Day 96

Rebellious Son

Read: 2 Samuel 14-16

Joab was always causing trouble for David. Instead of leaving Absalom in exile, he persuaded David to bring him back home to Jerusalem. Then, having set Joab’s field on fire to get the king’s attention, Absalom had Joab persuade David to receive Absalom back into the king’s presence.

Back in good standing, Absalom begins to court the favor of the people. When he gets enough support, he gathers a large army and marches on Jerusalem. When David hears of this, he flees from Jerusalem, barefoot, with his head covered as a sign of this sorrow.

David’s counselor Ahithophel joins the conspiracy. David does two things about this. He prayed to the Lord that Ahithophel may be foolish instead of wise and he asked Hushai to defeat Ahithophel’s counsel by joining the conspiracy as a spy for David.

In the midst of the story, a number of the characters sin against others. Ziba, Mephibosheth’s servant, lied and told David that Mephibosheth had joined the conspiracy. Hushai claimed to be loyal to Absalom. Shimei, of the house of Saul, cursed and threw stones at David. Ahithophel counseled Absalom to go in to his father’s concubines in public. But does all this sin belong just to ancient history? Don’t the soap operas and sitcoms today, reflective of our culture’s immorality, tell similar stories? Such is the moral chaos when people go their own way instead of surrendering to the Lord.

PRAYER
Father, in the midst of a corrupt generation, help us to live Christ’s way. In his name. Amen.