(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

So in 2 Samuel chapter 20, you've got to remember last week where we left off with David's being brought back into the kingdom and then you have this dispute between the men of Judah and the rest of Israel. They're coming and there at the end it says in verse 41 of chapter 19, it says, And behold, all the men of Israel came to the king and said to the king, Why have our brethren, the men of Judah, stolen the way and have brought the king and his household and all king's men with him over Jordan? And all the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, Because the king is near of kin to us, wherefore then be he angry for this matter? Have we eaten at all the king's cost, or have he given us any gift? And then verse 43, And the men of Israel answered the men of Judah and said, We have ten parts in the king, and we have also more right in David than ye. Why then you despise us that our advice should not be first had in bringing back our king? And the words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel. So there's this dispute here where the men of Judah saying, Well, hey, he's our near kin. You know, that's why it makes more sense for us to just gone ahead and brought him in and restored him and not to wait for you. And they're saying, Well, you know, we have more right to David than you do because we're, you know, we're ten tribes. We have ten parts in him. And really, it's just really the silly dispute that they had there at the end of it. And we'll see get into here a little bit in a minute about kind of what's going on there, at least make application. But then it picks up the story in the very next verse in Chapter 20, verse one. And there happened to be there a man of Belial whose name was Sheba, the son of Bikrai, a Benjamite. And he blew a trumpet and said, We have no part in David, neither have we any inheritance in the son of Jesse, every man to his tent so Israel. And it's this really weird thing to sit here and end the previous chapter with them. You know, that was their whole case. That was their whole argument. We have ten parts in David. You know, why are why did you bring them back? We have ten parts. And then you jump to verse one and you have this, you know, the son of Belial Bikrai saying, We have no parts in David. So it's well, which is it? Right? And really what's going on here is it just shows you that, you know, sometimes people are motivated for the wrong reasons. They're motivated to be near, you know, the man of God. They want to be near somebody of influence or power, not because of what they stand for, what they're doing, but just because they want to bask in that glory, so to speak. They're just kind of, you know, caught up in a cult of personality, you know, and people can, you know, it's funny that, you know, they're so insistent on being there to help bring David in, but when they don't get their way or the words of the men of Judah were fiercer, right, they kind of said, well, hey, you know what, there might be more of you, but it's our blood that's running in his veins, right? That was kind of the one up they had on him, right? And when they took that and it's like, well, now we don't want anything to do with him, right? And it's no coincidence that, you know, it's a son of Belial that instigates all this. You know, Bikrai, or excuse me, Sheba rather, Sheba the son of Bikrai, a Benjamite, he blows the trumpet and he says, we have no pardon, David. Neither have any inheritance in the son of Jesse, every man to his tent. So this guy is a son of Belial, is what the Bible is saying there. He's a man of Belial, right? And you'll see that term used throughout scripture, the sons of Belial, the children of Belial, the man of Belial. And if you know your Bible, you know that that's not something you want to be called. You know, Belial wasn't, you know, a great patriarch of old. This is talking about people who are children of the devil, literally, because Belial, Baal, Beelzebub, these are all the same names for, you know, a heathen god that existed back then, okay? And so when you're being called a man of Belial, that's not a good thing. Basically what he's calling you is a reprobate, because that's when you're worshipping Satan, when you're worshipping the devil, that's what you are. In fact, many times in the scriptures, when you see the sons of Belial being brought up, or children of Belial, you see that they're associated with being reprobates. You know, I'm not going to turn to all the passages, but, you know, just to remind you, Judges 19, right? When they surround the house, and the man from Ephraim has to put his concubine, or he doesn't have to, rather, but he puts his concubine out, and they abuse her all the night long, and then she eventually dies, right? But their intention was, when they showed up there, that they wanted to know the man that was in there, right? They're reprobates. And what were they? They were sons of Belial. And if you know that story, how that plays out, you know, Israel shows up and says, deliver those sons of Belial, and they refuse not to. And that's going to come up here in a minute. You had a tribe that, in the days of the Judges, or, you know, at the end of the book of Judges, they chose not to deliver the sons of Belial over, okay? And if you were paying attention during the reading, you can kind of see where I'm going with that, okay? Of course, this term comes up a lot with the sons of Belial. And we won't go over all that Judges 19 pretty much makes the case. You could talk about, you know, the Bible mentions Eli's sons, right? How they were sons of Belial, then it says they knew not the Lord, okay? So this guy, this guy, you know, Sheba, the son of Bichrai, he's not a good guy. He's a very wicked man. He's a son of Belial. He's a man of Belial. You know, and he's just there not because he's about, he wants to follow some godly king, because he wants to see David restored to his rightful throne, because he, you know, David is leading the country in the nation in godliness and righteousness. He's observing all the commandments. You know, maybe he obviously had his faults and his shortcomings. But generally speaking, you know, he has a desire to build a house of the Lord. He's doing all this work for God. You know, he's a godly leader on the whole. And you would think, you know, people would want just, you know, regardless of what he might be like, or his personality or his imperfections or his faults, they would have said, well, you know, he's a godly leader. You know, we just want to follow him. We want to see him restored, whether we're there or not. You know, that just shows you the motivation here with people sometimes. And it's, you know, wicked people that often will turn on the person that just a moment ago they were saying, oh, why weren't we there? We have more parts in him. We should have been involved in this. And then when things don't go their way, how quickly they just, you know, turn on the very person that they were advocating for only moments ago. So, you know, the sons of Belial here, the sheba, the son of Bichra, a very wicked guy. Let's move on in the story here and we'll make more application about that as we go. It says, And David came to his house, verse 3, at Jerusalem. And the king took the ten women, his concubines whom he had left, to keep the house, and put them in a ward, and fed them, but went not in unto them. So they were shut up in the day of their death, living in widowhood. And so, you know, living in widowhood, obviously that's something, you know, you would use to define somebody who had lost their husband, a lady whose husband had died, right? But David hasn't died. So it's just, it's a term that's kind of just using to describe the manner of life that they're going to live from now on. They're not going to have, you know, any relationship with David outside of, you know, he's going to continue to just nourish their body with food, okay? But he's not going to take care of them beyond that. He's going to provide for their, you know, their housing and their food. But he's shutting them out. So why is he doing that? Well, remember, this is, these are the concubines that Absalom laid with in the sight of all Israel, you know, in broad daylight, okay? To kind of show that he was, you know, to kind of, you know, just rub David's face in the dirt a little bit, kind of just show that he was in charge. So this was when David finally comes back, you know, he lets, you know, this is their punishment for doing what they did. But notice verse four, it says, Then said the king to Amasa, assemble me the men of Judah within three days, and be thou here present. So remember, Amasa was the one that David said, hey, he was originally with Absalom. He was in the role that Joab had. He was his chief of staff, right? So to speak, right? He was his secretary of defense, whatever you want to call it. He was in his cabinet. That's what he was to Absalom. He was kind of, he was Absalom's Joab, so to speak, okay? But you remember, to make peace and to show goodwill, you know, David said, hey, I'll make Amasa captain in the room of Joab. He said, if you come and be on my side, you know, I'm not going to take vengeance on you. I'm not going to punish you. In fact, I'm going to exalt you and give you the exact same position, right? And you have to remember the kind of guy Joab is. Remember, we've talked about this in time past, that Joab is somebody who likes positions of power, and he doesn't just let these things go. You know, he's somebody who is, you know, going to compete for this, if you want to call it competition. In fact, he's got some pretty dirty tactics we'll see here in a minute. But he says to him, you know, assemble me the men of Judah within three days and be thou here present. So David's not just going to hang back and let Sheba the son of Bichrai just run off and start this whole thing over again. Like he just went over this with Absalom where he had this rebellion, and he's not going to sit around and dilly-dally. He's getting after it. He says, look, we have three days to get everyone together, and you need to be here, and we're going to go find Sheba the son of Bichrai, and we're going to take care of him and anybody who's with him. David's not, you know, letting this, he doesn't want to let this fester. He's nipping in the bud, right? So Amasa, it says in verse five, went to assemble the men of Judah, but he tarried longer than the time which he had appointed him. So he was, you know, he's not making a very good impression, you know, his first job here, you know, first day on the job, and he's late, so to speak. Now there's probably reasons why, I'm not saying, it's just kind of a joke, but he's not like he's saying he's got a bad character or something like that, but he doesn't show up, okay? And David said to Abishai, and remember who Abishai is, right? That's Joab's elder brother, right? They're the sons of Zeruriah, David's sister, so these are David's nephews, Joab and Abishai, okay? He said to Abishai, now who did he say it to when Amasa's gone? Did he go back to Joab and say, hey Joab, you know, he goes to Abishai, right? Because remember, he put Joab out of the office, right? So it seems like he doesn't want to rely on Joab, he doesn't want to use Joab. You know, Joab can fight in his army, but it seems like he just doesn't want him to be his right-hand man anymore. So you can kind of see that here playing out. And he said to Abishai, now shall Sheba the son of Bichrai do us more harm than did Absalom. Take thou thy Lord's servants and pursue after him, lest he get him fenced cities and escape us. He said, we can't sit around and wait for him to show up. We can't wait for, you know, Amasa to get here. You need to go take care of this for me. And there went out after him Joab's men. You know, the story is to read that you could see that Joab went with them, that Joab was involved in this pursuit. And there went out after him Joab's men and the Cherithites and the Pelethites and all the mighty men. And they went out of Jerusalem to pursue after Sheba the son of Bichrai. And they were at the great stone which is in Gibeon. And when they were at the great stone which is in Gibeon, Amasa went before them. And Joab's garment that he had put on was girded unto him. And upon it a girdle with the sword fastened upon his loins in the sheaf thereof. And as he went forth it fell out. Now you can kinda, you gotta kinda piece this together in the story. You know, yeah it fell out but it wasn't like a, it wasn't like he, I believe it was on purpose. Like he kinda set this thing up or maybe, you know, did something to make this sword fall out of its sheath, right? And as he went it fell out. And you'll see why here, verse 9. And Joab said to Amasa, Art thou in health my brother? And Joab took Amasa by the beard with the right hand to kiss him, right? But Amasa took no heed to the sword that was in Joab's hand which would have been in what, his left hand, right? So all likely had, you know, Joab was a right handed person. You know, the odds are that he was right handed. He was, you know, he was not left hand dominant. So he's, he has this thing fall out and he kinda does this awkward pick up with the left hand. As he's approaching unto Amasa, you know, he sees him and he's, oh, my sword happened to fall out. You say, why is he doing that? Cause if he had just pulled out his sword and went to stab him, you know, Amasa would have fought back. So he's trying to get Amasa to let his guard down in the story. And he does it through letting his sword fall out, picks it up with his, you know, imagine trying to put that in like that. You know, he's got it in his left hand. So it's this really awkward moment for him, you know, where he's kinda just fumbling with his sword. And he reaches out the right hand and he even says, Art thou in health my brother? Right, so he's trying to put him at ease. You know, he's speaking kind words to him. You know, that's the old fashioned way of saying, hey, how's it going? You doing alright? Right, hey, art thou in health? You know, maybe we could start using that around here and bring that back. Art thou in health my brother? Let's leave off the whole grabbing by the beard and kissing thing, alright? You know, we go for the right hand of fellowship around here, okay? That's what we do. Now in some places, of course, they do that, right? And in some places that is a greeting, but just not here in America, okay? So he does that, he reaches out, takes him by the beard, right? And goes to kiss him and while he's doing that, giving that greeting, what's he do? He runs him through, right? And he kills him. And it's, you know, the Bible kinda gives us a little bit of the description. This wasn't just a little paper cut here. I mean, he really let him have it. But Amasa took no heed, verse 10, to the sword that was in Joab's hand. He's been, you know, disarmed in a way to think there's no threat here. So he smote him therewith in the fifth rib and shed out his bowels to the ground. So I mean, this was like, he put it in and kind of running around to where your bowels are falling out. You know, your guts are pouring out onto the ground. This is a very gruesome thing that he did to him. He said, well, what did Amasa do to deserve this? Well, all Amasa did was get promoted by the king. All Amasa did was have somebody else say, hey, you can have Joab's job. And Joab doesn't let these things go very easily, right? And he goes ahead and just kills him and sheds innocent blood. Amasa's done nothing wrong. He doesn't deserve this at all. And he sheds out his bowels to the ground and struck him not again that he died. He says he struck him not again because there was just no need. You know, it was a kill shot. It was just one shot, one kill kind of a thing. And he takes him out. So Joab and Abishai, his brother, pursued after Sheba the son of Bichrai. So Joab kills him, right? And him and Abishai, they go on ahead with their men to pursue after Sheba the son of Bichrai. And it says in verse 11, and one of Joab's men stood by him and said, and who's he standing by? He's standing by Amasa, right? Because there's still, remember, they're moving. This is a big troop that's moving through. This is an army that's going through, pursuing after him, right? And Amasa's coming with people, right? That was his job, to go gather people, right? And Joab and Abishai have, you know, their guys that they had got, the Pelethites, the Cherithites. At this point in the story, you know, Amasa's coming back. He's got an army. So this is a big troop that's moving. Abishai and Joab go on ahead. One of Joab's men stood by him, meaning Amasa, who just got killed and had his bowels spilled on the ground, and said, he that favorith Joab, and he that is for David, let him go after Joab. So he's standing there by him, and he's saying, well, Joab went that way. If you're for the king, if you're actually for David, if you're for Joab, that's the way to go. Let's go get, he's trying to, you know, get them to just go along with what's going on here. To move along. Now look at verse 12. And Amasa wallowed in blood in the midst of the highway. Now when it says wallowed, you know, that tells me that, that sounds like he's still alive. Like he's not completely dead. Like a pig that wallows in the mire is another term that's in the scriptures, right? A sow returns to wallow in the mire. So it kind of, it's like he's writhing in agony. And this isn't just a quick death, it seems like. So, I mean, kind of wrap your mind around what's going on here. You know, there's this gruesome scene that these people are coming upon. And Joab's guy's just like, move along, nothing to see here. Nothing to see here, folks. The battle's that way. And here's poor Amasa, just on the ground, bleeding out in front of everybody, bowels on the ground. You know, obviously he's dying. You know, he's not going to get up from this. And when the man saw that all the people stood still, right? He removed Amasa out of the highway to the field and cast a cloth upon him, when he saw that everyone that came by him stood still. And these aren't just, you know, this isn't, you know, the local librarian that's walking by here. This isn't, you know, some, these aren't people who've never seen bloodshed before. These are warriors. These are, you know, these are the infantry. These are soldiers. These are people that fight battles, have fought many battles. They're seeing this and it's making them go, whoa, they're standing still, they're watching him wallow. It's quite the sight. And what we should learn from this is that, you know, today, you know, we might see something, a lot of people today might see something like this, you know, and rewind it, you know, watch it on your television and watch it again. You know, you see that part where his bowels got, you know, spilled all over the ground and they would just take that in over and over again, right? And what I'm getting at is this, is that, you know, even these men back then were, when they came upon this site, they were not desensitized to what had taken place. You know, and that's, you know, something we should pay attention to in our society today, in our culture that we live in. You know, we living, you know, and I can attest this for myself. You know, I grew up seeing all the action flicks and all the movies that probably, you know, no one has business watching. You know, I didn't grow up in a godly home, you know, that's what's seen is seen. But I can tell you that that stuff has a desensitizing effect on a person's mind. I mean, think about all the video games that are played today. You know, the video games have gotten so intense and the graphics so realistic and people just go and play these games where they're just killing people nonstop. They're just shooting and killing and bloodshed and violence. You know, and I understand it's all make believe. It's just people blowing off steam and there's no real ill will behind that. But what you have to understand is that kind of thing cannot, you cannot help but be desensitized by stuff like that. Now, I'm not saying, you know, if you came across this, you still wouldn't be shocked. But these are soldiers. These are people that are coming across this and are shocked by the fact that somebody has been killed in such a gruesome manner. And, you know, on top of the fact it was a mesa. You know, the king's captain, you know, his main man in the army, his top ranking general that has just been killed. So there's that shock and they know that he's done nothing wrong. There's no explanation for why this has happened. And they're shocked by what they see. Not just the violence of it, but the fact that it was done to somebody innocent. You know, and today in our society, you know, I wonder how many people would have a similar reaction. You know, we've become so desensitized to violence and harming others, and especially what, seeing the innocent having their blood shed. You know, we could talk about abortion at this point, couldn't we? We just, abortion is just commonplace. I mean, it's just like, yeah, that's something that just goes on in our country. It's been going on for decades now. Thousands of lives, innocent lives every day, innocent blood just being shed. You know, we could go to the warfare, talk about the wars that are being fought. You know, and it's not like it's wrong to be a soldier, right? I mean, John the Baptist told the centurions, you know, you need to quit the army. No, he said, you know, be content with your wages and do no violence. Meaning don't violate people, don't harm the innocent, right? There's nothing wrong with having to fight for your country, but we shouldn't go out of our way to harm innocent people, okay? And when we see innocent blood and innocent people being harmed, we see gruesome violence, you know, if it's not shocking to us, maybe we've seen too much of it, real or, you know, simulated. Maybe we've seen too much of it in the movies. Maybe we've seen too much of it in these video games. Maybe we need to ask ourselves, are we in fact becoming desensitized to violence? You know, and there is an agenda to desensitize people. You know, when they, I watched a documentary a while back, I can't remember exactly all the details, but they were talking about how, I think maybe I was talking to somebody here about it, I can't remember, but they were talking about how in World War II, you know, World War I and II, the soldiers would come back and they'd be shell-shocked, and it was hard to get these guys when they first went over there to actually shoot the enemy. You know, they would have them shooting at targets and things like that, but when they actually went to go pull a trigger and shoot at a live human being, a lot of American soldiers had a tough time doing it. And then they got real interested in, and then the video games and things came out. And the Army got very interested in using that to train people to be less reluctant to kill other people. I mean, that's what this talk is about, so think about that with these video games. I mean, when you have a video game where the U.S. Army is like, you know, we could use that to get people to kill people in real life. So there is an agenda to desensitize people to violence, so just be complacent with it. You know, we could talk about this all night. I mean, think about all the stories that you hear from time to time where, you know, some woman is being, you know, raped on a train and nobody does anything. People just step over a dead body somewhere, whatever. People just ignore violence and injustice that just goes on right in front of their eyes sometimes. Because they're just, well, that's just the way it is. They're just so desensitized to these type of things. You know, the Bible says that we would, Paul said to the Romans, I would have you wise under that which is good. You know, we should be wise about that which is good. We should fill our minds with that which is good. We should focus on those things which are pure and lovely and all those things. And, you know, we should be what? Simple concerning evil. Being simple concerning evil. What does it mean to be simple? He's not talking about, you know, being a minimalist. He's talking about being, you know, simple is kind of another term for being, you know, not necessarily stupid but just, you know, ignorant of that. Being ignorant about what's evil. You know, I'm not really interested in finding out all the wicked things that people are doing behind closed doors. The Bible says it's a shame to even speak of those things which are done in secret. You know, I want to be simple concerning evil. You know, I don't want to be so desensitized to it, listen to it so much, see it so much that I'm an expert on evil. I don't want to be that soldier that walked by like, fifth rib, huh? Yeah, I've seen that before. You know, that's my favorite spot too, you know. I love that fifth rib, right? We want to say, man, what happened here? Wow, I'm shocked. You know, be simple concerning evil. Don't let yourself become desensitized by this culture. And look, it's not just the video games, the movies, it's the music too. I mean, the trash that they talk about, you know, you pick the genre. I don't care. Everyone likes to get after the gangster rap, right? That kind of makes its own case, right? But what about, you know, well, I just listen to the country western, brother, you know. But what do they always talk about in those songs? Getting drunk, fornication, adultery. You know, she gets mad and slashes his tires and whatever. You know, he catches up to her and knocks out her teeth. I don't know what they sing about, right? But it's nothing good, right? And that all is just what desensitizes you. No, it's no longer adultery. It's no longer fornication. It's, you know, it's an affair. It's just, you know, a living loose. You know, it's just sleeping around. You know, it's just whatever. All these things, the culture, they have an agenda of desensitizing us and making us, what, the opposite of Romans. They want us to be simple concerning that which is good and wise concerning that which is evil. That's not the way God wants it. God wants it the other way around. He wants us to be simple concerning evil. We should be shocked by these things. You know, I was telling this to somebody the other day. You know, my kids, we don't have, I mean, we don't have a television in our home. You know, we have tablets and laptops and there's things that we permit them to watch and stuff like that. But, you know, my kids are a great example of this because, you know, when I'll go, if we'll end up in like an electronic store or, you know, somewhere where they're playing something or like Walmart, you go by the electronics section, they'll be shocked by some of the things. And I'm saying like cartoons. They'll be like, wow, what is that? You know, what's going on here? And it reminds me, it's like that's what it means to be simple concerning evil. And I'm not saying everything that's on there is evil, but they're just kind of, they're simple concerning the things of this world. You know, they're gonna, and praise God. You know, that's what I want. I don't want my children to grow up seeing the stuff I saw, you know, and listening to the stuff I listen to. You know, I don't need them listening to Iron Maiden at eight, nine years old, or Metallica or Guns N' Roses or anything like that. I mean, it's trash, you know, and it does have an effect on people's minds. I can't spend all night on that, but, you know, we should not allow ourselves to be desensitized to the violence in this world. We should be like these men who had themselves that probably, you know, shed blood, who had fought battles, right? But when they see something like this and they see a gruesome, you know, an unprovoked attack on an innocent person, they're shocked. They stop in their tracks and they're just shocked by what's taking place. And what does a Mesa, or excuse me, what does Joab's man have to do here? And a Mesa walled his blood, and when he saw that everybody stood still, he removed a Mesa out of the highway into the field and cast a cloth upon him when he saw that everyone that came by him stood still. He's like, wow, if I got to get this troop moving, we got to hide this. We can't let people see this. We should not ignore innocent blood. If you look at verse 13, when he was removed out of the highway, all the people went on after Joab to pursue after Sheba the son of Bichrai. And he went and threw all the tribes of Israel onto Abel and to Bethmaica and all the Beerites. And they were gathered together and went also after him. And they came and besieged in him Abel of Bethmaica and they cast up a bank against the city and stood in the trench and all the people that were with Joab battered the wall to throw it down. So they come to this city, Abel of Bethmaica, which is, you know, it's got the similar names throughout scripture, but they're basically, they're laying siege to the city and this is one of their own. This is a city in Israel. This is one of their, this is their people, right? That's why it says in verse 16, Then cried a wise woman out of the city, Here, here I say, I pray you unto Joab, come near hither that I may speak with thee. And when he was come near unto her, the woman said, Art thou Joab? And he answered, I am he. And she said unto him, Here are the words of thine handmaid, and he answered, I do hear. Then she spake saying, They were wont to speak in old times, saying, They shall surely ask counsel at Abel. And she's referring to this city, right? Because this is, they besieged him in Abel of Bethmaica, right? This is that city, okay? They were asked counsel at Abel. So they used to come here to ask counsel, right? And so they ended the matter. She's saying this is a, what she's getting across here is that this is a very prominent city. This isn't just Podunk Haller, okay? And this is kind of, she kind of elaborates on this. She says, I am one that are peaceable and faithful in Israel. Thou seekest to destroy a city and a mother in Israel. Now you could say, well, the mother in Israel, she's referring to herself, but I don't think that's who she's referring to. I think she's referring to the actual city. You know, that this, and this is like a metropolis, a mother in Israel, because she's saying you're going to, because look, if they get in there, are they just going to kill her, a mother in Israel, and then they're going to kill all the mothers in Israel, right? So she would just, is she just only concerned about herself? No. What is she saying here is you're here to destroy a city and a mother in Israel. So what she's getting across here, I believe, is that she's saying this isn't, this is a prominent city. This is a very large city that you're fighting against. There's a lot of people in here. Why wilt thou swallow up the inheritance of the Lord? And Joab answered and said, far be it for me, far be it for me, that I should swallow up or destroy. Well, you know, he's a bit of a politician. He knows how to tell people what they want to hear. It's like, if you're not here to swallow up and destroy, why are you laying siege to the city and battering it? You're trying to get in, and if you get in, it's not going to be good, because, you know, and really, if you would, go over Deuteronomy chapter three. You know, what we're going to get into is the fact that we should not harbor evil people, okay? And Joab answered and said, far be it for me that I should swallow up or destroy. The matter is not so, but a man of Mount Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichrai by name, hath lifted up his hand against the king, and even against David. Deliver him only, and I will depart from the city. And the woman said unto Joab, behold, his head shall be thrown to thee over the wall. So this is one of those gruesome, you know, chapters in the Bible. You got a mace is getting it under the fifth rib, and having his bowels spilled out. Now there's a, they're talking about decapitating somebody. You know, and it's like, man, this, you said the Bible's not entertaining. You know, well, you have to remember, these are things that really happened, you know? And what I want to point out here is that the Bible, who called this woman a wise woman in verse 16? Then cried a wise woman. That's the narrator of the scriptures talking here. The Bible is saying that what this woman is doing is wise. And Joab's saying, look, cut off his head and throw it over to us, and we'll be, we'll leave. And we'll leave you guys alone. The woman said unto, went, and then the woman, verse 22, went unto all the people in her wisdom, and they cut off the head of Sheba, the son of Bichrai, and cast it to Joab, and he blew a trumpet, and then retired from the city, every man to his tent, and Joab returned to Jerusalem unto the king. So he says, look, go cut off this guy's head, and throw it over the wall, and we'll leave. And the Bible says that this wise woman went and did that. Okay? And what we can learn from this is that we should not harbor wicked people, because that's what's going on here. He flees to this city so that he can, you know, because it's a great city, it's a big city, right? It's a fenced city. They've got to cast up a moat against it. They've got to batter at it. It's got these defenses, and he's looking for safe harbor. And what is he? He's a man of Belial. He's a reprobate. He's a son of the devil. He's a rebel. He's somebody who's, you know, wants to, you know, cause insurrection, civil war. He's lifted up his hand against the king, right? And this woman is wise, but she agrees, yeah, we should not harbor this guy. In fact, the Bible says that you should not harbor people like this. You should not harbor wicked people. Deuteronomy 13, have you go there? Verse 12, If thou shalt here say in one of thy cities, which the Lord thy God hath given thee to dwell there, saying, verse 13, Certain men, the children of Belial, are gone out from among you, and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve others, which ye have not known. Then shalt thou inquire, and make search, and ask diligently, and behold, if it be truth, and a thing certain, that such abomination is wrought among you, thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city, with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly, and all that is therein, and the cattle thereof, with the edge of the sword. And he goes on and talks about, and the spoil is gonna be God's. Don't even take anything from that city. That, you know, a city that would harbor wicked people like this. Harbor, like the Bible says here, certain sons of Belial, certain men, the children of Belial, are gone out from you. They're of your city. And they're saying, We gotta follow other gods. Right? And he's saying, Look, you should destroy that city. That's what the Bible says in Deuteronomy. That's God's commandments in scripture, that they should do that. Now, again, who's job is it to do that? It's not our job. You know, we don't believe in vigilantism, however you say it. Being a vigilante, right? That's not our job to do that. That's the government's job. Because notice who's doing it in the story. Who commissions the execution of Sheba the son of Bichrai? Was it the wise woman? Nope. She was just the, she was the executioner, so to speak. She was the one that carried out the decree that came from Joab, who was acting on behalf of the king, right? So this is a government sanctioned beheading that's taking place to execute this wicked individual. And that's what you see in Deuteronomy, as well, where we just read, that if there's certain men, sons of Belial that are gone out from a city that are being harbored by a city, you should destroy them and everybody else with it. Right? And Joab's showing up. So you gotta see where Joab's coming. He said, look, if you're gonna harbor this wicked guy, we're just gonna take Ali out, because there might be more of you in there. And this woman was wise. She came and said, you know what? We're not here to harbor wicked people. Her wisdom is this, is that she understood that, you know, rather than harboring wicked people, it's better to deliver them up unto justice and not bring the king's wrath upon ourselves. The Bible says that righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. Any people. You know, when a country becomes wicked, it's a reproach. Sin is a reproach to any people. But not America, right? God bless America. No, the Bible says sin is a reproach to any people. It doesn't matter what continent you're on, doesn't matter what flag you're waving. If you are, you know, ungodly, if you are, you know, contrary to the commandments of God, the Bible says it's a reproach to a nation. It's a reproach to those people. And that's the wisdom of this woman. She saw that. She said, look, we don't want to bring this reproach upon us. We don't want to suffer the king's wrath. You know, and that's the analogy there, is that we don't want to harbor wicked people because it brings the king's wrath upon us. Now, we don't have a king here today, right? We don't have a king in the United States, but we have a king in heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the king of kings, right? The Lord of Lords. And you know what? He could still send his wrath upon a nation that harbors wicked people. Now, he said, well, who are we harboring? America? What wicked people do we harbor? We harbor all kinds of wicked people in this country. They're out there breathing the same air that we're breathing every day. Their rights are protected. They get to do whatever they want, you know, and just spit in the face of God and this country does nothing about it. There is no Joab being sent by the government to execute judgment and righteousness, right? And what is that? That's a reproach to us. And the great news is this, is that the rest of us are gonna suffer because of it. You came here to get uplifted, right? You came here for a positive message, didn't you? Now, look, that doesn't mean that we can't still shine as lights in the midst of a perverse and crooked nation, that God still can't protect us and watch out for us if we trust in him and are serving him. You know, we can still, you know, we can be like the Israelites in Egypt, you know, where, you know, the rest of Egypt's in darkness, but we still have light in our houses. You know, those plagues don't come upon us. You know, it'd be a miracle. But, you know, the fact is, when you're living in a country that is harboring wicked people, don't be surprised when God starts to judge that nation. Oh, God's never judged America. I mean, come on, look what's been going on in this country. Just look at the, just the moral decline of this nation and all the things that have been coming upon it. All just the droughts, the fires, these natural disasters. You know, what was that other thing that just happened recently? Oh, yeah, COVID. You say, well, no, that wasn't God's wrath. That was made in a lab and released by man. Yeah, God allowed that to happen. And that was really a judgment that took place upon the whole world because the whole world is wicked. The whole world is a reproach. The whole world is harboring wickedness at this point. Every nation that's been touched by Western culture, you know, at this point and has followed along with it to this point has just become corrupt. You know, and you say, well, who? You know, get specific. Well, how about the sodomites? How about the fact that we just allow them to parade up and down the streets even here in Tucson? And every major, every big city and small city across this country, they're just, you know, they're sitting on city councils, they're mayors, they're in high places of authority. They're, you know, I mean, for crying out loud, they're in the president's cabinet. You know, one was considering running for president recently. Right? I mean, these fags are everywhere. And if you say anything against them, you know, then you're just a big meanie. You know, you're a domestic terrorist. You're a hater. You're whatever. You're labeled. Right? I mean, that's something that's just getting progressively worse. I mean, I remember when I was in like junior high, high school. I mean, you called somebody a fag. It was a big deal. That dude's a fag. Like, we call people fags. Do that now in high school. You know, your sympathizing friend in school is going to go tell the teacher and you're going to get sent to some class to be taught how to be nice. You know, they're going to tape your eyelids open and, you know, put headphones on you and like, you know, fags are good, queers are good. Right? And just, not literally, folks. You know what I'm saying? They're trying to, what, desensitize us to this evil that is a reproach to any people. You know? Well, what about the pedophiles? Pedophiles are harbored. No, they get jail time. Yeah, but that's not what they deserve. They deserve death. And so do sodomites, by the way. But in our country, it's illegal to put a sodomite, well, it's illegal to put a sodomite to death, but it's even illegal to put a pedophile, a child rapist, to death. Can't do it in this country. Why? Because they're harbored. Because there's no wise people. No one's going to cut off a head and throw it over the wall and deliver the rest of us. They're going to give them a flag. They're going to give them the Main Street, let them parade. They're going to put them on TV. They're going to put them in the music industry. They're going to lift them up and exalt them. Because ultimately, it's the devil that's behind it. It's the oldest trick in the book. You know, the devil can't just destroy us by a full frontal attack. What he does is just makes people bring God's wrath upon themselves. He just gets people, the whole country's brainwashed. He gets them to just go along with his agenda to where God has no choice but to judge them. So harboring wicked people brings destruction from who? From the king, right? And here's the thing. You say, well, we're not harboring them. You know, we don't approve of what they're doing. Yeah, but when you're not punishing these people, you are harboring them. And it just, it escalates everything. You know, but we could apply this even in our own personal lives, too. I mean, it's great to get up and say how wicked America is and the world is, and it's true. But what about in our own lives, if we harbor sin in our own life? You know, maybe we don't have Sheba the son of Bichrai, you know, in our house, but maybe we're harboring some pet sin in our life. You know, we've got something we're just hanging on to. Well, don't be surprised if God sends Joe, or, you know, the king sends Joab your way and says, either cut his head off or else. You know, I'm gonna start really doing some things in your life. That's another application you should have. You know, we don't want to harbor sin as a people, but we don't want to harbor sin as individuals, either. You know, and we should be like David and ask and pray and say, God, search me, oh Lord, and try me. You know, help me see if there'd be, what, any wicked way in me. You know, help me to walk right and live right, get the sin out of my life. Because, you know, if we harbor sin in our own personal lives, God is gonna send judgment, too. Well, that's another application God is gonna send judgment, too. Whatsoever man soweth, that shall he also reap. It's inescapable. Now, if you would, we're gonna go back to, well, we're wrapping up here, but if you go back to, go to Colossians chapter one. Just go to Colossians chapter one. Say, well, how do you get the sin out? You know, how do you keep from harboring evil? How do you keep yourself safe from this? Wisdom, right? Because isn't that what's taking place in the story? It's a wise woman. And in the book of Proverbs, you know, wisdom is likened unto a woman, right? Wisdom stand without, she crieth in the streets. You know, turn in ye simple ones, you know? She's, you know, she's slain her beast. She's, you know, she's set up her feast. She's inviting people to come and become wise, right? It's wisdom is likened unto a woman. What do you see here? A wise woman, right? And she is what delivers these people. Look, wisdom will deliver you in life. Wisdom will deliver you from bondage, from destruction. I'm not saying your life's gonna be perfect. I'm not gonna say you're not gonna have trials and tribulations, but I'm saying if people would wise up about how they lived their life, they would spare themselves a lot of grief and heartache along the way. They could avoid a lot of the pitfalls and mistakes that a lot of people make because they don't have wisdom. Maybe they weren't instructed. Maybe they grew up without somebody teaching them the Bible, showing them the word of God, going to a good church, warning them about these things. Now that's the case for a lot of people today, right? They grew up without these things. They don't have any wisdom and as a result, they have to suffer. You know, they have to make mistakes that they wish they'd rather not made, okay? So look, you know, we want to have wisdom in our life and praise God if you're somebody that has that early on in life. If you have somebody, if you have a preacher, if you have a church, if you have parents, if you have somebody in your life that has an influence that's trying to teach you wisdom and instruction, even if it's something you don't like, even if it's something that you don't wanna go along with, if it goes against the grain, if it's not cool, if it's not fun, if it's not what everybody else does, if it's not cool, if it's not fun, if it's not what everybody else is doing, the reason why, people have set up those rules just to ruin your good time and just so they could be mean. It's because they have wisdom and you don't. They know something you don't. They know that what that leads to and they're saying, look, you need to avoid that. You need to not do that. You need to do this and you'll thank me in the long run. When you get older and you get some wisdom, you'll come back and you'll say, you know what? I didn't like it at the time. I'm not a preacher, but you're right. Thank you. I know I didn't have the best attitude about it when I was a young person maybe, but if you're wise, you'll take heed and you'll learn in the long run when you don't make the mistakes a lot of other people make. And you know what? Just watch the other people that don't take heed. Watch what happens to them. I can't tell you how many friends I have that, you know, I even have some friends, they did have godly influences in life and they blew them off. And now they're, you know, unwanted children, you know, divorced multiple times, life hooked on drugs. Some of them are dead. You know, and I'm not just saying it to be melodramatic. I'm saying that's what happens. That's reality. But that's not the picture that the devil paints for us, is it? It's like, oh, you're just, you know, you're going to that old stuffy church where they're all goody-two-shoes. Your parents are just mean. They're so straight-laced. You can have some fun. Go have a good time, right? That's the picture that the devil paints. You know, and there's a way which seemeth right a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. And it's the people that have either gone through that or lived long enough to see what, for what it is that warn you and say, actually, you know what? That path is going to take you down a dark road. And there's nothing but heartache and sorrow and regret and shame that some of it you'll never live down. There's mistakes that will haunt you for the rest of your life. How do you deliver yourself from all that? How do you avoid that path? Wisdom, knowledge, understanding, which is found in what? In the Word of God. Take heed to what's written in there. It will spare you. I mean, the Bible just, go read Proverbs. I think, you know, we should all be reading Proverbs all the time. You know, I try to make a practice of reading the Proverbs about once a month. Just, you know, because there's 31 chapters, right? So most months you can read the whole thing. And you could skip that virtuous woman chapter if you're a dude. No, I'm just kidding. I'm kidding. It's the last one. Read it. I'm kidding. You know what I mean? We've got to get that even 30. You know, February, I want to get to chapter 28. Well, read a couple extra chapters and finish it off, right? But, you know, I think especially young people should be reading Proverbs. I mean, I remember when I was, you know, first saved in my early 20s, I mean, I've read Proverbs more than any other book. That's probably why you notice I end up in Proverbs a lot. I'm always referencing Proverbs because it's just a book that even after having been saved all these years and read the Bible, there's still so much in Proverbs. I mean, there's just so much wisdom. There's things that you don't understand then that you won't understand later. The Bible's timeless, okay? You'll never outgrow it. But if you've read the book of Proverbs, what is a major theme? Get wisdom. Get knowledge. Get understanding. Seeker as hid treasures. As for silver, right? That's what he's saying here. Do we go after wisdom like that? You know, if I were to head to you a treasure map and say, hey, this X marks the spot, man. All you got to do is follow that and you'll find gold bullions, silver bars. I mean, you'd leave right now. You'd run down to Ace, Home Depot. You'd buy pickaxes, shovels. You'd be out there digging until the cows come home, until you're trying to find that treasure, wouldn't you? Wouldn't you? Who wouldn't? If you handed me a treasure map and said if you go here and start digging here, you're going to find millions of dollars. I'd see you. I'd go, okay, tell me where. Point me in the right direction. Right? But what if I told you, you know, there's a treasure map right here. And this, you know, this is the X. This is where the, you know, the marks, the spot is right here. This is the treasure map right here. There's treasure right here in front of your face. Do you pursue it like you would? That gold and silver, that literal gold and silver. Or is it just, yeah, I'll get around to reading that one of these days. Well, if that's your attitude, maybe that's why you're lacking wisdom in your life. Maybe that's why you're having the problems that you have is because you haven't actually learned what's in here and applied it to your life. And that's something that's a theme throughout Scripture, not just Proverbs. You know, 2 Peter, beside this, giving all diligence. Diligence, right? Giving diligence. Putting effort into something. Being a diligent person. Add to your faith virtue, and to virtue what? Knowledge. Knowledge. Faith, virtue, and then knowledge. You know, you got the faith, you get saved, then you get the virtue, right? You start living a Christian life, but without the knowledge, you'll stop living the Christian life. You will not be a virtuous person. You'll still have the faith. You'll still be saved. You'll still be on your way to heaven. But you know what? Virtue, you have to follow that up with knowledge. I live a Christian life because, you know, I live a godly, separated life because I, because why? I don't know. I don't know. Because my parents told me to. Because the preacher said to. You know, then you know what? Your virtue isn't going to last that long. At some point you're just, because you're only doing it to please other people. But when you get in this book and you add the knowledge to the virtue, then you understand why I'm living this way. Why I need to live this kind of a life. Why I need to have these standards. Why? You'll have the knowledge. And then you won't be, you know, a shipwreck. You won't make a shipwreck of your faith. You won't be a castaway, as Paul said. I don't know where I had you go. Are you back on the story? You're in Colossians 1. There's another great example. Verse 10. Then you might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work. I do lots of soul-winning, you know. I go to church three times a week. Isn't that good enough? You know, it's good to be fruitful in every good work, right? And increasing in the knowledge of God. You know, you don't want to just have the virtue. You don't want to just have the good works, the fruitfulness. You want to have what? The knowledge of God. You've got to have that. Let's wrap up our story here, going back to 2 Samuel 20 and verse 15. It says, And they came and besieged him in Abel of Bethmecca, and they cast a bank against the city. You know what? I already read all that. Well, we'll just end there. I'm already out of time anyway, right? We read all that, and so what did we see in this chapter? We see that, you know, if we harbor wicked people, destruction follows, and wise people, you know, will not harbor wickedness. As a nation, but, you know, look, we're not going to go out and start some political movement and turn this nation back to righteousness. My personal opinion, we're beyond that. Like, there's so much innocent blood that's been shed, even if we have got right tomorrow, there's still just decades worth, you know, decades upon decades upon decades upon decades, of just innocent blood that has to be accounted for, that isn't going to be. So, we can't really do anything about that, but what about in our personal lives? You know, we can search our hearts, and we can ask ourselves, are we harboring wickedness in our lives? Who's the Sheba in your life? You know, who's the son of Bikrai in your life? What has the devil snuck into your heart that God's not pleased with? And that's something, and maybe there's nothing, maybe you could, honestly, you could say, you know, there's nothing. Well, praise God for that. Praise God. But keep it that way. You know, don't let Sheba sneak back in there. You know, maybe if you hear Joab knocking, you know, trying to beat down the door, or something, you know, you're being made uncomfortable by something going on in your life, it might be, that's time to do some introspection and say, is there something maybe God's upset with? And look, every time, just because something goes wrong in your life, I'm not saying that you're backslidden. I mean, life happens. You know, time and chance happeneth in them all, right? But a lot of times, you know, I can look back on my life and go, oh, that's why I was deathly ill, or whatever it felt like I was. That's why that happened. That's why I had those financial problems, because, you know, God was spanking me. And God was saying, look, Joab was showing up and saying, I'm not happy about what's going on here. You need to get that right. That's the application, right? Don't be people that, we can't do anything as a nation. It's beyond that. But let's not be that as individuals, as people. Let's not be that as a church. We don't want to be one of these churches that just harbors iniquity here. Where every, you know, people can just be drunks and fornicators and potheads and, you know, divorcing and committing adultery and sure not going to let the, you know, the transvestites and everything else come in here, like they do in a lot of other churches, okay? Let's not be like that as a church, but let's not be like that as a people either, okay? Let's go ahead and pray.