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

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

    I am not sure what the motives were of all of the people in this story. It is clear that once Absalom returned from exile that he began planning on becoming king. If not for the fact that Joab led David’s army against Absalom, I would suspect that Joab encouraged Absalom in his ambition. Perhaps Joab’s motives were only those presented here, that he could see that David wanted to bring his son back. In any case, once Absalom returned to Jerusalem, he sought reconciliation with his father, David, in order to begin positioning himself to become king. It seems likely that Joab wanted David to bring Absalom back from exile to be the heir apparent so that there would be a clear line of succession.

    For the most part, today’s passage gives us a greater understanding of people who played an important role in the history of Israel. However, when we look at what Absalom did between the time he was reconciled with David and when he started his rebellion we learn some things about being a leader and choosing what leaders to follow. Absalom did two things. First, he moved around in such a way as to make himself appear like a person of great importance. Second, he expressed sympathy for the problems the common man was experiencing and implied that the government was not treating their problems with the urgency which they deserved.
    So, what can we learn from this? First, those who wish to lead others need to present themselves as leaders. In addition, people will follow those who listen to and address their concerns, or, at least appear to do so. A good leader will listen to and seek to address the concerns of those whom they lead. There is also an important lesson for us when it comes to choosing leaders. Absalom presented himself as someone important who listened to people’s concerns and cared about them. However, since he had no power to do anything, he could tell people on both sides of a conflict that he would resolve the conflict in their favor if he had the power. We need to watch out for those who seek to recruit us to follow them who are merely telling us what they think we want to hear. When deciding whether to follow someone, look for where they have had the opportunity to do things and judge them based on that. Usually if someone has never done anything which allows us to judge how they will act if given authority it indicates that they will not use authority wisely.