King David’s troublesome sons

 

by

 

Damien F. Mackey

 

 

 

“King David was a national hero in the history of Israel. The author of

the Books of 1, 2  Kings could have made King David look better by embellishing

David’s life and hiding dirty secrets of David’s family life.

For some reason, however, the writer revealed ugly truths about King David’s dysfunctional family”.

 

Rev. Jerry Cho

 

 

When David was young, he, filled with a holy zeal, feared no man, not even the giant Goliath, nor did he fear lion or bear (I Samuel 17:32-37):

 

David said to Saul, ‘Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him’.

Saul replied, ‘You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth’.

But David said to Saul, ‘Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine’.

 

Nothing was too hard for him!

But as he grew older, more famous, and rather more comfortable, he would complain about his sister Zeruiah’s formidable sons, Joab and Abishai (2 Samuel 3:39): ‘... I am this day weak, though anointed king; and these men the sons of Zeruiah be too hard for me: the LORD shall reward the doer of evil according to his wickedness’.

 

It was not only his military officers, though, who were causing King David many headaches.

His sons, too, towards whom he tended to be grossly over-indulgent, would prove extremely troublesome for him.

Rev. Jerry Cho tells of some of it when writing about King David’s dysfunctional family:

 

Text: 2 Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33
Title: David and Absalom
Preacher: Rev. Jerry Cho
Date: Aug. 16, 2009

 

When I visited Boston a few weeks ago, I saw of a statue of Samuel Adams, one of the founding fathers of the United States. In the statue Samuel Adams was lean and tall. But our tour guide said that Samuel Adams was short and plump in real life. The sculptor made Samuel Adams look better because he was a national hero.

 

King David was a national hero in the history of Israel. The author of the Books of 1, 2 Kings could have made King David look better by embellishing David’s life and hiding dirty secrets of David’s family life.

 

For some reason, however, the writer revealed ugly truths about King David’s dysfunctional family. For example, King David had an affair with a married woman. He had her husband killed. King David’s baby son from the woman died at infancy. King David had another son, named Amnon. Amnon raped Tamar, King David’s daughter. Namely, Amnon raped his half sister. Tamar’s brother, Absalom, was infuriated at Amnon, his half brother. So Absalom killed Amnon and ran away.

 

A few years later, King David decided to forgive Absalom, thinking, “Amnon is dead. There is nothing I can do about it. Even though Absalom did things to hurt me, he is still my son. I want to forgive him and make up with him.”

 

Absalom came home and made peace with his father. But the reconciliation and peace was short lived. A conflict, a much more serious conflict between King David and Absalom arose because Absalom realized that he was not going to be the heir of King David. Absalom decided that he would.

 

So Absalom gathered up his followers and tried to kill his father so that he might be a king.

As there were many followers of Absalom, King David had to run for his life. The Bible records that King David walked barefoot escaping from Absalom and crying over the tragic domestic situation.

 

At first Absalom’s army was winning the battle over David’s army. But later the table was turned. David’s army defeated Absalom’s army and was chasing Absalom. King David told his Generals to treat Absalom gently.

 

Absalom was fleeing for his life on horseback. David’s army was gaining on him when Absalom’s long hair was caught by the tree branches. His horse kept running without him. Absalom was dangling in midair and David’s soldiers found him and killed him.

Upon hearing the news, King David became very sad and said to himself, “Absalom, Absalom, my son, it would have been better if I had died instead of you.”

 

Talk about a dysfunctional family. King David had about everything ugly in his family such as incest, rape, domestic violence, rebellion, and intentional homicide among family members. ....

[End of quote]

 

And the reverend Cho has not even gone on to mention Adonijah’s rebellion after Absalom’s, or, later (after David’s death), the apostasy of Solomon with his many foreign wives.