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Day 137: David Mourns Absalom
Chapter 19: David Works to Reunite Israel
2 Samuel 19:1-5 ~ David's Grief
David is paralyzed with grief and the soldiers of his army, who should have been celebrating their victory, are now feeling their king's sorrow.
Shimei curses David, 1860 woodcut (Julius Schnorr von Karolsfeld)
2 Samuel 19:6-9 ~ Joab Intervenes
Question: When Joab discovers that David is in isolation, consumed with his personal grief what does Joab do and why?
Answer: Joab is furious and accuses David of ingratitude to his loyal followers who risked their lives for him. He demands that David get up and fulfill his public duty to his men before he loses their loyalty.
Finally, to motivate David to action, Joab tells him if he does not come out and speak to his soldiers, they will all return home to their families and David's position will be worse than before the victory.
David comes out to sit at the gate to review the troops. The contrast is between Absalom energetically courting and seducing Israel at the gate to Jerusalem (15:2-6) and David passively sitting at the gate. In his grief he is unable to even muster the strength to stand and so his loyal warriors must come to him.
2 Samuel 19:10-15 ~ David Reconciles with the Rebels
David is weary of war and death and is anxious to reconcile with his enemies. David uses the language of kinship in speaking to the elders of Judah and to his nephew Amasa in verses 13-14. It is the same phrase Adam used for his relationship with Eve (Gen 2:33) and which the elders of Judah used when they made David their king (2 Sam 5:1).
2 Samuel 19:16-24 ~ David Reconciles with Shimei of Benjamin
Question: David is met by what three groups of people?
Answer:
- The elders and men of the tribe of Judah
- Shimei and men from the tribe of Benjamin
- Ziba with his sons and servants
David's tribe of Judah has responded to the message David sent them with the appeal of kinship (verse 12-13). They have come to escort David back to Jerusalem as a sign of their support. Ziba, the ever the practical and able steward, is there to meet David and is prepared to ferry David and his men across the Jordan River. It was Ziba who met David as he was fleeing out of Jerusalem with donkeys and provisions in 16:1-2.
Shimei is the kinsman of Saul who had cursed David as he was fleeing from Jerusalem but is now trying save his skin by asking forgiveness for his past act of humiliating the king. His reference to the "House of Joseph" refers to the northern tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh whose ancestors were the sons of Joseph son of Jacob-Israel. He says he is the first of any of these northern tribes to welcome David back.
2 Samuel 19:25-31 ~ David Reconciles with Meribbaal
When Ziba brought David provisions as he was fleeing out of Jerusalem, David asked Ziba why his master Meribbaal had not come with him. It was at that point that Ziba told David that Meribbaal had ambitions for the throne of Israel returning to the House of Saul. At that time, David gave all Meribbaal's lands to his steward Ziba. Now that David has returned victorious to Jerusalem, Meribbaal has come to declare his allegiance.
2 Samuel 19:32-40 ~ Barzillai Declines David's Invitation
Barzillai is a wealthy, elderly man from the tribe of Gad on the eastern side of the Jordan River who came with supplies for the army when David was at the stronghold at Mahanaim (2 Sam 17:27-29). Chimham is probably Barzillai's son who will become a member of David's household in gratitude for his father's service to David in his time of need (see 1 Kng 2:7). David always remembers to reward those who are loyal to him.
2 Samuel 19:41-44 ~ The Dispute between Judah and Israel
David and his army apparently crossed the Jordan River at the same ford used by Joshua and the Israelites when they crossed into the Promised Land and camped at Gilgal (Josh 4:19). The other tribes are suspicious that David will favor his own tribe of Judah to their detriment. The tribes that claim superiority over Judah as "elder brothers" would have to be the tribes of Reuben and Simeon and perhaps the Levites. Judah was the fourth son of Jacob-Israel. The reason David has asked his own tribe to come and bring him back is because he doesn't know who he can trust at this point and his own tribe is less likely to turn against him. This accusation of favoritism will lead to another rebellion. The incident illustrates that one of David's chief obstacles in turning Israel into a nation. It is necessary to bring the people to think of themselves as citizens of the nation of Israel instead of a confederation of twelve tribes where tribal loyalty comes first.
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A Daily Defense
DAY 137 The Divinity of Jesus
CHALLENGE: “Jesus is not God. He only claimed to be the Son of God.”
DEFENSE: By claiming to be God’s Son, Jesus claims to be God. His divinity is also indicated by other passages in Scripture.
By nature, Sons are equal to their fathers. When Jesus asserts that he is God’s Son, he indicates his equality to God the Father. The son of a man is a man, and the Son of God is God. The New Testament explicitly acknowledges this. Jesus opponents tried to kill him “because he not only broke the Sabbath but also called God his Father, making himself equal with God” (John 5:18). Note that John—the inspired author—does not say that Jesus’ opponents thought he made himself equal to God. He says Jesus did this.
In light of this, other texts that speak of Jesus’ divinity also indicate that he was equal with God, not a lesser, created “god.” This is the case when we read: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). It also sheds light on Jesus’ acceptance of Thomas’s worship when the latter declares him “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28).
Paul says that in Jesus “the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily” (Col. 2: 9), and he quotes from an early Christian hymn that says, though the preincarnate Jesus “was in the form of God, [he] did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” (Phil. 2:6–7).
Paul directly calls Jesus God when he writes that from the Jewish race, “according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all” (Rom. 9:5), and when he discusses how we should live while awaiting “the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13). Peter also declares Jesus God when he speaks of “the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 1:1).
Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist
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