Let me ask you to turn to the passage that we read earlier and that is 2 Samuel chapter 14. Now those who have been here and been among us know that we've been in chapter 13 a long time studying the various characters. but I'm in hopes that we'll be able to cover chapter 14 in one sitting and so hopefully be able to take all of that in and seek to see it in its broad scope and be able to make application from it this morning. To that end let us pray and ask that God may indeed be our help. Father as we come to your word now to expound it to apply it we ask that you would help us that we as your body may be united in the truth that we may have been of one mind and of one heart and of one purpose and that you the living head of the church may by the word and by the spirit shape us and mold us in our thinking in our pursuits in our perspectives that we may be one and that we may reflect your glory. This we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Chapter 13 of 2 Samuel ends with the flight of David's son Absalom to Geshur. He needed to run to escape because he had murdered his half-brother Amnon. Amnon, you will remember, was the crown prince, the supposed crown prince of Israel. He was the oldest son of David. Absalom slew him because Amnon violated his sister and had him assassinated. He flies then to Gesher, the logical place, because that's where his grandfather was king. So he has been gone now for a number of years, as we read here in chapter 13 verse 38, that Absalom had fled and gone to Gesher and was there three years. Now, as we turn our attention to chapter 14, It can be divided into these three sections. We have first of all in the first opening verses through verse 24 is the what I'm calling the conditional return of Absalom to Jerusalem. He returns, but it's not without its qualifications. And then in verses 25 to 27, we have a rather unusual insertion. We have the complimentary representation of Absalom. When you read it, you think, wow, what a guy. And it's very complimentary to him. And then thirdly, We have the complete restoration of Absalom to David's favor in verses 28 to 33. So those are the three headings we'll take up. We come first then to the conditional return of Absalom to Jerusalem. And as chapter 14 opens we read, Now Joab the son of Zariah perceived that the king's heart was inclined toward Absalom. Now, I would label this section the perceptive plot. It's not really, I think, a desire to help David, so much as it is a plot to change David's mind. That Joab is perceptive, but the question is, what does he actually perceive? Now, let me try to open up the passage. Joab, we're told, is the son of Zariah. Zariah was David's sister, 1 Chronicles 2.16. And David's sister had three sons, Abishai, Joab, and Azahel. And Azahel, you'll remember, was slain by Abner. He was chasing after Abner, who was the head of the army of Saul. Saul was dead, but Ish-bosheth was trying to withhold the kingdom against David. And in that civil war, Asahel takes off and tries to run down General Adner, and Adner warns him to turn back, go find somebody less experienced. He will not relent, and finally, Adner takes the rear of his spear and rams it through Asahel as he chases him, and he dies. So he is dead but Joab continues and Joab of course is the nephew of David and therefore a relative and has known him all of his life and been with him most of that life and furthermore he is the general of David's army. You'll remember that he actually assassinates Abner for killing his brother after David had promised him safe passage so at one point Joab is demoted but then David promises that whoever breaks through at Jerusalem and leads the way into the city would be leader of his army and Joab is able to do that. Joab was a very courageous man but As a man of action, he was often also a great grief to David. For instance, when David had already given his word that Abner, because Abner was trying to help David reunite Israel, after David had given Abner his word of safe passage, no harm would come to him, Joab murdered him. And so, Joab was a man of action, but his action was not always certainly in keeping with the will of David and certainly not in keeping with the will of God. He tended to see the sword and violence as the answer to most problems. either to make sure he remained the general and important in the kingdom or to see that David and his house continued in that place. His actions were often hasty, ill-conceived, self-serving and detrimental to David and to the kingdom of God at times. He seems to have lived by the false premise that the end justifies the means. that I can do whatever I want even if it's evil as long as the outcome is what I think it should be that it's a good thing that it happens in the end. That seems to be the premise that Joab often lived by and that of course is a wicked premise. We may not do evil that good may come and thus we learn a negative lesson from Joab when we view his life. There is some question as to exactly what he perceived. We read in verse 1 that Joab perceived that the king's heart was inclined toward Absalom. But the word translated towards here is most often in scripture translated against. So we could rightly translate that he perceived that the king's heart was against Absalom. That is how the word is ordinarily translated. And when we back up into chapter 13 and we see verse 37, Now Absalom fled, and went to Talmai the son of Amahud the king of Geshur, his grandfather. And David mourned for his son every day. The question is, which son did he mourn for? Well, I would suggest it's not Absalom he's mourning for, but it is for Amnon that he is mourning for, that has been struck down, his eldest son, the heir apparent, I would suggest that he is the son that David mourns for, We read, so Absalom, verse 38, so Absalom had fled and gone to Geshurim and was there three years. And the heart of David longed to go out to Absalom, for he was comforted concerning Amnon. So, obviously, verse 39 tells us there came a point where he was comforted about the death of Amnon, but that he had not previously been. Therefore, I think, verse 37, when we read he mourned for his son every day, it is Amnon that he mourns for. Now note verse 39 of chapter 13. And the heart of King David longed to go out to Absalom. You notice that the heart of is in italics. Do you see that? That means the translators put it in there. It's an interpretive understanding. So literally it's and King David longed to go out to Absalom. And the word longed is a word that's fairly intense and it means complete or to bring something to an end or finish. So we could translate it this way. And David ceased to go out after Absalom. Why? For he was comforted concerning Amnon since he was dead. In other words, after three years David's intensity, his drive for capturing Absalom and bringing him to justice was beginning to cool. Why? Because Amnon was dead, nothing was going to bring him back. Now I suggest to you that could be a legitimate translation and given the fact that of the ordinary translations of the word I think would be a preferable translation. Now, doctrinally, of course, it makes little difference whether David was longing, pining after Absalom or whether he wasn't. But personally, I do think that that better accords with what we find in chapter 14. For instance, if David is pining after Absalom, why doesn't Joab, his nephew and the general, just go to him and urge him, go ahead and bring him back? He goes to extraordinary measures to try to change David's mind. Which makes me think that David was not inclined toward Absalom, but that he was against Absalom and he wanted to bring him to justice. And though he had ceased trying to get him back from Gesher, his grandfather wouldn't turn him over to David. It's another country. The king says, we're not sending him back. He ceased to try to get him back, but he still was against him, and I believe that this is what Joel perceives. It also explains that once bringing him back, that David would not even see him for two years. It's not like David was dying to see him. He did not see him, at least for two years. And we'll see other things as we go along. But why the end of the translators translate it as they do? Well, I believe it's because later on we'll read of how David greatly mourns at the death of Absalom, and I think it's reading that back into this passage that gives them that interpretation. And it may be that in their minds it also explains why Joab would go and bring Absalom back. What motive would he have other than seeing David pining after his son? And yet we read that it is Joab's request. We never read that it's what David wanted. And in fact David holds him at arm's length for two years. Knowing Joab as we do, of course, we would not put it above him of trying to ensure his own place in the kingdom. After all, I'm serving David. Absalom is heir to the throne. If I get on Absalom's good side, I may be general under him as well. And also of his concern for the kingdom. Here is a house divided. Joab, often with worldly wisdom, tries to fix things and he usually bundles it when he does and he does just that in this case as we see when we get to chapter 15. So Joab meddles in affairs that Joab really doesn't have the heart for. He's meddling in God's affairs and the anointing of the kingdom and who will be king of Israel. Joab is dealing in things too high for himself. So, Joab then doesn't just perceive and try to help David out, at least in my understanding. What he does is he schemes and comes up with a plan that might just work. He probably recalls how Nathan the prophet in 2 Samuel 12 had come to David and by a parable, by a story, had been able to move David to repentance. So Joab thinks that he will do the same thing, and he engages then the services we read of a wise woman. Verse 2, So Joab sent to Tekoa, and brought a wise woman from there, and said to her, Please pretend to be a mourner, and put on mourning garments now, and do not anoint yourself with oil, but like a woman who has been mourning for the dead for many days, and then go to the king, and speak to him in this manner. So Joab put words in her mouth. So he engages the service of a wise, better I think to think of it as we did in the previous chapter with Jonah Debb, a crafty woman. Here was a woman who was quite an actor. who was quite a liar, who was a very good deceiver. He goes and seeks out someone who can play a part. He wants her to pretend to be something that she's not and to be able to persuade David and garner sympathy from David by dressing up as though she has been in mourning for a long time. Not anointing, refreshing herself with oil, but to have a haggard look, a worn look, a worried look of being distressed, knowing that David's heart then would be prone to go out to help the weak and the distressed, and he even instructs her as to what to say, so that the story is all Joab's. She was not really all she says she was. That brings me then to the persuasive parable of a woman of Tekoa, and that takes a long section, verses 4 through 20, but let me try to work our way through it rather quickly. In verses 4 and 5, the first thing she points out to David is that she is a widow. She is defenseless. She has nobody to provide, to protect her. This will indeed turn David's heart toward her. Then in verse 6, she tells him that she had two sons. They got in an argument in the field and there was nobody else there to see it. Nobody to separate them. And as this argument continued, a fight ensued and one brother strikes the other so as to kill him. And now she only has one son remaining. Again, the idea is if anything happens to this son, this widow is going to be on the street starving. Please take pity upon me. This is the only one I have left who can help me, not only that, Verse 7, she says that the rest of the family has raised up as avenger of blood, and they are demanding justice, which in this case is the death penalty. But the implication of her words are they don't really want justice. This is the last remaining heir. There is no male child after this. If they kill him, my husband's land would then be divided among all of his brethren, and his name would be obliterated from Israel, our inheritance would be lost, but they would gain by it. That's what they're really after. Now that's what her words imply in verse 7. So David then in verses 8 to 10 promises her that he will protect her, that he will look into the matter, but nothing's going to happen to her. But now in verse 11, she then presses him. She wants more than a promise, she wants him to take an oath. She wants him to swear by Jehovah that this is a serious issue and she wants it seriously bound by an oath and so David swears by Jehovah that not one hair of her head is going to fall either of her or her son and nobody is going to trouble her about this anymore. Now, verse 12, she subtly then brings up the issue of David and his son. She applies now what's her situation, made up and pretended, to David's. And she basically says in verse 13 that David has just pronounced himself guilty. that you've convicted yourself. Have we seen that before? Nathan gave the story and said, Thou art the man. The widow says, Thou art the man. You just said that the avenger of blood was wrong in this situation. You're the man. Why? Because she is likening Absalom to her son who had ought against his brother and slew him. that David is like the rest of her family, the avenger of blood, seeking vengeance against Absalom, and Israel is like the widow. They're the ones who are being deprived of the great heir of King David. The eldest son, the crown prince, the heir apparent, is the one who's in danger. Israel, as a nation, is the one that's suffering from this. Would you take away? Amnon is already dead, just like her other son, supposedly. And now you're going to take away the other heir from Israel. How can this be right, she says. That's the implication. Moreover, in verse 14, she talks about the brevity of life. We're like water poured out. David, life's short. You ain't going to be king a long time. Time is of the essence, my man. Do something about this situation. Again, like her situation, the family is clamoring for the blood of her son. It's urgent that the king act. She brings that right over. It's urgent that you do something. Life is short, David. You're not going to be king forever. Not only that, but she presses upon him the fact that God, God is merciful. And God makes a way to restore those that He banishes. When Israel is under chastisement, God finds a way to restore them. God is merciful. David, you are stern and unmerciful and unlike God. Then in verse 15, she goes back to pretending. She again returns to her situation. Of course, she doesn't have a situation. But the idea is, oh, my mentioning Absalom was just something happened in passing because of the great similarities between our two situations, you see. I didn't really come here to talk to you about Absalom. I came here to talk to you about my son. And it was just incidental as this thought sprang into my mind of how similar the two situations are. But David, of course, is not deceived. And in verses 18 to 20, he says, tell me the truth now. Is this Joab's doing? I see the hand of Joab in this. I see the craft and the weaving, the craftsmanship of Joab in this. And she says, yep, that's where it came from. Joab, put me up to it. Now, would it be wrong then to think that David was able to discern that? Probably because Joab had been trying to talk him into bringing Absalom back. Would it be wrong to think that the reason Joab was so perceptive about what David wanted is because he had already been trying to persuade David to bring Absalom back. So David immediately sees through it and says, this is Joab's doing. He can't get his way one way, he's going to try to get it another. And yet David is persuaded. He sets aside the law for her. Her parable. He swears, I'm not going to let anything happen to him. And her argument is, if you're prepared to swear and set aside the law in that case to protect my son, then how much more for the more important case of the very heir to the throne of Israel, for the good of Israel, why can't you find a way to bring Absalom And so David calls Joab to him and verse 21 we read, Then the king said to Joab, Behold, now I will surely do this thing. Go therefore and bring back the young man Absalom. Joab falls on his face, prostrates himself and blesses the king and says, Today your servants know that I have found favor in your sight, O my lord the king, in that the king has performed the request of his servant. You see, he doesn't say, David, I'm so glad you arrived at this decision because I could see you were pining after Absalom. Joab says, this is what I've been desiring and you have granted what I desired. And so David acquiesces to that, verse 23, so Joab arose and went to Geshur and brought Absalom to Jerusalem. David grants permission for him to return, but it's only partial permission. Notice verse 24. However, the king said, let him turn to his own house and let him not see my face. So Absalom turned to his own house and did not see the king's face. David allows him back, but he does so reluctantly. He holds him at arm's length, He is out of favor. He is a disgraced son. It is without David's blessing. Probably the whole idea of his participating as a prince, as a son, that is forfeited as well. He is made a resident, but not one of the king's sons as it was. the privileges of sonship have been now denied him no participation in kingdom affairs at least that appears to be the case when you come to chapter 15 because immediately once he is back in favor he begins to act and to do things like a prince but until that time he keeps very quiet very restrained perhaps fearful of what the outcome will be were he to cross the boundary and David again become angry. Now we come secondly and more briefly to the complementary representation of Absalom in verses 25 to 27. And what we have here is a description of Absalom. He is represented to us and he's represented in a very compelling complementary way and it actually seems out of place. In fact you can read Verse 24 and go straight to verse 28 and it's absolutely seamless. Notice this. Verse 24. So Absalom turned to his own house and did not see the king's face. Now Absalom lived two full years in Jerusalem and did not see the king's face. You see? We're talking about Absalom not seeing the king's face, then there's this parenthetical statement, and then we're talking about the king's face again. And why is that? Why does the God, through the writer, insert this description here? How is it relevant? I mean, we're told about his personal fairness, and by that I don't mean his justice. We're told that he was the most handsome man in Israel. As one writer put it, he was Mr. Israel. That he had no defect from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head, the most handsome man in the country. Then we're told of his popular fame, of how praiseworthy and how praised he was in the latter part of the verse. He was highly praised, famous for his beauty. He was celebrated because of his good looks. He had Hollywood status, celebrity status, just from being handsome. And then we're told about his prominent feature in verse 26. His glory was his hair. He had gorgeous hair. That's what we're told. It was thick and heavy like a great mane. And it weighed 200 shekels by the king's weight. We don't know exactly what the king's weight, what weight was attributed to the shekel, but there was 200 of them. It had to be a significant amount of hair. And he cut it every year and it weighed this much. Some have said two or three pounds, and from there the numbers just go up as to what the shekel weight was at that point in history. Now for somebody to cut and weigh their hair every year you have to be a little enamored with your hair, right? So I think we can conclude that there was a little bit of self admiration in our man Absalom. That he was enamored with himself but so was everybody else. Again I say celebrity status. Now, with the princes over in England, we always hear when they're going here and there and if they're the most eligible bachelor in the world and all these things. Here is the prince of princes. The most beautiful prince. Not only that, but we are told of his... Well, let me back up just a second. Let me say that one of the reasons we're told about his hair is his hair is his glory. But later his hair becomes his gallows, and he is hung from it and dies because of it. That which was his glory becomes the very gallows by which he dies. Then we're told about his children, his family. He has this prospering family. He has three sons and a daughter. Now, let me just say, in 2 Samuel 18, 18 we read that Absalom erected a monument because he had no children, no heir, no one to remember him, so he made a memorial for himself to be remembered by. And some think that he erected that because he didn't have children at first and he didn't think he was ever going to have children so he erected this and then we have the children here. Others think that sometime between this point and 2 Samuel 18 that the children, the sons, died early. He also had a daughter and that daughter he named after his sister whom Amnon forced to Mar and we read that just like her aunt she was a beautiful child. Now, why then this insertion of this? Why this interruption in the narrative? Why this description complementing Absalom? Let me suggest this, that God through the writer is preparing us for what's going to happen in chapter 15. Here we see in chapter 15 the people will clamor to Absalom, but we've already been foretold something about that, haven't we? The people loved him. They admired him. He was a celebrity. The writer is letting us know that Absalom is a force to be reckoned with. He may be unnoticed by the king, but he's noticed by the people. He has a commanding presence. He stands out. He is the supposed crown prince, the heir apparent, and he is princely. That's the point. He's beautiful. He seems born to be David's successor. He seems born to be king, to be followed, to be admired, to be the representative of a nation. That's the man we want when you think of Israel. He's the poster for Israel, Mr. Israel. Here he is, Absalom. And not only that, but he's a family man to boot. He's not the young bachelor anymore. He has settled, stable. He went and fled away, perhaps a man of youth, a man of passion, but he's returned, a full man, a handsome man, a family man. Of course, we know 1 Samuel 9, when the people clamored after a king, God gave him Saul who stood head and shoulders above every other man in Israel. What a king! If ever a man was born to be king, it was Saul. God rejected him because of his disobedience, because of his character. When Samuel goes to select the replacement, for Saul, he goes to David's house by God's direction, and the suns come out, and he sees Eliab, and he says, surely this is the anointing of the Lord. If ever a man was born to be king in Israel, here he is, just like with Saul. Remember God says, God does not look on the outward form, but upon the heart. The heart, the character is the issue. And then of course David is brought in, and anointed. But how gullible, how gullible people are when it comes to good looks. They've done surveys, you know, about job applications. The better you look, the easier you get a job. A nice smile, nice looks, easier to get promotions. It's a fact of life. And for most of us, a very sad fact. The whole issue of the mention of his family. I think it speaks of instability of his growing older, but also it tells us, does it not, that this man had heirs, three sons. If he becomes king, they become the crown princes. He wants to make sure he becomes king. And perhaps the very reason that Joab was so anxious to get Absalom back was the fact that Joab when he looked at Absalom said here is the next king of Israel. My first cousin was born to be king. Clearly this is a sign from God. No man could look this good if he wasn't meant to be the king of Israel, could he? And so Joab brings him back. So you see the insertion of Absalom's fairness, of his fame, of his feature, with his hair, with his family is not really complimentary. It's really cautionary. Here is a capable rival to the throne. Here is a man people will follow. Here is a man people will admire and who is captivating in his very presence and who will be able to sway the gullible multitudes of people. He is a crouching tiger. That's what we're being told. He is poised now with the throne. To put it in a different way, the pied piper has just landed, he's just not been given leave to play yet. Or to put it in more modern terms, that dog can hunt, he just needs to be let off the leash. And David is just about to do that. And that brings us then to the complete restoration of Absalom. Note verse 28. Absalom lived two full years in Jerusalem and he did not see the king's face. There is this protracted period of time that he has not seen David. David then seems unrelenting that this may be permanent. that he will be in disfavor, that he will not be able to be recognized as one of the king's sons, that he will live in permanent disgrace. So he takes a potential risk. Now the first thing he does is seek out Joab, who brought him back, and who knows, maybe Absalom and Joab had been communicating during those three years he was up in Geshur. But in any event, he's trying to make contact, but Joab is hands-off. He knows David is reluctant, and he's brought him back, but he's not going to push things apparently. But after two years, and you remember Absalom waited two years from the time of the forcing of his sister until he killed Amnon, and now he waits two years before he forces the issue again. We ought not to mistake that for patience, but for cunning. He was not a patient man, but he was a cunning man. And he knew with the passing of time that things change. So after two years, he seeks to make contact with Joab to gain audience with the king, and Joab refuses that. He's not going to go to David again. It might be bad news for Joab if he does. Absalom forces the issue and he tells his servants to go over and burn Joab's field And that got Joab's attention Joab comes and says why did your servants burn my field? He tells him I've been trying to get you to come over here so I could have an audience with the king Request an audience with the king and you've refused to do it. So Joab goes and tells the king and David receives him and David is reconciled to him, signified by the fact that we read in verse 33, and the king kissed Absalom. In that picture we're being told that David now has accepted him, that he is at peace with him, that he is once again under his favor and his blessing, as we begin reading in chapter 15. Now it came about after this, that Absalom provided for himself chariot and horses, fifty men as runners. He is now again a prince in Israel, in full favor with David. Now, that's an interesting story, but what about it? Why did God include it in the Holy Scripture? Of all the things He could have told us, why does He tell us about this? Let me suggest several things that we ought to learn from this. One is, and we saw this in some other applications in the life of David, but we must be aware of an ungodly wisdom. Was Joab a type of wise man? He was. But at the same time, Joab did foolish things. He could perceive when he was threatened. He could perceive many times when the kingdom was threatened. But he had not a godly character to be able to make the right decisions. He had a type of wisdom. Likewise, we see with this widow of Tekoa, this crafty woman. She had a type of wisdom. She could manipulate people. She was quick with her tongue and she could bring things around and she could manipulate, but it was an ungodly wisdom. We see a type of wisdom with Absalom. that Absalom waits, but he's not patient as the Bible speaks of patience. He is merely a plotting, scheming, crafty, cunning man who is waiting and biding his time for his next move to get what he wants. All of this is manipulation, trying to order things as they want it, not truthfulness, not honesty, not wanting what God wants. It is the craftiness of the devil, the wisdom of Satan, who the Bible says is the liar from the beginning. You know what he promised in his very first line? You will be wise like God, to know good and evil. There is a wisdom of the devil. But true wisdom comes from a right relationship to Jesus Christ. True wisdom comes from the study and the following of God's Word. And all plans are not good plans. All plans are not godly plans. Simply because we can plan and see how we can accomplish something does not make it a good and godly plan. It may indeed be using evil means to accomplish the end. And that is wrong. The second thing we may learn here is that we should beware of mistaking success for God's approval. Was Joab successful? He got what he wanted. Does that mean that God approved of his trying to deceive David? Does that mean that God approved of him intermeddling in affairs too high for him? Absalom got what he wanted. He's back in favor. He's again acting as prince. Does that mean that he is under God's blessing? The fact that he was able to manipulate his father? to give him again the power, the ability to move forward. He got what he wanted. He was successful. But it is no sign whatsoever that God approved of Absalom. We must not seek to discover whether we are in the approval and under the blessing of God by whether things are going well with us. We must learn that from God's Word. Job suffered greatly, yet Job was not a wicked man, he was approved of God. Sometimes the righteous suffer, sometimes the wicked. Indeed, in Psalm 73, Bill mentioned it earlier in our worship, where he says, it seems as though the wicked are so much better off than the righteous are. They're not tested and tried. Their faith is not purified. They're not put to the test to glorify God by a faith that perseveres. They seem so much better off at times. We cannot judge whether God approves of us by what happens to us. We have to look into the Word of God. Now I'm not saying that sometimes God chastens and we say, God has smitten me because of my sin. Or God has blessed me because I've made wise choices. I'm not saying those things are not true. What I'm saying is we cannot infallibly judge whether or not what we have done, what we are doing is good and right and approved of God merely by the outcome of it, the success or the failure, We have to learn that in the Word of God. What does God approve of? You have to read it. Absalom may have thought that all was well, but it was not. And Joab may have thought that he had done a fine thing, reuniting the house of Israel. How wonderful! Soon it will divide the kingdom in a way that it had never been divided before and almost cost David his throne. Thirdly, and listen carefully, beware of building your theology, your understanding of God, and beware of building your practice, what you do, upon non-biblical stories and analogies. This woman came and gave a story, an analogy. It's like this. David, you and your situation with Absalom is like this. Like a woman who had two sons and they fought and one killed the other, etc. And David was persuaded. He set aside the demands of justice. But you see, the actions of Absalom and the two sons in the analogy are not the same thing. Absalom committed premeditated, cold-blooded murder. It wasn't an act of passion. He waited two years before he murdered him. And it wasn't after two years that he ran into his brother somewhere and the rage filled him up. It was a calculated setup. He lay in wait for him. And the Bible says peculiar things about those who lay in wait. Premeditated cold-blooded murder requires the death penalty. In the story, the two sons were alone. Nobody knows what happened. There were no witnesses. Maybe the one son struck the other in self-defense. At the very least, or at the very worst, it would have been manslaughter in an act of passion, of arguing. So it's not the same thing. Furthermore, there were not only two or three witnesses, there were a multitude of witnesses to Absalom's deed, and his own flight confirms his guilt. But he comes back, and he tells Joab, after he burns his field, he tells Joab, I want to see the king, and if he finds any evil thing in me, let him put me to death. I'd rather be dead than continue like this. But you see, Absalom's a calculating guy. If David has not done anything, and he's brought me back, he surely ain't gonna kill me. So, it was a limited risk he took. It was a calculated risk. My father loves me. He's not going to put me to death. If he was, I'd already be dead. Two years have passed. I'm willing to risk it. He is a driven man, an ambitious man who plans to have the crown of King David. And David succumbs to this unbiblical analogy Furthermore, the woman likens David to the avenger of blood, and yet David is the king of Israel. He is the judge. He is not just a family member seeking vengeance. He is the ruling authority in Israel. Analogies can be helpful. They can help us to illustrate the Word of God, to demonstrate the Word of God. We can tell a story to do that, but we must always be careful because analogies always fall short. They're always like, but never the same. And therefore, when we start to press the details of analogies, we get into trouble. Be careful building your theology or practice on analogies. Make sure the analogy opens up the Word of God, not becomes the Word of God. That's one of the faults I have with preachers who tell so many stories. Are they entertaining? Do they make the time pass quickly? Yes, they do. but it's not the Word of God. You can tell a story that is moving and compelling and bring people to tears and cause them to believe and do, but it's not the Word of God. A preacher is supposed to expound the Word of God, to say, thus saith the Lord. You beware when you hear men tell moving stories. Occasionally they can be helpful. When that's all that a man has, he does not have anything. Beware, my friends, of building a theology on similitudes. It's like this. What does the Bible say? That's the issue. Your illustration, your story is supposed to help me understand and see in my Bible what thus saith the Lord. And I've heard some very capable men, some very moving preachers, and when I came away I said, that man was effective. But he did not expound the word of God. He gave me his own thoughts through stories. Furthermore, the widow accuses David of being unlike God. That God is merciful and God finds a way to bring his banished back. He does. He does. You know what he does? He punishes his son instead. But God does not let the guilty go unpunished. When man sins, somebody's got to die. God is just and justifier. He punished his own son that we might go free. What the widow implies is that nobody needs to be punished here. That is not like God, but she says it is. Furthermore, God does not bring back his banished unless they first repent. Where is the repentance of Absalom? Bad theology in a story has an element of truth though, doesn't it? Two sons, one dies, one lives. The heir Israel is suffering. The widow is suffering. Sons are banished. They can't go out. Somebody is going to kill them. God is merciful, isn't He? Yes, He is. Doesn't God restore? Yes, He does. But she leaves out repentance. She leaves out justice. She leaves out the Word of God. What does God say about it? God is merciful. He will bring his banished back. My friend, you, you who are alienated from God at birth because of your sin in Adam, because of what you are as a sinner, God would bring you back if you will but repent and believe. If you will come, depending upon Christ, having been punished in your place, if you will turn from your sin and from your idolatry of self and the world, to turn to God to serve Him, and to wait upon His Son from heaven, and in faith cast yourself upon Him, God will restore you! But He will not restore you apart from that. Fourthly, and lastly, beware of form without substance. Absalom had an outward beauty, but inwardly he was a ravenous wolf. The reconciliation, the kiss, was one-sided. David reconciled himself to Absalom, but as chapter 15 makes clear, Absalom did not reconcile himself to David. there is the demonic, the evil in Absalom. He is able to take a father's love and once again use it against him. A father's compassion. David gives him a hand up only to have him try to cut his head off. But we see that all the time with regard to people admiring beauty. The people are going to flock after Absalom. He is a celebrity. He's famous for his good looks. We see it all the time on the airways, don't we? This actress and this actor. What have they got going for them? Good looks. They're able to pretend like the woman of Tekoa. And yet they're shuttled out to speak on politics and war and health issues and everything under the sun. And people put words in their mouth. The issue is character. The issue is substance. And yet we behold the gullibility of the masses who flock to the baby kissers and the handshakers to the handsome and the eloquent, but we must demand character in our rulers. To those who are over us, we must look beyond their beautiful smiles and their glowing faces and their picture-perfect family. I keep seeing this one particular ad on television. It's about a guy and his family and it is picture-perfect, I mean. But it has no substance whatsoever. It's all form. It's all show. When we choose our leaders, we must choose them because of their character. And let me tell you, that narrows the field down considerably. Obviously nobody knows what tomorrow will bring forth. So who are we going to put in office? We must put in office people that we believe have the character and the principles so that we have a belief that they will act in accordance with what is right no matter what happens tomorrow. In as much as they can, they will do what is right. That is all you can do. How do you determine that? You certainly can tell by their history. We get all the mudslinging, digging up the past, and sometimes you just get sick of it because you don't know who to believe. But certainly if we looked at Anselm's past and we say, let me see, three years ago he murdered his brother. Hmm. I wonder if he's an acceptable candidate. I don't know, but he is handsome. He's got a beautiful family. I don't think he's like that anymore. It's difficult, isn't it? But that's who we must pray that God will raise up, and it is who we must try to put into office, people of sound character who will seek to do what is right. Because ultimately, you can have all the manipulating and perfect plans in the world, but if you don't have the blessing of God, they all fail. and thus righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any nation. We must, brethren, seek not to be carried away by good looks, by outward projections, and that's even, of course, in the church as well. We now have all these TV preachers They have the beautiful small, and I think one of the commentators referred to them as Fortune 500 preachers. They're here to carry the corporation along, and they are the representative, and they are beautiful. Content, character, not outward form, must be what we're concerned with. May God help us not to be gullible. The Bible doesn't have anything good to say about being gullible, about being ignorant, about being indifferent. It praises wisdom and discernment and godly character. May God grant that we will be such and that we will be able to see through all of the manipulation around us, both in the church and in our society, and that we may cling to what is good and what is right. Now, I think I'll save it for next week. when we come, God willing, next week and we see how Absalom behaves and how the people are taken by him, we'll be able to see more clearly some of the things that we've been mentioning here. Let us pray together. Father, as we bow before you now, we plead your mercies upon us. We pray that you would make us wise and discerning, that you would help us not to be enamored with outward form, that you, O Lord, would help us that we may do what is good and right, that we may have a godly wisdom, that we may be those who have a thoroughgoing honesty and a truthfulness, and that we would not seek to justify the means that are evil by good ends being accomplished. Help us to do what is right, and we thank you. When we were banished, you brought us back. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, amen.