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.
Absalom fled and went to Talmai son of Ammihud, the king of Geshur. But King David mourned for his son every day. After Absalom fled and went to Geshur, he stayed there three years. And the spirit of the king longed to go to Absalom, for he was consoled concerning Amnon's death.
Joab son of Zeruiah knew that the king's heart longed for Absalom. So Joab sent someone to Tekoa and had a wise woman brought from there. He said to her, "Pretend you are in mourning. Dress in mourning clothes, and don't use any cosmetic lotions. Act like a woman who has spent many days grieving for the dead. Then go to the king and speak these words to him." And Joab put the words in her mouth.
When the woman from Tekoa went to the king, she fell with her face to the ground to pay him honor, and she said, "Help me, O king!" The king asked her, "What is troubling you?"
She said, "I am indeed a widow; my husband is dead. I your servant had two sons. They got into a fight with each other in the field, and no one was there to separate them. One struck the other and killed him. Now the whole clan has risen up against your servant; they say, 'Hand over the one who struck his brother down, so that we may put him to death for the life of his brother whom he killed; then we will get rid of the heir as well.' They would put out the only burning coal I have left, leaving my husband neither name nor descendant on the face of the earth."
The king said to the woman, "Go home, and I will issue an order in your behalf." But the woman from Tekoa said to him, "My lord the king, let the blame rest on me and on my father's family, and let the king and his throne be without guilt."
The king replied, "If anyone says anything to you, bring him to me, and he will not bother you again." She said, "Then let the king invoke the Lord his God to prevent the avenger of blood from adding to the destruction, so that my son will not be destroyed." "As surely as the Lord lives," he said, "not one hair of your son's head will fall to the ground."
Then the woman said, "Let your servant speak a word to my lord the king." "Speak," he replied.
The woman said, "Why then have you devised a thing like this against the people of God? When the king says this, does he not convict himself, for the king has not brought back his banished son? Like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die. But God does not take away life; instead, He devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from Him.
"And now I have come to say this to my lord the king because the people have made me afraid. Your servant thought, 'I will speak to the king; perhaps he will do what his servant asks. Perhaps the king will agree to deliver his servant from the hand of the man who is trying to cut off both me and my son from the inheritance God gave us.'
"And now your servant says, 'May the word of my lord the king bring me rest, for my lord the king is like an angel of God in discerning good and evil. May the Lord your God be with you.' "
Then the king said to the woman, "Do not keep from me the answer to what I am going to ask you." "Let my lord the king speak," the woman said.
The king asked, "Isn't the hand of Joab with you in all this?" The woman answered, "As surely as you live, my lord the king, no one can turn to the right or to the left from anything my lord the king says. Yes, it was your servant Joab who instructed me to do this and who put all these words into the mouth of your servant. Your servant Joab did this to change the present situation. My lord has wisdom like that of an angel of God—he knows everything that happens in the land."
The king said to Joab, "Very well, I will do it. Go, bring back the young man Absalom."
Joab fell with his face to the ground to pay him honor, and he blessed the king. Joab said, "Today your servant knows that he has found favor in your eyes, my lord the king, because the king has granted his servant's request."
Then Joab went to Geshur and brought Absalom back to Jerusalem. But the king said, "He must go to his own house; he must not see my face." So Absalom went to his own house and did not see the face of the king.
In all Israel there was not a man so highly praised for his handsome appearance as Absalom. From the top of his head to the sole of his foot there was no blemish in him. Whenever he cut the hair of his head—he used to cut his hair from time to time when it became too heavy for him — he would weigh it, and its weight was two hundred shekels by the royal standard.
Three sons and a daughter were born to Absalom. The daughter's name was Tamar, and she became a beautiful woman.
Absalom lived two years in Jerusalem without seeing the king's face. Then Absalom sent for Joab in order to send him to the king, but Joab refused to come to him. So he sent a second time, but he refused to come. Then he said to his servants, "Look, Joab's field is next to mine, and he has barley there. Go and set it on fire." So Absalom's servants set the field on fire.
Then Joab did go to Absalom's house and he said to him, "Why have your servants set my field on fire?"
Absalom said to Joab, "Look, I sent word to you and said, 'Come here so I can send you to the king to ask, "Why have I come from Geshur? It would be better for me if I were still there!" ' Now then, I want to see the king's face, and if I am guilty of anything, let him put me to death."
So Joab went to the king and told him this. Then the king summoned Absalom, and he came in and bowed down with his face to the ground before the king. And the king kissed Absalom.
2 Samuel 13:37-39, 14
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Absalom, fresh off of having Amnon killed out of revenge for the rape of his sister Tamar, fled to Geshur where he remained for three years. Meanwhile, David “mourned for his son every day”…his spirit longing to go to Absalom because he was “consoled concerning Amnon's death”. But David never did go to his estranged son, instead remaining in Jerusalem.
Enter Joab, the commander of David’s army, who “knew that the king's heart longed for Absalom” and so he decided to do something about it.
Question: How many times do we find people in conflict with one another? And how often do these conflicts happen within the framework of a family?
I don’t know about you but I have had more than my fair share of family conflicts and, often times, have had to play the role of mediator…particularly since I am the oldest of five siblings.
Sometimes mediation is a real blessing for a third party can enter in to initiate reunion and reconciliation where there is separation and discord. As we see, Joab does just that.
For we read where Joab sends “someone to Tekoa” to have a “wise woman brought from there”. She would play a key part in getting David to realize that he should reconcile his differences with Absalom, especially given how he still loved him.
Joab tells the woman to dress to appear as if she had been mourning and then gave her the words she was to speak when she went to David. And with that, she was off to see the king.
As she goes to David, “the woman from Tekoa…fell with her face to the ground to pay him honor” while saying, "Help me, O king!" to which David asked about what was troubling her. The woman goes into saying to David what Joab had told her to say…that she was a widow with two sons who had gotten into a fight while in the field…and during that fight one of the sons had killed the other. Now she was troubled because her clan had demanded that she hand the murdering son over so they could kill him and avenge the death of his brother…an act that would “put out the only burning coal” she had left and result in her deceased husband having “neither name nor descendant on the face of the earth”.
After hearing her story, David ensures the woman that she and her son would be protected but the woman wanted more than just David’s word…she wanted her assurance from the Lord. And so she asked David to “invoke the Lord his God to prevent the avenger of blood from adding to the destruction, so that my son will not be destroyed." And David did as she asked saying, “As surely as the Lord lives…not one hair of your son's head will fall to the ground."
With that, the woman stops her story and instead turns her words toward David himself…who had not realized that the woman’s words were like a personal parable for him.
For David had shown a willingness to protect a son who had murdered his brother, even invoking the name of the Lord to ensure he would be safe, and yet, he had not allowed Absalom to return home. This is what led the woman to ask David if his words didn’t convict himself because he had not brought back his banished son. She further goes on to remind David that life is short…”like water spilled on the ground” that “cannot be recovered” before saying the words to David that were most important…words that are most important to us as well.
For she says to David, “…God does not take away life; instead, He devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from Him”. In other words, God doesn’t shy away from receiving anyone back who wants to reunite and reconcile themselves to Him. No…instead, God is always working to devise situations that would bring those who have strayed away back to His flock…so that any banished person (a person who has turned to sin) may not be estranged from Him.
Given this, if God is forgiving and longing so much for reunion that He devises ways for it to happen so He can bring about reconciliation, then how much more so should we do it as well?
This is essentially the question that the woman poses to David…and the Lord poses to us today.
Back to the scriptures where we see the woman put the icing on her words of conviction by reminding David of his special relationship with the Lord telling him he is “like an angel of God in discerning good and evil” before hoping that the Lord be with him.
Well…David was a pretty smart king…admired by the woman as having wisdom like an angel of God. He figured out pretty quickly that this woman had to be put up to coming before him by someone else…someone who knew a lot about his circumstance as well as his personal feelings. And so he asked the woman, “Isn't the hand of Joab with you in all this?" to which the woman acknowledged as being true. And she told David that Joab did it with the hope of changing the present situation between him and his banished son, Absalom. Given this, David said to Joab, “Very well, I will do it. Go, bring back the young man Absalom" to which Joab, after falling “with his face to the ground to pay him honor”, replied, “Today your servant knows that he has found favor in your eyes, my lord the king, because the king has granted his servant's request." And so Joab goes to Geshur, bringing “Absalom back to Jerusalem”.
Scripture goes on to tell us about Absalom…that “there was not a man so highly praised for his handsome appearance” in Israel as he had no blemish “from the top of his head to the sole of his foot”. And during his life, “three sons and a daughter were born to Absalom” with the daughter, Tamar…named for his sister who had been violated by Amnon, becoming a beautiful woman.
So all seems well again in Jerusalem…right? Well, not quite yet because for whatever reason, David commanded that his son “must go to his own house” and “not see my face”. And so this is what happened as Absalom “went to his own house and did not see the face” of his father for two years.
Such a duration of time soon frustrated Absalom who sent for Joab not once but twice with the hope of going to see his father. But both times Joab refused to come and so Absalom decided to get Joab’s attention by sending his servants to set Joab’s barley field afire…an act that got the desired effect as Joab went to Absalom and demanded to know, “Why have your servants set my field on fire?" Absalom told Joab that he had sent word to Joab with no response and was beginning to wonder why Joab had even brought him back to Jesrusalem feeling like it would have been better if he had just remained in Geshur.
Absalom then demanded to “see the king's face” willing to die if he was “guilty of anything”. And so “Joab went to the king and told him” what Absalom had said. And David “summoned Absalom” who “came in and bowed down with his face to the ground before” his father who then kissed him.
At this moment, all seemed well again in Jerusalem. Unfortunately, David had no way of knowing that Absalom would not stay loyal to him.
But more on that later as we study more in 2nd Samuel. Today’s scripture teaches us important lessons on reunion and reconciliation…the most important of which is that we should treat these matters just as God does.
For how many times have we wronged our Lord, only to experience His forgiveness and grace and mercy and love? I don’t know about you but I would have trouble counting the number of times He has forgiven me. So given this, I feel I have no right to harbor a grudge against another person but instead show the same pardon that the Lord has shown me.
After all, didn’t the very words of Jesus convict us to do so. Remember when He said these words:
Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?"
Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
“Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.
As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
"The servant fell on his knees before him. 'Be patient with me,' he begged, 'and I will pay back everything.' The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
"But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. 'Pay back what you owe me!' he demanded.
"His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.'
"But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened.
"Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?' In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
"This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."
Matthew 18:21-35
Indeed, we are to forgive as the Master forgives us. And if you need anymore convincing, let me offer one last point to seal this message…for the yardstick by which we should measure forgiveness is found on the cross as our Savior hangs crucified. In the midst of His circumstances, He spoke these words:
"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." Matthew 23:34
In the midst of more suffering than any of us will ever know…in the midst of the mocking and ridicule from the Roman soldiers and the crowds who gathered to watch Him die, Jesus…the perfect Lamb of God…the Savior who did nothing but love and teach and heal during his short life on earth…this one and only Son of the Father in the midst of the worst situation imaginable, knowing He was soon to die while bearing all the sin of mankind…this Man Jesus Christ, who could have commanded a legion of angels to come and kill everyone who had done Him wrong, instead chose to forgive. For anyone who would crucify Him and kill Him surely could not possibly know what they were doing.
Friends, if Jesus can forgive in the midst of His circumstance, then so can we in any and all circumstances we will face. My prayer is that you will do that this day and let go of any grudge you have carried…a grudge that has done nothing but poison you from the inside out…a grudge that you have no right to carry.
Forgive as Jesus forgave you.
Will you deny Him that today…or any other day for the rest of your life?
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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