God’s Favor

Hello Everyone: 

Today, we are returning to our study of the monarchy.  We left off a couple of weeks ago with David having been exiled from his kingdom by his son Absalom.  Although David is no longer in Jerusalem, he has spies there who are reporting to him what is happening.  One crucial spy is Hushai who is a long time friend of David and who has become a counselor of Absalom. 

Our last lesson left off with both Ahithophel and Hushai providing counsel to Absalom on how to attack David.  If you will remember, Ahithophel was the trusted counselor of David in which the scriptures teach that people viewed his advice as counsel straight from God.   The bible teaches that Hushai was gaining favor over Ahithophel because God had placed him there to frustrate the advice of Ahithophel. 

Absalom favored Hushai’s advice over Ahithophel and today’s lesson deals with what happened when Ahithophel found out his advice was not taken.

Here is our text:

II Samuel 17:23 And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed , he saddled his ass, and arose , and gat him home to his house, to his city, and put his household in order , and hanged himself, and died , and was buried in the sepulchre of his father. 24 Then David came to Mahanaim. And Absalom passed over Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him. 25 And Absalom made Amasa captain of the host instead of Joab: which Amasa was a man’s son, whose name was Ithra an Israelite, that went in to Abigail the daughter of Nahash, sister to Zeruiah Joab’s mother. 26 So Israel and Absalom pitched in the land of Gilead. 27 And it came to pass, when David was come to Mahanaim, that Shobi the son of Nahash of Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and Machir the son of Ammiel of Lodebar, and Barzillai the Gileadite of Rogelim, 28 Brought beds, and basons, and earthen vessels, and wheat, and barley, and flour, and parched corn, and beans, and lentiles, and parched pulse, 29 And honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheese of kine, for David, and for the people that were with him, to eat : for they said , The people is hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness.

As you can see, Ahithophel did not take the news very well.  He hanged himself.  

What our text continues to show is that though David was on the run, God constantly touched the heart of people and provided for him though he was going through a very difficult time.  

No matter what season you are in.  Look around you, God’s favor is still there.    Take nothing for granite, GOD IS WITH YOU..

Stay encouraged everyone and don’t forget to pray and read God’s word daily. 

This entry was posted on 10. February 2010 at 14:59 and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.