Day 14

God wasn't happy with David so he sent Nathan to give him a message. Nathan told him about a rich man and a poor man from the same town. The rich man had huge amounts of animals, but the poor man had only one female lamb. The lamb was part of the family, eating from the poor man's plate and sleeping in his bed. A traveler came by the rich man's house but he was too stingy to butcher an animal from his own flock for dinner. The rich man took the poor man's lamb instead and prepared a meal for his guest. David was outraged by this story. He said,"As surely as God lives, the man who did this out to be lynched! He must repay for the lamb four times over for his crime and stinginess!" Nathan confronted David saying he was the rich man in the story. God through Nathan said because of the evil David did by having Uriah killed and taking Bathsheba as his wife, killing and murder would plague David's family..."You did your deed in secret. I'm doing mine with the whole country watching!" David admitted his sin and God forgave him but because of his behavior, his son born to Bathsheba would die. A sickness came on the child and he died after 7 days. David fasted the whole time thinking God would show mercy but after his child died, David cleaned himself up and went to the sanctuary to worship. He knew he couldn't bring his son back. David comforted Bathsheba and they slept together. Guess it's true what they say about sex and funerals. Bathsheba got pregnant and bore David a son. His name was Solomon. God sent word through Nathan that He had a special love for Solomon and wanted him named Jedidiah (God's beloved).

Absalom=David's son
Tamar=Absalom's sister who was very beautiful
Amnon=David's son, in love with Tamar and obsessive about it
Jonadab=Amnon's good friend, son of Shimeah (David's brother)

Jonadab told Amnon to pretend he was sick and tell his father to have Tamar prepare dumplings for him. Amnon didn't eat the food she prepared. He told her he wanted to eat them in the privacy of his bedroom. Nice move idiot and shame on you Tamar for not seeing the writing on the wall. Anyway, Amnon grabbed Tamar and told her to go to bed with him. She said, "No brother. Don't hurt me. This kind of thing isn't done in Israel! Don't do this terrible thing! Where could I ever show my face? And you-you'll be out on the street in disgrace. Oh please! Speak to the king-he'll let you marry me." Amnon goes into jerk mode and rapes her anyway. He then had an intense hatred for her. Apparently during this time period, virgin princesses used to wear long sleeved gowns from adolescence on. Tamar poured ashes on her head, ripped her gown, and walked away sobbing. Absalom took her into his home and wanted to keep this family matter quiet. When King David heard this story, he was enraged! However, Amnon wasn't punished because he had special favor with his father for being the first born. Absalom cut off contact with Amnon because of what he did. Two years passed. Absalom threw a sheep shearing party and invited David and his servants. Absalom told his servants, "When Amnon is well into the sauce and feeling no pain, I give you the order 'strike Amnon', kill him." After Amnon died, all the other son's fled the scene. David heard what happened, ripped his clothes and threw himself on the floor. Jonadab gave David the whole story, that it was only Amnon that died, not ALL the king's sons. Absalom fled to Talmai's house for 3 years. King David eventually gave up trying to get back at Absalom because he had grieved over and came to terms with Amnon's death.

Joab knew David still cared about Absalom a great deal so he sent for a wise woman in Tekoa. She was to dress as if she were grieving and ask the king for help. She was to tell him her husband died, one of her son's killed her other son, and her family ganged up on her making her life miserable. The king agreed to help her and told her to bring the man who was harassing her and he would see to it that it didn't happen anymore.

The woman: "Let the king invoke the name of God so this self styled vigilante won't ruin everything, to say nothing of killing my son."

David: "As surely as God lives, not so much as a hair on your son's head will be lost."

The women: "Why then have you done this very thing against God's people?...God does not take away life. He works out ways to get the exile back."

When asked by David, the woman told him Joab was behind all this. Joab brought Absalom back from Talmai's house but he wasn't permitted to see the king. Absalom tried desperately to see the king, but Joab wouldn't budge so his servants set his field on fire. He didn't see the point of being allowed back in the city if he couldn't see his father. David summoned him and Absalom honored him by bowing and David kissed him.