Book Two (Psalms 42-72): Focuses on deliverance,
longing for God and kingship.
In
the words of C.S. Lewis: “The heart can and should obey the head”. David, the
King of Israel is concrete proof of these words. His transgression with Bath-Sheba
cost him dearly and led to many family and national tragedies. He spent the
rest of his life regretting what he did. In one psalm he expressed his mental
torment and pleaded for forgiveness:
“Have
mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness: according unto the
multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly
from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my
transgressions; and my sin is ever before me…..
“Create
in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not
away from thy presence, and take not thy holy spirit from me.” (Psalm 51:1-3, 10-11)
David
paid a high price for the example that he set for his children. That example
created so much turmoil and complexity within his family life that prophet
Nathan told him “the sword shall never depart from thine house” (2 Samuel
12:10).
Psalms
42-72 speaks a lot about David’s enemies and his supplication to God for
protection and deliverance. And this is the tragedy of all tragedies…..imagine
your greatest enemy coming from your own family. Many of us have family
conflict but what David experienced was another level of family strife.
David’s
example of following his bodily lust with Bath-Sheba played itself the second
time around with his first-born son and heir Amnon who developed a consuming
lust for his half sister Tamar. After the rape he rejected her and hated her
‘exceedingly’ (2 Samuel 13:15-22). Knowing that she had been disgraced and
would therefore be deprived of a husband, Tamar mourned in the manner of a
widow (vs 19,20). And she mourned for two years in the house of her brother
Absalom who took her under his protection.
David
was furious with Amnon but his own conduct with Bath-Sheba had left him without
basis for condemnation: “Because of his own guilt, David did not act to correct
this great abomination in his own household. David learned the sad lesson that
a man’s sins can often visit him even to the third and fourth generation (see
Exodus 34:7)” (Old Testament Student Manual Genesis – 2 Samuel, The Price of
Sin: Tragedy in the House of David)
After
two years of watching his sister mourn, Absalom was enraged that his father did
nothing to correct the injustice done to her so he took matters in his own
hands. He arranged the murder of his brother Amnon at the feast he held for the
annual sheep shearing and escaped to his grandfather’s home in Geshur (2 Samuel
13:23-39).
From
there things progressed so far that Absalom plotted to overthrow his father as
king. He began to act like a king and campaigned to gain favour with the people
and ‘stole the hearts of the men of Israel’ (see 2 Samuel 15:1-12). I can see how
both injustice and love for another human being can drive a man to extreme
behaviour. I don’t know which drove Absalom to such extremes but his love for
his sister touched me deeply.
The
first time that David, a man of war, turned his back on his enemies was the
time he fled Jerusalem in the face of insurrection from his son. This was a
highly uncharacteristic thing for him to do considering that Jerusalem was a
fortress to be reckoned with. Instead of facing the enemy “he appears to take
all as coming from the hand of God; therefore he humbles himself, weeps,
goes barefoot, and covers his head! He does not even hasten his departure, for
the habit of mourners is not the habit of those who are flying before the face
of their enemies. He sees the storm, and he yields to what he conceives to be
the tempest of the Almighty.” (Clarke, Bible Commentary, 2:350)
Some
believe Psalm 55 was written by David to express his feelings over Absalom’s
revolt. Note especially verses 12-14 and 20-21.
This
is the outcome of David’s tragic life: The two armies who fought for the throne
slaughtered 20,000 men (2 Samuel 18:7). Even though David’s army prevailed and
he regained the throne, the personal tragedy of his family never ended. His
charismatic son Absalom, whom David loved deeply, was murdered by the captain
of David’s army and David wept: “O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If
only I had died instead of you – O Absalom, my son, my son! (2 Samuel 18:9-17, 33)
“It
is almost as though after his sin with Bath-Sheba and the murder of Uriah the
light that gave David his political genius went out. His actions during this
extreme crisis were of blind loyalty to an evil son and of one foolish decision
after another.” ((Old Testament Student Manual Genesis – 2 Samuel, The Price
of Sin: Tragedy in the House of David)
But
there is more…..under advice to show Israel that his father hated him, Absalom sexually
defiled all ten of his father’s concubines (2 Samuel 16:21-23). Under the Mosaic
law (see Leviticus 18), once defiled, married women could not again enjoy the
married state. When David returned to his house, he shut up these women and fed
them ‘unto the day of their death, living in widowhood’ (2 Samuel 20:3).
Yes,
there is still more….David promised Bath-Sheba that her son Solomon would succeed
him and sit on his throne instead of Absalom’s brother Adonijah who was next in
succession. I suspect guilt had something to do with it. When Adonijah started
asserting his right to the throne, Solomon had him put to death to secure his
place on the throne of his father David (1 Kings 1:13,17;29,30; 2:15,:23-25). And
so David lost three sons and went to his death having lost his exaltation (D&C
132:38,39).
David’s repentance and godly sorrow led to his gratefulness for the resurrection of the unjust which is known as ‘the sure mercies of David’ (see Bruce R. McConkie, The Promised Messiah, p 272).
David went to his death honouring the
justice and mercy of God:
“….
my heart is glad…..for thou wilt not leave my soul in hell…..” Psalm 16:9,10)
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
No comments:
Post a Comment