Say hello to David's son Absalom. Yesterday, his sister Tamar was raped by his half-brother. He killed his half-brother, then fled to Geshur for his life.
I can only suspect that Absalom was a favorite with Joab, the commander of the army, because he found a woman and told her to say this to the king: "I am a widow and my two sons got into a fight with each other, and one struck the other and killed him. Now everyone wants to kill my son, talking away the last descendant of my husband". The king told her that her son would live. Then she said, "When the king says this, does he not convict himself, for the king has not brought back his banished son?" and I love this next verse! It pops out a lot to me:
"Like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die. But God does not take away life; instead, he devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from him."
And that is exactly what God did went he sent Jesus to die for us! He devised the perfect plan so that we do not need to be banished from him for our sin forever.
The king knew after that that Joab had a hand in all this, and told Joab that he would bring Absalom back, but he must go to his own house and not see the king. So Absalom lived 2 years without seeing the king, then when he got sick and tired of it he sent for Joab to send him to the king. But Joab wouldn't come, so Absalom sent some guys to set Joab's barley field on fire to get his attention. Joab came after that - good and angry too! When he asked why on earth his field was ash, Absalom said that he wanted to see the king, and he might as well have stayed in Geshur if he wasn't going to be allowed. "If I am guilty of anything, let him put me to death" he said. So Joab did go to the king (he probably had a few more fields to be worried about) and told him about Absalom. So the king did send for Absalom, and the young man bowed down to the king. David kissed him, and everything was happy... for a little while.
There was no one more handsome than Absalom in the whole land, and he had a lot of hair, let's just keep that part in mind. Pretty soon, Absalom started hanging out at the city gate, listening to people's troubles and wooing them and kissing them and stealing their hearts from David. Soon Absalom went to Hebron with his gang and sent messengers to tell the tribes that he was king. Those who were happy about this joined him, until he had quite a large following. Presently and messenger told David what was happening, so David packed up and made ready to leave, to escape the sword of Absalom. But David had some spies too. He sent Hushai to pretend to join Absalom, but really he was checking out the advice of a wise advisor that had joined Absalom. But "one ill turn deserves another". Now another person had decided to take advantage of David. He had shown great kindness to Mephibosheth, the lame grandson of Jonathan. But now his servant, Ziba came to meet David. When David asked where Mephibosheth was, Ziba said, "He is staying in Jerusalem, because he thinks, 'Today the house of Isreal will give me back my grandfather's kingdom'". ARG!!!!!!!!!!! Everybody's being mean to David now!!!!!!!! So David gave Ziba all that had been Mephibosheth's. So David's party moved on, getting cussed at and dirt thrown on them.
Meanwhile, the wise advisor Ahithophel told Absalom to do one thing that was smart - send an army to take David out. But David's spy Hushai told him to do another thing that would bring him down - send all the armies. Luckily, Hushai's advice sounded better to Absalom. So the armies got ready to fight the alerted David's men. But the King had said, "Spare the young man Absalom for my sake". 20,000 men of Absalom's army was wiped out, and it said that the forest claimed more lives than the sword. Hmm... maybe the wild animals got a lot of guys, or they got lost and died, or... God called the ents?:P As for Absalom, that hair of his was his downfall. He was riding on a donkey under a tree and got caught by the hair, while the donkey kept on walking. One of David's men saw, but obeyed the king and did not kill him, but Joab threw 3 spears into his old favorite's heart. When David found out, he was very sad and mourned for Absalom. I think I would have been pretty mad still at that boy for what he had done. But David mourned for him instead of being happy that he got what he deserved.
That is what God does for us all the time. When we rebel, set ourselves up as great, and shove him out of our lives, God mourns for our lostness and doesn't laugh when we fall.
1 comment:
I would think that if you despised me and wanted me dead...but, instead you got dead, I would be sad too. Absalom was David's son. Yes, a pretty rotten scandolous son...but a son. David probably had a hope for him that he would turn from his wicked ways. But that's all speculation.
Good stuff, especially the quote, "Like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die. But God does not take away life; instead, he devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from him."
However, you might want to proof read your stuff a little better. Tell me how many grammatical errors you find.
God called the Ents = negative points! ;-)
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