The consequence of David’s sin with Bathsheba was playing itself out. We
saw how Amnon, his eldest son raped Tamar, one of David’s daughters by another
of his wife. Because he did nothing to punish Amnon, Absalom the brother of
Tamar took upon himself to kill Amnon. After murdering Amnon, Absalom fled to
Geshur to seek refuge with his maternal grandfather, the king of Geshur. For
three long years, Absalom and his father did not see each other. In those three
years, David had finally come to some closure concerning Amnon’s death and his
animosity toward Absalom had also slowly but surely receded. So from anger, he
now began to feel for Absalom to the point that he yearned for him. After all,
no matter what Absalom had done, he was still his son. Pride could be what was
preventing him from making the first move to reach out to Absalom to seek
reconciliation. David was human after all.
Putting on our sanctified imagination, we surmised that Joab, the
commander of David’s men, saw through everything. He knew that David still had
a heart for Absalom. And if anything were to happen, it had to take some
engineering. So he took it upon himself to initiate the reconciliation. But why
did Joab take upon himself to engineer the settlement? The simplest reason
would be because he was David’s cousin and wanted to see some unity within his
family. A more complex reason would be that he wanted to gain David’s favor
again. He knew that David did not fully trust him since the day he had killed
Abner, who came to help David to reunite Israel with Judah to gain control of
the whole of Israel. Go to 2 Samuel 3 for more details of how Joab killed
Abner. Another reason could also be that he was doing it to consolidate his own
position. Assuming that with Amnon’s death, Absalom would become the eldest son
and would be the heir to the throne. It would do him a whole lot of good when
Absalom rose to the throne.
So he sought out a woman in Tekoa to fake a mourning and to kick off his
plan to get David to pardon Absalom. The woman came and fell prostrate before
the king pleading for his help. Everything she said to the king was taught to
her by Joab. She told David a story that was somewhat similar in the experience
that David had with Amnon and Absalom, saying that she was a widow with two sons.
Her sons got into a fight while working together in the field and one killed
the other in a struggle. Now she faced the demand of the other family members
to hand over the remaining son. If she did, her husband would be deprived of a
descendant to perpetuate the family name.
One lesson to learn is about being perceptive in life. It is a needful
quality if we want to navigate through life astutely. While it is good to build
a life that is astute, we must not be deceptive. We know that there is a thin line
between being astute and being deceptive. True astuteness deals with a
situation without any ulterior motive with the intention of working for an
outcome where everyone benefits. Whereas a deceptive person would come to
manipulate a situation with the intention for one own’s personal gain. We must
learn to seek a resolution to a situation peacefully and in a God-approved way.
So live life effectively with courage and astuteness!
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