King David And The Gibeonites: The Impact Of Sin On Generations Series

If you look back at the last one hundred or so years of American history, you see several generations of people. There of course the traditionalists, we call them “the greatest generation” or “the silent generation” they are the Americans who fought World War II. They built on the accomplishments of previous generations of Americans.

Then you see a generation called the baby boomers. Baby boomers were the generation born after world war II. They would greatly affect the course of history.

Then there was generation X, born 1965-1980. Then you have my generation, millennials, born 1980-1996. And of course the more recent generation Y who are younger now.

Each of these generations has contributed to the progress or decline of America, depending on who you’re talking about.

It’s beyond question that the United States is in decline right now, financially, spiritually, emotionally, mentally, we see a society badly divided, confused, and lost as far as even basic understanding of life and issues.

We see that somewhere in between the traditionalists and the baby boomers, faith in God, Christianity, began to decline, and it didn’t get passed down properly then to X and Z. And I think that’s why we see so much chaos occurring in our society.

Similarly, today, in 2nd Samuel chapter 21 we’re going to see how previous generations and problems from the past can affect the present negatively.

We are all deeply impacted by our parents, grandparents, our society, our education system, and these things can alter the course of our lives day by day.

We begin chapter 21 with a famine taking place.

It says, 2 Samuel 21:1 “During the reign of David, there was a famine for three successive years; so David sought the face of the Lord. The Lord said, “It is on account of Saul and his blood-stained house; it is because he put the Gibeonites to death.”

First point today, when you see a problem, do what David did: Seek the Face of the Lord.

What does it mean to seek God’s face? To seek God’s face is to pray. It is prayer. But it’s more than prayer. Seeking God’s face is like seeking a word from the Lord. Prayer is making a request to God for something or praising him or worshipping or talking to him. But seeking god’s face is different. Seeking God’s face is seeking an answer from God. It’s not as much talking to God as asking God to speak to you, you’re looking to receive a “nudge” or ‘word” from God, sort of an answer on a particular issue.

Always pray, but also, seek God’s face, seek a word from Him. Pray, read His word, meditate quietly on his presence, and begin to turn yourself toward his presence. And he’ll come to you and share with you in different ways.

God quickly answers David, and let’s David know, it’s because of something that happened during the time of Saul. And now it’s David’s job to make it right.

Notice that famines can be linked to God. We see famines occur in the end times in fact. So this isn’t just old testament, it’s new testament too.

Also notice that David didn’t cause this problem but he’s the leader so it’s his responsibility to fix it.

Second point today, sometimes we’ll face a problem, and it’s our job to fix it, even if we didn’t cause it. We sometimes think well it’s not my problem. My friend has to fix his own problem. Sometimes that is true. Other times God may be seeing, you’re gonna help fix the problem, or you didn’t cause this, but I’ve placed you in a position to fix it. So fix it. Not my brother’s keeper? Wrong, help out when you can.

So David calls the Gibeonites and speaks to them, in verses 2-6:

2 The king summoned the Gibeonites and spoke to them. (Now the Gibeonites were not a part of Israel but were survivors of the Amorites; the Israelites had sworn to spare them, but Saul in his zeal for Israel and Judah had tried to annihilate them.) 3 David asked the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you? How shall I make atonement so that you will bless the Lord’s inheritance?”

4 The Gibeonites answered him, “We have no right to demand silver or gold from Saul or his family, nor do we have the right to put anyone in Israel to death.”

“What do you want me to do for you?” David asked.

5 They answered the king, “As for the man who destroyed us and plotted against us so that we have been decimated and have no place anywhere in Israel, 6 let seven of his male descendants be given to us to be killed and their bodies exposed before the Lord at Gibeah of Saul—the Lord’s chosen one.”