2nd Samuel chapter number 20, the Bible says in verse number 1: "And there happened to be there a man of Belial, whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjamite: and he blew a trumpet, and said, We have no part in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: every man to his tents, O Israel".
Now just to give you the context of this verse, if you remember at the end of the last chapter there was this dispute between the men of Judah and the rest of the men of Israel. David is being reinstated as king. Absalom had rebelled against his father, had taken over the kingdom. David had to flee Jerusalem and go to the wilderness, regroup with all his allies and then he fought back and won the kingdom back for himself, defeated Absalom and now there's a question of bringing him back and re-installing him as king, putting him back in charge of the nation and there arises this dispute in chapter number 19 where the men of Judah want to be the first ones to bring him back and then the rest of the men of Israel are saying "well we have 10 parts in the king" and other people are saying "well no, he's more closely related to us because we're of Judah" and so what they say here in verse number 1, and this son of Belial is this one who puts it into their head, this Sheba, he says "we have no part in David".
It's funny a minute ago their saying "we have 10 parts in the king" and now they're saying "we have no part in David, neither do we have any inheritance in the son of Jesse: every man to his tents, O Israel". And last week I talked about just how stupid it is to basically get into this kind of hero worship, sycophancy would be the big long word for it, where people get so obsessed with personalities and this is known as a cult of personality where basically people will worship a human being and you see this a lot with rock stars, you see this a lot with actors or the royal family over in England, where people become fixated on what their wearing, everything that they do in their life. They put up all kinds of posters of them and just get real sick in their admiration where they go too far ... of lifting up a human being and this could even happen with pastors, religious leaders, the pope, for example kissing his big toe or whatever ...
So what we see here though is interesting because the people who are very sycophantic like this and that are just over the top of just the fan club and "hey we want to be the ones who get to stand the closest to David and bring him in" are the ones that will turn on people and hate them, okay? And it's funny because we've had some weirdos in our church before, over the years and you know what? Every church has weirdos. Somebody said to me recently "why does your church attract weirdos". But here's the thing though, there are less weirdos in this church than any church I've ever been in. This is like the most normal church I've ever gone to just as far as like nice, normal people. But here's the thing, every church has weirdos in it and our church is no exception.
But here's the thing, there have been some real weirdos in our church in the past and I remember there were these one people who were just way over the top in thinking that I was just the greatest pastor in the world and just lavishing me with way too much praise to the point where it made me uncomfortable. Like, whoa, what's going on here, you know, you guys are just over the top ... Just "you're the greatest christian in the world, you're like a dad to me". It's like no, you know? So people get over the top in exalting a human being and it isn't right. But it's funny because then those same people turned on me and hated me and blasted me and criticized me. It's like what in the world? So I went from being the greatest thing to sliced bread to just being the worst preacher and phony ... But that's how it is with them and you know what it reminds me of? In the book of Acts when they're going to worship Paul and Barnabas and they start bringing out garlands and they're going to offer sacrifices under them and they're worshiping them as Gods, saying that they're Jupiter and Mercury and then literally a couple verses later they trying to kill them. It's like, what in the world?
So, beware of people that are basically sycophantic, lavishing too much ... flattery, that's what the Bible uses that word and there's a ton of warnings about people that flatter you, where they give you compliments that are inappropriate, where they're giving you over the top compliments that aren't really true because those people are often setting a trap for you, according to Proverbs, and those are the same people that will then turn on you.
So here these men are pretending "oh we just really love David so much that we want to be the first ones to bring him in". But then these same people turn around and say "well we have no part in him, to your tents, O Israel". So these people are a fraud. Now what we talked about last week too ... the fact that it's not really about personalities, it's about having a Godly leader versus having a son of Belial leading you. It's not that David is just such a cool guy and we just love his hair, we love his clothes, he's got this great style. No, it's about the fact that he loves the Lord, he's worshiping the Lord, he's leading the country in a Godly way, he's leading them to follow God's laws, to have the tabernacle, to respect the arc of the covenant, to keep the pass- you know he's doing all these things that are Godly. That's why we want him as king. Not because it's just this cult around this personality of David. And so it's really a choice between a man of God and a man of Belial.
So we see here that they just turn on him and say "well we have no part in you" and they all go to their tents. Only Judah sticks with him. The rest of the tribes are scattered because remember they had already rebelled once with Absalom so now just when you think it's over, they've had this blood bath of a civil war, and just when it's all over, now this guy Sheba comes in and he's going to no be the next Absalom, just right back to back, and create more blood shed, more harm.
Now just to give you an idea of what's going on here. If you remember Ahithophel had given solid advice to Absalom and said "look, if you want to defeat David you got to just pursue him right away", and then remember he got the bad advice from Cushi that said "oh just wait and gather all Israel and then do it", and that allowed David to win. Well David is smarter than that, he's not going to make that mistake. So David wants to pursue after this Sheba guy right away. He want to nip this in the bud before Sheba gets too much power and there's another big war, another big blood bath. He wants to avoid all that. So here's what he does. Look what the Bible says in verse number ... well first I'll read verse 2. "So every man of Israel went up from after David, and followed Sheba the son of Bichri: but the men of Judah clave unto their king, from Jordan even to Jerusalem. And David came to his house at Jerusalem; and the king took the ten women his concubines, whom he had left to keep the house, and put them in ward, and fed them, but went not in unto them. So they were shut up unto the day of their death, living in widowhood".
If you remember Absalom had committed wickedness by going in unto his father's concubines just to basically make himself ... to stink in the eyes of David. Just in order to just make a show of arrogance and just to show everybody that he wasn't afraid of David and to get them all just hardened in their resolve. So David basically, now that his son has been with these women he doesn't want anything to do with these women anymore in that way so he just basically pays for them to be maintained but he never goes in unto them again, meaning he doesn't have a physical relationship with them ever again.
It says in verse 4 "Then said the king to Amasa, Assemble me the men of Judah within three days, and be thou here present". So he's saying "look we need to hurry up, you got 3 days, get everybody assembled, let's get this done". And David ... or verse 5 says "So Amasa went to assemble the men of Judah: but he tarried longer than the set time which he had appointed him". So he told them "look we have to do this within 3 days". 3 days roll around and Amasa's just not back yet. So David says in verse number 6 to Abishai "Now shall Sheba the son of Bichri do us more harm than did Absalom: take thou thy lord's servants, and pursue after him, lest he get him fenced cities, and escape us". So he's saying "look we can't wait for Amasa, we need to just get this done. We're going to go after him, pursue him right now".
It says in verse 7 "And there went out after him Joab's men, and the Cherethites, and the Pelethites, and all the mighty men: and they went out of Jerusalem, to pursue after Sheba the son of Bichri. When they were at the great stone which is in Gibeon, Amasa went before them. And Joab's garment that he had put on was girded unto him, and upon it a girdle with a sword fastened upon his loins in the sheath thereof; and as he went forth it fell out. And Joab said to Amasa, Art thou in health, my brother? And Joab took Amasa by the beard with the right hand to kiss him. But Amasa took no heed to the sword that was in Joab's hand: so he smote him therewith in the fifth rib, and shed out his bowels to the ground, and struck him not again; and he died. So Joab and Abishai his brother pursued after Sheba the son of Bichri".
So Abishai is leading the troops. Joab joins in and then finally Amasa shows up late and he comes and he takes over leadership because he was supposed to be a captain of the host. They had left without him because he was late but Joab doesn't like him. Joab likes to be the captain of the host. He didn't like being replaced by this guy Amasa and Amasa had gone with Absalom and if you remember David, in order to make peace, had forgiven Amasa and given his position back. But Joab just decides he's going to murder him in cold blood and that's what this is. I mean, he just murders him in cold blood. This isn't a fair fight or anything. Basically he has a sword in the sheath and basically his sword falls out. He learns forward and his sword falls out and he reaches down to pick it up, "Oh, whoops, dropped my sword" and kills him. So that's basically what he does and he greets him with a friendly greeting, "Art thou in health, my brother?", acts like he's going to kiss him and then actually stabs him with the sword.
Now when it says "to kiss him", obviously in biblical times kissing was a greeting. This isn't like a kiss on the mouth obviously. It'll even say in the new testament "greet all the brethren with a holy kiss". The only person who has ever greeting me this way is my father-in-law because my father-in-law is from Hungary so when I meet him he'll kiss you on the cheeks because that's the greeting. In America we're like "whoa, that's way too personal. We need out space". I like the verse where it says they gave him the right hand of fellowship. That's the verse that I'd like to focus on ... The only person who greets me that way is my father-in-law ... greets me that way because he's from that culture, the more eastern culture, a little bit different. So we're not comfortable with that in America, but anyway...
So he's acting like he's just giving him a greeting. It's like what Judas did. You know, Judas did what? Betrayed the son of man with a kiss. He gives him the kiss and then of course he's taken off to be arrested and then killed. But, the Bible says here that he basically murdered him in cold blood when you read this and of course Joab is going to suffer for this. Very soon actually, because this is toward the very end of David's reign and when Solomon takes power, Solomon is going to have Joab executed for these murders that he's committed. So Joab's going to be executed himself by Solomon. But it says that he smote him under the 5th rib, he killed him, etc.
But look at verse number 11 because it said at the end of verse 10 that Joab and Abishai's brother pursued after Sheba, the son of Bichri. "And one of Joab's men stood by him, and said, He that favoureth Joab, and he that is for David, let him go after Joab". So basically Joab and Abishai, they go after Sheba, the son of Bichri, with all the elite troops, the Cherethites, the Pelethites, the mighty men. But if you remember Amasa had still been trying to rally the rest of Judah. So as men from Judah show up, there's a servant that's left there by Amasa's dead body to let people know "hey everybody, they went that way. If you're here to fight and to follow Joab and David and everything you need to join the troops and go that way". But look what that Bible says.
It says in verse 12 "And Amasa wallowed in blood in the midst of the highway. And when the man saw that all the people stood still, he removed Amasa out of the highway into the field". So here's this guy just dead in the highway, or dying rather, wallowing in his own blood and basically they're just acting like he's not there. "We're going to go fight the enemy". And everybody's just standing there like "what in the world? This guy is wallowing in the middle of ...". You know they're just standing there speechless. They can't believe just how cold they are to just, here's a guy wallowing in the middle of the road and you're just acting like he's not here saying "oh yeah let's go fight the battle, let's go do this". Just like ignoring it. So then once they realized that they're like "hey we need to get this body and hide the body". So then they drag him out of the road and off into the field so that people can walk down the road with out having to see that ...
We should never get desensitized to this kind of violence and unfortunately, because of the movie industry and the video game industry and things, people are being desensitized to violence and it isn't right. We shouldn't just be able to just ignore a guy who's just wallowing in blood and just, it doesn't effect us, and be that cold and heartless and the Bible says "The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth". We should not love or enjoy violence and we should not become one who just glorifies any kind of killing or any kind of brutality. But often people do and they justify it like "oh killing the bad guys". But sometimes the bad guys aren't as bad as they're made out to be and basically we just glorify a lot of killing and violence and we should have great respect, as Bible believing Christians, we should have great respect for human life and be respectful of people's lives and not just look aside as someone is brutally murdered and obviously in our society babies are killed everyday in abortion clinics and people don't really think about it. They kind of put it off in the field, don't want to look at it, don't really want to talk about it, but it's still there. Just because you move the guy to the field, he's still wallowing in blood.
And there's a lot of innocent blood that is shed in this country and God sees it, and the cry of the blood, just like the cry of Abel's blood cried out from the ground and God heard the voice of Abel's blood crying from the ground. God hears the cries of the unborn that are being killed and anyone else who's innocent, who's killed in the name of whatever, innocent people that are killed. The military. These guys are military guys. These are soldiers. But does that make it right for them to kill a guy who's coming to get a greeting? "Hey art thou in health my brother" and then stab him. Is that really the right way to fight a war according to the Bible? Is that honorable in any way shape or form?
The Bible teaches that women and children should not just be slaughtered indiscriminately in battle and John the Baptist told the Romans soldiers of his day, he said "do no violence to any man and be content with your wages". Obviously if they're a soldier and he's telling them to be content with heir wages he's not telling them not to fight necessarily, he's telling them don't do any violence because there is a tendency sometimes for soldiers to commit violence which if you look at the word violence the first 4 letters there show you that it's related to the word violate. So violence is not legitimate harming of someone, it's an illegitimate harming of someone. For example, some people would say a boxing match is violent. It's not violent because it's just a consensual ... it's a sport, it's a game, it's practice, whatever. Honestly if someone were to break into your house and you were to defend yourself and kill them that's not violence either because you're just defending yourself.
If you were to fight in a defensive war where basically you're being invaded and fighting back the enemy, that would not be violent because you're not violating anybody. You're not harming anyone illegitimately. But if you go to a war zone or a battle field and instead of killing the enema combatants, you're actually killing women and children, that isn't right. And people today will justify it and consider it okay to basically just assassinate people like this assassination, assassinate people, kill men, women, and children, kill people in their beds and in their homes but that doesn't make it right. We should never be desensitized to these things and just get to where we're just cold to it and we don't care and "well, so what, can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs. Oh so what a hundred civilians died? Well, whatever". We got to care about stuff like that, it ought to matter to us. It ought to matter to us that the unborn are being slaughtered.
So we see here people who are expected to just ignore a guy who is wallowing in his own blood, and of course they don't and we should not be desensitized to that either. So when he was removed out of the highway in verse 13, "all the people went on after Joab, to pursue after Sheba the son of Bichri. And he went through all the tribes of Israel unto Abel, and to Bethmaachah, and all the Berites: and they were gathered together, and went also after him. And they came and besieged him in Abel of Bethmaachah, and they cast up a bank against the city, and it stood in the trench: and all the people that were with Joab battered the wall, to throw it down". So Sheba the son of Bichri, he's amassed a great following, David's troops led by Joab and Abishi, they basically get him cornered and they get him locked up in this city Abel of Bethmaachah and he's in this walled city and it had defenses around it but basically Joab and his men are getting ready to assault the city.
So they're using tactics of trench warfare and basically they're going to batter down the wall or the gate of the city and in the process of battering the wall to throw it down, it says in verse 16 "Then cried a wise woman out of the city, Hear, hear; say, I pray you, unto Joab, Come near hither, that I may speak with thee. And when he was come near unto her, the woman said, Art thou Joab? And he answered, I am he. Then she said unto him, Hear the words of thine handmaid. And he answered, I do hear. Then she spake, saying, They were wont to speak in old time, saying, They shall surely ask counsel at Abel: and so they ended the matter".
"I am one of them that are peaceable and faithful in Israel: thou seekest to destroy a city and a mother in Israel: why wilt thou swallow up the inheritance of the Lord? And Joab answered and said, Far be it, far be it from me, that I should swallow up or destroy. The matter is not so: but a man of mount Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichri by name, hath lifted up his hand against the king, even against David: deliver him only, and I will depart from the city. And the woman said unto Joab, Behold, his head shall be thrown to thee over the wall. Then the woman went unto all the people in her wisdom. And they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri, and cast it out to Joab. And he blew a trumpet, and they retired from the city, every man to his tent. And Joab returned to Jerusalem unto the king".
Now in the story here, the narrator of the Bible, that's the holy spirit talking, is calling this woman a wise woman and saying that she went and talked to the people in her wisdom and her solution is the right solution. There's one guy who is, according to the Bible, a son of Belial, which is a son of the devil, that's what Belial means. He's a wicked, reprobate, evil man, Sheba the son of Bichri. This guy is worthy of death because he is committing treason, treachery. He's going to create warfare where there should be peace. He's going to create warfare that's going to slaughter all kinds of lives. I mean, look how many people died in Absalom's rebellion. Heaps upon heaps of men killed in that war and that's the same thing that's about to happen.
I mean, Joab and Abisi's troupes are about to come bursting into the city and what's going to happen? A whole bunch of killing, a whole bunch of slaughter and so this women wisely avoids the blood shed, avoids the warfare and they fighting, she says "look I'm one of them that's peaceable and faithful in Israel". She says "why are you destroying the city" and they say "we don't want to destroy the city, we're just after this one guy" and she says "okay, well we're just going to take that one guy and kill him and throw his head over the wall" and that's what they do and then everything is fine. Look how many lives she saved here by just getting rid of the one bad guy and executing him for his crime, throw it over the wall, and then basically everybody else can be spared. This is really a great outcome. Given the last couple chapters where there's all these people slaying each other in these big wars. At least here it's just one guy, the guilty party, that's killed, and everybody else is spared.
There are other stories like this. For example, in the book of Judges where at the end of the book of Judges there's that story in chapter 19 about the sodomites and Benjamin and how they committed these horrible, filthy, wicked acts and the rest of Israel says to the Benjamites, they said "look, these men of Belial", and that's what the bible calls them, same thing, these reprobates, these homos have committed this horrible, wicked act in Judges 19, and they said "deliver these men unto us so that we can put them to death" for having committed this rape and this murder, deliver them unto us that they might be put to death and the men of Benjamin said "no, we're not going to deliver them unto you" and so God actually instructed the men of Israel to go to war with Benjamin because of the fact that God, you know they kept seeking the Lord and saying "God do you want us to fight these people" and he said "yes, these men of Belial must be brought to justice" and they end up going out to fight against them 3 different times and then finally they end up just practically wiping out the whole tribe of Benjamin.
This is Benjamin again. A lot of men of Belial amongst Benjamin unfortunately. But, they ended up having this huge blood bath 20 some thousand people are killed because of the fact that they are just harboring these horrible criminals from Judges chapter 19. You know, it's a principle throughout the bible, is that when people commit wicked acts, they're supposed to brought to justice for those wicked acts and if they're not brought to justice then wrath comes upon everybody. Wrath comes upon the whole congregation. You know, remember with Achan, God was wroth with the whole congregation and then once Achan was punished then God turned away his wrath from them. Also, throughout the bible we see examples, I mean, there are all kinds of examples of this. Where basically one guy commits sin and he's harbored and not punished and then God's wrath comes upon all of them and it's even explained in the mosaic law when he says "look, if somebody commits murder you have to punish that murderer in order to put away the innocent blood, otherwise the whole land will be punished".
So, when we just allow the slaughter of the unborn for example, that's taking place in the United States, if we just allow the worst kind of filth and sin to go on in this country and it's not punished, it actually brings a curse upon our whole nation. Just like it did to Benjamin. Just like this town would have been destroyed and it's not really the fault of most of the people in that town. But they all would have been wiped out. The whole town would have been broken down. People would have been killed. So what what I'm saying is that it's not smart for us as a nation and as a society to protect and harbor the worst sons of Belial possible because it's going to bring God's wrath on all of us as a nation. We're all going to suffer because when God punishes those people it's like we're all going to get punished. We're all going to feel the punishment as Americans.
Honestly, there is a lot of violence and wickedness that takes place in this country that goes unpunished. You know, for example, child molestation. Let me just be clear. Anybody who molests a child should be put to death. Anybody who would molest children. You say "oh we're going to reform ..." you can't reform these people. They're reprobate. They're sons of Belial and it's been proven where they go to prison for a few years they get out, they do it again. They get out, they do it again. They go in there and they learn the tricks from all the other ones in there and then they come out and do it more. Honestly, the supreme court, I think 5 years ago, they made a ruling that no child molester can ever be put death again in America. Did you know that? Because it used to be that they could be, at least the worst child molesters they would put to death. But they say it's unconstitutional. I don't know what part of the constitution that is but, they said its unconstitutional to put a child molester to death. So now if a lower court said "hey let's put this child molester to death" it's like, well, you can't, because the supreme court has ruled that only murderers can be put to death.
You know, being a child molester is worse than being a murderer. It's just as bad. I mean, it's horrific. It's so wicked. But because this abomination is allowed to go on, and I'm sorry, if somebody molests kids and then they go to prison for 3 or 4 years and then they're released, I mean, that's tolerating it ... because you're not giving the biblical punishment. You're basically just giving a slap on the wrist. That's not going to turn away God's wrath. When people can make cold blooded 1st degree murder and they're not put to death as the bible said in Genesis and all throughout, that brings God's wrath on everybody. Everybody ends up suffering. Our whole country goes down the toilet and that's what we see happening to our country. The blessing of God is no upon our country because of the fact that all these wicked crimes are allowed to go on unpunished and that's what we see. So if we're smart as a society we'd say "wait a minute, we need to remove this wickedness". You know when we see violent crime going on, when we see cold blooded murder, rape, and molestation, these people need to be put to death so that God's wrath will be turned away. You know, better to throw that child molester's head over the wall, as it were, then for the whole city to get broken down.
That's what's being taught here. God's showing us a positive ... and another thing we can learn from this story, not only just the fact that, you know, one person's sin can bring God's wrath on a group, that's true. But not only that, but we see here that if we're going to be wise, we should seek for peace and not be one who goes out looking for war, looking for strife, looking for physical violence. If we can we should try to avoid fighting whenever we can and that's what this woman is trying to do. She's trying to avoid blood shed but people who are desensitized to blood shed have this mentality that says "hey kill them all, let God sort them out". Yeah let's bomb them into the stone ages, let's just kill every Muslim, or whatever. This is the way some people think. We got to wipe out Iran. We got to wipe out Iraq, and they basically just want to just kill the innocent with the wicked. They just want to slay everybody but, you know, we need to be more of a peace maker and try to find solutions to problem with out just killing everybody and wiping everybody out.
Another thing I want to point out is this wise woman. It's interesting that it's a woman here who solved this problem and who has this wisdom. Actually in the bible, wisdom is associated with a woman or actually personified as a woman. Go to the book of proverbs and this happens a lot in Proverbs where a woman represents wisdom. Women often have great wisdom. Women often have wisdom in certain areas and they often have a feminine intuition and they have certain problem solving skills sometimes that are different than men and there's nothing wrong with listening to a woman for advice. If a woman has wise advice, there's nothing wrong with taking that advice.
Obviously the bible very clearly teaches that men should be in authority. There's no question about that. In the church the bible teaches that men are to be an authority in the church and it's to be run by men. The bible also teaches that the family is to be run by the man. The husband is the head of the wife, the father is the head of the home, he's the king of the castle, etc. The bible also teaches that nations should be run by men and that it is the curse of God when women and children rule over them.
But that being said, that doesn't mean that women don't have wisdom. You see, it's not that women shouldn't lead because they're no wise. It's not that women are foolish and that's why they can't lead and a lot of people will make an argument that women should be in charge in the home or in church. They'll say "well, hey, sometimes the woman has more wisdom". Have you heard that before? Hey, sometimes the woman might be smarter or the woman might have more wisdom so maybe it's better in some cases if the woman leads in the home or the woman leads ... and they'll point to a certain situation, perhaps, where the woman in fact is smarter because let's face it, obviously there are women in this world who are smarter than some men in this world and there could be a situation where a man and woman are married and the woman happens to be smarter than the man. Not in my case or any of you guys or anything. I'm just saying it's got to be out there, right? No, I'm just kidding.
But I'm just saying, obviously women are intelligent. I mean, who here thinks that women here are just stupid and they just don't know anything? I mean, that's ridiculous. Obviously women have just as much capacity for intelligence as men and that's not the reason why women are supposed to obey their husbands. It's not because they're not smart. It's not because they don't have wisdom. It's simply because that is the authority structure that God has announced and you know, God tells us that the husband is the head of the wife and the wives are to obey their husbands in all things, case closed, end of story. Why? Well why pastor Anderson? Because God said so. That's all we need. It's not because women aren't smart. It's because God said so. That's why. You say "but why? Why did God ..." Shut up and do what you're told. He's God. He created the whole world. How can you sit there and say "why? Why? Why"?
Well here's the thing, I can think of reasons why. I could tell you reasons why but whether you know the reason why or not, if the bible says it and you're a bible believing christian, isn't that the end of it right there? Done. I mean, if he says the husband's the head of the wife and the wives are supposed to submit to their husbands ... You know, part of it is symbolic of the relationship between Christ and the church and there are a lot of reasons why.
A big reason why is that you can only have one leader. Somebody's got to be in charge because if you have a two-headed monster it's not going to work because you can't have two people that are both the boss because what happens when those two people don't agree? Then there's going to be all kinds of fighting and strife. So, God has chosen to put one person in charge, the husband and the wife is to submit unto him and to obey him. But, I will say this, women often have a lot of wisdom and perhaps in certain areas the husband might have more wisdom and in other areas the wife might have more wisdom. So, there's nothing wrong with a husband who listens to his wife's wisdom and gets input from his wife and acts upon that wisdom. Just like Joab at least is listening to this wise woman. What she says is right and he hearkens unto it.
Now, does that mean that Joab is not the boss or if a husband listens to his wife's advice does that mean that he's no longer the boss? No, not at all. But, the problem that we have in many cases is that, often there a power struggle going on in the marriage where there's a constant battle where the woman is constantly getting out of her role and trying to usurp the authority in that home and trying to wear the pants in the family and be the boss. So, the husband is constantly having to defend his authority because she's constantly trying to usurp that authority and then what happens is, the husband doesn't want to take any advice from his wife because his authority is already in danger, it's already being threatened.
Whereas, if the wife obeys her husband as God as commanded, then the husband is going to feel more comfortable asking his wife, not all the time like "what do I do? What do I do" like you're just an inept fool. But, at times, getting his wife's advice or his wife volunteering advice and him saying "hey, you know what, that's a great point. That's a good idea. We're going to do it that way" because his authority is not being threatened. Now a lot of people will say "well, if you were secure in your authority then you'd be able to take advice". Here's the thing, being secure in your authority isn't just a feeling, you'd have to actually be in authority.
I mean, the world wants us to feel secure in our position then have no authority and just be secure feeling that way. It's like, no, you have to have the authority to feel secure in your role as husband. So, here's the thing, ladies, if you want your husband to listen to you more or take your advice, first you got to show him that he's in charge and that you respect his authority and say "you know what, honey, you're the boss, you're in charge, here's what I think we should do, here's why I think we should do it, but, you know what, in the end, whatever you decide to do, you're the boss". Now here's the thing, if you said that to your husband, obviously a Godly, righteous husband is going to hear that and he's going to be thankful to God that his wife is submissive unto him and biblical in her obedience and then he's not going to feel threatened. He's not going to feel like "well if I follow her advice she thinks she's in charge" and then he has to push back.
So, you can really have a harmonious marriage, folks, if people would just get in their proper biblical roles. You can have a harmonious marriage and then we can put our heads together, as it were, and get the best of both worlds, where the husband is leading and he's competent but, if the wife sees something that he doesn't see, she can bring it up and he can take that suggestion without feeling threatened. So, it's very important not to just downgrade women and just think of them as they don't know what to do, they don't know, what do they know. You know, there's nothing wrong with listening to what a woman has to say but that doesn't mean that women should be in authority. So, see how those two things can actually go together? The woman not being in authority but she can still speak her mind and be heard and perhaps ... But at the same time the husband should always have the right to say "hey, we're not going to do it that way, I don't see it that way" and sometimes husbands are going to make wrong decisions. "But what do I do? I can't trust my husband to lead because what if he messes up"? What if your husband messes up? So what? God's going to bless you for obeying. God's going to bless you as the wife for doing what's right if your husband messes up.
So you can't just feel like you have to step in and fix everything and you know what, sometimes it's good for men to mess up because as long as it's God's will for us to learn from our mistakes. Some people have to make mistakes in order to learn from them the hard way and maybe God's doing something in your husband's life or whatever. So just trust in the Lord. Do what the bible says. Respect your husband's authority. Give him advice but then say "hey, whatever you choose to do though I'm going to follow you because you're in that position of authority that God gave you".
So look at the bible here, what the bible teaches about wisdom, and it's interesting that wisdom is often personified as a woman because there are a lot of wise women in the bible just like the one we just saw. It says in verse 1 of chapter 8 "Doth not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her voice? She standeth in the top of high places, by the way in the places of the paths. She crieth at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors. Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of man. O ye simple, understand wisdom: and, ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart. Hear; for I will speak of excellent things; and the opening of my lips shall be right things. For my mouth shall speak truth; and wickedness is an abomination to my lips. All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing froward or perverse in them. They are all plain to him that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge. Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold. For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it".
Look at chapter 9. Same thing in verse 1, "Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars: She hath killed her beasts; she hath mingled her wine; she hath also furnished her table. She hath sent forth her maidens: she crieth upon the highest places of the city, Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled. Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding. He that reproveth a scorner getteth to himself shame: and he that rebuketh a wicked man getteth himself a blot. Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee".
So, basically wisdom personified as a woman that's crying out and saying to the simple ones, to the fools, to the ignorants, those that lack understanding, and saying to them "turn in hither, learn something, let me show you something" and basically she says to them that basically a wise man, when he's rebuked, will love you. If you rebuke a wise man, he'll love you. Why? Because a wise man wants to be corrected when he's wrong and he wants somebody to point out his mistakes so that he can fix them. But, a fool hates being reproved or rebuked so often their error, when it's pointed out, they just get defensive instead of saying "oh, you know what, you're right, I'm wrong, I made a mistake" and they get real defensive and want to just kill the messenger, as it were, who tells them that they're wrong and listen to me, there are many people in this world who are simple and people who lack understanding and who lack knowledge.
Now, in 2 Samuel, these are the type of people that are following the Shebas and the Absaloms of this world. I don't know if you remember this but back in chapter 15, it said in verse 11, you don't have to turn there, it says "And with Absalom went two hundred men out of Jerusalem, that were called; and they went in their simplicity, and they knew not any thing". So what does the bible say about the people that are following Absalom? He says they went in their simplicity and they didn't know anything. So, is it saying that they were evil people? No, it's just saying that they were stupid. They were simple. They're ignorant. They don't know anything. They lack understanding and so they end up following wicked people. They follow Absalom. They follow Sheba the son of Bichri because they lack understanding, because they lack knowledge, because they lack wisdom, they are able to be led astray very easily and that's why the bible is constantly admonishing us to gain knowledge, to gain wisdom and understanding and in Proverbs God is begging people to get some knowledge and wisdom and understanding.
This woman's voice that's used as a picture, sort of like this woman that was in 2 Samuel that represented the voice of reason, was saying "why are we killing all these people? Let's just kill the one bad guy and fix everything", wisdom is crying out and just begging people to increase their learning and to get some wisdom, get some knowledge, get some understanding. And you know what, we live in a day where people are way too ignorant and let me tell yous something, I believe that there's an agenda to dumb down America because the Shebas and the Absaloms of this world, the son of Belial that are running our country want to be able to lead you astray and so there's a dumbing down of our nation and basically people don't know anything. People are simple. People lack understanding and therefor they're easily manipulated, easily led astray. The world that we would use is gullible. I've often said to people "did you know the word gullible is not even in the dictionary" and they say "really". I say "uh, I just proved how gullible you are" because it is in the dictionary. That's just a joke.
But the bottom line is, people today are gullible because they are simple and because they are ignorant and so it's easy to lead them astray. It's easy to teach them false things. Go to Ephesians chapter 4, Ephesians chapter number 4. Now, the reason why it's so important to have knowledge is because God said that it needs to be striven for more than for gold and silver. It's going to give you length of days. It's going to give you prosperity. It's going to cause you to depart from evil and save yourself all kinds of pain and suffering in this world the smarter you are.
Now, a lot of people, they think that it doesn't matter how smart you are. "Well I'm just a simple old country boy". No, get smarter. Some people glorify being dumb. Seriously. Be a country boy, but be a smart country boy and you know what, the bible commands us to learn. The bible says a wise man will hear and increase learning and it says fools despise wisdom and instruction. They don't want to be taught. They don't want to learn. They want to continue being ignorant and the bible says that foolishness is one of the evil things that comes out of the heart of man and what's foolishness? The opposite of wisdom, isn't it? The bible says "hey, you need to get knowledge, you need to get understanding, you need to get wisdom, you need to get smart, don't be a fool, don't be ignorant, don't be simple". Why? Because you'll be easily led astray, that's why, and the bible says in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 13, "Till we all come in the unity of the faith", watch this, "and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive".
Look, there are plenty of people out there that are ready to deceive you, the Shebas, the Absaloms, cunning craftiness. They're going to teach you false doctrine. They're going to lead you astray and he says don't be a child. Grow in knowledge. Don't be fooled ...
