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Episode 535: In this episode, we explore a gripping narrative from 2 Samuel 15, where Absalom, King David's son, stages a coup against his father. We discuss David's immediate response to the news of Absalom's conspiracy, highlighting his strategic thinking and respect for his son's cunning nature. David decides to flee Jerusalem to protect the city and its inhabitants, demonstrating his wisdom as a leader.
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You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun in practical ways. It's National Jeff Day. What on October twentieth? It is National Jeff Day? Man, It's about time. Every hey, everybody, all your wildest dreams are going to come true. It's every year Jeff on October twentieth. Apparently October twentieth, which I who knew? Who knew't know? Do you remember when they did National christ Day? Yes? I do, so who we forget right? It was like the highlight of the year. It was not best it was but there was a question, and Desiree is now asking the same question for you. So Desiree puts together this question, says, so Jeff, because it's National Jeff Day on October twentieth. The question is Colon, if you would create your perfect day, comma, what would it look like? Question mark? Wow, Now do you remember my answer? I say to your answer, I said I would go to all four part said Disney Disney World with my family, with the celebrity of my choice on each park. And you said you remember. What you said? It sounded like actual hell. Actual hell, which is so funny. Yeah. I was like, I was like, what. Disney has its place, but it's not the play something and that's my perfect day. Yeah, well, I am happy when I'm with my family. We all love it so much together that we experience it and I'm staying there with my family and we're there, we just you know, I love it. I love it when it's good, right, because I'm an extrovert to so my wife would never agree with this. She'd never be like your brother, Daveney, I would never do that. But if I said to my wife, what if nobody was there and it was just everybody you love? That's how your wife talks to you, by the way, is wow. We had no idea, you seem. Liza is one of the nicest people. She's the nicest human. She'd never talk like that, although she does have a little spitfire reallyes she you know, I. Always tell my wife she's my favorite kind of crazy. Yeah that's right, that's great. Yeah. Okay. So, so Jeff, if you would have had perfect day, perfect well, it would be probably fall up north there you leaves are turning. I didn't think about whether you're started. Like sixty six sixty seven degrees. Look at you, low humidity, leaves are turning. Light breeze, not a big breeze. Bright sun, the lions winning Jeff, Just yes, absolutely, the just. Let's give us more backdrop. Blue sky with wearing with well probably hiking pants, economy, yeah and invest and blue sky with like just a couple of high fluffy clouds. Okay, right, a great day you have me. And then driving through the tunnel of trees on the way to breakfast. That's pretty good. Yeah, isn't that great? Then we're gonna do like a fun hike thing picnic mix you lost me through the woods with a picnic next to like one of the great lakes, and then come home and grill with the family around as the sun sets. Come all the way home or to like a lodge, yeah. Wherever we're at, but with the same with the family all around, sunsetting, the porch lights come on, you know, the the hanging the stream nice and on the lake. Is this a lodge on. The lake wherever? It doesn't matter, just lungs of families there at that point we've already seen the lake today. Okay, all right, so it's mostly outdoors nature stuff that that that's like the perfect day with the smoke of a good dinner clicking. Now, I know, I know you hot deer, but but do you love seeing deer across. Yeah, I'm a big nature guy. Yeah, looking at. Animals, so assuming that they're deer on the side of the road and things like that. I'm always sad to see the deer on the side of the road. I meant like eating grass. I didn't mean dead on the side. Of the road. One of my favorite things all those raccoons on the side of the road. Yeah, okay, so listen. Yeah, So I've gone out to my tree stand before and just sat in the tree in the woods without a weapon in my hands, and just just watch animals walk by, watch the watch the birds come by. Just I was sitting there one time and I had an owl swoop down and come and land right on the branch next to me and just sit there and keep turning its head looking at me. And so now I like the owl thing. Yeah, yeah, I love it. But the idea of sitting in a stand with nothing for hours, I could honestly say that I could with confidence that that sounds like actual hell to me. You would jump out of the tree stand. I would want to be doing head dive. I don't want to be near somebody. Yeah, I'd be. Like, hello, is there anybody I can talk to? Ye? Yeah, because I'm an extrovert. Yeah. So that covers all the things that covers nature. It covers you know, the sunshine and all that kind of stuff. It covers the lakes and the mountains and the woods. I love all that stuff. And then family and grilling, cooking, I love all that stuff. Gathering a family together, that'd probably be my favorite day. So my wife and I with our kids went up about four weeks ago and did the tunnel trees and we saw a deer, plenty of deer, and they were just on the side of the road. They were all living and eating grass or standing just slightly in the woods or something. I actually we saw twenty to thirty deer along the way. And I'm telling you what, it was beautiful, beautiful, wasn't It wasn't October beautiful. It was September beautiful. And then we'd ended the night with like a late night lions wind. Oh there you go. Yeah, everybody's standing around yelling at the TV for a couple hours, and that sounds like a fun day to me. And you bet a million dollars on the lines. I'm not a better I don't bet man. I think a fool and his money are soon parted. Right, all right, one. Thing's for sure. Whenever you've been on the Lions, it's not a guarantee. Yeah. So that sounds like a great day to me. Yeah, that's should make it happen on October twentieth. There you go, National Jeff Day national right here, Bonnie. That's right. Hey, that didn't sound like a suggestion to me. We should make it happen, sound like, let me see if I'm in town. Let me see if I'm in town on October twentieth, then I'll make sure we get it done. Oh I am. It's a Sunday though, So okay, you're probably gonna make me appreci that day. I think you are, actually I am? Yeah, okay, Well, still fun day. Yes, it is congratulations for all of you that get to celebrate National Jeff Day with us. Yes, what a privilege. I can't only imagine how incredible. From yesterday's from yesterday's mess up. It's an honor, Nay, a privilegege. That's right, Yes, it's just got to be so exciting. I bet for days children children probably have those little you know, like at Christmas the advent calendars where you open up each calendar day and you get your little candy and you're looking for to Christmas Day. Yes, I think that's going to be a thing for National Jeff Day. Now you are preaching at the Sterling Arts Campus, speaking on the skill of communication. There you go, yeah, pretty cool. All right, well, hey, that was a riveting segment. Thank you Jeff for giving us some insight into the life of. So you with celebrities at Disney, Me with my close loved ones walking in the woods, having a picnic along the lake and grilling at night watching a football game. Well, let's be clear, I said meAll No, no, I said me and my family with celebrities at Disney. Yes, okay, there you. Go, yeah, so so so, because here's. The way words matter. Words matter. You just said, you're right. Celebrities of Disney, me with my close family and loved ones in the woods together. You mean no, that is not That is not what I was saying. I was highlighting the fact that you prefer the artificial Disney thing, and I prefer for what God made. That's all I was idle heading. Hey God got and you see, maybe this is the difference. I believe that God did make Disney through creative minds, that he made that he made. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. I just don't think that creative minds improve on what God did. Oh that's pretty good. So I'm trying to come up with this with a snappy comeback, and I don't think I can trouble. Well, there you go. That's pretty good. I'm sorry, that's fair. This is eight for those of you that don't get to hang out with us all the time. Yeah, this is pretty much our life. We're always one upbringing each other. I gotta give that me. I got to give that win to you. Okay, I'll take that. That's pretty good. I don't get them all the time. And by the way, I didn't really even think that that was worth an argument. I was trying to argue. Something, which that also is our life. We arguing. You don't even need to right commit each other. So okay, So we're in Second Samuel fifteen, verse thirteen through thirty seven, so it's a little bit longer of a story, and we're going to actually see what comes when Absalom decides to put into motion this plan of his. That's right, Absolom is King David's son. He's decided to pull off a coup after an eight year window of him being disappointed with his father. And he says, hey, when the horn blows, everybody come over and shout Absolom's ban king in Hebron. And so the Bible says in Second Sanmuech, chapter fifteen, verse thirteen. A messenger soon arrived in Jerusalem to tell David all Israel his joined to Absolom in the conspiracy against you. Then we must flee at once, or it'll be too late. David urged his man, hurry. If we get out of the city before Absolm arrives, both we and the city of Jerusalem will be spared from disaster. We are with you, his advisers replied, do what you think is best. So the king and all his households set out at once. He left no one behind except ten of his concubines to look after the palace. The king and all his people set out on foot, pausing at the last house to let all the king's men move past to lead the way. There were six hundred men from Gath, who had come with David along with the king's bodyguard. Then the king turned and said to it to a a leader of the men from Gath, why are you coming with us? Go on back to King Absalom, For you are a guest in Israel, a foreigner in exile. You arrived only recently. And should I force you today to wander with us, I wouldn't even know where we will go. Go on back and take your kinsman with you, and may the Lord show you his unfailing love and faithfulness. But Idai said to the King, I vow by the Lord and by your own life, that I will go wherever my lord, the King goes, no matter what happens, whether it means life or death. And Dave replied, all right, come with us, and so Idi and his men, all his men and their families went along. Everyone cried loudly as the king and his followers passed by. They crossed the Kidrun Valley and then went towards the wilderness. Zadok and all the Levites also came along, carrying the Ark of the Covenant of God. They set down the ark of God and Abiathar offered sacrifices and tell everyone to pass out of the city. Then the king instructed Zadok to take the Ark of God back into the city. If the Lord sees fit, David said, he will bring me back to see the Ark in the tabernacle again. But if he is through with me, then let him do what seems best to him. The king also told Zadok, the priest, look, here is my plan. You and Abiathar should return quickly to the city with your son a hima Az and Abiathar's son Jonathan. I will stop at the shallows of the Jordan River and wait there for a report from you. So Zadok and Abiathar took the Ark of God back to the city and stayed there. David walked up the road to the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went. His head was covered and his feet were bare as a sign of mourning, and the people who were with him covered their heads and wept as they climbed the hill. When David told Abiathar that his adviser, a Hithafel was now backing Absalom, David prayed, Oh Lord, let a Hithafel give Absalom foolish advice When David reached the summit of the Mount of Olives, where people worshiped God Hushai, the ARKit was waiting there for him, Hushai and had torn his clothing put dirt on his head as a sign of mourning. But David told him, if you go with me, you will only be a burden. Return to Jerusalem. Tell Absalom, I will now be your advisor, o King, just as I was your father's advisor in the past. And then you can frustrate and counter the fel's advice. Zadok and the Biathar are the priests will be there. Tell them about the plans being made in the King's palace, and they'll send their sons to him As and Jonathan to tell me what's going on. So David's friend Hushai returned to Jerusalem, getting there justice Absolum arrived. Dude, this is like a soap opera. It's crazy. Yeah, people say all to him, Oh, I have a hard time reading the Bible. I have a hard time staying interested. Are you serious? Well, I'll tell you one thing I have a hard time doing is listening to you. Butcher all those words. But your what words? What words? Did I mess up. Oh you did a great job. That's what I was going to But. I will bet you. I will bet you that as these are terrible names. Come on, these are terrible name the people. I'm just reading them. Okay, Like, do you really believe it's I? Usually that's you have to say all of the there's some version of whatever. What if it's a die? Yeah, what if it's that? Yeah? Usually it's you have to say all the vowels. Hey, I will say this. I am once again, all the all of our dedicated listeners know what I'm about to say. I am incredibly thankful. Especially when you read this patches today. I was like, I would never ever be able to come close to pronouncing these words. You did a really good job. It was like, then I'm the king. Also told that guy the priest. Look here here's my planing. You and the other guy. Yes, that's what I should go and do this thing. They don't matter. I mean, other than you know, you have to have knowledge, right, But other than that, you know you can read it. I think I'm saying most of these names right. But yeah. Usually when you read a Hebrew name, you have to say the or a middle Eastern name. You have to say all of the all the syllables in some way. Well, I'll tell you what this. I mean all the. I remember being a kid and reading the Old Testament, not a you know, elementary school kid, but like in high school, and I remember thinking to myself, this is crazy. Like these names of the cities and these names of people are just crazy. And I'm thankful for you know, names in the Bible that still sound normal, like Joshua and Caleb and Matthew and Mark and Luke and you know things that we still hear today, right, even Hayesus. Right, but but you know Zadok and it t I and you know, all these different things are just just crazy to me. So anyway, had to point that out. So, yes, but the soap opera part of it does make it easier to read. Besides the names. It makes such a good movie. Right, there's a lot of there's a lot of intrigue. Now, David introduces intrigue. Absolom has introduced rebellion. He's introduced like this subversiveness that's happening, this this underground kind of thing. But David introduces intrigue. He's so it's interesting because he's kind of fallen asleep at the wheel. Over these last eight years, you know, during this entire story time, not one victory has happened. We didn't read one Psalm during this time. We don't have anything during the time from the time of Amnon to the time of Absolom rising up and committing this coup against his father. There was nothing else included about David's conquests or things. He was a conqueror, he was a man of action. And for eight years you got David kind of sitting on his hands, and then all of a sudden, when the pressure gets on, immediately he goes back to old David. All right, here's what we need to do. We need to get out of the city because I don't want the city wiped out. Maybe God will bring me back. Hey, I want to ark the God with us, ark of God with us as we begin the journey. But send it back. I think God's going to bring me back. But here's what I need. I need somebody in the court of Absolom that can twist the knowledge. So he's getting bad advice, so he sends spies back into Absolom's absoloms court. He just immediately wakes up and goes, all right, I don't want my city destroy, so I'm going to leave, so the battle's not in the city. And then I need somebody inside the court to be able to lead Absolom in a bad way. He just immediately is on top of his game. Again. It's pretty amazing, and. I have to once again I am impressed with Absolom because it starts off what you just read was a messenger soon arrived in Jerusalem to tell David all of Israel's joined Absolom in the conspiracy against you. And then David's immediate response, and you're probably right, like a lot of it was the protection of the people. But he says, then we must flee it once or it'll be too late. Hurry, let's get out of the city before Absoloum arrives. I think that in there there must be a respect that David has, knowing how cunning his son is. Right, he's witnessed it, he's seen it, maybe he's heard about it, But to me, that is a sign of respect where David's like, well, if I know Absolom, he wouldn't have executed and pulled the trigger on this unless he thought he was going to win, and so I know that the probably the best course of action is to get out of town and regroup. Right, Let's go. Let's get out of town and regroup, because I know if I try to stay in challenge, I'm probably gonna lose because Absolom is that good. Well, and he knows that. Yeah, I don't know that. I don't know that we've ever seen David think he's going to lose anything, right, right, And I'm not even sure. I think he thinks he's gonna lose this because he sent the Ark of the Covenant back and said, I think God's going to bring me back here. Yeah, right. But what he does know is that Absolom has no quit in him, right, So if we fight in this city, there'll be nothing to live, nothing, nothing to come back to. So let's get out of the city. One. Let's get the women and the children and everybody out. We need to protect them. And then he's got this little army here of these guys from Gath and some of the others that had stayed with him, and he's like, okay, well this is enough. We can win this. But we just don't want the battle in the city, the city, it'll be destroyed. You know, There's there's always that tension when you when you follow God's will in anything, right, whether you're a leader of a church or whether you're just a not just but or also a leader of your family, there's always that tension between like, Okay, what we do what we can do, and then we depend on God to do what only God can do. Right. And so it's interesting as you were talking about like David's motives of like what's his motive for getting out of the city, what's his motive of going back in the city. It's fun to talk about those things, Yeah, because I read them maybe perhaps with a little bit different perception. When when when David, when David says, well, let me send the arc back because I believe I'm gonna go back there, I have a tendency to think that wasn't a strategy comment or a confidence comment, that was a God's in control comment. Right. So he's like, he's like, I have to believe that God is going to eventually do this. I don't know how yet, but I'm gonna send the arc back. But see, I believe that getting out of the city. Well, he says if the Lord sees fit, he'll bring me back, right. But I think he believed the Lord would see fit. Yes, because because he set the arc back, believing he was going to get there. Yeh, because we all know how much power the arc carried. Yes, yes, for sure. And then but getting out of the city was a strategy thing, right, it was a reactive thing, and so uh, it was just it was like, Okay, I know the wise thing to do is to get out of the city, and and it could be both strategic and respect for him. Some of his concubines in the palace too, Hey, take care of stuff. I think he thought this was just a let's get out, let's absolute. Let ab some realize there's really no reason to come into the city. He'll calm down, I'll come back in the city. Yeah, you know what, you're You're right, it could it could be. And I think as a dad, I don't think he wants to hurt his son, right, that's that much is for subsl I'm already burned down Joe Abs. Uh thing the Joe Abb being the toughest fighter in the most powerful general in Israel, and he burns down his field just because he's ticked off at Joe app and I think David just has a sense, oh, you know, absolom right, So this is a wide, widespread rebellion in David's perspective. Now it's only Hebron, but in David's perspective, it's all over the whole country and all that. But I think he thought, here's what you have. You have the wise old master and the young pretender. And I think David just strategically went, all right, let's give him nothing to fight for. You've been in Israel, You've been in that part. So he goes there's that deep Kidron valley. Then he goes up and he peeks out on top of the mount of Olives. There's this steep thing. And then when you leave the other side of amount of olives, you go down towards what you know, Jesus would go to Bethany or whatever. And from that place on you're heading towards just there's nothing out there, right, nothing. It's just like god forsaken land. Yeah, little valleys and hills and crevices and caves. And so David is clearly heading that direction. He's sending the message to his son, I'm disappearing like a ghost. You're not gonna find me. And there's nothing in Jerusalem. And the previous capital of Israel had been Hebron. That's where David set up his kingdom first time. So you know, I think what he's trying to do is make it Jerusalem as unattractive as possible. And I'm not there, and you're probably not going to find me in the woods, so or out and it wasn't the woods. You're not going to find me out in the desert. He just disappears, but he clearly he leaves ten of his concubines. He's going to come back. He wanted his palace maintained. Hey, keep it clingings might come back, right, That's what I think he's doing there. But the amazing thing here for me is that David woke up. Man. If David had just seen the danger eight years ago, right, everything would have been different. Yeah, pay attention to your kids. Yeah in this case, right, your job, well, your job, your kids. It was all mixed in with the quit fighting. Yeah, he quit. It was even before that then, more than eight years ago. This might have been a decade before he chose not to go to war. Like my battles are done. You know, I was just with somebody. I mean, out of all fairness, it did take him thirty years to finally, you know, get to be king over all of Israel, and it said that there was actually an acknowledgment where he finally fought his last battle and wiped out his last enemy that was given to him as an assignment, so he did sort of. So it was finally fifteen years to become king and then he reigned for forty. Oh that's right, that's right. I was thinking he was thirty years old, right. Well, so that's right, so it was really fifteen years. Yeah, but he was thirty years old. Yeah, yeah, yeah, so yeah, I mean, just to but. God hadn't spoken to him out loud and said, no, I'm not going to let you build the temple. You're a man of war, right, He did say, here, a man of war, and to be honest with you. While David had peace everywhere, he had not vanquished all the enemies, right, so all of what was supposed to be Israel he didn't vanquish at all either. He just worked out peace in some of the areas that he stopped fighting in because he was so dominant. But he didn't wipe them out and take possession of the whole land. He just kind of stop. We were in a conversation recently talking about a friend that there was a point in his life he just had the world biased by the tail. He was just everything he did was moving God's kingdom forward. Just had this strong and then came to a point where suddenly he felt tired and old and took his foot off the gas and quickly faded. Yeah, And I remember just thinking, wow, the same week we had that conversation, and we love this person. I'm not talking badly about you. Just saw it's David, is what I think here. At the same time, I know a lady, she's eighty years old, who a few years ago was really slipping physically, got turned onto this idea becoming a disciple maker, making disciple makers. She began to learn about this idea of how to start discovery Bible studies in little groups, you know, five fifteen people that nobody else is paying attention to, who's God sending you away? How to share your faith, how to begin discipling them, and how to disciple them to go also do the same thing. And now this eighty year old woman is so on fire for God. She has this Bible study that she's leading this small group that she's led a bunch of people together in the senior center in town. Well, and they now they give her a room. She's not having to pay for anything there, and people are just coming to this group. So she decides she moves into a senior living center. It's not a retirement home, it's not a nursing home. It's like a retirement home. Like the whole apartment building is all people over fifty five. So she gets to talk in with the activities director and says, hey, how come there's no Bibles out of here? Well you should. An activity director is a Christian. So she launches this thing. She's got this dynamic Bible study going on in her thing. Well, there's another senior apartment building across the parking lot. So it came say, hey, you know there's not an apartment. And so now this eight year old woman is like, I'm just going hard. I've got this mission. And we were just with her the other day and where I felt like she was fading five years ago, I feel like this woman looks like she's going to go forever because she had a cause, she had a mission, right, And that's what I see with this guy with David, is he chose not to go to war. He decided to take his foot off the gas. He gets into sin. That sin then ruins his reputation, brings this curse into his family. His sons go down the same way. He's got like this ten year window where he took his foot off the gas. And suddenly in this crisis, he wakes up and he'd spies in the court, we're going to retreat and not get our city destroyed. He immediately wakes Oh, man, if he just hadn't slept there in those five years or ten years, yeah, everything would have been different. Yeah. Well, it's a good lesson. It's a good lesson for all of us. So there's a lot of little sermons in this lagot. Off the gas. Just because you accomplished one thing doesn't mean you're done. God's got more for you. Keep going, there, you go, that's it. All right, Well, that's our time. So hopefully we'll see you on Monday. On the Bible Gush