Helkath Hazzurim
This week's verses are 2 Samuel 2:12-28:
These verses took place during a time of division in ancient Israel. Saul, a noble king who had fallen into corruption, had left a power vacuum when he died in battle. The nation was divided over who to follow. The ones who wanted to follow the blood line went with Ish-Bosheth, and the ones who wanted to follow God's favor went with David. One family had three sons who were divided between the sides and had joined their respective armies. Joab and Asahel were with David, and Abner was with Ish-Bosheth.
The thing that struck me is how similar the whole situation was to division within the church. It's almost a poetic allegory. I wonder if God allowed it to happen as a sort of warning to future generations.
Joab and Abner each picked people to fight on their behalf, but all that happened was they ended up killing each other senselessly. Nobody won. It was total destruction.
I wonder what it must have been like for the families of those twenty four young men to hear about their deaths. "So did he die bravely, fighting the enemy?" "Not exactly." "What happened then?" "Joab and Abner were unwilling to face each other on behalf of two other dudes, so they basically sent your son and another family's son to go stab each other instead, in the hopes that it would decide something. But nothing was decided." Imagine a military funeral where that's what the bereaved are told! And yet that's what happens when people who are members of the same family fight each other. It's worse than pointless!
So, not having gotten the message from their mini-war, both sides went to war. It was a bloodbath. During the battle, Asahel decided to come at his brother Abner. Abner was aware enough to realize that it was his brother and pleaded with him to quit chasing him. To Asahel, however, Abner was just the enemy. Abner even tries to not hurt Asahel, using the butt of his spear instead of the tip, but it pieces him anyway and he dies. Nobody wins from this contest either. Asahel dies a horribly painful death (gut wounds are the worst, I hear) and Abner has to live with having killed his own brother.
What's ironic is that Asahel had religion on his side. David's team ended up winning in the long run, because David was chosen by God. And yet Asahel wasn't blessed. There's nothing blessed about losing a winning battle, writhing in your own blood while people stare helpless and horrified at what you've become. "Well, I'm following God's anointed" is no excuse to attack your own people in cold blood.
This all happened during a time when Israel was at war with the Philistines. "Christendom" was under a grave threat from a pagan army formed from the neighboring people. There was no shortage of enemies to kill, and yet these people turned on their own! Did all of these people fighting help the cause in any way? Not a bit!
Joab, on the "winning" team, ends up cornering Abner on a hill, and Abner pleads with him as he did Asahel. "We're all one people! Why kill your brothers?" Joab wakes up. Imagine what would have happened if he hadn't said anything? Or if Joab had been like Asahel? Joab calls off his army and they quit fighting. If the fighting would have made a difference, wouldn't it have continued? It was pointless.
Our enemies aren't our fellow Christians. We're all members of the same family. Our petty divisions and pointless denominational squabbling will probably look as ridiculous and tragic to us in eternity as this war between the houses does to us now.
Abner son of Ner, together with the men of Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, left Mahanaim and went to Gibeon. Joab son of Zeruiah and David’s men went out and met them at the pool of Gibeon. One group sat down on one side of the pool and one group on the other side.
Then Abner said to Joab, “Let’s have some of the young men get up and fight hand to hand in front of us.”
“All right, let them do it,” Joab said.
So they stood up and were counted off—twelve men for Benjamin and Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, and twelve for David. Then each man grabbed his opponent by the head and thrust his dagger into his opponent’s side, and they fell down together. So that place in Gibeon was called Helkath Hazzurim.
The battle that day was very fierce, and Abner and the Israelites were defeated by David’s men.
The three sons of Zeruiah were there: Joab, Abishai and Asahel. Now Asahel was as fleet-footed as a wild gazelle. He chased Abner, turning neither to the right nor to the left as he pursued him. Abner looked behind him and asked, “Is that you, Asahel?”
“It is,” he answered.
Then Abner said to him, “Turn aside to the right or to the left; take on one of the young men and strip him of his weapons.” But Asahel would not stop chasing him.
Again Abner warned Asahel, “Stop chasing me! Why should I strike you down? How could I look your brother Joab in the face?”
But Asahel refused to give up the pursuit; so Abner thrust the butt of his spear into Asahel’s stomach, and the spear came out through his back. He fell there and died on the spot. And every man stopped when he came to the place where Asahel had fallen and died.
But Joab and Abishai pursued Abner, and as the sun was setting, they came to the hill of Ammah, near Giah on the way to the wasteland of Gibeon. Then the men of Benjamin rallied behind Abner. They formed themselves into a group and took their stand on top of a hill.
Abner called out to Joab, “Must the sword devour forever? Don’t you realize that this will end in bitterness? How long before you order your men to stop pursuing their fellow Israelites?”
Joab answered, “As surely as God lives, if you had not spoken, the men would have continued pursuing them until morning.”
So Joab blew the trumpet, and all the troops came to a halt; they no longer pursued Israel, nor did they fight anymore.
These verses took place during a time of division in ancient Israel. Saul, a noble king who had fallen into corruption, had left a power vacuum when he died in battle. The nation was divided over who to follow. The ones who wanted to follow the blood line went with Ish-Bosheth, and the ones who wanted to follow God's favor went with David. One family had three sons who were divided between the sides and had joined their respective armies. Joab and Asahel were with David, and Abner was with Ish-Bosheth.
The thing that struck me is how similar the whole situation was to division within the church. It's almost a poetic allegory. I wonder if God allowed it to happen as a sort of warning to future generations.
Joab and Abner each picked people to fight on their behalf, but all that happened was they ended up killing each other senselessly. Nobody won. It was total destruction.
I wonder what it must have been like for the families of those twenty four young men to hear about their deaths. "So did he die bravely, fighting the enemy?" "Not exactly." "What happened then?" "Joab and Abner were unwilling to face each other on behalf of two other dudes, so they basically sent your son and another family's son to go stab each other instead, in the hopes that it would decide something. But nothing was decided." Imagine a military funeral where that's what the bereaved are told! And yet that's what happens when people who are members of the same family fight each other. It's worse than pointless!
So, not having gotten the message from their mini-war, both sides went to war. It was a bloodbath. During the battle, Asahel decided to come at his brother Abner. Abner was aware enough to realize that it was his brother and pleaded with him to quit chasing him. To Asahel, however, Abner was just the enemy. Abner even tries to not hurt Asahel, using the butt of his spear instead of the tip, but it pieces him anyway and he dies. Nobody wins from this contest either. Asahel dies a horribly painful death (gut wounds are the worst, I hear) and Abner has to live with having killed his own brother.
What's ironic is that Asahel had religion on his side. David's team ended up winning in the long run, because David was chosen by God. And yet Asahel wasn't blessed. There's nothing blessed about losing a winning battle, writhing in your own blood while people stare helpless and horrified at what you've become. "Well, I'm following God's anointed" is no excuse to attack your own people in cold blood.
This all happened during a time when Israel was at war with the Philistines. "Christendom" was under a grave threat from a pagan army formed from the neighboring people. There was no shortage of enemies to kill, and yet these people turned on their own! Did all of these people fighting help the cause in any way? Not a bit!
Joab, on the "winning" team, ends up cornering Abner on a hill, and Abner pleads with him as he did Asahel. "We're all one people! Why kill your brothers?" Joab wakes up. Imagine what would have happened if he hadn't said anything? Or if Joab had been like Asahel? Joab calls off his army and they quit fighting. If the fighting would have made a difference, wouldn't it have continued? It was pointless.
Our enemies aren't our fellow Christians. We're all members of the same family. Our petty divisions and pointless denominational squabbling will probably look as ridiculous and tragic to us in eternity as this war between the houses does to us now.
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