Insights From the Old Testament (Part 3)

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-We’re going to pick back up...

…where we left off last Sunday Night...

If you’ll remember, we looked at...

…multiple OT marriages...

…in order to glean principles and applications from them.

In doing that, we made our way...

…over to the marriage of Ruth and Boaz.

Most of what we had seen leading up to them...

…served us by way of negative example.

But, we saw in those two...

…how faithfulness to God’s commands...

(Even if you don’t understand them)

…Brought about a great redemptive good!

We saw them heeding the command to...

Proverbs 3:5 (ESV)

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

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They both put principle over pragmatism...

And the Lord blessed them with offspring...

Offspring which would become Israel’s greatest Kings...

And which would establish the royal line...

…through which Christ would come to the earth.

-Today we’re going to be gleaning some insights...

...from the marriages of several of those kings...

…as well as a few others

But, before we get to that...

…let’s pray and ask for the Lord’s help\

Pray

-There’s a couple that shows up...

…before we get to King David...

…from which there is...

...much for us to learn learn.

The book of 1 Samuel...

…begins with their story.

1 Samuel 1:1–2 (ESV)

1 There was a certain man . . . of Ephraim whose name was Elkanah...

2 He had two wives...

Already, we’re expecting discord, aren’t we.

Why?

Matthew 19:5 (ESV)

5 . . . ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?

Not 3 or 4 or 5, etc.

There’s always attendant pain...

…when we deviate from God’s design

-Such was the case here as well:

1 Samuel 1:2–5 (ESV)

2 He had two wives. The name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other, Peninnah. And Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.

3 Now this man used to go up year by year from his city to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts at Shiloh...

4 On the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to Peninnah his wife and to all her sons and daughters.

5 But to Hannah he gave a double portion, because he loved her, though the Lord had closed her womb.

Reminds us of Jacob, Rachel, and Leah, doesn’t it?

But, Peninnah is a little more vicious than Leah:

1 Samuel 1:6–7 (ESV)

6 And her rival used to provoke her grievously to irritate her, because the Lord had closed her womb.

7 So it went on year by year. As often as she went up to the house of the Lord, she used to provoke her. Therefore Hannah wept and would not eat.

Pain and heartache are the inevitable results...

…of setting aside the design of God.

Infertility was painful enough...

But, the pain was exacerbated...

…by the fact that...

…she had a sister-wife to be compared too!

The polygamy intensifies the pain.

But, it was pragmatically beneficial...

(at least that’s what everyone assumed).

-Now, this is positive:

1 Samuel 1:8 ESV

8 And Elkanah, her husband, said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep? And why do you not eat? And why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons?”

He loved his wife.

He dealt with her in an understanding manner.

He wasn’t harsh or censorious about it...

Even though, she could have...

…justifiably been rebuked for her discontentment.

-Now, so far there’s nothing exemplary in Hannah.

But, she eventually shines forth as something to emulate.

In her desperation, she looks (not to mandrakes)...

…but to the Lord.

The text says this:

1 Samuel 1:10–11 (ESV)

10 She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly.

11 And she vowed a vow and said, “O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head.”

He would be a lifelong Nazarite

What sets her apart from so many, here...

Is that when she finally gets the thing...

…that her heart so desired...

She kept her oath to the Lord...

…and gave him up to him!

-Now, watch something astounding about...

Elkanah himself

The nature of their marriage:

1 Samuel 1:21–24 (ESV)

21 The man Elkanah and all his house went up to offer to the Lord the yearly sacrifice and to pay his vow.

22 But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, “As soon as the child is weaned, I will bring him, so that he may appear in the presence of the Lord and dwell there forever.”

23 Elkanah her husband said to her, “Do what seems best to you; wait until you have weaned him; only, may the Lord establish his word.” So the woman remained and nursed her son until she weaned him.

24 And when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine, and she brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh. And the child was young.

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Do you know who this child was?

The great Prophet Samuel!

Generally speaking...

Faithfulness tends to beget faithfulness

Pragmatism and Compromise...

…tends to beget more of the same!

-Now, later on in his life...

…Samuel would be instrumental...

…in the ordaining of Israel’s first faithful King.

King David!

…who himself had been the beneficiary...

…of the faithfulness of God-fearing ancestors.

-Now, David’s first marriage...

…was to Michal, the daughter of Saul.

It wasn’t exactly...

…the makings of a romance novel, though:

1 Samuel 18:20–21 (ESV)

20 Now Saul’s daughter Michal loved David. And they told Saul, and the thing pleased him.

21 Saul thought, “Let me give her to him, that she may be a snare for him...

Profane Saul, profaning the institution of marriage too.

He made the dowry...

...100 Philistine foreskins!

He was hoping to get David killed...

But, the Lord was with him...

…and David prevailed...

…and received her as his wife.

And, for a while...

…she seemed to be a true helpmeet:

For a while...

…she seemed to truly “leave and cleave”:

1 Samuel 19:11–12 (ESV)

11 Saul sent messengers to David’s house to watch him, that he might kill him in the morning. But Michal, David’s wife, told him, “If you do not escape with your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.”

12 So Michal let David down through the window, and he fled away and escaped.

Now, she lied to her dad about it...

…but she did “help” him escape.

1 Samuel 19:17 ESV

17 Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me thus and let my enemy go, so that he has escaped?” And Michal answered Saul, “He said to me, ‘Let me go. Why should I kill you?’ ”

-However, Michal doesn’t end well.

And her final demise...

…has some very important lessons in it for us.

2 Samuel 6:16 (ESV)

16 As the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michal the daughter of Saul looked out of the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, and she despised him in her heart.

2 Samuel 6:20–23 (ESV)

20 And David returned to bless his household. But Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David and said, “How the king of Israel honored himself today, uncovering himself today before the eyes of his servants’ female servants, as one of the vulgar fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!”

21 And David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me above your father and above all his house, to appoint me as prince over Israel, the people of the Lord—and I will celebrate before the Lord.

22 I will make myself yet more contemptible than this, and I will be abased in your eyes. But by the female servants of whom you have spoken, by them I shall be held in honor.” 23 And Michal the daughter of Saul had no child to the day of her death.

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She was profane like her father.

She had married out of...

Excitement/Adventure

Physical attraction

Ambition

David had obviously not...

…made a wise decision either.

What’s the primary lesson in their marriage?

You’d better make...

Faith

The Fear of the Lord

…The primary thing you look for in a spouse.

You compromise on that...

…and you’ll come to regret it eventually!

-Now, David’s next wife...

…was a woman of much more virtue.

Strange as it is...

…she is a great example to follow...

…in many ways.

It’s kind of a long story...

…but, I think it’s worth our time:

1 Samuel 25:1–3 (ESV)

1 Now Samuel died. And all Israel assembled and mourned for him . . . Then David rose and went down to the wilderness of Paran.

2 And there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel. The man was very rich; he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. He was shearing his sheep in Carmel.

3 Now the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail. The woman was discerning and beautiful, but the man was harsh and badly behaved; he was a Calebite.

1 Samuel 25:5–7 (ESV)

5 So David sent ten young men. And David said to the young men, “Go up to Carmel, and go to Nabal and greet him in my name.

6 And thus you shall greet him: ‘Peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have.

7 I hear that you have shearers. Now your shepherds have been with us, and we did them no harm, and they missed nothing all the time they were in Carmel.

1 Samuel 25:8 (ESV)

8 ...Therefore let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we come on a feast day. Please give whatever you have at hand to your servants and to your son David.’ ”

Remember, the man is fabulously wealthy

David is just asking for common Middle-Eastern hospitality

1 Samuel 25:10–12 (ESV)

10 And Nabal answered David’s servants, “Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants these days who are breaking away from their masters.

11 Shall I take my bread and my water and my meat that I have killed for my shearers and give it to men who come from I do not know where?”

12 So David’s young men turned away and came back and told him all this.

David’s Response:

1 Samuel 25:13 (ESV)

13 And David said to his men, “Every man strap on his sword!” And every man of them strapped on his sword. David also strapped on his sword...

Abigail intervenes:

1 Samuel 25:18 (ESV)

18 Then Abigail made haste and took two hundred loaves and two skins of wine and five sheep already prepared and five seahs of parched grain and a hundred clusters of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on donkeys.

1 Samuel 25:24–25 (ESV)

24 She fell at his feet and said, “On me alone, my lord, be the guilt. Please let your servant speak in your ears, and hear the words of your servant.

25 Let not my lord regard this worthless fellow, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name, and folly is with him. But I your servant did not see the young men of my lord, whom you sent.

1 Samuel 25:27–28 (ESV)

27 And now let this present that your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow my lord.

28 Please forgive the trespass of your servant. For the Lord will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord is fighting the battles of the Lord, and evil shall not be found in you so long as you live.

1 Samuel 25:30–34 (ESV)

30 And when the Lord has done to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you and has appointed you prince over Israel,

31 my lord shall have no cause of grief or pangs of conscience for having shed blood without cause or for my lord working salvation himself. And when the Lord has dealt well with my lord, then remember your servant.”

32 And David said to Abigail, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me!

33 Blessed be your discretion, and blessed be you, who have kept me this day from bloodguilt and from working salvation with my own hand!

34 For as surely as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, who has restrained me from hurting you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, truly by morning there had not been left to Nabal so much as one male.”

1 Samuel 25:37–41 (ESV)

37 In the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone. 38 And about ten days later the Lord struck Nabal, and he died.

39 When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed be the Lord who has avenged the insult I received at the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his servant from wrongdoing. The Lord has returned the evil of Nabal on his own head.” Then David sent and spoke to Abigail, to take her as his wife.

40 When the servants of David came to Abigail at Carmel, they said to her, “David has sent us to you to take you to him as his wife.” 41 And she rose and bowed with her face to the ground and said, “Behold, your handmaid is a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.”

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This was a Proverbs 31 type of woman.

She was:

Wise

Caring

Faithful

A woman of action...

One who...

Feared the Lord...

Valued the holy

Despised the profane.

And, apart from the issue of polygamy...

…David was wise to snatch her up!

-Now, David wasn’t always so wise...

…in his selection of women.

Sadly, David’s most well-known wife....

…was Bathsheba!

Remember that...

She was a Hittite woman

She was described as “very beautiful”

She was married to a noble Hittite man

Yet, she was bathing on her roof...

…in the sight of King David.

You all know the story...

David committed adultery with her

She became Pregnant

David Murdered her husband...

And married her...

...In order to cover it all up!

-I hope the marital lessons are obvious in this one:

1.) Be a “one woman man,” or a “one man woman.”

2.) Be careful how your eyes wander!

a. It’s not alright to look...

…so long as you don’t touch.

Jesus said:

Matthew 5:28 (ESV)

28 ...everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

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3.) Dress Modestly… Even if you’re married!

Resist the urge to stroke your own ego...

…by showing off your body to others!

Jesus also said:

Luke 17:1–2 (ESV)

1 . . . “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come!

And the Lord Judged David and Bathsheba...

…by taking the life of the child that they had conceived.

-But, theres’ some hope for us all:

2 Samuel 12:24 (ESV)

24 Then David comforted his wife, Bathsheba, and went in to her and lay with her, and she bore a son, and he called his name Solomon. And the Lord loved him

That’s Grace, brethren!

Nothing More!

But, don’t you dare presume upon it!

Paul said:

Romans 2:4 (ESV)

4 ...do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

And, indeed , that’s exactly what it produced in David!

-And despite his multiple transgressions...

…the Lord restored and preserved his dynasty.

And, he can do that for our marriages today too...

But, we had better not presume upon it!

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-Now, the last one we’ll have time for today ...

…is King Solomon...

...The son of this union!

-Watch his presumption:

The grace of God had come through for his father...

But, it wasn’t the case for him:

1 Kings 11:1–11 (ESV)

1 Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women,

2 from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the people of Israel, “You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love.

3 He had 700 wives, who were princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart.

4 For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father.

5 For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.

6 So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not wholly follow the Lord, as David his father had done...

9 And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice

10 and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods. But he did not keep what the Lord commanded.

11 Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this has been your practice and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant.

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What can we learn from Solomon’s marital failures?

1.) Don’t let your heart get puffed up with pride

2.) Don’t think that you’re so holy...

…that the commands and precepts...

…don’t apply to you!

You are NOT the exception to the rule...

And, neither am I

God’s word is dependable and true...

And we had better hold fast...

…to the instructions it gives us...

...Regarding Marriage, Family, and Sexuality.

Let’s ask for help to do that