2 Samuel 6

PAYING ATTENTION TO THE THINGS GOD CONSIDERS IMPORTANT BRINGS BLESSINGS AND JOY

22 After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’

One of the things that linked his heart to God’s

was that he took God seriously. Although he

sometimes failed, he purposed to obey God’s

instruction. In the study, David restores the Ark

of the Covenant to Israel. At first, he failed to

heed God’s specific instruction, and it cost a life.

But David comes to terms with his failure and

asks for God’s plan. Like David, having a heart

for God doesn’t mean you have perfect

performance – it means you’re sensitive. It

means details are important. And when you see a

wrong you face it. You care about what God cares

about. You’re willing to do what He wants you to

do.

I. SETTING THE SCENE – ISRAEL HAD BECOME SPIRITUALLY MALNOURISHED UNDER SAUL’S REIGN. THE TABERNACLE HAD DETERIORATED AND IT’S FURNISHINGS HAD BEEN SCATTERED. . . .INCLUDING THE ARK OF THE COVENANT.

3 Let us bring the ark of our God back to us, for we did not inquire of

it during the reign of Saul.”

II. TRANSPORTING THE ARK – DAVID COMES UP WITH A PLAN.

1 After the death of Saul, David returned from striking down the Amalekites and stayed in Ziklag two days.2 On the third day a man arrived from Saul’s camp with his clothes torn and dust on his head. When he came to David, he fell to the ground to pay him honor. 3 “Where have you come from?” David asked him. He answered, “I have escaped from the Israelite camp.” 4 “What happened?” David asked. “Tell me.” “The men fled from the battle,” he replied. “Many of them fell and died. And Saul and his son Jonathan are dead.” 5 Then David said to the young man who brought him the report, “How do you know that Saul and his son Jonathan are dead?” 6 “I happened to be on Mount Gilboa,” the young man said, “and there was Saul, leaning on his spear, with the chariots and their drivers in hot pursuit. 7 When he turned around and saw me, he called out to me, and I said, ‘What can I do?’ 8 “He asked me, ‘Who are you?’ “‘An Amalekite,’ I answered. 9 “Then he said to me, ‘Stand here by me and kill me! I'm in the throes of death, but I’m still alive.’ 10 “So I stood beside him and killed him, because I knew that after he had fallen he could not survive. And I took the crown that was on his head and the band on his arm and have brought them here to my lord.” 11 Then David and all the men with him took hold of their clothes and tore them. 12 They mourned and wept and fasted till evening for Saul and his son Jonathan, and for the army of the LORD and for the nation of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword.13 David said to the young man who brought him the report, “Where are you from?” “I am the son of a foreigner, an Amalekite,” he answered.

A. The Ark

1. Description

it was made of acacia wood, rectangular in shape, gold plated inside and out. It had 2 gold angels on top facing each other.

2. Displacement. It was at the home of Abinadab.

3. Direction. God gave specific directions on how to move it.

4. Death. In his zeal to bring the ark back to Jerusalem, David overlooked God’s instructions.

5. Disobedience. David got angry at God.

B. The change – David repents.

David did his homework according to a parallel passage and discovers the proper way to transport the Ark.

11 Then David summoned Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel and Amminadab the Levites. 12 He said to them, “You are the heads of the Levitical families; you and your fellow Levites are to consecrate yourselves and bring up the ark of the LORD, the God of Israel, to the place I have prepared for it. 13 It was because you, the Levites, did not bring it up the first time that the LORD our God broke out in anger against us. We did not inquire of him about how to do it in the prescribed way.” 14 So the priests and Levites consecrated themselves in order to bring up the ark of the LORD, the God of Israel.15 And the Levites carried the ark of God with the poles on their shoulders, as Moses had commanded in accordance with the word of the LORD.

III. Two Life Principles

1. The more we know

God and put into practice

His general and specific

plans and principles for

our lives the more

2. The more we know

God and put into practice

His general and specific

plans and principles for

our lives the more