{"id":33878,"date":"2024-12-25T22:00:44","date_gmt":"2024-12-26T05:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/2-samuel_15_1-16-copy\/"},"modified":"2024-12-17T16:50:34","modified_gmt":"2024-12-17T23:50:34","slug":"2-samuel_15_17-37","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/2-samuel_15_17-37\/","title":{"rendered":"The Roles You Play While The King’s Away"},"content":{"rendered":"

2 Samuel\u00a0 15:17-37\u00a0 \u00a0 (CLICK HERE FOR\u00a0BIBLE VERSES)<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is 2 Samuel 15:17-37.\u00a0 As usual,\u00a0I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.\u00a0 See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit\u2019s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let’s go!<\/p>\n

2 Samuel 15:17-37 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So the king set out, with all the people following him, and they halted at a place some distance away.
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0All his men marched past him, along with all the Kerethites and Pelethites; and all the six hundred Gittites who had accompanied him from Gath marched before the king.
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The king said to Ittai the Gittite, “Why should you come along with us? Go back and stay with King Absalom. You are a foreigner, an exile from your homeland.
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0You came only yesterday. And today shall I make you wander about with us, when I do not know where I am going? Go back, and take your countrymen. May kindness and faithfulness be with you.”
\n21\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But Ittai replied to the king, “As surely as the\u00a0LORD\u00a0lives, and as my lord the king lives, wherever my lord the king may be, whether it means life or death, there will your servant be.”
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0David said to Ittai, “Go ahead, march on.” So Ittai the Gittite marched on with all his men and the families that were with him.
\n23\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The whole countryside wept aloud as all the people passed by. The king also crossed the Kidron Valley, and all the people moved on toward the desert.
\n24\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Zadok was there, too, and all the Levites who were with him were carrying the ark of the covenant of God. They set down the ark of God, and Abiathar offered sacrifices until all the people had finished leaving the city.
\n25\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then the king said to Zadok, “Take the ark of God back into the city. If I find favor in the\u00a0LORD’s eyes, he will bring me back and let me see it and his dwelling place again.
\n26\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But if he says, ‘I am not pleased with you,’ then I am ready; let him do to me whatever seems good to him.”
\n27\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The king also said to Zadok the priest, “Aren’t you a seer? Go back to the city in peace, with your son Ahimaaz and Jonathan son of Abiathar. You and Abiathar take your two sons with you.
\n28\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I will wait at the fords in the desert until word comes from you to inform me.”
\n29\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So Zadok and Abiathar took the ark of God back to Jerusalem and stayed there.
\n30\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But David continued up the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went; his head was covered and he was barefoot. All the people with him covered their heads too and were weeping as they went up.
\n31\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Now David had been told, “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.” So David prayed, “O\u00a0LORD, turn Ahithophel’s counsel into foolishness.”
\n32\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When David arrived at the summit, where people used to worship God, Hushai the Arkite was there to meet him, his robe torn and dust on his head.
\n33\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0David said to him, “If you go with me, you will be a burden to me.
\n34\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But if you return to the city and say to Absalom, ‘I will be your servant, O king; I was your father’s servant in the past, but now I will be your servant,’ then you can help me by frustrating Ahithophel’s advice.
\n35\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Won’t the priests Zadok and Abiathar be there with you? Tell them anything you hear in the king’s palace.
\n36\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Their two sons, Ahimaaz son of Zadok and Jonathan son of Abiathar, are there with them. Send them to me with anything you hear.”
\n37\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So David’s friend Hushai arrived at Jerusalem as Absalom was entering the city.
\n<\/em>
\nOn verses\u00a017-37: \u00a0In verse 30 we see David, in response to his betrayal by Absalom, going up the Mount of Olives weeping, with David\u2019s most devoted followers in tow and weeping as well.\u00a0 I can\u2019t help but think forward to when Jesus the Son of David, in response to his impending betrayal by Judas, would go up the Mount of Olives, weeping in one of its gardens, with his followers in tow.\u00a0 In both David\u2019s case and Jesus\u2019 case, we have a king who has voluntarily left their throne to be rejected and exiled.<\/p>\n

As King David leaves Jerusalem and goes into exile, we see David humbly interacting with certain key leaders: Ittai the Gittite who was a fierce warrior and influential leader; Zadok the priest; and Hushai one of King David’s top advisors.\u00a0 All of them were devoted to David and longed to see him return to the city that he loved.\u00a0 When you look at the roles that David asked Ittai the Gittite, Zadok the Priest and Hushai the advisor to play, I believe they parallel the roles that the Lord Jesus wants us to play until the day He returns to earth (Revelation 3:11).<\/p>\n

First, there\u2019s Ittai the Gittite.\u00a0 Ittai was a\u00a0foreigner in Israel.\u00a0 It would have been safer and more convenient for Ittai to stay in Israel and serve Absalom as opposed to leaving Israel to follow David.\u00a0 David even tells Ittai to stay in Jerusalem, but Ittai vows never to leave David, even if it means dying with him.\u00a0 As Ittai says to David in verse 21,\u00a0“As surely as the\u00a0LORD\u00a0lives, and as my lord the king lives, wherever my lord the king may be, whether it means life or death, there will your servant be.”<\/p>\n

Likewise,\u00a0may we be faithful, loyal followers of Jesus who are willing to stay close to Jesus all our lives and even die for His cause.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0May we be able to say to Jesus the Son of David that wherever my lord the king may be, whether it means life or death, there will your servant be too.<\/p>\n

Second, there\u2019s Zadok the priest.\u00a0 Zadok the priest together with his team of priests were leaving Jerusalem with the ark of God to follow David. \u00a0 However, David tells Zadok to go back into Jerusalem with David’s blessing, to keep the ark of God there, to pray for David and if he senses direction from God, to let him know (v27-29).<\/p>\n

Like Zadok, you are a priest, Christ’s representative, in the city where you live.\u00a0 Christ wants you to go into your city with His blessing and His peace, representing Christ in a world that is hostile to Him, and to prayerfully look for opportunities to usher the presence of Christ back into the city.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Third, there\u2019s Hushai the Arkite, one of David\u2019s advisors.\u00a0 Soon after David hears that his former advisor Ahithophel had switched over to Absalom’s side, David meets Hushai.\u00a0 Hushai wants to follow David into exile, but David tells Hushai to go back into Jerusalem, join Absalom’s council of advisors, frustrate Ahithophel’s advice and act as David’s spy (v34).<\/p>\n

Just as David sent Hushai to disrupt Absalom’s advisors in Jerusalem, so Jesus the Son of David calls us to be a force that disrupts and counters the advice that the enemy is giving to people in our city.<\/strong>\u00a0Just as Hushai would go back into the city and undermine Ahithophel’s arguments and advice,\u00a0we are called to go back into our city and show people that there is another, better way to live than to follow all the advice of this world.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lord Jesus, until the day You return, like Ittai the Gittite may I be willing to follow You wherever you go and even die for You.\u00a0 Like Zadok, may I be a faithful priest and representative of Yours in the city where I live.\u00a0 And like Hushai, use me to show the people in my city a different, better way of thinking and living that comes from a relationship with You.\u00a0 In Jesus’ name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

opyright \u00a9 2022 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is 2 Samuel 15:17-37.\u00a0 As usual,\u00a0I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.\u00a0 See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit\u2019s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let’s go!\u00a0<\/p>\n

2 Samuel 15:17-37 (NIV)
\n17\u00a0\u00a0So the king set out, with all the people following him, and they halted at a place some distance away.
\n18\u00a0\u00a0All his men marched past him, along with all the Kerethites and Pelethites; and all the six hundred Gittites who had accompanied him from Gath marched before the king.
\n19\u00a0\u00a0The king said to Ittai the Gittite, “Why should you come along with us? Go back and stay with King Absalom. You are a foreigner, an exile from your homeland.<\/p>\n

On verses\u00a017-37: \u00a0In verse 30 we see David, in response to his betrayal by Absalom, going up the Mount of Olives weeping, with David\u2019s most devoted followers in tow and weeping as well.\u00a0 I can\u2019t help but think forward to when Jesus the Son of David, in response to his impending betrayal by Judas, would go up the Mount of Olives, weeping in one of its gardens, with his followers in tow.\u00a0 In both David\u2019s case and Jesus\u2019 case, we have a king who has voluntarily left their throne to be rejected and exiled.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33885,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33878"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33878\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33887,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33878\/revisions\/33887"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}