When You See His Kingdom (2 Samuel 14)
2 Samuel 14
The default of the human heart, is for us to assert ourselves over others, to control and dominate. A great example is this, is the story of Absalom and Joab. Absalom was the son of David and the presumed future king of Israel. Joab was David’s nephew and the supreme military leader of Israel’s army.
Absalom has fled Jerusalem because he killed his brother Amnon for raping his sister Tamar. But it has been two years and now Absalom wants to come back, so he turns to Joab for help. Joab devises a plan wherein he recruits a wise woman and concocts a story for her to take to David. The story is basically that the woman had two sons who fought with each other, and one son killed the other. Her community wants her to turn her living son over so that they can execute him, leaving her a widow and without an inheritance. She is coming to David for mercy and justice, which David grants. But then she asks him, “Then why haven’t you restored Absalom?” David now sees through the ruse and asks the woman, “Did Joab put you up to this?” to which she replies. “Yes.” This creates and awkward situation because Joab is in the room. David turns to Joab and says, “Ok, you can bring Absalom home, but he has to stay in his own house and he can’t see my face.” So Absalom returns.
But now it has been two years and Absalom has still not seen his father, and he says, “If I have done something wrong, execute me, otherwise, restore me fully to power.” He brings this message to Joab, again looking to him for help, but this time, Joab ignores his message. He sends a second message to Joab, which he again ignores. Finally, Absalom tells his servants, “Look, Joab owns a barely field which is right next to mine. Burn it to the ground. That will get his attention!” This time, Joab responds certainly saying, “Dude why did you burn my field down?” Absalom gives him the message, which Joab brings to David and Absalom is restored. It turns out to be a terrible idea, because in a short time, Absalom would raise a revolt against David and drive David into exile. Joab would kill Absalom. We see a little into the thinking of Joab, which was certainly, “This guy’s gonna be my boss one day, and if he’s crazy enough to burn my field to the ground, he’s crazy enough to burn my career and family to the ground.
When we look at David and his kingdom, it’s helpful to see David as the best that mankind has to offer. He’s the anointed one; the chosen one; that man after God’s own heart. And yet David and his kingdom were deeply flawed, with many personal failures, violence and rebellion to God. It stands in contrast to Jesus’ kingdom, which is an upside kingdom wherein the first are last and the last, first; the rich are poor and the poor, rich; the powerful are powerless and the powerless, powerful. And the ethos of this kingdom is to do unto others as you would have done to you. We don’t see much of that in this story, do we.
So when you see this assertion to dominate and to control others, and we see it in all facets of our lives – our children and families, in our communities, our churches, our schools and certainly in our politics – look for Jesus kingdom in the midst of all the aggression. Because Jesus said that when we seek first his kingdom, all these other things will be added to us. And when we see Jesus’ kingdom, we see Jesus. And when we see Jesus, we see an opportunity for peace. And Jesus said that the peacemakers are blessed and called the children of God.
Let’s be the children of God. Let’s be peacemakers.