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Day 138: The Effect of Sin on Others
Chapter 20 ~ Sheba's Revolt
2 Samuel 20:1-3 ~ Sheba's Revolt
Every man to his tents, O Israel! The sounding of the ram's horn and the expression "Every man to his tents" was used as a call to battle (also see 1 Kng 12:16) in which the men are called to return to the houses to gather up their weapons. Most of the Israelites no longer live in tents, but it is a saying that goes back to the years of living in tents during the forty years in the wilderness. It is Sheba's intention to continue the civil war, probably in the hopes of restoring the House of Saul. This time David's own tribe of Judah remained loyal. The sad fate of the ten concubines is a result of their defilement by David's son Absalom (16:22). They will live in comfortable confinement until their deaths.
2 Samuel 20:4-13 ~ The Death of Amasa
David demotes Joab and makes Amasa, his traitorous nephew and the former commander of Absalom's army with whom he has reconciled, his commanding general. David sends him to mobilize the tribe of Judah. David gives him three days to report back to Jerusalem for his orders.
When Amasa fails to report in three days, David realizes that precious time is being lost and that he must move quickly against the rebels. David gives Abishai, Joab's younger brother, command of the army and sends him north to put down the revolt and capture Sheba. David is still angry with Joab for killing Absalom and removes him from command of the army.
Question: Why does Joab kill his cousin Amasa?
Answer: David may want to extend his forgiveness to those who betrayed him but Joab does not. He kills Amasa for the same reason he killed Absalom, and he may have suspected Asama of treachery.
Joab kills his cousin Amasa, a traitor in his eyes, in the same deceptive manner that he used to kill Abner (2 Sam 3:27). He murdered Abner for killing his younger brother but also because he believed Abner could not be trusted (2 Sam 3:24-25, 30).
2 Samuel 20:14-22 ~ The End of the Rebellion
David's army tracks Sheba to Abel Beth-Maacah, a double-walled city at the foot of Mount Hermon in northern Israel and about four miles northwest of the city of Dan. They put the city under siege and set about having the warriors build a ramp against the outer city wall while the rest of the army sets about to undermine the wall. The usual practice was to dig a tunnel under part of the wall, filling it with logs and setting the logs on fire to cause the earth and the wall above to collapse.
Notice that the woman of Abel Beth-Maacah asks for Joab and not his brother. The wise woman who speaks to Joab reminds us of the important role women play in the Biblical narrative, as we have seen from several examples in the story of David:
- Saul's daughter Michal who risked her life to save David from her father (1 Sam 19:11-17).
- The wise Abigail who saved her household from David's wrath (1 Sam 25:18-35).
- The wise woman from Tekoa who Joab sent to appeal to David to bring Absalom back (2 Sam 14:1-24).
- The woman from Bahurim who cleverly hid the sons of the chief priests who were sent to warn David (2 Sam 17:19-20).
- The woman of Abel Beth-Maacah who saves her town from destruction (2 Sam 20:16b-22).
She challenges Joab, asking why he wants to destroy her town. The saying she quotes to Joab: "In olden days people used to say, 'Abel and Dan are where you should enquire 19 whether a tradition established by the faithful of Israel has finally died out,'..." alludes to the ancient Israelite traditions that remain alive in the northernmost towns of Israel and should be preserved.
Question: In the exchange between Joab and the wise woman what mutual decision is reached to save the city?
Answer: The rebel leader Sheba must die.
2 Samuel 20:23-26 ~ David's Officials
The list of David's royal bureaucracy is similar to the list in 8:16-18. After returning victoriously from suppressing Sheba's revolt, Joab is restored by David to command of the army and the man who was probably his second in command after his brother Abishai is given command of David's personal body guard. Adoram, the supervisor of the corvee, does not appear in the earlier list but he will play a role in Solomon's and Rehoboam's (or perhaps his son, spelled Adoniram) building projects (1 Kng 12:18; 2 Kng 4:6). Zadok and Abiathar are probably co-high priests, while Ira is either David's personal chaplain or the Sanctuary administrator since he is said to be a Jairite from the villages of Jair of the tribe of Manasseh in Gilead (Num 32:41; Dt 3:14; Josh 13:30) and not a Levitical priest. It might be that the title "priest" is being used loosely for anyone associated with the Sanctuary, like the role David's sons in 2 Samuel 8:18. He may be the same Ira the Jairite who is listed as a member of David's bodyguard (2 Sam 23:38).
David has survived the fourfold judgment he unknowingly pronounced against himself (2 Sam 12:2) and which God promised to carry out (2 Sam 12:9-12).
Question: How has God also remained loyal to His covenant with David and His covenant promises in 2 Samuel 7:11b-17?
Answer: God has remained loyal to his covenant promised to punish the wrongs of the "House of David" with temporal judgments, and He has kept His promise that He will never withdraw His favor from the "House of David" as He withdrew from the "House of Saul" (2 Samuel 7:11b-17).
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DAY 138 Non-canonical Gospels
CHALLENGE: “There is no reason we should trust Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. They were selected because they supported a particular agenda, and there were dozens of other gospels in existence at the time.”
DEFENSE:The canonical Gospels were selected because they are the earliest and most reliable accounts of Jesus’ life.
Even skeptical scholars acknowledge the four canonical Gospels were written in the first century, while others are from the second and third centuries or later.
The four Gospels were authored either by eyewitnesses of Jesus (Matthew and John) or close associates of apostles (Mark was a companion of Peter, and Luke was a companion of Paul). They were thus in a good position to know what Jesus said and did, and their Gospels were read at Christian worship services from the beginning.
Other alleged gospels were written much later, and their authors were not in as good of a position to record the story of Jesus accurately. Because they were written later, there was no history of them being read in worship services. This helped early Christians spot them as fakes. If a proposed gospel was authentically from the first followers of Jesus, why hadn’t it been used in the Church’s worship all this time?
The later gospels are frequently based on the four canonical ones. They often don’t attempt to tell the story of Jesus’ ministry, but assume the reader already knows it. For example, some “gospels” tell stories about Jesus’ parents or about his childhood; they consist of isolated sayings attributed to him; or they claim to record speeches he gave after his Resurrection. They thus try to “fill in” things that the canonical Gospels don’t include—and they therefore testify to the unique value of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John for learning the basic story of Jesus.
The actual teachings of Jesus were transmitted by the canonical Gospels—and through the preaching of the Church—which also made it possible to spot later ones as fakes. Many later “gospels” contain teachings contrary to those in the originals. In particular, many were influenced by the Gnostic heresy of the second and third centuries.
The canonical Gospels thus weren’t included because they supported a particular viewpoint; the later ones were excluded because they contradicted what had been passed down from the beginning.
Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist
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