It’s Thanksgiving week here in the USA, and we are studying 2 Samuel 22 / Psalm 18, a wonderful passage to help us express gratitude to God. As I studied this passage, I relied on my seminary professor David Dorsey, as I often do. He was such a gifted bible translator, interpreter and teacher. In his book The Literary Structure of the Old Testament, he provides a seven-part parallel structure for Psalm 18, and because 2 Samuel 22 and Psalm 18 are identical, I’m going to rely on Dorsey’s structural interpretation.
As he identifies the structure, Dorsey observes matches in the Hebrew text. The literary term for this kind of matching writing style is chiasm. Or chiastic structure. Chiasm is from the Greek letter chi, which is our English letter X. Look at the letter X. Do you see how it is a mirror image? Whether you are looking top to bottom or side to side, the letter X, or the letter chi, is a mirror. So chiastic writing is mirror writing. Here’s how it works.
In school you likely learned how to create outlines in the process of writing essays. Think about standard literary outlining. It looks like this:
A. Main Point
Subpoint
Subpoint
B. Main Point
Subpoint
Subpoint
That is a linear structure. The outline proceeds from start to finish.
Chiastic structure in not linear. It has a mirror outline. Here’s what it looks like:
A. Subpoint
B. Subpoint
C. Subpoint
D. Main Point
C’. Subpoint
B’. Subpoint
A’ Subpoint
See how the points mirror each other, like one half of the letter X?
Psalm 18 (and thus 2 Samuel 22), Dorsey claims, uses this structure. You might ask, “Why would they write like that?” Dorsey explains that in ancient oral cultures, where hardly anyone had access to writing or literacy, people learned through listening. In a chiastic structure, you only need to remember half of the points, because there is so much repetition. Also, the main point of the author is abundantly clear. Thus chiastic structure greatly aids the teaching and learning process.
But our English Bibles don’t format the text so you can see chiastic structures. For a shorter passage or psalm, maybe they could print the text using indentations just as I did above, and then you could see the parallelism. But 2 Samuel 22 / Psalm 18 is a long one. You would need a fairly large sheet of paper to see the structure, and thus it is not conducive to just about any Bible.
Because you cannot open your Bible and see the parallel structure, Dorsey summarizes the main points, and then prints the main points formatted as a chiastic structure. In the next few posts, we are going to follow Dorsey’s interpretation, and you will be able to see the structure.
At the end of the week, then, we will arrive at the central point, and that will be our concluding focus and application. We get started on the structure in the next post.
We’ve been studying the life of David a long time. We started this sermon series in 2024, about eight months ago. The first sermon was about 1st Samuel chapter 1, verse 1, through chapter 2, verse 11. You can read the first post in that series here, or look it up in your Bible.
That sermon was about the birth of Samuel, the great prophet who would go on to anoint David as king. Remember the situation of Samuel’s birth? His mother, Hannah, was unable to become pregnant, so she prayed to God, and God gave her Samuel. Then in chapter 2, Hannah prays a poetic prayer of praise and thanks to God. In a Bible, what do you notice about the format of 1 Samuel chapter 2, verses 1–11? Do you see how your Bible likely formats it as a poem? This is called Hannah’s Song, and you can read about it in the post here.
What I’m getting at is that the book of Samuel, which is two scrolls that we call 1st and 2nd Samuel, began with a song. Now fast forward to the passage we’re talking about today, 2 Samuel chapter 22, nearing the end of David’s life, and what do we find? The book of Samuel includes a song near its conclusion.
Before we jump to that concluding song, you might be curious…are there any other songs in the books of 1st and 2nd Samuel? Yes, there is one. Right smack in the middle. In 2 Samuel 1, after King Saul and his son Jonathan, David’s best friend, are killed in battle. This is a major turning point in the story, right? Saul and Jonathan’s death means that David’s years running away from Saul are over and the path is mostly clear for David to become king. In that moment, David expresses a psalm of lament (read about it here) about how the mighty have fallen.
So what we are talking about today is matched by the beginning and the middle of the account. That is almost certainly on purpose. What will David sing as he looks back on his very drama-filled life? Turn to 2 Samuel chapter 22, page 259 in your pew Bibles.
When you turn there, you will notice a reference is listed under the title. That title is “David’s Song of Praise,” and it was added by the editorial team who translated the New International Version. If you have a different translation, you might have a slightly different title to chapter 22. Those titles are not in the original text. The editorial team of the NIV Bible has also added a reference below the title, and that reference is Psalm 18. What the editorial team is telling us that 2 Samuel chapter 22 is repeated as Psalm 18 in the book of Psalms. It’s a two for one deal.
If you do a verse-by-verse comparison of 2 Samuel 22 and Psalm 18, you will see some slight differences between the two. Why? Different translators and different Hebrew manuscript traditions, are likeliest possibilities. But what is far more outstanding is that the two passages have so much word for word matching.
We are going to spend our time of 2 Samuel 22. We begin tomorrow!
It’s Thanksgiving Week! As I write this, yesterday was Lancaster’s annual Extra Give, a one-day explosion of generosity for over 400 non-profit organizations in our county.
I love that the Extra Give is always so close to Thanksgiving, because it seems to me that the two days go hand in hand. When we give, we are expressing our gratitude to that organization. Thinking about that, I need to go on a tangent. This year I’m very grateful for the generosity of my Faith Church family. Through the combination of their generosity and rental income, our church family income is exceeding our budgeted weekly need. I praise God for our church family and for our renters.
Considering our renters, I need to go on another tangent. If you do some research into comparable rental space in Lancaster, you’ll discover Faith Church is providing our renters an amazingly generous deal. After all, it’s God’s building, isn’t it? We want our rental churches to have a quality and affordable space to worship. We also give some local organizations, like the Scouts and SEEDS, free use of our building.
My point in these tangents is to direct your attention to the intersection of generosity and gratitude because this coming week on the blog, the Life of David series focuses on generosity and gratitude. We will study 2 Samuel chapter 22, and if you take a look at that chapter, you’ll notice that David breaks out in song. No surprise there, as about 75 psalms in the Book of Psalms are attributed to David. In fact, 2 Samuel 22 is Psalm 18. Now entering the twilight of his life, David takes time to reflect and thank God, just like we Americans do every year at Thanksgiving. So please read 2 Samuel 22 ahead of time, then join me back here on the blog Monday as we talk about it further.
Would your friends say you are a good friend? What does it take to be a good friend?
In the first verses of 2 Samuel chapter 20, just as David’s loyal army has defeated his rebellious son Absalom’s army, though peace is established, soldiers from both armies get into a shouting match about who is most loyal to David. One man Sheba blows a trumpet, calling soldiers to follow him to continue the fight against David. Now peace is in jeopardy.
Before responding to Sheba’s betrayal, David returns to Jerusalem to set his reign back in order. For his first action, David places his ten concubines under house arrest. Remember how his rebellious son, Absalom, had slept with them on the roof of the palace (see post here)? Because of that, David never again sleeps with them, and they are treated as widows, held in confinement for the rest of their lives. At least their basic needs are cared for. But they will never again be an active part of the royal household.
Next David asks his new general Amasa (see previous post for why David replaced Joab as top general) to summon a fighting force from Judah within three days’ time to deal with the soldiers from the ten tribes of Israel who followed Sheba. David wants to prevent yet another civil war. But Amasa takes longer than three days. Remember that Amasa was part of Absalom’s rebellion, so David seems to become suspicious. Maybe Amasa cannot be trusted. Maybe Amasa is still betraying David.
So David sends another trusted general, Abishai, to deal with Sheba and the rebellious soldiers from the tribes of Israel. We’ve heard about Abishai numerous times already in this week’s series of posts. Abishai was the general who wanted to cut the head off of Shimei when Shimei was throwing rocks and cursing David, as David fled the palace (post here). Abishai also asked permission to kill Shimei when Shimei was pleading for grace from David, as David returned to the palace (post here).
Twice now, in short succession, David has not chosen Joab. Joab was David’s top general for a long, long time. Imagine how Joab might have felt about all this. I suspect things are tense among David’s military leaders.
Abishai now leads the men who used to be under Joab’s command. They leave the city and head to Gibeon, and guess who they meet on the road?
Amasa, David’s new top general. While it took longer than David requested, Amasa has gathered a fighting force from the men of Judah.
And Joab is there too, no longer top general, but still a commander. David’s top three military leaders and their soldiers meet up on the road to war. Think about what might be running through Joab’s mind at this moment. David has passed him over twice. Joab is also a schemer, and once again he has ulterior motives. Perhaps he is angry at Amasa for being chosen as the new top general, replacing Joab. Or maybe Joab believes Amasa is secretly traitorous. Whatever his motivation, Joab jumps into action. He pretends to greet Amasa with a kiss and stabs him in the belly, and Amasa dies.
The men of Judah who Amasa had rounded up decide to follow Joab and Abishai in pursuit of Sheba and the rebellious Israelites. Sheba and his men hide in a city, and Joab and Abishai’s men lay siege to the city. They build a siege ramp and start battering the wall. Just then a wise woman from inside the city calls for Joab, wanting to know why his army is bashing what was a peaceful city. When Joab says they have come to get Sheba and his rebels, the woman talks it over with the people of the city. They return, having cut off Sheba’s head and throw it down to Joab!
With that, finally, the long family drama of David and Absalom is over. Joab has cemented his place in charge of the military once again. David is back on the throne. Peace returns.
What can we learn from this dramatic story? Last week I wrote about family drama (posts starting here), and this week the drama in David’s life continued, but the drama centered on his friendships. 2 Samuel chapters 16 through 20 feature David’s friends, some demonstrating fierce loyalty, some betrayal.
When David is struggling, he learns who his loyal friends are. Hushai the advisor is willing to be a secret agent for David. Ziba gives David provisions. Joab and Abishai stick with David. Barzillai proves his loyalty.
David also learns who his fair-weather friends are. Mephibosheth doesn’t come out to help David as David fled the city, but perhaps Mephibosheth was betrayed by Ziba. Shimei treats David poorly when David is on the run, and then Shimei asks for grace when David is headed back to the city. Joab sticks with David the whole time, but he also goes against David’s wishes and kills Absalom and Amasa.
Which group would your friends say you resemble? Loyal friend? Or fair-weather friend? Try to do some self-eval: Are you willing to give sacrificially to your friends? Do you stick your neck out for them when they are struggling? Do you have their back? Even if it costs you something? Or do you only risk yourself when the stakes are low?
Genuine friendship is sacrificially generous. As Paul writes in Philippians 2:1-5, “Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.”
Is there someone in your life you need to be a better friend to? Are you known for caring for your friends? Do you look for ways to see situations from their perspective and then act accordingly? Quality friendship takes effort; it takes intentional thought in the midst of our busy lives. I encourage to read Philippians 2:1-5 again, and pray the God would speak to you about how you could be a better friend.
Think about a time when a friend betrayed you. Maybe they lied to you. Maybe they knew you were struggling with a difficult situation in life, and they didn’t care for you. Betrayal is part and parcel of humanity. More than likely, we ourselves have done our fair share of betraying. We can think of times when we have not been good friends. As we continue our story of Israel’s great King David, in today’s post we observed how people treated him during a moment of great tension in his life.
In 2 Samuel chapter 19, the nation is reeling from a brief but disastrous civil war. The royal family is broken apart. 20,000 soldiers killed in the battle. King David has survived, but is he weakened in the hearts and minds of the people? Can David recover from this? How will he respond?
In 2 Samuel 19, verses 9-12, with his rebellious son dead, David lays groundwork to return to Jerusalem and the throne. One of his first decisions (verse 13) is a shocker. He appoints Amasa to be the new general of the military, replacing Joab. Why is this a shocker? Because Amasa was part of Absalom’s rebellion, and Joab has been David’s long-time general. What is David doing welcoming a traitor, while snubbing a loyalist?
Perhaps David’s choice to make Amasa his top general is wise. By extending an olive branch to Amasa, David is enacting reunification. Also, Joab has always had a devious side (see post here). In the previous post, we saw Joab kill David’s son Absalom when David specifically said not to, and then Joab strongly confronted David for being in mourning. Though Joab’s confrontation almost certainly shook David out of his grief and laid the groundwork for David to return to the throne, perhaps David thinks Joab needs to be reigned in. By replacing Joab with Amasa, it seems David is addressing that.
In verses 14-18, David, his household, and many others begin to the journey back to Jerusalem. The first story line that we paused in the first post in this series, we now turn to again. Ziba, the steward of Miphobesheth joins David. Then the second paused story line (also in this post) comes back to life when in verses 18-20, Shimei shows up. Remember him? Shimei is the guy who rained down rocks and curses on David and his entourage as they fled Jerusalem during the early hours of the coup.
Now that David is victorious and heading back to his palace, Shimei has a very different tone. He lays face down on the ground before David and asks for grace. Abishai, the same general who asked David permission to put Shimei to death when Shimei was cursing David now again asks David’s permission to put Shimei to death. David’s response is a unexpect (2 Samuel 19, verse 22),
“David replied, ‘What does this have to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? What right do you have to interfere? Should anyone be put to death in Israel today? Don’t I know that today I am king over Israel?’ So the king said to Shimei, ‘You shall not die.’ And the king promised him on oath.”
Then another visitor meets David, Mephibosheth, and he has a story to tell. When David was fleeing the city, Mephibosheth’s steward Ziba gave David all sorts of food and animals, reporting that Mephibosheth wanted to stay in the city so that the kingdom would be returned to him. At the time, David believed Ziba and declared that Ziba was now the owner of all of Mephibosheth’s land.
A lot has happened since then. Now Mephibosheth claims that Ziba’s story was a lie. Mephibosheth says he had been dressed and ready to come meet David, while David was on the run, but Ziba betrayed Mephibosheth and lied to David.
Who should David believe? Both men are standing right there. It’s one man’s word against the other, and he has no way to tell which is truthful. So David says “Here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to divide the property, and you each get some.”
Then Mephibosheth blurts out, “Let Ziba have it all; I’m just glad you’re back safe.”
At the end of chapter 19 David has a wonderful interaction with one his supporters, Barzillai, as David nears Jerusalem. After settling the dispute between Ziba and Mephibosheth, it must have been a welcome change to have the strong support of Barzillai.
The king says goodbye to Barzillai, and right away he runs into more controversy. Troops from Israel are angered by troops of Judah. Tribal loyalties rear their ugly heads, and tensions run high. Politics can be so frustrating. In the case of Israel and Judah, they were fighting over who has more allegiance to the king.
Israel blamed Judah, “You are stealing the king away!
Judah responded, “We’re not stealing him away. The king is from our tribe, of course we would be close to him.”
Israel retorted, “We are ten tribes, so we have more of a claim on David than you do!”
Back and forth the arguing went. Until one man named Sheba speaks up. He was from the tribe of Benjamin which at that time was aligned with Israel against Judah. Sheba blows a trumpet and calls the soldiers from Israel to leave and join him. This is not good. After finally arriving at peace, is David about to face another civil war? Maybe he was just in the eye of the hurricane.
Have you ever had the unsettling experience of having someone you look up to fall apart? Maybe it is a parent, grandparent or mentor, and they behave in a way that calls into question everything you respected about them. In the saga of David’s dysfunctional family, it is David who falls apart.
In the previous post, we learned that war is in the air. Father versus son. David versus Absalom. Absalom has usurped the throne from David, and now Absalom has control of the Israelite army. David is on the run. The impending conflict is shaping up to be a massacre, with Absalom destroying his father once and for all.
In today’s post, we study 2 Samuel 18, and we learn that David’s army is not small. He appoints commanders over thousands and hundreds. Where did they come from? It seems, as mentioned in the previous post, that Absalom’s advisor Ahithophel was correct. Absalom should have attacked David immediately, while David was weak. But Absalom deferred to Hushai advice. Remember Hushai? Hushai is David’s secret agent inside Absalom’s inner circle. Hushai advises Absalom to hold off his attack until Absalom can gather an overwhelming army, otherwise, when he attacks David, David’s loyal men, small in number though they be, are seasoned soldiers who will inflict damage on Absalom’s men, and Absalom’s army will fall apart. Absalom agrees, waits, and that gives David time to gather an army. A big army.
In verses 2-4, David wants to go out and fight, but he is an old man now, and his commanders do not allow him. He relents, asking them to be gentle with his son, Absalom. At this point, therefore, David no longer sounds like a man who is running for his life. David sounds utterly confident in the outcome of the battle.
Now David’s story and Absalom’s story come together in an eruption. Like one of our own Civil War battles, it was super bloody. 20,000 died that day. And David was victorious.
In verse 9 we read that in the battle, David’s men are chasing Absalom who is riding a mule, fleeing for his life. In the rush of it all, Absalom accidentally rode too close to low hanging tree branches and got stuck, while his mule kept going out from under him, leaving Absalom, but hanging midair, unable to wrench himself free. This gives David’s men enough time to surround Absalom. Remember David’s words to his commanders? “Treat Absalom gently.”
One of David’s men reported the capture to Joab, David’s military commander. Joab defied David’s wishes to treat Absalom gently, thrusting three javelins into Absalom’s heart, while Absalom was still alive hanging there. Not only is Absalom now dead, but also Absalom’s army flees and disbands. The war is over, but the drama is not.
Messengers run to tell David the news, and when he learns that Absalom is dead, he starts crying out and weeping, saying, “My son, my son, Absalom, if only I had died instead of you!”
Here we see David the emotional parent. The war is over, but David has lost his son. Even when our children are difficult, even when they cause us pain, we still don’t want them to come to harm, and we can think we’d rather the harm come to us. David is just wrecked.
The story continues in chapter 19 as David’s army commander, Joab, learns that David is weeping and mourning for Absalom, and Joab can’t believe it. Why is David weeping for Absalom? Remember last week when we learned how Absalom murdered Amnon, the first born son of David? Then here we learned that Absalom schemed and stole the throne from David? Then here Absalom slept with David’s concubines? Then as we saw today, Absalom went to war with David? Joab can’t believe the King is behaving this way against so awful a person as Absalom, regardless that Absalom is David’s son. Joab believes that David’s great victory is going to be for naught if David keeps this up. So Joab boldly says to David, in 2 Samuel 19, verses 5-7,
“Today you have humiliated all your men, who have just saved your life and the lives of your sons and daughters and the lives of your wives and concubines. 6 You love those who hate you and hate those who love you. You have made it clear today that the commanders and their men mean nothing to you. I see that you would be pleased if Absalom were alive today and all of us were dead. 7 Now go out and encourage your men. I swear by the Lord that if you don’t go out, not a man will be left with you by nightfall. This will be worse for you than all the calamities that have come on you from your youth till now.”
Woah. Imagine talking to the king like that. What if David has a bad reaction? David is, after all, really grieving his son Absalom, and remember who killed Absalom? Joab! Now Joab is telling David to knock it off? Is Joab courageous? Is he reckless? Is he recklessly courageous? More to the point, is Joab right? Is David’s loud wailing for his son going to have negative ramifications to progress of trying to regain the throne?
How will David react? How would you react? What would you do when you are in leadership or have a job, but in your personal life it feels like things are falling apart? Are you sad and discouraged? Look at verse 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.”
It turns out that Joab was right in confronting David. By hiding away and weeping and mourning loudly, David could easily have been perceived as very discouraging and ungrateful toward his soldiers. Apparently, he was weeping so loudly that he couldn’t hide it, and word was getting out. It could seem as though the king was unhinged and out of his mind. His soldiers could easily think that David is unfit for leadership. So by coming out to the gate, David was showing gratitude and support of his men. As they paraded before him, I suspect he was thanking and encouraging them.
After this, David seems to have a change of disposition, which is good timing because the nation is still reeling from its brief but disastrous civil war. The brokenness in the royal family. 20,000 soldiers killed. Yes, David has survived, but is he weakened in the hearts and minds of the people? Can David recover from this? How will he respond?
Where do you get wise advice? Do you have trusted friends? Maybe a therapist? Do you view authors or commentators as sources of quality perspective? Lately I’ve been deeply impressed with Ted Gioia. I also appreciate the wisdom of numerous close friends. But it is my wife who, on a daily basis, shines with her ability to analyze situations and cut through the clutter to arrive at a clear conclusion.
But here’s the crux of the matter: while good advice can be hard to come by, will we follow the advice? In today’s post, we’ll learn about advisors, wisdom, and the critical factor that can keep us from following good advice.
In 2 Samuel chapter 16, Israel’s great king David has fled the city of Jerusalem, while his son Absalom betrays him in a coup. In the previous post, we learned how others betray and insult David, as he is on the run. But David has a secret agent in the city. In 2 Samuel chapter 16 verse 20 through chapter 17, verse 14, that operative, Hushai, starts to undermine Absalom.
First, Absalom seeks advice from the man considered to be the wisest of his officials, Ahithophel. Ahithophel’s advice was so good people said it was as though it came straight from the mouth of God. Ahithophel has two pieces of advice. The first is shocking, and it refers to David’s concubines. Concubines were women who were at best second-tier wives, at worst, sexual slaves. When David fled the city, David left his concubines in the palace to care for it. Little did David know how disastrous that decision would be.
Ahithophel advises Absalom to sleep with his father’s concubines, and here is how Ahithophel explains it, “Then all Israel will hear that you have made yourself obnoxious to your father, and the hands of everyone with you will be more resolute.” If Absalom were to go through with Ahithophel’s advice, in other words, it would send an unmistakable signal to the entire nation that Absalom has become king.
To make sure the signal is loud and clear, Absalom sets up a tent on the roof of the palace where everyone can see what is happening, and Absalom sleeps with the ten concubines in plain sight. As if things were not broken enough already, this wicked act makes it clear that Absalom has no desire to reconcile with his father.
Then Ahithophel has more advice to finally put an end to any question about who is king. He says, “Absalom, your father and his followers are in a very weak and vulnerable position. Muster 12000 soldiers and immediately attack them. But only kill David, and you will find that everyone will turn their allegiance to you.” It seemed like an amazing plan. Actually, it was an amazing plan. Ahithophel is masterminding the total takeover of the kingdom.
But where Absalom is okay with sleeping with his father’s concubines, it seems he has some misgivings about killing his father. So he summons David’s secret agent, Hushai, for a second opinion, and Absalom has no idea that Hushai is still loyal to David. Hushai tells Absalom that Ahithophel’s plan is terrible because David and his men are seasoned fighters, and the whole plan will fall apart if David’s men inflict damage on Absalom’s men. Hushai advises Absalom to wait, and gather a large force so that there is no contest when they attack David.
This passage reminds me of a spy novel, such as when a CIA operative goes undercover to infiltrate a foreign government. Notice how Hushai uses fear and doubt to undermine Absalom? Fear is a powerful motivator. And it works. In verse 14, we read that the Lord frustrated the strategically wise advice of Ahithophel, and Absalom chooses to wait.
The narrative continues in that spy novel genre in verses 15 and following. Hushai sends two trusted associates to inform David about what has been happening back at the palace. But the two messengers get spotted by one of Absalom’s men. They hide in a well, and when a group of Absalom’s men come looking for them, the owner of the well lies to Absalom’s men. When the coast clears the men sneak out, and they inform David.
Back in Jerusalem, the wise advisor Ahithophel learns that Absalom did not follow his advice, so he hangs himself. Doesn’t that seem extreme? Why would Ahithophel commit suicide? One scholar I read suggested that Ahithophel believed that when Absalom followed Hushai’s advice to wait, Absalom’s rebellion was now doomed. Why? Because waiting would give David time to gather a fighting force himself. David had been weak and vulnerable, and now David would gather strength. In other words, Ahithophel believed David would return to power. And when David returns to power, the people who had been in league with Absalom, like Ahithophel, would be killed, especially considering that Ahithophel was the one who advised Absalom to sleep with David’s concubines. Ahithophel was likely 100% correct in that prediction, and rather than prolong the inevitable, he hung himself right then and there.
At the conclusion of chapter 17, Jerusalem and the surrounding country is filled with the sights and sounds of soldiers preparing for war. It will be a war of father, David, and his men, against son, Absalom, and his men. We learn that Absalom gathers the military of Israel, while the author describes David and his men as hungry, tired and thirsty in the desert. If we stopped there, it would seem that Ahithophel was way off base to hang himself. David still seems weak and vulnerable. At the end of chapter 17, it seems like Absalom and the army of Israel are going to decimate David and his men.
Check back to the next post to find out what happens when battle breaks out.
Life has taken a dramatic turn for the worst for King David. His son Absalom has rebelled and set in motion a plan to usurp the throne. Fearing the worst, David and his faithful followers flee the city. At the end of 2 Samuel chapter 15, though David is on the run and seriously grieving the drama in his family, he also sends his trusted advisor Hushai to back to Jerusalem. Hushai, under the pretense of serving Absalom, will actually attempt to undermine him. That brings us to 2 Samuel chapter 16.
We are studying five chapters this week, so my posts this week will mostly summarize the story on 2 Samuel chapters 16 through 20. This fascinating story is actually numerous story lines dramatically woven together.
The first story line begins in chapter 16, verse 1. As David and his entourage are rushing away from Jerusalem, Ziba appears. Remember him from 2nd Samuel chapter 9 (read post here)? Ziba serves as a steward to Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth is the son of David’s best friend, Jonathan. In 2 Samuel chapter 9 we learned that David wanted to honor his friendship and covenant with Jonathan, so after he became king, David asked if there was anyone in Jonathan’s family he could bless. There was someone still alive from Jonathan’s family: Jonathan’s son, Mephibosheth. David blessed Mephibosheth with land, and it was Mephibosheth’s steward Ziba and his sons who would care for the land, because Mephibosheth was lame. David also gave Mephibosheth a permanent seat at his table. Overnight, Mephibosheth, because of David’s kindness, becomes one of the most wealthy and powerful people in the land.
The events of 2 Samuel 16 take place years later. After David has been so kind to Mephibosheth and Ziba, how will they treat David now that David is in desperate need of help when David is fleeing from the city?
Ziba brings the king animals for transportation and food. When David asks where Mephibosheth is, Ziba tells David that Mephibosheth has stayed in Jerusalem hoping that the kingdom will be restored to him, since he is the grandson of the last king, Saul. Upon hearing of Mephibosheth’s betrayal, David immediately responds saying that everything that he had previously given to Mephibosheth, he now gives to Ziba.
The story of David, Ziba and Mephibosheth pauses, and we come to the second story line.
While David and his entourage are fleeing, they come across another man, Shimei. Shimei is from the same clan as the previous King Saul. Shimei starts throwing rocks at David and his officials, and Shimei curses at David.
Imagine the humiliation David is enduring. David’s own son is overthrowing him, so the great king is now fleeing the city, with his guards around him. Just then, one solitary man starts throwing rocks at them, yelling insults.
What is the farthest you can accurately throw a stone? 100 yards? It depends on the size of the rock, for sure, but I’m thinking a 100-yard throw would be pretty amazing. Especially if you are throwing a lot of rocks, one after the other. My point is that Shimei was really bold. He was not far away from David.
One of David’s long-time faithful generals, Abishai, asks David’s permission to cut off Shimei’s head, and David says, “No.” Here we see David’s heart. He describes the abuse from Shimei as if it is God telling Shimei be that way, and so David just takes it.
What a sad, sad, scene. In story line #1, Mephibosheth, though David helped him so generously in the past, has not come out to support David in David’s time of need. In story line #2, Shimei is lashing out at David with rocks and insults.
Imagine the low moment David must be feeling. He has not only lost his kingdom, but he is being betrayed by friends and cursed by others.
But David endures, putting one foot in front of the other his entourage reaches their destination away from the city, where finally they can regroup.
While life is awful for David, the scene changes to storyline #3, and where learn that life is going wonderfully for Absalom. In the remainder of 2 Samuel 16, David’s rebellious son, Absalom, takes the throne in Jerusalem, and begins to solidify his grip.
David’s trusted advisor, Hushai, the one who David asked to return to Jerusalem and try to undermine Absalom, shows up, pretending to be loyal to Absalom. David now has a secret operative in Absalom’s inner circle. Check back in to the next post, as we watch how that operative, Hushai, starts to undermine Absalom.
This year I turned 50, and my wife posted on her social media about my birthday. I don’t use social media, so she showed me all the people who commented with their greetings. One was a friend from high school. He is the only one of many friends from high school that I have stayed in touch with over the years. But it had been at least five years since he and I chatted. Seeing his post, I texted him and it was great to catch up. We talked about getting lunch and talking further. I really look forward to that.
It was a reminder to me about the fleeting nature of some friendships. During my high school years there were 10-15 people whom I considered to be my closest friends (some from my youth group, some from my high school), and at the time I figured we would be always remain close. But then we went to college, and slowly lost touch. We saw each other over semester breaks and in the summer, but even that faded, as during two of my college summers I was away serving in ministry.
I made new friends at college, some of whom became extremely close, which is to be expected because at college you often live together in the dorm. I have stayed in closer touch with 3-4 of my closest college friends. But like my high school friendships, there are loads of people from college who I haven’t seen or talked with in years.
Since college, I have made still more friends. Particularly, I think about how, by far, the people who are now my closest friends, I met through our Faith Church family. We’ve never lived together, but some of them I have now known for 22 years. During those 22 years, some church friendships have come and gone. That fleeting nature of friendships also reveals itself in church families.
When I look back over the years and I consider the friendships that have faded away, while I do believe that it is okay if friendship levels change, I must face the reality that some friendships faded away because I did not do the work to keep them close. To be fair, in many of those now faded friendships, neither did the other person do the work to reach out to me.
What does it take for friendship to endure? How do we overcome the fleeting nature of some friendships? What does it mean to be a good friend? As we continue our series studying the life of Israel’s great King David, we’re going to continue the story from last week. It was a cliffhanger. David was fleeing Jerusalem because his son Absalom had started a coup. What will happen? Does David have friends he can trust? Does he have friends who are loyal? Read 2 Samuel 2, chapters 16 through 20 ahead of time.
Then join me back here on the blog on Monday, when we’ll begin to examine friendship through the lens of this shocking episode in David’s life.
In 2 Samuel chapter 15, David’s son Absalom is scheming again. This time he has his sights on the biggest prize. The throne. In verses 1-6, Absalom starts acting and talking to people like a king would act and talk. He rides a chariot with an entourage. He pronounces rulings by the city gate. He says things like, “Where is the king or the king’s representative? Shouldn’t they be here? If I were judge of the land, I would handle it for you.” In these actions, Absalom slowly wormed his way into the hearts and minds of the people.
Four years of this go by, and in verses 7-12, he asks his father, King David, for permission to go to Hebron to fulfill a vow of worship to the Lord. David says, “Of course.” Worship sounds wonderful, but Absalom had ulterior motives. He sent secret messengers through all Israel to proclaim that he, Absalom, was king. And it worked.
In verses 13-23, David finds out that so many people started following Absalom, that David believes his only option is to flee the city of Jerusalem, along with his loyal followers, fearing for their lives. A coup is underway.
In verses 24 through end of chapter 15, as David leaves the city, he tells some of his advisors to go back, including the Ark of the Covenant, to Jerusalem, as a ruse to make it look like those people are defecting to Absalom. David instructs them to give Absalom bad advice and try to bring down the rebellion from the inside.
But don’t let David’s strategic moves at this point cause you to think he’s got this all under control, all cool and collected. The situation is horrible. His son is betraying him. The people of Israel seem to be betraying David too. Will there be war? War within David’s own family? This is high drama, awful drama. Look at verse 30, which describes the situation as David leaves the city,
“David continued up the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went; his head was covered and he was barefoot. All the people with him covered their heads too and were weeping as they went up.”
Remember that verse about the sword not departing from David’s house? That prophecy has come true. David’s family is a wreck. It seems as though it was easier for David to deflate the drama outside his family than it was for him to do so inside his family. When there is lust, rape, murder, lies, David is all too quiet. He allows the drama. He should have deflated it. And now it seems like all is lost.
We pause the story there. We’ll find out what happens next week.
For now, I want us all to think about family drama. We all have it. But we are called to be people who deflate the drama. Focus on David’s sacrificial kindness to Mephibosheth in chapter 9. Mephibosheth who was David’s natural enemy. What does David do? He deflates the drama by sacrificially giving Mephibosheth and his servants a massive gift of land which would have made Mephibosheth wealthy overnight. He then invites Mephibosheth to have a permanent seat as his dinner table, which would have made Mephibosheth one of the most powerful men in the country, also overnight. If we are to be people who deflate the drama in our families, in other words, we take intentional steps to address the drama, sacrificially, generously.
If I’m making it sound easy, let me assure you that I know dealing with drama is often complicated. There’s history. There are emotions. There is reputation. There is honor and shame. There is hurt and broken trust. It’s one thing to be generous toward an outsider with whom you have no relationship. That’s basically David and Mephibosheth. It is a very different thing to deal with drama inside your family, especially when that drama is layered and complex and has been going on for years. That’s David and Absalom.
I suspect near all of us here have some kind of family drama. Some of us have given up on it, believing it to be just the way it is. There is no changing them, we say about the dramatic ones. They’ve always been that way, and they always will be. So we give up on trying anymore. I will admit that there comes a time when the most loving thing to do is said, “Goodbye.” Even to family. Boundaries are often needed and good. Especially when the other person is unwilling to change. That is so hard, especially for Christians, because we have placed our hopes in God for whom all things are possible. With God there is a true sense in which hope is never lost.
I once heard a Christian business leader talk about love in the workplace, and I believe what he said applies to family drama. Workplace drama is similar to family drama. Drama is just drama, no matter where you find it. Drama is human. So in this business leader’s workplace there was a staff member who often brought the drama. It affected her performance. It affected her co-worker’s performance. It affected the company as a whole. And when I say “affected” let there be no doubt that I mean it affected things negatively.
As a Christian leader, he wanted to invest in the staff member. He tried and tried, but nothing he tried got through to the staff member. The staff member continued to be dramatic, and the other employees were getting restless. The leader believed that as a Christian, the most loving thing to do was keep giving the staff member chances. Isn’t that grace? To give more chances? Is that how God treats us? Certainly the business leader would be able to eventually get through to the employee eventually, and thus, shouldn’t he keep trying?
Years went by, and still he was unable to help the staff member decrease the drama. Finally, he decided that love in the workplace needed to be applied to not only the difficult employee, but also the other staff members who were not problematic. So he fired the underperforming employee, concluding that was the most loving option. In firing the employee, he deflated the drama. Sometimes, boundaries, even in families, are the most loving way to deflate drama.
Maybe your family drama isn’t at the level where it needs boundaries. Try to deflate the drama. Don’t gossip. Don’t text, call or talk behind people’s backs. Instead speak the truth in love, be a peacemaker, a reconciler, bring healing to that which is broken, demonstrating the fruit of the spirit.
Walk right up to the drama and call it out, “That’s drama.” Then say, “Let’s talk about how we deflate it.”
Engaging Scripture 