PROCLAMATION
“Now a troublemaker named Sheba son of Bikri, a
Benjamite, happened to be there. He
sounded the trumpet and shouted, ‘We have no share in David, no part in Jesse’s
son! Every man to his tent, Israel!” 2 Samuel 20:1 (NIV)
EXPLANATION
As David was trying to convince the people to accept
him again as king, not everyone who came to meet him was supportive of
him. There was a troublemaker in the
crowd named Sheba who would lead a second rebellion against King David. When Sheba openly opposed David, the men of
Israel followed him and deserted David, but this time the men of Judah stayed loyal
to him. (2 Samuel 20:2) It is not stated
whether or not Sheba was a part of the first rebellion against David led by
Absalom. It is also not stated why David
felt that Sheba was more of a problem than Absalom or why Sheba was so
influential. (2 Samuel 20:6) However, after
he left, David sent his men to pursue after Sheba and they returned with his
head. (2 Samuel 20:22)
APPLICATION
In every crowd there is always a troublemaker
present. Someone who undermines our
position, opposes our plan, and wants to lead our followers in a different
direction. It is not always clear exactly
why our haters hate us so. Some people
feel that we have done them wrong and they will not forgive or forget it. Some people don’t like what we have said, or what
we have done, or what we stand for, or for being who we are. There is nothing that we can do to make some
people like us, and we really should not try to. We just need to be ourselves and to follow
The Word of God and accept the fact that we will have some haters. Jesus, The Christ, said that we would be
hated (Matthew 10:22) but that we should remember that the world hated Him before
hating us. (John 15:18) So, we should rejoice
and be glad because we will be blessed when people insult us, persecute us, or
lie on us because of our beliefs, and we should know that we will receive a
heavenly reward because of it. (Matthew 5:11-12)
No comments:
Post a Comment