In our last Lesson I addressed the military prowess of King David! Now now we’re going to talk about his KINDNESS?

Yes, because 2 Samuel 9:1 reveals a very “tender” side to this multifaceted “man after God’s Own Heart!” This last unique Phrase is an allusion to Acts 13:22, really more of a quotation.

Our Text today … “And David said, Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul, that I may shew him KINDNESS for Jonathan’s sake?” Again, 2 Samuel 9:1.

Wait a second!

Was not King Saul David’s avowed enemy for many years? And would it not be possible for anyone in Saul’s lineage to try to lead an uprising against the new King?

In the eyes of the secular world, especially the ancient world, “assassination” would have been more in order than “showing kindness” to someone in the former king’s clan!

Yet David is seeking some descendant of Saul (if one is still living) … expressly to be gracious to that person!

The beautiful noun “kindness” in our Text is spelled “hesed.” This key Old Testament word is found 251 times in our Bible!

It really does mean “kindness,” but is also (in the King James Bible) translated “mercy” (149 times) and “lovingkindness” (30 more times) and “goodness” (12 more times) and even “pity” (1 time).

Now … we can see that “hesed” is actually a synonym for God’s amazing GRACE!

Wow!

You folks know the rest of the story. David’s search party found a (lame) young man named Mephibosheth. His name means something like “shattering the shame” (my own translation, definition, based on the Hebrew) … obliterating any ignominy (disgrace, dishonor, embarrassment) that might have been in one’s background!

Wow again!

Once he (Mephibosheth) is found and brought to Jerusalem … this man (a direct descendant of Saul through Jonathan) is provided for (lavishly) for the rest of his life!

Eating at the royal table!

Being made heir (better than that, made the outright owner) of all Saul’s former estate! Lots and lots of land!

That acreage will be farmed for Mephibosheth too, at kind King David’s command! And the lame lad will be the recipient of all those proceeds, profits too! Made wealthy now, an ongoing supply of cash!

That’s the thing about GRACE (God’s Grace), it’s lavish and abundant and ever-giving!

David never read these word penned by Paul many years later, but he acted like he had ready them. “Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” Ephesians 4:32

Christian reader here this morning … the Holy Spirit abiding within your being is fundamentally “kind!” And His Presence should make us all practitioners of that type “kindness” too!

Anyone listening?

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

By the way, that verb to “show” kindness is spelled “asah” in Hebrew. It literally means “to do” kindness! It’s not just a feeling, it is an action! Oh, to be busy overtly spreading the Love (Kindness) of God!

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Brave, at times fierce … the now famous David of Israel knew how to confront an enemy!

Going all the way back to his killing both a lion and a bear, when those predators had tried to molest David’s (then a young man) small flock of sheep. (1 Samuel 17:34)

I give one occasion, after David had become King. “And David gat him a name when he returned from smiting of the Syrians in the valley of salt, being eighteen thousand men.” 2 Samuel 8:13, an amazing total of casualties!

But for sure, Israel was safe while a warrior ruled the nation!

But there were drawbacks to being such a valiant soldier. Come to think of it, there are limitations on every human being! No one can excel in all areas of life.

Let me show you what I mean.

One day the King expressed a desire to build a House, a permanent Dwelling Place, for God. A more durable Temple instead of the portable Tabernacle that had been utilized for decades.

A noble desire, apparently!

But God disallowed David that honor! His Son King Solomon could do so, build that magnificent Structure, but not David!

Why?

David’s own testimony … “God said unto me, Thou shalt not build an house for my name, because thou hast been a MAN OF WAR, and hast shed blood.” 1 Chronicles 28:3

Because David had been such a proficient warrior!

Like I just said, nobody can be good at everything!

To excel in one category of life just might mean you do not excel (or cannot) in some other department!

Skilled at battling for God, for His people, yet because of that very “strength” … denied the opportunity of building God’s House!

My point?

Everybody can’t be a Preacher!

Or a singer!

Or a Deacon!

Or certainly a Pastor!

On the other hand, those Christian individuals CAN excel as prayer warriors, Sunday School teachers or a hundred other things!

The only One I know who did all things well, and was eminently qualified in every area … was (still is) Jesus Christ the Son of God!

Mark 7:37 … “And (the people) were beyond measure astonished, saying, HE HATH DONE ALL THINGS WELL.”

Readers today … serve in the place (and in the captivity) where God has crafted you! And please, realize your limits!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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God, speaking to David through the Prophet named Nathan, said … “I took thee from the sheepcote, from following the sheep, to be ruler over my people, over Israel.”(2 Samuel 7:8)

Just those few words from the Lord to David, which I am calling the “trajectory” of David’s life, a biography in a sentence, will be our Text this morning.

Look at God’s Hand in David’s life, even young David! Early on, he oversaw, tended the sheep that belonged to his Father Jesse. (1 Samuel 17:15) Probably still a teenager, yet God was focused on this young man in a sweet way.

Shepherds in Bible days were not highly regarded, socially speaking. They lived with their flocks, resulting in the foul odor of the sheepfold and pasture imbuing their very bodies, clothing included!

For example, Genesis 46:34 tells us that shepherds were despised by ancient people! An “abomination,” the King James Version calls them, in the eyes of the Egyptians that is.

Yet God took David and grew him, developed him, matured him … and ultimately sat him on the Throne of Israel!

To be “ruler” over the Land of Israel!

From a pauper to a prince!

From a shepherd to a saoverign!

From a student to a saint! (Writing half the Book of Psalm should qualify him for that august title!)

What an “arc” for a human life to follow!

From a nobody to a somebody!

Then I though … “Is that not the plot every child of God has followed, has been mapped for him or her?”

Let David testify with that golden pen God gave him … “He (the Lord) brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.” (Psalm 40:2)

Paul was graced from being “the chief of sinners” to being the “Apostle to the gentiles!”

What a glorious testimonies!

Today, dear reader, can you remember your past? Before the Lord saved you? Where did He find you?

Probably in a worse place than a “sheepcote!”

And where has He bought you?

I answer, He has made us “kings and priests” in His Father’s Eyes!

Read it. …

“Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, AND HATH MADE US KINGS AND PRIESTS UNTO GOD AND HIS FATHER; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.” (Revelation 3:5-6)

David, an amazing trajectory!

But such is true for you and for me, Believers in Jesus Christ, recipients of the marvelous Grace of God!

Isaiah 51:1 may say it best … “Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the LORD: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged.”

Remember … where He found you!

Mercy … how blessed WE are in Christ Jesus!

Maybe even more blessed than David, who lived way before Jesus’ Death, Burial and Resurrection!

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with ALL SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS in heavenly places in Christ.” Ephesians 1:3, words which even David could not write, could not claim!

But Paul did … and so can we!

“ALL SPIRITUL BLESSINGS IN CHRIST JESUS!”

Hallelujah!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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As as young King, David had the opportunity to bring the Ark of the Covenant, Israel’s most sacred possession, home to Jerusalem.

Proceeding carefully, this little group of transporters worshipped every step of the way.

And David even … “danced before the Lord with all his might.” 2 Samuel 6:14, now that’s emotion!

The verb used for “dance” is spelled “karar” and literally means “to whirl!” The verb is also framed in the most “intensive” stem available to the Hebrew grammarian! David “energetically” danced before the Lord, in joy and thanksgiving! Enthusiastically!

The word “before” means “in the Face of the Lord!”

Wow!

Two verses later David is still at it. His public activity stirring up hatred in the heart of his wife Michal, King Saul’s daughter.

She actually saw King David … “leaping and dancing before the Lord.” See 2 Kings 6:16.

Wow again!

Now I am not saying that such outward displays of emotion are to be encouraged in every circumstance.

But I am saying that emotion is not necessarily the enemy of faith, true faith.

And I am saying this, probably most of us are far too cold and lethargic in our worship of the Lord.

Perhaps a little shouting, a little leaping, even some dancing before Him (even if in private) would not be a bad idea!

Jesus was zealous!

So should we be!

Here’s how the Book of Psalms ends … “Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.” Psalm 150:6

Oh yes, the Fruit of the Spirit is JOY!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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Have you ever heard of “doing a right thing in the wrong way?”Pure motives … but bad mechanics?

David had a wonderful idea, bringing the holy, revered Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. So, the King organized a work team to do the job. Here’s part of the Bible account …

“And when they came to Nachon’s threshingfloor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen shook it. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God.” 2 Samuel 6:6-7

Simply put, God killed Uzzah (whose Hebrew name means “strength”) for “touching” the Ark! He tried to stabilize that special Piece of Furniture so it would not topple.

Yet God killed him on the spot!

Even David did not understand the immediacy and apparent harshness of God’s surprising Judgment! “And David was displeased (the verb means ‘hot, angry’), because the LORD had made a breach (a breaking forth) upon Uzzah.” 2 Samuel 6:8

Why?

Why did God act in such a way?

We all know that His Judgments are always Righteous, Revelation 19:2, but still … WHY?

First of all, the Ark was meant to be manually carried by an elite group of Levites, not hauled on a cart! According to Exodus 25:13-14. Had that simple injunction been obeyed, Uzzah would have not died!

But most important of all … that Ark was the God-given Seat of Mercy on which Almighty God dwelt with His people Israel.

The Ark was a symbol, the foremost symbol of approaching Almighty God! Granted, once a year and by the High Priest only … but still the Way to God. Blood had to be sprinkled and poured as this worship was conducted!

The “point” of today’s Lesson …

Dear readers, if one misses the Way to God, the Blood of the Lamb, the Mercy Seat of Divine Revelation … the result will be an eternity in a literal Hell Fire and Brimstone!

Uzzah, Israel cannot be allowed to mar that symbol!

The immediate death … that of Uzzah … is a teaching tool (an object lesson) showing the vital importance of getting Salvation, the Blood Atonement, the way to God right!

Exactly right!

If not … DEATH!

Wow!

Are YOU saved?

Washed in the Blood of Jesus?

Born again?

A possessor of eternal life?

How, Preacher?

Let’s allow Jesus to answer … “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” John 5:24

Avoid death!

Believe on Jesus!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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