2 Samuel 18:24-27 – Be optimistic but realistic

Earlier, we were told that David had divided all his men into three groups with his commanders, Joab, Abishai, and Ittai, each leading a group into the battle with his son. Absalom of course had a much larger but less experienced force. As David’s three commanders were leaving for the battle with their men, he was heard telling them to deal kindly with Absalom, his renegade son. What he said was overheard by all the men. The lives of his men were needlessly put at risk to seriously consider David’s request to treat Absalom kindly. The king was obviously insensitive to the safety of his men to have made that request. He failed to realize that if they had to obey him, they would be in needless jeopardy. This was truly an unobjective request. It was inconsiderate of him to place his love for his own son over the safety of the men. Nonetheless, we did not detect any violent objections. Except for Joab, it was apparent that David had very loyal men.      

In 2 Samuel 18:24 as his men left for the battle, David was said to be seating anxiously between the two gates of Mahanaim, waiting for news from the battleground. Meanwhile, his watchman went up to the roof of the gate by the wall to look out for anyone returning with news from the battleground. Soon the watchman saw a lone man running towards Mahanaim, so he called out and reported to the king. David surmised that if he was not being chased by others, he probably had good news to report. As he drew nearer to the gate, the watchman saw another man running by himself after the first man. Since he was also running toward the city without anyone pursuing him,  David also concluded that he must also be another bearer of good news. As those two runners came even closer to the gate, the watchman recognized that the first runner was Ahimaaz. According to what we were already told in 2 Samuel 18:23, he had outrun the Cushite who started out for the city earlier. When David was told that the first runner was Ahimaaz, he immediately and confidently concluded he was bearing good news for him.  

David’s expectation was unrealistic. Here was his rebelling son seeking to take his life. yet he wanted his men to deal with him kindly. In other words, he valued his loyal men less than that of his rebellious son. It is a wonder that they did not openly and violently oppose his unobjective request. To be objective in life, we need to have realistic expectations. One wonders what news was David expecting to have as he sat between the gates of Mahanaim, waiting for the report? He had needlessly put his men into an untenable situation. To have unrealistic expectations is a failure to rightly appraise a situation. It demonstrates one’s inability to recognize the truth concerning the situation, especially the difficulty involved in what one hopes to accomplish. Unrealistic expectations often chip away one’s relationship with others. The more unrealistic expectation one has, the more heartaches one will generate. We can have expectations in life, but what we need is to make sure that we are not longing for the impossible. Be optimistic in life but always be realistic.