2Sa 19: "As we look back, David seems to stand out apart from
all others in the history of Israel. Moses truly is a far more majestic and
awe-inspiring figure; Abraham exemplifies the nobility of a patient, enduring
faith through a long and weary pilgrimage; but it is into the heart of David
that we enter most closely. His life seems crowded with every variety of
experience, and ranges from the purest God-fearing courage of his youthful
encounter with Goliath to the ugly depths of adultery and murder. His life was a
battle between the highest and most intimate spiritual conceptions of God on the
one hand, and all the strong currents of human nature on the other. That he
repeatedly failed is true, but what is far more important is that he freely and
humbly recognized his failures and continued to press on, accepting every form
of tribulation with unresentful resignation.
His life, on the whole, was a broken and frustrated one. A
long period he spent as a hunted fugitive -- a wanderer away from his country
and kindred, attended by a motley following whose company must have been on the
whole small comfort and a constant burden. Then, after his wanderings end and he
finally becomes king and has subdued all his enemies, he stumbles into a
grievous sin which plagues him without respite for the rest of his
life.
"Had Jonathan lived, much may have been different in David's
life, but such was not the purpose of God. The affection between them was of the
most exceptional character, calling for the strongest terms of description. In
the friendship of Jonathan, David could have found satisfaction and guidance for
the restless desires that led him into pitfalls. But it was God's will that he
should learn alone.
"After Jonathan's death, David seems to have found affinity
with no one, and such comfort as he could get in the course of a life of
disappointment and turmoil he must get by a direct and lonely approach to God by
himself which, while infinitely more difficult, was perhaps in the ultimate for
the best.
"The Psalms could never have been written by a man who could
find satisfaction and comfort in anything short of a direct and individual
communion with God. And therefore, in the wisdom of God, it was Joab and not
Jonathan who became David's lifelong companion, though such would never have
been David's choice.
"God's purpose with David was very high, and David had much to
learn. Therefore considerations of his present comfort must give way to those
which through long and bitter tribulation would develop in him the peaceable
fruits of purity and righteousness.
"The wisdom of God chose a vessel ideally suited to His
purpose, and no small part of that purpose was the recording of the Psalms. The
strong light of the inspiring Spirit, shining through every facet of David's
character and experiences, threw as on a screen each detail of hope and despair,
of failure and triumph.
"Moses' character is made before we meet him as he comes on a
divine mission from the wilderness to deliver Israel from bondage. But in the
Psalms every aspect of David's development is laid bare before us. Christ alone
combined the exalted and prophetic majesty of Moses with the keen humanity of
David. Tried and tempted in all points like his brethren, he alone as the
representative of mankind fulfilled all the experiences portrayed through David
in the Psalms and emerged triumphant and unspotted from them.
"David typifies the body of Christ, those whom Christ came to
redeem, the chosen generation, the spirit willing and eager but the flesh weak,
a man after God's own heart, who through much tribulation must learn the way to
the kingdom.
"But David, as the writer of the Psalms, was permitted to be
the instrument by which Christ was encouraged and strengthened. And each of the
members, too, can in some small way share in this honor. For it was for the joy
that was set before him that he was enabled to endure, and that joy consisted in
the love and affection of those who gratefully accept the benefits he
procured.
"Our participation in the victory is measured, therefore, by
our affection for him, and the value of that vice-royalty is increased by each
one that lays hold upon it.
"Between Joab and David there was no affinity. David was a man
of God. Joab was not. No greater gulf could separate two men than that. They
lived in different worlds. David repeatedly struggled and fell, but from
beginning to end he was a man of God, intensely loyal and devoted.
"Joab was a man of the world. Wiser at times than David, and
strangely enough, sometimes his perception rose higher than David's, but to the
deeper currents of divine communion which were the basis of David's life, Joab
was a stranger.
"In his reaction to David's grief for Absalom, Joab is
practical and wise. But David could see many things to which Joab was utterly
blind. David could see that day many years earlier when the prophet Nathan had
stood before him and had solemnly spoken of the great anger of God and the
consequences he would have to suffer. David could now see the humiliation of
Tamar and the murder of Amnon, his firstborn. He could see that now another
wayward son had been taken, leaving behind an ignoble memory of treachery and
dishonor, all the consequences of his own folly and sin. And he would wonder
where and when the next blow would fall.
"But Joab's rough counsel would sharply remind him that his
pilgrimage was not yet ended. Those terrible words would always be before his
mind -- 'Now, therefore, the sword shall never depart from thine house,' and he
would see dimly, stretching into the future, a continuation of that trail of
wickedness and bloodshed which he had set in motion. And so, aroused once again
by Joab's brusque prodding, he concealed his grief that no one would understand,
and carried on" (GVG).
2Sa 19:13
MAY GOD DEAL WITH ME, BE IF EVER SO SEVERELY, IF...:
See Lesson, Covenant-victim, the.
2Sa 19:20
I HAVE SINNED: There is a radical distinction between
natural regret and God-given repentance. The flesh can feel remorse, acknowledge
its evil deeds, and be ashamed of itself. However, this sort of disgust with
past actions can be quickly shrugged off, and the individual can soon go back to
his old wicked ways. None of the marks of true repentance described in 2Co 7:11
are found in his behavior. Out of a list of 11 men in the Bible who said, "I
have sinned," poss only five actually repented. They were David (2Sa 12:13;
24:10; 1Ch 21:8; Psa 41:4), Nehemiah (Neh 1:6), Job (Job 42:5,6), Micah (Mic
7:9), and the prodigal son (Luk 15:18). The other (poss less sincere) instances?
Pharaoh in Exo 9:27; 10:16; Balaam in Num 22:34; Achan in Jos 7:20; Saul in 1Sa
15:24,30; 26:21; Shimei in 2Sa 19:20; Judas in Mat 27:4.
2Sa 19:24
MEPHIBOSHETH: The treatment of the name "Baal" is
probably an example of deliberate change, for theological reasons, by the
scribes who copied out the scriptures. With personal names that included the
word "Baal" (which could simply mean "master" or "lord"), the scribes
deliberately replaced "Baal" with "Bosheth" (which means "shame"). To them the
idol "Baal", in all his many forms, was a "shameful thing", and any passing
allusion to him was to be avoided if possible. Hence, it is likely that
Jonathan's son was actually named "Meribbaal", but later scribes made sure that
the (by then) hated name of "Baal" was replaced -- yielding "Mephibosheth" (cp
1Ch 8:34; 9:40 and 2Sa 9:6; 19:24; 21:7).
HE HAD NOT TAKEN CARE OF HIS FEET OR TRIMMED HIS MUSTACHE
OR WASHED HIS CLOTHES...: Signs of mourning. A dangerous course to follow in
the city while Absalom was in authority.
2Sa 19:29
I ORDER YOU AND ZIBA TO DIVIDE THE FIELDS: David hereby
cancels the concessions given previously to Ziba (2Sa 16:4). and restores
Mephibosheth to half-share in income from property (2Sa 9).
2Sa 19:35
Figures of speech: cp Ecc 12:1-7, the song of the aged
one.