10/4/2010 7:59:24 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My
Worship Time Focus: Absalom—Israel’s counterfeit king
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference: 2Samuel 15:1-12
Message of the verses: “1 ¶
Now it came about after this that Absalom provided for himself a chariot
and horses and fifty men as runners before him. 2 Absalom used to rise early and stand beside
the way to the gate; and when any man had a suit to come to the king for
judgment, Absalom would call to him and say, "From what city are
you?" And he would say, "Your servant is from one of the tribes of
Israel." 3 Then Absalom would say
to him, "See, your claims are good and right, but no man listens to you on
the part of the king." 4 Moreover,
Absalom would say, "Oh that one would appoint me judge in the land, then
every man who has any suit or cause could come to me and I would give him
justice." 5 And when a man came
near to prostrate himself before him, he would put out his hand and take hold
of him and kiss him. 6 In this manner
Absalom dealt with all Israel who came to the king for judgment; so Absalom
stole away the hearts of the men of Israel.
“ 7 ¶ Now it came about at the
end of forty years(this probably should read four years) that Absalom said to
the king, "Please let me go and pay my vow which I have vowed to the LORD,
in Hebron. 8 "For your servant
vowed a vow while I was living at Geshur in Aram, saying, ’If the LORD shall indeed
bring me back to Jerusalem, then I will serve the LORD.’" 9 The king said to him, "Go in
peace." So he arose and went to Hebron. 10
But Absalom sent spies throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, "As
soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then you shall say, ’Absalom is king
in Hebron.’" 11 Then two hundred
men went with Absalom from Jerusalem, who were invited and went innocently, and
they did not know anything. 12 And
Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s counselor, from his city
Giloh, while he was offering the sacrifices. And the conspiracy was strong, for
the people increased continually with Absalom.”
Today’s
SD begins a new chapter in Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary on the book of 2Samuel, and
he entitles this chapter “David’s Escape to the Wilderness.” There are three main points in this chapter
and they center around three kings, Absalom the counterfeit king, David who was
Israel’s true king and Jehovah who is Israel’s sovereign King. In today’s SD I am looking at Absalom the
counterfeit king as this section is done in one writing.
Dr
Wiersbe calls Absalom a demagogue which is a word that is made up of two Greek
words: demos (people) and agogos (guiding). He goes on to write in a footnote the
following: “A true leader uses his
authority to help people, but a demagogue uses people to gain authority. Demagogues pretend to be concerned about the
needs of the people, but their only concern is to get into power and enjoy the
fruits of their dishonesty.” Absalom was
truly a demagogue and this will come out in the continued story of Absalom as
he takes over the kingdom of his father David.
He
started this quest right after he was able to leave his house arrest and now it
is four years later. I made a kind of a
note in the Scripture that is above saying that instead of the forty years as
translated in the NASB that many commentators see this as meaning only four
years. It was during this time that
David was probably ill and was not taking care of his job as he could have been
if he were not ill. There are Psalms
that are called “exile” Psalms and different people attribute different Psalms
to this category of Psalms and in some of them it speaks of David’s illness and
that is why it is reported that David was ill during this time when Absalom
would pretend to be a judge and thus get the people on his side.
Absalom
came to David and lied to him about have to fulfill a vow and thus Absalom
stole 200 of David’s key men and took them off to Hebron where he probably kept
them behind the gates there in order to take over Jerusalem. Absalom took a key advisor of David named
Ahithophel who probably helped mastermind this whole takeover of the
kingdom. Ahithophel was the grandfather
of Bathsheba and may have still been upset with David for stealing Bathsheba
from her husband Uriah and then having him killed so this may have been the
reason he sided with Absalom. Like Judas
Ahithophel rejected the right king and then went out and hung himself.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: Absalom was a man who did not have a good
character as he seemed to reject truth and was all wrapped up with himself not
living his life for the glory of the Lord.
I would suppose that this can be called selfishness, and in his case it
was far more than selfishness. This is
what I want to avoid as I want to continue to learn truth and live my life for
the glory of the Lord and not for my glory.
My
Steps of Faith for Today:
1. This
is probably going to be a “Big” week for Sandy and I as our plans are to go to
Hawaii and hopefully begin our new job next Monday. This has been a stressful event for both of
us and my prayer for this has always been that the Lord’s will will be done in
all of this and what we do will glorify Him even if it means that He close this
door as we leave this in the Lord’s hands.
2. Live
for the Lord and not for myself as described in the section above.
10/4/2010 8:54:31 AM
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