Escaping the trap

 This week's verses are 2 Samuel 3:22-39:

Now David’s soldiers and Joab were coming back from a raid, bringing a great deal of plunder with them. Abner was no longer with David in Hebron, for David had sent him away and he had left in peace. When Joab and all the army that was with him arrived, Joab was told: “Abner the son of Ner came to the king; he sent him away, and he left in peace!”

So Joab went to the king and said, “What have you done? Abner has come to you. Why would you send him away? Now he’s gone on his way! You know Abner the son of Ner. Surely he came here to spy on you and to determine when you leave and when you return and to discover everything that you are doing!”

Then Joab left David and sent messengers after Abner. They brought him back from the well of Sirah. (But David was not aware of it.) When Abner returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside at the gate as if to speak privately with him. Joab then stabbed him in the abdomen and killed him, avenging the shed blood of his brother Asahel.

When David later heard about this, he said, “I and my kingdom are forever innocent before the Lord of the shed blood of Abner son of Ner. May his blood whirl over the head of Joab and the entire house of his father! May the males of Joab’s house never cease to have someone with a running sore or a skin disease or one who works at the spindle or one who falls by the sword or one who lacks food!”

So Joab and his brother Abishai killed Abner, because he had killed their brother Asahel in Gibeon during the battle.

David instructed Joab and all the people who were with him, “Tear your clothes. Put on sackcloth. Lament before Abner!” Now King David followed behind the funeral pallet. So they buried Abner in Hebron. The king cried loudly over Abner’s grave, and all the people wept too. The king chanted the following lament for Abner:

“Should Abner have died like a fool?
Your hands were not bound,
and your feet were not put into irons.
You fell the way one falls before criminals.”

All the people wept over him again. Then all the people came and encouraged David to eat food while it was still day. But David took an oath saying, “God will punish me severely if I taste bread or anything whatsoever before the sun sets!”

All the people noticed this and it pleased them. In fact, everything the king did pleased all the people. All the people and all Israel realized on that day that the killing of Abner son of Ner was not done at the king’s instigation.

Then the king said to his servants, “Do you not realize that a great leader has fallen this day in Israel? Today I am weak, even though I am anointed as king. These men, the sons of Zeruiah, are too much for me to bear! May the Lord punish appropriately the one who has done this evil thing!”

In his first days on the job as king, David is plunged headfirst into drama. Factions connected to the previous king had just offered terms of peace, thanks to the diplomacy of their de-facto general, Abner. Finally the kingdom was united again, and he could enjoy some peace. But then David's nephew Joab goes and murders Abner!

Joab and his brothers Asahel and Abishai had served in the army and had become great warriors. When the civil war started, they had faced off against an army led by Abner. Abner had surrendered and was leaving when Asahel reignited hostilities in trying to chase him down. Despite people begging him to turn away from his foolhardiness, Asahel ended up getting himself killed. Joab never forgave.

So now, once again, these brothers turned peace into mayhem and put the kingdom at risk. Because Asahel was David's nephew, there was a danger that people would think that David ordered or condoned Joab's hit. There was a good chance that the civil war would kick off again, and the throne could be in danger.

But because these were David's family, and because they had more political power than he did, he couldn't punish them the same as he would punish other treacherous people. He was trapped! All he could do is curse them and trust that God will get him through it.

Have you ever found yourself in a situation like that? Just when you think you have everything sorted out, some idiot comes on the scene and wrecks everything and there's nothing you can do but brace for impact. It must be infuriating!

David puts his trust in God, not just to take care of his needs but also to ensure that justice is served. There has to be order in the kingdom and David alone is not strong enough to keep it all together. It's a stark contrast to Joab's actions, taking "justice" into his own hands and creating a giant mess.

We might do well to do the same thing. When we're forced to deal with another person's mess becoming our own, or when it seems like a long-awaited promise is about to be snatched away, rather than freaking out and making bad decisions, we should simply trust God to handle the situation, and pray for his management of it all.

In the end, God's promise to David was fulfilled. He would be king over Israel and establish a dynasty. All because he put his trust in God and didn't overreact to the craziness around him.