Read: 2 Samuel 13 & 14
In 2 Samuel 12, the prophet
Nathan laid out the consequences for David’s sins: “Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house… Behold, I
will raise up evil against you out of your own house. And I will take your
wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbour, and he shall lie with
your wives in the sight of the sun. For you did it secretly, but I will do this
thing before all Israel and before the sun.” (v 10-12) The execution of
this prophecy begins in these next few chapters, and the “evil” mentioned are
David’s own sons.
David’s son Amnon rapes
David’s daughter, Tamar. Amnon and Tamar are half-siblings, having different
mothers. Sexual relations between siblings of any degree were forbidden in
God’s law. But Amnon’s urges are strong, and he does little to fight them. It
seems irrelevant to him that such an idea was an abomination to God. Amnon
seems to care little about God, his father, or anyone but himself in this
matter. And so, despite her pleas and objections, Amnon rapes his sister. Immediately
his feelings change: Amnon’s love is replaced with deep loathing. After having
his way with her, he commits an even greater injustice – he sends her from his
presence. God’s law demanded that if a man raped a woman, he was obligated to
pay the dowry and take her as his wife and he could never divorce her, but
Amnon refuses. King David hears about the situation, and though he is angry, he
does nothing about it. Absalom hates Amnon for what has been done to his
sister, and so he takes Tamar into his home and tells her to leave the matter
alone; Absalom is taking matters into his own hands. He spends two years
seething over what happened between Tamar and Amnon and finally takes an
opportunity to kill his brother. David has seen his daughter robbed of a
future, and now, like Adam and Eve, has seen one son murdered and another
become a murderer.
Absalom runs off, and while
David does not seek vengeance, he does not welcome Absalom back, either. It is
sad to see David stand idly by while his children ruin each other’s lives. It
is sad that after his own experience with Bathsheba he would not speak out
against the injustice of his son, Amnon, and urge him to repentance. It seems
that David’s own sins have crippled him as a father. While he received the
forgiveness of God, we see him a rather warned out figure in these chapters,
weathered by sin and weakened in judgement. He does not want to punish Absalom,
but neither does he want to accept him into the palace. He forgives him in
terms of dismissing charges, but will not speak to him or see him. And so
Absalom, left in limbo, finally resorts to burning Joab’s fields in order to
get David’s attention. Some extent of reconciliation occurs, but more trouble
is coming.
Just because we follow God and
just because we have developed a personal relationship with him does not mean
that our lives will be without hardship or injustice. David is the man after God’s
own heart. But we look at his life and we see that he makes mistakes – big ones
– and that his family is a mess. He has lived with injustice for years and now
he has been the cause of injustice through both his sin with Bathsheba and his
silence with his children. Yet he is still
called “the man after God’s own heart.” So we must stop and think: What does it mean to be a person who is
“after God’s heart”? Clearly it is not someone who is without sin and
weakness; we cannot be God. The key word is after
– one who chases and pursues the heart of God. Running a
lifelong race will inevitably bring some stumbles – we will trip over rocks or
over our own feet in clumsiness! Sometimes we might fall flat on our faces. We
will get tired, and slow down. We will need refreshing. Portions will be uphill
and others will be flat and easy. One who is after God’s heart will continue. He will spend his whole life
calling himself a runner. When he stumbles because of sluggish movement, he
will be attentive to pick up his feet. When he starts to get distracted by his
surroundings, he will set his eyes on the goal. When he wipes out and skids on
the road, he will get up again and let the bruises heal. And throughout the
race, he will have frequent refreshment. In our lives, we must continually seek
the refreshment that comes from the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. We must
stay in the Word if we want to continue to the race. We must stay in
communication with God through prayer. Our race will include seeking to know
more about who God is and how He feels. It will include learning about our
purpose in life and what it means to have Christ living in us. We will seek to
know what pleases God and how we can grow in our love for Him. We will choose
to worship Him with everything we do. We must determine that we are runners –
followers of Christ – and we will keep running until we cross the finish line,
no matter how many times we fall in the process. This is the life of one who is
after God’s heart.
JOURNALING AND PRAYER
1. What
kind of man is Amnon? Study his character and note different places where he
went wrong. What should he have done differently at each point? How could he
have realigned himself with God’s ways at each point? How do you see David’s
struggles reflected in Amnon’s life?
2. Spend
some prayer time in intercession for family members today. If you have children
or grandchildren, pray for them specifically. Ask God to set them free from any
bondages of sin that are in their lives (lust, eating disorders, anger, etc.),
particularly from areas of sin that you have struggled in. Ask God to work
through them with His mighty power.
3. Are
you a man, or woman, “after God’s own heart”? Ask God if you are? Ask Him to
show you specific things you have done on the race that have pleased Him. Ask
Him to show you if there is an aspect of the race where He wants to see
improvement.
