2 Sam. 13
David's soul is restored, his conscience is purified, and his heart is humbled; in spite of this the ways of God's government as they concern him must run their course. What Nathan had foretold: "The sword shall never depart from thy house... I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house... I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun"—all this must be fulfilled without fail: David will undergo this necessary discipline with a broken heart.
The incident recorded in this chapter is loathsome. It was infamy in Israel (2 Sam. 13:12-13). God's Word relates it because it is "the truth" and depicts man as he is in all his ugliness so that we may abhor his corruption. These terrible acts of immorality and violence are the doings of two of David's sons, Amnon and Absalom, who are far from God, the one as much as the other. A friend named Jonadab who is a cousin and a counselor is there on the scene urging Amnon onward in his miry path (2 Sam. 13:4-5); this same man later knows of Absalom's plot but does nothing to oppose it (2 Sam. 13:32).
How short-lived and vain are the pleasures of sin! Scarcely are one's lips moistened at the rim of the cup but already one is tasting intolerable bitterness! "Amnon hated [Tamar] with an exceeding great hatred, for the hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he had loved her" (2 Sam. 13:15). Immediately he abhors this poor unwilling victim of his infamous act. He judges everything except himself. Violent and crafty, Absalom avenges himself of his sister's dishonor by fratricide.
Nevertheless one thing strikes me that has a general application to David, now restored. He lacks a certain spiritual discernment, and this was not a feature of his character before his fall. Everything was already in order between his soul and God when in 2 Sam. 12:26-31 he went to lay siege to Rabbah. The judgment of the children of Ammon was righteous and according to God's mind, but David seems to have injected his personal feelings both into his victory and his vengeance. His spiritual discernment no longer had the same acuity as it did earlier. He takes the king's crown and sets it on his head, whereas formerly (2 Sam. 8:11; cf. 1 Chron. 20:2) he had consecrated all the treasures of the nations to the Lord. He executes cruel vengeance on the people, part of which at least is omitted in 1 Chron. 20:3, in the book that presents the king according to the counsels of God. David had never done such things at other times.
But there is more. Here in 2 Sam. 13 all David's good intentions and his desires for harmony among his children turn against him. Unwittingly he acts in a way contrary to what he should have done. Thus it is David in 2 Sam. 13:7 who sends Tamar to Amnon's house. Later, when Absalom's plans for murder have ripened David initially tries to resist, thinking that should he yield to his son's request evil might be the result; but he finally yields, sending his other sons along in order to protect Amnon. All this probably does not indicate a very clear spiritual judgment.
2 Sam. 13:39 shows us moreover that wicked Absalom was the son David cherished. "And king David longed to go forth to Absalom; for he was comforted concerning Amnon, seeing he was dead." In the following chapter David is easily persuaded to allow Absalom to return to Jerusalem, and this decision is the immediate cause of all the disaster which follows. No doubt through this means God fulfills His purposes, but all these events afford us a serious lesson. When a believer falls by yielding to his own self-will, his soul even though it is restored loses a certain spiritual acuity. If he has come to despise or set little value on fellowship with the Lord it takes him a certain time to recover the spiritual intelligence that accompanies this fellowship. It is as though the fall had brought with it a cessation of spiritual growth.
A soul exposed to the Lord's discipline and that of the assembly frequently is an example of this. The soul may be restored and may recover fellowship with God and with the saints; but a secret strength is lost when sin becomes active, and it is possible that the soul may never recover this strength.
May God grant us to esteem fellowship with Himself as extremely valuable, so valuable that we may jealously watch lest it be lost as well as the strength and discernment that accompany it.