King James Bible Study – [Mark 8:34 And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.]
Date: Monday, May 01, 2023
Chapters: 1 CHRONICLES 10, 2 SAMUEL 4-5
Study: To Perceive And To Receive
Hello My Brother/Sister/Friend,
[Perceive; To know; to understand; to observe.] The second that we believe that Christ died a sinless death and arose three days later to give us victory from death and hell, it is God who perceives that we believe in Him and grants us eternal life. Naturally, if we belong to Christ, then the world is going to hate us because all they perceive Christ to be is this thug who wants to take away all their fun.
[1 John 3:13-14,16,18-20 Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you. 14 We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. 16 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. 19 And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. 20 For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.]
The heart is a fickled thing sometimes, which is why God searches it and knows whether or not we are true or just true in the moment. A life with Christ will often lead to enemies even among brethren, but that does not mean that we are to retaliate, we just need to give it all over to God and let Him take care of it. As we return to the reading of 1 Chronicles, a recap of Saul and three of his sons who died in the battle before David became king in Israel is given. A few more details are given to give us a little more insight into what took place that day.
[1 Chronicles 10:1-6 Now the Philistines fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain in mount Gilboa. 2 And the Philistines followed hard after Saul, and after his sons; and the Philistines slew Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Malchishua, the sons of Saul. 3 And the battle went sore against Saul, and the archers hit him, and he was wounded of the archers. 4 Then said Saul to his armourbearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith; lest these uncircumcised come and abuse me. But his armourbearer would not; for he was sore afraid. So Saul took a sword, and fell upon it. 5 And when his armourbearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell likewise on the sword, and died. 6 So Saul died, and his three sons, and all his house died together.]
[and his three sons, and all his house died together.] Saul, reigned eighteen years in the life of Samuel, and after his death twenty two years. Saul’s, three sons died honorably in the field of battle, but he and his armourbearer destroyed themselves and were treated horribly when the Philistines found their bodies.
[1 Chronicles 10:9-14 And when they had stripped him, they took his head, and his armour, and sent into the land of the Philistines round about, to carry tidings unto their idols, and to the people. 10 And they put his armour in the house of their gods, and fastened his head in the temple of Dagon. 11 And when all Jabeshgilead heard all that the Philistines had done to Saul, 12 They arose, all the valiant men, and took away the body of Saul, and the bodies of his sons, and brought them to Jabesh, and buried their bones under the oak in Jabesh, and fasted seven days. 13 So Saul died for his transgression which he committed against the LORD, even against the word of the LORD, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to enquire of it; 14 And enquired not of the LORD: therefore he slew him, and turned the kingdom unto David the son of Jesse.]
[And enquired not of the LORD:] Do you see what this was all about? Had Saul truly repented, his life would not have ended so tragically or humiliatingly. Millions of people die and end up in hell, not because they did not believe in God, but because they never honestly and sincerely called upon the name of the LORD, [Romans 10:9-12 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. 12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.]
Now, with Saul gone, it would have been easy for David to take the throne as king of all of Israel, but he chose to remain in Hebron and serve as king over Judah for seven years because Saul’s only living son, Ishbosheth was made king. Now, returning back to the reading of 2 Samuel, after the death of Abner, two men, Rechab and Baanah, took it upon themselves to kill Ishbosheth in an attempt to make David king over all of Israel. They not only killed him, but cut is head off his body and bring it to David thinking that he was going to be happy.
[2 Samuel 4:8-12 And they brought the head of Ishbosheth unto David to Hebron, and said to the king, Behold the head of Ishbosheth the son of Saul thine enemy, which sought thy life; and the LORD hath avenged my lord the king this day of Saul, and of his seed. 9 And David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and said unto them, As the LORD liveth, who hath redeemed my soul out of all adversity, 10 When one told me, saying, Behold, Saul is dead, thinking to have brought good tidings, I took hold of him, and slew him in Ziklag, who thought that I would have given him a reward for his tidings: 11 How much more, when wicked men have slain a righteous person in his own house upon his bed? shall I not therefore now require his blood of your hand, and take you away from the earth? 12 And David commanded his young men, and they slew them, and cut off their hands and their feet, and hanged them up over the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ishbosheth, and buried it in the sepulchre of Abner in Hebron.]
[son of Saul thine enemy, which sought thy life;] This was not even true, the civil war that took place between Abner and Joab had nothing to do with Ishbosheth, which is why David said that he was a righteous man. David, knew that God was with him, and that He would make him king of all Israel when the time was right. He learned that through all his troubles with Saul, it was God that was preparing him and all that adversity was a part of it, [Hebrews 10:35-36 Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. 36 For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.]
[who hath redeemed my soul out of all adversity,] As Christians, it is important that we keep the faith, with lots of patience and perseverance we will given the position of what God has ordained us to be in. David, was just a teenager was anointed by Samuel, to be appointed the next king of Israel by God Himself. David never took things into his own hands, he left it up to God to decided Saul’s fate, and about thirteen years later, twenty actually, God’s promise came true, and David became king, for the entire nation of Israel.
[2 Samuel 5:1-3 Then came all the tribes of Israel to David unto Hebron, and spake, saying, Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh. 2 Also in time past, when Saul was king over us, thou wast he that leddest out and broughtest in Israel: and the LORD said to thee, Thou shalt feed my people Israel, and thou shalt be a captain over Israel. 3 So all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron; and king David made a league with them in Hebron before the LORD: and they anointed David king over Israel.]
[and king David made a league with them in Hebron before the LORD:] Now, most of the other tribes of Israel realized that David had no part in what happened to Saul and his sons, and asked him to be their king, but his first challenge was the Jebusites. The Jebusites took over land that was inherited to the Benjamites, what better way to win their trust than to get the land back. David and his men went to Jerusalem to confront the Jebusites.
[2 Samuel 5:6-8,10,12 And the king and his men went to Jerusalem unto the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land: which spake unto David, saying, Except thou take away the blind and the lame, thou shalt not come in hither: thinking, David cannot come in hither. 7 Nevertheless David took the strong hold of Zion: the same is the city of David. 8 And David said on that day, Whosoever getteth up to the gutter, and smiteth the Jebusites, and the lame and the blind, that are hated of David’s soul, he shall be chief and captain. Wherefore they said, The blind and the lame shall not come into the house. 10 And David went on, and grew great, and the LORD God of hosts was with him.12 And David perceived that the LORD had established him king over Israel, and that he had exalted his kingdom for his people Israel’s sake.]
[Except thou take away the blind and the lame,] The Jebusites were mocking David, they believed that Jerusalem had a fortress around it so strong that it could not be taken by force, they literally used people who were blind and crippled to guard the wall. [smiteth the Jebusites, and the lame and the blind] David, was being sarcastic when he said this, not literal. The gutter is the supposed place for those who are crippled, and perhaps some of them did curse God because of their infirmities as I am sure many do today. Jesus, invites all to come to Him, in fact, He encourages the lame to come to Him, [Luke 4:18-19 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.]
[And David perceived that the LORD had established him king] David now understood that it was God who made him king over Israel. The true blind and lame are those ignorant fools, such as the Jebusites, who’s hearts are crippled to the fact they are dying and headed straight for hell because they refuse to accept that Christ is the only way to God. The truth is that Israel did have a fortress so strong around it that it could not be taken by force, unless God allowed it, and that was God Himself. This marked one of the greatest days in Israel’s history, as it would be the first and last time that all of Israel reigned under one king. This is how God works, [Proverbs 16:7 When a man’s ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.]
Now, since all of Israel finally made David king, and they finally took all of Jerusalem back, you would perceive that everything would be smooth sailing from there. Well, it was not, when the Philistines heard that David was made king, they were not happy.
[2 Samuel 5:17-23 But when the Philistines heard that they had anointed David king over Israel, all the Philistines came up to seek David; and David heard of it, and went down to the hold. 18 The Philistines also came and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim. 19 And David enquired of the LORD, saying, Shall I go up to the Philistines? wilt thou deliver them into mine hand? And the LORD said unto David, Go up: for I will doubtless deliver the Philistines into thine hand. 20 And David came to Baalperazim, and David smote them there, and said, The LORD hath broken forth upon mine enemies before me, as the breach of waters. Therefore he called the name of that place Baalperazim. 21 And there they left their images, and David and his men burned them. 22 And the Philistines came up yet again, and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim. 23 And when David enquired of the LORD, he said, Thou shalt not go up; but fetch a compass behind them, and come upon them over against the mulberry trees.]
[and come upon them over against the mulberry trees.] And here is the key to David’s success, he not only inquired of God he also did as God commanded. How long did it take for God to answer David? We do not know, but we do know that in every decision that David made he first inquired of God before he did anything. Just like every nation of God, there are always going to be some who go against God, and for some reason they have the biggest mouths. Let me tell you, just like the Jebusites, their bark is worse than their bite, they are defenseless against our Almighty God. Remember, it is God who will fight for us, we just need a little courage and a whole lot of faith, [Deuteronomy 20:3-4 And shall say unto them, Hear, O Israel, ye approach this day unto battle against your enemies: let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them; 4 For the LORD your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.]
Today’s Prayer: God, On any given day we should be able to stop, look at the life we have now and see how far we have come since we came to know Your Son as our Saviour. It is not so easy to see the blessings if we are facing difficulties or have not had a chance to get to know You like we should, but with a little prayer, some faith, patience, and perseverance, we know You have better plans for us Lord, Lead us and guide us, help us to see beyond the challenges we face and stand up to the mockers, and in Your strength we will prevail. May Your people be bold to preach the Gospel, put Your hedge of protection around us, and let us perceive that You have established Your will for us. I ask these things in Your name Jesus. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
Are You 100% Sure You Are Going To Heaven?: https://imfollowingjesus.com/Biblestudy/ready-to-follow-jesus/
Receive The KJB Daily Devotions In Your Email: http://eepurl.com/2WMzT
Missed A Message: https://imfollowingjesus.com/Biblestudy/
Visit I’m Following Jesus: https://imfollowingjesus.com/Biblestudy/welcome/
Read Today’s Bible Reading: http://kingjamesbible.imfollowingjesus.com/
I’m Following Jesus On Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/readytofollowJesus/
Copyright © 2023 I’m Following Jesus, All rights reserved.