SA 18:5{Even with Absalom! Even with the heartless, deliberate traitor and rebel. We must recollect clearly what he was, to appreciate the exquisite tenderness of David in such a command to his rough war captains in such untender times. For the sake of his people and his kingdom, he must send them forth against him, but the deep love gushes out in the bidding, "Deal gently for my sake." It was no new impulse. When Amnon was murdered, the king wept very sore and mourned for his son every day, and yet, when the fratricide had fled, the soul of King David longed to go forth unto him, and the king's heart was toward Absalom. And when God's own vengeance fell upon the wicked son, David's lamentation over him is perhaps unparalleled in its intensity of pathos among the records of human tenderness. Turn to the Antitype, and see the divine tenderness of our King. Again and again it gleams out, whether He Himself wept, or whether He said, "Weep not"—whether in the tender look, the tender word, or the tender touch of gentlest mercy. May we not recognize a command in this, as well as a responsibility to follow the example of the gentleness of Christ? Perhaps next time we are tempted to be a little harsh or hasty with an erring or offending one, the whisper will come, "Deal gently, for My sake!”
Return!
O erring, yet beloved!
I wait to bind thy bleeding feet, for keen
And rankling are the thorns where thou hast been;
I wait to give thee pardon, love, and rest;
Is not My joy to see thee safe and blest?
Return! I wait to hear once more thy voice,
To welcome thee anew, and bid thy heart rejoice!