Scripture Passage
Scripture Focus
Then at last David summoned Absalom, who came and bowed low before the king, and the king kissed him. (2 Samuel 14:33 NLT)
Observation
I confess, I'm disappointed. It all feels “broken” to me today in today's reading. Maybe I just didn’t get enough sleep last night, need something to eat, or some other trifling attitude adjustment, but it all seems askew today. What should be…what's presented as…reconciliation between David and Absalom doesn’t really feel like reconciliation when all is said and done. There’s too much unfinished business floating around that nobody’s taking care of.
It’s the classic case of an “elephant in the room” nobody's willing to talk about. Actually, it's more like two or three elephants that nobody—especially David—is willing to tackle.
Why did David fail to act when Tamar was raped by her own half-brother? Why did David again fail to act when Absalom murdered Amnon? What kind of foolishness led David to expand his polygamous marriages in a way that resulted in all these fractured relationships between half-siblings? (It made me go back and read 2 Samuel 3, where David is recorded as having fathered children by six different wives—in addition to Michal, whom he’d already married, and Bathsheba, whom he’d married by the time we get to today’s reading.)
Elsewhere we learn that—at least with one other of his sons (Adonijah)—David “never interfered with him by asking, ‘Why do you behave as you do?’” (1 Kings 1:6 NIV).
It just appears that by this point, David’s personal life and family relationships have been cast aside in pursuit of…well, I don’t what—some military campaign or building project? It’s clear David faced some challenges for which there were no easy answers—challenges he, himself, had helped to create. I just wish he’d have tackled some of those challenges as enthusiastically and faith-fully as he’d taken on earlier obstacles. Goliath doesn’t always take the shape of a Philistine giant.
1 comment:
I, too, get frustrated with David and the way he handles his family affairs. When Amnon threw out Tamar that made it appear as though it was her fault - she had propositioned him. Also, she could not be given in marriage because she was no longer a virgin. In addition to this crime against her, then along comes Absalom who tells her to keep it a secret. This might be the beginning of "family secrets" that do irrepairable harm to those involved.
How was Tamar to heal if she couldn't share or express her outrage and shame? And, her own father did nothing to help her. I wonder who, if anyone, really comforted her. David may have hesitated to punish Amnon because Amnon was his firstborn son and next in line to the throne. In addition, David was guilty of a similar sin himself in his adultery with Bathsheba. Perhaps David's guilt caused him to decline to discipline his own sons. The cycle of lust was not broken from father to son. David could have corrected this evil in his family and exemplifed character and obedience to God.
Maridel Alspaw
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