David Bahn – Reflections

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These devotions are part of the Follow the Word Bible reading program at St. John Lutheran Church in Cypress, Texas. This year we are reading through the Scriptures together, listening for how God speaks through his Word day by day. I hope you will join me on this journey.

Today’s readings are 2 Samuel 17-19, Psalm 122.

2 Samuel 18:29-33

And the king said, “Is it well with the young man Absalom?” Ahimaaz answered, “When Joab sent the king’s servant, your servant, I saw a great commotion, but I do not know what it was.” ³⁰ And the king said, “Turn aside and stand here.” So he turned aside and stood still.

³¹ And behold, the Cushite came, and the Cushite said, “Good news for my lord the king! For the Lord has delivered you this day from the hand of all who rose up against you.” ³² The king said to the Cushite, “Is it well with the young man Absalom?” And the Cushite answered, “May the enemies of my lord the king and all who rise up against you for evil be like that young man.” ³³  And the king was deeply moved and went up to the chamber over the gate and wept. And as he went, he said, “O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!”

2 Samuel 19:41-43

Then all the men of Israel came to the king and said to the king, “Why have our brothers the men of Judah stolen you away and brought the king and his household over the Jordan, and all David’s men with him?” ⁴² All the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, “Because the king is our close relative. Why then are you angry over this matter? Have we eaten at all at the king’s expense? Or has he given us any gift?” ⁴³ And the men of Israel answered the men of Judah, “We have ten shares in the king, and in David also we have more than you. Why then did you despise us? Were we not the first to speak of bringing back our king?” But the words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel.

My summary of 2 Samuel 17–19: The rebellion ends, but not the unraveling. David is preserved, yet his kingdom is not restored to what it was. He grieves, unity is sought, but division takes hold, and the long-standing tension between Israel and Judah begins to surface – another sign that the kingdom, though preserved by the Lord, is no longer held together as it once was.

The roots of that division go back to the beginning of David’s reign, when he was made king over Judah before all Israel. Now, in the aftermath of Absalom’s rebellion, those tensions come into the open. When Absalom dies, David’s grief overwhelms him. His lament – “O my son Absalom… would I had died instead of you” – is as moving an expression of a father’s love as one will find. But it also overtakes him as king. Joab has to call him back to his responsibilities. Leadership gives way, for a time, to sorrow.

That stands in contrast to David’s earlier response to the death of Bathsheba’s child. Then, he rose, washed, and confessed a quiet hope: “I shall go to him” (2 Samuel 12:23). Here, that note is not heard. The text gives no confession of hope, but a cry of loss. The father overwhelms the king.

The result is telling. As David returns, Israel and Judah argue over their claim to him – over honor, standing, and voice in the kingdom. What had been held together now strains and begins to fracture.

David cannot hold his kingdom together. His grief exposes that. The unity of God’s people does not finally rest on a king like this. It rests on a greater Son of David – one who does not collapse under the weight of sin and sorrow, but bears it. In him, mercy is given, and what is divided is drawn together. All things are united in him – all things in heaven and on earth.

Click on the graphic below to watch the Bible Project video summary of the book of 2 Samuel.