In the
last chapter David committed adultery, murder and used his power in the wrong way. Nathan
prophesied that David’s family and his kingdom would suffer because of David’s
sins. It began with the death of David’s
first child. Now in the next chapters we
see more consequences. His sin will divide his family, the nation and threaten his throne.
2 Samuel 13 – Rape and Murder
Absalom
and Tamar were brother and sister from David’s wife Maacah. Amnon was David’s first-born son from his
wife Ahinaom and was in line to be the next king. Amon thought Tamar was very beautiful and longed
for her even though she was his half-sister.
He called it love, but it proved to be only lust. Just as David had watched and lusted for
Bathsheba, Amnon watched and lusted after Tamar. Amnon sought advice from cousin Jonadab who
was the son of David’s brother. Jonadab
told him to go to bed and pretend to be ill.
Then ask the king to send Tamar to minister to him.
It’s
interesting that David abused his power and authority to bring Bathsheba to his
home and in the same way Amnon abused his power and authority when he had Tamar
brought to his home. Neither women were
invited, but sent for.
When
and how have you abused your authority?
David
gave his permission and orders Tamar to go Amnon. When she arrived, he sent his servants away
and grabbed her and forced himself on her.
She tried to resist and begged him to not to do this evil thing, but his
lust and desire was too great. Afterward
he raped her, he hated her maybe out of guilt and shame for what he’s
done. Unlike David, He had no sense of
honor. He sent her away, because she
reminded him of his sin.
The Law
of Moses found in Leviticus 18:9; 20:17
says brother and sister should not have sex together and they should not be
married. Sex is only right when a man
and a woman are married to each other.
God hates all types of wrong sex.
Amnon’s actions proved he didn’t love her. His attraction for her was only lust and not
love. I think Jonadab should share in
the guilt. He was the one who helped
Amnon carry out his evil deed.
When
King David heard this he was very angry, but he did nothing. Maybe he felt guilty because he didn’t do
anything to protect Tamar. He didn’t
even correct Amnon. Maybe David loved
Amnon and didn’t want to punish him.
After all he was to be the next king.
Perhaps David felt guilty because he had sinned with Bathsheba and
didn’t control his emotions. Now Amnon
sinned in the same way with Tamar.
Fathers are commanded to teach their sons to behave in the right way. (Deuteronomy 6:1-9 and Ephesians 6:4). Fathers should punish their children if they
do evil things, but David didn’t to this. (Proverbs
23:13-14) So David had trouble with
several of his sons.
Principle: When sin is swept under the carpet, it always
causes more misery.
Absalom
realized what Amnon had done to his sister and tried to comfort her. He hated him for what he had done and for two
years plotted revenge on Amnon. It was
sheep shearing time and time for celebrating so Absolom invited Amnon and all
the king’s sons to a feast. When Amnon
was drunk with wine, Absolom command his men to kill Amnon. David instructed Joab to kill Uriah and now
Absalom gave instructions to kill Amnon.
A report came to David that all
his sons were dead, but later Jonadab told the king that only Amnon was killed
because he had raped Tamar.
After
Absolom killed Amnon, he fled to Talmai, son of Ammihud the king of
Geshur. He stayed there 3 years. All the while David longed to go to Absalom,
but his pride kept him from reconciliation with his son.
What is
keeping you from swallowing your pride and doing the right thing?
2 Samuel 14 – Bitterness and Unforgiveness
Joab,
commander of David’s army knew David longed for his son, Absalom. Joab may have been looking out for
himself. By bringing David and Absalom
back together, he would be in good standing for years to come. He knew Absalom was to be the next king of
Israel, but he could not if he was in a foreign county. Joab wanted to reconcile David and Absalom so
he invented a story. This is how Nathan
spoke to David in chapter 12. But this
story was not from God, it was Joab own plan.
Joab enlisted a woman to tell a sad story. He told her how to behave and what to
say. She told a story of her son, which
would affect David’s emotions and so he would understand how she felt.
David
realized that Joab had arranged this.
David then told Joab to go and bring Absalom back to Israel, but he was
not to come to the palace where David could see him. David tried to make Absalom pay for his crime
by withholding love and fellowship by refusing to see him which meant he had
not forgiven him. This was David’s
pride. Either you forgive or you
don’t. Jesus warned of the dangers when
you don’t reconcile matters. (Matthew
5:23-26) Absalom lived 2 years in
Jerusalem without seeing the king’s face.
Absalom
sent for Joab several times, because he wanted an audience with the king. He thought he was not guilty of any sin. David didn’t punish Amnon so Absalom took it
upon himself to do it, because he had sinned against his sister Tamar. Absalom was a handsome man, but good looking
doesn’t make a person wise or mature.
Absalom set fire to Joab’s fields to get his attention. Absalom finally went to Joab’s house and Joab
agreed to see the king on Absalom’s behalf.
At last, Absalom saw the king and gave him honor. David kissed Absalom, but there was no
forgiveness. Absalom had too much
bitterness towards his father, because David never seemed to do the right
thing. Absalom would never recover from
this bitterness and would prove to be one of David’s opponents.
David
had many great qualities as the leader of Israel, but he didn’t manage his own
family matters very well. He never
punished Amnon for his sin or addressed Absalom’s murder of Amnon. David did allow Absalom to come home, but he
gave only partial forgiveness to Absalom.
David understood God’s forgiveness toward him, but he didn’t seem to
make the connection when it came to dealing with his son, Absalom.
We can
apply this lesson with each another and in our families. Many parents make the mistake of not dealing correctly
with their children’s disobedience. They
withhold love and stay angry thinking that is a punishment. This can bring on rebellion. With partial or conditional forgiveness the
problem will only get worse. We must
totally forgive as God has forgiven us.
God forgives, but doesn’t wipe out the consequences for our sin. If it did, we would never learn from it.
God’s
grace is free, but not cheap. It cost
God the life His only Son. Sin is
cheap, but it’s not free. Sin enslaves
and will cost in the long run. You can’t
undo your past, but you can do something about your present and future.
Principle: God’s grace is free, but not cheap.
Do you
have bitterness toward someone?
Who is
it that you need to forgive?
2 Samuel 15 –Rebellion
David
restored Absalom, but 7 years of bitterness had grown up inside Absalom which
would last for the rest of his life. Absalom
wanted to take David’s throne for his own.
He became a clever politician and for 4 years he stole the people’s
heart from David. He reached out to
people who had complaints and made promises that would cause them to follow
him. Sounds like the politicians
today. He slowly divided David’s kingdom
and wanted to overthrow the kingdom.
Do you
crave what others have?
Do you
believe you deserve another’s position?
If so,
what lengths will you go?
How do
you try to convince others to your way of thinking?
Do you
stretch the truth or flatter others to get what you want?
King
David didn’t want Jerusalem to become a battleground. He loved his son and didn’t want him to be
killed so he fled the city. Fighting
Absalom was not an option for David. He
left 10 concubines at the palace. To me
this shows he was only leaving for a short time and not giving up the
throne.
The
priests were loyal to David. David had
them take the Ark of the Covenant and go back to the city. David knew the Lord was with him and he put
his fate in God’s hands.
David
was betrayed by his own counselor, Ahithophel.
But David had many other loyal friends who remained faithful to
him. David and the people covered their
heads and wept as they went up to the Mount of Olives. David prayed that Ahithophel’s counsel to
Absalom would be foolish.
When
have you chosen to flee instead of fight even though you knew you were in the
right?
Where
have you trusted God when all seemed lost?
2 Samuel 16-18 – Victory
Absalom
and his men arrived in Jerusalem.
Ahithophel advised him to sleep with David’s concubines who remained in
the palace. So Absalom put up a tent on
the palace roof for all Israel to see as a claim to the kingdom and slept with
the concubines.
Then Ahithophel
advised Absalom to quickly attack David while he was weak and kill only him
which would minimize bloodshed. This
plan seemed good, but Absalom also asked Hushai for his advice. Hushai was David’s friend who had pretended
to be on Absalom’s side, but was actually a spy. He told him this is not good advice, because
David and his men are experienced fighters and that Ahithophel had
underestimated David and his ability to defend himself and his kingdom. With Ahithophel’s plan it would require more
than David’s death. Absalom took Hushai’s
advice. Absalom gathered his army, which
gave David more time to prepare for battle.
Hushai sent word to David of the plan.
Remember David had prayed that Ahithophel’s advice would be foolish to
Absalom. God answered his prayer. Ahithophel saw his advice had not been
followed and committed suicide.
Who do
you look to for good advice?
Absalom
and Ahithophel didn’t want David to be their king. By rejecting David, they rejected God’s anointed
king so they are rejecting God Himself.
What
king will you serve?
Will
you serve the king of your own desires or King Jesus?
David
and his army overcame Absalom’s army and 20,000 died. David gave order for his men to be gentle
when they found Absalom. This is very
different from the advice of Ahithophel who wanted to kill David. While in the midst of fighting, Absalom
riding his donkey gets his long hair caught in a tree branch. Joab found him caught and tangled so Joab killed
him with his spear. Again Joab did what
he thought was best. He believed
murdering Absalom was for David’s good. Joab
stopped the army and they threw Absalom’s body in a pit and place large rocks
over him. David heard the news that they
have won the battle, but his son is dead.
David wept.
Principle: God’s grace is greater than sin.
Main
truth of these chapters: Only God’s
power turns back the destructive process of sin.
Next
time we will continue in the book of 2 Samuel. See you here next time.
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