[One-Verse Meditation]

2 Samuel 15:4

“And Absalom said, ‘Oh that I were judge in the land! Then every man with a dispute or cause might come to me, and I would give him justice.’”

(Meditation)

When David learned that the widow’s case had been part of Joab’s scheme, he called Joab and had Absalom brought back. Yet he made him stay in his own house. So Absalom did not see his father David for two full years. Then Absalom once again looked for Joab’s mediation. But when Joab gave him no response, he set Joab’s field on fire so that Joab would come to him. Here we are shown Absalom’s character.

He does not know how to look at himself. He does not know from what place he had been spared. He is wholly bent on breaking through the situation he is in. So he does not hesitate to use crooked means. In the end, through Joab’s mediation, Absalom meets his father David and is reconciled to him. By this point, it appears that Absalom has recovered everything. The guilt of murdering his brother is no longer being pressed, he has returned to his home, and now he is reconciled even with his father, King David.

Yet Absalom persists in pride. He even sets up an escort for his own protection and seeks to become the judge of Israel. In the end, he is trying to take the king’s place. He says to the people, “I would give him justice.” But Absalom did not understand the meaning of the very words he spoke. He did not know what justice is, nor what it means to give it. The “justice” he spoke of was really a way of stealing people’s hearts for his own advantage. And he trusted in the beauty for which so many people praised him.

Today’s word makes us look back at ourselves. It shows us where we stand and how we came to stand there. When we truly look at ourselves in that way, we do not steal the king’s place. Indeed, we cannot. We know the grace the King has shown us. Those who live humbly as the King’s people are the saints.

(Prayer)

Lord, let me see myself rightly, so that I may come down from dangerous pride. Help me remember the grace You have given and walk in humility. Let this be a new day in which I live as one of the King’s people. Amen.

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(Daily Meditation)

2 Samuel 14:21–15:4