II Samuel 18:1-33 – The Sword as Reward
The Living Word With Chuck Davis
II Samuel 18:1-33 – The Sword as Reward
"Welcome to the Living Word with Chuck Davis." 2 Samuel 18, 1 to 33. More grief. "Then David mustered the men who were with him, and set over them commanders of the thousands and commanders of hundreds. And David set out the army one-third under the command of Joab, one-third under the command of Abishai, the son of Jairya, Joab's brother, and one-third under the command of Itai, the Gitite. And the king said to the men, 'I myself will also go with you.' But the men said, 'You shall not go out. For if we flee, they will not care about us. If half of us die, they will not care about us. But you are worth 10,000 of us, therefore it is better that you send us to get help from the city.' The king said to them, 'Whatever seems best to you, I will do. So the king stood at the side of the gate, while all the army marched out by hundreds and by thousands. And the king ordered Joab and Abishai and Itai, deal gently from my sake with the young man Absalom. And all the people heard when the king gave orders to all the commanders about Absalom. So the army went out into the field against Israel, and the battle was fought in the forest of Ephraim, and the men of Israel were defeated there by the servants of David, and the loss there was great that day, twenty thousand men. The battle spread over the face of all the country, and the forest devoured more people that day than the sword. And Absalom happened to meet the servants of David. Absalom was riding on his mule, and the mule went under the thick branches of the great oak, and his head got caught fast in the oak, and he was suspended between heaven and earth. While the mule that was under him went on, and a certain man saw it and told Joab, behold I saw Absalom hanging in an oak, Joab said to the man who told him, what you saw him, why then did you not strike him there to the ground? I would have been glad to give you ten pieces of silver and a belt. But the man said of Joab, even if I felt my hand the weight of a thousand pieces of silver, I would not reach out my hand against the king's son, for in our hearing the king commanded you, and have a shy, and it died, for my sake protect the young man Absalom. On the other hand, if I had dealt treacherously against his life, and there is nothing hidden from the king, then you yourself would have stood aloof. Joab said, I will not waste time like this with you, and he took three javelins in his hand and thrust them into the heart of Absalom while he was still alive in the oak, and ten young men, Joab's armor bearers, surrounded Absalom, and struck him and killed him. And Joab blew the trumpet, and the troops came back from pursuing Israel. For Joab restrained them, and they took Absalom and threw him into a great pit in the forest and raised over him a great heap of stones, and all Israel fled everyone to his own home. Now Absalom and his lifetime had taken and set up for himself the pillar that is the king's valley, for he said, I have no son to keep my name in remembrance. He called the pillar after his own name, and it is called Absalom's monument to this day. Then Ahimaz, the son of Zaidach said, let me run and carry news to the king that the Lord delivered him from the hand of his enemies. And Joab said to him, you are not to carry news today. You may carry news another day, but today you shall carry no news because the king's son is dead. Then Joab said to the Kushite, go tell the king what you have seen. The Kushite bowed before Joab and ran, then Ahimaz, the son of Zaidach said again to Joab, come what may, let me also run after the Kushite. And Joab said, why will you run my son, seeing that you will have no reward for the news. Come what may, he said, I will run. So he said to him, run, then Ahimaz ran by the way of the plain and outran the Kushite. How David was sitting between two gates in the watchmen went up to the roof of the gate by the wall and when he lifted up his eyes and looked, he saw a man running alone. The watchman called out and told the king and the king said, if he is alone, there is news in his mouth and he drew nearer and nearer. The watchman saw another man running and the watchman called to the gate and said, see another man running alone and the king said, he also brings news. The watchman said, I think the running of the first is like the running of Ahimaz, the son of Zedak and the king said, he is a good man and comes with good news. And then Ahimaz cried out to the king all as well and he bowed before the king with his face to the earth and blessed and said, blessed be the Lord your God who has delivered up the men who raised their hand against my Lord the king. And the king said it as well with the young man, Absalom, Ahimaz answered, when Joab sent the king's servant your servant, I saw a great commotion but I do not know what it was. And the king said, turn aside and stand here so he turned aside and stood still. Behold, the Kushite came and the Kushite said good news for my Lord the king, for the Lord has delivered you this day from the hand of those who rose up against you. The king said to the Kushite, is it well with the young man, Absalom? And the Kushite answered, may the enemies of my Lord the king and all who rise up against you for evil be like that young man. And the king was deeply moved and went up to the chamber over the gate and wept. And as he went, he said, oh my son, Absalom, my son, my son, Absalom, what I had died instead of you, oh Absalom, my son, my son. Battle approaches, David's counselors tell him not to go up against. He requests, consider this a Kingly decree not to do anything to Absalom. He wants Absalom back, the language of the defeat that many more died in the forest than those in the war is a point to show that this was a victory established by the Lord. And David now has incredible grief, oh my son, Absalom, just a sad ending. These last four chapters have been very long and I've let the podcast go on reading them because it really shows the heaviness that happens to David after he gives in to his lust and his pursuit of Bathsheba. We also see the slow destruction of bitterness in Absalom's heart. The soul what of this, I'll borrow from the words of Eugene Peterson. He says David's king part of life eclipsed his father part. His final grief is that he would have preferred to die instead of Absalom, but this would not have been good for the people. The people didn't need a soul like Absalom. They needed David, whose heart was contrite to lead them into their preferable future. The now what is a reminder to us to take care of our home fires. I say that both positively and negatively, positively fan the flame of God's work in our family members, but negatively where there is tension, figure out ways to put that fire out to not allow us to spread to lead eventually to death. And so Lord, we give ourselves to you this day. We all experience some level of grief and broken relationships at different times. Comfort us in that place of grief. Give us the ability to extend love in the places where we're experiencing hate and animosity in some way. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.