Thursday, October 02, 2008

Wise Woman Saves A City

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.
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 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, and cast a cloth upon him, when he saw that every one that came by him stood still.
When he was removed out of the highway, 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. 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.
2 Samuel 20

A fascinating,true story which I've condensed .It's good to read the whole chapter,book to see the suffering David went thru among his own family and 'friends'.
Following Jesus ,it's guaranteed ,if you take the narrow road.
A few things that caught my attention.

The temporary Chief of the Army,Amasa, his heart was careless and not obedient and his 'lackadaisical' attitude led to his sudden,unexpected death.
The Church is full of these sloppy saints who assume like our government leaders that there is never any accountability for our actions and all we need to do is bail out corrupt,evil,lazy men.

Rescue them from Accountability,that is America's feel no pain swan song,
but God is about to intervene with His 'ugly' justice and there will be great,great pain thru-out the land.
Don't believe the lies ,God always holds wicked men accountable and His justice is sure and it will be painful.
Hopefully there is a wise woman in your neighborhood.

It's not going to be pretty.
David's hard as nails General Joab executed swift justice on fellow 'brother' Amasa.
No women crying for another chance or calling Joab mean spirited and hateful.
That reminds me of the early Church and how God had to kill Annias & Sapahara under Peter's preaching to get the saints to understand the severity of it all and the 'accountability' factor which is COMPLETELY missing in collapsing and decadent America,especially missing in the corrupt Church which imitates the world.

God will again get our attention with severity.

Joab was not going to let anything stop him from accomplishing his mission not even a city full of innocent men,women and children.
He was going to end the evil. Today almost everyone in the Church compromises with evil and rationalizes ,makeing excuses for it,jumping in bed with the lesser of two evils.
Today Sheba weould be on the ticket as a vice presidential candidate with King David.
We,the Church accomodate evil and are comfortable with this approach.
We don't know how far we have fallen.
A wise woman,not given to fear and panic and who was not selfishly thinking about herself or her ministry but others used her wisdom to save the city
We will never know her name as it is not given.Her reward is not here on this earth.

(from Andrews Strom's quotes)

"We are playing church. We are so busy trying to be relevant to
the world that we have become just like the world..... AND the
world is not impressed." - Nancy Leigh DeMoss

"There is nothing wrong with the command of God to 'stone the
false prophet!' The problem is that the church has discerned
wrongly and stoned the true prophet! That is why there are no
more true prophets in our days, because as soon as they begin
their ministry, we rub them out. This is the reason that so many
false prophets are running around, not just because it's the end of
the age but because we have disobeyed God, His command, and
killed off His prophets! We are like Herod, who in the midst of
John the Baptist's ministry, chose a wrong time to listen to his
conscience instead of the Holy Spirit!" - G.A. Jarquin

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