Categories: Word of SalvationPublished On: November 1, 2019
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Word of Salvation – November 2019

 

THE EARTHQUAKE, THE HANGOVER AND THE WASHBASIN

Sermon by Rev. S. Voorwinde

Scripture Readings: 2 Samuel 8:1-14; Psalm 60

 Scripture Text: Psalm 60

 Introduction

 Have you ever wondered what it would have been like to live in Australia during WW2? When Germany invaded Poland in 1939, Britain declared war on Germany. At the time our Prime Minister Robert Menzies solemnly declared, “With Britain at war, Australia is also at war.” And being as good as his word Menzies committed crack troops to the war effort in Europe.

This left Australia dangerously exposed if war were also to break out in our region. And that is of course exactly what happened when the Japanese threat became a reality. Menzies asked Churchill to release Australian soldiers who were defending Britain, but Churchill refused. This left Australia in a precarious position and totally vulnerable to Japanese attack. People lived in fear and not without reason. Darwin was bombed in 1942 and an invasion by sea looked likely. When I grew up in Sydney in the 1950’s I heard stories of flats with harbour views selling for twenty pounds during the war. For many people that would have been about two weeks’ wages. Owning a harbourside mansion was not desirable during the war. You could become a prime target. People were running scared. The enemy was closing in. One Australian city had already been extensively damaged. Who would be next?

Australia’s position during that time of the war was not unlike the position of Israel when Psalm 60 was written. When you compare the introduction to Psalm 60 with the passage we read in 2 Samuel 8, the situation would have looked something like this. David had defeated and subdued the Philistines to the West. He had also defeated the Moabites to the East. Then he set his sights to the North. The title to the Psalm is very detailed. It says the Psalm was written when “David strove with Aram-Naharaim and with Aram-Zobah.” These were areas to the North in what today would be Lebanon and Syria. In 2 Samuel 8 we read that the king of Zobah “went to restore his power at the river Euphrates” (v. 3). In other words, this king had taken his army further North to quell a rebellion in his territories at the Euphrates. So, while the king of Zobah is preoccupied elsewhere, David seizes the opportunity to attack his kingdom from the South. It’s a strategic move, and also very opportunistic. It was as opportunistic as the Japanese when they overran South East Asia while the colonial powers were tied up with the war in Europe.

But David was not the only one who was being opportunistic. While he was attacking the king of Zobah from the South, an old enemy to his South saw an opportunity to attack Israel. You will remember that David had subdued the Philistines to the West and the Moabites to the East. So no problems there. What he had apparently overlooked were his nasty neighbours to the South, the Edomites, the descendants of Esau. While David was on his military expedition against the Arameans up North, the Edomites struck in the South. They may have overrun the Israelite border garrisons and perhaps taken some cities as well. We don’t know the details. What we do know is that for David this was a severe setback. In 2 Samuel 8 it says twice that “the Lord gave victory to David wherever he went” (vv. 6, 14). But obviously that wasn’t the whole story.  There was another side to it, a dark side, and that’s what we have in Psalm 60.

Psalm 60 is a lament Psalm. For the most part it’s quite dark. David’s hope and confidence aren’t restored till the very last verse. This Psalm divides into three stanzas, and the ESV translation makes this very clear. The stanzas are almost equal in length, and they are made up of four verses each:

  1. In vv. 1-4 we have the lament proper.
  2. In vv. 5-8 there is David’s appeal to God and God’s answer.
  3. In vv. 9-12 there are the lessons to be learned.

And here we also have the three points to the sermon:

  1. Lament
  2. Appeal and Answer
  3. Lessons to be learned

So we have a three letter summary for this message. It’s LAL. Not LOL. It’s far more serious than that. It’s also far more profound: Lament, Appeal and Answer, and Lessons to be learned.

  1. So let’s begin with the lament properin vv. 1-4. Let me read these verses to you again:

O God, you have rejected us, broken our defenses; you have been angry; oh, restore us.

2 You have made the land to quake; you have torn it open; repair its breaches, for it totters.

3 You have made your people see hard things; you have given us wine to drink that made us stagger.

4 You have set up a banner for those who fear you, that they may flee to it from the bow.

  1. The Edomites might have struck a blow at Israel’s soft underbelly in the South. They may have overrun its garrisons and taken some towns, but David doesn’t mention any of that. All he sees is the invisible hand of God. All the emphasis is on God. It’s all God’s doing:
  • “O God, you have rejected us.
  • “You have broken our defenses.”
  • “You have been angry.”
  • “You have made the land to quake.”
  • “You have torn it open.”
  • “You have made your people see hard things.”
  • “You have given us wine to drink that made us stagger.”

In the first three verses there are seven protests or seven accusations. This is the perfect complaint. But the bottom line is that David feels estranged from God, and nothing cuts as deep as estrangement.

  1. This is the first thing David mentions and it underlies everything else. This is how the Psalm begins, “O God, you have rejected us” (v. 1) and he repeats the complaint in v. 10: “Have you not rejected us, O God?” And how has God rejected them? “You have broken our defenses” is how David continues. The Edomites may have been the enemy. They may have attacked the southern flanks of David’s kingdom. They may have captured soldiers and taken towns. There may have been casualties. But David mentions none of that. He puts it all on God. “You have broken our defenses; you have been angry.” The Edomite attack is an expression of the anger of God.
  1. Think of the imagery David uses. He compares the enemy incursion to an earthquake, and again he holds God responsible: “You have made the land to quake; you have torn it open . . . and it totters” (v. 2). There is nothing as devastating as an earthquake. I am sure we all remember the earthquakes that struck Christchurch earlier this decade and how they caused destruction and death in that beautiful city. Even more devastating was the earthquake that struck the town of Napier on New Zealand’s North Island in 1931. I once had the opportunity of visiting the Napier earthquake museum. The images were quite shocking and very revealing. It reminded me of cities that were blitzed during WW2. Living through an earthquake must be about as traumatic as life can get.
  1. But then in v. 3 David uses an even more striking image: “You have made your people see hard things; you have given us wine to drink to make us stagger.” In other places in the Old Testament the wine that makes people stagger is an image for the outpouring of God’s wrath.
  • Think of the words of Psalm 75:8:

“In the hand of the Lord is a cup

Full of foaming wine mixed with spices;

He pours it out, and all the wicked of the earth

Drink it down to its very dregs.”

  • Or Isaiah 51:17:

“Awake, awake!

Rise up, O Jerusalem,

You who have drunk from the hand of the Lord

The cup of his wrath,

You who have drained to its dregs

The goblet that makes men stagger.”

The attack by the Edomites left the people reeling from the blow. They were like a drunkard with a bad hangover. But it was God who had spiked their drinks. The wine he had given them to drink had made them stagger. It was as devastating as an earthquake.

  1. But at this point we might be tempted to say, “Hold on a minute, David. Aren’t you making too big a deal out of all this? Aren’t you overreacting? Aren’t you catastrophizing? You may have lost some of your fighting men. The enemy may have taken some of your towns. But come on, all is not lost. Don’t be so negative.”

That would have been a bit like telling Australians during WW2, “It was only Darwin that was bombed. It may be the capital of the Northern Territory, but it’s just a small town, and it’s a bit of a dump anyway.” I’m sure that would not have gone down well with anyone living in the southern states. They would have been understandably nervous after Darwin was bombed.

But for David there was more to it than that, especially if Psalm 60 fits into the context of 2 Samuel 8. Let me give you a quick Bible quiz. What comes before 2 Samuel 8? Of course, you’re right; it’s 2 Samuel 7. And what’s 2 Samuel 7 all about? It’s about the covenant God made with David. It’s one of the most important chapters in the Old Testament. And what is the Davidic covenant all about? Let me give you the heart of it. This is what God promised David in 2 Samuel 7:16:

“Your house and your kingdom will endure before me forever, and your throne will be established forever.”

Now David’s victories in 2 Samuel 8 need to be read in the light of that promise. In his victories against the Philistines and the Moabites and the Arameans all was going to plan. He was securing and extending the kingdom that God had promised to him and his descendants forever. Everything seemed to be on track. But now there is a major hitch. Here was a major setback that David hadn’t seen coming. The very God who had made such sweeping promises to David and his descendants has now rejected his people and become angry. This is a huge shock to the system. It’s as though the land has been rocked by an earthquake, and its people are like staggering drunkards. This is a major disaster that wasn’t supposed to happen.

  1. At first v. 4 sounds as though it’s bringing some relief. The first part sounds really promising: “You have set up a banner for those who fear you.” It sounds like a call to arms, but it turns out to be anything but. The verse continues, “that they may flee to it from the bow.” This is not a call to arms, it is a call to retreat. This is the heaviest blow yet. The tale of disasters continues to the very end of the stanza. The banner is raised for the people to flee from a hail of arrows directed their way. It’s probably a summons to take refuge in a nearby town. It’s a signal of retreat and defeat.
  1. Application:

Now at this point let’s pause for a moment to see how this might apply to us. How does Edom’s military incursion into Israel about 3000 years ago have anything to do with our situation today? Can you apply a Psalm like this to a country like Australia? Who are God’s people today? The Australians? Hardly. God’s people are the church. So perhaps you could apply this Psalm to the church in Australia. And how is the church doing in Australia?

For starters, think of the Royal Commission into child sex abuse and what it uncovered about the churches, especially the Catholic Church, but not only the Catholic Church. It seemed that every night on the news there would be another blaring headline about child abuse in the Catholic Church or the Anglican Church or the Salvation Army. But make no mistake about it, none of us has come out of this unscathed. Just because you and I belong to smaller denominations doesn’t mean that that we haven’t been affected. In an ABC radio interview Philip Adams asked Tim Costello whether he was devastated by all this (which by the way was a great question). “Yes, utterly devastated,” came the sombre reply. It was a very revealing answer. Then I thought to myself, how devastated was I? And how devastated were you? Just because our denominations are a very small target and the media had bigger fish to fry, did we ever grieve over what this was doing to the name of Christ and the kingdom of God in Australia? Were we as devastated as Tim Costello or as David was in the first stanza of our Psalm?

Then there was the same sex marriage debate. Many church leaders, both Protestant and Catholic, spoke out on the issue. But we all know how that turned out. One journalist reported later that church leaders were left with a black eye from the result of the plebiscite. Were the two connected? In the light of the findings of the Royal Commission into child sex abuse has the church in Australia lost its moral authority? Are people in our society now more than ever looking for their moral compass elsewhere? The church was always meant to be the conscience of the state. In the eyes of many people in Australia today have these roles now been reversed? Think of how the moral dominoes are falling. Despite a lot of Christian protest abortion has recently been legalized in NSW, and Victoria has become the first state to legalize euthanasia. In Victoria religious education in state schools has been moved to the margins.

What do we do in the face of such obvious defeats and setbacks? What do we do when in our country the kingdom of God is not advancing but seems to be going backwards? What do we do? We look to our Psalm for guidance.

  1. And that guidance comes especially in the second stanza, in vv. 5-8 where we have David’s appeal and God’s answer.
  1. This stanza begins with David’s appeal in v.5:

“That your beloved ones may be delivered,

Give salvation by your right hand and answer us.”

There are a couple of points to note here:

  1. God’s people may have retreated and been defeated but they are still called “your beloved ones.” This is a strong term of endearment that is not found very often in the Old Testament. It is rare and therefore all the more precious.

Of the tribe of Benjamin Moses had said:

“The beloved of the Lord dwells in safety,

The High God surrounds him all day long.” (Deut 33:12)

Psalm 45 is called a song of love and it foreshadows the relationship between Christ and the Church. He is the bridegroom and she is the bride, his beloved.

In Psalm 127 we have those words that are so challenging to insomniacs, that the Lord “gives to his beloved sleep.”

Then in Isaiah 5 we have one of the few parables in the Old Testament, the parable of the vineyard, and it is introduced like this:

“Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.” (v. 1)

This time God is the beloved and Israel is his vineyard.

I don’t know about you, but I find this language of endearment very reassuring.

  • Even when we are defeated, we are still the beloved of God.
  • Even when we fail in some of our kingdom efforts, we are still the beloved of God.
  • Even if we aren’t kicking goals for the Lord as we had hoped to, we are still the beloved of God.
  • Even if we are battling with some sin that we having trouble overcoming, we are still the beloved of God.

Even in the thick of the crisis David remembered his true identity. He and his people were God’s people (v. 3), they feared the Lord (v. 4) and they were the beloved of God (v. 5). The same is true of us. When we are down, and even if we feel down and out, we need to remember our true identity. We are the beloved of God!

  1. The other point to note is that this is a prayer for deliverance. The salvation that is spoken of means rescue from the enemy. Towns need to be liberated. Captured soldiers need to be freed. And God is asked to do it by the power of his right hand. “The hand that had been raised in striking the people needs to be raised to deliver them” (Goldingay, 219).

God’s right hand also needs to be raised to rescue his people in Australia today:

  • To rescue them from heresy
  • To rescue them from apostasy
  • To rescue them from apathy
  • To rescue them from the seduction of the surrounding culture

In the second half of the Book of Revelation there are two dominant symbols for the enemies of the church in the last days – the beast and the harlot. The beast stands for anti-Christian persecution. The harlot (or prostitute) stands for anti-Christian seduction. Think of how this plays out in our world today. The beast of persecution is at work in dictatorships and authoritarian regimes. Believers are imprisoned and churches are torn down. In the West we often give thanks that there is no persecution and that there is religious freedom and freedom of worship. But often we don’t notice the other enemy – the harlot of seduction. Sometimes I think she claims more victims than the beast. How many churches aren’t torn apart through sexual scandals? How often isn’t the name of Christ dragged through the mud because his so-called ministers have succumbed to sexual temptation? Think again of the Royal Commission. Think of clergy who are behind bars in this country because of their moral failings. Think of young people who were raised in the church but who have now adopted the sexual mores of the world. How many more setbacks does the church in Australia need to suffer? How much more defeat and retreat do we have to put up with? And how many people are praying that God would restore us?

Let me ask you: In your personal prayers are you praying mainly for your own family and your own congregation? Or are your prayers bigger than that? Are you praying that God would restore his people in Australia? Are you praying for another reformation in the Catholic Church? Are you praying for a nationwide revival in the Protestant Churches? When the chips were down, David knew what to do. He prayed. Are you doing the same?

  1. When David prayed God answered, but it’s not the kind of answer you might expect. This is how God responds in vv. 6-8:

“God has spoken in his holiness: ‘With exultation I will divide up Shechem and portion out the Vale of Succoth.

7 Gilead is mine; Manasseh is mine; Ephraim is my helmet; Judah is my scepter.

8 Moab is my washbasin; upon Edom I cast my shoe; over Philistia I shout in triumph.’”

By now you may be wondering, how is this an answer to David’s prayer? God seems to be rattling off a whole list of ancient place names some of which sound quite unfamiliar. What can it all possibly mean? Let me tell you.

  1. In v. 6 God mentions Shechem and the Vale of Succoth. Now let me just quickly test your Bible knowledge once more. Where else in the Old Testament do the place names of Shechem and Succoth occur together? Give yourself full marks if you said it was in Gen 33:17-18. Succoth is mentioned in v. 17 and Shechem in v. 18. And what is the context of these verses? Genesis 33 is all about Jacob meeting his brother Esau after he had wrestled with God. Jacob had been dead scared to meet his older brother, but God had made everything turn out well. Now Jacob’s descendants, the Israelites, are threatened by Esau’s descendants, the Edomites. So God’s choice of Shechem and Succoth is no accident. He chooses his place names very well. The use of these names was very reassuring. These are the very places where Jacob settled after his encounter with Esau. Later when the Israelites conquered the land, they followed in Jacob’s footsteps. First they settled the Valley of Succoth and later they also settled in Shechem. History was repeating itself. The settlement of the land was a fulfillment of the promises to the patriarchs.
  2. Succoth was east of the Jordan River and Shechem was west of it. The same pattern repeats itself in v. 7. Gilead was east of the Jordan. Manasseh straddled both sides. Ephraim and Judah were to the west. All these places together represent God’s sovereignty over the land. He is the ultimate King of Israel and he allocates its territory as he wills.
  3. But here in these verses God is more than a King. He is Israel’s Warrior-King. We get the clearest hints of that in this verse: “Ephraim is my helmet; Judah is my sceptre.” “Ephraim is like the headgear that the warrior wears for protection, and Judah is like the commander’s staff that the warrior wields” (Goldingay, 221). The helmet and the staff complement one another. The one is protective, the other aggressive. But this is not the only warrior imagery in these verses.

When God said, “With exultation I will divide up Shechem and portion out the Vale of Succoth” (v. 6), he is like the triumphant warrior who divides the spoils and allocates the land. This is what he did at the time of the conquest under Joshua. But his victories continue into the days of David. In 2 Samuel 8 we read of the defeat of Moab, Edom and the Philistines. So the warrior imagery continues on into v. 8:

  • “Moab is my washbasin.” It’s the clay pot in which the warrior washes his dirty feet after a hard day’s fighting.
  • “Upon Edom I cast my shoe.” It’s like the corner into which the warrior throws his muddy boots.
  • “Over Philistia I shout in triumph.” What more can I say? The victorious warrior has defeated all his foes.

So that’s God’s answer to David.  “Consider Israel’s history, David. I am Israel’s Warrior-King. I am the one who owns the land and has won all its victories. Be reassured, David. I’ve triumphed before and I’ll triumph again.”

III. But how does David respond to God’s oracle? Was he in fact reassured by these prophetic words that may have gone back hundreds of years?

His reaction in vv. 9-12 is very interesting. This brings us to stanza 3 and the lessons to be learned.

  1. The first lesson is in vv. 9-10:

9 Who will bring me to the fortified city? Who will lead me to Edom?

10 Have you not rejected us, O God? You do not go forth, O God, with our armies.

David’s immediate reaction to the word from the Lord is not what you would expect. It’s hardly what you would call a faith response. The implied answer to both the rhetorical questions in v. 9 is “God”.

“Who will bring me to the fortified city?” God!

“Who will lead me to Edom?” Again, the answer is God!

When you put these two questions together David is asking, “Who will take me to the fortified city of Edom? Who will help me to conquer that fortress?” Some commentators have suggested quite plausibly that Edom’s fortified city is a place that we all know from tourist brochures and travel ads on television. It’s a place that some of you may even have visited. I am thinking of the ancient city of Petra, the city hewn out of rock. In David’s day it was not the sculptured tourist attraction that it is today; it was one of the most impregnable mountain strongholds in the ancient world. Who could take this Edomite fortress without the help of God?

But the last time they fought against the Edomites God abandoned them. That’s the thrust of David’s protest in v. 10: “Have you not rejected us, O God? You do not go forth with our armies.” How can we trust you to help us against the Edomites when you let us down last time? David’s prayer becomes more positive in v. 11, but the strong note of assurance does not come through till v. 12.

There’s a note of spiritual reality here. In vv. 6-8 God has reminded David that he is the One who owns the land and protects it from its enemies. He reminds David of his provision for Jacob and of his later conquest of the land. It is a snapshot of Israel’s earlier history. But David doesn’t say, “Yes of course, Lord. Thanks for reminding me.” He still has questions. He still feels rejected. It all takes time to sink in.

The same is true for us. You don’t just quote a Bible verse or two and expect it to immediately change a person’s way of thinking, even your own. Sometimes we need to give ourselves time. Sometimes we need to give others time. There’s nothing unspiritual about that. In vv. 9-10 David’s mood and attitude haven’t changed much from what they were in the opening verses. He felt rejected then and he still feels rejected now, even after he has been given a word from the Lord. He lamented then and he laments now. He protested then and he protests now. God has spoken but nothing seems to have changed.

So that’s the first lesson. We read a passage of Scripture or we hear a good sermon. But it doesn’t seem to have the desired effect – at least not right away. It doesn’t seem to make any difference. But maybe that’s why Jesus compared the word of God to seed. It doesn’t grow right away. But give it time. Give others time. Give yourself time. God’s word will make a difference.

  1. And then the second lesson comes in vv. 11-12:

11 Oh, grant us help against the foe, for vain is the salvation of man!

12 With God we shall do valiantly; it is he who will tread down our foes.

Now at last David no longer feels dejected and rejected. His tone changes in v. 11 and he is fully assured by v. 12. He realizes that even though God may have rejected them before, God is their only hope. In attacking Edomite citadels like Petra human alliances are useless. You can only do it with the help of God. By the time David reaches the end of the Psalm he has fully absorbed the words of God’s oracle. In the language he uses he fully acknowledges God as his Warrior-King: “With God we shall do valiantly; it is he who will tread down our foes.” God is pictured as a warrior trampling the enemy underfoot. The defeat of David’s foes will be complete. The Psalm ends on a strong note of confidence which was inspired by the promises of God.

And we know that David’s confidence was not misplaced:

  • In the introduction to Psalm 60 we are told that “Joab on his return (from the northern campaign) struck down twelve thousand of Edom in the Valley of Salt.”
  • In 2 Samuel 8:13 it says that “David made a name for himself when he returned from striking down 18,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt.”
  • In 1 Chronicles 18:12 we read that “Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, killed 18,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt.”

So David’s prayer in Psalm 60 was obviously answered. Israel defeated Edom big time. But we might stumble over the details. Who led the Israelite forces? Was it David or Joab or Joab’s brother Abishai? The three names probably suggest an order of military rank. As Israel’s king David was the commander in chief. Joab was his general and his brother was under him. Perhaps David gave the order, Joab sent the troops and Abishai fought the battle. There could also have been more than one battle, and this might account for the different number of Edomites who were killed. 12,000 could have died in the first battle and 6,000 in the second. We don’t have enough information to be sure. But as any war correspondent will tell you, casualties are almost impossible to count in the chaos of war. What we do know is that Israel did valiantly, and God trod down their foes (v. 12).

And no doubt from his experience with the Edomites David learned an important lesson. When God made his covenant with David, he promised that David’s throne and kingdom would endure forever. His kingdom would triumph both globally and eternally, and it would never end. But that did not mean that David would win every battle. God would win the war, but there were times when David would suffer defeats and setbacks.

And what about us? Where do we fit into this picture? Allow me to use yet another illustration from WW2. In God’s scheme of things it’s as though we live between D-Day and V-Day. D-Day was when the allies landed on the beaches of Normandy. V-Day was when victory was finally won.

For us as Christians D-Day was when Jesus died and rose again. V-Day will be when he returns in glory. Between the two there are battles to be fought. On D-Day a decisive victory had been won, but there were still some big battles ahead. Some of you may have seen the movie Saving Private Ryan starring Tom Hanks. Even after the landings in Normandy the war was still a hard slog for the allied forces. In the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium there would be heavy casualties and severe setbacks. Being a soldier on the winning side was no picnic. There was danger everywhere.

Conclusion

 

In closing let me say this. In this sermon I have used a number of illustrations from WW2, and that has been very deliberate. As Christians we are involved in a war whether we like it or not. Military metaphors for the Christian life aren’t all that popular today. The idea of God being a warrior and us being his foot-soldiers isn’t all that appealing nowadays. When did you last sing “Onwards Christian Soldiers”? But military metaphors for the Christian life are biblical. The Bible is full of them, both in the Old Testament and in the New. They portray reality. The Christian life is a battle and spiritual warfare is real. There will be victories, but there will also be casualties. There will be sacrifices and there will be setbacks.

  • You raise your children in the fear and admonition of the Lord, but not all come to faith.
  • You start a Christian school and it flourishes, you try to plant a church and it fails.
  • You train students at a theological college. Some become inspiring Christian leaders, some others are no longer believers.
  • You write two letters to the government. One is ignored, the other makes a big difference.
  • You support different kinds of mission work. Some efforts succeed, others collapse.

These are the realities of kingdom warfare. We don’t win every battle. But we can still echo the confident words of David at the end of our Psalm: “With God we shall do valiantly; it is he who will tread down our foes.” Because of Jesus’ decisive victory on his D-Day we too will be victorious. So let’s battle on, because in the end we win!

Stephen Voorwinde