2 Samuel 18:1-33

Civil war is a terrible thing.  The nation of Israel is divided with part of the country supporting David and the other part of the country supporting his son Absalom.  This is not how any king would like for his reign to be, but this is all a price that David is paying due to his disobedience to the Lord in his sin with Bathsheba.  David has not only lost the respect of his son due to his sin and passivity; he has also lost the respect of many of the people in the nation.  People look for character in their leaders and when they cannot find it, they begin to look for new leaders.  This is a tragic day in the history of the nation, and one that should always be remembered as an illustration of the consequences of sin.

DAVID DEPLOYS HIS ARMY: David has mustered the troops and had time to organize his army and set up camp.  His men are fed and rested while Absalom’s men are tired from chasing David.  The troops are divided into three units so that they can attack in three different locations and not put the entire army at risk in the same battle.  David desires to go out in battle, but his generals forbid it because they know that he would become the sole focus of the enemy, so they ask him to stay out of the battle and let them all protect him.  David’s request is that they be gentle with Absalom and keep him alive. 

JOAB DISOBEYS HIS ORDERS: The army of David is victorious over Absalom and his troops.  The victory came at a very high price in that over twenty thousand people died in this civil war.  There is never truly a winner in a civil war as it inevitable results in the killing of one’s own countrymen.  The battlefield was a dense forest and many were killed by the forest as opposed to by the sword.  Even Absalom himself fell victim to the forest when his hair got caught in a tree.  When Joab heard that Absalom was captured in a tree, he disobeyed David’s request and went out and killed him.  Once he was dead the war was over and all of the Absalom’s men went back to their homes.  Joab is a man of war who has stayed loyal to David throughout his reign; however, this is the second time that he has killed those David has wanted to keep alive.  David is looking towards restoration while Joab is driven by revenge.  I am glad that we serve a God who longs for and promotes restoration.

AHIMAAZ DELIVERS HIS MESSAGE: It is interesting to see the longing of Ahimaaz to deliver the message of the victory to David.  These runners loved to give good news but Joab sends another messenger in his place.  Ahimaaz requests to be able to run behind the original message just for the privilege of running and being a part of delivering the news of victory.  He knows a shortcut and can run very fast so he eventually overtakes the other runner and has the honor of informing David of  the victory but leaves the delivery of the bad news to the original messenger.  I believe that God is pleased by eagerness.  We should all have this level of excitement in our service for the Lord.  He has called us to deliver a far greater message than the one Joab was sending.  We should all be “chomping at the bit” to be able to tell the Good News of Christ.