Lest we lose track of where we began, we briefly return to the Scripture that has provided us with our theme, which is primarily Jeremiah 30:8. It could be surmised that Jeremiah, when writing---and his readers or hearers, upon receiving the words from him---could have easily reflected upon these seminal events of David’s reign (Bathsheba, the rape of Tamar, the death of Amnon, Absalom’s rebellion, and David’s restoration---all of which are connected).
By way of review, we see that Jeremiah, recording the words of the Lord, wrote “When the time for them to be rescued comes… I will rescue you from foreign subjugation. I will deliver you from captivity. Foreigners will then no longer subjugate them.” The connection to David and to his reign is provided by the following verse, where the Lord goes on to day, through His prophet, “But they will be subject to the Lord their God and to the Davidic ruler whom I will raise up as king over them” (30:9). Undoubtedly, any mention of a Davidic ruler, would bring King David to mind, especially considering that his story, as has been demonstrated, so well embodies the themes of exile and exodus, which are so crucial for understanding the history and the future of the people of God.
David himself could, quite easily, look upon his experience with Absalom as a foreign subjugation and as a form of captivity (30:8b). At the time of his fleeing from Jerusalem, David resigned himself to the Lord’s will, and to His subjection, knowing that the promise to him had been a Davidic ruler on the throne of Israel as their king. David’s experience would not be unlike that penned by Jeremiah (though Jeremiah would write over four hundred years later), in that, having placed himself under the Lord’s will, in complete subjection to Him and His purposes (30:9a), rather than raising his hand against one that might very well have been the Lord’s anointed and the Lord’s instrument of punishment and discipline upon him, he was not terrified for himself or for his people (30:10b). In some way, David knew that the Lord was providing rescue for His people (30:10c) in the way that He saw fit, and if that rescue meant that Absalom was taking the throne, and that the Lord was fulfilling His promise to David in that way (30:9b), then so be it.
David had gone away from Jerusalem, living as something of a captive in a faraway land (30:10d), but now, He was returning to Jerusalem and to his throne and that relative peace was going to be his lot (30:10e). With the events that had occurred, David could affirm that the Lord had been with him and had rescued him (30:11a), though it had been at the price of the death of his son (30:11b), which he had not desired. Throughout it all, David would have had to come to terms with the fact that he deserved any and all destruction, at the hands of his God or men, that came to him. However, as we can see, God stayed His hand (30:11c).
David knew that he had been disciplined, and that this discipline could have been far worse, with a permanent loss of his throne, but that it came only in due measure (30:11d), primarily because he acknowledged God’s hand in the matter and actively placed himself under the Lord’s justice. When news of Absalom’s death reached his ears, David knew that the Lord has returned him to the throne, but he would not be able to shake himself free from the knowledge that it was his own failures and perversion of justice and oppression that had led to Absalom’s coup. He knew that he had not truly suffered throughout his exile from the throne (apart from some embarrassment), and that the Lord would not allow him to go entirely unpunished (30:11e). His punishment came when his beloved son was killed at the hands of Joab, and accordingly, he wept in anguish over the loss.
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