A PEOPLE OF OUR WORD

2 Samuel 21:1-14 (KJV)
Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David enquired of the LORD. And the LORD answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites.
And the king called the Gibeonites, and said unto them; (now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; and the children of Israel had sworn unto them: and Saul sought to slay them in his zeal to the children of Israel and Judah.)
Wherefore David said unto the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you? and wherewith shall I make the atonement, that ye may bless the inheritance of the LORD?
And the Gibeonites said unto him, We will have no silver nor gold of Saul, nor of his house; neither for us shalt thou kill any man in Israel. And he said, What ye shall say, that will I do for you.
And they answered the king, The man that consumed us, and that devised against us that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the coasts of Israel,
Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, and we will hang them up unto the LORD in Gibeah of Saul, whom the LORD did choose. And the king said, I will give them.
But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of the LORD'S oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.
But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bare unto Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite:
And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the hill before the LORD: and they fell all seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of barley harvest.
And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven, and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night.
And it was told David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done.
And David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabeshgilead, which had stolen them from the street of Bethshan, where the Philistines had hanged them, when the Philistines had slain Saul in Gilboa:
And he brought up from thence the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son; and they gathered the bones of them that were hanged.
And the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son buried they in the country of Benjamin in Zelah, in the sepulchre of Kish his father: and they performed all that the king commanded. And after that God was intreated for the land.

This is one of the most difficult passages in the entire Bible to preach from.

The problem is that we become so focused the seven men and how it could possibly be
· Right and
· Fair and
· Compassionate

That we refuse to find any lesson or application for our own lives in it.

It is just too wrong in our eyes to allow ourselves to find anything right in the passage.

And yet there are life-changing lessons here for us if we are willing to see them.

I want to preach on the subject,
A People of Our Word.

A subtitle, if we wanted to give one, could be,
Give Restitution

I want to read something to you that was written just before 1982 by J Vernon McGee….

“…I am of the opinion …..that we are in the process of dissolution as a nation. There are several evidences of God’s judgment upon us.”[1]

From there McGee goes on to cite
· That there has not been a moment of peace for America since WWII
· That we have no great statesmen today, that we have no great leaders any more
· That America is guilty of lawlessness and gross immorality and

Someone else noted that,
“….ten years ago (this was written in 1998), for every wife or mother who walked away from her home and responsibilities, six hundred husbands and fathers did so.
Today…. for each man who walks away, two women do!” He does not take sides or advocate that either should leave.[2]

McGee stated that things such as the earthquakes in California (and I believe we can add,
· The hurricane in New Orleans,
· The wildfires in Southern California,
· The attack on the Twin Tower in New York
· Etc.)
are judgments from God. Today it would be consider gross lack of compassion to claim God would judge anyone for anything.

Israel had been in a famine three years.
So David asked God why and the answer came back that it was because of a breach of a promise Joshua had made to the Gibeonites more than one hundred years previous.

Joshua, without seeking the Lord’s guidance first, promised the Gibeonites that they would not be destroyed as Israel conquered the Promised Land but that they would be made servants.

When Saul was still king, he had tried to annihilate the Gibeonites.

Now, God was holding Israel accountable for those actions.

Before God would turn away the famine
I. DAVID MUST CONFESS THE SIN
2 Samuel 21:1-2
Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David inquired of the LORD. And the LORD answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites.
And the king called the Gibeonites, and said unto them; (now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; and the children of Israel had sworn unto them: and Saul sought to slay them in his zeal to the children of Israel and Judah.) (KJV)

David wasn’t the one who had brought the breach upon Israel – that was King Saul.

But David was the one who took responsibility and set out to make things right.

Almost everyone I know who is going through some difficult time spiritually can tell you how it is someone else’s fault they are in the problem they are in….
· Someone offended them
· Someone stole from them
· Someone lied to them

· We might blame our parents
· We might blame another Christian
· We might blame a former pastor or ours

Here is the one thing that I know though,
· Those who step up and assume responsibility to get things right with God are generally blessed
· Those who shrink back and let offenses remain unresolved are generally not.

When we think about the fact that God expects us to keep our word….

There is a reason to fear.

Jesus said in Matthew 5:36-37
Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black.
But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than thesecometh of evil.(KJV)

What He meant was – keep your word.
· If you say you will do something, do it
· If you say you will not do something, don’t

Jesus said in Matthew 12:36-37
But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.
For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.(KJV)

Joshua had promised the Gibeonites that Israel would protect them.

It is now 500 years, 17 judges and 2 kings later.

God still expected them to keep their word.

I wonder how many of us have a famine in our own land because we have not kept our word in some way?
· Maybe we told the Lord we would serve Him, but we haven’t.
· Maybe we promised God we would be faithful, but we are not
· Maybe told someone we would pray for them, but we didn’t
· Maybe we promised to love someone, but we don’t

Who can deny that there is a famine in our land today?
· Our country is falling apart spiritually and economically.
· Families are disintegrating around us
· Christians are failing in their walk with the Lord

It is time we took responsibility and went to God to make things right.

Secondly, before God would turn the famine
II. SOMEONE MUST PAY THE COST
2 Samuel 21:4-9
And the Gibeonites said unto him, We will have no silver nor gold of Saul, nor of his house; neither for us shalt thou kill any man in Israel. And he said, What ye shall say, that will I do for you.
And they answered the king, The man that consumed us, and that devised against us that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the coasts of Israel,
Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, and we will hang them up unto the LORD in Gibeah of Saul, whom the LORD did choose. And the king said, I will give them.
But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of the LORD's oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.
But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bare unto Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite:
And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the hill before the LORD: and they fell all seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of barley harvest.(KJV)

This passage is horrifying on the surface.

But we do have to remember that:
· These are the family of King Saul. (His grandsons)
· King Saul is the one who had committed the offense

At least one lesson I see in this is that,
When we have injured another person, a simple apology is seldom enough to resolve the injury….

I am not giving you ammo to use against someone who has offended you.
This is instruction on how we ought to behave when we realize we have offended someone else….

Matthew 18:21-22
Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?
Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.(KJV)

My responsibility when I have been offended is to forgive
· Every time
· All of the time and
· Regardless of whether the offender makes things right or not.

But, when I realize I have offended or in some other way injured another person, I have a responsibility to make it right with them.

Matthew 5:23-24
Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;
Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.(KJV)

Realize that it is going to cost more than a simple “I’m sorry.”

Years ago I had a fellow in our church who had committed a terrible sin against another person in the church.

This guy came to me indignant that, when he had apologized, the other guy didn’t just open his arms and welcome him back like nothing happened.

Frankly, until we can appreciate how deeply our sin has injured another person, I doubt that our apologies are real anyway.

Throughout the Bible we will find that when we have offended or in some way sinned against another person, an apology is not the way to reconcile – there must also be restitution, a price paid.

Exodus 22:3-6 says
If the sun be risen upon him, there shall be blood shed for him; for he should make full restitution; if he have nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft.
If the theft be certainly found in his hand alive, whether it be ox, or ass, or sheep; he shall restore double.
If a man shall cause a field or vineyard to be eaten, and shall put in his beast, and shall feed in another man's field; of the best of his own field, and of the best of his own vineyard, shall he make restitution.
If fire break out, and catch in thorns, so that the stacks of corn, or the standing corn, or the field, be consumed therewith; he that kindled the fire shall surely make restitution.(KJV)

You see, God made it clear that you would not only apologize but make restitution…..

And that restitution would be an awfully high price
Leviticus 6:2-5
If a soul sin, and commit a trespass against the LORD, and lie unto his neighbour in that which was delivered him to keep, or in fellowship, or in a thing taken away by violence, or hath deceived his neighbour;
Or have found that which was lost, and lieth concerning it, and sweareth falsely; in any of all these that a man doeth, sinning therein:
Then it shall be, because he hath sinned, and is guilty, that he shall restore that which he took violently away, or the thing which he hath deceitfully gotten, or that which was delivered him to keep, or the lost thing which he found,
Or all that about which he hath sworn falsely; he shall even restore it in the principal, and shall add the fifth part more thereto, and give it unto him to whom it appertaineth, in the day of his trespass offering.(KJV)

In the Word of God, depending upon the offense, the restitution might be
· Double
· Fourfold
· Sevenfold
· The principle plus the fifth part

And if a person could not pay, they were sold as slaves.

The point I am trying to make is that it might be the reason you have a famine in your own land is because you don’t want to pay that high a price to see God once again bless you…..

There is a reason to fear the Lord
· God did not turn the famine, until someone took responsibility for their promises and
· God did not turn the famine until someone paid a huge price for their restitution

Thirdly, God did not turn away the famine until
III. SOMEONE CARED FOR THOSE THAT WERE LOST
2 Samuel 21:10-14
And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven, and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night.
And it was told David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done.
And David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabesh-gilead, which had stolen them from the street of Bethshan, where the Philistines had hanged them, when the Philistines had slain Saul in Gilboa:
And he brought up from thence the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son; and they gathered the bones of them that were hanged.
And the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son buried they in the country of Benjamin in Zelah, in the sepulchre of Kish his father: and they performed all that the king commanded. And after that God was intreated for the land.(KJV)

It is important to see that the famine did not stop after the seven were hanged.

In fact, rain did not come, some people believe, for months.

Rizpah, the mother of two of the slain, could not stop their death, but she would not quit caring for her sons.

Day and night she stayed by their bodies:
· Chasing away the birds during the day and
· Chasing away the wild animals each night.

· The time of harvest is in late summer or early fall
· They say Israel doesn’t normally receive any rain until April or May

For months Rizpah stayed by the bodies of these men until finally word came to King David and their bodies were fitly buried.

And only then did God begin to once again bless the land.

Any one of us can find reasons not to love the lost.
· They are living lives that God hates
· They have chosen to rebel against the Christ we love
· They are sometimes involved in sins that we find disgusting
· They do not really want us to try to help them from their sins
· We have enough troubles of our own we don’t really need to involve ourselves in others

But God was not “entreated for the land” until someone cared for those lost.

Conclusion
David’s place was a tough one. One I would certainly not want to be in.

But David was a man after God’s own heart and he understood two key truths:
· That a heart after God’s is good for his word and
· That when an offense is committed we must pay whatever the price to make it right

[1]J Vernon McGee, Thru the Bible, Vol 2 pg 235-236
[2]http://www.unionchurch.com/archive/051098.html, accessed 11-23-07