Week 15 II Samuel
When Nathan the prophet exposed David’s crimes of adultery and murder he also forecast two pretty heavy outcomes. First: the sword shall never depart from your house. Secondly: I (the Lord) will raise up evil against you from your own household.
The last twelve chapters of II Samuel map out how that forecast developed.
David’s son Amnon raped his half-sister Tamar. In retaliation Tamar’s brother Absalom had Amnon murdered. Eventually Absalom mounted an armed revolt against his father. The rebellion turned into civil war. David escaped, regrouped, and eventually defeated his son. The war was won but the nation was divided between the factions of Israel and Judah. There were post-war reparations to figure out. Disloyalties to be punished. Internationally, the wars with the Philistines kept right on going.
Not much light shines through the grisly treachery of the second half of the book.
David started out so well – so much drama and heroism and bravery and faith and romance and suspense. What a great, talented, story-book guy.
But in the second-half, not so much.
There doesn’t seem to be any question that within himself – in his inner life – David matured and grew during those last years of his life. His faith and his connection with the Lord were restored and vitalized. But despite that, the last years of his living-in-the-natural-world life were turbulent, conflicted, topsy turvy, error-prone, tragic.
Note: quotes from II Samuel 12:10-11 (NASB version)