ABSALOM SERIES: PAINFUL FULFILLED PROPHECIES

In 2 Samuel 12:9 -12, God gave Nathan the prophet this message to give to King David, “Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife. Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun. For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.” Unfortunately for King David, these prophetic words continue to be unfolded in his life, as I will share in this blog.

2 Samuel 15 ends with David speedily evacuating the city of Jerusalem and his son Absalom entering it without any opposition. Chapter 16 opens with King David, who is on the run, meeting Ziba, the servant of Mephibosheth, who brought him some food provisions and asses for the king’s household to ride on since they had been journeying on foot. When asked the whereabouts of Mephibosheth, Ziba answered, “Behold, he abideth at Jerusalem: for he said, To day shall the house of Israel restore me the kingdom of my father.” King David assumes Ziba is telling the truth and unwisely responds by giving him Mephibosheth’s entire property.

Next, King David encountered Shimei, the son of Gera from the family of Saul who was cursing and casting dust, threw stones at King David and his company, saying, “Come out, come out, thou bloody man, and thou man of Belial: The Lord hath returned upon thee all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose stead thou hast reigned; and the Lord hath delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom thy son: and, behold, thou art taken in thy mischief, because thou art a bloody man.” His remarks made Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, angry, and he asked permission from King David to kill Shimei for his disrespectfulness. However, King David would not release him to do it in case God prompted Shimei to curse him. Additionally, King David believed if his son was treating him treacherously, then those not related to him could do the same. In the end, David trusted God to vindicate him of any false accusations.

Having passed thru the brook of Kidron, Mount Olive, and Bahurim, the weary King David and those with him were able to refresh themselves. Meanwhile, Absalom, his followers, and Ahithophel were settling in Jerusalem. Hushai, the Archite, came to Absalom and did obeisance, which caused Absalom to question his previous allegiance to King David. Hushai gave Absalom this response which was acceptable to him, “Nay; but whom the Lord, and this people, and all the men of Israel, choose, his will I be, and with him will I abide. And again, whom should I serve? should I not serve in the presence of his son? as I have served in thy father’s presence, so will I be in thy presence.”

Lastly, Ahithophel, whose counsel was considered valuable, told Absalom to publicly have sexual relationships with his father’s concubines, which he did. Both men understood that this act would signal the people that Absalom had taken over the rulership of his father’s kingdom. Also, it would be abhorrent to his father and make reconciliation between them impossible.

For more details than the summary I provided, I recommend reading chapter 16. Now here are some truths (spiritual nuggets) that I gained from this chapter:

• Always check out the information you hear before making a rash decision.
• Appearances can be deceiving.
• People that you employ will sometimes make false accusations about you.
• A greedy untrustworthy servant will steal from his master.
• A thief will give away that which does not belong to him.
• People will hold grudges against you when they feel you have offended their family members.
• When you are down, your adversaries will say bad things about you.
• While you are walking thru your valley, there will be those on the mountain unsympathetically looking down on you.
• If you bring charges against someone, make sure they are legitimate.
• No matter the circumstance, don’t curse or abuse leadership.
• Realize some painful events that you experience in life are caused by your choices.
• Those around you often share in your experiences, both good and bad.
• Feeling self-deprecation can open the door for abuse from others.
• When men revile, you remain gracious toward them.
• God vindicates the innocent.
• Let vengeance be from God.
• It is God who determines your destiny.
• God will refresh you in enemy territory.
• A deceiver can also be deceived.
• Why expect others to be loyal when you are not?
• Those you trust to give you sound counsel may not do so.
• Our children will make the same mistakes that we did in our lifetime.
• Down thru the ages, women have been sexually abused by men in power.
• The fulfillment of some prophecies can be painful.

Also, continuing in the same fashion of my last blog, I will share from chapter 16 some key characteristics of those who exhibit an Absalom spirit:

• Those with the Spirit of Absalom will knowingly break the laws of God.
• Those with the Spirit of Absalom will disrespect leadership openly.
• Though practicing deception themselves, those with the Spirit of Absalom can also be deceived.
• Those with the Spirit of Absalom are willing to do whatever promotes their position.
• align themselves with whoever promotes their cause.
• Those with the Spirit of Absalom are willing to accept whoever exalts them.

I pray this blog has been insightful and directional for you, and if you have not read the other blogs in this series, you can find them in the archive.