“Pointing Fingers”

 “But Absalom fled, and went to Talmai, the son of Ammihud, king of Geshur. And David mourned for his son every day.”(2 Samuel 13:37)

Afraid for his life, Absalom fled from his brothers and King David. He took refuge with his mother’s father.

About 400 Years Earlier

When Moses was in the wilderness with the children of Israel he spent every hour of every day working on their problems. Every grievance, from a hole in a sandal to murder, Moses judged over them all. Moses’s father in-law gave him advice on how to organize his government to make it simpler.

“Thou wilt surely wear away, both thou, and this people that is with thee: for this thing is too heavy for thee; thou art not able to perform it thyself alone.” (Exodus 18:18)

Jethro, Moses’s father in-law, gave Moses some sound advice about organizing his people. You can call it Government if you wish.

“Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens:” (Exodus 18:21)

The Problem

On the surface it looks like a good idea, but we may ignore the individual’s needs. Moses is expected to find leaders that fit most closely to God’s commands. Imagine we have a group of tens and their leader follows 90% of God’s commands (from a human perspective). To keep the leadership of ten, that leader only needs to keep the leader of fifties happy. The leader of ten only keeps the leader of fifties needs in mind. That is where politics is invented. The needs of the many are reduced to the needs of the few, the powerful few.

The issue of the problem is not how many are involved, it is the ignoring of God. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Arron, and Jethro all spoke directly to God. As we learn in scriptures we realize that although they were certainly led by God, they were still only people. People make mistakes. Even the simplest mistake can have disastrous results.

Remember the priest of David who mistakenly touched the Ark? It wasn’t a simple mistake, it was a direct command from God, written by Moses, followed by Joshua, and now forgotten by David. People either forget the simple commands or ignore them, and the result is pain.

The Blame

As humans we often pin the blame on anything/one other than ourselves. Many people say, “Yeah I did it, but…”. The “but” is not unimportant from a group perspective, however, from an individual perspective it is very important. The “but” doesn’t just point at other’s failures. It amplifies your failures.

Absalom killed Amnon, and that was wrong, but Amnon had raped Tamar. King David knew it, but King David had caused the death of Uriah because of his adultery. There are so many fingers pointing it becomes difficult to untangle in the human mind. In God’s point of view it is not impossible.

From Tamar’s point there is nothing she had done to deserve Amnon’s violence.

From Amnon’s point of view he deserved judgement from God, but he did not deserve being murdered by Absalom.

From Absalom’s point of view he deserved death, but God gave him a rescue in the form of King David.

From David’s point of view he deserved death, and though he will suffer God provides him with a rescue.

Stay Tuned…