2 Samuel 15:1-12

2 Samuel 15:1-12

All of David’s mistakes, although he had sought repentance and found forgiveness, bore bitter consequences by the time 2 Samuel 15 began. In Jerusalem, Absalom was secretly conspiring against his father, and many of the Israelites were beginning to look to Absalom for advice and help. He did it subtly, but after four years of lying to Israel by saying that there was no one to hear their requests (which was David’s job, and David would have done had he been given the opportunity), Absalom had won the hearts of the people. Although he was not the king, he was subtly letting the idea of him having the throne work its way into the minds of the Israelites.


But how could this happen? David was back on track, following God, allowing God to lead him and guide him in his decisions. David was back where he was supposed to be, and his mistakes with Bathsheba and Uriah were now a thing of the past. This portion of David’s life shows us that even though we can move on from our past, finding forgiveness and getting right with God again, there are still sometimes consequences. Just because we have brought ourselves back into good standing before God and have gotten our life back on track does not mean that the people around us that we might have hurt in the past have put it behind them. They may still be hurting from our past mistakes. They may still harbor resentment or anger. Sometimes it takes years for a situation to resolve itself, and we have to endure the consequences in the process. As for David, he was still facing some pretty hard times, but even in the midst of another struggle, he continued to show his faithfulness to God.

So after winning the hearts of Israel, Absalom went to David and requested permission to travel to Hebron where he would make a sacrifice to God out of thanksgiving. He wanted David to believe that he was still faithful to God, knowing that a relationship with God was something David cherished in his own life. David of course agreed, unaware of Absalom’s true intentions, and Absalom traveled to Hebron, ready to declare himself as king. On his way, Absalom gathered several men who would spread the announcement (that Absalom was now the king of Hebron. He also gathered up two hundred other men to travel with him and help him along the way, but these men were unaware of his true intentions as well, and they were about to get caught up in Absalom’s conspiracy.

Again, how could this happen? How did David miss it? I wonder if I would not have reacted in the same way. From David’s perspective, Absalom had come back around and moved on past his mistakes. David’s desire was for Absalom to return home, and in the end, David wanted their relationship to be restored. He had longed for the day when Absalom would get his life back on track. So when Absalom requested to travel to Hebron in order to sacrifice to God, David was probably proud to see that Absalom had turned his life around. There are times when people put on really good acts (that is what Absalom was doing here), and it is not until after the fact that we notice what their true character was. I can think of several people that I thought were truly godly men and women who have since fallen away. I sometimes wonder if they were ever truly committed to God or if it were all an act. That is something we can never know, for it is between them and God, but it does show us that we can all be fooled. So to close out this section of the story, here is 1 John 4:1-3: “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God; every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.

Matt