Ye are my brethren, ye are my bones and my flesh: wherefore then are ye the last to bring back the king?
The verse belongs to the later history of David's reign, centered on Absalom's rebellion against him, David's flight from Jerusalem during the war, Absalom's defeat and death, David's lament over him, and David's victorious return to Jerusalem. The surrounding account in 2 Samuel 13-20 also involves his troubles with Joab and his numbering of the people, while his kindness to the house of Saul remains evident in the midst of it. It includes Absalom's base conduct, the treachery of Ahithophel, the cursing by Shimei, and the king's fearful flight and affecting journey that moved the hearts of his old friends.
The family troubles grew out of David multiplying wives to himself, with the sad consequences of having many wives and sons he could not control. This produced a large family by different wives in which idleness, luxury, and jealousy formed flawed characters. The history centers on the handsome Absalom whose ambitions were stirred by lavish flattery as a shrewd and attractive prince. The later sorrows are retribution for David's wicked conduct toward Uriah that followed him through the rest of his life, fulfilling the judgments foretold after that transgression. They fell especially on his own family through the history of Amnon and Tamar, the rebellion and unnatural crimes of Absalom, and even the rebellion and death of Adonijah.
The verse thus illustrates righteous measurement in action, that wrongdoing brings calamity and sorrow on the wrongdoer, that a person reaps what he sows and receives back in kind for wrongs committed, with sin paying only in its own kind. No one can violate divine law without suffering because an inherent curse lies in every transgression even when God does not openly reprove it and seems to overlook it. The account is told with detailed faithfulness that marks it as inspired, showing that God does not conceal the sins of even the greatest kings.
The verse belongs to the later history of David's reign, centered on Absalom's rebellion against him, David's flight from Jerusalem during the war, Absalom's defeat and death, David's lament over him, and David's victorious return to Jerusalem. The surrounding account in 2 Samuel 13-20 also involves his troubles with Joab and his numbering of the people, while his kindness to the house of Saul remains evident in the midst of it. It includes Absalom's base conduct, the treachery of Ahithophel, the cursing by Shimei, and the king's fearful flight and affecting journey that moved the hearts of his old friends.
The family troubles grew out of David multiplying wives to himself, with the sad consequences of having many wives and sons he could not control. This produced a large family by different wives in which idleness, luxury, and jealousy formed flawed characters. The history centers on the handsome Absalom whose ambitions were stirred by lavish flattery as a shrewd and attractive prince. The later sorrows are retribution for David's wicked conduct toward Uriah that followed him through the rest of his life, fulfilling the judgments foretold after that transgression. They fell especially on his own family through the history of Amnon and Tamar, the rebellion and unnatural crimes of Absalom, and even the rebellion and death of Adonijah.
The verse thus illustrates righteous measurement in action, that wrongdoing brings calamity and sorrow on the wrongdoer, that a person reaps what he sows and receives back in kind for wrongs committed, with sin paying only in its own kind. No one can violate divine law without suffering because an inherent curse lies in every transgression even when God does not openly reprove it and seems to overlook it. The account is told with detailed faithfulness that marks it as inspired, showing that God does not conceal the sins of even the greatest kings.