November 19, 2007
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The Next Cycle of 40 Part 11 Section 1
The Next Cycle of 40
Part 11 Section 1
It took me a while on this one simply because I had my scripture base, and my word breakdown, but nothing else. I kept feeling like there was more to this than met the eye, so I went to the book study as opposed to the online study. I started cross referencing in my bible, and this is what I found.
2Sa 15:1 AFTER this it happened that Absalom provided himself with chariots and horses, and fifty men to run before him.
Absalom or Abishalom: “my father is peace”
father of peace; i.e., “peaceful” David’s son by Maacah (2Sa 3:3; 1Ki 1:6).
Maachah: “oppression”
First I find it interesting that while his name meant “my father is peace,” he is also the son of oppression and he brought dissention and division. The fact that he “provided” for himself in the above verse indicates purpose, and his purpose was to overthrown the “beloved one.”
The question is why did he even think he could? The answer is that he saw an opportunity. He saw an open door. David fell short somewhere. Let’s see if we can find the open door.
2Sa 19:8 Then the king arose, and sat in the gate. And they told unto all the people, saying, Behold, the king doth sit in the gate. And all the people came before the king: for Israel had fled every man to his tent.
David gets up and takes his seat in the gateway at this point, but prior to this?
2Sa 18:24 And David sat between the two gates: and the watchman went up to the roof over the gate unto the wall, and lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold a man running alone.
Here, clearly, David was between two positions: the inner and outer gates, which is indicative of impaired vision. Still…he had the watchman up on the roof over the wall, so he still had a partial view/interpretation of what was happening around him, or what was approaching the city. In addition, being between the inner and the outer gates also speaks of his relationship with God…surface Christianity vs a real relationship. It’s just like when Abraham camped between Bethel and Ai…a heavenly place and essentially hell. Its a position of being on the fence…being lukewarm, and this puts you out of relationship with God.
2Sa 15:2 Now Absalom would rise early and stand beside the way to the gate. So it was, whenever anyone who had a lawsuit came to the king for a decision, that Absalom would call to him and say, “What city are you from?” And he would say, “Your servant is from such and such a tribe of Israel.”
Absalom stood by the side of the road leading to the city gate. If he was able to stand in this position, this means that David was not in the gate at all…the door was wide open to enemies and there was no watchman in the tower. Therefore, David was not aware of what Absalom was doing.
