The Meaning Of Life

https://biblehub.com/nkjv/psalms/63.htm

Remember we are studying the Bible in chronological order, including the psalms that are known. We just finished the majority of the psalms that have already occurred in addition to those that were unknown, but as I stated before, we will still encounter different psalms in the future. And Psalm 63 was a psalm written by David while he was in hiding from Absalom.

https://biblehub.com/nkjv/2_samuel/17.htm

What follows in 2 Samuel 17 and 18 is the story of how Absalom was defeat and how David returned to his duties as King. And I’ll be honest, you really have to study these two chapters because there are a lot of names thrown around, names of those involved in these two chapters, some referred to by their father’s name, the names of cities and the like, and it is easy to get lost and give up. But take your time, if you get lost go back and refresh yourself on who is who and what is what, and eventually it will all make sense.

And spoiler alert, David prayed for Absalom’s priest to give him bad advice, and God answered David’s prayers. And David’s priest, his friend who he planted with Absalom, gave the advise that lead to the overthrown of Absalom.

Now David did not go into battle. He was aging and his people were concerned that he would not be able to flee fast enough if Absalom prevailed, so David stayed back. He gave orders though, to deal gently with Absalom, but Joab, the leader of David’s army, killed Absalom. As we’ve read from previous scripture, Joab was pretty loyal to David, and I’m sure his anger with Absalom got the best of him.

One thing I find interesting is the history surrounding Absalom’s Monument. As scripture says, Absalom had erected a monument to himself since he had no children to carry on his name, and despite scripture, a “tomb” in Jerusalem was believed to be the monute as well as the tomb of Absalom. But the “monument” has been dated to have been build around the first century A.D., so obviously it was not the location of Absalom’s Monument. Scripture says anyway that they threw Absalom’s body into a pit and covered it with stones. However, the Jewish historian Josephus did document the presence of the monument that Absalom had erected for himself, the location of which is apparently no longer known.

According to Wikipedia, the “assumed” monument and tomb in Jerusalem for a long time was the location where parents would take their unruly children, and show them “what happens to rebellious children”. Furthermore, for a long time, it is reported that Israelites, Christians, and Muslims would throw rocks at this “monument” as they walked by in disgust of the story of how Absalom rebelled against King David.

I always find it interesting that despite physical evidence of things like the site of Rachel’s Tomb, and Abraham and Sarah’s tomb, along with other evidence exists, but non-believers still think the Bible is a fictional story book. I’m guessing because our nation has only been around for 250 years and everyone thinks that is an eon, that they are not able to fathom a history that goes back millenia.