April 12

I have a feeling that David's parenting failures have a bit to do with the sin in his own life. Perhaps he would have felt hypocritical imposing a standard of morality on his son's that he was not able to live up to. At any rate we see his failure as parent being disasterous for his son and especially his daughter. And he doesn't do much about it. When hears about the rape he is angry. So? What good did that do? None.

If 1 Chronthians 13 can be called the "Love is...." chapter, I think that this could be called the "Love is not" chapter. Love is not lust, wanting your own way, evil, trickery, violence, rape, instant gratification, no thought of the other person and their best interest.......Love is not getting angry about a problem but not dealing with it, not trying to resolve things... There's no record that David did anything for Tamar. Absolom took her into his home and basically patted her on the head and said "There, there, don't let it bother you". I think Absolom really did care about her but was clueless about what to do to help.

Yet another record of a dysfunctional family not fit for the Sunday School flannel board. And again, the Bible does not sanatize it or gloss over it. It's all there as warning and haunting reminder of what NOT to do.......