Absalom's Defeat

I am really enjoying the human emotion of the life-story of David. He is such a relatable character... conflicted over the love of his kingdom and the love of his son. In fact, the account of his men returning from battle in shame, despite performing their duties admirably, reminds me of the way we have treated our military in recent years. 20,000 people died that day, all of which can be traced back to dysfunction in David's household, which was the natural consequence of David's polygamy.

After David returned to Jerusalem, some people who had perviously jumped ship were now eager to get back in his good graces. The case of Mephibosheth is an interesting one, because David didn't seem to know who to believe. Had Mephibosheth been willing to take a stab at usurping the throne, as Ziba had said. Or had he been double-crossed by his servant? Since David did not seem to know who was telling the truth, he told them to split their land evenly. This is similar to a tactic used later by Solomon in his decision regarding the women fighting over the baby. Telling them to split the baby in half revealed the heart of the true mother, who quickly forfeited her half so that the child could live. Mephibosheth turned down his share of the property, leading me to believe that he had remained loyal to David and had in fact been double-crossed by his servant Ziba.

Tomorrow's reading: 2 Samuel 19:31-21:22; Psalm 7; 1 Chron. 20:4-8