2 Samuel 13

Unfavorable Light

There are many narratives in the Bible which prove by their very nature that it is a reliable account of ancient history. The story of Amnon and Tamar is one such tragic example. It invovled several persons taking matters into their own hands. And it ended badly for all parties involved.

The quick summary is; Amnon was hot for his half-sister Tamar. He tricked her, raped her, and then threw her out. Absalom, Tamar’s full-brother, learned about it and eventually murdered Amnon in revenge.

And David mourned many days for his son Amnon. Absalom fled to his grandfather, Talmai son of Ammihud, the king of Geshur. – 2 Samuel 13:37

If you were writing history about yourself and your family, would you include such an account in your journal? Perhaps you would, and perhaps you wouldn’t. But then, when some of your descendants are compiling a history of all that has gone before them, would they include this particular tale? I suspect not.

It is part of our nature to downplay the bad and to focus on the good. As someone once said, the writers of the Bible had no issue including “warts and all”. This is incontrovertible evidence that the authors of the Bible were much more concerned with accuracy than they were with being politically correct. They were willing to cast even heroes of the faith in an unfavorable light.

Father, thank you for not leaving things out of your word. You gave us examples of good to follow, and bad to avoid. May we learn from the lessons that others went through so that we don’t have to. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

The Bible is fully trustworthy. Jan

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2 Samuel 12

Who caused the sin?

I have grown up in and around the church, so I have a pretty good grasp of theology and the nances of God and his character. But there are times that my paradigm is challenged. I have always understood that God does not do evil, that he only does that which is good.

No one, when tempted, should say, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself tempts no one. – James 1:13

The verse seems pretty clear. God is not tempted by evil, and conversely he does not tempt anyone with evil. So how do a verses like the following fit in with that belief?

‘From this time on, the sword will be a constant threat to your family, because you have despised me by taking Uriah’s wife to be your own.

Because of what you have done, I, the LORD, will cause your own household to rebel against you. I will give your wives to another man, and he will go to bed with them in public view. You did it secretly, but I will do this to you openly in the sight of all Israel.’ – 2 Samuel 12:10-12

Do you see who is going to cause this to come on David’s household? It is God! And, a son sleeping with his father’s wife is something God explicitly commanded against, something he calls evil worthy of death.

If a man has intercourse with his father’s wife, both the man and the woman must die, for they are guilty of a capital offense. – Leviticus 20:11

‘Cursed is anyone who has sexual intercourse with his father’s wife, for he has violated his father.’ And all the people will reply, ‘Amen.’ – Deuteronomy 27:20

 

It would definitely seem to me that God is the one causing this, it is inescapable.

Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it? – Amos 3:6

Notice again who did the evil…

God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it, and as he was destroying, the Lord beheld, and He regretted and relented of the evil and said to the destroying angel, It is enough; now stay your hand. And the angel of the Lord stood by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. – 1 Chronicles 21:15

I am not in any way implying that God is evil. But it seems clear that God does use it for his own purposes and certainly can direct and cause it to come upon those he is punishing.

 

To be fair, I do need to point out that many of the instances of the word ‘evil’ are alternatively translated as ‘disaster’ or ‘calamity’. But the incident below is crystal clear. 

But an evil spirit from the LORD came upon Saul as he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand. While David was playing the harp… – 1 Samuel 19:9 

There is no mistaking that the Lord sent the evil spirit.

 

I don’t pretend to know what all this means. But, I do know this; I don’t want to anger God. I don’t want his judgment. I much rather prefer his mercy. Thank God for his son Jesus. 

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. – Romans 8:1-4

It isn’t that I never sin. However, that is no longer my nature. Christ living in me cleanses me from all unrighteousness.

Father, thank you for Jesus. Without him I would deserve all the evil that exists. May I bring honor to your name. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Don’t cause evil. Jan

2 Samuel 4

Fitting the Crime

For thousands of years Middle-Eastern society has had a very clear sense of justice or retribution for crimes. I think it was first codified in about 1790 B.C in the code of Hammurabi, the sixth Babylonian king. Many of Hammurabi’s 282 laws dealt with swift justice and having the punishment either in relation to the crime or immediate death. 

In reading about Recab and Baanah, the murderers of Isbosheth, I noticed David’s punishment of them. 

Now what reward should I give the wicked men who have killed an innocent man in his own house and on his own bed? Should I not also demand your very lives?” So David ordered his young men to kill them, and they did. They cut off their hands and feet and hung their bodies beside the pool in Hebron. – 2 Samuel 4:11-12 

But somehow this account seemed lacking to me. What was the reference to cutting off their hands and feet? So I did some digging and found that Flavius Josephus wrote about it in his Antiquities of the Jews in book 7. Upon being told of their action David said… 

 …you have slain a righteous man upon his bed, who never did evil to any body, and treated you with great good-will and respect? Wherefore you shall suffer the punishment due on his account, and the vengeance I ought to inflict upon you for killing Ishbosheth, and for supposing that I should take his death kindly at your hands; for you could not lay a greater blot on my honor, than by making such a supposal.” When David had said this, he tormented them with all sorts of torments, and then put them to death… 

David didn’t simply order his men to kill them, and then cut off their body parts. He first had them tortured for their crimes, then he had them executed and publicly displayed as a warning to others. He made their punishment fit the crime. 

Man am I glad that Jesus came to take my punishment. I could never have paid for my crimes against God and his righteousness. There aren’t enough body parts on me to cut off. 

Father, thank you for the sacrifice of Jesus. May I never take it for granted. In Jesus’ name, Amen. 

May my praise fit the mercy. Jan