Wednesday, August
8, 2018
Two years
later, when Absalom’s sheep were being sheared at Baal-hazor near Ephraim,
Absalom invited all the king’s sons to come to a feast. He went to the king and
said, “My sheep-shearers are now at work. Would the king and his servants please come to
celebrate the occasion with me?” The
king replied, “No, my son. If we all
came, we would be too much of a burden on you.” Absalom pressed him, but the king would not
come, though he gave Absalom his blessing.
“Well, then,” Absalom said, “if you can’t come, how about sending my
brother Amnon with us?” “Why Amnon?” the
king asked. But
Absalom kept on pressing the king until he finally agreed to let all his sons
attend, including Amnon. So Absalom
prepared a feast fit for a king. Absalom
told his men, “Wait until Amnon gets drunk; then at my signal, kill him! Don’t be afraid. I’m the one who has given the command. Take courage and do it!” So at Absalom’s signal
they murdered Amnon. Then the other sons
of the king jumped on their mules and fled.
As they were on the way back to Jerusalem, this report reached David: “Absalom has killed all the king’s sons; not
one is left alive!” The
king got up, tore his robe, and threw himself on the ground. His advisers also
tore their clothes in horror and sorrow.
2 Samuel 13:23-31(NLT)
What a story line; Amnon and
Absalom are brothers, sons of King David.
Tamar is their sister, who has been raped by her own brother, Amnon, and
the other brother, Absalom is itching for revenge. He dupes his father, the king, into signing
off on a party to celebrate the shearing of sheep. But it’s only a ruse to get Amnon in a
vulnerable state (drunk as a skunk) so he can have him killed.
(Incidentally, is it my imagination, or did Absalom
learn this thing from his dad about having others do his dirty work? David had Bathsheba’s innocent husband,
Uriah, murdered by one of his generals[2]. It looks like Absalom is carrying on the
family tradition.)
As king, David found himself
between Cain’s rock and Adam’s hard place; one son had killed the other, and
now David would have to charge the other son with murder. Brother kills brother; nothing has changed in
thousands of years since Cain killed Abel.
In war, whether it is
between countries, families, or even friends, we tend to remember the details
in terms of who won. This is just
another nail in the coffin of the fallen human nature common to each soul. There are no winners in a war;
there is only destruction.
We see the wars of Cain’s
rock-throwing every day. If you have
trouble believing that, just get on the Interstate this morning as people are
scurrying to get to work. Many drivers would
kill to get just one car length ahead. The
plot thickens as the day lengthens.
We also see the hard place
of David in the severing of relationships caused by all the daily in-your-face
attitudes that declare what’s mine is mine and I’ll light you up if
you get near it – and what’s yours is mine if there’s some way I can get it!
Now…while the story line of
David’s family, with all its lust, murder, cover-ups and political investigations
is a sad commentary on what became of a courageous shepherd-boy who became a
king because he had a heart for God…the news is not all bad. Despite the carnage to the family’s
tranquility and stability, grace did enter the picture. It took a thousand years, and didn’t happen
in the throne room or palace of Jerusalem, but rather in a cattle feeder a few
miles away a great-grandson of David’s would bring healing for every murderer, saboteur,
philanderer, prostitute, and thief.
It is said you can’t make a
silk purse out of a sow’s ear, and that the leopard cannot change spots, and, if
the blood is bad, the behavior will be worse. But, while there was nothing else
in David’s family that turned out very well, when God took on human flesh through
that family name, nothing but good came from the cross on which they hung him!
For You Today
When you find yourself between the
rock and a hard place, look around for the cross. Jesus knows his way around the tough spots.
Go to VIDEO
[1] Title Image: Courtesy of Pixabay.com
[2] See 2 Samuel 11
