaker 1: various wars that David gets into as well. So I'll
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  Speaker 1: be reading this as I usually do, from the web version,
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: but feel free to read out of the version that
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: you prefer this morning, whatever that version might be, and
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: go ahead and grab your cup of coffee or a
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: cup of tea this morning. I am actually drinking seven
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: Weeks coffee and it is Honestly, it is truly a
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: delicious coffee brand. I think they do a really good
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: job with pretty much everything. I actually bought some store
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: bought coffee last week and it was terrible, and it
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: said it was organic and everything. I'm like, oh, this
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  Speaker 1: will be good no, it was terrible seven weeks Coffee
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: makes a good cup of coffee, and they support a
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: really great cause, which is life in the Womb. So
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  Speaker 1: check them out. You'll find my link listed in the
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  Speaker 1: description of this episode, and when you purchase from them,
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  Speaker 1: they will donate ten percent of your purchase to pregnancy
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  Speaker 1: centers in the US, and when you use my link,
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  Speaker 1: So grab your cup of coffee or your cup of
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  Speaker 1: tea this morning for you crazy tea drinkers, and let's
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  Speaker 1: go ahead and read first Chronicles twenty, this entire short
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  Speaker 1: little chapter. At the time of the return of the year,
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  Speaker 1: at the time when kings go out, Joeab let out
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  Speaker 1: the army and wasted the country of the children of Ammon,
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  Speaker 1: and came and besieged Raba, But David stayed at Jerusalem.
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  Speaker 1: Joe Ab struck Raba and overthrew it, took the crown
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  Speaker 1: of their king from off his head, and found it
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  Speaker 1: to weigh a talent of gold, and there are precious
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  Speaker 1: stones in it. It was set on David's head, and
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  Speaker 1: he brought very much plunder out of the city. He
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  Speaker 1: brought out the people who were in it, and had
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  Speaker 1: them cut with saws, with iron picks, and with axes.
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  Speaker 1: David did so to all the cities of the children
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  Speaker 1: of Amine. Then David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.
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  Speaker 1: After this war arose out of Gazer with the Philistines.
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  Speaker 1: Then Sebeki the Hushathite, killed Sipia of the sons of
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  Speaker 1: the Giant, and they were subdued again. There was war
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  Speaker 1: with the Philistines, and Elhanan, the son of Jair, killed Lami,
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  Speaker 1: the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose
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  Speaker 1: spear was like a weaver's beam. There was again war
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  Speaker 1: at Gath, where there was a man of great stature
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  Speaker 1: who had twenty four fingers and toes, six on each
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  Speaker 1: hand and six on each foot. And he also was
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  Speaker 1: born to the Giant. When he defied Israel, Jonathan, the
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  Speaker 1: son of Shimia, David's brother, killed him. These were born
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  Speaker 1: to the Giant in Gath, and they fell by the
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  Speaker 1: hand of David and by the hand of his servants.
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  Speaker 1: In the last chapter, this war between Ammin and Israel
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  Speaker 1: started because actually David was trying to be nice to
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  Speaker 1: the Ammonites, because the King of Amen had died, and
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  Speaker 1: so when the king died, the son you know, took
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  Speaker 1: over the throne. David sent some ambassadors to Ammen to
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  Speaker 1: comfort the sun, maybe send him a gift and everything
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  Speaker 1: and just give him, you know, good wishes. Well, the
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  Speaker 1: new king of Amin didn't trust David or Israel's ambassadors,
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  Speaker 1: so what he did was completely humiliate these ambassadors by
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  Speaker 1: cutting off half of their beards and cutting off their
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  Speaker 1: garments at the waist so that they were naked from
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  Speaker 1: the hips down. So it was really nasty stuff actually
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  Speaker 1: what this new king of Ammin did, and it was
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  Speaker 1: a threat to like it was a declaration of war.
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  Speaker 1: And then the Ammonites even pushed David further by hiring
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  Speaker 1: some mercenaries out of Syria. And this was really bad
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  Speaker 1: because Syria and Israel were already fighting with each other previously.
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  Speaker 1: So Syria once again tried to fight against Israel by
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  Speaker 1: helping the Ammonites. And where we left off last time,
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  Speaker 1: David had defeated the Syrians specifically, and so now the
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  Speaker 1: Ammonites were without any help whatsoever, and that is where
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  Speaker 1: we get into today's chapter. In First Chronicles twenty verse one,
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  Speaker 1: it says at the time of the return of the year.
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  Speaker 1: At the time when kings go out, Joab let out
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  Speaker 1: the army and wasted the country of the children of
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  Speaker 1: Ammin and came and besieged Raba. But David stayed at Jerusalem.
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  Speaker 1: So we know that there's some problems here because it
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  Speaker 1: specifically says that during the spring, when kings go out,
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  Speaker 1: David did not go out, but stayed in Jerusalem. And
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  Speaker 1: we already saw some complacency on David's part in the
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  Speaker 1: previous chapter where the Syrians and the Ammonites had formed
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  Speaker 1: this alce. David did not go out to that initial battle.
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  Speaker 1: He had Joeab and Abbi Ather go out and lead
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  Speaker 1: the battle for him. David stayed at home. That was
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  Speaker 1: not what David should have been doing. He should have
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  Speaker 1: been going out to battle, because the king is the leader.
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  Speaker 1: The king is the one who's supposed to be giving
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  Speaker 1: the pep talks. But David was leaving everything up to
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  Speaker 1: joe Ab, his commander, and he shouldn't have been doing that.
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  Speaker 1: That was already going on in the previous chapter. And
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  Speaker 1: now once again, when kings were supposed to go out
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  Speaker 1: to war, David stayed at home and let joe Ab
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  Speaker 1: handle everything for him, so he got a little bit lazy,
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  Speaker 1: He got a little bit complacent in life. Maybe because
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  Speaker 1: God was giving him all of this success and rest
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  Speaker 1: from all of these nations, that David just didn't feel
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  Speaker 1: like he needed to be there. Maybe he was tired
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  Speaker 1: of war, but still this was something that David needed
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  Speaker 1: to be doing. This was his responsibility as king to
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  Speaker 1: lead his armies to wage war against threats to his nation,
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  Speaker 1: and that was not what David was doing. And it's
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  Speaker 1: kind of funny how the chronicler actually throws some shade
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  Speaker 1: on David where he's like, yeah, at the time when
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  Speaker 1: kings are supposed to go out to war, Joe ab
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  Speaker 1: went and David stayed in Jerusalem, which, by the way,
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  Speaker 1: generally how wars worked back in these days is that
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  Speaker 1: war would be waged from spring to fall, and then
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  Speaker 1: everybody would kind of take the winter off and go
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  Speaker 1: back home because winters were a really bad time to
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  Speaker 1: be in the middle of battle because it was freezing cold,
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  Speaker 1: the rains and snow made everything very difficult. There would
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  Speaker 1: have been less food during the middle of winter, so
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  Speaker 1: they'd go home and then as soon as spring hit,
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  Speaker 1: when the weather conditions were a little bit better when
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  Speaker 1: food was starting to come in. That's when the kings
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  Speaker 1: would go back out and fight with each other. But regardless,
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  Speaker 1: joe Ab goes out to battle and David stays at
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  Speaker 1: home and was relatively successful at this time. It does
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  Speaker 1: say that Joab successfully besieged Raba, which was a city
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  Speaker 1: in Ammon, and it also says that Joab struck Raba
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  Speaker 1: and overthrew it. Now, during all of this time, though,
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  Speaker 1: David is cheating with bath Sheba, and that's talked about
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  Speaker 1: in Second Samuel chapter eleven and twelve. And I'm not
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  Speaker 1: going to read the whole story again because we've talked
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  Speaker 1: about it at some length before, but basically what happens
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  Speaker 1: is David, who is bored at home because he's not
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  Speaker 1: doing what he should be doing. He sees Bathsheba bathing
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  Speaker 1: because he's looking out. You know, he's got a very
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  Speaker 1: high palace. He's on the roof of his palace, which
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  Speaker 1: that was typically where people would hang out back in
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  Speaker 1: these days, was on their roofs. And because David's palace
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  Speaker 1: was really nice and much bigger than pretty much every
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  Speaker 1: other house, his roof was probably taller and he was
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  Speaker 1: able to look out at his people, and so he
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  Speaker 1: sees this beautiful woman, Bathsheba, bathing in her back yard.
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  Speaker 1: David sees her immediately lusts after her, sends a messenger
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  Speaker 1: to go get her, brings her into his house and
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  Speaker 1: has sex with her, knowing by the way that she
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  Speaker 1: was married to one of his mighty men. Euriyah the
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  Speaker 1: Hittite was bath Sheba's husband. Uriah the Hittite was out
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  Speaker 1: in battle, and he was considered to be one of
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  Speaker 1: David's thirty mighty Men. And yet David still sleeps with
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  Speaker 1: Euryah's wife, and shockingly, unshockingly, beth Sheba becomes pregnant with
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  Speaker 1: David's baby. So David, knowing that he is in some
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  Speaker 1: pretty deep water here, brings Uryah home from the battlefield
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  Speaker 1: to try to get Uryah to go home and sleep
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  Speaker 1: with bath Sheba so that it looks like it's Uriyah's
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  Speaker 1: baby and not David's baby. But Uriah refuses to go
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  Speaker 1: home because he's got this like honor system going on.
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  Speaker 1: He feels guilty that he's not helping his fellow countrymen,
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  Speaker 1: so he refuses to go home to bath Sheba, and
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  Speaker 1: David decides to kill him in battle, so here's what happens.
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  Speaker 1: Second Samuel, chapter eleven, verse fifteen. David writes a letter
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  Speaker 1: to joe Ab saying, send Uriah to the forefront of
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  Speaker 1: the hottest battle and retreat from him, that he may
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  Speaker 1: be struck and die. When joe Ab kept watch on
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  Speaker 1: the city, he assigned Yuria to the place where he
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  Speaker 1: knew that the valiant men were. The men of the
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  Speaker 1: city went out and fought with Joeab. Some of the
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  Speaker 1: people fell, even of David's servants, and Uriah the Hittite
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  Speaker 1: died also. And what's really sad about that is that David,
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  Speaker 1: because he wanted to kill Uriah due to the sin
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  Speaker 1: he had committed with Bathsheba, it wasn't just Uriah who died,
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  Speaker 1: it was other men not even related to this whole
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  Speaker 1: situation between David and Bathsheba and Uriah. Not to say
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  Speaker 1: that Uriah should have died, because Uriah was innocent as well,
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  Speaker 1: but David's sin. David's actions caused many innocent people to die.
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  Speaker 1: So all that takes place in First Chronicles, chapter twenty.
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  Speaker 1: And he might wonder why the chronicler doesn't actually talk
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  Speaker 1: about this sin that David commits. I would say the
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  Speaker 1: first reason is because it was already so widely discussed
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  Speaker 1: and known about that maybe the chronicler didn't think it
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  Speaker 1: was even necessary to discuss this sin. I mean, even
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  Speaker 1: David himself wrote an entire psalm about it, Psalm chapter
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  Speaker 1: fifty one, which, interestingly enough, we just discussed on the
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  Speaker 1: member side of stuff last Friday, So it's kind of
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  Speaker 1: funny how it's coming back up in scripture once again.
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  Speaker 1: But David was not silent about his sin, neither was
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  Speaker 1: anybody else. So maybe the chronicler just knew that everybody
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  Speaker 1: knew about david sin and it was like, I'm not
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  Speaker 1: going to rehash this. So that would be my best
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  Speaker 1: guess as to why he doesn't mention david sin here,
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  Speaker 1: especially considering the fact that the author of Chronicles is
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  Speaker 1: going to discuss another of david sins in the next
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  Speaker 1: chapl So he wasn't afraid to talk about David's sin.
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  Speaker 1: But maybe he just didn't think that this particular sin
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  Speaker 1: was necessary to rehash when it was already written about
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  Speaker 1: so broadly. But moving forward, in First Chronicles twenty, it
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  Speaker 1: says that David finally goes out to battle, and this
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  Speaker 1: is talked about in Second Samuel chapter twelve that after
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  Speaker 1: David's sin with Bathsheba, he finally did do what he
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  Speaker 1: was supposed to do, and he went out to battle
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  Speaker 1: and did in fact overthrow the Ammonites. So it says
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  Speaker 1: in verse two of our passage for today that David
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  Speaker 1: took the crown from their king off of his head
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  Speaker 1: and found it to weigh a talent of gold, and
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  Speaker 1: there are precious stones in it. It was set on
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  Speaker 1: David's head, and he brought very much plunder out of
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  Speaker 1: the city. So, man, this was a heavy crown. This
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  Speaker 1: crown weighed sixty six to seventy five pounds, that is
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  Speaker 1: how much a talent of gold weighed. And this crown
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  Speaker 1: was gigantic. It had a bunch of precious stones in it.
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  Speaker 1: It was made completely of gold. And I was actually
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  Speaker 1: reading in my Cultural Studies Bible that the reason this
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  Speaker 1: crown probably weighs so much was because it wasn't necessarily
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  Speaker 1: for a human to wear, but rather it was for
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  Speaker 1: a god to wear. Oftentimes, they'd put these big, gaudy,
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  Speaker 1: heavy crowns on top of the statue's head to show
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  Speaker 1: that that statue was technically the king of the region,
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  Speaker 1: so it could be that when David goes into the
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  Speaker 1: Ammonite city and completely subdues it, that they took that
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  Speaker 1: crown off of the god's head and put it on
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  Speaker 1: David to completely humiliate those gods that were supposedly helping
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  Speaker 1: the Ammonites out. It was a way to show the
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  Speaker 1: Ammonites that their gods could do nothing for them, and
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  Speaker 1: that Yahweh was with King David. So David obviously wouldn't
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  Speaker 1: have been wearing this crown for very long because it
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  Speaker 1: weighs like seventy pounds, but it was enough to show
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  Speaker 1: the people that they have a new king in town
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  Speaker 1: and that they are fully subdued under King David. So
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  Speaker 1: it says here in verse three, and this verse honestly
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  Speaker 1: shocked me. I was like, oh my gosh, Like David
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  Speaker 1: was really brutal. Here it says he brought out the
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  Speaker 1: people who were in it and had them cut with saws,
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  Speaker 1: with iron picks, and with axes. I was like, Oh
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  Speaker 1: my gosh, he's like axing up all of these people.
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  Speaker 1: It says David did so to all the cities of
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  Speaker 1: the children of Amin. I was like, oh my gosh,
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  Speaker 1: Like David committed mass murder here but thank goodness that
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: I crossed referenced this and also read it in other versions.
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  Speaker 1: Because David did not cut up the people with saws
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  Speaker 1: and axes and pick axes. He made the people cut stones,
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  Speaker 1: and that's talked about in Second Samuel chapter twelve, at
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  Speaker 1: the very end here verse thirty one. He brought out
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  Speaker 1: the people who are in it and put them to
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  Speaker 1: work under saws, under iron picks, and under axes of iron,
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  Speaker 1: and made them go to the brick kiln. And he
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  Speaker 1: did so to all the cities of the children of Amen.
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  Speaker 1: Then David and all the people returned to Jerusalem. So, no,
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  Speaker 1: David did not mass slaughter all of these Ammonite people.
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  Speaker 1: Rather he put them to work under these pick axes
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  Speaker 1: and saws. And if you're reading it in a different
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: version of scripture, it'll probably say something similar, but the
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: web just words it so strangely where it says he
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  Speaker 1: had them cut with saws. I was like, oh, my gosh,
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: that is brutal. But no, he had the people cut
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  Speaker 1: stones and wood with saws and pick axes and all
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: of this stuff. Basically, he put them to forced labor.
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  Speaker 1: And this was something that was common to do where
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  Speaker 1: a king. When he would subdue a nation, he'd put
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  Speaker 1: the people to work actually rebuilding all of the walls
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: and all of the things that got destroyed in the city.
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: The people would have to rebuild their own cities, but
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: those cities would still be under the control of the
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: new king that had subdued them. Basically. So after this
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: war arose at Gazer with the Philistines. Then Sebekai the
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: Hushathite killed Sippyi of the sons of the Giant, and
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: they were subdued. And again there was war with the Philistines,
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: and Eleanon, the son of jay Air, killed Lami, the
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: brother of Goliath, the Gittite, the staff of whose spear
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: was like a weaver's beam. So you remember the famous
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: giant Goliath. His brother was also a giant, and one
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  Speaker 1: of David's men killed him. So now there's two giants
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  Speaker 1: that have died. And then again in verse six it
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  Speaker 1: says there was war again at Gath, where there is
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  Speaker 1: a man of great stature who had twenty four fingers
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  Speaker 1: and toes, six on each hand and six on each foot,
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  Speaker 1: and he also was born to the giant. So this
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  Speaker 1: guy with twenty four fingers and toes was a big giant,
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  Speaker 1: and once again he was killed by Jonathan, the son
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  Speaker 1: of Shemea, David's brother. So David's nephew went in and
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  Speaker 1: killed this twenty four fingered giant, and honestly, I thought
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  Speaker 1: this was kind of a bizarre thing to stick at
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  Speaker 1: the end of this chapter. I was like, why are
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  Speaker 1: they suddenly talking all these giants that are getting killed
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  Speaker 1: by David's men. Honestly, I think this was to show
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  Speaker 1: the difference between David and Saul, because if you go
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: back to First Samuel chapter seventeen and read verses one
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  Speaker 1: through eleven, it talks about a very different response that
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  Speaker 1: Israel had two giants. Starting in verse one, Now the
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  Speaker 1: Philistines gathered together their armies to battle, and they were
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  Speaker 1: gathered together at Soko, which belongs to Judah, and encamped
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  Speaker 1: between Soko and Ezica in a Fesdamene. Saul and his
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  Speaker 1: men of Israel were gathered together, and they encamped in
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  Speaker 1: the valley of Ela and set the battle in array
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  Speaker 1: against Philistine's. The Philistines stood on the mountain on one side,
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  Speaker 1: and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side,
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  Speaker 1: and there was a valley between them. A champion out
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  Speaker 1: of the camp of the Philistines named Goliath of Gath,
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  Speaker 1: whose height was six cubits and a span went out.
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  Speaker 1: He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: he wore a coat of mail, and the weight of
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: his coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. He had
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: a bronze shin armor on his legs, bron's javelin between
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: his shoulders. The staff of his spear is like a
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: weaver's beam, and his spears head weighed six hundred shekels
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: of iron. His shield bearer went before him, and he
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: stood and cried to the armies of Israel, and said
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: to them, why have you come out to set your
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: battle in array? Am I not a philistine? And you
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: servants to Saul, choose a man for yourselves, and let
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: him come down to me. If he is able to
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: fight with me and kill me, then we will be
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him,
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: then you will be our servants and serve us. Then
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel. Today,
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: give me a man that we may fight together. When
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine,
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: they were dismayed and greatly afraid, and nobody wanted to
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: go down to battle Goliath. Not a single person wanted
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: to fight this big giant. And that's because Saul was
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: a coward. He was a cowardly king, a cowardly leader.
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: David was many things, but a coward was not one
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: of them, and he might be like well, Jen at
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: the beginning of this chapter, David refused to go out
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: to war. Isn't that kind of cowardly. I wouldn't say
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: that it was a cowardly move. I do think it
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: was a lazy move, though. I think David might have
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: been sick and tired of battle, but I don't think
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: he was ever cowardly in his life. Like for example,
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: David did in fact go to battle. He put that
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: king's crown on his head after the Ammonites had been subdued.
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: So I don't think David was necessarily scared of battle.
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: And I think that that shows because his men suddenly,
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: all of these Israelites are killing these giants, who sixty
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: years before this, when Saul was the king, would have
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: been absolutely terrified to go up against these big giants.
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: So that shows the difference in leadership, that David really
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: was a good king in spite of all of his faults.
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: His courage made other people courageous. But if you have
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: a strong leader of a nation, your nation is going
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: to be stronger. But if you have a weak or
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: cowardly leader of a nation, that nation is going to
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: be weak and cowardly because people follow the leader. As
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: much as we say we don't, as much as we
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: don't want to, people do, in fact follow the leader.
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: So it's very important for us as citizens of our
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: country to pray for our leaders that they are able
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: to be strong in the face of opposition, that they
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: aren't weak, and that God gives them strength and power
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: to handle the situations that come up. And also as citizens,
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: when the time comes, we should be voting to make
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: sure we get people who are strong in office, strong
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: Christians specifically, because the main difference between Saul and David
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: was the fact that David believed in Yahweh, and Yahweh
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: gave David strength because of that, but God rejected Saul
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: because Saul rejected God. The king's power comes from God alone,
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: and if God is on the king's side, that king
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: is going to be strong and actually that teaches us.
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: One other thing is that God was so merciful to David,
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: you know, because at the beginning of this chapter, David
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: sinned and committed adultery and murder, and yet God was
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: still giving David's nation strength in spite of all of that,
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: because God is merciful. Even though we are sinners, even
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: though we fall short all the time. God is a
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: merciful God, and he is not going to hold sin
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: against us for long. And He certainly did not hold
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: David's sin against him for very long, because not only
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: was David still successful in battle after cheating with Bathsheba,
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: but David had men who were successful in battle as well.
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: As David was getting older and older and unable to
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: go out to battle as often as he was before.
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: So I think this chapter can teach us a lot.
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: It teaches us about God's mercy, and it teaches us
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: about strong kings. But faithful listeners, have a wonderful, wonderful
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: rest of your Monday until tomorrow, happy listening, and God
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: bless