No Other Boast

²⁴ But the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. ²⁵ And David built there an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the Lord responded to the plea for the land, and the plague was averted from Israel.

—2 Samuel 24:24–25

As one prepares to roll up the scroll of Samuel, it’s helpful to roll it all the way back out so that you can roll it up neatly to properly store in your heart. Taking in the whole, we are reminded that this narrative is enveloped in song: Hannah’s song at the beginning, and David’s song at the end.

Hannah sings at the tabernacle rejoicing over the longed for son, anticipating the hope of God’s king.

“The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces; 
     against them he will thunder in heaven. 
The LORD will judge the ends of the earth; 
     he will give strength to his king 
     and exalt the horn of his anointed” (1 Samuel 2:10).

David’s song rekindles this hope, pointing to to one beyond David.

“The God of Israel has spoken; 
	the Rock of Israel has said to me: 
When one rules justly over men, 
	ruling in the fear of God, 
he dawns on them like the morning light, 
	like the sun shining forth on a cloudless morning, 
	like rain that makes grass to sprout from the earth. 
For does not my house stand so with God? 
	For he has made with me an everlasting covenant, 
	ordered in all things and secure. 
For will he not cause to prosper 
	all my help and my desire? (2 Samuel 23:3–5).

David’s house stands so with God, because God has made with him an everlasting covenant. In that covenant, God pledged to build David a house, a dynasty, from which a son would come who would build God a house. So as the book closes, we are longing for a son who will be both David’s house built, and God’s house builder. We are still longing for a son at the close of this scroll, but we have gone from tabernacle to temple.

Now, as we roll up the scroll, I believe the most significant thing the author wants us to see is easily missed by our western eyes because we’re not as keenly aware of the geography in plY as the ancient Israelite was. When David builds the altar on the threshing floor of Araunah, this explodes with meaning for both what will happen there and what has happened there.

What will happen here? Immediately after David offers these sacrifices so that the judgment of God is averted, Chronicles tells us that David declares, “Here shall be the house of the LORD God and here the altar of burnt offering for Israel” (1 Chronicles 22:1). Samuel ends by taking us from tent to temple as we long for the son of David.

What has happened here? Listen to the account of what will happen and see if you cannot catch the clue as to what had happened. “Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to David his father, at the place that David had appointed, on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite” (2 Chronicles 3:1). Mount Moriah! What had happened on Mount Moriah? Do you know how many times Moriah is mentioned in the Old Testament? Only twice! The geographical connection is impossible to miss. Here it is.

“After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, ‘Abraham!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ He said, ‘Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you’” (Genesis 22:1–2).

On this hill, Abraham was called to offer up a sacrifice that would cost him everything. The father ascended that hill with a knife and fire in his hand and the son with the wood on his back. When Isaac asked where the lamb was, Abraham answered, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son” (Genesis 22:8).

Do you see the foundation God has been long in laying on this hill through Abraham and David and Solomon? You who have see the angel of Yahweh standing between earth and heaven with sword drawn over Jerusalem, do you now see the Son of Man suspended between earth and heaven on a cross? Do you see the King acting as Mediator and Substitute bearing the curse for the people?

Look to this hill! Behold what God has done! Look to God’s King, the Mediator and Substitute, crucified and risen, Sacrifice and Temple, Priest and King. Believe on Him. Trust Him. Bow before Him. Worship Him. This is how one must roll up the scroll of Samuel, by so treasuring Jesus in their heart.

“The God of Israel has spoken;
the Rock of Israel has said to me:
When one rules justly over men,
ruling in the fear of God,
he dawns on them like the morning light,
like the sun shining forth on a cloudless morning,
like rain that makes grass to sprout from the earth.
“For does not my house stand so with God?
For he has made with me an everlasting covenant,
ordered in all things and secure.
For will he not cause to prosper
all my help and my desire?” (2 Samuel 23:3–5)

Yahweh speaks both to His king and by His king. Yahweh speaks to His king about His king and this is His message by His king to His people. So what does Yahweh say to His king?

“When one rules justly over men,
ruling in the fear of God,
he dawns on them like the morning light,
like the sun shining forth on a cloudless morning,
like rain that makes grass to sprout from the earth” (2 Samuel 23:3b-4).

Yahweh says to His king that righteous and reverent rule is Edenic. Righteous rule falls like light and reverent rule falls like rain. Godly rule is the perfect mix of sunshine and rain causing the kingdom to flourish as a restored Eden. Godly authority is neither a scorching heat that causes drought, nor a flood that carries away. Righteous rule is not curse, but blessing. Here is how James Montgomery sang of it.

He shall come down like showers
upon the fruitful earth;
love, joy, and hope, like flowers,
spring in his path to birth.
Before him on the mountains,
shall peace, the herald, go,
and righteousness, in fountains,
from hill to valley flow.

This is what Yahweh says to His king. Now, what does He say by His king? What is David’s response to this word? As we look to the answer, two things must be kept in mind. First, David’s response to God’s Word to him is God’s Word to us. Second, David has sinned grievously against God. In the matter of Uriah the Hittite, David did not act justly; he did not fear God.

So what does David say in response to God’s Word as God’s Word to us? “For does not my house stand so with God?” This has reference to David, yet it is bigger than David. “House” here refers to a dynasty. David says “my house.” It refers to David (my), but it is bigger than David (house). This hope of a righteous and reverent Ruler bringing Edenic blessing to God’s people refers to David, yet it is bigger than David.

Why does David say this? Because Yahweh spoke to him. “For he has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and secure” (v. 5b). Yahweh had spoken to David a covenant (2 Samuel 7). David reflects on God’s Word to him here in light of God’s Word to him back there, and what God spoke to him back there, was an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and secure. This is why David, reflecting on God’s Word concerning the righteous and reverent rule of His king, can exclaim, “For does not my house stand so with God?”

This hope carries you through the scroll of Kings as you see glimpses of light and days of darkness in David’s sons. But while his sons can become darker, they virtually never shine brighter. Still, this hope carries you on. David’s house stands so with God because of an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and secure. This hope carries you on until the fulness of time, when from the stump of Jesse, a shoot comes forth.

Hail to the Lord’s Anointed,
great David’s greater Son!
Hail in the time appointed,
his reign on earth begun!
He comes to break oppression,
to set the captive free;
to take away transgression,
and rule in equity.

1 & 2 Samuel are among the most cherished narratives of the Scriptures. They are a delight to read. The depth and drama have no match in the Old Testament, save for perhaps the exodus. But this chapter is no pleasure to read. We wince. We recoil. We’d rather look away. But the Bible will not allow us to do so. We would rather not look upon sin without her makeup. We like her dressed up in beautiful lies. But here we are forced to behold the ugliness of sin.

Ralph Venning knew the ugliness of sin’s curse and he knew sin was uglier still. Venning had seen the Great Plague of London wipe out roughly fifteen percent of the city. The work that we know as The Sinfulness of Sin, he originally titled The Plague of Plagues.  He wrote therein, “Sin is the worst of evils; the evil of evils, and indeed the only evil. Nothing is so evil as sin; nothing is evil but sin. As the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us, so neither the sufferings of this life nor of that to come are worthy to be compared as evil with the evil of sin. No evil is displeasing to God or destructive to man but the evil of sin. Sin is worse than affliction, than death, than Devil, than Hell. Affliction is not so afflictive, death is not so deadly, the Devil not so devilish, Hell not so hellish as sin is.” Sin is ugly. Do not look away. Be repulsed. Be angry. Hate sin.

In The Patriot, Benjamin Martin has this chilling line, “I have long feared that my sins would return to visit me, and the cost is more than I can bear.” Deuteronomy 29:29 warns us that the secret things belong to God. Too often, when we dare to stare the ugliness of our trespasses in their unadorned face, we live in fear of our sins rather than hope in God’s grace. Don’t waste time worrying and trying figure out if your current sufferings are a result of past sins. Simply look to God for comfort in your sufferings and look to God for forgiveness for your sins.

But sometimes it will be plain that we suffer for our sins. The connection and causality will be crystal clear. David knew. David knew that though the condemnation of his sin had been taken away, the consequence of his sins were sure to follow. Nathan assured David, “the LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die” (2 Samuel 12:13). But he also promised, “the sword shall never depart from your house” and “I will raise up evil against you out of your own house” (2 Samuel 12:11).

So let us begin to look at length at the consequences of David’s sins. Let us look, hate sin, fear God, and thank our God, because beholding the ugliness of sin is a grace of God for us. It is the beauty of God’s grace that shows us the ugliness of sin.

If you would truly behold the beauty of God’s grace in showing you the ugliness of sin, look not to David, but to the righteous Son of David crucified on a cross, bearing the wrath of His Father in the stead of sinners. O sinner, do you not see the beauty of God’s grace in showing you the ugliness of sin? O how ugly sin is! O how beautiful grace is.

“David sent…”

—2 Samuel 11:1, 3, 4, 6, 27

David sends Joab to besiege Rabbah.

Much is often made of nothing. David does nothing, and much trouble comes from it, so we are often told. It is true, doing something good is the best way to keep from doing something bad. If you don’t want to love an idol with any of your heart, then love God with all your heart. It is said that an idle mind is the devil’s playground. Liberty towards leisure leads to licentiousness. Truly man is incapable of idling. Fallen man has no neutral. An idolatrous heart cannot have an idle mind. Man is either working and resting unto God or he is working and resting unto self.

Are we then making much of nothing? Is this mountain really a molehill? Was David’s staying home in Jerusalem a sin? If mom and dad go into town, it is not, in itself, a bad thing if the kids say they’d like to stay home, though it might prove better for them to have gone along. Staying home can mean playing with matches or washing the dishes. Certainly, we may imagine that it may have been much better if David had gone out to battle. But just because going out may have been better does not mean that staying home was bad.

The real failure isn’t that David didn’t battle with his men; it is that he didn’t battle against his sin. If we are not always about this battle, it does not matter where we are or what other battles we are or are not involved in.

David sends to inquire of Bathsheba. David sends for Bathsheba.

David saw. David does not mortify his lust. He indulges his curiosity and abuses his authority. He saw. He sent. He took.

When the opportunity is fertile for sins’s pleasures, it is also fertile for sin’s consequences. Sin is always pregnant with death.

David sends for Uriah. David sends Uriah to Joab.

David tries to undo his sending with more sending. We try to undo our sin with more sin. We try to wash our sin with sin, but we only smear the mud, rub it in, and add to it. David is not in control and he only creates more problems by continuing to act as though he were. Sin is the problem that the more you try to solve it, the more you complexify it. You can only ask for help.

David tries to hide and cover up his sin. But his fig leaves easily wither. Sin cannot be covered by man. It can only be cleansed. And it can only be cleansed by the nail pierced hands of the Son of God. Trying to hide sin is like hiding fungus; if you put it in the dark, you only get more fungus.

Joab sends a messenger to David.

Joab is concerned David might be upset. Other men have died with Bathsheba. But the king expresses no anger. It maters not to him. Uriah is dead.

David admirably mourned the deaths of Saul and Abner, but sin has so callused, so hardened, so blinded, so deafened, so darkened, so deadened him, that he expresses no grief at the loss of these men and this devoted servant.

David is fearful of the consequences of his sin, but the worst consequences have already taken root in his soul. Left in the dark, sin corrodes. We fear our sin being exposed when we should fear it remaining hidden. We fear sin hurting us without when we should fear hurting us within.

David sends for Bathsheba to take her as his wife.

Notice the strength of Scripture’s written account of David’s sin. There is no detailed drama to draw us in so that we see and take. The account is not romanticized. It is not given any sensual indulgence. The truth is told of it, not the lies.

This will be the last time David sends. God will do the sending in chapter 12, and he will send because “the thing David had done displeased the LORD” (v. 27).

2 Samuel 10 is the crest before the dreaded and unexpected crash. It’s not like the crest of a roller coaster. There the fall is the thrill—the fall is anticipated and expected, though fear is mingled with it. This is more like a trip up Pike’s Peak gone wrong at the very top. Tumbling down Pike’s Peak is not the reason you went up.

Because you know how this scenic trip up the peak is going to go, you may wish you could just stay on top and enjoy this view. You may wish for a short 2 Samuel concluding with chapter 10. The end. Or, you may find it difficult to make the trip up at all. It’s like the sad movie you don’t want to watch again, though it beings so beautifully.

Don’t let the anticipated fall rob you of the majesty of this peak. If you are truly to understand the depths to which David falls in chapter 11, you must appreciate the height to which he rises in chapter 10. If you fail to appreciate the height, you can’t grasp the fall. Glory in the height that you may gasp at the fall.

Paradoxically then, I’m bringing up David’s sin now because I don’t want you to think about it. David’s valley is critical for rightly interpreting this peak, but you must not let the shadow dim this light. The light is meant to carry you through the valley. On top of this peak, you are to get a heavenly view and bearings to carry you through darker days.

1 Samuel 10 has profound ties to chapters 8 and 9. Chapter 8 provided us with a summary of David’s victories. Chapter 9 told us of his lovingkindness to Mephibosheth. David is the lion-like conqueror and the lamb-like servant of Yahweh who shows “hesed”—covenant faithfulness and mercy. The crest we arrive at here rides on those waves. But having appreciated the crest, we can now note its connections to the fall that follows.

“After this” or “And it came to pass” (v. 1), introduces a new section. The Ammonites form an inclusio around this section. Here, David first extends lovingkindness to Hanun the king of the Ammonites. Then he defeats him. In the middles of this section, the account of David’s adultery with Bathsheba and murder of Uriah begins this way, “In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem” (2 Samuel 11:1). The walls at which Uriah meets his death are those of Rabbah, the royal city of the Ammonites. But we don’t read of the fall of Rabbah and the Ammonites until after Nathan’s rebuke, the death of Bathsheba’s child, and the birth of Solomon in 12:26–31. The author has chosen to use the Ammonites to frame this section: their rise against David on one side and their fall before David on the other. After which, chapter 13 begins with “now,” or as the KJV has it, “And it came to pass” or, in the NIV, “In the course of time.”

Also, you may have noted that there is a lot of sending in this chapter. David sends servants to Hanun (v. 2). The princes of the Ammonnites accuse David of having sent spies (v. 3). Hanun sends the servants back shamed (v. 4). The Ammonites sent and hired Syrians (v. 6). David sends Joab and all the host of the mighty men (v. 7).  Hadedezer sends out for the Syrians beyond the Euphrates (v. 10). The word for “send” is used 32 times throughout chapters 11–12. Here’s just a smattering of the sending we will see in the next episode: David sends for Bathsheba (11:4). Bathsheba sends a message to David (11:5). David sends word to Joab so that Joab sends Uriah to David (11:6). Uriah is sent back to Joab with a letter from David (11:14). David sends for Bathsheba (11:27) Yahweh sends Nathan to David (12:1).

What role does chapter 10 play as it introduces this section? It prepares you for what lies ahead, not by making you begin to think less of David, but by making you continue to think much of David. David is loyal and kind. He cares for his servants and is courageous against his enemies. He is wise. He is Yahweh’s anointed, a man after His own heart. David’s fall disappoints us so because it is from such a height. It is almost like a second Adam because David almost is the second Adam—that is the very hope he is meant to manifest. Joab’s piety is not as surprising as David’s infidelity is shocking. We had hoped for so much more from God’s king.

But there remains hope for us in this disappointment. David was only ever a shadow, not the substance of the hope of the Israel of God. Yahweh had not promised that it would be David, but David’s Son who would build a house for His name. Yahweh will establish His Kingdom forever. (2 Samuel 7:13). And here is this blessed news: while David’s lovingkindness manifested the lovingkindness of God, David’s sin could not eradicate it. It could not eradicate it for God had promised David, “my steadfast love will not depart from him [you son], as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you” (2 Samuel 7:15).

David’s fall saddens us, because we had hoped for so much more. But is does not discourage us, because all that we hoped for was never to be realized in David. David’s fall encourages us, because it reminds us that our sins cannot destroy God’s promises.

We have a King who in every respect has been tempted as we are, and yet, is without sin (Hebrews 4:5). We have a King who never fell, yet came from the greatest heights to suffer the wrath of the deepest hell on the cross for our sins. We have a King whose crash into the curse raises us to the heights of blessedness. We have a King whose crest comes not only after the crash, but precisely because of the crash (Philippians 2:5–11, Ephesians 2:6).

“Your glory, O Israel, is slain on your high places!

How the mighty have fallen!

—2 Samuel 1:19

“How the mighty of fallen!” We often say this with a sarcastic smirk. David said it with sincere sorrow. David intends no ridicule. He grieves. The “glory” of Israel lies slain on her high places. He grieves for Jonathan his devoted friend. He grieves for Saul his devoted enemy. David has pled for justice, but he does not rejoice when his enemy falls (Proverbs 24:17).

David does not just lament. He leads in lament. This song is to be taught to the people of Judah. David has “friends” in Judah (1 Samuel 30:26). They have hid him from Saul. David does not hide his esteem of Saul from them. He would have the people of Judah mourn this Benjaminite king.

David remains Saul’s best and most devoted servant to the very end. David has nothing to do with Saul’s death. Should David have been on the battlefield that day, I believe we may be certain what David would not have done. He would not have put his hand out against Yahweh’s anointed.

David has nothing to do with Saul’s death. But Yahweh does. The kingdom has been taken from Saul’s hand and given into David’s hand. David does not take the kingdom with man’s violence, but he does execute God’s justice. Saul lost the kingdom for failing to execute God’s justice on the Amalekites, David comes into the kingdom executing God’s justice on the Amaleites. Vengeance is the Lord’s and David is the Lord’s king.

Three songs mark the beginning, middle, and end of the singular scroll of Samuel. Hannah’s song opens the scroll and puts a different tone to the words “How the mighty have fallen!” “The bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble bind on strength. The LORD kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up” (1 Samuel 2:4, 6). God will bring redemptive reversal to his people by salvation through judgment in a king. Hannah sings, “The LORD will judge the ends of the earth; he will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed” (1 Samuel 2:10). “How the mighty have fallen!”

As the book draws to a close, David sings this song of praise, “The LORD lives, and blessed be my rock, and exalted be my God, the rock of my salvation, the God who gave me vengeance and brought down peoples under me, who brought me out from my enemies; you exalted me above those who rose against me; you delivered me from men of violence. For this I will praise you, O LORD, among the nations, and sing praises to your name. Great salvation he brings to his king, and shows steadfast love to his anointed, to David and his offspring forever” (2 Samuel 2:47–51).

Yahweh shows steadfast love to his anointed, to David and his offspring forever. David’s covenant faithfulness to Yahweh’s anointed is a faint echo of the unfailing covenant love of God towards His King. The Son of David was slain on the high place of Israel, crucified on a Roman cross. But the Mighty has not fallen. He is risen. The Philistines have no gospel and the true Israel of God has no reason for lamentation.

David, Saul, David, Saul— we’re used to the contrast, but now it occurs as we alternate between their separate stories. The rule of one is soon to end. The rule of the other is soon to begin. The previous two episodes are cliff hangers. You close 27:1–28:2 anxious for what will happen to David, but then, it’s Saul. You then close 28:3–25 wanting to see things play out with Saul. David, Saul, David, Saul. We want to finish the story of one, only to be disappointed by the other, but then caught up in that story as well.

The intentionality of the author in this can be seen in that these accounts are not chronological. The Philistines gathering at Aphek happens before they gathered at Shunem in 28:1. But this means that David’s victory over the Amalekites then happens in close proximity to Saul’s death and defeat.

Because we now return back to David, lets recap where were were a couple of episodes back. David, his mercenary status sufficiently established, returns to Achish, king of Gath, this time to be welcomed. He is given Ziklag, a city in Judah’s territory that was allotted to Simeon, taken by the Philistines, given to David, and thereafter the possession of the kings of Judah. From Ziklag, David raids the raiders who trouble Judah while Achish thinks David is making himself an utter stench to Israel. What David is doing doesn’t match what Achish thinks he is doing. But the most uncomfortable aspect of David’s exile isn’t the possibility of his being found out by Achish; it’s that he may found to be a Philistine, worshipping other gods by default—practically if not formally.

1 Samuel 27:1–28:2 records a God-less chapter in David’s life. He doesn’t inquire of Yahweh. He doesn’t praise Yahweh. He doesn’t speak of Yahweh. David’s faith will persevere, but only because Yahweh preserves His king. God is with David, His anointed, in a way that He is not with Saul. Saul is left to himself. David is not. David’s story is not one of David’s greatness, but of divine grace. God will preserve His king in His peculiar and mysterious way.

David is rejected so that he might return. He is rejected so that he might return to His God. By man’s rejection, God recovers. God brings David back. Look at what God is doing. As surely as He is judging Saul, He is keeping David. The tension we felt, wondering what David might do is swallowed up by confidence in what God is doing. Yahweh has raised up a king to rule over His people. He is faithful. He is merciful. He is gracious.

Dear souls, this is your great confidence, God has been faithful to His King, the Son of David, the Son of God. His faithfulness to His King is His faithfulness to His people. Jesus is Lord and Savior of His people. Jesus is Lord and Savior for His people. When the Gentile ruler said “I find no fault in him” (John 19:4), He was not deceived. The Son of David was perfectly righteous. In Him, we are so counted righteous and reconciled to God, that the Son may declare to the Father, “Of those whom you gave me I have lost not one” (John 18:9). By God’s mysterious providence, His rejection ensured the return and rescue of all and His exaltation as King of kings and Lord of lords.

Sinners, look to Jesus the Son of David and be saved.

Saints, look to Jesus the Son of God and be strengthened.