Week 82, Day 2: God overthrows Absalom’s counsel
Today’s Reading: 2 Samuel 17:1-29
Some thoughts from today’s reading…
David’s hastily made plans enacted when he was fleeing Jerusalem have now begun to bear fruit. David had told one of his counselors named Hushai to remain behind in Jerusalem. This man was in a position to be able to thwart the good advice from Absalom’s counselor. We are told that this was the work of the Lord (vs. 14). Here we have a glimpse that God is working to help David even in the midst of punishing David. God caused evil to come against David from within his own household as the prophet Nathan had told him. God was limiting what calamity was befalling David. Clearly God was keeping David from being killed. From David’s standpoint he would not have known to what extent this punishment would go or how long things would last. But God was good to David and allowed him to return later.
Question: When we are beset by hardships, what attitude should we have regarding our outlook and devotion to God?
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Week 82, Day 1: David’s flight
Today’s Reading: 2 Samuel 16:1-23
Some thoughts from today’s reading…
As David is fleeing before Absalom he is met by a couple different people. One of them was from the house of Saul. He verbally and physically attacked the caravan as it traveled along the road. He slung curses at David calling him a man of bloodshed. He claimed that God was repaying the bloodshed David had inflicted on the house of Saul. But the only bloodshed that David had directly inflicted on Saul’s household was to slay the seven sons of Saul as punishment for Saul’s attack against the Gibeonites and that had not happened yet. This also was not an act of vengence by David but justice for wrongs done by Saul. So either Shimei is just blaming David for all the calamity that befell Saul’s household since David is now king or perhaps he is blaming him for Ish-bosheth’s death. Either way it is an unfounded claim of wrong doing against David. And yet David feels so low because he is being driven out and punished for his sin with Bathsheba. He wonders if God wants this man to curse him. Notice how this man doesn’t just meet David and say something to him about how he deserves this, he follows him down the road hurling stones and continuing to rant at David. I believe that we see an amazing amount of restraint by David when he does not punish this man upon his return to be king.
Question: How should we react when someone is cursing us or assaulting us? What can our response show others?
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Week 82, Day 5: Absalom takes over
Today’s Reading: 2 Samuel 15:1-37
Some thoughts from today’s reading…
Absalom has displayed that he is a calculating man. It was two years before he executed his plan to kill Amnon. Now it has been four years since he returned and he has slowly been turning the hearts of the people to him. He stole away the hearts of the people and made his coup strong. In an instance David is forced to flee for his life. It is impressive to think that a son would seek to slay his own father. Perhaps it was David’s lack of guidance and control in his own house. He had not done anything apparently about Amnon’s wicked actions and now he seems to have left Absalom to stew on things for years. How sad that a man so dedicated to God (David) could handle his own house so poorly. Sadly it is something that has been repeated many times over the years.
David’s plight though is a direct result of his sin with Bathsheba. Let us not deceive ourselves into thinking that sin will not cost us anything. No matter how “small” the sin may appear or how enticing the action is (David commited adultery secretly – not many knew about it) we need to remember that our sin is before God and we will have to answer for our actions. Sin will find us out and we can be forgiven by God’s great mercy, but there are often unavoidable consequences that follow sin.
Question: How well did David handle things as he was fleeing? Do you think he could have done anything differently?
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Week 82, Day 4: Joab’s plan
Today’s Reading: 2 Samuel 14:1-33
Some thoughts from today’s reading…
Joab recognized that David longed for his son Absalom and so he devises a plan to get David to bring back Absalom. Joab doesn’t just go and talk to David. For some reason he sets about getting this elaborate plan together on how to move David emotionally to see the need to bring Absalom back. I wonder if this plan was enacted because Joab knew David so well that he understood that David would not bring him back without a special kind of nudge. The widow’s story appears to be designed to pull at David’s heart strings and get him to think with his emotions. But David perceives that something else is going on with the widow’s story and is able to guess that Joab is behind it. We will see times later where Joab appears to speak very frankly with David. For example, when David mourns for the loss of his son Absalom after the rebellion was put down. Joab confronts David about his weeping and rebukes him for not showing thanks towards his fighting men. This was a bold step for Joab to do and appears to show how close a relationship he shared with David to be able to approach him in such ways.
So many times people will do like Joab and try to use emotions to get someone to act in a certain manner. In this case I am not sure why Joab took it upon himself to spur David to action. Why was Joab worried about it? Perhaps it was simply that he wanted to see David happy and not sitting around missing his son.
Question: How can acting out of emotions be a bad thing? What problems can result from just following our emotions?
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Week 82, Day 3: Amnon is repaid
Today’s Reading: 2 Samuel 13:1-39
Some thoughts from today’s reading…
Amnon’s “love” and hatred for his half sister Tamar has always been intriguing to me. He had pined away longing after his sister. The text tells us that he loved his sister and that is what made him sick. I think of this as being puppy love. He saw her and desired her. Based on how quickly his love turned to hate I would say that he had in his mind some made up fantasy of how Tamar would love him as well and welcome his advances. When she refused to lie with him and instead tried to talk reason into him he raped her. No person who loves another would do such a thing. Amnon lusted for his sister and was consumed with his desire. The thoughts of his mind then bore fruit by producing action. Amnon then hated Tamar with a greater hatred. Perhaps this is because she rejected his advances to have a fling with him. But he then just throws her out of his house. What a horrible scene.
Thus the fruits of David’s adultery start to come forth. For from Amnon’s actions we see the beginnings of the evil that will be raised up against David from within his own household. Amnon’s sin begins a course that we will soon see costs David very dearly.
Question: How should David have handled the situation with Amnon when he found out what he had done?
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Week 82, Day 2: You are the man
Today’s Reading: 2 Samuel 12:1-31
Some thoughts from today’s reading…
The prophet Nathan is sent to confront David regarding his adultery. Some period of time had passed between David’s sin and when Nathan is sent. Remember that David had Urriah killed, Bathsheba mourned for her husband, David took her to be his wife and she had the baby. In all this time David had not been moved to make amends for his sin through prayer and sacrifice. Nathan now confronts David of his sin and tells him what his punishment will be.
We see that although David was forgiven of his sin, there were still consequences. The consequence of sin may be severe at times. I wonder how often David wished he had not sinned. His life and the life of his family would have been very different if he had refrained.
Question: Why do you think David reacted so strongly to Nathan’s story about the rich man taking the poor man’s sheep? Why did this story apply so well to David?
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Week 82, Day 1: David’s fall
Today’s Reading: 2 Samuel 11:1-27
Some thoughts from today’s reading…
David was a man like any of us. He had to have sinned in his life often. But here we have recorded for us one sin in particular. Why? I wonder if it is because the difference perhaps is how willful this sin is and how David labored to cover up his actions. We are not told such details so it avails little to speculate but it is interesting to think about.
David commits adultery. Knowingly takes another man’s wife. A man whom he knows because this is one of his mighty men. Uriah fought bravely for his king and servced faithfully in the army. Here David sees his wife bathing and sends for her to lie with her. What was David thinking? How could he have done such a thing? All the whys are not given but we have recorded for us the downfall of a great man of faith. David has already shown such devotion to God. Here at David’s height, he falls to willful sin. God will hold David accountable for his actions and oh how great the price will be.
Question: What reasons can you think of for why David might have gone ahead and commited this sin? How can we guard our ways so that we do not fall prey to the same kind of situation?
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Week 81, Day 5: Battle again
Today’s Reading: 2 Samuel 10:1-19
Some thoughts from today’s reading…
Battle again comes to David’s doorstep. Instead of it being from a long standing adversary, war comes because a king who had formerly been friendly to David died. This demonstrates to me how fragile politics has always been. David did not have problems from the former king, he had problems because the king’s heir was foolish. David sent his messengers to carry his condolences to the king’s son and because of distrust, the son mistreats them. This action leads to much ruin to come upon his newly inherited realm. This occasion makes me think of the passage in Ecclesiastes 2:18-19. The wise man wrote about all our labors and who knows what the man will do who inherits the fruit of our labors. Will he be wise or a fool. Will he preserve, build up or destroy all that you have labored for in life? This kind of an account should serve as a reminder for us. Man can pursue wealth and riches, but they do not last. What if your son is a fool and wastes all that you have worked hard for? What would man say of all your labors then? We must always keep in mind what really matters in life and make sure to leave something behind that will be more important than wealth or possessions – faith. If we instill faith in our children then we will have done well and leave behind something that will continue to shine in the lives of men. Fools devour riches but a man rich in faith will have much joy in life.
Question: What lesson might we learn about what the king’s son should have done in this situation? What does this say about who you pick to be your counselors?
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Week 81, Day 4: Mephibosheth
Today’s Reading: 2 Samuel 9:1-13
Some thoughts from today’s reading…
Now that David has secured his throne and been granted rest from his enemies, he turns his eyes to accomplishing another work. David and Saul’s son Jonathan had made a vow to have peace between their houses. David now sought to honor that covenant by seeking out Jonathan’s son. It is sad that Jonathan’s only son was now lame. He had been injured by Saul’s servant. After Saul died, the servant gathered Mephibosheth up in order to flee but fell and it damaged both of his feet. So now Mephibosheth has been living many years in some kind of seclusion. David brings Mephibosheth and grants him all the lands that Saul had once owned. He has just made this man rich overnight and given him servants to tend to his new lands. David has extended great mercy to Mephibosheth and has kept his word to Jonathan.
Question: How easy would it have been for David to forget about the oath he made with Jonathan? What does the keeping of this oath show about David?
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Week 81, Day 3: David’s victories
Today’s Reading: 2 Samuel 8:1-18
Some thoughts from today’s reading…
We are now told about David’s victories. God provided him numerous and great victories over his enemies. There appears to be no limit to David’s might. He is finally able to subdue the Philistines, even taking their chief city. That would be like someone taking Jerusalem from Israel. He also conquers Moab, Edom, Damascus, and a king named Hadadezer. We are told of some of the treasure that he began to acquire through these victories. Soon there will be a great store of wealth for building the temple. It is sometimes very difficult to imagine just how much treasure David had stored up for the temple. We will talk about this after a little while.
Another thing to note is that the son of Abiathar, the priest who followed David during his days fleeing Saul, is now serving as priests. This is the family that Saul had almost wiped out because they had aided David when he fled. Now David has restored them to serving God.
Question: Why do you think king Toi felt compelled to send a gift to David by the hand of his own son?
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