Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com In Christ, Mark
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
In the course of time, Absalom provided himself with a chariot and horses and with fifty men to run ahead of him. He would get up early and stand by the side of the road leading to the city gate. Whenever anyone came with a complaint to be placed before the king for a decision, Absalom would call out to him, "What town are you from?" He would answer, "Your servant is from one of the tribes of Israel." Then Absalom would say to him, "Look, your claims are valid and proper, but there is no representative of the king to hear you." And Absalom would add, "If only I were appointed judge in the land! Then everyone who has a complaint or case could come to me and I would see that he gets justice."
Also, whenever anyone approached him to bow down before him, Absalom would reach out his hand, take hold of him and kiss him. Absalom behaved in this way toward all the Israelites who came to the king asking for justice, and so he stole the hearts of the men of Israel.
At the end of four years, Absalom said to the king, "Let me go to Hebron and fulfill a vow I made to the Lord. While your servant was living at Geshur in Aram, I made this vow: 'If the Lord takes me back to Jerusalem, I will worship the Lord in Hebron.' "
The king said to him, "Go in peace." So he went to Hebron.
Then Absalom sent secret messengers throughout the tribes of Israel to say, "As soon as you hear the sound of the trumpets, then say, 'Absalom is king in Hebron.' " Two hundred men from Jerusalem had accompanied Absalom. They had been invited as guests and went quite innocently, knowing nothing about the matter. While Absalom was offering sacrifices, he also sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David's counselor, to come from Giloh, his hometown. And so the conspiracy gained strength, and Absalom's following kept on increasing.
A messenger came and told David, "The hearts of the men of Israel are with Absalom."
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 upon us and put the city to the sword."
The king's officials answered him, "Your servants are ready to do whatever our lord the king chooses."
The king set out, with his entire household following him; but he left ten concubines to take care of the palace. So the king set out, with all the people following him, and they halted at a place some distance away.
2 Samuel 15:1-17
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
As Chapter 14 closed, David had made amends with his son Absalom who he had turned from for so long after Absalom killed his brother Amnon. We got a sense that Absalom had yearned for the reconciliation to take place but as chapter 15 begins, we see where Absalom had other things in mind regarding his father and his throne.
For we read where Absalom began to assert himself around Jerusalem, first providing himself with “a chariot and horses and with fifty men to run ahead of him”. Scripture tells us he also “would get up early and stand by the side of the road leading to the city gate” and as “anyone came with a complaint to be placed before the king for a decision”, he would first see if the person was from “one of the tribes of Israel” before telling them that their claims were “valid and proper” but “no representative of the king” was able to hear them. Absalom would then add, "If only I were appointed judge in the land! Then everyone who has a complaint or case could come to me and I would see that he gets justice."
This wasn’t all Absalom did. For we read where he also would reach out his hand, take hold of a person who came to him and kiss them whenever “anyone approached him to bow down before him”. Absalom would behave this way “toward all the Israelites who came to the king asking for justice” and his actions “stole the hearts of the men of Israel”.
The operative word here was steal because that’s what Absalom was up to…stealing his father’s favor and honor from the people of Israel.
Absalom’s words implied that his father, the king, was not capable of appropriately handling the complaints and cases of his people…but if given the chance, Absalom was sure that he could and would do what his father was not doing…all that needed done was appointing him as judge in the land. It’s here that we first get a taste of what Absalom is really up to. His interest was in unseating, not supporting, his father, David.
And so after four years of this, Absalom asks his father to let him “go to Hebron” where he said he needed to “fulfill a vow…made to the Lord”. He then elaborates on this request by telling David that while he was “living at Geshur”, he made a vow saying, “If the Lord takes me back to Jerusalem, I will worship the Lord in Hebron." And David believes his son’s story, granting Absalom permission to "Go in peace." And so Absalom went to Hebron.
What made Absalom’s deception so much more amazing is that he invoked the name of the Lord to assist him in his evil plot, contriving a lie that he wanted to go to Hebron to fulfill a vow and worship the Lord. The truth was that Absalom wanted to go to Hebron to continue to undermine the authority and rule of his father.
For as soon as Absalom went to Hebron, he “sent secret messengers throughout the tribes of Israel” who said, “As soon as you hear the sound of the trumpets, then say, 'Absalom is king in Hebron.' " Note this…Absalom was king. Not his father David.
Through his deceiving work in Jerusalem, Absalom had gained a following and “two hundred men from Jerusalem” accompanied him to Hebron, although they came innocently, unaware of Absalom’s master plan. We read where Absalom also sent for “Ahithophel the Gilonite” who was David’s counselor…who joined forces with Absalom as his “conspiracy gained strength” and following increased.
Well, word of Absalom’s rise soon came to his father David through a messenger who shared with the king that “The hearts of the men of Israel are with Absalom”, words that caused a great deal of distress in David who sensed immediately that he and his people in Jerusalem were in grave danger.
This led David to say “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 upon us and put the city to the sword” to which his officials answered, “Your servants are ready to do whatever our lord the king chooses."
And so David “set out with his entire household” and all the people following him before halting “at a place some distance away”. The only people left in Jerusalem were “ten concubines to take care of the palace”.
Once again, David was on the run…something he was familiar with after continuously outrunning a murderous Saul. Now he would flee from his own son…a son who chose to betray him instead of honor him.
Of course, this wouldn’t be the last time we would witness betrayal in the scriptures. For we would later see the Messiah…our Savior, Jesus Christ…betrayed by one of His chosen disciples…not for the gain of a kingdom but for a mere thirty silver coins (Matthew 26:14-16). Also of interest was how a kiss would be connected in these two stories for the last thing David did to Absalom before his betrayal was kiss him while a kiss was the means which Judas used to betray Jesus, identifying Him to the Roman forces at Gethsemane and prompting Jesus to ask, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?” (Luke 22:48)
Judas’ betrayal started Jesus down the road to crucifixion…a crucifixion that the high priests thought would eliminate Jesus for good. O how wrong they were! And Absalom’s betrayal was meant to eliminate his father from the throne and O how wrong he was to think he would succeed in his treachery.
This is because Absalom’s and Judas’ actions were not a part of God’s plan…at least not knowingly.
Absalom never asked God whether he should try and overthrow his father. He took it on himself to try and take what wasn’t meant for him to have. And as we will see, he will fail in his efforts, dying while trying. His conspiracy only led to his demise.
Likewise, Judas betrayed Jesus out of greed, not because he knew it was what God wanted him to do. And through his act of conspiracy and betrayal, he found himself awash in his own guilt for selling out His Lord…and ultimately took his own life. His conspiracy, like Absalom, only led to his demise.
Friends, we need to learn a stern lesson from this. For too often, people scheme and connive against others, slyly thinking their efforts to conspire will lead to their benefit as they operate out of the view of those they wish to violate. Like Absalom and Judas, they are willing to sell out another for their own gain…whether that gain be power or material in nature.
With this, all of God’s people need to keep in mind something that Absalom and Judas chose to forget.
God sees everything.
He sees into the cracks and crevices of every heart and soul…extracting evil desires and plots well before they are ever hatched. And thus, we never are getting away with anything at any time…for God knows. And this alone should deter us from ever conspiring in any way…because conspiracy is only fruitful when it is done in a way that is deceptive and with God there is never any chance of deception…only truth.
In the end in this lesson from 2nd Samuel, Absalom was a man who sought out and won over the hearts of the men of Israel…but as we will see, he would be no match up against his father, David, who was a man after God’s own heart. God will triumph through His servant and appointed king...and Absalom will only find his way to destruction...as will anyone else who doesn’t realize the fruitless nature of conspiracy,
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
http://www.faithhopeandlove.info/
Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com
No comments:
Post a Comment