2 Samuel 20:1-2 – A Second Rebellion
Sheba’s rebellion is different from Absalom’s in many ways. Remember how Absalom had planned his rebellion for years. Sheba, on the other hand, is an opportunist. He can see the tensions. The fault lines are clear. And so he tries to exploit them for his own benefit. But at the heart of it, both these rebellions are the same. They both want to make themselves king, instead of submitting to the king that God has chosen. And they both convince many people to follow them.
Sheba could have used some legitimate-sounding excuses for what he was doing. He could have said: ‘well the people of Judah were saying nasty things to us’. He could have said: ‘David is showing favourtism to people, he’s overlooking the sin of others. He’s not ruling the way a king should rule.’ And those things were true. But none of them alter his crime: He rebelled against God’s anointed king, and so rebelled against God himself. There are people we know and love who will give us all sorts of reasons for giving up on church or Christianity, pointing out flaws in the church, flaws in the minister. And everything they point out could be completely true. But none of it justifies their actions.
In the final analysis, Sheba, like Absalom, rebelled against God. And the people following these rival kings picture the heart of the unbeliever, constantly trying to set up another king in place of Jesus Christ. It was John Calvin who said that the human heart is a perpetual factory of idols. You’d think that when one idol was destroyed we might turn to the true God instead. But instead we just set up another idol. We do the same thing again, hoping for a different result. But just like Absalom and Sheba, anything we try and put in place of Jesus Christ will only ever disappoint and ultimately bring death.
Questions
- How is Sheba’s rebellion different from Absalom?
- What does an unbeliever try to set up in place of Christ?
Prayer Points
- Pray that we would stop making idols, stop putting things in God’s place.
- Use prayer points from your congregation.
- Pray for family matters.