Charles (Chuck) Kensinger

As we begin, we need to define love and lust before moving on to 2 Samuel 13.  Love is patient, kind and I can go through the rest of the list from 1 Corinthians 13 if you want me to.  We need to understand that what Amnon felt for Tamar was lust.  Looking at the way he treated her after he raped her, rules out love.  Love is never self-seeking.

Jonadab is often overlooked as an enabler.  He helped his cousin to seduce the girl.  According to modern law, he was an accomplice.  Would you accept his help as just one guy encouraging another to win a woman’s love?  Once again, compare love and lust.  Lust, when dead becomes hate.

Absalom learns of this attack and decides to bide his time and ultimately can murder his half-brother.  His sympathy is with his sister and not her assailant.  The violence Nathan predicted is starting.

David is confronted with a dilemma in 2 Samuel 14 about Absalom.  Joab wants the King to bring his son back to Jerusalem.  He devises a plan to get his boss to talk about the problem.  It’s time to put these things behind them and move on.  David agrees and the prince returns.

Once again, he is a favorite of the Israelites.  He has three children, but his father continues to avoid seeing him.  Eventually, Absalom destroys a field that belongs to Joab to get his attention and the soldier convinces David to reunite with his boy.  They do not live happily ever after, though.

Absalom begins a plan to depose his father in 2 Samuel 15.  He was as charismatic as the king was when he was younger.  Almost everyone admires him.  The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.  Four years of preparation and the time is right.

When David is made aware of the young man’s intentions he flees with his most loyal men and most of his family.  They travel lightly and move as fast as they can.  Even as they run the former shepherd leaves strategic friends in the palace to provide intelligence he will need later.  The displacement has just begun.

©Copyright 2020 by Charles Kensinger