History – 2 Samuel 15-19

2 Samuel 12

¹¹ “This is what the LORD says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity upon you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. ¹² You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’ ”

¹³ Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.”
Nathan replied, “The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. ¹⁴ But because by doing this you have made the enemies of the LORD show utter contempt, he son born to you will die.”

We continue on with our reading of 2 Samuel today.

Bible Passage:  2 Samuel 15-19

In the previous chapters, God meted out his first phase of punishment to David; that is the death of the son born in adultery.

In the second phase, his evil son Absalom usurped David’s throne and attempted to kill him. David had to flee Jerusalem in shame and in sadness. He and his household had to flee for their lives too. Following this was a battle between David’s servants and the army of Israel and Absalom dying in the battle. After the death of Absalom, David returned back to Jerusalem as king.

Some people may say that all these historical books are well ‘history’. These books are just stories only and that one should just only read the NT. Actually, there are a lot of things to learn from these historical books other than the stories. In chapters 15 to 19, it describes the trying times David faced. David faced many enemies in the past, but in this situation, the enemy came from within his house. ‘The one close’ to him has become his enemy.

It is interesting to note that when David heard about the plot, he packed up his household and left the city. He did not put up a fight against Absalom. Why?

I would think the reason is that he knew that it was God’s punishment for him. He acknowledges whatever God has given to him, and accepts what God takes away. David had this heart of acceptance to whatever the Lord prepared for him.

In this case, the Lord prepared that he has to flee for his life and lose his throne to his son. David was brought from a high position to such a low position. Are we able to accept such punishment from God? Are we able to accept that what we have now, example status, wealth etc are all from God and that God has the sovereign right to take it away too?

While he was fleeing like refugees, David was cursed and pelted with stones by Shimei. This was an act of ridicule and curse. This sounds familiar in football….  David humbled himself even though he was insulted and controlled his anger to retaliate. Are we able to exercise such self control if we were to be ridiculed by others? Even after David was made king again, he did not exact vengeance on Shimei.

There are a few other biblical characters that showed their true nature in these chapters.

It can be seen that the people in the past are no different then the people today.

In a way, the Bible is not ‘outdated’ although we read history that is few thousand years old. People in the past scheme just like people today. They are cunning like in the case of Ziba, ambitious and evil like Absalom, proud like Ahithopel, revengeful like Joab and Abishai. There are also good people too like David’s friends who warned him of Absalom plans.

Lastly from these chapters, we see that God’s Words will always be fulfilled and that if we were in trials, we ought to look deep into our hearts if we have offended God. If we have offended God and now undergoing some kind of punishment, we have to seek God with humility and accept what God has prepared for us.