David’s Mourning, Part 2
Today we
are going to talk a little more about the mourning of David. Yesterday I wanted to leave David’s mourning
focused solely on the positive. We spoke
about David’s mourning as that of a loving parent having lost a son. Furthermore, I think that today I can add the
concept we find in Ezekiel 33:11 where it says God takes no pleasure in the
death of the wicked but would prefer for them to repent. I believe this to also be true of David. David takes no pleasure in the death of his
son in spite of his wicked and treasonous act.
However,
David does not handle his mourning well with respect to the general
public. David displays such a greatness
of mourning in public that the people in the city with whom he had taken refuge
begin to mourn rather than celebrate the victory. The very soldiers who had gone out to fight
for David see David’s actions and begin to mourn the very victory that God had
given into their hands. This is mourning
that has gone too far.
God has
delivered David and God has made it possible for His chosen king to return to
Jerusalem and rule His people. When our
mourning and our grief becomes so great that it trumps our ability to be
thankful for the working of God’s hand then our mourning has gone too far. I think Joab is very wise in his counsel to
David. There is nothing wrong with
mourning the loss of a son; but there is something wrong with taking God’s
deliverance and treating it as if it were an act of evil and something to be
publically mourned.
Joab’s Advice
I continue
to find great wisdom with Joab’s advice, specifically the words “for you love
those who hate you and you hate those who love you.” (2 Samuel 19:6) The trouble isn’t the first part: David loving
those who hate him. As followers of God
we are to show mercy to our enemies. As
followers of Jesus Christ we are to love those who persecute us! We are to love those who hate us!
The
problem is the second part of Joab’s point: David behaves as though he hates
those who love him. When our love for
our enemies makes our supporters – our spiritual family, if you will! – feel as
though they are despised then we have taken our love for our enemies in the
wrong direction. I doubt Joab would have
minded David’s private mourning for his son – that would have been completely natural. But David takes it too far and it nearly
costs him the kingdom that God has placed into his hands!
Shimei’s Repentance
In the
story that follows we have a great example of repentance. Shimei comes to David. Shimei did not need to come; David had
already pardoned his action when he was leaving Jerusalem in the first
place. But here we see Shimei come and
acknowledge that what he had done was a sin in the eyes of God. This took great courage, especially since Shimei
no doubt knew that it would put him again in the presence of Abishai – who
wanted to kill him for David the first time they met! Yes, there may be some political motivation
for Shimei to come and make a public apology; but even so it is a great
example. Our world would be a much
better place if our leaders would learn that “protecting their ego” is nowhere
near as important as humbly confessing wrongdoing so that everyone can move
forward.
Mephibosheth
We also
have the story of Mephibosheth coming to David.
In this story I have a bit of internal struggle. Was Mephibosheth telling the truth and had
Ziba deceived him? It seems likely given
that Mephibosheth had not taken care of his body, for this would be a sign of
mourning about his current situation.
However, Ziba’s aid came at a crucial time for David in spite of the
fact that he seemed to be lying about Mephibosheth’s loyalty at the time. It is likely that David was not able to be
certain about who was really being completely forthright with him – if either
one was telling the complete truth! I am
willing to bet that David was a bit suspicious of both Mephibosheth’s and
Ziba’s true loyalty. Because of this, I
think David is right in splitting Mephibosheth’s kingdom between Mephibosheth
and Ziba.
The Leaders of Judah
Finally,
we have the long story at the end about David requesting that the leaders of
Judah come and escort him back to Jerusalem.
We should be careful to note that this is not likely an act of pride on
David’s behalf.
Judah had
largely supported Absalom in the revolt. It is possible that David may be forcing them
to come out and escort him as a sign of their guilt and wrong judgment about
Absalom. But I don’t think this to be
the case.
Rather,
what I think is going on here is that David is calling to his opponents and
offering to “bridge the chasm” between them.
David is hoping to peaceably reunite the kingdom under him. If you will, I think this gesture is an
example of the proverbial olive branch extended to one’s opponents. I personally believe this to be a gesture of
peace, not domination.
However,
this will eventually backfire on David’s line.
As we can see, this act causes the chasm between Judah and the rest of
Israel to grow. In the coming chapters
we will hear about how this chasm brings about another revolt. Once Solomon dies, the fruit of this act will
be the dissolution of Israel into two distinct nations: Israel (the northern
kingdom) and Judah (the southern kingdom).
What can
we learn here? As with the lesson on
mourning, we need to be careful about our public displays concerning our
enemies. With Absalom, David mourned too
much in public and alienated his friends.
With respect to Judah leading David back to Jerusalem, David extended
too much courtesy to his opponents and ended up alienating the rest of the
Hebrew people. We are to love our
enemies and we are to be hospitable to them.
But we should also be careful not to alienate our spiritual kin in the
process.
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