David and His Nephew Joab – Part 17: Restoration

Posted on November 15, 2024 by The Editor

2 Samuel 19:9-15

And they told unto all the people, saying, Behold, the king doth sit in the gate. And all the people came before the king: for Israel had fled every man to his tent. And all the people were at strife throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, The king saved us out of the hand of our enemies, and he delivered us out of the hand of the Philistines; and now he is fled out of the land for Absalom. And Absalom, whom we anointed over us, is dead in battle. Now therefore why speak ye not a word of bringing the king back?

And king David sent to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, saying, Speak unto the elders of Judah, saying, Why are ye the last to bring the king back to his house? seeing the speech of all Israel is come to the king, even to his house. Ye are my brethren, ye are my bones and my flesh: wherefore then are ye the last to bring back the king? And say ye to Amasa, Art thou not of my bone, and of my flesh? God do so to me, and more also, if thou be not captain of the host before me continually in the room of Joab.

And he bowed the heart of all the men of Judah, even as the heart of one man; so that they sent this word unto the king, Return thou, and all thy servants. So the king returned, and came to Jordan. And Judah came to Gilgal, to go to meet the king, to conduct the king over Jordan.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): “The victory that day was turned into mourning unto all the people: for the people heard say that day how the king was grieved for his son,” 2 Samuel 19:2. What a damp disappointment it was to them to find the king in tears for Absalom’s death, which they construed as a token of displeasure against them for what they had done, whereas they expected him to have met them with joy and thanks for their good services. The report of it ran through the army. The people will take particular notice what their princes say and do. The more eyes we have upon us, and the greater our influence is, the more need we have to speak and act wisely and to govern our passions strictly. When they came to the city they found the king in close mourning. He covered his face, and would not so much as look up, nor take any notice of the generals when they attended him. It could not but surprise them to find how the king proclaimed his passion.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): David does not appear to have asked, “How have we won the victory?” but, “Is the young man Absalom safe?” Not, “Is Joab, the captain of my host, alive, for upon him so much depends?” but, “Is the young man Absalom safe?” Not, “How many of our noble troops have fallen in the battle?” but, “Is the young man Absalom safe?” It has been said that he showed here more of the father than of the king—more of affection than of wisdom—that is, doubtless, a correct criticism upon the old man’s absorbing fondness. David was no doubt, in this case, weak in his excessive tenderness.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): David’s conduct displeased the Lord, and He used an unwelcome instrument to bestir the king to a renewed sense of his responsibility…He could have easily softened the heart of Joab toward David; that He did not do so, intimates He was displeased with him for his inordinate grief.

ALEXANDER WHYTE (1836-1921): When David broke out in that terrible sorrow which sounds in our hearts to this day, Joab would not have it.

THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): Joab, vexed at the king’s indiscreet behaviour, with an unbecoming disrespect goes in to expostulate with him on the error and danger of his conduct; he remonstrates how ungrateful it was to shew such neglect of those who, at the hazard of their own, had saved his life and the lives of all his family, whom Absalom would have murdered; that it appeared as if he had so loved the traitor, as to hate his best friends for his sake. He therefore urges him to appear in public instantly, and speak comfortably to the people, thanking them for their fidelity, and congratulating their victory; with a solemn oath declaring, that if he did not, every soldier would desert him, himself included, and a worse rebellion would arise than had just been suppressed.

MATTHEW HENRY: He speaks a great deal of reason, but not with the respect and deference which he owed to his prince. “Is it fit to say to a king, Thou art wicked?” A plain case may be fairly pleaded with those that are above us, and they may be reproved for what they do amiss, but it must not be done with rudeness and insolence. David did indeed need to be roused and alarmed; and Joab thought it no time to dally with him.

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): Joab’s speech to David on his immoderate grief for the death of his rebellious son is not only remarkable for the insolence of office, but also for good sense and firmness.

THOMAS COKE: Good counsel, though bluntly given, should be thankfully received. David is convinced of the necessity of submitting to the advice, and, restraining his anguish, washes, anoints, and sits in public, to the great joy of his army, “and all the people came before the king.”

THE EDITOR: Nevertheless, although David accepted Joab’s rebuke, he was weary of his nephew’s arrogance.

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): Joab had got David’s ill will by many instances, as by the murder of Abner, and now by slaying Absalom against his orders; and by his rude and insolent behaviour to him when lamenting the death of his son; he wanted to be rid of him, and now, having an opportunity of putting a valiant man into his place, and thereby attaching him to his interest, he was determined to make use of it. “Say ye to Amasa, Art thou not of my bone, and of my flesh? God do so to me, and more also, if thou be not captain of the host before me continually in the room of Joab.”

THOMAS COKE: All the tribes in general, except that of Judah, were in motion to bring the king back to his capital: but Judah had not yet declared in his favour, and they were in possession of Jerusalem; and as Amasa himself was present there, and had a great interest in the people’s affections, it became absolutely necessary to David’s restoration to gain over that city, and secure Amasa’s friendship.

JOHN GILL: It signified that David would not only pardon the treason Amasa had been guilty of, but raise him to the highest post in the army; and to assure him of it, of which he might be doubtful, considering what he had done to merit his displeasure, he makes this oath: “God do so to me, and more also”—more than he had done to Absalom; or he imprecates the greatest evil upon himself that could be thought of or named.

THE EDITOR: But was it wisdom to bind himself to God’s wrath by such hasty words? “Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.” Ecclesiates 5:2. Without consulting God about appointing Amasa, David acted on his own carnal reasoning, as his hasty vow clearly demonstrates. On a human level, David saw this not only as his own opportunity to rid himself of Joab, but also as a magnanimous political gesture to unite Judah behind him. But although something seems plausible, and politically expedient, and personally advantageous—it does not make it right.

CHARLES BRIDGES (1794-1869): A vow cannot make right that which is morally wrong.

THE EDITOR: As a man after God’s own heart, pardoning Amasa suited David’s inclination to mercy and a gracious willingness to forgive, and his sovereign right to pardon whomsoever he pleased; such is our God, Who does not deal with His family members according to what our iniquities deserve, but in grace and mercy, and to our good, never forsaking us. However, our human “hearts are deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” Jeremiah 17:9. As king of Israel, David was responsible to God for an impartial administration of justice according to God’s law. Amasa was David’s nephew, the son of another sister, 2 Samuel 17:25; and David had failed to punish yet another nephew for a treasonous crime against the nation. Was this another malignant sprout from that same old deceitful stump—his heart idol of natural family affection?

 

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David and His Nephew Joab – Part 16: Spiritual Surgery

Posted on November 8, 2024 by The Editor

2 Samuel 18:32,33; 2 Samuel 19:1-8

And the king said unto Cushi, Is the young man Absalom safe? And Cushi answered, The enemies of my lord the king, and all that rise against thee to do thee hurt, be as that young man is. And the king was much moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept: and as he went, thus he said, O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!

And it was told Joab, Behold, the king weepeth and mourneth for Absalom. And the victory that day was turned into mourning unto all the people: for the people heard say that day how the king was grieved for his son. And the people gat them by stealth that day into the city, as people being ashamed steal away when they flee in battle. But the king covered his face, and the king cried with a loud voice, O my son Absalom, O Absalom, my son, my son!

And Joab came into the house to the king, and said, Thou hast shamed this day the faces of all thy servants, which this day have saved thy life, and the lives of thy sons and of thy daughters, and the lives of thy wives, and the lives of thy concubines; in that thou lovest thine enemies, and hatest thy friends. For thou hast declared this day, that thou regardest neither princes nor servants: for this day I perceive, that if Absalom had lived, and all we had died this day, then it had pleased thee well. Now therefore arise, go forth, and speak comfortably unto thy servants: for I swear by the LORD, if thou go not forth, there will not tarry one with thee this night: and that will be worse unto thee than all the evil that befell thee from thy youth until now. Then the king arose, and sat in the gate.

MARTIN LUTHER (1483-1546): Ah! How sorrowful and perplexed a man was David. The very words denote that his grief of heart was excessive.

PATRICK DELANY (1686-1768): I confess, it is to me utterly unaccountable, from any other principle than the sad and shocking reflection of Absalom having died with all his sins upon his head, and gone down quick to perdition.

THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): There is something astonishing in this excess of grief for such a reprobate. The affection of parents is, doubtless, extremely strong. The sins, nay, the ingratitude of children cannot root it from their hearts; and they who fear God, are then most reasonably inconsolable, when their children are engaged in a course of sin, and they see them die in a state of condemnation.

EDWARD PAYSON (1783-1827): It is probable also, that the anguish occasioned by this heartrending thought, was aggravated by the reflection, that in consequence of having neglected to restrain and correct his son in early life, he had been indirectly the cause of his ruin. Hence his bitter cries; hence especially his wish that he had died in his son’s stead. He was himself prepared for death; therefore, it would have been to him a comparatively trifling evil, and he hoped that, had Absalom lived, he might have repented of his sins, and become prepared for death.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): I wish I could see reason to think that this arose from a concern about Absalom’s everlasting state, and that the reason why he wished he had died for him was because he had good hopes of his own salvation, and of Absalom’s repentance if he had lived. It rather seems to have been spoken inconsiderately, in a passion, and it was his infirmity.

THOMAS MANTON (1620-1677): Absalom was the greater curse to David because he loved him too much. Inordinate longings make the affections miscarry.

MATTHEW HENRY: David is to be blamed for showing so great a fondness for a graceless son only because he was handsome and witty, while he was justly abandoned both of God and man. And for quarrelling, not only with divine providence, in the disposals of which he ought silently to have acquiesced, but with divine justice, judgments of which he ought to have adored and subscribed to—see how Bildad argues “If thy children have sinned against him, and he have cast them away in their transgression,” thou shouldst submit, “for doth God pervert judgment?” Job 8:3,4.

THE EDITOR: When fire went out from the LORD in judgment, to consume Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, “Aaron held his peace,” Leviticus 10:1-3. But David’s inordinate affection was similar to Jacob’s love for Benjamin: “His life is bound up in the lad’s life,” Judah said about Jacob, when Joseph insisted that Benjamin remain in Egypt, “and it shall come to pass, that when he seeth that the lad is not with us, that he will die,” Genesis 44:30,31. Now Jesus said, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment,” Mark 12:30. Then He quoted Leviticus 19:18—“And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself,” Mark 12:31. The danger is in reversing that order, to put the love of our neighbour before our love of God. Remember what God told David? “I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbour”—it’s the same Hebrew word that is used in Leviticus 19:18—and that “neighbour,” was David’s son.

CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): We are to admit no rival into our bosom. The creature indeed may be loved by us, in subserviency to Him; but He must possess our supreme regards, and be served on all occasions with the utmost energies of our souls. Nothing is for a moment, or in the slightest possible degree, to alienate our affections from Him, or in any respect to divide them with Him—He will not receive a divided heart: whatever we have of understanding, will, or affections, they must all be employed for Him without cessation, and without abatement.

MATTHEW HENRY: What we have over-loved we are apt to over-grieve for—in each affection, therefore, it is wisdom to have rule over our own spirits and to keep a strict guard upon ourselves when that is removed from us which was very dear to us. The penitent patient sufferer “sitteth alone and keepeth silence,” Lamentations 3:28; or rather, with Job, says, “the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taketh away; Blessed be the name of the LORD,” Job 1:21.

WILLIAM GURNALL (1617-1679): Remember what Joab said to David, taking on heavily for Absalom’s death? “I perceive, that if Absalom had lived, and all we had died this day, then it had pleased thee well.”

MATTHEW HENRY: David is to be blamed for opposing the justice of the nation, which administration as king he was entrusted with, and which, with other public interests, he ought to have preferred before any natural affection; and for despising the mercy of his deliverance, and the deliverance of his family and kingdom, from Absalom’s wicked designs, as if this were no mercy, nor worth giving thanks for, because it cost the life of Absalom.

THE EDITOR: God knew the precise nature of David’s deep spiritual cancer, and exactly how He would deal with it in His own proper time. Family was David’s heart idol, which explains his habitual reluctance to punish any family member for their crimes, including Amnon and Joab; but Absalom was the most cherished focus of David’s heart idol. See there another purpose why God visited David’s sins upon his own family: Heart idols are extremely hard to root out; if the smallest stump of it remains, it springs up again like a weed. Jacob had the same problem. His inordinate love for Rachel caused him to tolerate idolatry in his family, and God removed her because she was a spiritual snare to him, Genesis 31:32-34; Genesis 35:1-4,18,19; after Rachel’s death, Jacob transferred his inordinate affection for Rachel to Joseph, Rachel’s first child—and God took him away also, Genesis 37:3,24-28; but again, Jacob transferred that same affection to Benjamin, Rachel’s second child. So what did God do? He removed Benjamin in a manner that made Jacob willing to part with him, despite the reluctance and sorrow he felt, Genesis 42:38 to 43:14. Only then did God restore the children that Jacob had lost, as He did with Job, Genesis 45:26-28; Job 42:10. However, David was never willing to give up Absalom, no matter what. So, for David’s own good, God removed David’s cherished idol forever, by a far more painful surgery; and Joab was the sharp scalpel that God used to cut out that cancerous spiritual tumor.

MATTHEW HENRY: How plainly and vehemently Joab reproved David.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): Sometimes God makes use of a rough hand to arouse us from our lethargy, and we should be thankful that He cares sufficiently for us to do so.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): Might we not also say to many a mother and father concerning their children, keep yourselves from idols?

 

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David and His Nephew Joab – Part 15: Retribution and Revenge

Posted on November 1, 2024 by The Editor

2 Samuel 17:24-26; 2 Samuel 18:1-7, 9-11

Then David came to Mahanaim. And Absalom passed over Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him. And Absalom made Amasa captain of the host instead of Joab: which Amasa was a man’s son, whose name was Ithra an Israelite, that went in to Abigail the daughter of Nahash, sister to Zeruiah Joab’s mother. So Israel and Absalom pitched in the land of Gilead.

And David numbered the people that were with him, and set captains of thousands and captains of hundreds over them. And David sent forth a third part of the people under the hand of Joab, and a third part under the hand of Abishai the son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother, and a third part under the hand of Ittai the Gittite. And the king said unto the people, I will surely go forth with you myself also. But the people answered, Thou shalt not go forth: for if we flee away, they will not care for us; neither if half of us die, will they care for us: but now thou art worth ten thousand of us: therefore now it is better that thou succour us out of the city. And the king said unto them, What seemeth you best I will do. And the king stood by the gate side, and all the people came out by hundreds and by thousands. And the king commanded Joab and Abishai and Ittai, saying, Deal gently for my sake with the young man, even with Absalom. And all the people heard when the king gave all the captains charge concerning Absalom.

So the people went out into the field against Israel: and the battle was in the wood of Ephraim; Where the people of Israel were slain before the servants of David, and there was there a great slaughter that day of twenty thousand men…And Absalom rode upon a mule, and the mule went under the thick boughs of a great oak, and his head caught hold of the oak, and he was taken up between the heaven and the earth; and the mule that was under him went away. And a certain man saw it, and told Joab, and said, Behold, I saw Absalom hanged in an oak. And Joab said unto the man that told him, And, behold, thou sawest him, and why didst thou not smite him there to the ground? and I would have given thee ten shekels of silver, and a girdle.

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): By this time David’s small company was greatly recruited; but what its number was we cannot tell. Josephus says it amounted to four thousand men.

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): But one would think there should be more: David “set captains of thousands and captains of hundreds over them;” he divided his army into companies which consisted some of a thousand and others of a hundred.

THE EDITOR: Certainly David’s forces increased substantially during the time Hushai’s counsel had bought for him. They joined David’s cause for various motives. Some came from personal loyalty, or because they viewed Absalom’s rebellion as contrary to God’s law, Exodus 20:12; others abhorred Absalom’s public defilement of David’s wives as a disgusting perverse crime—that also was a bitter fruit of Ahithophel’s foolish counsel. David also received supplies from Machir, the son of Ammiel of Lodebar, 2 Samuel 17:27, in whose house Jonathan’s son Mephibosheth was living, when Ish-bosheth was murdered. When Saul and Jonathan perished in battle, Mephibosheth was five years old, and as his nurse fled with him, he was dropped, and was lame ever afterwards, 2 Samuel 4:4; see there the providential hand of God’s mercy—Mephibosheth’s injury had made him unfit to lead the house of Saul, though heir to Saul’s throne; thus he was no threat to the unification of Israel under David, and escaped being murdered by Ish-bosheth’s captains. And David’s later kindness to Mephibosheth for his friend Jonathan’s sake, demonstrated that he nursed no ill will towards the house of Saul, and was innocent of their blood, 2 Samuel 9:1-13.

JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): David was confident of the victory, and gave charge that Absalom’s life should be spared. “I will surely go forth with you myself also.” If he had done so when Joab went against Rabbah of the Ammonites, he had done well. Nero and other cowardly voluptuous princes are blamed for idling and rioting at home, when their armies were against the enemy. But it may well be thought, that this motion of David’s to go in person, was in favour of Absalom, and to see that he were not cut off by any of the army.

ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): Everyone knew the personal courage of David; but beside the reasons given here for David staying at home, there was in David’s breast, a secret cause to keep him back. How unnatural soever Absalom’s conduct was towards his father, yet David’s heart loved this child too well to fight against him. Reader! pause over this, and notice the astonishing love of David to this most worthless child. Of all the base, ungrateful sons we read of in history, perhaps none, taken altogether, exceeds the character of Absalom. We find, very frequently, in the feelings of nature, parents unaccountably passing by the worth, tenderness, and affection of many dear children, to bestow their partiality and favours on the most undeserving one. Certain it is, that Abraham preferred Ishmael to Isaac, in that he begged the LORD that Ishmael might have the blessing, Genesis 17:18. And Isaac evidently preferred Esau to Jacob, in that, contrary to the divine command, he would have conferred the blessing of the covenant upon him, Genesis 27:4. There is no explaining this upon any other principle than that, in these matters, nature and grace are everlastingly opposite to each other. Thus in the case of David—what an infatuation David was under concerning Absalom!

THOMAS WATSON (1620-1686): If we love a child more than God, we make a god of it. How many are guilty of this? They think more of their children and delight more in them than in God.

THE EDITOR: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me,” Exodus 20:3. God will not tolerate idolatry in His children, nor will His purposes be thwarted. So it was with Abraham and Isaac: God told Abraham that Ishmael must be cast out; and by means of Rebekah and Jacob’s instrumental deceit, God providentially prevented Isaac’s intent.

G. CAMPBELL MORGAN (1863-1945): It is here that Joab appears in the terrible sternness of his character. He had no pity for Absalom. He knew that Absalom was the center of all the trouble—and he had seen David’s action toward his sons characterized by a lack of discipline. In the highest interests of the kingdom, his hand was raised to slay Absalom.

THE EDITOR: While Joab certainly acted as God’s unwitting instrument for the good of David’s kingdom, his motives were entirely personal. Joab knew that his position was more secure with David than Absalom. And Joab’s implacable nature never forgot nor forgave a slight. For years, Joab had nursed his resentment against Absalom; and despite David’s orders, when the opportune time came, Joab actually rushed to execute his revenge, 2 Samuel 18:14.

ALEXANDER WHYTE (1836-1921): Joab was a stern, haughty, imperious, revengeful man—pride, jealousy, malignity, revenge, assassination, with now and then a gleam of satanic loyalty lighting up his terrible heart. He ran Absalom three times through the heart right in the teeth of David’s command to spare and save Absalom alive.

JOHN GILL: Joab disobeyed the king’s order, but provided for the good of the nation, and the safety of the king. The Jews observe that measure for measure was given to Absalom; he was proud of his hair, 2 Samuel 14:25, and therefore was hanged by it; he lay with ten concubines of his father, 2 Samuel 16:21, and therefore was smitten with ten spears by ten young men, 2 Samuel 18:15; and he stole three hearts, the heart of his father, the heart of the sanhedrim, and the heart of the men of Israel—therefore three darts were fixed in him, 2 Samuel 18:14.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): Joab throws three darts into his body, which put him, no doubt, to exquisite torment.

THE EDITOR: Joab had killed Abner with a single sword thrust. Such a judicial execution of Absalom would have been a far more merciful and gentle retribution. But Joab wanted Absalom to suffer an agony for every slight he had ever received from him; Joab executed a very personal revenge—there was one dart for Abasalom’s base ingratitude to him after Joab had engineered his return from exile; a second dart for Absalom’s disrespect of Joab’s position when he summoned Joab as if the captain of the host was merely a household servant; and the third dart was for burning Joab’s wheat field, 2 Samuel 14:28-33. After those three mortal wounds, Absalom hung there in helpless pain, yet alive—then Joab’s men slew him, 2 Samuel 18:14,15.

H. A. IRONSIDE (1876-1951): Joab was a man of cruelty.

THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): Joab’s killing Absalom was a direct, deliberate, cowardly murder—and a treasonable murder against the express orders of the king, in open defiance and contempt of him.

MATTHEW HENRY: I know not whether Joab can be justified in this direct disobedience to the command of his sovereign; was this to “deal gently with the young man”?  Yet, this may be said for Joab, that while he broke the order of a too indulgent father, he did real service to his king and country, and it would have endangered welfare of both if he had not done it.

ADAM CLARKE: Joab was a cool-blooded, finished murderer. “Treason and murder ever keep together.”

 

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David and His Nephew Joab – Part 14: The Counsels of Men

Posted on October 25, 2024 by The Editor

2 Samuel 17:1-14

Moreover Ahithophel said unto Absalom, Let me now choose out twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David this night: And I will come upon him while he is weary and weak handed, and will make him afraid: and all the people that are with him shall flee; and I will smite the king only: And I will bring back all the people unto thee: the man whom thou seekest is as if all returned: so all the people shall be in peace. And the saying pleased Absalom well, and all the elders of Israel.

Then said Absalom, Call now Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear likewise what he saith. And when Hushai was come to Absalom, Absalom spake unto him, saying, Ahithophel hath spoken after this manner: shall we do after his saying? if not; speak thou.

And Hushai said unto Absalom, The counsel that Ahithophel hath given is not good at this time. For, said Hushai, thou knowest thy father and his men, that they be mighty men, and they be chafed in their minds, as a bear robbed of her whelps in the field: and thy father is a man of war, and will not lodge with the people. Behold, he is hid now in some pit, or in some other place: and it will come to pass, when some of them be overthrown at the first, that whosoever heareth it will say, There is a slaughter among the people that follow Absalom. And he also that is valiant, whose heart is as the heart of a lion, shall utterly melt: for all Israel knoweth that thy father is a mighty man, and they which be with him are valiant men. Therefore I counsel that all Israel be generally gathered unto thee, from Dan even to Beersheba, as the sand that is by the sea for multitude; and that thou go to battle in thine own person. So shall we come upon him in some place where he shall be found, and we will light upon him as the dew falleth on the ground: and of him and of all the men that are with him there shall not be left so much as one. Moreover, if he be gotten into a city, then shall all Israel bring ropes to that city, and we will draw it into the river, until there be not one small stone found there.

And Absalom and all the men of Israel said, The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel. For the LORD had appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that the LORD might bring evil upon Absalom.

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): Having two such able counsellors as Ahithophel and Hushai, Absalom directs his speech to Ahithophel, as being his first and chief counsellor: “give counsel among you what we shall do,” 2 Samuel 16:20. He orders them to form a counsel, consult among themselves what was proper to be now done at Jerusalem, whether it was right to stay here or pursue after David and his men. Absalom did not send to the high priest to ask counsel of God, by Urim and Thummim before the ark, but wholly confided in his privy council.

THE EDITOR: From 2 Samuel 16:15-23, it is evident that Hushai had been accepted by Absalom in Jerusalem, and was consulted when Ahithopel advised Absalom to defile his father’s concubines. But “to everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak,” Ecclesiates 2:1,7. Hushai’s silence allowed Ahithopel’s revengeful advice to stand unopposed, and Absalom acted on it immediately; thus God answered David’s prayer “to turn Ahithopel’s counsel into foolishness,” 2 Samuel 15:31, for “he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly,” Proverbs 14:29. Then, after Absalom had committed that outrageous sin, he asked his counsellors what to do next. And again, Ahithopel’s counsel was tainted by his desires of personal revenge—Ahithopel himself would go forth to battle against David. There is a time for prudent caution, but there is also a time to strike, as Napoleon Bonaparte famously advised, “Audacity, always audacity.” Ahithopel had rightly assessed David’s present vulnerable situation and recognized that this was a time for immediate action.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): Nothing could be more fatal to David than the taking of these measures. It was too true that he was weary and weak-handed, that a little thing would make him afraid, else he would not have fled from his house upon the first alarm of Absalom’s rebellion—this saying, “I will smite the king only,” pleased Absalom well, and then the people that were now for David would fall in with Absalom of course, and there would not be such a long war as had been between the house of Saul and David. It is past dispute that David must be destroyed; the question was, how he may be destroyed.

THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): It was indeed as the advice of an oracle, but very different from that dictated by the Spirit of God: and yet, horrid as it was, it pleased that vile son and his associates.

JOHN GILL: There is something very remarkable in the providence of God, to incline Absalom to seek Hushai’s opinion, when the counsel of Ahithophel was so universally approved. Hushai was well known to have been David’s intimate friend and confident, and not so established in the interest of Absalom, and such a sworn friend of his as Ahithophel was; this can only be ascribed to the will of God, to defeat the counsel of Ahithophel, and the wisdom of divine Providence in blinding the mind of Absalom, and inclining it to take Hushai’s opinion: “and let us hear likewise what he saith,”—which he might say without any diffidence about the counsel given, but knowing that “in the multitude of counsellors there is safety,” Proverbs 11:14. Hushai being a wise and good counsellor, Absalom might hope and expect that he would give the same advice and so strengthen and confirm it.

THE EDITOR: Now came Hushai’s “time to speak.” Hushai audaciously contradicted Ahithopel’s counsel as being bad advice—not in itself, but particularly “at this time.” Next, he marshalled his logical arguments like regiments lined up for battle. He cited the military skill of David and all David’s mighty men—men like Joab, Abishai, and the others who were with him, noting that they were bitterly angry and ready for a fight. Then he suggested that they would be waiting in ambush for Ahithopel’s expeditionary force, and if it were defeated, Absalom’s own position would be in grave danger. Therefore, he advised prudent caution.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): Hushai was obviously “playing for time.” The slower Absalom was in moving, the more time would David have for putting greater distance between himself and Jerusalem, to increase his own forces, and to select to best advantage the site for the coming conflict. We are shown here that “pride goeth before destruction,” Proverbs 16:18. It was this very detail which issued in Absalom’s losing his own life.

THE EDITOR: Having stoked Absalom’s fears by dangling a threat of imminent disaster, Hushai now baited his hook by appealing to Absalom’s vain-glorious ambitions; he described a scene of Absalom riding to battle at the head of all Israel and gaining the victory himself—on the tantalizing barb of satisfying his own lusts, his fish was fatally hooked. No supernatural miracle was performed here; God simply answered David’s prayer by using Hushai’s plausible arguments to convince Absalom to act according to his own inclinations. “There are many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of the LORD, that shall stand,” Proverbs 19:21

A. W. PINK: Had Absalom followed Ahithophel’s counsel, he would have remained at Jerusalem; but by accepting the advice of Hushai, he went forth to his death. How true it is that “God taketh the wise in their own craftiness, and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong,” Job 5:13. No doubt Absalom was priding himself in his prudence by obtaining the advice of both these experienced counsellors, yet that was the very thing that led to his destruction. Such a plan seemed to guarantee success without any risk at all—“There is safety in numbers” would be their comforting slogan. Folly often prevails over wisdom in the counsels of princes and in the houses of legislators. Why? Because God has appointed the rejection of sound counsel in order to bring on nations the vengeance which their crimes call down from heaven. It is thus that God rules the world by His providence…It was so here in Jerusalem long ago; it is so, just as actually, now—in London, Washington, Paris, Moscow, Berlin, and Rome.

THE EDITOR: So it is also in Beijing, Pyongyang, Havana, Tehran, Beirut, and Gaza.

A. W. PINK: Surely there are no darker places than the conference chambers of politicians: God “setteth up over the kingdom of men, the basest of men,” Daniel 4:17, where His claims and the interests of His people are either totally ignored or blatantly defied. Yet even there the Most High is supreme and has His way. Only so far are they allowed to go in their evil schemings.

MATTHEW HENRY: God can soon nonplus the deepest politicians and bring the greatest wits to their wits’ end, to show that wherein they deal proudly, He is above them, Exodus 18:11. Thus are the revolutions of kingdoms wonderfully brought about by an overruling Providence.

MATTHEW POOLE (1624-1679): There is no contending with that God who can arm a man against himself, and destroy him by his own mistakes and passions, without any other help.

THE EDITOR: “And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed—he put his household in order, and hanged himself; and Absalom passed over Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him,” 2 Samuel 17:23,24.

 

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David and His Nephew Joab – Part 13: God’s Symmetrical Tapestry

Posted on October 18, 2024 by The Editor

2 Samuel 15:7-11; 2 Samuel 15:31-34,37

Absalom said unto the king, I pray thee, let me go and pay my vow, which I have vowed unto the LORD, in Hebron. For thy servant vowed a vow while I abode at Geshur in Syria, saying, If the LORD shall bring me again indeed to Jerusalem, then I will serve the LORD. And the king said unto him, Go in peace. So he arose, and went to Hebron. But Absalom sent spies throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, As soon as ye hear the sound of the trumpet, then ye shall say, Absalom reigneth in Hebron. And with Absalom went two hundred men out of Jerusalem, that were called; and they went in their simplicity, and they knew not any thing. And Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s counsellor, from his city, even from Giloh, while he offered sacrifices. And the conspiracy was strong; for the people increased continually with Absalom. And there came a messenger to David, saying, The hearts of the men of Israel are after Absalom.

And one told David, saying, Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom. And David said, O LORD, I pray thee, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness. And it came to pass, that when David was come to the top of the mount, where he worshipped God, behold, Hushai the Archite came to meet him with his coat rent, and earth upon his head: unto whom David said, If thou passest on with me, then thou shalt be a burden unto me: But if thou return to the city, and say unto Absalom, I will be thy servant, O king; as I have been thy father’s servant hitherto, so will I now also be thy servant: then mayest thou for me defeat the counsel of Ahithophel.

So Hushai David’s friend came into the city, and Absalom came into Jerusalem.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): When the news arrives that Absalom had set up the standard of revolt at Hebron, David’s only thought was immediate flight.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): The matter was bad enough; yet it seems to have been made worse to him than really it was; for he was told that “the hearts of the men of Israel were after Absalom,” that is, the generality of them, at least the leading men. But David was the more apt to believe it, because now he could call to mind the arts that Absalom had used to inveigle them, and perhaps reflected upon it with regret that he had not done more to secure his own interest, of which he had been too confident.

JOHN GILL (1697-1771):  With Absalom went two hundred men invited by him to partake of his peace offerings, as the payment of his vow in Hebron, part of which was made a feast. “They went in their simplicity,” to partake of the feast, being harmless and upright in their intentions, having no thought of disloyalty and rebellion, “and they knew not anything” of an intended conspiracy.

A. W. PINK: Immediately after Ahithophel’s coming to Absalom, we are informed, ‘and the conspiracy was strong, for the people increased continually with Absalom.” His joining with Absalom greatly strengthened Absalom’s cause. There is no doubt he was the chief instrument in this conspiracy, and the prime reason why so many in Israel turned from the king to his traitorous son. His official status and the great influence he possessed over the people made Absalom glad to avail himself of his help, both to sink the spirits of David’s party and to inspire his own with confidence, for Ahithophel was commonly regarded as a prophet: “The counsel of Ahithophel, which he counselled in those days, was as if a man had enquired at the oracle of God: so was all the counsel of Ahithophel both with David and with Absalom,” 2 Samuel 16:23. But what made Ahithophel respond so readily to Absalom’s invitation, and cause him to find greater favour in the eyes of the people, as one who had been grievously wronged and deserved to be avenged of his adversity?

THE EDITOR: Trace the horizontal thread line in God’s tapestry, by considering details which in their vertical context alone seem unimportant; but connected together horizontally, they shine clear light on the deep design of Absalom’s political agitation, and show God using men’s own personal motivations to accomplish His purposes.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): There is nothing in this Bible which is unimportant.

A. W. PINK: In 2 Samuel 23:1-39, the names are given of the men who formed David’s special ‘bodyguard, among them, “Eliam the son of Ahithophel the Gilonite,” and Uriah the Hittite.” Eliam and Uriah were fellow-officers—and Uriah married the “daughter of Eliam,” 2 Samuel 11:3. Thus Bathsheba, whom David grievously wronged, was the grand-daughter of Ahithophel, and Uriah, whom he cruelly murdered, was Ahithophel’s grandson by marriage! Does not this explain why David’s “familiar friend,” Psalm 41:9, became his deadly foe, and account for his readiness to aid Absalom, seeking to avenge the dishonour brought upon his house? Does not this explain why Absalom approached Ahithophel with confidence, made known to him his treason, and counted on him welcoming the news?

THE EDITOR: When Absalom entered Jerusalem, he asked Ahithopel what to do. “Go in unto thy father’s concubines, which he hath left to keep the house,” Ahithopel said, “and all Israel shall hear that thou art abhorred of thy father: then shall the hands of all that are with thee be strong. So they spread Absalom a tent upon the top of the house; and Absalom went in unto his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel,” 2 Samuel 16:20,21. Thus Ahithopel took his own revenge upon David for the adulterous seduction of his grand-daughter.

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): Absalom incestuously defiling his father’s bed, perpetrates a detestable crime, Leviticus 18:8.

THE EDITOR: Absalom’s crime fulfills God’s judgment concerning David’s sin of commission with Bathsheba:  “I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun,” 2 Samuel 12:11. But behold God’s perfect symmetry! Amnon had defiled his half-sister, an incestuous crime that David failed to punish, Leviticus 18:11—and this sin of omission also comes home to him in the same event.

C. H. SPURGEON: Every sin has one twig in God’s rod appropriated to itself. Suffice it to say, that in God’s hand there are punishments for each particular transgression, and it is very singular to notice how in Bible history almost every saint has been chastened for the sin he has committed by the sin itself falling upon his own head.

ALEXANDER CARSON (1776-1844): God’s purpose is brought about by those whose only view is fulfill their own purposes—men think, and resolve, and act for themselves; yet Jehovah is executing His purposes even through their wickedness…This is a depth we cannot fathom; but it is a truth necessary for the honour of the character of God; and one which the Scriptures leave no room for doubt.

THE EDITOR: Fleeing Absalom, David “came to Bahurim,” where Shimei, a man of the house of Saul, came out cursing him, saying, “Come out, thou bloody man, and thou man of Belial: The LORD hath returned upon thee all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose stead thou hast reigned; and the LORD hath delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom thy son: and, behold, thou art taken in thy mischief, because thou art a bloody man,” 2 Samuel 16:5-8.

MATTHEW POOLE (1624-1679): He maliciously imputes the blood of Abner and Ish-bosheth to David, as if they had been killed by his contrivance—especially Ish-bosheth, because he only gave Joab hard words instead of punishing him.

THE EDITOR: Did David now remember his failure to punish Joab? Though he had not sought either of those deaths, there is a certain symmetry here: another sin of omission had come home to him.

A. W. PINK: Bahurim has been mentioned previously in this context—2 Samuel 3:16. Did David now recall how the husband from whom he had torn Michal had followed her to this very place, and then turned back weeping? We cannot be sure. But the remembrance of later more evil deeds now subdued David’s spirit, and caused him to meekly submit to these outrageous insults.

THE EDITOR: Like Bathsheba’s complicity in adultery, perhaps Michal had some measure of complicity in agreeing to that adulterous second marriage, because later, we know that “she despised David in her heart,” 2 Samuel 6:16. Abishai wanted to behead Shimei for his insolence. But David’s refusal echoes his words at Abner’s funeral: “What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah?” “Let him curse, because the LORD hath said unto him, Curse David…Behold, my son, which came forth of my bowels, seeketh my life: how much more now may this Benjamite do it? let him alone, and let him curse; for the LORD hath bidden him. It may be that the LORD will look on mine affliction, and that the LORD will requite me good for his cursing this day,” 2 Samuel 16:10-12.

 

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David and His Nephew Joab – Part 12: Idolatry

Posted on October 11, 2024 by The Editor

2 Samuel 15:1-6

And it came to pass after this, that Absalom prepared him chariots and horses, and fifty men to run before him. And Absalom rose up early, and stood beside the way of the gate: and it was so, that when any man that had a controversy came to the king for judgment, then Absalom called unto him, and said, Of what city art thou? And he said, Thy servant is of one of the tribes of Israel. And Absalom said unto him, See, thy matters are good and right; but there is no man deputed of the king to hear thee. Absalom said moreover, Oh that I were made judge in the land, that every man which hath any suit or cause might come unto me, and I would do him justice! And it was so, that when any man came nigh to him to do him obeisance, he put forth his hand, and took him, and kissed him. And on this manner did Absalom to all Israel that came to the king for judgment: so Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): Absalom is no sooner restored to his place at court than he aims to be in the throne. He that was unhumbled under his troubles became insufferably proud when they were over.

JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): Pride buddeth, and ambition rideth without reins. Absalom will needs have a train like a prince and successor to the kingdom, so to dazzle the eyes of the common people, who are apt to judge of inward worth by outward spendour, and to dote upon glittering shows, as they did upon Herod, Acts 12:21,22.

ALEXANDER MacLAREN (1826-1910): “Plain living and high thinking” did not suit Absalom; and he had gauged the popular taste accurately enough in setting up his chariot with its fifty runners. That was a show something like a king, and much more approved than David’s simplicity. Absalom begins by dazzling people with ostentatious splendour.

MATTHEW HENRY: The people desired a king like the nations; and such Absalom will be, appearing in pomp and magnificence, above what had been seen in Jerusalem. No man’s conduct could be more condescending, while his heart was as proud as Lucifer’s. Ambitious projects are often carried on by a show of humility, Colossians 2:23. He knew what a grace it puts upon greatness to be affable and courteous, and how much it wins upon common people: had he been sincere in it, it would have been his praise; but to fawn upon the people that he might betray them was abominable hypocrisy. “He croucheth, and humbleth himself, to draw them into his net,” Psalm 10:9,10.

THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): On a slight hearing, when one party only represented his case, Absalom flattered him with certain success in his cause, if there were anyone deputed to hear him, but insinuates the negligent administration of justice, and how much the land suffered for want of an active upright magistrate; intimating how happy it would be for people if he were judge, when every man might expect speedy redress and equitable decisions. Such pretensions easily sunk down into unthinking minds, and flattered them with halcyon days under his administration: and his familiarity and condescension to the lowest of the people soon won their hearts; for he shook them by the hand, embraced them as if a friend or a brother, and scrupled not to stoop, however low, in order to climb into the throne.

ALEXANDER MacLAREN: How old—and yet how modern! We live in a country where everybody is an ‘elector’ of some sort, and candidates are plentiful. See the same things going on, in a little different dress, before our eyes.

THE EDITOR: There is nothing new under the sun. Absalom was the “law and order candidate,” playing on people’s emotions by reaffirming their pent-up feelings of being unjustly treated by the government—just as he considered himself to have been “ill-treated” by David; thus, though a wealthy and privileged royal prince, he could style himself as being “one of them”—and that he, their brave champion, was “fighting for them,” since he alone understood their pain and was filled with empathy for their grievances. Absalom was the quintessential demagogue, seeking the support of ordinary people by emotionally appealing to their desires and prejudices, rather than by rational argument.

THOMAS COKE: Zeal for the public good, and redress of grievances, is often the dust thrown into the eyes of the populace to conceal the projects of ambition. They who court popularity by low condescensions are no sooner in power, than they throw off the mask and play the tyrant over a deluded people.

ALEXANDER MacLAREN: There was, no doubt, truth in the charge he made against David of negligence in his judicial and other duties. Ever since his great sin, the king seems to have been stunned into inaction. The heavy sense of demerit had taken the buoyancy out of him, and, though forgiven, he could never regain the elastic energy of purer days.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): A strange passiveness seems to have crept over David, and to have continued until his flight before Absalom. The narrative is singularly silent about him. He appears to be paralyzed by the consciousness of his past sins: he originated nothing. He dared not punish Amnon, and could only weep when he heard of Absalom’s crime. He weakly craved for the return of the Absalom, but could not bring himself to send for him till Joab urged it. A flash of his old kingliness appeared for a moment in his refusal to see his son, but even that vanished when Joab chose to insist that Absalom should return to the court…At every step he was dogged by the consequences of his own wrong-doings, even though God had pardoned his sins.

THE EDITOR: Yet there is something deeper in David’s silence while Absalom was preparing the ground for his subsequent rebellion. Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel, but he had been already installed as the beloved idol of his father’s heart.

THOMAS COKE: Probably David himself was proud of the figure his son Absalom made, and, by connivance, encouraged his ambitious views. Parents who indulge their children in pomp and pride, know not the injury they do them and themselves.

THOMAS SCOTT (1747-1821): Children are always uncertain comforts, but indulged children surely prove trials to pious parents, whose foolish fondness induces them to neglect their duty to God.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): The essence of idolatry is this—to love anything better than God—in some form or other this great sin is the main mischief in the heart of man. And even in saved men this is one of the developments of remaining corruption. We may very easily make an idol of anything and in many different ways. No doubt many mothers and fathers make idols of their children.

THE EDITOR: But what was Absalom’s idol?

A. W. PINK: “Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself a pillar, which is in the king’s dale: for he said, I have no son to keep my name in remembrance: and he called the pillar after his own name: and it is called unto this day, Absalom’s place, ” 2 Samuel 18:18. There are two references to “the king’s dale:” in the one, Melchizedek brought forth that which symbolized Christ, Genesis 14:17,18; in the other, Absalom erected a monument to himself.

JOHN ANGELL JAMES (1785-1869): Self is the great idol which is the rival of God.

MATTHEW HENRY: The pillar designed for Absalom’s glory, but proved Absalom’s folly.

MATTHEW POOLE (1624-1679): This was the effect of his pride and vain-glory.

THE EDITOR: The Hebrew word translated as Absalom’s “place,” literally means Absalom’s “hand.” Indeed, in the works of our own hands, we either serve God and His glory, or ourselves and our own glory. And what great heart idol did Joab cherish? Almost everything Joab did, seems motivated by one constant consideration: being captain of the host of Israel—and anyone who threatened Joab’s idol did so at their peril.

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): Every one of us is, from his mother’s womb, expert in inventing idols—man’s nature, so to speak, is a perpetual idol factory.

CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): Let us examine ourselves carefully on this.

D. L. MOODY (1837-1899): Whatever you love more than God, is your idol.

 

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David and His Nephew Joab – Part 11: Narcissistic Vanity

Posted on October 4, 2024 by The Editor

2 Samuel 14:25,26; 2 Samuel 14:28-33

In all Israel there was none to be so much praised as Absalom for his beauty: from the sole of his foot even to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him. And when he polled his head, (for it was at every year’s end that he polled it: because the hair was heavy on him, therefore he polled it:) he weighed the hair of his head at two hundred shekels after the king’s weight.

So Absalom dwelt two full years in Jerusalem, and saw not the king’s face.

Therefore Absalom sent for Joab, to have sent him to the king; but he would not come to him: and when he sent again the second time, he would not come. Therefore he said unto his servants, See, Joab’s field is near mine, and he hath barley there; go and set it on fire. And Absalom’s servants set the field on fire. Then Joab arose, and came to Absalom unto his house, and said unto him, Wherefore have thy servants set my field on fire? And Absalom answered Joab, Behold, I sent unto thee, saying, Come hither, that I may send thee to the king, to say, Wherefore am I come from Geshur? it had been good for me to have been there still: now therefore let me see the king’s face; and if there be any iniquity in me, let him kill me.

So Joab came to the king, and told him: and when he had called for Absalom, he came to the king, and bowed himself on his face to the ground before the king: and the king kissed Absalom.

G. CAMPBELL MORGAN (1863-1945): We have a remarkable picture of Absalom, evidently a handsome man of physical perfection.

ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): Amidst all the beauty of Absalom’s person, we hear nothing of the graces of his mind! Alas! what are all outward attractions but vanity.

WILLIAM KELLY (1821-1906): Both Absalom and Saul were remarkable men for attracting the natural man according to the flesh.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): “In all Israel there was none to be so much praised as Absalom for his beauty.” How this reveals the low state of the nation at that time! Absalom was not esteemed for his moral worth, for he was utterly lacking in piety, wisdom, or justice. His handsome physique was what appealed to the people. His abominable wickedness was ignored, but his person was admired—which only served to increase his arrogance. The allowing of his luxuriant hair to grow to such a length, and then afterwards weighing it, shows the pride and effeminacy of the man.

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): The great mass of the public is ever caught and led by outward appearances.

THE EDITOR: Absalom’s popularity wasn’t only due to his appearance. Seven years had passed since Amnon’s rape of Tamar, and time discolours things. Undoubtedly, many considered David’s failure to punish Amnon as unjust, and that Absalom was ill-treated for doing what they themselves would have done if Tamar had been their sister.

G. CAMPBELL MORGAN: Absalom was brought back, but in the interest of the kingdom his punishment was not wholly removed. He was not allowed to see his father, and did not see him for two years.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): Though David allowed Absalom to return to his own house, he forbade him the court, and would not see him. He put him under this interdict, for his own honour, that he might not seem to countenance a criminal, nor to forgive him too easily. And also for Absalom’s greater humiliation. Perhaps he had heard something of his conduct when Joab went to fetch him, which gave him too much reason to think that he was not truly penitent; he therefore put him under this mark of his displeasure, that he might be awakened to a sight of his sin and to sorrow for it, and might make his peace with God.

A. W. PINK: It is clear that Absalom was chafing at his confinement—that he “sent for Joab” indicates he was virtually a prisoner in his own house.

G. CAMPBELL MORGAN: That Joab cared nothing personally for Absalom is evident from his refusal to see him.

THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): Someone who is little versed in royal courts will naturally be surprised to see Joab so zealous to get Absalom recalled from exile, and to observe him afterwards so cold and indifferent about having him re-established in his father’s favour. The truth is, when Joab had greatly gratified the king, and gained credit with him by bringing back Absalom to Jerusalem, he had little reason to be solicitous to bring him about the king’s person, and restore him to full favour—because in that case, Absalom’s interest with his father might impair his own.

A. W. PINK: Joab was a shrewd politician, with his finger on the public’s pulse, and he knew full well that Absalom stood high in the favour of the people.

MATTHEW HENRY: Once and again Absalom sent to Joab to come to him—but Joab would not come, probably because Absalom had not owned the kindness he had done him in bringing him to Jerusalem so gratefully as Joab thought he should have; proud men take every service done by them for a debt. One would think a person in Absalom’s circumstances would have sent Joab a kindly message and offered him a large gratuity: courtiers expect noble presents.

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): Joab would not come, knowing the king’s mind, and being unwilling to disoblige David by a troublesome solicitation.

MATTHEW POOLE (1624-1679): And partly, lest by interceding further for Absalom, he should revive the king’s remembrance of his former murder, and meet with the reproach of one murderer’s interceding for another; and partly, because by converse with Absalom he observed his temper to be such, that if once he were fully restored to the king’s favour, he would not only eclipse and oppose Joab’s interest and power with the king, but also attempt high things, not without danger to the king and kingdom, as it later happened.

JOHN GILL: When Absalom sent the second time, Joab would not come, knowing Absalom’s business with him.

THOMAS COKE: This the young man’s ambition could but ill endure. Therefore Absalom took this extraordinary step, which shewed him determined to go any lengths rather than fall short of his ambitious aims.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): He bade his servants set Joab’s field of barley on fire. This brought Joab down in high wrath to ask the question, “Why have your servants set my field on fire?” All that Absalom wanted was an interview, and he was not scrupulous as to the method by which he obtained it.

THE EDITOR: After Absalom answered him so plainly, why did Joab agree to intercede with David for him?

MATTHEW HENRY: Perhaps Joab was frightened at the surprising boldness and fury of Absalom, and apprehensive that he had an interest in the people strong enough to bear him out in doing the most daring things. Joab not only puts up with this injury, but goes on Absalom’s errand to the king.

JOHN GILL: So Joab came to the king, and told him what Absalom had said to him.

MATTHEW HENRY: Absalom’s message to David was haughty and imperious, very unbecoming of either a son or a subject. He undervalued the favour shown him in recalling him from banishment, and restoring him to his own house in Jerusalem: “Wherefore have I come from Geshur?” He denies that there was any iniquity in him, insinuating that therefore he had been wronged. He defies the king’s justice: “Let him kill me,” knowing David loved him too well to do it. Yet his message carried his point. David’s strong affection for him construed all this to be the language of a great respect to his father, and an earnest desire of his favour, when alas! it was far otherwise. See how easily wise and good men may be imposed upon by their own children, when they are blindly fond of them.

THE EDITOR: It was not respect, but contempt, because he had concluded that he had nothing to fear from his father now. And he was right. David called for Absalom, and he bowed his face “to the ground before the king, and David kissed him.”

JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): He should have kicked him rather, and not have hardened him to further villainy. But David believed him to be a true penitent.

THE EDITOR: Absalom’s proud words, highhanded actions, and disdainful arrogance are often common follies of aristocratic privilege and narcissistic vanity—he saw himself as an immensely superior being, immune from retribution from anyone beneath his own status. But he had no conception whatsoever of how dangerous it was to offend someone like Joab, a man who never forgot, nor forgave a slight.

ALEXANDER WHYTE: Joab was all self-will, and pride, and as hard as a stone.

 

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David and His Nephew Joab – Part 10: Inquiring of the LORD

Posted on September 27, 2024 by The Editor

Psalm 73:24; Psalm 31:3; Psalm 27:1-4

Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel.

For thy name’s sake lead me, and guide me.

A Psalm of David. The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in his temple.

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): The Septuagint interpreters add to this title, “before he was anointed.” David was anointed three times, first when a youth in his father’s house; but this psalm could not be written before that time, because he had not then any experience of war, nor could be in any immediate apprehension of it; he was anointed a second time, after the death of Saul, at Hebron by the men of Judah; before that time he had been harassed by Saul, and distressed by the Amalekites, and was driven from the public worship of God.

C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): If one may judge from the matter of the song, the writer was pursued by enemies, was shut out from the house of the Lord, and parted from father and mother, Psalm 27:10; and was subject to slander, Psalm 27:12. Do not all these meet in the time when Doeg, the Edomite, spake against him to Saul?

THE EDITOR: Indeed, that matches the context of Psalm 27. When Doeg told Saul that Ahimelech the high priest had inquired of God for David, he was a slanderous false witness. At Nob, instead of David seeking God’s counsel, he had chosen flight, and an arm of flesh for defense, taking the “sword of Goliath” which was wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod, the means by which Ahimelech inquired of God, 1 Samuel 21:7-10.

CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): To behold this in its just light, we must look back.

THE EDITOR: Before that incident, there is no other mention of David inquiring of God. Yet, inquiring of the Lord was the “one thing” that Saul feared most, because he knew David would receive right answers from God on what to do. To prevent that, Saul ordered Doeg to kill all the priests, 1 Samuel 22:9-19. Nevertheless, God turned Saul’s paranoia and murderous rage to David’s blessing, by causing Ahimelech’s son Abiathar to escape—he fled to David with an ephod in his hand; only then did David began to inquire of the Lord. See 1 Samuel 22:20 to 23:9.

CHARLES SIMEON: This, to him whose trials were so great and manifold, was an unspeakable privilege. The extreme arduousness of his affairs also rendered it most desirable to him to spread all his difficulties before the Lord, and to ask counsel of Him for His direction. True, in private, he could carry his affairs to the Lord, and implore help from Him: but, as the public ordinances were of God’s special appointment, and as the high-priest was the established medium of access to Him, and of communications from Him, David delighted more particularly to wait upon God there.

C. H. SPURGEON: “But,” say you, “we cannot always be in the church or the meeting-house.” No; and even if you were, you might not be in God’s house any the more for that; but to be like a child at home with God wherever you may be, to live in Him, and with Him, wherever you are, this is to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of your life…It is my one desire always to be “No more a stranger or a guest, but like a child at home”—at home with my God all the days of my life, that I may behold His unutterable beauty—and that I may inquire in His temple what is His will, and what are the exceeding great and precious promises which He has made to me in His Word.

CHARLES SIMEON: Nor have we less the advantage of David in relation to the things which we would ask of God: for we are able to inquire more explicitly and distinctly of our God than he could.

THE EDITOR: We may always inquire of God through Jesus Christ, our heavenly High Priest. But can you remember ever hearing a sermon on inquiring of God? Perhaps not, because inquiry is not something we do naturally, and even after grace enlightens us, believers often fail in it; we rely on our own thinking, or other people’s advice. Inquiring of God is “one thing” that believers can learn only by grace and personal experience.

WILLIAM JAY (1769-1853): What is the reason why many, in the greatness of their folly, forever go astray? They do not trust in the Lord with all their heart, but lean to their own understandings. “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil,” Proverbs 3:5-7.

JOHN NEWTON (1725-1807): Those who yield up themselves to Him, “He will guide with His eye,” Psalm 32:8.

THE EDITOR: Trace David’s life through First Samuel regarding inquiring of God—see his successes, and his failures to consult God, and how God faithfully restores David to seeking His counsel. In Second Samuel, see that horizontal thread line with those lessons repeated in David’s life, as we also must relearn them. Those who have ears to hear, and prayerful studious hearts, may do so to their profit.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): What it is David desires—that he might have the satisfaction of being instructed in his duty; for this he would inquire in God’s temple. Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?

MATTHEW POOLE (1624-1679): To inquire—or diligently to seek God’s face and favour; or His mind and will.

MATTHEW HENRY: Those that resolve to follow God’s directions may in faith pray for it.

MARY WINSLOW (1774-1854): Beware of forming plans in your mind, and then coming to ask counsel of God.

C. H. SPURGEON: We make up our mind what we are going to do, and then we go down on our knees, and say, “Lord, show me what I ought to do;” then we follow out our intention and say, “I asked God’s direction.” My dear friend, you did ask it—but you did not follow it; you followed your own. You like God’s direction if it points the way you wish to go; but if God’s direction leads contrary to what you considered your own interest, it might have been a very long while before you had carried it out.

STEPHEN CHARNOCK (1628-1680): We make an idol of our own wills.

THE EDITOR: See that folly displayed in Judges 20, particularly in verses 14-28. If God’s counsel is not really sought, but only His stamp of approval on our own prior arrangements, God may answer us suitably in judgment. But to a true inquiry, we shall see the “beauty of the Lord,” in our lives, as David did in his life—God’s attributes of grace, mercy, wisdom, and long-suffering patience will be seen in His faithful guidance and loving care for us; and His providential answers display the beauty of His sovereign power in perfect timings and marvellous dispositions.

ANDREW GRAY (1805-1861): The “beauty of the Lord.” It never deceives. It never fades. It never loses its power. And it never disappoints.

JOHN GILL: Seek the face of the Lord, to consult Him in matters of difficulty; to search after the knowledge of divine things, and to ask for His blessings of grace, for which He will be inquired of by His people, to bestow them.

 

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David and His Nephew Joab – Part 9: Perceptive Discernment

Posted on September 20, 2024 by The Editor

2 Samuel 13:37-39; 2 Samuel 14:1-3

Absalom fled, and went to Talmai, the son of Ammihud, king of Geshur. And David mourned for his son every day. So Absalom fled, and went to Geshur, and was there three years. And the soul of king David longed to go forth unto Absalom: for he was comforted concerning Amnon, seeing he was dead.

Now Joab the son of Zeruiah perceived that the king’s heart was toward Absalom. And Joab sent to Tekoah, and fetched thence a wise woman, and said unto her, I pray thee, feign thyself to be a mourner, and put on now mourning apparel, and anoint not thyself with oil, but be as a woman that had a long time mourned for the dead: and come to the king, and speak on this manner unto him.

So Joab put the words in her mouth.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): David mourned for Amnon a good while, but time wore off that grief: he was “comforted concerning Amnon.” It also wore off his detestation of Absalom’s sin too much; instead of loathing him as a murderer, he “longs to go forth to him.”

ALEXANDER WHYTE (1836-1921): “Joab the son of Zeruiah perceived that the king’s heart was toward Absalom.” Joab was a deep man—deeper, quite possibly, than any man here.

THOMAS GOODWIN (1600-1679): Solomon says of a wise man, that though “the heart of man be deep, yet a man of understanding will fetch it out,” Proverbs 20:5—One, as by comparing one action with another, one speech with another; so wise men guess at men’s ends in things, and the respects that move them.

THE EDITOR: A similar approach should also apply in studying the historical books. The Bible is a Divine fabric, perfectly woven together by the Holy Spirit for our learning. It has vertical thread lines and horizontal thread lines, like the warp and woof of medieval tapestries; and when those two thread lines are woven together, a detailed mural emerges. So in our Bible studies—by comparing scripture to scripture, and meditating carefully on specific details and nuances, including the tone of voice in what men say, the Spirit expands our understanding; it then becomes three-dimensional, depicting the scene far more clearly, and some distinct ramifications become apparent. Sometimes there is even significance in what is not said.

THOMAS GOODWIN: Second, wise men guess at men’s ends, and the respects that move them, by gestures. By a cast of a man’s countenance and behaviour, men are often discerned.

WILLIAM GURNALL (1617-1679): Joab saw David’s bowels working towards Absalom through the casement of his countenance, and there­fore lets down a widow’s parable as a bucket to draw out that mercy which lay in his heart like water in a deep well. Joab knew what he did in sending the woman of Te­koah to David, with a petition wrapped up in a hand­some parable for Absalom. He knew the king’s heart went strongly after him.

ALEXANDER WHYTE: David was all heart, and passion, and sensibility.

A. W. PINK (1886-1952): Joab resorted to an artful subterfuge whereby David might be saved from disgracing the throne and yet at the same time regain his beloved son. He employed a woman to pose as a desolate widow and relate to the king a fictitious story, getting him to commit himself by passing judgment there on. She is termed a “wise woman,” but her wisdom was the guile of the Serpent. Satan has no initiative, but always imitates, and in the tale told by this tool of Joab we have but a poor parody of the parable given through Nathan. The case she pictured was well calculated to appeal to the king’s susceptibilities, and bring to mind his own sorrow. With artful design she sought to show that under exceptional circumstances, it would be permissible to dispense with the executing of a murderer, especially when the issue involved the destruction of the last heir to an inheritance, 2 Samuel 14:4-17.

THOMAS GOODWIN: How easily it prevailed with him and how glad David’s heart was!

ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): Observe: It was David’s natural tenderness to his son which Joab took advantage of. If you examine David’s history more closely, you will find that, for the most part, his sins and consequent chastisements, were induced by consulting the feelings of nature more than the glory of God.

MATTHEW HENRY: Joab plainly foresaw that David would at length be reconciled to Absalom, and therefore thought he should make both his friends if he were instrumental to bring it about. As a statesman, concerned for the public welfare, Joab knew how much Absalom was the darling of the people, and, if David should die while he was in banishment, it might occasion a civil war between those that were for Absalom, and those that were against him.

A. W. PINK: Joab was what would be termed in present-day language as an ‘astute politician’—an unprincipled man of subtle expediency.

THE EDITOR: Nevertheless, David perceived the true author of her tale, and discerned his real motive. “Is not the hand of Joab with thee in all this?” 2 Samuel 14:19.

JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): Joab never pleased David better than when he pleaded for Absalom. All which Joab did, not out of any great goodwill to Absalom; but merely out of self love, to serve his own turn, now that he saw that David was set upon it to have him home, and that Absalom was likely enough to succeed his father in the kingdom. Now as Joab’s hand was in this whole business—he was the engineer—so is Satan’s hand in the sins of the wicked, and in the troubles of the godly, as is easily discerned.

THE EDITOR: Satan baits his temptations to suit their inclinations.

THOMAS GOODWIN: “And the king said unto Joab, Behold now, I have done this thing: go therefore, bring the young man Absalom again,” 2 Samuel 14:21. Even so acceptable it was to David, that Joab could not have done him a greater kindness, and that Joab knew well enough.

JOHN GILL: “And Joab fell to the ground on his face, and bowed himself, and thanked the king, and Joab said, Today thy servant knoweth that I have found grace in thy sight, my lord, O king, in that the king hath fulfilled the request of his servant,” 2 Samuel 14:22. He might presume upon this, that as the king had given orders at his request to recall Absalom, who had murdered his brother, which was tacitly giving him a pardon—so David would forgive him the murder of Abner, and think no more of it, since Joab perceived that now, which he had not so clearly perceived before, that he had found grace in his sight.

A. W. PINK: “So Joab brought Absalom to Jerusalem. And the king said, Let him turn to his own house, and let him not see my face. So Absalom returned to his own house and saw not the king’s face,” 2 Samuel 14:23,24. Some think this measure of the king was designed to humble his son, hoping that he would now be brought to see the heinousness of his sin and repent for it. But surely there had been sufficient time for that in his three years’ sojourn in Geshur.

ROBERT HAWKER: David’s winking at Absalom’s murder was contrary to God’s law. Alas! how little do we keep a steady eye to what the Lord hath said, instead of what we feel.

A. W. PINK: Nothing could possibly justify David in disregarding the divine law, which cried aloud for the avenging of Amnon. God had given no commandment for his son to be restored, and therefore His blessing did not attend it—It is to be duly noted that there is no word recorded of David seeking unto the Lord at this time. Ominous silence! The energies of nature dominated him, and therefore there was no seeking of wisdom from above. This it is which casts light upon the dark scenes that follow.

THE EDITOR: Like the Israelites of Joshua’s day concerning the Gibeonites, David “asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord,” Joshua 9:14.

 

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David and His Nephew Joab – Part 8: Rape, Murder, and Folly

Posted on September 13, 2024 by The Editor

2 Samuel 13:1-5,7,11-17

And it came to pass after this, that Absalom the son of David had a fair sister, whose name was Tamar; and Amnon the son of David loved her. And Amnon was so vexed, that he fell sick for his sister Tamar; for she was a virgin; and Amnon thought it hard for him to do any thing to her. But Amnon had a friend, whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shimeah David’s brother: and Jonadab was a very subtil man. And he said unto him, Why art thou, being the king’s son, lean from day to day? wilt thou not tell me? And Amnon said unto him, I love Tamar, my brother Absalom’s sister. And Jonadab said unto him, Lay thee down on thy bed, and make thyself sick: and when thy father cometh to see thee, say unto him, I pray thee, let my sister Tamar come, and give me meat, and dress the meat in my sight, that I may see it, and eat it at her hand.

Then David sent home to Tamar, saying, Go now to thy brother Amnon’s house, and dress him meat.

So Tamar went to her brother Amnon’s house; and he was laid down. And she took flour, and kneaded it, and made cakes in his sight, and did bake the cakes. And when she had brought them unto him to eat, he took hold of her, and said unto her, Come lie with me, my sister. And she answered him, Nay, my brother, do not force me; for no such thing ought to be done in Israel: do not thou this folly. And I, whither shall I cause my shame to go? and as for thee, thou shalt be as one of the fools in Israel. Now therefore, I pray thee, speak unto the king; for he will not withhold me from thee. Howbeit he would not hearken unto her voice: but, being stronger than she, forced her, and lay with her. Then Amnon hated her exceedingly; so that the hatred wherewith he hated her was greater than the love wherewith he had loved her. And Amnon said unto her, Arise, be gone. And she said unto him, There is no cause: this evil in sending me away is greater than the other that thou didst unto me. But he would not hearken unto her.

THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): When David had taken Rabbah and the other cities of Ammon, he had not long returned to Jerusalem before his domestic misfortunes began to multiply upon him, to verify the terrible threats which Nathan had denounced from the Lord, “I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house,” 2 Samuel 12:11.

ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): Tamar was the daughter of David and Maacah, daughter of the king of Geshur, and the sister of Absalom. Amnon was David’s eldest son by Ahinoam. She was therefore a half-sister to Amnon, but a whole sister to Absalom. “Jonadab was a very subtle man,”—and most diabolic advice did he give to his cousin.

G. CAMPBELL MORGAN (1863-1945): It is said of Jonadab that he was a friend of Amnon. The word “friend” is desecrated by its use in such a connection. Any who out of friendship will aid in the pathway of sin, prove themselves enemies rather than friends. Jonadab might have saved Amnon, even though for the moment he had offended him.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): David saw no reason to suspect any mischief intended. God hid his heart from understanding in this matter. He therefore immediately orders Tamar to go and attend her sick brother. He does it very innocently, but afterwards, no doubt, reflected upon it with great regret.

ADAM CLARKE: Amnon violates her. He then hates her, and expels her from his house.

THOMAS COKE: Commentators are at a loss to account for this sudden and excessive hatred; and, indeed, there seems to be something extraordinary in it.

MATTHEW HENRY: Amnon’s lust was unnatural in itself—to lust after his sister, miscalling it “love.”

THE EDITOR: What had attracted Amnon to Tamar’s beauty most was her virginal innocency. Such was the Satanic nature of his lust; the devil hates holiness and purity, and always seeks to destroy it. But once Amnon had defiled Tamar’s innocent purity, that attraction was gone; now Amnon realized the “folly” and consequences of what he had done, Leviticus 18:7; Deuteronomy 22:25-27. But rather than loathing himself, he blamed Tamar for it, and her prior warning against it only made him despise her more. Now he couldn’t bear to be around her. Tamar left weeping, and went to her brother Absalom, 2 Samuel 13:16-20.

JOHN GILL (1697-1771): “When king David heard of all these things, he was very wroth” with Amnon, 2 Samuel 13:21—but we read not of any reproof he gave him, nor of any punishment inflicted on him.

THE EDITOR: Absalom hated Amnon for defiling Tamar, but he said nothing for two years. Then, Absalom asked David to come with all his sons to his sheep-shearing feast. But why did he want David to go? Absalom was ambitious, and next in line to the throne after Amnon, and he harboured a deep resentment against his father for not punishing Amnon, 2 Samuel 15:1-4; if David had attended his feast, Absalom likely would have murdered all of them, including his father, and seized David’s throne. But in the midst of judgment, God remembers mercy. It was God’s preventative grace that moved David not to attend; “The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD…he turneth it whithersoever he will,” Proverbs 21:1; “The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD,” Proverbs 16:1.

G. CAMPBELL MORGAN: Absalom probably was moved by mixed motives. Absalom wanted vengeance on the man who had wronged his sister. His subsequent actions, however, show that he saw in Amnon a hindrance to carrying out his own secret ambitions.

THE EDITOR: Next, Absalom asked him to send Amnon; David was suspicious, but after Absalom pressed him on it, he agreed to send Amnon with the others, 2 Samuel 14:23-27. “And it came to pass, while they were in the way, that tidings came to David, saying, Absalom hath slain all the king’s sons, and there is not one of them left. And Jonadab, the son of Shimeah, David’s brother, answered and said, Let not my lord suppose that they have slain all the young men the king’s sons; for Amnon only is dead: for by the appointment of Absalom this hath been determined from the day that he forced his sister Tamar,” 2 Samuel 13:30,32.

G. CAMPBELL MORGAN: It is noticeable that Jonadab the “friend” who had aided Amnon, was still on hand, and the same cool, calculating traits were manifest in his character.

MATTHEW HENRY: What a wicked man was he, if he knew all this or had any cause to suspect it, that he did not make David acquainted with it sooner, that means might be used to make up the quarrel, or at least that David might not throw Amnon into the mouth of danger by letting him go to Absalom’s house. If we do not our utmost to prevent mischief, we make ourselves accessory to it. “If we say, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider” whether we did or no? See Proverbs 24:11,12

THE EDITOR: Some in Israel likely thought that Absalom was justified in killing Amnon, and viewed him as wielding the sword of righteous justice. But Absalom’s principle motive wasn’t justice, nor ambition, but revenge, nursed by his own offended proud vanity, 2 Samuel 14:26; his waiting two years was only to conceal his intentions, because Absalom had decided to kill Amnon the very day he had forced his sister—‘should he deal with my sister as with an harlot!’—the same motive that Simeon and Levi cited for their revenge regarding Dinah’s defilement, and equally as deceitful in its planning, Genesis 34:31. That made it a cold premeditated murder of personal revenge, pure and simple.

MATTHEW HENRY: Sin brings trouble into a family, and one sin is often made the punishment of another.

THE EDITOR: Micah, though he prophesied of Israel’s later wickedness, could have been describing the mess David’s family had now become: “The best of them is as a briar: the most upright is sharper than a throne hedge…trust yet not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide…a man’s enemies are the men of his own household,” Micah 7:4-6.

MATTHEW HENRY: Thus God chastened David with the rod of men. Adultery and murder were David’s sins, and those sins among his children were the beginnings of his punishment, and the more grievous because he had reason to fear that his bad example might have helped to bring them to these wickednesses—Amnon ravishing Tamar, assisted in his plot to do it by Jonadab his kinsman, and villainously executing it; and Absalom murdering Amnon for it. Both were great griefs to David, and the more so, because he was unwittingly made accessory to both, by sending Tamar to Amnon, and Amnon to Absalom.

THE EDITOR: David certainly blamed himself for it, and saw it all as God’s judgment, as God had said, “I will raise up evil against thee, out thine own house.” Now David’s most favourite son had to flee.

JOHN GILL: Absalom fled to Geshur, where he remained three years.

G. CAMPBELL MORGAN: In all these things David was reaping the result of the sin that had cursed his life, and the full harvest was not yet.

 

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