Consequences Continue

2 Samuel 13-14

            For all of David’s admirable qualities, these central chapters of 2 Samuel remind he was just a human. Yesterday we saw how power went to his head and led him to adultery and murder. Today we see that he wasn’t a great father—doting, yes, but great, no. He wasn’t great because he didn’t instill any discipline in his sons.

            Amnon, the oldest, raped his sister, Tamar. It’s a disturbing and heartbreaking story. It’s disturbing first because it was no crime of passion; it was carefully calculated. It’s disturbing because it reminds us that obsession and lust are so easily confused with love and there’s no love involved. As soon as he had had his way with her, he loathed her. It’s disturbing for the nonchalance with which he sends her away, a ruined woman. It’s heartbreaking for the portrayal of Tamar’s despair, her utter brokenness.

            And David does nothing. For two years. As a father he should have disciplined his son. I mean, Jacob removed Simeon and Levi from the succession, and Jacob never comes across as a particularly great father!

            Absalom, Tamar’s full brother, takes his revenge two years later, killing Amnon at a sheep shearing feast. He flees, and, you guessed it, David does nothing. David leads the strongest nation in the region. He has subdued all of his neighbors. Surely he could have extradited Absalom. But nothing. For three more years. And in that time, “David was consoled to Amnon’s death.” Really? David’s statute of limitations on murder and treason is three years?

            I know David has to worry about the succession and who will take the throne after him. But don’t you think that as father and king maybe there should have been consequences?

            What’s the grand lesson here? Sin, left unaddressed, just grows. David didn’t have the heart to discipline his sons and the results were horrifying. So, we should police our own hearts, ask what petty sins are lurking there, confess them humbly before the Lord, and rejoice in His forgiveness.