Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Samuel 14-15.

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I am going to start writing about when David was fleeing from Absalom.  As he was fleeing the city the passage tells us that David went up the ascent of the Mount of Olives weeping, barefoot, and with his head covered.  David went up to the Mount of Olives in mourning.  Additionally, it tells us that God was worshiped on the summit of the Mount of Olives.  As I read that I made the connection to Jesus going there to pray after the Last Supper.  I had always thought that Jesus went there because it was a place where he could pray in relative privacy while He was in Jerusalem.  I had never made the connection with God being worshiped there historically by the Jews, nor with the Old Testament prophecies which referred to the Mount of Olives.   In Ezekiel, the the Mount of Olives was where the glory of the Lord stood when it left the temple and the city shortly before Jerusalem was sacked by the Babylonians. And in Zechariah, the Mount of Olives was where the Messiah would stand to fight  the nations when they battle against Jerusalem.  Here, in today’s passage.  David weeping and mourning foreshadows Jesus doing likewise the night before His crucifixion.

When I began writing I was not sure if I was going to write about anything else, but I have decided I do want to touch on another element of today’s passage.  When I read today’s passage, I wonder whether the unintentional role Joab played in enabling Absalom’s rebellion factored into David’s hostility toward Joab and his brother.  If not for Joab, David would not have brought Absalom back from exile.  Further, if Absalom had not convinced Joab to go to David on his behalf, Absalom would not have been able to charm the people of Israel to support his claim to the throne.  Joab did both of these things because he knew that David mourned his estrangement from Absalom.  However, I wonder if Joab was also thinking about the succession, about what would happen when David could no longer rule.  If perhaps Joab thought that Absalom would make a good king to follow David, or perhaps just supported him as the next king because he was David’s oldest living son.  One final point just occurred to me, although I know I have thought about it before.  I wonder if Absalom plotted his rebellion against David because he blamed his father for Amnon raping his sister Tamar, or perhaps just resented David for not punishing Amnon for it?

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.