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<\/a> <\/p>After Absalom was killed, the people who had followed him in the rebellion scattered and went home.<\/p>\n
The Israelites started talking among themselves:<\/p>\n
\u201cOkay, what are we gonna do now? King David used to lead us into battle and save us from our enemies. Now Absalom is dead. We should probably bring King David back, right?\u201d<\/p>\n
So the tribes of Israel began discussing it:<\/p>\n
\u201cWasn\u2019t David our king before? Shouldn\u2019t we bring him back?\u201d<\/p>\n
The more they talked, the more they realized:<\/p>\n
\u201cAbsalom is gone. What are we waiting for?\u201d<\/p>\n
When David heard about this, he sent a message to Zadok and Abiathar the priests:<\/p>\n
\u201cGo talk to the elders of Judah and tell them:<\/p>\n
\u2018Why are you the last ones to bring me back? The people of Israel are already talking about bringing me back. You are my relatives\u2014my own flesh and blood. Why haven\u2019t you said anything?<\/p>\n
And talk to Amasa too. We are relatives. From now on, I want him to be the commander of the army instead of Joab. May God punish me severely if I don\u2019t keep my word.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
When the people of Judah heard this, they started thinking:<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know what? The king has a point.\u201d<\/p>\n
Little by little, their hearts turned back toward David.<\/p>\n
They sent word to him:<\/p>\n
\u201cKing, come back! Don\u2019t stay out there anymore. Come back home!\u201d<\/p>\n
So David started making his way back.<\/p>\n
When he reached the Jordan River, the people of Judah came early to meet him and help him cross the river.<\/p>\n
Then Shimei, the Benjaminite who had cursed David before, showed up too.<\/p>\n
This time, he was a whole lot more humble.<\/p>\n
He brought a thousand men from Benjamin with him. Ziba, the servant of Saul\u2019s family, also came with his fifteen sons and twenty servants.<\/p>\n
As soon as Shimei saw David, he fell down before him and said:<\/p>\n
\u201cMy lord and my king! Please forgive me. When you left Jerusalem, I did something terribly wrong. Please don\u2019t hold it against me.<\/p>\n
I know I sinned, so today I\u2019m the first one to come out and welcome you back.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Abishai immediately spoke up:<\/p>\n
\u201cKing David, didn\u2019t this man curse you before? He cursed the Lord\u2019s anointed! Shouldn\u2019t we put him to death?\u201d<\/p>\n
But David waved his hand:<\/p>\n
\u201cCome on, enough with the killing!<\/p>\n
Today is a new day. Today I\u2019m king again, and today we\u2019re not going to kill people.<\/p>\n
Maybe he cursed me for a reason. Maybe the Lord has allowed this suffering in my life, and maybe He will show me mercy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then David said to Shimei:<\/p>\n
\u201cFine. You will not die.\u201d<\/p>\n
And David promised him that he would not kill him.<\/p>\n
Then Mephibosheth came to meet David.<\/p>\n
He was Saul\u2019s grandson and Jonathan\u2019s son.<\/p>\n
David asked him:<\/p>\n
\u201cMephibosheth, why didn\u2019t you come with me when I left?\u201d<\/p>\n
Mephibosheth quickly explained:<\/p>\n
\u201cMy lord and my king, it wasn\u2019t because I didn\u2019t want to go with you.<\/p>\n
My servant Ziba tricked me.<\/p>\n
I was planning to ride my donkey and go with you, but he went behind my back and told you lies about me.<\/p>\n
But honestly, I know I\u2019m nothing compared with you.<\/p>\n
My whole family\u2014Saul\u2019s family\u2014was basically as good as dead in your eyes, but you still welcomed me to eat at your royal table.<\/p>\n
So I really have nothing to complain about. You decide what should happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
David said:<\/p>\n
\u201cAlright. You and Ziba can divide the land between you.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Mephibosheth replied:<\/p>\n
\u201cMy lord and king, as long as you have safely returned home, let Ziba have all of it. I don\u2019t need anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then another man came.<\/p>\n
His name was Barzillai, a very old man from Gilead.<\/p>\n
During David\u2019s time of trouble, Barzillai had helped him a lot.<\/p>\n
Now that David was returning, Barzillai personally came to help the king cross the Jordan River.<\/p>\n
David said to him:<\/p>\n
\u201cCome with me to Jerusalem! Stay with me, and I\u2019ll take care of you.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Barzillai shook his head:<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, my king, you don\u2019t need to do that!<\/p>\n
I\u2019m eighty years old. How much longer am I going to live?<\/p>\n
I can barely tell what tastes good anymore. I can\u2019t even tell whether someone singing is a man or a woman!<\/p>\n
If I go with you to Jerusalem, I\u2019ll just become a burden.<\/p>\n
Please let me go home. I want to spend my remaining days there and eventually be buried beside my parents.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then Barzillai said:<\/p>\n
\u201cBut take my servant Kimham with you.<\/p>\n
Take care of him however you think is best.\u201d<\/p>\n
David nodded:<\/p>\n
\u201cAlright.<\/p>\n
Kimham will come with me.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll take care of him just as you want.\u201d<\/p>\n
So David and everyone who followed him crossed the Jordan River.<\/p>\n
At last, David returned to Jerusalem.<\/p>\n
But things didn\u2019t stay peaceful for very long.<\/p>\n
The Israelites and the people of Judah started arguing again.<\/p>\n
The Israelites said:<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s going on here? King David is the king of all Israel! Why are you people of Judah trying to keep him all to yourselves?\u201d<\/p>\n
The people of Judah answered:<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat are you talking about?<\/p>\n
The king is our relative. We are his own flesh and blood!\u201d<\/p>\n
The Israelites replied:<\/p>\n
\u201cSo what? Does that mean we aren\u2019t important to him?<\/p>\n
Weren\u2019t we the first ones to suggest bringing the king back?\u201d<\/p>\n
One side said this.<\/p>\n
The other side said that.<\/p>\n
Neither side wanted to back down.<\/p>\n
And in the end\u2014<\/p>\n
the people of Judah spoke more forcefully than the people of Israel.<\/p>\n
1. When someone has hurt us, is forgiveness always easy? Why?<\/p>\n
2. Where do you need to show more mercy, humility, or patience in your life?<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sarah After Absalom was killed, the people who had followed him in the rebellion scattered and went home. The Israelites started talking among themselves: \u201cOkay, what are we gonna do now? King David used to lead us into battle and save us from our enemies. Now Absalom is dead. We should probably bring King David […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10451,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bible-reflection"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/faithloop.org\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/faithloop.org\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/faithloop.org\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faithloop.org\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faithloop.org\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10449"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/faithloop.org\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10449\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10450,"href":"https:\/\/faithloop.org\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10449\/revisions\/10450"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faithloop.org\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/faithloop.org\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faithloop.org\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faithloop.org\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}