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September 15, 2003, Vol.2, No.18.
"IS THE YOUNG MAN ABSALOM SAFE?" Keith Sharp
The pathos is heart rending. David's army is victorious over the troops of his rebel son Absalom. The runner brings the news to King David as he waits in exile at Mahanaim. David anxiously inquires, "Is the young man Absalom safe?" The courier discreetly informs the king his son is dead.
Then the king was deeply moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept. And as he went, he said thus: 'O my son Absalom - my son, my son Absalom - if only I had died in your place! O Absalom my son, my son!' (2 Samuel 18:32-33)
Absalom died a rebel against his father and against God. Far worse the loss of his soul than his life (Matthew 16:26-27). Even worse, David helped cause Absalom's loss by failing to restrain his sons (1 Kings 1:5-6). Amnon, a son of David, raped his half-sister Tamar, Absalom's full sister, and David did nothing (2 Samuel 13:1-21). In revenge, Absalom murdered Amnon, and was never brought to justice (2 Samuel 13:22 - 14:33). Absalom learned to expect whatever he wanted whenever he desired regardless of right or wrong. He neither respected nor loved his father. He rebelled against David and sought to kill him (2 Samuel 15:1 - 17:14). Do we restrain our children? (Hebrews 12:7-9).
Do we restrain our children? David suffered the grief of losing a son because of his own folly. Are the children in our homes safe ? Parents are responsible to restrain their children from wrong and to require that they do right. Eli was high priest and judge in Israel when Samuel was a child. Eli's sons, Hophni and Phinehas, "were corrupt; they did not know the Lord." Their sin "was very great before the Lord" (1 Samuel 2:12-17). Eli did not excuse their sins as some parents do; in fact, he rebuked them, but "they did not heed the voice of their father" (1 Samuel 3:22-25). But, although his sons were grown, Eli, as high priest, had the authority to either restrain them from their sins or put them out of the priest's office. He did neither. Thus, "a man of God came to Eli" and rebuked him thus:
Why do you kick at My sacrifice and My offering which I have commanded in My habitation, and honor your sons more than Me....?'"
He warned Eli of destruction from and rejection by the Lord (1 Samuel 2:27-36). Later, the Lord revealed to Samuel the impending destruction of the house of Eli and the reason for it:
... because his sons made themselves vile, and he did not restrain them" (1 Samuel 3:11-14).
In one day, both Hophni and Phin-ehas were slain, Eli died, and the ark of the covenant was captured by the Philistines. Upon receiving the deluge of tragic reports, Phinehas' pregnant wife went into labor and died in childbirth. Before her death, she named her son "Ichabod," meaning "inglorious." (1 Samuel ch. 4). Because Eli failed to restrain his wicked sons, the glory of Israel had departed in the loss of the ark of the covenant. Do we bring a divine curse upon ourselves and shame upon the Israel of God, the Lord's church, by failing to restrain our children from sin and to require they do right?
What kind of example do we give our children? Do they see us drink beer at home? (1 Peter 4:3) What do you think they are learning to do? Do they hear us curse, use filthy words, or gossip about others? (Ephesians 4:29) How will they use their tongues? Do they see us watch filthy TV shows that glorify immoral sex and violence? (Philippians 4:8) What are they learning? Do they see us make every effort to attend all the worship assemblies and Bible classes or use every excuse not to be there? (Hebrews 10:24-25) What attitudes are they learning toward the Lord’s church? Do they see us involved in the Lord's work or weighed down with worldly pursuits? (Matthew 6:33; Luke 8:14). What attitudes are they learning about the Lord? Do we read the Bible, pray, and sing hymns with them at home? (Psalm 119:97; 1 Thessalonians 5:17; James 5:13) What do our children learn from our example? Are we leading them to Christ or to hell? "Is the young man Absalom safe?"
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