2 Samuel 18: A Cancer in the Family

"O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you- O Absalom, my son, my son!"

2 Samuel reads like the history of a spreading cancer. In the beginning, David was on top of the world- and so was Israel. The civil war over, the land was at peace and Israel was entering an era of unprecedented prosperity. God had promised to ensure David's descendants a continuous reign forever. What more could David hope for? The rest of life appeared as one long celebration.

However, that celebration never began. After David's act of adultery with Bathsheba,the consequences of the sin were far from over. Unknown to David, cancer was growing in his own household. David's oldest son Amnon had an eye for women too. He tricked his half-sister Tamar into his bedroom, then raped her. Afterward, filled with disgust, he threw her out. David was furious. But, maybe because he felt his own sin had robbed him of moral authority, he did nothing to punish his son. According to the law (Leviticus 18:9, 29), Amnon deserved exile, but he got off free. David apparently wanted the matter forgotten.

The cancer merely disappeared from view. Absalom waited two full years to avenge his sister's rape. Then he murdered Amnon in cold blood. Again David was long on regret, short on punishment. He wept over Amnon's death but perhaps recognized his own responsibility for it. After three years, David let Absalom return to Jerusalem unpunished; two years later, when Absalom angrily demanded either a murder trial or full acceptance back into the palace, David kissed and made up completely.

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Again, the cancer appeared to have disappeared from view. But it was not gone; it grew. Now an arrogant Absalom started a program of public relations designed to make him look better than his aging father. At the end of four years, having become quite popular, he set his coup in motion. Taken completely by surprise, David was driven out of Jerusalem into the desert. The shock seemed to awaken David. Though dazed and weeping as he left the city, he had enough sense to make some clever plans. When the battle came at last, David's army won, and Absalom was captured and killed.

For David the king, Absalom's defeat was a great triumph. For David the father, it was a horrible tragedy. The worst thing that can happen to a father had happened to him. His own son had tried to kill him, and in trying had been killed. David could not stop weeping over his son's death until Joab, his general, warned him that he was insulting the troops who had fought for him. So, David pulled himself together. Piece by piece, he put his kingdom back in order. He sent conciliatory words to the rebellious leader of his won tribe. He rewarded his supporters. He took no revenge on any rebel faction, but showed remarkable fairness. A 2nd rebellion broke out but was soon put down. Thought the cancer seemed to have finally run its course, it had not. For after David's death, murderous scheming would continue with his son Solomon.

Life Question: Many people will, at some point, see their well-run lives disintegrate. What enables someone to pick up the pieces, as David did?

Without question...faith in Christ. I was an utter mess when I went through my divorce a number of years ago. Anger and spite encompassed just about every hour of my day. But, I can honestly say that Christ got through my thick head and urged me to let go of all these destructive feelings and put my daughter Marie at the front of the picture. This was definitely a part of my life that I am not proud of, but it is also a part of my life that I look back at and realize that I could not have gone through it without Christ by my side.