IT’S LONELY AT THE BOTTOM (2 SAMUEL 15)
Several years ago, a Los Angeles Times (5/23/01) article with the curious headlines of “Pests Pester Even the Poshest of Posh Spots” caught my eye. The poshest of posh spots was the famed and luxurious, 285-room, 16-floor Four Seasons Hotel nearby the upscale Rodeo Drive shopping haven, and the pests were the cannot-live-with, hard-to-kill and never-say-die roaches that invade the main kitchen of the hotel.
The pest problems surfaced when the Los Angeles health inspectors paid a surprise visit and discovered six or more egg capsules behind an industrial-strength dishwasher, five or six dead insects on the floor, five or more live adults on the wall, 12 live nymphs or baby roaches and two dead nymphs stuck to some tape in the dishwasher area.
The powerful Department of Health Services, which has authorization to shut down food facilities for as long as necessary for the owners to correct conditions that pose a danger to public health, cited the hotel for vermin infestation and failure to prevent entrance and harboring of vermin. Two days later the county returned and reported after another inspection: “We went out and found the infestation was still there. We kept it closed.” Finally, three days later, the A rating was reinstated.
David had a secret, a skeleton and a stench in his closet that was not dealt with, but the infestation would not go away and would resurface at will. Absalom was the third son of David; his mother was the third wife of David and his grandfather was the king of Geshur (2 Sam 3:3). The most outstanding, charismatic and ambitious of David’s children, Absalom had the perfect looks, the perfect build and the perfect hair (2 Sam 14:25-26), but not the right or necessary character, temperament and maturity to be king. Passionate, impulsive and headstrong, he avenged his sister Tamar’s rape by killing their half-brother, Amnon (2 Sam 13), the number one son of David (2 Sam 3:1), and fled to his ancestor’s homeland of Geshur. After three years (2 Sam 13:38). Absalom secured permission to return to Jerusalem, but David did not meet or see him for another two years (2 Sam 14:28).
How do we deal with the past, especially one worth forgetting? What can we do in the present? Why is the future an opportunity?
Don’t Repeat the Past – Reform It
15:1 In the course of time, Absalom provided himself with a chariot and horses and with fifty men to run ahead of him. 2 He would get up early and stand by the side of the road leading to the city gate. Whenever anyone came with a complaint to be placed before the king for a decision, Absalom would call out to him, “What town are you from?” He would answer, “Your servant is from one of the tribes of Israel.” 3 Then Absalom would say to him, “Look, your claims are valid and proper, but there is no representative of the king to hear you.” 4 And Absalom would add, “If only I were appointed judge in the land! Then everyone who has a complaint or case could come to me and I would see that he gets justice.” 5 Also, whenever anyone approached him to bow down before him, Absalom would reach out his hand, take hold of him and kiss him. 6 Absalom behaved in this way toward all the Israelites who came to the king asking for justice, and so he stole the hearts of the men of Israel. (2 Sam 15:1-6)
An elderly lady came into her doctor’s office and confessed to an embarrassing problem: “Doctor, I don’t know what the problem is, but I just can’t stop farting all the time. It’s not really a problem socially because they’re soundless and they have no odor. In fact, since I’ve been here, I’ve passed gas no less than twenty times. What can I do?”
The doctor nodded, gave her some pills and advised her: “Here’s a prescription, Mrs. Barker. Take these pills three times a day for seven days and come back and see me in a week.”
The elderly lady followed the doctor’s orders faithfully but the problem did not go away, so the furious elderly lady marched into the doctor’s office the following week, and confronted the doctor: “Doctor, I don’t know what was in those pills, but the problem is worse! I’m passing gas just as much, and they’re still soundless, but now they smell terrible! What do you have to say for yourself?” “Calm down, Madam. It’s alright,” said the doctor soothingly. “Now that we’ve fixed your sinuses, we’ll work on your hearing.”
Absalom did not know, see or recognize his problem. He was the product of a failed, ignorant and stubborn parenting method. When son number 1, Amnon, violated his half-sister Tamar, David was furious but said and did nothing (2 Sam 13:21). How could he? He did the same to Uriah and took his wife by force. Absalom hated (2 Sam 13:22) for more than ten years (2 Sam 13:23, 38, 14:28, 15:7) and killed Amnon to avenge his sister’s dishonor and fled to Geshur for three years, but David was consumed with the absence of Absalom (2 Sam 13:39), not his reform. David did not learn from the past. Like his infatuation with Bathsheba, David pined for and doted on the irrepressible, the incorrigible and the insubordinate Absalom. Both father and son repeated, recycled and revived past mistakes, and Absalom became even more conniving, cruel and cunning.
Three years of exile in Geshur (2 Sam 13:38) and two years of seclusion and isolation in Jerusalem (2 Sam 14:28) did not reform Absalom, because David failed to confront, correct and chastise Absalom for the two years he was under house arrest, and the subsequent two years (2 Sam 15:7) Absalom was free to wander about and wreck havoc. No wonder David had to hear of Absalom’s coup, Israel’s discontent and the city’s unrest from a servant (v 13). Absalom took his old man for a “sick cat,” as the Cantonese would say, on account of his father’s silence. Three years stretched to five years and then seven years, but still David did and said nothing, heeded and believed nobody’s advise on parenting. Like before, the king was in denial, but the two were not closer together and only further apart. David repeated his mistakes with Bathsheba and Amnon on Absalom. The king picked and chose what and who he wanted to see, to hear or to believe.
Absalom was a parent’s worst nightmare. He eyed his father’s throne and plotted to overthrow his father and force him into early retirement or permanent exile. In a tragic sense, he had the best and worst, the beauty and the beast, of David’s genes – he was cut from his father’s cloth. He (2 Sam 14:25) and his father (1 Sam 16:12, 1 Sam 17:42) were the only two men known in the Bible for their beauty that rivaled women’s. Also, Absalom was like David at his lying, murderous and arrogant worst in the latter’s sin with Bathsheba.
The phrase “valid and proper” (v 3) in Hebrew is “good and right,” the usual word for “good” but the rare word for “right,” the first of four occurrences in the Bible (Prov 8:9, 24:26, Isa 57:2) with the meaning of “direct,” “plain” and “simple.” Absalom promised down-to-earth advice, justice that works and, of course, the “one-of-a-kind” and “never seen or heard or practiced before” legal rhetoric to the people who craved for and lapped up his words. David the king did not stand a chance against Absalom the politician, who shook hands, gave hugs and promise changes, at every chance he got. Absalom socialized, spoke and sided with the Hebrew commoner, the average man, the town folks. He was the politically, legally, and socially correct figure and candidate of his day who promised the world, the moon and the Jerusalem bridge to his constituents.
Absalom’s public yearning was to be judge (v 4), but his hidden agenda was to be king. Absalom was not the Crown Prince of Israel, but the Pied Piper who stole the hearts of Israel (v 7), the same way he stole his father’s heart, stole into Jerusalem and stole the limelight. Divine kingship could not be bought or sought; they were anointed, conferred or inherited, but Absalom couldn’t wait for the throne even though his father was already aging. Absalom, the number three son, was the new number two son after he had killed son number 1, and the new son number one was taught well not to harbor ambition by his mother, Abigail (2 Sam 3:3), the best of David’s wife, whom the king ignored and neglected.
Don’t Regret the Present – Redeem It
13 A messenger came and told David, “The hearts of the men of Israel are with Absalom.” 14 Then David said to all his officials who were with him in Jerusalem, “Come! We must flee, or none of us will escape from Absalom. We must leave immediately, or he will move quickly to overtake us and bring ruin upon us and put the city to the sword.” 15 The king’s officials answered him, “Your servants are ready to do whatever our lord the king chooses.” 16 The king set out, with his entire household following him; but he left ten concubines to take care of the palace. 17 So the king set out, with all the people following him, and they halted at a place some distance away. 18 All his men marched past him, along with all the Kerethites and Pelethites; and all the six hundred Gittites who had accompanied him from Gath marched before the king. (2 Sam 15:13-18)
One day a young man moved into a cave to study with a wise man. He hoped to learn everything there was to know. After giving his student a stack of books, the wise man sprinkled itching powder on his student’s hand and left. Every morning the wise man returned to the cave to monitor his student’s progress. “Have you learned everything there is to know yet?” the wise man asked.
And every morning his student said, “No, I haven’t.” Then the wise man would sprinkle itching powder on the student’s hand and leave. This was repeated for months. But one day, as the wise man entered the cave the student took the bag of itching powder and tossed it into the fire (and told the wise man what he had done).
“Congratulations!” said the wise man. “You’ve graduated. You’ve learned you don’ t have to know everything to do something positive. And you’ve learned how to take control over your life and stop the itching.” (Today in the Word, May 1, 1992)
Absalom did not value or redeem the present opportunity he had, making himself worse than it was possible. The word “conspiracy” (v 12) occurs for the first time in the Bible. A coup d’état was happening before David and Israel’s very eyes. People were switching sides and abandoning ship in record time. History was in the making. Prophetic empowerment had given way to people power. If David did not flee in time, he would be the first casualty, his servants would be victims and the residents would not be spared for harboring the fugitive king.
Absalom, unwittingly, did David a favor when he forced his old man to flee. Ironically, David’s faith was never more alive than when he was on the run, on his toes and on the outside looking in. David was never a good head honcho, the big cheese, or top gun. A figurehead he wasn’t, a fighting David was preferable, but a fleeing king was better than a fixed king. Lives were at stake other than his.
Stripped of everything, David realized he needed little to nothing. He couldn’t bring his treasures or army with him. In fact, he had a “back to the past” or an instant replay to his spirited days in Ziklag when the Philistines captured his family and carted everything away. At least he now had his family present with him (v 16). Even the 600 Gittites (v 18) with him reminded him of the day he and 600 men chased and won back their families from the enemies (1 Sam 30:9). Of course, David was never a stranger to fleeing or flight. He was the most famous escape artist and slippery customer in biblical history. More than anyone else, two biblical characters are synonymous with fleeing fled – David and Jacob. The word “flee” is mentioned in Jacob’s story for seven times (Gen 27:43, 31:20, 21, 22, 27, 35:1, 7), but not as much as David’s eight times (1 Sam 19:12, 18, 20:1, 21:10, 22:17, 27:4, 2 Sam 15:14, 19:9). This time, however, more foreigners followed him than his countrymen.
David’s life was also synonymous with the long forgotten “desert” (v 24). He was more than a farm boy; he was a desert boy. His brother thought he belonged there when he accused him of leaving the sheep not in the fields, but in the desert (1 Sam 17:28). The word “desert” occurs in David’s life as much as thirteen times. David had made his home, refuge and shelter in the desert before - in the Desert of Ziph (1 Sam 23:14-16), the Desert of Maon (1 Sam 23:24-25, 1 Sam 25:1), the Desert of En Gedi (1 Sam 24:1), and in foreign and hostile Philistine territory for more than a year and four months (1 Sam 27:7). Running to the desert was better than restlessness and ruin in the palace. In fact, returning David to the desert was like returning a fish to water, a bird to the skies and an animal to the wild.
Don’t Relinquish the Future – Reconstruct It
23 The whole countryside wept aloud as all the people passed by. The king also crossed the Kidron Valley, and all the people moved on toward the desert. 24 Zadok was there, too, and all the Levites who were with him were carrying the ark of the covenant of God. They set down the ark of God, and Abiathar offered sacrifices until all the people had finished leaving the city. 25 Then the king said to Zadok, “Take the ark of God back into the city. If I find favor in the LORD’s eyes, he will bring me back and let me see it and his dwelling place again. 26 But if he says, ‘I am not pleased with you,’ then I am ready; let him do to me whatever seems good to him.” 27 The king also said to Zadok the priest, “Aren’t you a seer? Go back to the city in peace, with your son Ahimaaz and Jonathan son of Abiathar. You and Abiathar take your two sons with you. 28 I will wait at the fords in the desert until word comes from you to inform me.” 29 So Zadok and Abiathar took the ark of God back to Jerusalem and stayed there. 30 But David continued up the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went; his head was covered and he was barefoot. All the people with him covered their heads too and were weeping as they went up. (2 Sam 15:23-30)
Management guru Peter Drucker told about his own development from a young European law student into a renowned management authority. He used to spend much of his time in the City Library of Hamburg, Germany, but he also attended the opera weekly and a performance of Verdi’s Falstaff changed his thinking and his life.
Drucker was greatly surprised to discover that the opera, with its gaiety, its zest for life and its incredible vitality, was written by an 80-year old man. The famous composer later explained to Drucker why he felt the need to write a demanding new opera when he was already elderly and famous: “All my life as a musician, I have striven for perfection. It has always eluded me. I surely had an obligation to make one more try.”
The effect on young Drucker, who turned 90 at the turn of the 21st century, was profound. The management guru said: “I have never forgotten these words--they made an indelible impression on me... I then resolved that, whatever my life’s work would be, Verdi’s words would be my lodestar. I then resolved that if I ever reached an advanced age, I would not give up, but would keep on. In the meantime, I would strive for perfection even though, as I well knew, it would surely, always elude me.”
http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m0FWE/5_6/85880890/p1/article.jhtml
At his age, David moaned his end and regretted the past. When David was on the way to the desert, the faucet in him broke (v 30) and a dam in him burst and an outburst of tears flooded him without warning. He couldn’t stop crying, prevent it from coming or turn off the pipes even if he wanted to. What made him weep? Was it his son’s betrayal? His exile?
First, the people started weeping. The only other similar biblical situation and in the same words “with a loud voice” or “wept aloud” was the loud weeping of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, when they saw the foundation of the temple being laid in Ezra’s time (Ezra 3:11-13). As David turned around at the unmistakable loud cry, he noticed they were not weeping for him or sympathetic of him (v 23). They were weeping for all the people who were passing by. These people were not supposed to be in exile but they loved their deposed king. They took their children, parents and relatives along. This group included David’s bodyguards including the Kerethites, the Pelethites and the 600 Gittites - Philistines - crying with him, for him and like him. It was a slap to his face that more foreigners sided with him than the locals. The country folks cried for him more than his son and the city folks ever did, but the foreign legions were the ones that marched with David and fought for him.
Next, David cried and cried when he realized that the physical presence of God in the form of the ark was no longer with him. It was better off in the city than with him in exile. He couldn’t bear to separate the ark from the priests, the temple and the people. Kidnapping, hijacking and monopolizing the ark and the priests would make him the most hated man in Jerusalem, but without priests, there would be no sacrifices and without the ark, God’s visible presence would be sorely missed and felt.
Lastly, David must have cried for himself a bit. He had brought this all upon himself and everyone. He flirted, toyed and slept with danger. David had wept with Jonathan before (1 Sam 20:41) and at Ziklag when the village was captured (1 Sam 30:4) and for people such as Saul and Jonathan (2 Sam 1:12), his general Abner (2 Sam 3:32) and his and Bathsheba’s dead son (2 Sam 12:21), but he was the first person in the Bible to cover his head in tears and walk barefoot (v 30). It was the clearest sign of remorse, repentance and regret yet for all the pain he had caused to his family, his servants and, most importantly, his God.
Conclusion: It’s been said, “When you can think of yesterday without regret and of tomorrow without fear, you are on the road to success.” The Chinese warned not to mess up in the last years of one’s life. We are all remnants, returnees and runners in the road of life. Do you have the courage to survive and overcome past or bad mistakes? Have you returned to the God who loves you, calls and awaits you? Are you running the good race (Gal 5:7), running to win the prize (1 Cor 9:24), not giving up or admitting defeat? Can you say with Paul, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith”? (2 Tim 4:7)
Victor Yap
Other sermons in the series and other sermon series:
www.epreaching.blogspot.com
