13:2 - Just a note: that is not a picture of love...that is a picture of lust...let's not get confused. Amnon is burning with lust for his virgin sister (ewwww!).
13:3-6 - This highlights the importance of having people in your life who will influence you towards godliness. Amnon has a friend who only tells him what he wants to hear...who helps him devise a plan that is utterly disgusting as opposed to slapping him and telling him to stop lusting after his sister. I hope you have friends in your life who are willing to call you on the carpet when you are being an idiot!
13:8-11 - Amnon is so far gone it's unreal...he has made up his mind that he will do anything to satisfy his lust. He watches his sister prepare a meal for him with her bare hands because she feels bad that he is sick and still follows through on his sick plan to rape her! When sin gets a hold of you...and you allow it to fester in your mind...you can convince yourself of anything. Sounds a bit like his father who was willing to take another man's wife, impregnate her and murder her husband...all int he name of lust.
13:12ff - Tamar is a woman of integrity. She tries everything she can think of: she reminds him that it is unacceptable and outrageous to rape an Israelite woman; she tells him that it will bring ruin on both of their lives; and she reminds him that he could still marry her if Amnon would just talk to David about it! He is blinded by his burning lust, ignores everything she says and rapes her.
13:15 - This is heartbreaking - the moment his lust is satisfied...he finally gets what he has been burning for - the guilt drops down like a hammer. The blood rushes back into his brain and he is so disgusted by what he has done, that he turns his self-hatred onto his innocent sister. How sick is that?
13:20 - Tamar's life is ruined. She is violated, abused, rejected and left with no future...all because a more powerful man decided he was going to get what he wanted. How many times has that been lived out on this planet. When men choose to reflect God with their power - they create, build up, protect, serve, love...when they choose to rebel - they destroy, break, hurt, rape, take and bring dishonor to the man God made them to be.
13:21 - David is angry, yet he does nothing. He is probably silent because of the guilt he feels over his dealing with Bathsheba and Uriah. We can't allow our past sins to silence us when we have a chance to stand up for what is right.
13:22 - Absalom pushes the hatred deep and lets it grow hotter and hotter. He waits for the perfect opportunity to bring about his vengeance - he would have had closure if his father had chosen to act.
13: 26-27 - David knows that something wrong is going on. He says, "Why do you need Amnon to come?" He knows it isn't right, but again, he choose to ignore his responsibility for leadership in his family.
13:29 - Killing Amnon serves Absolam well on two fronts. On one, it gives him the revenge he has been burning after for two years. On the other hand it clears his path to the throne of David. The other brothers run for their lives because they think Absolam is about to kill them all, so that he has no competition for the crown.
13:39 - This is getting ridiculous...again David refuses to do anything. He just sits back as one son kills another son, just like he sat back when his son raped his daughter. He doesn't punish Absolam....he doesn't forgive him and bring closure...he just ignores the whole situation, which will come back to bite him in the butt if I had to guess.
14:1-20 - Joab shows again that he is a pretty wise leader. He finds a very articulate woman from out in the countryside (So David doesn't know her), who can go before David and confront him through a story like Nathan did. The woman convinces David to offer protection to one of her sons that has killed another son and then turns the tables on David, challenging him to do the same for Absalom.
14:24 - Yet even after David allows Absolam to come back into the city, he refuses to meet with him. He still doesn't bring any healing or closure to the situation. He leaves Absalom to sulk in another part of the city, getting angrier by the day and plotting to steal the throne. He keeps his son at an arms length until Absolam turns to all out rebellion.
14:31ff - We see that Absalom is a man of violence and manipulation. He doesn't get what he wants from Joab, so he burns his fields to the ground. Again, another son that doesn't fall too far from the tree. When David couldn't get Uriah to act like he wanted him to...he murdered him.
14:33 - Nice try David, but too little - too late.
15:1ff - Absalom starts to do things that were only reserved for kings. He buys himself a chariot and has 50 retainers - that was only for kings. He sits at the gate of the city and judges cases that were brought before him - only for the king. He allows people to pay homage to him and praise his name - also, only for kings. Basically, right out from under David's knows, Absalom assumes a great deal of the power of the king - and David is silent.
15:7-12 Just like in his murder of Amnon, Absolam is totally cool and calculating - he has thought everything through. He tells his father that he is going to Hebron to fulfill a vow he made. He takes two hundred clueless men with him and announces his rebellion to them (They have no choice but to side with him, because now they look like conspirators). He sends secret messengers throughout Israel to build up a power base against his father. Imagine what all this cunning and intelligence could have done for the kingdom of Israel if he had been raised with some guidance and discipline!
15:14 - David runs from the city because he needs time to prepare for battle and because he is reluctant to act against his son (Obviously - have you read these chapters!).
15:25 - Through all the family insanity that David has experienced, he is finally beginning to turn back to his relationship with God. He understand that the kingdom of God is bigger than he is. He sends the ark back to Jerusalem because that is where it belongs. He trusts that if God wants him to be the king, he will be brought back to Jerusalem where the ark is. He is once again focused on honoring God.
15:34 - He also hasn't lost his knack for military strategy. He sends his friend back to become a counselor of Absolam, so he can counter all the advice that Ahithophel gives. He also sets up a group of secret agent priests int he temple of Jerusalem. Just like Joab yesterday, David trusts Go fully, but is also willing to work hard to be successful.
3 comments:
Ch. 13: I'm sure Amnon didn't get to this point in his life in a short period of time. The human condition is no different today then back in David's time. Amnon probably choose to live a life of not honoring God over a log period of time. Any of us should expect to be capable of ugly darkness like this if we are not in union with God. How else couls there be so much sexual abuse by fathers to their own daughters in our time today?
I enjoyed your commentary, thanks.
Thanks Tim...and I'm sure you're right.
13:20 - lays out a crucial responsibility for us: your actions have the potential of benefit or destruction to others. When put in position of responsibility, you are held to a higher standard mostly because your actions reflect on other people.
13:21 - it is so tough to find the balance between guilt and standing up for what's right. On the one hand, to stand up for what is right in a situation involving sin that you are all to well familiar with requires that you set aside how you feel about falling in the past. If we get really good at this, does this open the door to being ignorant when we sin in the future? We get so good at doing what is right despite our sinful pasts that when we commit the same sin, we become apathetic towards it? This is why it's important to have people in our lives who have an outside perspective of our lives. We need to get to the point where we must stand up for what right no matter what, and have the people in our lives who will let us know when we're choking in the clutch...
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