The Meaning Of Life

https://biblehub.com/nkjv/2_samuel/15.htm

We’ve spent a lot of time studying the Book of Psalms, then a few chapters in the Book of Chronicles, and how we have to go back and pick up where we left off with King David. And the last we studied, Absalom had killed his brother Amnon, then Absalom fled. Joab was trying to get the family back together, so he and an old woman developed a story where the old woman went to King David and complained about her two sons, and to make a long story short, David realized the story was made up and that it applied to him, and he called for Absalom to return, which he did.

Now, Absalom has returned, but he has plans to overthrow David’s reign and to take over the Kingship himself. And we enter another phase of history full of lies and deceit and treason. Some are with David, some are against David. He is lied to about Jonathon’s son Mephibosheth’s faithfulness to David. David leaves some of his concubines back to care for the King’s house, but Absalom sleeps with them, an insult to David. Remember when Reuben slept with Jacob’s concubine and was cursed for it. I won’t go over every aspect of these chapters because you should read and study them for yourself, but there are some points I would like to make.

First, when David fled Jerusalem from Absalom, the Levites originally brought the Ark of the Covenant with them, but David decides to send it back. It is important that we pay attention to the ark, because eventually the Bible stops talking about it. And this is why the location of the Ark is unknown to this day. It stays with the King of Israel for a long time, then mention of it stops. The movie, that I never watched, “Raiders of the Lost Ark” was just about trying to find it. And archeologists have searched for it also.

Rumors have flown. Some say the Israeli government has it in safe keeping, not telling anyone they have it because it is desired so badly, and likely for bad intentions. Others say the Roman’s seized it and it is hidden somewhere in Italy. Others day that it could have been carried off during the days of Jeremiah when the children of Israel were exiled to Babylon. One famous archeologist/historian claimed that he found it in a sealed cave. But what we do know is that somewhere, the location of the Ark was lost track of, so whenever the Ark is mentioned, pay close attention, because eventually that will be the last mention of it.

While David is on the lam, a man named Shimei from the family of Saul curses David and throws rocks at him. And while David’s men want to kill him, David would not let them. This is another example of David’s character, how even though he did go into battle a lot, he didn’t do it simply because he was a warmonger, he did it in the name of the Lord, right or wrong. And David even insinuates that the Lord instructed Shimei to curse him; the only reason I would have to think this is true, that David was correct, is if it was a test of David’s character, the same as Job was tested. Or, like I consider most cases such as this, it was Satan trying to turn David away from God, and it didn’t work.

Once again, David has to go into hiding and flee from death, but this time it was from his own son. Without a doubt, Absalom had fallen to the temptation of Satan, but David remained faithful to God. And while I have no proof of this, this could be very symbolic of God Himself.

David had the ability to simply kill Absalom and retain the throne, but had he done that, what would the people of Israel thought about David? They would have thought of him as a merciless killer who would have resorted to killing his own family to retain the throne himself. God had the ability to kill Lucifer and put an end to sin, but had God done that, it was have proven Satan’s point, that God was a blood thirty killer that would destroy one of His own angels to retain His throne.

If we really ponder the events of the Bible, and if we pray that God shows us the truth, we can see a lot of hidden lessons that reveal the character, the true character, of God.

You know, President Trump has done some pretty extreme things, like activating the National Guard to restore law and order in Washington D.C. And while I’m sure his actions are meaningful, and while law and order needed to be restored, and while his actions made perfect sense, there were still those who claimed he overstepped his authority in doing so, and they use that in order to claim that our president is a “fascist”. The same is true with God; He has the ability to restore spiritual order in our world, He probably should, for the sake of faithful Christians, eradicate sin from the earth, but if He did, what would the opposition say? They would continue to claim that God is an angry tyrant just frothing at the bit to kill the sinners. And that, is definitely NOT the God we serve.

God is good!