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

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

Yesterday, I commented on the role King David’s nephew Jonadab played in the events leading up to Absalom’s exile.  Today, I noticed that Joab, another one of King David’s nephews, played a significant role in Absalom’s return from exile and reconciliation with King David.  Once again we see the complex relationship between King David and Joab.  The passage tells us that Joab arranged for the woman from Tekoa to speak with King David because he knew how much David desired for Absalom to return.  Was that Joab’s real reason for this?  Or was he seeking to secure the return and rehabilitation of the person he perceived as the best candidate to be King David’s successor?  

Here Joab is presented as plotting to convince King David to do what he, David, desired to do.  The thing I am taking the most note of this year as I read these passages is the palace intrigue around King David.  Except it is not just palace intrigue.  As I read these passages, King David maintained a complex balance among the different power blocks within his kingdom.  We see that Joab made Absalom’s rebellion possible, but Joab did not support that rebellion.

Another thing struck me today.  As King David fled Jerusalem ahead of Absalom’s army, he went up the road to the Mount of Olives, the place where Jesus prayed the night before His Crucifixion.  The passage tells us that people worshiped God at the summit of the Mount of Olives.  And it was from the Mount of Olives that Jesus ascended into Heaven after His Resurrection.  While the primary reason that Jesus went to the Mount of Olives to pray the night before His Crucifixion was a matter of the geography of Jerusalem, I am also sure that the symbolism of Jesus mourning His betrayal by Judas the same place the Bible records King David mourning his betrayal is not just happenstance.