Revolt
Revolt. Revolution.
Two words – they are nearly synonymous in that they describe the same
event. What separates them is
perspective. Revolution is the word used
by the proponents of change. Revolt is
the word used by the proponents of tradition.
Think about it in terms of Jesus.
Christians today would consider folks like Jesus, John the Baptizer,
Peter, and Paul to be revolutionaries.
But what did the Jewish leaders in the Sanhedrin say about Jesus and
John and the rest? They called them
rebels – leaders of a revolt against them. When it comes to God and faith, perspective is
everything.
So let’s
talk about this revolution … or is it a revolt?
Absalom’s Outward Attractiveness
Absalom
goes about winning the hearts of the people.
He greeted people who had come up to the court of the king and reminded
them that they had nobody to plead their case before the king. Absalom made a promise that if he were king
things would be better. It’s good to
know that politicians have been making these kinds of promises for a few
millennia, at least! Highly charismatic
people always promise that things will be better under them.
Then,
Absalom goes about and gives people fake homage. He touched peoples’ hands and gave them a
kiss, trying to show them the sincerity of his love. But unfortunately the people don’t see through
the show. Just because someone treats
you with kindness does not mean they are your friend. In fact, often grandiose displays of
affection are actually a sign of a covered-up hidden agenda. Absalom is up to no good, but the people buy
into his political snow job. Here we see
another point. In politics, people don’t
usually see the end-game because they are too busy listening to the hype.
Absalom’s Spiritual Unattractiveness
Then there
is the lie that Absalom gives to David about Hebron. Now, don’t get me wrong. Perhaps Absalom did make a vow to God. But I doubt the sincerity of the vow. The Bible tells us that it took four years
for Absalom to give homage to God and fulfill his vow to God! Doesn’t that seem a little pathetic and
insincere to anyone? If I make a vow to
God and God fulfills His end of the bargain, would you not think that out of my
gratitude I would want to uphold my end of the bargain quickly to show my
appreciation to God? It took four years
for Absalom to remember to thank God about bringing him back to Jerusalem. This doesn’t seem like a holy vow to God to
me. This is all about political scheming
– and using the cover of spirituality to make it seem righteous.
David’s Poor Response
David lets
Absalom go in peace, and like the people of Israel he doesn’t pierce Absalom’s
deception. David’s love for Absalom
blinds him. His inability to call
Absalom to repentance keeps him from seeing Absalom’s true heart. He has no recourse but to flee because he is
aware of Absalom’s deception far too late.
Spiritual weakness will only enable sin to grow unchecked.
Ittai the Gittite
I also
love this passage about Ittai the Gittite.
What a name! Ittai – a foreigner
by David’s own confession – shows us a brilliant foreshadowing of the vast
majority of Christians alive today.
Ittai was completely a foreigner.
He was not a Hebrew; he was completely and totally a Gentile. He had no reason to be loyal to David. David even gave him permission to stay
behind. But Ittai knows that it is better
to give up this life to stay close to spirituality than to sacrifice
spirituality for the sake of comfort in this world.
Reflect on
that last sentence, for it is powerful.
How many of us can make the same claim?
How many of us Christians truly put the pursuit of spirituality as the
primary goal of our life? How many of us
really show that we are loyal to God by being willing to leave the security of
our own home and follow the spiritual one among us? Oh, and for the record, is this not exactly
what Jesus asked of every disciple/apostle in the New Testament – including
Paul? Ittai is a great foreshadowing of
Christianity!
For the
record, note that Ittai does something that even the Levites who bore the Ark
of the Lord and Zadok the priest did not do.
Ittai follows David at all costs in spite of David urging him to stay in
Jerusalem. The priest and the bearers of
the Ark do not. I’m not judging them;
perhaps God did actually desire them to stay in Jerusalem. But I do lift it up to the greater glory regarding
the faith that God gave to Ittai!
David and the Mount of Olives
Last,
let’s look at the fact that David comes unto the Mount of Olives and
weeps. Does this not remind anyone else
of another story involving the denial of a king in Jerusalem? Where did Jesus go after sharing Passover
(the Lord’s Supper) with His disciples?
Jesus, a rejected king in Jerusalem, goes out to the Mount of Olives to
mourn. (See Matthew 26:30ff as well as
Mark 14:26ff) What’s really cool is that
David eventually returns to Jerusalem to rule.
And for the record, so will Jesus.
I think
this is a great place of foreshadowing.
David is rejected because the hearts of the people are won over by the
outward appearance of Absalom. Jesus is
ultimately rejected because the hearts of the people are ultimately won over by
the outward appearances of the religious leaders. This is a good thing to learn about
humanity. Crowds of people are often led
astray by charismatic leadership for all the wrong reasons. Spiritual leadership is often rejected by the
masses.
That’s a
great place to stop and ponder. God’s
peace.
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