The Betrayals

"The Betrayals" - 2 Samuel 20:8-12 Joab and Amasa meet. Joab, a man of treachery, has the best moment of his life to do what he had accumulated all his life: "anger" and pride. He girded his cloak so that it would not impede his movements, and over the cloak he put his belt so that the dagger he carried in a scabbard would be closer at hand, and the dagger fell from him. It looks like he dropped it on purpose.

I. There was a reason for the encounter.

A. Death of Amasa.

1. He picked up his dagger and went to his cousin who didn't suspect anything.

2. With a great show of friendship, Joab took Amasa's beard as if "to kiss him," and stabbed him to death.

3. There was Amasa wallowing in his blood on the road.

4. His act was under the "pretext of friendship," so that Amasa would not be on his guard.

5. He calls him brother and makes a gesture to kiss him.

6. In broad daylight and at the head of the troops.

7. He did so with contempt (defiance) towards David and towards the commission he had entrusted to Amasa, Joab was carrying in his head that Amasa had been in the service of Absalom.

8. (1 Samuel 18:17) He sought from David to take every opportunity to fight with the Philistines, giving him to understand that he would thus render great service to his prince and his God.

9. The voice of him who seems to want to do good: My hand shall not be against him, but the hand of the Philistines shall be against him.

10. For a long time, Saul was putting David in a position of death.

11. (Nehemiah 6:2-9) A plot against Nehemiah.

12. A plot (secret agreement to do something, especially if it is harmful to another) to get him into a trap.

13. The enemies knew that the wall had been restored, although the leaves of the gates had not been laid; so, they tried "a stroke of cunning," to lure Nehemiah to a meeting in a village of the tribe of Benjamin, but with the intention of harming him.

14. He declined the invitation with a good excuse: I do a great work and I cannot go, because I would cease the work, leaving it to come to you.

15. Four times they invited him, and four times he gave them the same answer. (4)

16. The plot is to frighten him into leaving the work.

17. Sanballat tried in vain.

18. They wanted to make Nehemiah see that the work he is doing is regarded as rebellion.

19. That was evident, according to Sanballat, in "an open letter", as if it were something in the public domain.

20. Like, if Nehemiah rebelled against the king of Persia, was because he was going to become king of Jerusalem?

21. Sanballat simulates "friendship" because he says: "Let us consult together"; as if to say, "Let's see if we can silence that rumor.

22. Like Judas, like Joab, he tried to give him up with a kiss as well. (20:9, 22)

23. Nehemiah, on the other hand, not only denied that such a thing was true, but also that the rumor was false: "All this you invent" from your heart.

24. Thus, he escaped from the trap that was set for him.

25. Nehemiah then lifted his heart to God in another short prayer: (9) O God, strengthen my hands.

26. The enemy thought, "Their hands will be weakened in the work, and it will not be finished."

27. They frightened (make people feel afraid, scared, frightened) so that the work would stop, and God's work would not be finished.

28. God strengthens us and we finish everything we have to do, and the devil cannot laugh.

29. (Matthew 26:45-49) He whom I will kiss, He is it; "turn Him on"; for, at times, He had escaped from those who thought they had Him in their hands.

30. Only he who knows, and his envy, gives; all the same, Judas wanted money.

31. Moreover, Judas, with a kiss, not only tried to identify Him, but also to entertain Him so that those who came with him could seize Him safely.

32. (49) To look at Him closely was to see His majesty or enchanted with His beauty and His Glory.

33. Will He dare betray Him in His presence and before His eyes, so close a gaze?

34. Judas comes to the Master's own face, and "betrays Him," saying, "Hail, Master!"

35. And he kissed Him ostentatiously (exhibitionist, boastfulness, presumption, boastful, braggart).

36. Jesus (50) said to him, "Friend, why are you coming?

37. The kiss is a sign of friendship and difference. ("respect", attention)

38. But Judas, by breaking all the "rules" of love and "duty" (obligation to pay by the divine law), profaned this sign so that it would serve "his wicked purposes."

39. This is how the traitor, profane, acts for his evil purposes (said of a person: perverse, illinclined; diabolical, wicked)

40. Jesus called him a friend, literally, companion, which means one who eats bread with another. Amen.