Don’t give up living before it’s time to die. Don’t give up cooperating because you can’t be in charge.
Today we have two short stories, one about a man who didn’t want in when he was invited, and others who were angry because they were left out. We’re introduced to Barzillai who “was a very aged man, eighty years old. And he had provided the king with supplies while he stayed at Mahanaim” (2 Sam 19:32). When he came to see David back across the Jordan, the king offered, “Come across with me” (v 33). But the old man refused. Here we see the dangers of old age. “Can I discern between the good and bad?” he said. “Can your servant taste what I eat or what I drink? Can I hear any longer the voice of singing men and singing women?” (v 35). Granted, the senses may dull with age, but even if he couldn’t discern the tune when he had the opportunity to hear originals from “the sweet psalmist of Israel” (23:1), couldn’t he delight in the truths? He might not enjoy the flavors at the king’s table, but couldn’t he enjoy the fellowship? Next on his to-do list? “That I may die in my own city, near the grave of my father and mother” (v 37). By contrast, the Israelites, and a man named Sheba in particular, were upset that Judah had taken the leadership in bringing David back. They felt left out. They argued math: “We have ten shares [tribes] in the king.” They argued chronology: “Were we not the first to advise bringing back our king?” (v 43). Finally Sheba, from Benjamin, blew his trumpet and cried, “We have no share in David” (20:1), and fickle Israel abandoned God’s king again! When Joab and his troops caught up with Sheba “in Abel of Beth Maachah” (v 15), they besieged it. But a woman in the city appealed to Joab. If you just want Sheba’s head, it’s yours! And over the wall it came! Thus Israel once again submitted to David’s rule.