Why Is David Afflicted When He Actually Is God’s Annointed?
You may be
wondering why it is that God would allow David to be chased out of His holy
city, especially if David is God’s Anointed and a “man after God’s own
heart.” This is actually a fairly easy
question to answer, although the answer is very easy to forget. 2 Samuel 12:10 gives us the answer. Because David sinned with Bathsheba, the
sword would never depart from his house.
In a
sense, this has more to do with a series of sin rather than a single sin. David sinned with Bathsheba because his eyes
lusted after women. Because of David’s
lust, he had many wives. Because of
those many wives and the various households that it created, David’s kids had
rivalries between them. Because of these
rivalries, we had the Amnon and Tamar story as well as Absalom’s murderous act
against Amnon. Absalom’s revolt comes
about through a slow process of spiritual decline originating out of David’s
lust. Lust takes many forms. With David it was women, with Absalom the
focus of his lust is power.
But here’s
the really cool dynamic of God: God is not bound by the effects of humankind’s
choices. Yes, David’s philosophy of
“family” really brought about all of these consequences. But God can – and does – still use it!
In this
chapter we see the beginning steps of the division of the Hebrew people. Sides are chosen. Some support Absalom; others support
David. Although it would have been
better to not have sin enter the picture at all, God can use the consequences
to bring about His ways. God uses this
division to sort out the faithful and the loyal from the unfaithful and the
disloyal.
I find
this aspect of God fascinating. Life
would be better if we never sinned. But
we are human and we do sin. God is not
defeated by our sinfulness; He can actually use it to our benefit if we are
humble and allow Him to do so! This does
not mean we sin all the more so grace may abound. Rather it means that we strive for God’s ways
when we can find them – but we understand that even God can turn our sinfulness
into a means to bring us closer to Him, too.
All that is required for us is a willingness to repent when we do sin. That’s really cool.
Hushai
Let’s talk
a little bit about Hushai here.
Yesterday I spoke a good bit about lying and after thinking about it I
still think that my words were worth speaking.
But I want to draw a distinction between yesterday’s words and what we
read today. Today Hushai is not
lying. There is absolutely nothing wrong
with his plan. In fact, his plan makes a
great deal of sense.
David is a
skilled warrior, proving in the past against Saul that just because he has a
numbers disadvantage doesn’t mean he’ll lose.
David is wily and cunning. Going
out and pursuing David when he is angry is not the best time to go get
him. David would be like fighting a bear
that has been separated from her cubs! I
think Hushai is actually giving some pretty good sound tactical advice
here. Hushai is not lying in this
passage as he was yesterday. Although to
be sure, it is very true that his counsel does help David flee without being
pursued.
Furthermore,
notice that Hushai uses Absalom’s ego against him by suggesting that he lead
the force himself. Certainly Hushai is
on David’s side and using his influence to help David. In fact, it is actually this piece of advice
that will eventually get Absalom killed.
I don’t think that this is why Hushai said it, but it does lead to
Absalom being on the battlefield where he will die.
In the
end, today I have to praise Hushai.
Yesterday I found him deceitful because of his outright lie; today I
find his actions legitimate. He gives
sound military advice, but it is advice that is also sound for helping David. It isn’t that Hushai is intending harm or
deceit for Absalom, he is just giving legitimate counsel that will serve
multiple purposes.
Ahithophel
Finally,
let’s talk a little bit about Ahithophel. His advice is rejected and he hangs
himself. But is his problem really
rooted in himself or in his spirituality?
Notice
that Absalom doesn’t consult the Ark of the Lord when making this
decision. He doesn’t seek out the
priests. Absalom falls into the earlier
mistakes of the kings before him and Ahithophel finds his advice ignored. We can see that Absalom isn’t a spiritual
king, his is a worldly king.
I think Ahithophel
can smell the blood in the water and wants no part of the battle to come. Ahithophel can tell that Absalom is not the
one God is backing. Absalom’s behavior
demonstrates this to him.
I’m not
trying to say that what Ahithophel did was right or just. But it is understandable when Ahithophel
finally realized that he had backed the wrong horse. Things would not go well for him should
Absalom fall in battle and David find himself in power once again. I really do believe that Ahithophel can sense
where this is going and simply wants to be done with it all. So he hangs himself. It is a sad conclusion to a sad life.
Ending on Comparison to Jesus
To end,
let’s not miss over yet another note of similarity between David and
Jesus. David has an advisor go over to
the other side who hangs himself after seeing that he has backed the wrong
horse. Jesus had one of his own
disciples go over to the other side and hand Him over, too. Judas also hung himself when he saw that his
idea of what the Messiah would do did not come to pass.
<><
No comments:
Post a Comment