In The Midst Of Scorn Series

In The Midst of Scorn

King David Matured In The Chastisements of God

A Psalm of David says, “O LORD, how many are my foes! How many rise up against me! Many are saying of me, ‘God will not deliver him.’ But you are a shield around me, O LORD; you bestow glory on me and lift up my head. To the LORD I cry aloud, and He answers me from His holy hill. I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the LORD sustains me. I will not fear the tens of thousands drawn up against me on every side. Arise, O LORD! Deliver me, O my God! Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked. From the LORD comes deliverance. May your blessing be on your people.” (Psalm 3:1-8)

It should be noted, David was a man who was subject to the weakness of his passions, of which he, his family and the people he was given leadership over had to live with the constant consequences of his choices. The Word of God is a recorded history of God’s dealing with people. In 1 Corinthians 10 under the preoccupy “Warnings From Israel’s History” we read “Now these things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us….” (1 Corinthians 10:11) From the New Testament we also read, “Now these things happened as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did.” (1 Corinthians 10:6) This teaching gives an understanding on how God used scorn and His chastisements to keep David’s character in check.

David is not asking how many, but is stating there are many who rise up against him. There are explanation marks at the end of the two first sentences, not question marks. The truths in Psalm three are proclamations of God’s proven faithfulness to watch over David, hear David, sustain David, and fight for David while keeping his character in check. Understanding and living out these truths will enable us to hear from God has He spoke of King David, “a man after my heart.” (Acts 13:22) This Psalm holds truths which can be divided into three divisions. 1.) The Scorn: David tasting the chastisements of God 2.) The Supplication: Which expresses David’s confidence in the Lord and 3.) The Rest: David enjoyed peace knowing the Lord will sustain and strengthen him. Psalm three was written when David fled from his son Absalom.

Psalm 3:1-2 is known as The Scorn, Absalom’s Conspiracy: The first truth to understand in the scorn of God dealing with King David is to learn to trust God while living with the consequences of sin. Even though the prophet Nathan told King David, The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die.” (2 Samuel 12:13) There would still be consequences, because his sin with Bathsheba was committed, “in utter contempt for the Lord.” (2 Samuel 12:14) There were three consequences David was not going to miss: 1.) A sword would never depart from his family. 2.) Someone who is close to him with would attack him with the sword and have sexual relations with his women and 3.) The child born from an unholy union would die.

1.) The sword would never depart from his family. The Bible says, “Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing evil in His eyes. You struck Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife for your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised Me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.” (2 Samuel 12:9-10) Four of David’s son would experience premature death. There was an unnamed son, (2 Samuel 12:18) Amnon, (2 Samuel 13:29) Absalom, (2 Samuel 18:14-15) and Adonijah, (1 Kings 2:25) (Bergen, R. D. (1996). 1, 2 Samuel (Vol. 7, p. 372). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.)

2.) Someone who is close to him would overtake David with the sword and have sexual relations with his women. The Biblical account of that is in Absalom’s rebellion to King David, clearly recorded in 2 Samuel 15-18. In 2 Samuel 15:13 we read, “The hearts of the people of Israel are with Absalom.” 2 Samuel 15:12 tells us, Absalom’s following kept strengthening and increasing.” When David learned of the rebellion, he said, “Come! We must flee from [Jerusalem] or none of us will escape… we must leave immediately… he will move quickly to overtake us…” (2 Samuel 15:14) Taking time to read the whole account we see that as many as twelve thousand men could be raised up to pursue David and those with him. (2 Samuel 17:1)

• It is interesting the scorn for David involved him having to leave the palace, the birth place of his sin with Bathsheba. 2 Samuel 11:1 says “it was… the time when kings go off to war…” (2 Samuel 11:1) David failed his place in war and stays at the palace. The Bible says, “One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful.” (2 Samuel 11:2)