Family Matters

May 15, 2008

Dysfunctional families. They are everywhere in the Bible. One of the most Dysfunctional was David's family. A lot of press has been written in the US about men who have multiple wives and the problems that is causes. They could not hold a candle to the problems that David had. But were the problems because of the wives or was he just a bad dad?

2 Samuel 13:20-22 MKJV
(20) And Absalom her brother said to her, Has Amnon your brother been with you? But now hold your peace, my sister. He is your brother. Do not set your heart on this thing. And Tamar remained desolate in the house of her brother Absalom.
(21) And when King David heard of all these things, he was very angry.
(22) And Absalom did not speak to his brother Amnon, neither good nor bad, for Absalom hated Amnon because he had forced his sister Tamar.


David had a lot of sons and daughters. The problem now was that he could not keep track of what they all were doing and only really visited with them when there was a problem. Amnon pretended to be sick so he could get David to send his half sister to his bedroom to care for him. David did so, but all Amnon wanted was a chance to have sex with his sister. Now a good father would have noticed the unhealthy desire there, but we never said anything about David being a good dad did we. In fact, he is the poster child for how not to be a good dad.

So Amnon has his way, and what did David do about it to punish him for what he had done to his sister? Read it again:

(21) And when King David heard of all these things, he was very angry.

Anger. Not a good thing to have. It did not say that he did any discipline at all. If you have read this story you know what happens next. Absalom kills his brother, and David still does nothing. Later Absalom is sent away but when he comes back to see his dad, David ignores him. It led to the problems where Absalom tries to and almost succeeds in taking over his dad's kingdom.

Rule number one. Get involved in your children's lives and discipline them as necessary.

Read through the Bible in one year in Historical order
Today
2 Samuel 13:1-15:37
Tomorrow
Psalms 3:1-8, Psalms 4:1-8, Psalms 12:1-8, Psalms 13:1-6, Psalms 28:1-9, Psalms 55:1-23
http://tinyurl.com/24beby for a daily reading tool