05/29/2019 DAB Transcript

2 Samuel 14:1-15:22, John 18:1-24, Psalms 119:97-112, Proverbs 16:8-9

Today is the 29th day of May. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it is great to be here with you today on hump day as we cross through the center of our week together. And we’ve been spending our time, at least in the Old Testament, as you know, getting to know King David and we’re in the part of the story where things have begun to really fall apart in his family. One of his sons, Amnon, raped his sister Tamar. Her brother Absalom, also David’s son, killed Amnon for this and then he had to go on the run to the north near the Sea of Galilee to the city of Geshur where he was in exile for several years and that’s where we pick up the story today. We’re reading from the New International Version this week. Second Samuel chapter 14 verse 1 through 15 verse 22.

Commentary:

Okay. So, from the Old Testament and in the story of David we see that family matters never did settle down for King David after the issue was about Bathsheba and this continues to become more and more apparent as we move further into the story. So, David’s son Absalom had been in exile for three years for the killing of his brother Amnon who had raped Absalom’s sister, David’s daughter, Tamar. David allow that rape of his daughter to go relatively unpunished, but Absalom didn’t, and the result was loss. Absalom lost respect for his father and was sent away from his home. Tamar forcibly lost her innocence and then Amnon violently lost his life. So, in today’s reading, David’s general, Joab, concocted a plan that brought Absalom back to his home in Jerusalem, but for the next two years he wasn’t permitted an audience with the king. So, five years have gone by without father and son not seeing each other. And once they did, Absalom’s contempt for his father deepened. So, Absalom used his good looks and his status as a prince to undermine his father David, and he did this by spending time among the people making them feel heard. And, so, over the course of four years he won their hearts. Then he asked permission to leave Jerusalem and go to Hebron. Hebron was the place that David was first coronated as the King of the tribe of Judah. So, Absalom’s asking to go there to sacrifice to God, back to the original capital city of before David conquered Jerusalem and made the city of David. So, then once Absalom’s in Hebron he stirs up a direct rebellion against the king, which is gaining momentum as we leave our reading today and the news reached Jerusalem. And, so, all of those old instincts, right, all of those instincts that David had to learn while he was running from King Saul rose within David and he fled the palace in advance along with much of the government going into exile as this coup that Absalom is stirring up is moving forward. And, of course, we’ll continue that story tomorrow, but it’s important consider the ways that King David allowed this erosion to take place in his life and family, right? So, we were going along through first Samuel and into second Samuel, following the story of King Saul and watching David’s story become intertwined with that story. We followed all the way until David was the king of all Israel, and we watched him act honorably and we saw that the hearts of the people were for…like David had won their hearts, they were loyal to him. And then we watched the systematic dismantling, right, that began with David taking another man’s wife, and then having that man, who was loyal, loyal, loyal to David, having him killed. That’s where this story began that we have watched the disintegration of much of the royal family of because of these systematic choices. So, the choices we make have an impact and they reverberate in unpredictable ways in our lives as they did with the king. So, when we allow offenses to fester they become poison within our relationships and the poison can destroy the bonds that tie us together if it’s just left unchecked. This is what we’re seeing happen to the king and his kingdom but it’s no different for us. We will make mistakes. We will fall short. Some of them will be small, some of them will be big and the aftermath can be devastating. But in that broken time were still making decisions, right, and they’re still compounding. We’re either drawing up battle lines or making the problem worse or we can own our actions and repent. And when there’s broken relationships full restoration isn’t always possible. It’s a broken world. But humility and repentance and the hope of grace are miraculous forces within a relationship and they cover a multitude of sins. David didn’t do any of that. So, let’s consider David’s path as we reflect on our own paths today. Just being aware, just being awake and aware and willing to repent rapidly could push back massive amounts of conflict in our lives. Truly, if we think about. Like, if were able to say, “okay, I’m getting you mad. I’m feeling this…like…I know what’s about to happen here” and stop ourselves or if we’ve already said that thing in response and it’s already turning into a battle, if we stop and say, “this is gonna go nowhere, this is…this is taking us nowhere…we don’t need this conflict between us, we could save ourselves so much in the present and in the future.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word and we thank You for the way that it will speak to us and penetrate our lives. And even as we spent some time talking about the story of King David, we also recognize the story that is happening in the Gospel of John as we watch Jesus freedom be taken and the questions beginning. And we recognize that this will be the last retelling of this story this year. And, so, we invite Your Holy Spirit to give it the gravity that it deserves in our lives as we prepare to move forward in our year and in the story of what comes next. Come Holy Spirit we pray. We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

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