Hey everybody. Welcome back to another edition of the Daily Bible Podcast. What's happening? It's Wednesday after men's retreat. We had a great time out at Mount Lebanon Baptist Camp with with our men. We talked about integrity pr. Do you wanna give a a recap on how the weekend went? The weekend went, it was about 26 hours long. Give or take four sessions, lots of free time. Maybe not. Lots of free time. A good amount of free time and lots of fun games by our MCs. Mark and Angelo did a great job. David and Angelo did worship. That was really cool. We had a great time altogether. I think anyone who goes, you can ask 'em whether or not they had any regrets about doing it, and I'm confident they're gonna say no. That was totally worth the time. In fact, we're. Planning already for the dates for next year's men's retreat, and we're just about ready to pull the trigger on that to say, okay, we wanna do these dates, so be on the lookout. We wanna give you plenty of time, min heads up that you'll be able to take time off and come with us, and we trust that you won't regret spending time there. Yeah. Yeah, it's always a very good time. And yeah the relationships that are formed connected, watching those happen that's a lot of fun. And Jared Bradley was standing on chairs with a cooler on top of his head, and if you weren't there, then you don't know why. So you'll have to show up next year to, to find out why. Jared Bradley had a cooler on top of his head. He's typical. That's typical Jared Bradley behavior. When I went to dinner at their house, I think he did it a couple times so it's within character. Yeah. Not totally outta line. Hey, we did get a question submitted for us to to a kick around together first Samuel, and the question has to do with Amon and Tamar, and the question comes in and basically Amazon's reaction after the situation with Tam, with Tamar there, where. It says in the text that he hated her with a very great hatred so that the hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he had loved her. And so the question is basically surrounding that, that idea of love, because it doesn't appear that what Amon has for Tamar is love, but rather we would classify it as lust. And so the question comes in. Is there something else going on there behind the word love? He the writer Christiana asked my point is just that clearly he lusted after her rather than loving her in the word and the negative context of the word lust and our current use understand there would have probably fitted better in this context, in the word love. I, I get his point. I think we're not to take this as a love that is a biblical love. Certainly not a love that is commendable for what a husband's supposed to have for his wife. That's certainly not what Amon felt for his sister Tamar there. And this is a good, helpful note for us, that sometimes the context helps us understand the word words in English show up in a certain way that we can read the word and say, okay. Does that word mean? This, does it mean this? How should I understand this? And when we read the context, that will fill in a lot of the blanks for us and a lot of the missing space. I think the writer's inclination there and his assumption that this is not, a biblical love that is the love of a husband for a wife is accurate. And we can see that by the fact that this is, the context bears that out. What we find there with Amon and his relationship with Tamar shows up there. Yeah, I, it doesn't say lust, it says love, but it's reading the rest of it, not reading one verse at a time, but reading the whole of it gives us an understanding of how we're to interpret that in that situation there. Yeah, the word is aha aha. And that, that doesn't make sense to spell it out 'cause it's Hebrew. But based on this I would agree with Pastor pj, the way that you understand a word has a lot to do with the context in which it's found, which is why we have lexicons, which say this is how the word is used in all these various places. And this is probably the only place I'm aware of in the New Testament, or rather the Old Testament where the word is used in the context of lust. And here's my thought about that in particular. If the word is the same and it carries significance throughout the Old Testament scriptures as being the word for lust or for love, and it's used here to reflect lust then here's my thought about it. I think the writer is trying to create even greater heightened scandal around the use of it in this context because it's evident that this is not the kind of love that God would endorse, and it's the very word that God uses for His love for Israel. And so I think it takes the word. Takes it through the mud and intends for you to be appalled at it. This isn't love at all. This is the exact opposite of love. This is something that's meant to draw the reader's attention to something that clearly is the opposite of what it presents to be, which is amons. It's Amons word for it. It's the same word that he says at the beginning when he is talking to his friend, Jonah Dabb. He saying, look, I have I have this great love for her and I can't do anything to her. I can't pursue her. And so I think the point is that it's not love. It is in fact lust, even though the word. Is technically speaking a hav, which is for love, it's being used in a very wrong different sense than its normal usage. And that's the point, I believe. Yeah, good question though. Shows that you're paying attention as you're reading the text, which is awesome. And so if you guys have questions, don't forget, you can always write an email at podcasts@compassntx.org and we will get to it on an episode. Let's get into our reading for today. We're in second Samuel 22 and 23, and then Psalm 57. And so second Samuel 22 is essentially Psalm 18, just here in second Samuel. And so you'll remember a lot of the Psalms are written by David, and so here you have David. On the scene in Second Samuel 22, and what he pens here is a lot of basically the content of Psalm 18. And it's a psalm of praise for God's deliverance of David. Again, David's keen awareness of God's sovereignty over his life shows up the outcomes of the battles that he fought. Look at verses 40 through 41. In the psalm, you'll, David says, for you, equipped me with strength for the battle you made, those who rise against me sink under me. You made my enemies turn their back on me. Those who hated me and I destroyed them. And so David is aware of the one who fought the battle. The one who's worthy of the victory, even though David was the one or his armies were the one executing the actual outcome of the battle. That the content that the ability to win was theirs because God had sovereignly ordained that should happen. And David knew that. He's the one who gave David the victories that he enjoyed. He's the one who answered David but didn't answer David's enemies, as David would say, when they called on the Lord, he did not answer them. But when David called, he did answer David. So Psalm 18 here in the, its historical context, we find it in two Samuel Chapter 22. Yeah. One line that stands out that's always interesting to me is verse 36. It's that's that weird line that says it's your gentleness. That made me great. A weird place to put that weird idea at least. But I think the idea that he's trying to convey is that, that it is God's condescension, his willingness to do a kindness to David that has protected him and established him. And I think that's true not only for David, but also for us in a different extent. Obviously, it is God's condescension his lowness, his gentleness, which enables us to be who we are in his sight. It is for sinners that Christ died. It is not for those who have it all. Put together is not for the best and the brightest. As Paul says, not many of you're wise. Not many of you're noble. And here David recognizes the fact, and it's David's humility to be aware of this that makes him such a inspiring and motivating character. And I think, again, for all of David's foibles, it's stuff like this that causes you to say, okay, he gets it. Great sin. But man, he's got a great savior and he is also got great humility to suit it. Yeah, it's interesting that word is rendered differently in other translations, gentleness, E-S-V-K-J-V 1900 NKJV holds to gentleness. But then you get into CSB, Christian Standard Bible, NS B, new American Standard Bible, NIV, Holman, Christian Standard Bible, those all translated as help. Your help made me great. The net Bible, the LL, some English bible that, that says willingness to help made me great. Which makes a little bit more sense than the word gentleness there, that, that. The Lord's aid, which goes to your con the idea of condescension, that the Lord was willing to come down and condescend and help David in this by answering his prayers, by delivering 'em from these enemies. The other glosses bring that out a little bit more than gentleness There. Second Samuel Chapter 23. Then we get into some of David's last words, at least publicly here, and that's what verse one says. These are the last words of David. And they take the form of what's known as an oracle or a message here. And so second Samuel 23, 2, it says, the spirit of the Lord's. Speaks by me. Notice that David was aware, at least in this instance, that he was speaking the words that were given to him by the spirit. That this is separated out from maybe his normal conversations. He was aware of this, and there's moments that you have this show up in the Bible where the authors were actually aware that the words that they were speaking, the words that they were writing were words that were being conveyed with the power of the spirit. You think about Paul in one Corinthians multiple times, he'll say. I say this, not the spirit, but I say this. And so Paul's saying this isn't necessarily inspired what I'm about to say here, but what I say is this. Versus the other times he'll say, you know what? This isn't me. This is the spirit of God within me who's saying this. And so he is aware of the content there. And it's interesting that David here seems to be aware of the fact that this is more significant than simply his own musings on his deathbed or towards the end of that verse five, David says, for does not my house stand. So with God for he has made with me an. Everlasting covenant and ordered all things and secure. And so here's a reference back to the Davidic Covenant in God's promise to be faithful to that, an everlasting covenant, that it's not gonna go away. It's not gonna be abated, it's not gonna be replaced. Verses eight through 39. Then he gets into a list of the mighty men of David here. And so there's some notable men here. Abishai shows up in here. The brother of Joab Benia shows up. The man who jumped into the snowy pit and killed a lion Uriah, the Hittite is the last name mentioned on the list. And sometimes the last can, we will often say, last but not least, the last can draw honor. And so it's interesting that Uriah, the Hiti is the last name on this list here of the Mighty Men in chapter 23. Yeah. One quick note here. Look at verse three of chapter 23. It says here the second half of verse three, when one rules justly over men ruling in the fear of God, he dawns on them like the morning light, like the sun shining forth on a cloud this morning, like rain that makes grass to sprout from the earth. And so even though we have lots of examples of bad leadership, unjust leadership, we would say. Good leadership, godly leadership, a kind of leadership that the fear of God is evident. That is good for people and ultimately David is saying this with an awareness of his faulty leadership and is pointing to the ultimate leadership that we all need in Christ. But man, when we see glimpses of that here and now, I. Yeah. And we see Christ-like leadership on display. This is the value and the benefit to the church and to people in general for that matter. Good leadership is something that God gives to his people and it's a gift from him. What a pray for this and ask God to continue to give us good leaders. There are rarity and they're not guaranteed. Bad. Leadership is often the norm, the default, but good leadership is a gift of God. And here are the benefits found in second Samuel 23. Yeah. And it requires work on that point. Be a good leader is hard work. I think that's one thing that, that I'm learning in ministry is that it's not something that comes natural. That if you don't set yourself towards it, like I was preaching on Sunday, if you don't decide to follow Jesus as a leader, which is where good leadership is born and following the example that we have in our savior, then you're gonna default to a self-centeredness. And and that's so easy to slip into that because that is the easier route to go rather than to work hard at being good and faithful as leaders. And so prayer. Is absolutely necessary for good leaders in the church, good leaders in our nation, good leaders in your home. All of those areas for sure. Alright, Psalm 57. Psalm 57 is written here by David. Interesting placement of this because it says a victim of David when he fled from Saul in the cave. And so I, I. I don't know why it shows up here. Pr. Any thoughts why the editors were like, Hey, we're gonna throw this in after Saul's long gone and David's on the throne? I do not know. I don't know. All I can say is that the editors of this plan are not infallible. No. And neither are we. No. Who are we kidding Here? No one here is fallible. So we're using the plan. It's not always as. Precise as we might like. In fact, someone about a Bible not too long ago, and it was called a Chronological Bible, and they thought, oh, I'll just read along with Pastor PG and Pastor Rod because it's a chronological bible. And they're like, Hey, you guys aren't following the plan. And they're, of course we are, whatcha are talking about? My, my Bible's got, it's got a little section here and a little section there. And so it, it was a truly chronological plan and that it was trying to supplies up verses Yeah. And chapters to fit into. A chronology. Yeah. And it's not always pretty. That said the chron chronological approach here has its pluses and its minuses, and I don't know, maybe they just thought, let's just shove it in here. We forgot about this one. Let's put it in now. Yeah. I don't know. It's totally possible. I could absolutely see that happening. Yeah. That, that chronological bible. I know which one you're talking about. I think ESV even publishes it. It's it's almost more of a harmony. So you get a harmony of the gospels. It's gonna intersplice the story of Jesus' life throughout the gospels. And you're gonna read a few verses here from John and then a few verses from Matthew and so forth and so on. And those have their place. They do. Those are helpful. And in fact, I think John MacArthur has one called, one Inspired Life, one Amazing Life. It's something one something life. There's an adjective there. Yeah. But it's a harmony of the gospels. Yeah. And I found it really helpful. It's a great tool to have but ultimately everything has its shortcomings. Yeah, in Psalm 57 here, it breaks down basically into David's petition for protection from God and then his praise to God for that protection. Again, we know the story of him on his run running from Saul and everything else, but it's interesting the way that, that he opens the prayer and it that is with this ask for mercy. He says in verse one, Lord, be merciful to me. And we talked about mercy recently. Somebody wrote in an email that was to me, not necessarily the podcast, so I won't. Share the name, but it was an interesting concept. The person who wrote to me said, 'cause it was on the heels of a sermon that I preached where I talked about Mercy and I talked about Grace, I think it was two weeks ago. And he said, mercy seems to be that which births grace. That basically mercy is the foundation of grace the bedrock of grace, which I hadn't really ever considered before, but I guess it makes sense, right? That we would first have to not get what we deserve. To then be able to receive what we don't deserve. That mercy has to be the undergirding foundation of God's grace. Even that, that at the base level, we need him to be merciful even before we need him to be gracious. And splitting hairs maybe a little bit, but. I see the argument. Yeah. And one wonders as well though, if it's because of God's gracious disposition that he is merciful. Yeah. So it's a, which came first? Chicken or the egg. And in God's economy, because God doesn't develop he always has these things. And we, we believe in this simplistic nature of God, not that God's simplistic in the sense that you third grade education versus I don't know, a doctor or something like that. It's that God is singular in his nature and we talk about who God is, and we talk about the attributes of God. We're not talking about a person and the way that we're talking about one another. We have more or less things according to personality and according to our sanctification, God has all things in perfection, and none of those things are without. None of those things are with any flaw or error. There's no spec in them. So to even talk about some of these things that we discuss about God is treading on territory of things that are way above our pay grid. Helpful, necessary. Yeah. But we also have to be careful when we start to make some of these distinctions. Not that they're bad, they're good. We write textbooks for them. We have theological textbooks that make all kinds of distinctions. You just gotta be careful with those things. Yeah, for sure. For sure. Hey, let me pray and then we will be done with this episode. God thinks your word, and Lord we pray that we would know when we need to tap out like we were just talking about and say, God, you are our God and we are not. And we understand that and we want to confess our finitude in that, but we also wanna apply ourselves and ask good questions and turn over the rocks in your Word. And so help us to do that too, we pray. And so thank you for this time and thank you for your time our time, and the word that you've given to us today to spend together. We pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Hey, keep in your Bibles and tune in again tomorrow for another edition of the Daily Bible Podcast. See you. Bye.

Thanks for listening to another edition of the Daily Bible Podcast. This is a ministry of Compass Bible Church in north Texas. You can find out more information about ourChurch@compassntx.org. We would love for you to leave a review to rate to share this podcast on whatever platform you happen to be listening on, and we will catch you against tomorrow for another edition of the Daily Bible Podcast. Yeah. I would agree with everything that you said