dar334

I recently read about the pleasure that first cup of coffee in the morning can bring. Sitting in the quiet and peaceful stillness of a new day. The tranquility of an uncluttered mind that lasts only a few minutes before life’s demands begin. For me, this setting is the perfect time to open my Instruction Book, and more times than not, begin to ponder.

Yesterday my daily reading was from the book of 2 Samuel, chapters 13-15, let the turmoil begin. Previously, God had chosen David to replace Saul as King of Israel. David was a good man, a “man after God’s own heart”, but as with any good man, sin is never far away. It taunts and tempts and beckons you. Although there are many sins, sexual desires seem to be at the top of most lists and it seems sexual immorality was at the top of David’s.

In chapter 11 David had spotted a beautiful young woman (Bathsheba) bathing and sent messengers to bring her to him. She got pregnant, David had her husband (Uriah) killed in battle, he married her, and she gave birth to a son. In chapter 12 God inflicted punishment for David’s sin by taking the life of the baby and letting David know that He (God) would bring calamity on his (David’s) whole family for generations to come.

Due to the many wives and concubines in the Old Testament, there were always several children in one household. One of few differences between then and now is there were many moms but generally only one dad then and now it seems there are many moms and many dads. And the odds of a child having the same mom and dad and having them also be married is rare in both instances. In chapter 13 we have, yet again, a young woman (Tamar) being taken advantage of by her half-brother (Amnon). Amnon was deeply in love with Tamar until his dirty deed was done, then he wanted nothing to do with her. Sound familiar? This incident did not result in a pregnancy that we know of, but it eventually led to revenge by her full brother Absalom. Absalom had Amnon killed and then fearing the repercussions, he fled.

My pondering came after reading about Absalom returning years later to his family home in Jerusalem and then plotting to take the kingship away from his father David.  You see, Absalom was angry that his father hadn’t done anything about the rape of his sister. He still wanted revenge. Upon hearing of his son’s plan to take over, David fled to protect the city and the people. One of his closest advisors, Ahithophel, joined forces with Absalom to destroy David. My pondering began when, even after reading the story several times over the years, I realized that Ahithophel was the grandfather of Bathsheba. Ahithophel wanted revenge for what David had done to his granddaughter, grandson-in-law, and the baby that was conceived out of sin.

Although Ahithophel is only mentioned a few times in the Bible, he played an important role in the calamity God caused in David’s life because of sexual immorality. Death, murder, revenge. I know how the story ends.  Spoiler alert! ……. Absalom eventually gets killed in battle, a battle with his own people and Ahithophel commits suicide.  From the line of David, we are given Jesus Christ.  All at the hands of God.

Sin has its consequences, and in this case the consequences started with sexual immorality.  Too bad we never seem to learn.

-dar