October 26, 2024 - 2 Samuel 21:1-14
October 26, 2024 - 2 Samuel 21:1-14
21 Now there was a famine in the days of David
for three years, year after year. And David sought the face of
the Lord. And the Lord said, “There is bloodguilt on Saul and on
his house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.” 2 So
the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites were not
of the people of Israel but of the remnant of the Amorites. Although the
people of Israel had sworn to spare them, Saul had sought to strike them down
in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah. 3 And
David said to the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you? And how shall I make atonement,
that you may bless the heritage of the Lord?” 4 The
Gibeonites said to him, “It is not a matter of silver or gold between us and
Saul or his house; neither is it for us to put any man to death in Israel.” And
he said, “What do you say that I shall do for you?” 5 They
said to the king, “The man who consumed us and planned to destroy us, so that
we should have no place in all the territory of Israel, 6 let
seven of his sons be given to us, so that we may hang them before
the Lord at Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of the Lord.”
And the king said, “I will give them.”
7 But the king spared Mephibosheth,
the son of Saul's son Jonathan, because of the oath of
the Lord that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of
Saul. 8 The king took the two sons of Rizpah
the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the
five sons of Merab the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel
the son of Barzillai the Meholathite; 9 and he gave
them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the mountain
before the Lord, and the seven of them perished together. They were put to
death in the first days of harvest, at the beginning of barley harvest.
10 Then Rizpah the daughter of Aiah
took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock, from the beginning of
harvest until rain fell upon them from the heavens. And she did not allow the
birds of the air to come upon them by day, or the beasts of the field by
night. 11 When David was told what Rizpah the
daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done, 12 David
went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan from the men
of Jabesh-gilead, who had stolen them from the public square of Beth-shan,
where the Philistines had hanged them, on the day the Philistines killed Saul
on Gilboa. 13 And he brought up from there the
bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan; and they gathered the bones of
those who were hanged. 14 And they buried the bones
of Saul and his son Jonathan in the land of Benjamin in Zela, in the tomb
of Kish his father. And they did all that the king commanded. And after
that God responded to the plea for the land.
These verses are evidence that sin continues to impact people
years after it is committed. We might
not ever realize or see our descendants endure punishment because of our
actions, but everything we do has a far wider reach than we realize.
The video I posted a few days ago about the pastor who
went to China and taught 22 men and women for 3 days, 8 plus hours a day is
evidence of that. They asked how many people
were in the groups that these 22 ministered to and it was around 20 million people. 22 people learning and sharing impacting 20
million people. How amazing is our God
that He gives us the opportunity to reach people we will never meet in this
lifetime, through others!
Who are you touching in your life that are touching others?
Are you instilling a love for Jesus in them, or is your
influence more of a worldly nature than spiritual? A hundred years from now, what legacy will
you have from this life you are living now?
Even if no one knows your name, those you pray for and share Jesus with,
will pray for others and share Jesus with others.
Don’t spend so much time building a life on this earth
that you neglect the life you will live beyond this earth.
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