Day 161: 2 Samuel 14-17

Summary

Episode Summary: The Bible Dept. - Day 161: 2 Samuel 14-17

Podcast Information:

• Title: The Bible Dept.
• Host: Dr. Manny Arango
• Author: ARMA Courses
• Description: The Bible Dept. is a 365-day Bible reading plan and podcast designed to help listeners connect with Scripture in a fresh, meaningful way. Each episode guides listeners through 1–3 chapters of the Bible, providing insightful overviews, historical context, intriguing details, and practical applications.

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Introduction

In Day 161 of The Bible Dept., Dr. Manny Arango delves into 2 Samuel chapters 14 through 17, focusing on the tumultuous period in King David's life marked by familial strife and political intrigue. This episode centers on the character of Absalom, David's son, whose actions set the stage for a significant rebellion against his father.

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Context and Overview

Dr. Arango sets the stage by highlighting the critical nature of these chapters:

• Main Character: Absalom, David's son.
• Primary Conflict: Absalom's attempt to usurp David's throne.
• Underlying Theme: The collapse of David's private life leading to his downfall, emphasizing that personal failings can have profound public consequences.

"Once we're in the back half of 2 Samuel, you're really gonna begin to see that it is David's life that is his downfall." (00:00)

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Absalom's Character and Actions

Dr. Arango explores Absalom's personality and motivations:

• Ambition: Absalom desires to take over the kingdom, distancing himself from a respectable succession.
• Manipulation: Supported by Joab, David's military commander, Absalom is positioned as a viable successor despite his questionable character.
• Rebellion: Absalom's actions culminate in the establishment of his own political base, including setting up a tent on the palace roof to assert dominance.

"Absalom is going to attempt a coup and try to rip the kingdom from his father." (00:00)

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David's Leadership and Parenting

A significant portion of the discussion focuses on King David's role and failures:

• Inconsistent Discipline: David struggles to consistently discipline his sons—Amnon's rape of Tamar and Absalom's subsequent revenge.
• Extremes in Behavior: Dr. Arango points out that David alternates between excessive mercy and harsh justice, failing to embody a balanced leadership style.

"David lives in two extremes. He's either going to kill people for being disloyal or... he's gonna be completely lenient." (12:14)

• Impact on Family: David's inability to manage his private life leads to public instability, highlighting the importance of personal integrity in leadership.

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Biblical Parallels and Context Clues

Dr. Arango draws parallels between the narrative in 2 Samuel and earlier Biblical stories to provide deeper insight:

• Genesis Comparison: The situation mirrors Jacob's family dynamics, particularly the actions of Simeon and Levi after Dinah's rape.

"This is like putting 2 Samuel in the context of Genesis... Simeon and Levi take it upon themselves to act." (03:22)

• Noah's Story: He references the story of Noah and his sons to illustrate themes of familial betrayal and curse.

"Noah's a man of the soil... Ham tried to usurp power from his father." (05:37)

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Analysis of Power and Usurpation

The discussion delves into the mechanisms of power struggles within the Biblical narrative:

• Usurpation Tactics: Absalom's public display of authority by placing his tent on the palace roof and sleeping with his father's concubines symbolizes his claim to leadership.

"He sleeps with all of his wives, concubines, in the sight of all Israel." (05:37)

• Symbolism of Actions: These actions are traditional signs of asserting patriarchal dominance in ancient societies, albeit viewed negatively in the modern context.

"This is an ancient way to show that you are the new patriarch of the family." (05:43)

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Notable Quotes

Dr. Arango shares several impactful statements throughout the episode:

• On Absalom's Obvious Rebellion:

  "It was very obvious that Absalom was going to kill Amnon. This is very clear." (10:14)

• On Balanced Leadership:

  "God doesn't live in the extremes. God is able to hold all the extremes together and to put them in tension." (12:14)

• On Fatherhood:

  "Being a father is harder than any other role. Being a father is harder than being a pastor... it's just more work." (15:00)

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Insights and Timeless Truths

Dr. Arango distills profound lessons from the passages:

1. Character of God in Leadership:

   "The character of God is seen in holding what feels like juxtaposing things in tension with each other. He's fully just and fully merciful." (13:19)

2. Dangers of Extreme Behavior:

   "When you live in extremes, you always fail to really make the right choice." (12:14)

3. Importance of Personal Integrity in Public Leadership:

   "If you're killing it publicly, can you please also kill it privately? Could you be a good dad?" (16:15)

4. Challenges of Fatherhood:

   "Being a father is harder than being a prophet... it's just more work." (15:00)

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Conclusion

Dr. Arango wraps up the episode by emphasizing the critical nature of personal and familial leadership in the broader scope of national governance. He encourages listeners to reflect on their own lives, particularly in the context of parenting and personal integrity.

"If I can encourage anybody out there who's killing it publicly, can you please also kill it privately?" (16:15)

He also provides a glimpse into upcoming episodes, promising further exploration of 2 Samuel chapters 18 to 20 and the conclusion of this section of David's story.

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Join the Journey: For those inspired by this discussion, Dr. Arango invites listeners to download the Bible reading plan and engage more deeply with Scripture through The Bible Dept. resources available at thebibledept.com.

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Note: Throughout the episode, Dr. Arango briefly mentioned his book, Crushing Chaos, offering insights into viewing the Bible from an ancient perspective. However, as per the summary guidelines, promotional segments have been intentionally omitted to focus on substantive content.

Transcript

[Dr. Manny Arango]

Hey, Bible nerds. This is Dr. Manny Arango and I'm your host for the Bible department podcast powered by Arma. This podcast follows a Bible reading plan we created to help you read the entire Bible in a year. You can head to the show notes or thebibledepartment.com to download our reading plan and join the Journey family. Welcome back. Welcome to day 161. We are in second Samuel chapter 14 through 17. We got some action packed chapters of the Bible here. The main character that we're going to be looking at is a young man by the name of Absalom. Absalom. This is David's son. And what we're going to see through the text is that this is actually the son that Joab wants as the successor. Absalom is not going to follow a respectable path of succeeding his father. He is actually going to attempt a coup and try to rip the kingdom from his father. And really, David's fathering skills are gonna be on display throughout these chapters of the Bible. Once we're in this back half of two Samuel, you're really gonna begin to see that it is David' life that is his downfall. It's not Goliath, it's not Saul, it's nothing political, it's nothing public. But it is David's private life that is going to unravel and become his undoing. That David's failure is not going to be an external explosion, but an internal implosion. And so we're going to dissect 2 Samuel, chapter 1417. Hey, if you've done the reading today, great job. Everything that I'm gonna say is gonna make perfect sense. If you have not done the reading, don't use listening to me as an excuse to not do the reading. We're in 2nd Samuel, chapter 1417. Make sure you do the reading today. We'll do context clues, then nerdy nuggets, and then I'll give you a timeless truth. Like always, Absalom is going to take center stage as a character and David's parenting and fathering will be on full display. We're going to see the tension between n human consequences and divine providence. Okay, so the context for everything in for 2 Samuel 14:17 is the fact that in yesterday's reading, Absalom has killed his brother. Now his brother Amnon has raped his sister. And the the failure of David to deal with that in any way means that Absalom has to deal with it. And Absalom's way of dealing with it is to kill his brother. So already we. We see some hints or, you know, we should be thinking. Remember when Jacob's daughter Dinah is raped by Shechem, and then Reuben and Simeon are the two brothers that are just like, absolutely enraged? I'm pretty sure that was Reuben and Simeon, right? No, no, no, no. It was Simeon and Levi.

[Co-host or Guest Speaker]

Okay?

[Dr. Manny Arango]

So what we're gonna see in this story is a combination of Reuben, Levi, and Simeon, okay? Three of Jacob's sons are gonna all kind of get consolidated into Absalom. So two things that I need you to see. This is like putting 2 Samuel in the context of Genesis. What we saw in Genesis is that when their sister Dinah is raped, Simeon and Levi, because their father doesn't act with enough urgency or justice, they take it upon themselves to act. So we're going to see that again, right? Tamar's raped by Amnon and David does nothing. And because David does nothing, this enrages Absalom and he takes matters into his own hands.

[Co-host or Guest Speaker]

Okay?

[Dr. Manny Arango]

So your kids should never have to do your job.

[Co-host or Guest Speaker]

Okay?

[Dr. Manny Arango]

That's the big lesson that we're learning. And it's a repeat, okay? This happened with Jacob and Simeon and Levi, and now it's happening with David and Absalom. The only issue is that a stranger, whereas a stranger, raped Dina. Oh, boy. Tamar is going to be raped by her brother and then avenged by her brother.

[Co-host or Guest Speaker]

Okay?

[Dr. Manny Arango]

But then Absalom is going to usurp the throne. He's going to attempt to take over the throne, and he actually does that. He causes David to have to flee Jerusalem.

[Co-host or Guest Speaker]

Okay?

[Dr. Manny Arango]

Absalom takes control, political control of his dad's nation, and they set up a tent, okay, on top of the palace for Absalom to have sex with all of his wives, concubines. I'm pretty sure I highlighted this. I think this is chapter I want to say. 16. Yes, 1621. Ahithophel answered, Sleep with your father's concubines, whom he left to take care of the palace. Then all Israel will hear that you have made yourself obnoxious to your father, and the hands of everyone with you will be more resolute. Verse 22. So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, and he slept with his father's concubines in the sight of all Israel. And so this is actually what Reuben does.

[Co-host or Guest Speaker]

Okay?

[Dr. Manny Arango]

Reuben sleeps with Jacob's is not his concubine. It's actually the handmaid.

[Co-host or Guest Speaker]

Okay?

[Dr. Manny Arango]

And so Reuben has sex with a woman that his father has been in a sexual relationship with. This is an ancient way to show that you are the new patriarch of the family. Okay. To sleep with women that your father has slept with. Now, this is foreign to anybody with a modern mindset, but this is a power grab. This is 100% a show of dominance to say, I am going to take my father's place as king, as patriarch. And the other story that should be kind of providing some context for us is Noah's son. Remember Shem, Ham, and Japheth? Okay, the names of the sons sometimes blur together for me, but the son that saw his father's nakedness, a lot of people think that what happened actually is that. That that wicked son actually had sex with Noah's wife, AKA his mom. And then the other two boys covered their father's nakedness and exposed what their brother had done. Which is why when Noah wakes up, he does not curse his son, but he curses his grandson. Actually, it's bugging me that I don't have the name completely correct. So let's just go to Genesis. It should be Genesis, chapter 9, verse 20 of chapter 9. Noah was a man of the soil, was the first to plant a vineyard. He drank some of the wine and became drunk, and he lay uncovered in his tent. And Ham. Okay, the father of Canaan. You see how the Bible tells us who he's the father of? That's an interesting clue. What is the Bible trying to say? The Bible's trying to say, although Noah's wife is pregnant, Noah's not the father of Canaan, but Ham is the father of Canaan. Why? Because Ham has tried to usurp power from his father by sleeping with his mother. Okay, this sounds ridiculous to the modern reader, but I promise you, this is an ancient way of. Of usurping your father's power, usurping your father's position of authority. Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and walked backward to cover the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned away and they did not see their father's nakedness. When Noah woke from his wine and knew that his youngest son and knew what his youngest son had done to him, what did he do? Okay, there's only three options, really. He either anally penetrated him, he either castrated him, or. Or he slept with his mother. Okay, those are the three options. By the way, those are the only three options that are academically accepted. I know people in church preach other stuff, but in terms of what's academically accepted, those are the Three options. And now what does Noah say? Curse be Canaan. Okay, not curse be Ham, but cursed be Canaan. Why? Because Canaan is the product of a son raping his mom to usurp authority from the father who is the patriarch of the family. Family. The wait is over. My brand new book, Crushing Chaos, is out now and available everywhere. Books are sold. Literally. Today I walked into a Barnes and Noble and I signed a bunch of copies at a physical location. So you can grab this book at a physical Barnes and Noble, or you can go to a Books A Million or Amazon or anywhere books are sold and grab a copy. If you enjoy reading the Bible from an ancient perspective, if you understand that the beauty of scripture is actually knowing it in context, then you'll love this book. And if there's any chaos in your personal life, I think that reading the Bible from an ancient perspective can actually help to crush the chaos in your life. I think this book is going to be a New York Times bestseller. I really do. I think we wrote a good one. I think you should get a copy today. All right, back to the episode. That's context for all the stuff that Absalom's going to do. Okay, so Absalom is a new Ham, he's a new Reuben, he's a new Simeon, he's a new Levi. And because the Bible is in loops, we should bring all that context to bear when we begin to encounter the story. All right, time's running out, and I gotta give you some nerdy nuggets. Here we go. First, nerdy nugget. It was very obvious that Absalom was going to kill Amnon.

[Co-host or Guest Speaker]

Okay?

[Dr. Manny Arango]

Very, very obvious. When you read the story, that's what you should be thinking to yourself. This is very clear. Okay, hey, can I invite my brother to a party? You know, it's like. It's like. This isn't even very sneaky. It's just very, very obvious what Absalom is trying to do next. It is very obvious that Joab sees Absalom as the only viable option to be David's successor. That's very obvious. It's obvious that Joab is playing some politics here. Next. It is very obvious that Absalom. Why Absalom is in Geshur.

[Co-host or Guest Speaker]

Okay?

[Dr. Manny Arango]

It's also very obvious why Absalom is at the city gate. It's also very obvious why Absalom wants to go to Hebron. And if you've done the reading, all this makes sense. The reason that he's trying to go to Hebron is so that he could be seen as a co regent. So what Absalom is doing is not sneaky. He's doing obvious stuff. But what's the problem? David doesn't know how to discipline his children. He doesn't know how to discipline Amnon. He doesn't know how to discipline Absalom. He doesn't know how to discipline Joab. David lives in two extremes. He's either going to kill people for being disloyal or. Or for not having character, or he's gonna be completely lenient. And where we see the character of God is that God is perfectly just and perfectly merciful. And David lives in these two extremes of 100% mercy or 100% justice. And the reality is that when you live in extremes, you always fail to really make the right choice. Because truth is found in tension. It's in holding multiple things in tension with each other. It's in saying, yeah, I need to be merciful. I need to be full of grace. I need to be. I need to be fair. I need to be a disciplinarian. I need to be compassionate. I need to be all these things, okay? And David doesn't have the ability to be layered in how he deals with people that he loves. So he lets Joab run amok. He runs. He lets Amnon run amok. He lets Absalom run amok.

[Co-host or Guest Speaker]

Okay?

[Dr. Manny Arango]

It is very obvious this could have been stopped very early. Okay? Absalom's rebellion could have been squashed, okay, when he's at the city gates turning people, when he's at Geshur, when he's at Hebron, okay? When Joab gets a woman to tell this whole story, that begins to get David to bring Absalom back from being in, I don't know what, exile, okay? It's very, very obvious. Okay, next. I've said a lot of this, actually.

[Co-host or Guest Speaker]

Okay?

[Dr. Manny Arango]

So here we go. Absalom is conceited, spoiled and wealthy. He's deceitful and cunning and resentful.

[Co-host or Guest Speaker]

Okay?

[Dr. Manny Arango]

Absalom is a pretty wicked character. His death is very, very, very poetic justice. This is classic contrapasso, which means the crime and the punishment fit each other.

[Co-host or Guest Speaker]

Okay?

[Dr. Manny Arango]

So his hair was something that was a sign of beauty and is also the thing that gets him killed.

[Co-host or Guest Speaker]

Okay?

[Dr. Manny Arango]

He dies because his hair gets caught in a tree. So he dies by the very idol that he has set forth as the thing that he worships in his life. So what's our timeless truth for the day? Number one, the character of God is seen in holding what feels like juxtaposing things in tension with each other. He's fully just and fully merciful. He's a disciplinarian and compassionate. What it means to be like God is to be full of grace and truth. The moment we operate in what I would call a spirit of David, we begin to operate in extremes. So you are going to strike someone dead for claiming that they killed Saul, but then you let your son rape your daughter and you don't do anything, anything about it. These are absolutely polarizing extremes. And for David, you kill Goliath, but you're also killing Uriah. This is just extreme behavior. And as someone who has an extreme personality, it's really, really, really helpful to know, okay? God doesn't live in the extremes. God is able to hold all the extremes together and to put them in tension. I just recently started golfing, and my coach is always like, hey, controlled aggression. Controlled aggression. Now, what my coach knows, what my instructor knows, is that I love aggression, okay? I'm a strong personality. I love, you know, power and strength, and I like to exert power and strength. So I golf that way. And then my instructor's always just like, but you don't have control. I want you to have rhythm. I want you to have control so that when you do have aggression, it's under control. So God is able to have wrath that actually leads to something productive. Why? Cause it's not out of control. And David has never figured out how to actually be like God in that. Yes. Let me bring all these things about myself into tension with each other so that I can be the final product that God actually wants me to be. Last little layer of this Thomas truth is this. I wrote this down in my notebook. I'd love to read it to you. Same way I wrote it. Being a father is harder than any other role. Being a father is harder than being a pastor. Being a father is harder than being a prophet. Being a father is harder than being a leader. Being a father is harder than being a king. Okay, what have we seen so far? Eli's sons, trash. Samuel's sons, trash. Ironically, Saul's son is the only son that we've seen so far who's got some character, some valor, some integrity. David's son's trash.

[Co-host or Guest Speaker]

Okay?

[Dr. Manny Arango]

Which means you could be a prophet, you could be a priest, you could be a king, you could be a giant killer. You could be all kinds of things. But to be a dad is very, very difficult. And I think most men would ra. I can only speak for me would rather put their energy into being good at anything else than put that energy in being a good father. Because it's just more work. It's harder to be a great dad. It's easy to stack up wins at work or stack up wins in the pulpit or stack up wins for ministry and never stack up wins at home. The reality is that the thing that everyone gets measured by at some point in their life is not how many prophecies they spoke, is not how many books of the Bible they wrote. It's not how many psalms they wrote. It's how did they parent, how did they father? Because Eli is. The failure of Eli is not in how he led, it's in how he fathered. The failure of Samuel is not in how he led, it's how he fathered. The failure of David is somewhat in how he led, but really in how he manages private life. And so if I can encourage anybody out there who's killing it publicly, can you please also kill it privately? Could you. Could you be a good dad? Could you be a good patriarch? Okay, as my timeless truth, we'll be back tomorrow for day 162. We're gonna dive into second Samuel, chapter 18 to 20, and then day 163, we're going to be ending second Samuel. So we got two days left in second Samuel. If you're on a streak, I'm proud of you. Keep it up. If you're not on a streak, all you got to do is get two days back to back consecutively and you'll be on a streak. And so I'll see you right here tomorrow as we continue our trek through 2 Samuel. I'm so proud of you. I love you so much. I'm glad we get to spend this time together going through God's word. I'll see you tomorrow as we continue our walk through 2 Samuel Peace. Thanks so much for joining us on the Bible Department Podcast. You can find us online and learn more about the show at thebibledepartment.com and on Instagram hebible department. If you enjoyed this episode and want to dive deeper into the Bible, you can get free access to our library of courses at the Bible Department. Com. We'll see you back here tomorrow.