Reading
SAA Notes
Intra-family relationships can be fraught with many tensions. Joab is Absalom’s cousin though much older. The big questions in all this history are: Who will be David’s heir? and What is the worth of that heir? That is still the question today for Jews today. Is Jesus of Nazareth David’s heir?
SJA Notes
* O Lord, let Your enemies be put to shame and dismayed forever, that they may know that You alone, whose name is THE LORD, are the Most High over all the earth.
“Why then have you planned such a thing against the people of God?”
The subterfuge and politicking is thick in this reading!
David shows both his discernment and his lack of discernment – absolving himself of the responsibility of resolution and restoration.
We need to look to the LORD and not to man!
David is fracturing, showing big cracks in his character – just as we all do.
But the LORD.
It is HE who works salvation, bringing the banished home, drawing close the outcast.
As the woman says to David,
“But God will not take away life, and he devises means so that the banished one will not remain an outcast.”
Hallelujah for God’s redemption to us through His Son, Jesus!
More Jesus. Less us.
* Father God,
Thank You for redeeming us through Your work at Calvary.
Thank You for bringing home the banished and drawing close the outcast.
Please help us to turn to You today when trouble and turmoil come.
Amen.