discussion, include an exploration of God’s demand for the complete destruction of “anything that moves” in holy war and a dedication of all the spoils of war to God.
4. What were the one-time qualifications applied in the Israelite holy wars of conquest when entering the Promised Land that are not valid for other wars? In Joshua 2:10 is the interesting story of an important woman named Rehab. She knew that God had demanded that Israel completely destroy their enemies. Is this fair, or is this command from God too cruel? What does this mean in warfare?
The Girl Who Spied
2 Samuel 14; 2 Samuel 17:17
A Lesson in Acting
“Help me, O King!” A woman with ragged clothes bowed deeply on the cold marble floor before David’s throne. Her dirty face was engraved with streaks by the tears streaming down her cheeks.
“What is troubling you?” King David asked simply.
“I am indeed a widow; my husband is dead. I, your servant, had two sons. They got into a fight with each other in the field. Now all the relatives want to kill my remaining son. This is the only burning coal I have left, leaving my husband neither name nor descendant on the face of the earth.”
“Go home, and I will issue an order on your behalf,” answered the king.The woman seemed to hold her shoulders higher as she raised herself from the floor and started to turn toward the exit.
A servant girl had the assignment of opening and closing the court doors to allow access to King David. At her post, she heard all the entreaties of people who approached King David for favors. Most required heart-wrenching decisions, which David made with super-human wisdom. Only a few moments earlier, the two women, among the lowest ranked in the kingdom, exchanged uncomfortable glances when they met over the threshold. Then the servant girl stepped aside and out of sight behind a potted palm where she would wait until called to open the great doors again. Apparently, this case was over, so she stepped in front of the doors. But wait, the woman was not finished with her petition.
“Let your servant speak a word to my lord the king,” she continued.
“Speak,” David said with some surprise.
“So, do you not convict yourself, for you have not brought back your own banished son?”
The lowly widow dared to put the great King David on the spot! Every attendant in the room gasped. They all knew the truth about the king’s son, Absalom, who three years ago had fled Jerusalem when he killed his half brother, another son of the king, Prince Amnon. Some people wanted Absalom executed as a murderer; others were not so sure. Now Absalom was the apparent successor to the throne after David. This supposedly poor widow had constructed her story parallel to the dilemma of David.
David answered the question with a question. “Has my army general, Joab, put you up to this?”
“Yes,” she dared not lie. “It was your servant Joab who instructed me and put the words into my mouth. You, King David have wisdom like that of an angel of God. You know everything that happens in the land.”
All ears in the throne room strained to hear every word. Lesser infractions of etiquette in the court had been known to cause heads to roll. What would David do to someone who tried to corner him? The woman, whose false identity as a grieving widow was now exposed, stood up proudly and walked out with a dignified bearing that betrayed her beggarly clothes. She knew she had influenced even the great King David to heal a family rift.
“Can you imagine? This encounter with the king was all acted!” The servants exclaimed later between themselves. “This woman is really known as the wise woman of Tekoa! She is not a poor widow at all. How easily we were all fooled, even King David, until he recognized the story as his own.”
“What an actress!” The servant girl wondered to herself. She was amazed that the woman so effectively pretended to be someone she was not. “This skill of acting could come in very handy around the court,” she continued. “But in reality,” she thought to herself, “I do this every day. In this service, I am always pretending to be someone I am not. It is like wearing a mask. I pretend to know things I do not, I pretend not to know things I do know. It is a very tricky skill to survive in this palace world.”
Joab, the great military leader, by employing the wise woman of Tekoa to carry out this deceit, succeeded in bringing the crown prince back to Jerusalem. However, the longed for reunion between King David and his son, Absalom, did not immediately take place face-to-face. Two great men, even though father and son, did not talk to each other; they both lived separately in their own residences. The return of Absalom drew great attention; he was so handsome he turned the heads of both men and women. The servants admired his magnificent hair, which was so thick that he had to cut it when it became too heavy. Locks of wavy hair were weighed and later appeared on the black market to be sold to adoring fans. A legend, started by those in a position to know, was that from the top of his head to the sole of his foot he had no blemish. He married and started a young family in Jerusalem, which included three sons and a daughter named Tamar, named in memory of his sister who was murdered by Amnon a few years earlier.
The men envied his natural ability to attract followers. When Absalom moved through the city, fifty young men would clear the streets to make room for his chariot, which was pulled by splendid horses. At the city gate, he made promises to people needing favors and claimed that if he were king, everything would be much better. Absalom stole the hearts of the people of Jerusalem by his good looks and slick promises. King David appeared to tolerate the audacious behavior of his son for four years, but never invited him to the palace.
Dangerous Times in Jerusalem
The servant girl did not understand why Absalom was allowed such free reign to disrespect his father. Acting as if he owned the place, the son brazenly anticipated the time when he would be king, since his father was getting along in years. David, unable to deny his son any wish, granted him his request to go to the city of Hebron to fulfill a vow and worship. Instead, Absalom had other intentions that were less pious; for in truth, he was conspiring to take over the throne. He sent messengers throughout the land with the message, “As soon as you hear the sound of the trumpets, shout ‘Absalom is king in Hebron.’”
Messengers rushed to David and told him, “The hearts of the people of Israel are with Absalom.” David was crushed with the hurt that his son, whom he loved, betrayed him.
“Come!” David told his officials that were with him, “We must flee, or none of us will escape from Absalom. We must leave immediately, or he will move quickly to overtake us and bring ruin upon us and put the city to the sword.”
Absalom declared himself the legitimate ruler of Israel and announced his intention to take over the country. With the sound of the shofar he moved into the palace.
The servant girl remembered verses from the psalms, which were claimed to be written by David. They were repeated at times of sacred service and became a prayer in times like this. It is time for You to act, O Lord, For they have regarded Your law as void (Ps 119:126).
“What will this day bring?” The servant girl thought as she woke that morning. She was filled with a sense of foreboding. King David was leaving the city without a fight to avoid more bloodshed. He was horrified with the thought of fighting his own son in battle.
A rumor spread like wildfire through the palace. “They are removing the Ark of the Covenant from the Holy of the Holies.” The servant girl did not know what to make of this news.
