Trying to restore a nation

 2 Samuel 9-14

Big mistakes, I mean significant screw-ups are not easily overcome, and the people of Israel were experiencing the ramifications of putting their hopes in the wrong man.  Can you go there, sure you can you have been in that camp and so have I, much too often, but the answer is how does a person, business, a church or a nation recover?

Most of the time they do as the people of Israel, they argue and begin to point a finger at those who were responsible.  I’ve been there and when you’re tired of arguing and blaming not one thing has changed, but maybe the problem has gotten more complicated.  Or perhaps you do as the people of Israel and recall what God has done with the one you have rejected, and that's called history, and that brings to mind, my dad who always said, we repeat history because we do not learn from it.

Well, the people of Israel recalled what David had done, how he was used by God to rescue them and win their battles.  They also took the blame on themselves and admitted they had made a mistake putting faith in Absalom.

Israel has just experienced a significant defeat, and fear of reprisal is having a field day in all of Israel, so they want to make sure that David understands they want him back as their king, and yet Judah who was not part of the rebellion is very quiet.  David sends this message to Zadok and Abiathar the priests, “Say to the elders of Judah, ‘Why should you be the last to bring the king back to his house when the word of all Israel has come to the king? You are my brothers; you are my bone and my flesh. Why then should you be the last to bring back the king?’ And say to Amasa, ‘Are you not my bone and my flesh? God do so to me and more also if you are not commander of my army from now on in place of Joab.’” And he swayed the heart of all the men of Judah as one man, so that they sent word to the king, “Return, both you and all your servants.”

David is a wise king, and he is trying to restore a nation that has experienced a civil war, he removes Joab from being the commander of his army and replaces him with Amasa who was the general of Absalom’s army.  We were not told that David found out Joab murdered Absalom, but it is hard to keep such knowledge from a leader.  But David knew it would not be wise to kill the man who had been used by God to save the king from the traitor Absalom. 

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice