2 Samuel 19-21 It's Complicated, Good Advisors Will Help

April 10th, 2 Samuel 19-21

       Snap out of it!!!! Today's passage finds David mourning the loss of his son Absalom. It's not your normal loss, it's the loss of a son that was trying to kill you (I assume that's not normal to most of us). It's a complicated story at best. David has had a good decade of failure. This animosity between Absalom and David is rooted in David's failure (not completely David's fault, but certainly rooted). Now your son's dead, there's no reconciliation and your left with a mouthful of gravel.
       David seems to be impossible to console. How much of this grief is over a son and how much is over his own failure. In those moments it's probably impossible to tell, but it's a worthy question.
       To add to the mix David is a leader. People need David to lead. Joab steps into the mix and confronts David. In short saying, you have a bunch of people who have fought for you. Yes it was against your son, yeah we're sorry your enemy was your child, but your people need to know that you care about them too. His line of challenge was it seems like you "love those who hate you and hate those who love you."
       Speaking of complicated..... This text makes it seem like all of this was the same day David heard of Absalom's death. My first thought is David's friends and family could let him cry for a day couldn't they? Their seeming neediness is a problem too in my book. This is certainly the challenge of leadership. My needs verses the needs of others.
       Did I say something about complicated... Joab tells David that unless you come out and address these people they will all leave you by morning, they need to know that their fighting for you was worth their time and energy. That you love those who love you more than you love those who hate you. I think the request is simply to address the needs of his people. 5 minutes of thank you's could be followed by 48 hours of mourning. But leadership has it's privileges and it's responsibilities. It's not always easy to sort out.
        If your a leader and you have someone like Joab you are blessed. If your a leader and you don't have a Joab you need to find one. Someone who will tell you the hard things that others won't. Life is complicated and navigating it well by ourselves is almost impossible.