2 Samuel 19:9-15 – Be conciliatory

Unaccustomed to not having a king, the people of Israel became restless. Absalom, who usurped the father’s throne, was dead and gone and each man had fled to their own tent. David, the king, who led them to win many battles over the Philistines, was still in exile. Thinking of the time the latter had delivered them from the Philistines, they were genuinely concerned about the enemies who might return to trouble them. Without a king, they would once again be at their mercy. The people wanted to reinstate David as king. With each day that he was not restored to the throne, they became more impatient. In their dilemma, they squabbled and wrangled and wondered why it took so long to have the king reinstated. Meanwhile, waiting in Mahanaim, David was not in a hurry.

While the northern tribes were arguing about restoring the king to the throne, the tribe of Judah seemed to be passive. They were nonchalant and did not take any initiative to have David restored even though the whole of Israel had already acknowledged him as their ruler. Besides, they were his nearest kin because David hailed from the tribe of Judah. Contacting Zadok and Abiathar, whom he had left behind in Jerusalem, David told them to speak to the elders. The mission of the two priests was to challenge and goad the people of Judah into action. They were also given the task to persuade Amasa, David’s other nephew, to deflect and join the uncle, who was offering him the post of Joab as commander of his army. This move also suggests that David had begun to grow wary of Joab who was becoming increasingly haughty. By giving Amasa the position, David had made the right move. He was seeking reconciliation. Soon, he had the support of the men of Judah and they were the first to rally behind him. They sent words to the king to return to Jerusalem with his men. David and his men then made their way to Jordan. In the meantime, the people of Judah came and congregated at Gilgal to receive the king and help him cross the Jordan.    

It is gratifying to note the people of Israel realized how effective David was in their past. They recalled how he had delivered them from the hands of the Philistines. Now that Absalom had died, the right thing to do was to reinstate David to the throne. Having deflected to Absalom’s side, they could easily have persisted in their stubborn way and continue to fight and resist David, but they did not. They were willing to return the throne to David because they appreciated what he had done for them before. This tells us that all of us need to realign when we realize our wrong. None of us can claim to be immune to misstep. What is more important is what should be done when we have taken a wrong turn? Obviously, we need to realign and return to do what’s right. The first lesson we pick up from the people of Israel is about having the courage to acknowledge one’s wrong and to take steps to amend and reinstate what is right.  

Secondly, David’s initiative to spur the people of Judah to action shows us the need to be willing to seek reconciliation even when we are in the right. When we are wronged will we take the initiative to make the first move to be reconciled? David did. And he engineered the move using his trusted priests, Zadok and Abiathar. Would we do the same? Remember our Lord’s words in Matthew 5:23-24. He said, “Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.”