This week's reading, which was all in 2 Samuel could have been ripped from the script of a steamy soap opera. Lies, betrayal, murder, jealousy, sex. It's all there. And of course, love. It's what makes the world go round. It's what makes you do crazy things, as one Hollywood A-Lister recently insisted. But what we like to call love--the actions (or inactions) we sometimes take an account of "love"--can have disastrous consequences. In two stories we see the so-called love of a man for a woman causing tremendous harm, not least to the women the men were obsessed with. There is the famous story of David and Bathsheba. After David caught sight of Bathsheba bathing, he took advantage of his kingly power to sleep with her and then had her husband murdered to hide his sin. Less well known, is the story of David's son Amnon who became obsessed with his half-sister Tamar and raped her. While the Bible tells us nothing about Bathsheba's perspective on her liaison with David--whether she was a willing participant or, like her stepdaughter, was coerced, we know how Tamar felt. She was devastated and her life was ruined.
According to some translations of the Bible, David did not punish his son Amnon "because he loved him, for he was his firstborn." This time so-called "love" caused David not to act when he should have, allowing the crime against his daughter to go unaddressed. It would fall to Tamar's brother, the handsome and charismatic Absalom to take matters into his own hands, who out of love for his sister, avenges his sister's honor by murdering Amnon.
Later on, Absalom foments a rebellion against his father and ends up being killed during the ensuing civil war. David is crushed by his son's death and kind of falls apart, openly grieving over his death and casting a pall over the relief that rebellion had been crushed and the king's family and supporters spared certain death. Joab had to pull David aside and give him the "pull yourself together, man" speech. "You had a lot of people put their lives on the line for you, Your Majesty. And for you to now conduct yourself this way is a slap in the face." You know when the counsel of the ethically problematic Joab is on target, you've wandered pretty far off the path.
"Love" that cause you to do wrong, or that allows wrong to go unaddressed is unworthy of the name.
Highlights from 2 Samuel 6:12-2 Samuel 19:30 (with selections from 1 Chronicles and the Psalms)
- David and Bathsheba
- Amnon and Tamar
- Absalom's Rebellion
Fun Facts:
- Do you know about David's dirty dancing? Okay, it wasn't dirty, exactly. It's hard to tell what it was. The best I can tell from the Biblical account is that his exuberant dancing as the Ark was returned to Jerusalem was undignified, unbefitting a king, and drew the inappropriate attentions of the servant girls of the kingdom. At least that's how David's wife Michal saw it. She expressed her disgust and David clapped back essentially saying, "I'm more than happy to look like a fool to you, and even in my own eyes, but the servant girls are still going to think I'm pretty awesome." The Bible tells us that after this testy spousal exchange Michal remained childless the rest of her life. Whether that was some sort of consequence for her contempt for David, or simply because David chose to occupy himself with his other wives (and the wife of another man, in at least one instance) is unclear.
- Do you know how to get David mad? You might try to kill him or steal his kingdom, but David's temper typically didn't flare when people came for him. He trusted God to provide for him and didn't seem to feel a strong need to defend himself. But, let someone mistreat one of his men and David got hot. We saw this is in the story of Nabal last week. We see it again this week when he sends envoys to the Ammonites to honor the passing of their King Nahash, who had been a friend to David during his years of exile. Well, Nahash's son Hanun receives what turns out to be some deadly counsel from his advisors. They tell the king not to trust the envoys and so he shaves off half their beards and cuts off their robes at the waist, and sends them home, exposed and humiliated. David was furious and went to war with the Ammonites. It's too bad David's anger on behalf of his humiliated men couldn't have been extended to his poor daughter, Tamar!
- Do you know who the creep Jonadab is? This grimy guy was David's nephew, the son of his brother Shimea. He was the one that came up with scheme to for his buddy Amnon to "hook up" with Tamar. Then later on when Absalom kills Amnon, it's Jonadab that appears on the scene, acting all innocent, to set the record straight that only Amnon had been killed and not all of David's sons, as the king had initially been told. Jonadab fails to mention that if he hadn't put Amnon up raping Tamar, Amnon would likely still be alive.
What Stood Out to Me
Joab
Almost every story in this week's reading was compelling. The human drama is fascinating. And not only are the stories interesting, but the people in the stories are among the most complex in the Bible. These are not one-dimensional heroes or villains, easily categorized saints or sinners. In these stories good people do bad things, and bad people do good things. One character in particular really stands out--Joab. David's military commander and right hand man is a fascinating guy. He is a cold, pragmatic man who on more than one occasion disregarded King David's commands when he felt they were too "soft." Joab is rough man who lives by a violent code of honor. He gets things done, does the dirty work he feels no one else will. I'm sure if you were to ask Joab he'd say he has no regrets. He did things his way. He did what he had to do.
But as we'll see in upcoming readings, Joab's cold methods did not escape David's notice. In the end, David will hold him to account. Tune in next week to see how. In the meantime, go check out the book of 2 Samuel. It's a page-turner.
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