2 SAMUEL 15-19: DAY 136 JOURNEY THROUGH THE BIBLE IN A YEAR
May 16, 2023
2 SAMUEL 15-19
DAY 136 JOURNEY THROUGH THE BIBLE IN A YEAR
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Focus Verses For Today: 2 Samuel 15:13-14
As we continue our journey, we learn that King David had a great many enemies and that they were willing to prey upon his family to overthrow King David.
Pray for God’s understanding of 2 Samuel 15-19. Read 2 Samuel 15-19. Let’s journey!
2 Samuel 15-19: Today, our journey takes us through the story of Absalom’s rebellion against his father, King David, and his death at the hands of Joab. After Tamar was raped by Amnon, Absalom’s quest for justice or revenge against Amnon appears to have led him to question his father’s ways. From Absalom’s perspective, King David, his father, allowed Amnon’s crime to go unpunished, so Absalom murdered Amnon and fled the region for his own safety. After King David invites Absalom to return to Jerusalem, he chose to ignore his son. This festered in Absalom, to the point that people who were enemies of the King used the strain between father and son to urge Absalom to plot a revolution against the king. The revolution worked only temporarily, with David fleeing Jerusalem. Ultimately King David’s army confronts Absalom’s army, and against King David’s wishes, Absalom is killed. King David returns to Jerusalem as King of all of Israel; however, trouble is brewing. (2 Samuel 15:1-19:43)
Our focus verses for today:
13 A messenger came and told David, “The hearts of the people of Israel are with Absalom.”
14 Then David said to all his officials who were with him in Jerusalem, “Come! We must flee, or none of us will escape from Absalom. We must leave immediately, or he will move quickly to overtake us and bring ruin on us and put the city to the sword.”
(2 Samuel 15: 13-14, NIV)
“The hearts of the people of Israel are with Absalom.” King David had a problem. As King, David judged the affairs of the people and he had one son, Amnon, who committed rape and went unpunished, prompting a second son, half-brother of Amnon, Absalom, to murder Amnon, who also escaped the rule of law of Israel. King David chose to not be seen or associated with Absalom in an effort to conceal the obvious special treatment he had received from King David. Back when King David chose to commit adultery with Bathsheba and have her husband murdered, the Lord forgave King David for his sin. The Lord’s forgiveness of King David was complete, not that King David was not punished for his sin. He was, with the loss of the child conceived through that act of adultery. Looking at the tragic story of Absalom, it is difficult not to wonder what would have transpired if King David’s forgiveness of Absalom would have been unconditional as the Lord’s forgiveness was to him.
Godspeace!
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