2 Samuel 18:28
Then Ahimaaz called out to the king, "All is well!" And he bowed facedown before the king. He continued, "Blessed be the LORD your God! He has delivered up the men who raised their hands against my lord the king."
Sermons
A Good Messenger of Good NewsG. Wood














He is a good man, and cometh with good tidings. Underlying this phrase is probably the feeling that there is a congruity between good tidings and a good man. David may have thought that such a messenger as Ahimaaz would not have been sent with bad news; and, indeed, Joab was unwilling that he should run with the news, because he knew how grievous part of it would be to David. It may be permissible to take these words as applicable to the proclaimers of the heavenly good news - the gospel of God. It should be true of every Christian minister and teacher, yea, of every Christian, that "he is a good man, and cometh with good tidings." We are the more readily led to such an accommodation of the words, because the terms used throughout this section of the narrative are in the Septuagint identical with those (εὐαγγέλια εὐαγγελίζω) with which we are so familiar in the New Testament.

I. THERE ARE GOOD TIDINGS TO BE PROCLAIMED. Christianity is pre-eminently "gospel" (equivalent to "good news"), and is often called by this name. It is good tidings from the region and the Person from whence we might reasonably expect bad; and about the Being and the things which are of most importance to us. It declares to us the love of God to sinful men. It announces the coming and the work of a Divine Saviour; the reign of a Divine King; an all-sufficient propitiation for sin; a full and free redemption; an almighty, most loving and ever abiding Comforter and Helper. It proclaims pardon for the guilty, cleansing for the impure, life for the dead, comfort for the sad and sorrowful, Divine righteousness for the unrighteous, Divine strength for the weak, peace and joy on earth, perfection alike of holiness and happiness in heaven. It offers all these blessings on the simple condition of "repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts 20:21).

II. THESE GOOD TIDINGS ARE COMMITTED TO GOOD MEN TO MAKE KNOWN. Only good men, real Christians, have a Divine commission to engage in this work. God does not need the services of his enemies in the work of turning enemies into friends and ministering to their good. No unconverted man, no one that is carnal, worldly, unholy, can be a true Christian preacher or teacher.

1. Only good men really know the gospel. (See 1 Corinthians 2:14; Matthew 11:25.) We need to be "taught of God" (John 6:45) in order to our real reception and. understanding of Christian truth.

2. Only good men can rightly make it known. We cannot teach what we do not know; we cannot teach aright that with which we are out of harmony and sympathy. The work of teaching the gospel requires love to God, to the Lord Jesus Christ, to the truth, to the souls of men; sympathy with the mind and heart and purposes of God as revealed in the gospel; a character consistent with it, and adapted to illustrate and recommend it; and the earnest and believing prayerfulness which secures the Divine aid and blessing. "But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth?" (Psalm 50:16).

III. GOOD MEN SHOULD MAKE KNOWN THE GOOD TIDINGS ZEALOUSLY, All Christians should do this according to the measure of their abilities and opportunities. They should be incited to do this by:

1. The nature of the tidings. With which only intense earnestness in the messenger is in harmony.

2. Their personal obligations to the redeeming love which they announce.

3. The unspeakable blessings they have received through the knowledge of them.

4. The commands of their Lord.

5. The natural impulses of the Christian heart. Which are the promptings of the Holy Ghost.

6. The good they can thus confer on their fellow men. Good of the most important and lasting kind, and of which they are most of all in need.

IV. THOSE WHO MAKE KNOWN THE GOOD TIDINGS OUGHT MORE AND MORE TO BECOME GOOD. The work of learning and teaching the gospel ought to greatly benefit the teachers. It is adapted to do so, on account of:

1. The nature of the gospel. Its every truth is sanctifying.

2. The special character of the work. It exercises and trains every Christian virtue. It brings into close communion with the infinitely Good, who is also the Inspirer of all good in his creatures.

3. The regard for consistency which the worker is likely to cherish.

4. His desire for success in his work. This will increase his desire and endeavour after greater personal consecration and holiness.

5. The concern which he will feel to be accepted of God. "Lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway" (1 Corinthians 9:27). In conclusion:

1. The subject appeals to all who have part in the teaching of Christianity. Not only preachers, but parents and other teachers of the young, district visitors, etc.

2. Some need to be reminded that the Christian religion is not all of the nature of good tidings to each one to whom it comes. If it says, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved," it says also, "He that believeth not shall be damned" (Mark 16:16). If of the righteous it declares, "It shall be well with him," it also says, "Woe unto the wicked, it shall be ill with him!" (Isaiah 3:10, 11). But its tidings of evil, as well as of good, need good men to bear them properly. It needs faith and faithfulness toward God, tender love and pity toward men, to utter them aright, and with probability of success. - G.W.

Now Absalom in his life-time had taken and reared up for himself a pillar.
Dr. Eremete Pierrotti, a French scientist, architect, and engineer, when an infidel, journeyed through Palestine with the avowed intention of disproving the truth of the Bible. Visiting the heap of stones over Absalom's grave, an Arab woman came by with her little child, which she held by the hand. In passing, she threw a stone upon the heap marking the tomb of Absalom, and bade the child do the same. "What do you do that for?" "Because it was the grave of a wicked son who disobeyed his father." "And who was he?" "The son of David," she replied. The professor started as if a blow had struck him. Here was an Arab woman, a Mahommedan, who probably had never seen a copy of the Scriptures, and could not read a word of them; yet she held these ancient facts, and was teaching her child to fling a stone at the monument called by the name of a son who rebelled against his father. Dr. Pierrotti, Bible in hand, turned to the story of Absalom, and as he read it a new light shone on him. This was the first of many convictions which so wrought upon him that at length he embraced the faith he once attempted to destroy, and devoted his life to the proof and illustration of the sacred Scriptures.

"The man who deserves a monument never needs one, and the man who needs one never deserves it."

People
Abishai, Absalom, Ahimaaz, Cushi, David, Israelites, Ittai, Joab, Zadok, Zeruiah
Places
King's Valley, Mahanaim
Topics
Ahimaaz, Ahi'ma-az, Arms, Blessed, Bowed, Boweth, Calleth, Cried, Crying, Delivered, Face, Falling, Fell, Ground, Hands, Lifted, Peace, Praise, Praised, Prostrated, Raised, Shut
Outline
1. David viewing the armies in their march gives them charge of Absalom
6. The Israelites are sorely smitten in the wood of ephraim
9. Absalom, hanging in an oak is slain by Joab, and cast into a pit
18. Absalom's place
19. Ahimaaz and Cushi bring tidings to David
33. David mourns for Absalom

Dictionary of Bible Themes
2 Samuel 18:28

     5138   bowing
     8650   hands, lifting up

2 Samuel 18:19-32

     5426   news

2 Samuel 18:21-32

     5178   running

2 Samuel 18:28-33

     5087   David, reign of

Library
The Wail of a Broken Heart
'Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself a pillar, which is in the king's dale; for he said, I have no son to keep my name in remembrance; and he called the pillar after his own name: and it is called unto this day, Absalom's Place. 19. Then said Ahimaaz the son of Zadok, Let me now run, and bear the king tidings, how that the Lord hath avenged him of his enemies. 20. And Joab said unto him. Thou shalt not bear tidings this day, but thou shalt bear tidings another day; but
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Church and the Young Man.
A Sermon Delivered on Sabbath Morning, November 4, 1866, In The First Presbyterian Church, Troy, At The Request of The Young Men's Christian Association. 2 Sam. xviii, 5. "And the king commanded Joab and Abishai and Ittai saying, deal gently for my sake with the young man, even with Absalom." There are few passages of Holy writ more beautiful or suggestive than this. Notwithstanding the astounding character of Absalom's rebellion; though the mind of the sovereign and father of his people is
Rev. Marvin R. Vincent.—Amusement: A Force in Christian Training

Samuel
Alike from the literary and the historical point of view, the book[1] of Samuel stands midway between the book of Judges and the book of Kings. As we have already seen, the Deuteronomic book of Judges in all probability ran into Samuel and ended in ch. xii.; while the story of David, begun in Samuel, embraces the first two chapters of the first book of Kings. The book of Samuel is not very happily named, as much of it is devoted to Saul and the greater part to David; yet it is not altogether inappropriate,
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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