Old Sandals

“Then Rizpah daughter of Aiah, the mother of two of the men, spread burlap on a rock and stayed there the entire harvest season. She prevented the scavenger birds from tearing at their bodies during the day and stopped wild animals from eating them at night. When David learned what Rizpah, Saul’s concubine, had done, he went to the people of Jabesh-gilead and retrieved the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan. … as well as the bones of the men the Gibeonites had executed.”

This is a pitiful scene —a grief-stricken mother camped out on a mountainside beside the dead and decaying bodies of her two sons, chasing away the scavenging vultures and wild animals.

“But may all who search for you be filled with joy and gladness in you.”

There is joy unspeakable in your future, O child of God. This is a wonderful certainty.

“The godly will rejoice in the LORD and find shelter in him.”

The God of the universe is an infinite, personal God. So infinite, he seems not to be personal at all. Yet so personal, it is hard to grasp how he could be infinite.

“If you hand over this one man to me, I will leave the town in peace.”

“All right,” the woman replied, “we will throw his head over the wall to you.” Then the woman went to all the people with her wise advice, and they cut off Sheba’s head and threw it out to Joab. So he blew the ram’s horn and called his troops back from the attack.

If the LORD did not turn his back on such a violent culture, but worked in the lives of those ancient men and women, surely the same is true today.

“This is not a day for execution but for celebration! Today I am once again the king of Israel!” Then, turning to Shimei, David vowed, “Your life will be spared.”

David is gracious in victory, and merciful, as the LORD himself.

The king was overcome with emotion. He went up to the room over the gateway and burst into tears. And as he went, he cried, “O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you! O Absalom, my son, my son.”

Every father of a son can understand the depth of sorrow expressed in these few words.

“For the LORD had determined to defeat the counsel of Ahithophel, which really was the better plan, so that he could bring disaster on Absalom.”

Absalom should have listened to Ahithophel; had he done so, his treacherous coup would have worked. The scripture tells us that Ahithophel’s plan was the better plan.

But here is an example where the the the LORD rules and overrules in the affairs of men. Absalom had made many bad choices all on his own. This time, however, his bad choice was God-ordained.

“So they set up a tent on the palace roof where everyone could see it, and Absalom went in and had sex with his father’s concubines.”

This was a fulfillment of the prophecy spoken against David by Nathan the prophet, after he committed adultery with Bathsheba: “I will give your wives to another man before your very eyes, and he will go to bed with them in public view. You did it secretly, but I will make this happen to you openly in the sight of all Israel.”