Barzillai, a Man of Faith

16Shimei the son of Gera, the Benjamite, who was of Bahurim, hurried and came down with the men of Judah to meet king David. 17There were a thousand men of Benjamin with him, and Ziba the servant of Saul’s house, and his fifteen sons and his twenty servants with him; and they went through the Jordan in the presence of the king. 18A ferry boat went to bring over the king’s household, and to do what he thought good. Shimei the son of Gera fell down before the king, when he had come over the Jordan. 19He said to the king, “Don’t let my lord impute iniquity to me, or remember that which your servant did perversely the day that my lord the king went out of Jerusalem, that the king should take it to his heart. 20For your servant knows that I have sinned. Therefore behold, I have come today as the first of all the house of Joseph to go down to meet my lord the king.” 21But Abishai the son of Zeruiah answered, “Shouldn’t Shimei be put to death for this, because he cursed Yahweh’s anointed?” 22David said, “What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah, that you should be adversaries to me today? Shall any man be put to death today in Israel? For don’t I know that I am king over Israel today?” 23The king said to Shimei, “You will not die.” The king swore to him. 24Mephibosheth the son of Saul came down to meet the king; and he had neither groomed his feet, nor trimmed his beard, nor washed his clothes, from the day the king departed until the day he came home in peace. 25When he had come to Jerusalem to meet the king, the king said to him, “Why didn’t you go with me, Mephibosheth?” 26He answered, “My lord, O king, my servant deceived me. For your servant said, I will saddle me a donkey, that I may ride on it, and go with the king; because your servant is lame. 27He has slandered your servant to my lord the king, but my lord the king is as an angel of God. Do therefore what is good in your eyes. 28For all my father’s house were but dead men before my lord the king; yet you set your servant among those who ate at your own table. What right therefore have I yet that I should cry any more to the king?” 29The king said to him, “Why do you speak any more of your matters? I say, you and Ziba divide the land.” 30Mephibosheth said to the king, “Yes, let him take all, because my lord the king has come in peace to his own house.” 31Barzillai the Gileadite came down from Rogelim; and he went over the Jordan with the king, to conduct him over the Jordan. 32Now Barzillai was a very aged man, even eighty years old. He had provided the king with sustenance while he stayed at Mahanaim; for he was a very great man. 33The king said to Barzillai, “Come over with me, and I will sustain you with me in Jerusalem.” 34Barzillai said to the king, “How many are the days of the years of my life, that I should go up with the king to Jerusalem? 35I am eighty years old, today. Can I discern between good and bad? Can your servant taste what I eat or what I drink? Can I hear the voice of singing men and singing women any more? Why then should your servant be a burden to my lord the king? 36Your servant would but just go over the Jordan with the king. Why should the king repay me with such a reward? 37Please let your servant turn back again, that I may die in my own city, by the grave of my father and my mother. But behold, your servant Chimham; let him go over with my lord the king; and do to him what shall seem good to you.” 38The king answered, “Chimham shall go over with me, and I will do to him that which shall seem good to you. Whatever you request of me, that I will do for you.” 39All the people went over the Jordan, and the king went over. Then the king kissed Barzillai, and blessed him; and he returned to his own place. 40So the king went over to Gilgal, and Chimham went over with him. All the people of Judah brought the king over, and also half the people of Israel.

In a world where those standing on the right call the right side good and those on the left call the left side good, it seems everyone claims that goodness lies wherever their own thinking, knowledge, and possessions happen to be. In other words, the world has no true standard of good.

When Eve gave in to Satan’s temptation and ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, it likely seemed a good choice to her; and to Esau, Jacob, who took his birthright, would have been the evil one. If we know who God is, we can see clearly which side we are standing on now, but because people put themselves at the center, they consider themselves good. When David heard that Absalom was dead, the news caused him great anguish, even though this son had rebelled against him. He had asked his commanders to spare Absalom, but his heartfelt wish was cast aside all too easily.

Joab, for his part, felt no guilt even after the killing, since he saw no reason to keep alive an Absalom who was of no use to him. To David, though, the good thing was to spare Absalom and give him another chance to repent. If David had not forgiven Joab every time he betrayed him, Joab would long since have been a dead man; yet Joab refused to forgive Absalom.

A man whose master had shown him grace and forgiven his whole debt went after a man who owed him a hundred denarii, demanded payment, and threw him into prison. When the master saw it, he was furious and ordered him to repay the entire debt he had been forgiven.

[Denarii and talents are units of currency from New Testament times. A denarius was a Roman silver coin weighing about 4 grams, equal to a day’s wage for a soldier or a laborer.]

In the same way, Joab had received David’s forgiveness many times over and still could not forgive Absalom; and because of that, God, who saw it, judged him.

With a father’s heart, David wanted his son to live even though he had betrayed him, but Joab killed Absalom on his own authority. Because Joab did not forgive, God did not forgive him either. Though he had won a great victory, when Joab heard that King David was mourning his son instead of rejoicing, he grew angry. Caring nothing for David’s wound, Joab confronted him: would the king rather Absalom had won and they had lost? He went on to say that the king’s grief was putting to shame the men who had risked their lives for him, and that he must go out at once and praise his servants. If the king did not comfort them now, Joab threatened, not one man would follow him from then on, and he would meet a calamity worse than any he had known in all his life. Those words showed that Joab himself meant to make it happen. To David, who had loved him, his own nephew, without condition, he was now issuing a warning: if the king would not listen, something would happen that he would regret all his days. These are hardly words a servant should ever speak to his king.

Of course David was glad of the victory, as was only natural, but he pitied his son, who had died fighting against God. God too must have grieved as a Father when Jesus was put to death by ungrateful people. God and David are not alike, to be sure; I say this only to speak of the pain of losing a son.

God loved us to the end, though we rebelled against him as Absalom did. As David cried out Absalom’s name in anguish while his son was dying in the place of sin, God is calling each of us by name, longing for us to repent and come home. God’s children must shake off Satan’s temptations and return to God. Satan, however, is hard at work to drive the souls God loves and cherishes into eternal death. Anyone who hinders God’s work and stands in the way of saving souls is therefore committing the sin of siding with Satan.

God delights in his people, saved by the blood of Christ, and he cares a great deal about the faithfulness and devotion they offer him. On the other hand, as David grieved over Absalom, who was not saved, God looks with sorrow on the souls that are not saved. If we fail to understand this heart of God and complain that he does not help us prosper in the world, we will sin as Joab and Absalom did. Whether we go to heaven or hell depends on whether we live by God’s will or by the world’s; for that reason we must labor to obey the word to the end. The defeat of the rebel Absalom was indeed a relief and a cause for joy. But Joab, who would not consider David’s pain and clung only to the joy of victory, is like those who are called to carry the gospel to the ends of the earth yet have no interest in evangelism and seek only the world’s blessings.

Joab was judged because, in refusing the king’s fervent request and harming Absalom, he did a wrong that defied the will of both God and David. The King of kings has asked us to save souls, so we must do our utmost to spread the gospel.

2 Samuel 19:13

13Say to Amasa, ‘Aren’t you my bone and my flesh? God do so to me, and more also, if you aren’t captain of the army before me continually instead of Joab.’”

David made a bold appointment: Amasa, who had led Absalom’s army, would be captain of the army in place of Joab. Joab could not understand why David would put in his place the very man who had commanded Absalom’s forces. But David always appointed people to the work by the wisdom God gave him, which is why he concluded that Amasa was fit to command. However skilled in war Joab might be, he was not serving the nation or David faithfully; he worked for his own ambition, and so David could not keep him in that post.

It is true that David owed his return to the palace to Joab. But Joab’s cunning had gone too far, and he really had killed Abner and Absalom; for these reasons David would not make him commander of the army. To bring stability to the kingdom, David could not appoint a man who had strayed from God’s will, however capable he was. Human ability is only a small tool; only by appointing people who obeyed his word could David rule the nation and do God’s work. Over Joab, who craved power for himself and would not obey David’s orders, Amasa likely seemed to David the better choice—a commander who had helped the rebel Absalom, yes, but the right man, judging by his character and obedient faith. Amasa had shown his loyalty by never betraying Absalom to the end, and for that reason David needed him to bring together the people who had followed Absalom.

To put it bluntly, every one of us is an Amasa who once worked for Satan. Amasa had committed a sin worthy of death, yet David forgave him and gave him another chance to serve faithfully. So it is with us: we were great sinners before God, yet through Jesus’ atoning death we were forgiven and given the chance to be faithful. Joab, given chance after chance, never turned back, which is why God and David cast him aside. Likewise, God does not use those who refuse to turn back even after receiving Jesus’ sacrifice and God’s forgiveness.

John 18:25

25Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. They said therefore to him, “You aren’t also one of his disciples, are you?” He denied it, and said, “I am not.”

When people recognized Peter as one of the disciples, he was afraid and denied it flatly three times, even calling down curses. He was so terrified of death that he denied Jesus, the Messiah. Before we rebuke Peter in grand terms for denying the Messiah, consider it on a human level: Jesus had raised him up spiritually for three years, and for Peter to look at him and deny knowing him shows in itself that he lacked character. A man of good character could never have done such a thing.

David gave Joab love and chances without end, but Joab betrayed him. David had no choice but to cast aside a man who lacked a sound character, for Joab had made light of the human love his uncle had shown him. For a relationship to stay beautiful to the end, the one who gives love must give freely, without thought of return, and the one who receives must never forget even a small kindness and must be deeply grateful. To sustain such a relationship, both sides need good character.

Faith is no different. Whatever our lives are like now, if we never forget God’s grace and keep a thankful heart, we will never presume to resent God or fall into the sin of pride.

Are you sure of the heaven you will enter after death? Are you truly confident that you can enter heaven? I am asking whether you are living now the life God desires. The Lord said that not everyone who says to him, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. That tells us a confession without deeds in the truth is no different from the world’s words, which simply scatter into the air.

Joab killed Amasa too, the man David had appointed. In him we see that an evil person without sound character will not turn back, however much love and however many chances to repent they are given.

Friends, I hope you will never forget that true faith endures only when sound character and a godly disposition stand behind it.

2 Samuel 19:19

19He said to the king, “Don’t let my lord impute iniquity to me, or remember that which your servant did perversely the day that my lord the king went out of Jerusalem, that the king should take it to his heart.

Shimei came out to meet David on his return to the palace and begged the king not to hold against him the words and deeds with which he had once cursed him, and to spare his life. The man who had followed David on his flight, cursing him all the way, was so frightened when David came back that he brought a thousand men of Benjamin with him and pleaded for his life. What Shimei did here shows that his repentance was not sincere: he brought a thousand men because he had calculated that if he came alone, he could easily be put to death. Such worldly arithmetic does not work on a person of faith, for one man or a thousand, a sinner is still a sinner. Anyone who truly knows their sin must come alone, ready to die, and beg for forgiveness.

David already knew what was in Shimei’s heart, but rather than judge him himself, he charged Solomon in his last words never to hold Shimei guiltless. Because the wicked repeat the same sin even after being forgiven, David left Shimei to Solomon, and in doing so gave Shimei one more chance.

There is another man who, like Shimei, never changes, and that is Abishai. When Shimei first cursed David, Abishai raged and offered to cut him down himself, and now, as Shimei begs for forgiveness, he steps forward once again to kill him. Whenever such a moment comes, Abishai ought to be the one saying, as David did, that he has the power to kill the man yet will leave it to God and hold back. He watched David’s faith up close, but he was never born again through the word, so he keeps doing the same thing, giving way to his temper. It is plain that unless we beat our bodies and bring them into submission, we will not change, however long we stay at David’s side, any more than Abishai did.

A pastor can teach you about God’s love and show you how to live by the word, but throwing away the old wineskins you have carried until now is the work of you who have heard the word. Shimei begged forgiveness only because David’s power forced him to; his heart had not changed in the least, and so he was put to death by Solomon.

2 Samuel 19:32

32Now Barzillai was a very aged man, even eighty years old. He had provided the king with sustenance while he stayed at Mahanaim; for he was a very great man.

Judging people by appearances and mocking them is foolish. Those who, like Barzillai, serve the same way whether David is in trouble or holds the king’s power are the wise, the ones who are blessed.

Having money did not by itself make it possible to provide for David on the run, because if word reached Absalom that someone had helped David, that person could die for it. But Barzillai had the wisdom to discern the king God had set up, and he had faith that to serve David was to serve God. He kept God at the center and lived humbly and uprightly, so he did not commit the sin of judging David by his shabby appearance. Barzillai was a man of prayer; he knew how much God loved David, and he was convinced that in caring for David he was serving God himself.

The world has no eyes to recognize God, who rules over history; it may therefore throw stones at Jesus, at David, and at God’s people. But to help the poor in spirit as Barzillai did takes a faith that longs deeply for the Kingdom of God; it is that faith that makes such devotion possible.

As David was mocked after being driven from the palace, Jesus, who laid aside his throne and came into the world, was mocked by sinners. We too must know that God’s people will not be welcomed in this dark world; only then can we find the strength to endure and forgive as David did. God blessed Barzillai for helping David, the man of faith, and he will likewise bless and commend those who help people of faith do their work. Barzillai simply served David with his wealth because he knew David was a man of God, yet through David, God blessed even his descendants.

Faith like this is not formed overnight. Only someone who meets the troubles of each day wisely, by faith, and grows into mature faith can show love to David when he is in distress.

On his way back to the palace, David met Barzillai, thanked him for all his trouble in providing for him, and promised to look after him in comfort in his old age, asking him to come along to the palace in Jerusalem. Now Barzillai had a fine opportunity to enjoy wealth and honor. But he said he was old and would rather live on in his hometown as he was, and he politely declined David’s invitation. He had no reason to reach for more, for wherever he lived, he was enjoying peace by God’s grace.

The world chases ever greater pleasures, longs to hear the voices of the world’s daughters beckoning, and wants to own more land so that others will serve it. Since people live this way for themselves alone, human righteousness grows strong in them, as it did in Joab, or they insist on their own way every time, as Abishai did. It would be enough simply to fulfill the calling entrusted to them, as Barzillai did; yet like Joab they kill an Absalom and threaten a David, and like Abishai they strain to push through their own opinions. Barzillai, however, was always humble; he opened his spiritual ears and eyes and chose a life fixed on God’s word. He knew the world was empty, and he believed that a life with God was precious.

If you want to be blessed by God, you must first lay aside human righteousness in the Lord and seek what God’s will is. Then he will supply even what you failed to pray for, and resolve even the problems you cannot solve.

Barzillai knew well where he should stand and where he should not. Rather than go himself in his old age, he entrusted his son Chimham to David, so that the young man could learn much at David’s side and take up God’s work.

1 Kings 2:7

7But show kindness to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be among those who eat at your table; for so they came to me when I fled from Absalom your brother.

David asked Solomon to show kindness to the sons of Barzillai. Barzillai had helped him when his own son had driven him out and he was a fugitive, and David never forgot that love until the moment he died.

People never forget love received in their hardest hour, and whoever receives such love and is not grateful will not know how to give thanks for any grace at all. God calls such people wicked and rebukes them severely. Those who show grace do not think of getting gratitude back; they only want the one they helped to do well. So if those who give love are good like Barzillai, and those who receive grace never forget to be thankful like David, that relationship will last forever, and they will be blessed to become one in God.

Barzillai’s sons were greatly blessed because of their father’s devotion. God will surely reward even the smallest offering of service, and in the same way David showered Barzillai with kindness. Christ willingly became the atoning sacrifice, and because of that we can enter the Kingdom of God; in much the same way, Barzillai’s sacrifice and self-giving brought his son Chimham into the palace at Jerusalem.

My desire is that all of you will be good people like David and Barzillai. If, like Barzillai, you give yourselves out of love for God, and never forget the grace you have received but give thanks for it, your life will be under the protection of the Holy Spirit. Barzillai had good seed, and it bore the fruit of eternal life; Shimei had evil seed, which bore the fruit of death. Our faith makes the difference: the fruit differs, the blessings we receive differ, and where we go after death differs too.

I hope you too will be people of faith, blessed by God like Barzillai, and may your good deeds make Christ known as you live holy lives before him.