S5: Day 92: 2 Samuel 13–15

Hey everyone, welcome back to the podcast. Before we dive into today's episode, I have some exciting news that I know a lot of you have been waiting for. Our A Year in the Bible study is back in stock. But here's the deal, this study will sell out fast. So if you've been waiting for it to come back in stock, this is your sign. Go get your A Year in the Bible study now by clicking the link in the top of our show notes before they're gone. Hey, this is Shelby and CJ. CJ, we're walking through Second Samuel. We've been walking through First and Second Samuel for quite a while now, but we just have a few days left and we ended a difficult episode yesterday. David was basically told that violence and calamity are going to follow his family for all of their days. So I mean, that's what we're walking into in these chapters. Do we see that taking place? Yeah, so Second Samuel 13 is another brutal chapter where Amnon less after is half sister Tamar. Amnon and Tamar are David's children. And he, Amnon assaults Tamar and Absalom, who's another one of David's children, is enraged and he plots to kill Amnon and eventually does and then Absalom flees. And Amnon's actions against his half sister remind us of David's actions against Bathsheba. And this again is kind of going back to Nathan's Oracle where he says, in the same way that you've been acting, that's how your family's going to end up operating, moving forward and how your kingdom is going to be complicated and embroiled in all this chaos and whatnot. And in these chapters, David starts to feel really passive, which is also alarming, I think for us as readers, because we expect after the Davidic Covenant that it would almost be like utopian for the rest of Samuel, that David would rule righteously and things would go well, but that's just not the case. Yeah, so just like you said, we're seeing what Nathan said play out here. So it was hard to hear in our episode in our reading yesterday, it's hard to watch today. Yeah, well said for sure. And then what happens next is that Joab, who we heard about at the beginning of Second Samuel, he's David's right hand man and he finds this wise woman to come and try to convince David to let Absalom return because Absalom fled after killing Amnon. And David's convinced, but he doesn't really want to see Absalom again. This is sort of showing David's passivity. And then we learned about Absalom, that he was the most handsome man in all of Israel. Wait, I've heard this before. Exactly. And this reminds us of Saul. So all of a sudden, we're thinking, is Absalom going to be like Saul? And as it turns out, he's kind of, he kind of is like Saul. So he has this beautiful hair and he's really prideful and what can we anticipate? Probably that it's going to end up in a bad place as it has it before. That's exactly right. So Absalom then plots to usurp his father's throne and he starts kind of mingling with the people and winning hearts and minds. And then eventually he calls for a coup and he tries to take over his father's throne. So much so, and he's so successful that David actually has to flee. So again, David is fleeing in the wilderness because a guy like Saul has chased him out of town. And this again reminds us of Nathan's prophecy is that the Lord would raise up some problematic figure from your very house. And that's kind of what we're left in these chapters. Yeah, yeah. And it's not fun to watch at all. But let me ask this question. Is there hope in these chapters? Do we see Jesus in these chapters in any way? I think so. Of course, I'm reminded again of Hannah's song about humility and true kingship and those sorts of themes that we've come to expect in Samuel. But then we see Absalom taking kingship for himself. And I think his actions and his character are the antithesis of Christ. So we see Christ in this chapter because we don't see him in this chapter if that makes sense. So Absalom comes into a city with war chariots and horses and runners, essentially tanks of the ancient world. But Jesus enters Jerusalem humbly on a donkey. Absalom tries to win hearts and minds by tickling people's ears and being clever. Jesus' words are actually marked by truth, but they end up sort of being divisive. And they simultaneously push people away who don't want to hear his truth, but also drop people in naturally or for good reason. Absalom betrays others, but Jesus is the one who's betrayed. So we see all of the characteristics we don't want to see in Absalom and we then can look to Christ and have a breath of fresh air for the true king. Yeah, absolutely. That was beautifully put. One thing that was mentioned in the studies is that these chapters paint a picture that in our lives we will have highs and lows. Here we're seeing highs and lows as a result of David's own actions. And certainly that takes place in our life, although we may experience highs and lows for other reasons as well. But something the study said is by trusting in God, we are given the help we need to make it through whatever befalls us, both in the good times of our lives and amid any disaster that may come upon us. And so as I'm reading through these and I'm thinking about, man, when I experience these highs and lows, whether it be my own doing or just a fact of life, trusting in the Lord that he will get me through whatever befalls me is my hope in those times. And so I think that's my takeaway. If you're not going through the studies with us, we'd love for you to grab those. There's a link in the show notes. We love to provide more context and depth in that way. But of course, if you don't have the studies, you can always just join us here each day. I'll be back tomorrow.