JOAB REBUKES DAVID

Reading from 2 Samuel Ch. 19 vs 1-8

Are we sensitive to others and how they are impacted by our actions and the way we outwardly express our different emotions? I don’t believe it’s wrong to express how we feel or process different things in our own individual ways but there are consequences to that because we aren’t actually existing alone and the ways we feel and act affect others. In this passage we see that and I like it funny enough despite what’s happening, I see David as a human like the rest of us and him feeling deeply as we know he  is very famous for in the psalms. The context involved his son Absalom conspiring against him and taking the kingship and then going after him to fight and kill him but he ended up being defeated and killed. David got news of this and begun to mourn outwardly and loudly and the people were affected by this.

We must really think about this context, David was valid for crying for his son but it came off a little insensitive to the people around him. He had fled and people followed him and showed their loyalty to him, others went to fight for him against his son who was trying to kill him and now the same people defeat his son and he is crying for the same son like he did nothing. The victory over Absalom became a time of mourning because people heard about David grieving his son and they told it to Joab the commander of David’s men/army. The people felt shame because it was as if they did wrong for fighting for David and defending him. I look at this and I feel sad for them, I get that we can’t eliminate the fact that David was still Absalom’s father and he lost his child no matter how bad the relationship Got. Like us with God, we might reject him and sin and yet he still grieves for us and wants us to change and not die in sin.

It was a little oblivious and selfish for David to behave this way though valid for it undermined the actions and loyalty everyone with him had given and now the people were left wondering about how to behave in this space or if David was really who they wanted to follow. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in the way we feel or are treated and we say things or do things to others or in their presence and they get thrown off. Its as if we don’t care about how they feel or how they are processing he same situations. Maybe we are even oblivious of their help and love and grace for us and so focused on another’s wrong or hate or whatever happened and it comes off like we don’t care for them and they get hurt. We must be sensitive to others and create a space where each person is of course allowed to feel how they do but also in a way that is considerate of the others present.

Joab then came to David and rebuked him, he spoke on him making the people feel shame for saving him and his family and how he seems to love those who hate him and hate those who love him. That David through what he did made it clear that he doesn’t care for the commanders and servants lives and if it was they that died he’d be okay. It seems harsh but that’s exactly what it looked and seemed like to the people. The relationship between Joab and David was weird but I think we need relationships like this, yes Joab was harsh and rash but he was never afraid to correct David and do things for his good. We need the kinds of friendships where people are not afraid to rebuke us and bring us back in line or have us understand when we are wrong or how we can change. Some people will watch you shoot yourself in the foot when they could have stopped it from happening and yet call themselves your friend. We need the ones who speak the truth and aren’t afraid to lose the friendship as long as we end up in the right place.

So Joab tells him to go and speak kindly to the people because if he doesn’t correct what he has done everyone would leave him and he’d be in a really bad position not even comparable to the evil he experienced in his youth. We all get it wrong sometimes, we might isolate or do whatever we do to process our emotions but when we do learn or realise that we went about it wrong or that we hurt others we shouldn’t be proud and self-centred, we should humble ourselves and go and make things right. It’s like with sin, we can go along sinning and when we realise the wrong or the harm are we just supposed to carry on and keep doing it? We are to repent, confess and ask for forgiveness from God. A lot of things need our intentional actions to make things right or to just make better choices or go about things well and healthier.

David did listen and went to seat at the gate and the people heard of it and went to him. I assume he probably made things right and that’s another thing I like about David, he was never too proud to receive rebuke or correction whether from God or man. We need that kind of humility, we won’t always get things right or live perfectly but we need to be willing to be corrected and change or own up to our actions and wrongs whether to others or in whatever we do. It’s a good attitude to be able to be accountable or accommodating of those around you, it shows your love and concern for others outside of your own inner workings and I believe it reflects Christ in you. If you can be this way, it can minister to others of your faith and beliefs and the principles you stand for. Remember you are loved by God!