June 28, 2009
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Thought For The Week 11: “If” and “Then” An issue of Envy
I don’t know if I ever posted this particular little study I did, but somehow I ended up in 2Sam 15:1.2Sa 15:1 In the course of time, Absalom provided himself with a chariot and horses and with fifty men to run ahead of him.
Absolom provided himself with…
1. Purpose: He already had a plan or plot to overthrow David & God’s anointed.Why?
1. He saw an opportunity because David fell short somewhere.2Sa 19:8 So the king got up and took his seat in the gateway. When the men were told, “The king is sitting in the gateway,” they all came before him. Meanwhile, the Israelites had fled to their homes.
Later we see where the king was sitting in the gateway where he was supposed to be, but earlier…
2Sa 18:24 While David was sitting between the inner and outer gates, the watchman went up to the roof of the gateway by the wall.So while he was sitting there…
2Sa 15:2 He would get up early and stand by the side of the road leading to the city gate. Whenever anyone came with a complaint to be placed before the king for a decision, Absalom would call out to him, “What town are you from?” He would answer, “Your servant is from one of the tribes of Israel.”
2Sa 15:3 Then Absalom would say to him, “Look, your claims are valid and proper, but there is no representative of the king to hear you.”
2Sa 15:4 And Absalom would add, “If only I were appointed judge in the land! Then everyone who has a complaint or case could come to me and I would see that he gets justice.”
2Sa 15:5 Also, whenever anyone approached him to bow down before him, Absalom would reach out his hand, take hold of him and kiss him.
2Sa 15:6 Absalom behaved in this way toward all the Israelites who came to the king asking for justice, and so he stole the hearts of the men of Israel.Because David was not in position at the gate where he was supposed to be, he could not see what Absolom was doing.
Deu 19:17 the two men involved in the dispute must stand in the presence of the Lord before the priests and the judges who are in office at the time.
So Absolom tells the people that their claims are valid but there is no representative of the king to hear them. This is because David was not in the gate, and apparently, the watchman. Then he says “If only I were appointed,” he wants to usurp God’s anointed and rule himself. “Then everyone who has a complaint or case could come to me and I would see that he gets justice.”
It’s interesting that this attitude of ingratitude came after this:
2Sa 14:14 Like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die. But God does not take away life; instead, he devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from him.
Isa 43:25 ”I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.
Isa 43:26 Review the past for me, let us argue the matter together; state the case for your innocence.
Isa 1:18 “Come now, let us reason together,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.The gate was the seat of judgment, but David wasn’t sitting there because he was guilty of sin. By being out of the seat of the gate, David was no longer operating in his position as gatekeeper. This means that he wasn’t getting the watchman’s report either. We don’t even know if there was a watchman still on the roof, but the may have been because Absalom went down the roadside.
2Sa 15:5 Also, whenever anyone approached him to bow down before him, Absalom would reach out his hand, take hold of him and kiss him.When Absolom bowed like this, it was a sign of reverence and respect, as well as a sign of restoration, meaning that he would restore them. And no wonder he won their hearts. He did this for four years.
2Sa 15:7 At the end of four years, Absalom said to the king, “Let me go to Hebron and fulfill a vow I made to the Lord.
What was the vow?
2Sa 15:8 While your servant was living at Geshur in Aram, I made this vow: ‘If the Lord takes me back to Jerusalem, I will worship the Lord in Hebron.If the Lord takes me back to “teaching peace,” I will worship the Lord in “association.”
By making this vow, he was saying that he would respect God’s choices and his anointed, because he said he would worship the Lord in “association.”
Yet immediately as the king released him to go in peace to fulfill his vow, he sent spies forth to proclaim his leadership, and his uprising against David kicked into gear.
This occurred at the end of 4 years which indicates that it is spirit led. (See Cycle of 40 study which also incorporates the number 4). Absolom sealed his fate by violating a vow to God, and in addition, David, God’s anointed, had to be returned to the throne.
