April 8, 2022: Day 76 – II Samuel 19-24 and Psalm 18 and Psalm 50

We ended last time with the death of Absalom, and we begin this time with the death of Absalom.  David refuses to be comforted about the death of his son who was a traitor and looked to overthrow him until his general comes to him and says if you don’t celebrate our victory then all the men are going to leave you.  It does remind me of the soldiers coming home from Vietnam and the treatment that they received. 

David then returns to Jerusalem with all of the tribes of Israel and Judah supporting him.  But there was one, Sheba, who rebelled against David and so David had to pursue him and his head was thrown over the wall of the city in order to spare the city.  Yeah, so that happened.  The Gibeonites who were promised eternal protection had that stripped from them by Saul and David makes up for it by killing a number of Saul’s descendants.  That also happened.

David then sings a song of praise which is pretty much perfectly reflected in Psalm 18 which we also read for today.  I love how the Scriptures match up with each other.  David’s last words are basically the counting and recounting of his soldiers and their exploits.  He then disobeys God, seemingly with God’s encouragement, and as a result a plague strikes the land which is not appeased until David builds an altar at the location where the plague seemed to stop.  

We already spoke about Psalm 18 which is a mirror reflection of II Samuel 22 and Psalm 50 gives us the words that we have heard at one time or another as it pertains to the glory of the Lord: from the rising of the sun to the place where it sets.