The Berean Pursuit
After some time, David's son Amnon fell in love with Tamar, the beautiful sister of David's son Absalom. Amnon was sick with frustration over his sister Tamar, for she was a virgin, and it seemed implausible for him to do anything to her.
Now Amnon had a friend named Jonadab, the son of David's brother Shimeah. Jonadab was a very shrewd man, so he asked Amnon, "Why are you, the son of the king, so depressed morning after morning? Won't you tell me?"
Amnon replied, "I am in love with Tamar, my brother Absalom's sister."
Jonadab told him, "Lie down on your bed and pretend you are ill. When your father comes to see you, say to him, 'Please let my sister Tamar come and give me something to eat. Let her prepare it in my sight so I may watch her and eat it from her hand.'"
So Amnon lay down and feigned illness. When the king came to see him, Amnon said, "Please let my sister Tamar come and make a couple of cakes in my sight, so that I may eat from her hand."
Then David sent word to Tamar at the palace: "Please go to the house of Amnon your brother and prepare a meal for him."
So Tamar went to the house of her brother Amnon, who was lying down. She took some dough, kneaded it, made cakes in his sight, and baked them. Then she brought the pan and set it down before him, but he refused to eat. "Send everyone away!" said Amnon. And everyone went out.
Then Amnon said to Tamar, "Bring the food into the bedroom, so that I may eat it from your hand."
Tamar took the cakes she had made and went to her brother Amnon's bedroom. And when she had brought them to him to eat, he took hold of her and said, "Come lie with me, my sister!"
"No, my brother!" she cried. "Do not humiliate me, for such a thing should never be done in Israel. Do not do this disgraceful thing! Where could I ever take my shame? And you would be like one of the fools in Israel! Please speak to the king, for he will not withhold me from you."
But Amnon refused to listen to her, and being stronger, he violated her and lay with her.
Then Amnon hated Tamar with such intensity that his hatred was greater than the love he previously had. "Get up!" he said to her. "Be gone!"
"No," she replied, "sending me away is worse than this great wrong you have already done to me!"
But he refused to listen to her. Instead, he called to his attendant and said, "Throw this woman out and bolt the door behind her!"
So Amnon's attendant threw her out and bolted the door behind her. Now Tamar was wearing a robe of many colors, because this is what the king's virgin daughters wore. And Tamar put ashes on her head and tore her robe. And putting her hand on her head, she went away crying bitterly.
Her brother Absalom said to her, "Has your brother Amnon been with you? Be quiet for now, my sister. He is your brother. Do not take this thing to heart."
So Tamar lived as a desolate woman in the house of her brother Absalom.
When King David heard all this, he was furious. And Absalom never said a word to Amnon, either good or bad, because he hated Amnon for disgracing his sister Tamar.
Two years later, when Absalom's sheepshearers were at Baal-hazor near Ephraim, he invited all the sons of the king. And he went to the king and said, "Your servant has just hired shearers. Will the king and his servants please come with me?"
"No, my son," the king replied, "we should not all go, or we would be a burden to you." Although Absalom urged him, he was not willing to go, but gave him his blessing.
"If not," said Absalom, "please let my brother Amnon go with us."
"Why should he go with you?" the king asked.
But Absalom urged him, so the king sent Amnon and the rest of his sons.
Now Absalom had ordered his young men, "Watch Amnon until his heart is merry with wine, and when I order you to strike Amnon down, you are to kill him. Do not be afraid. Have I not commanded you? Be courageous and valiant!"
So Absalom's young men did to Amnon just as Absalom had ordered. Then all the other sons of the king got up, and each one fled on his mule.
While they were on the way, a report reached David: "Absalom has struck down all the sons of the king; not one of them is left!"
Then the king stood up, tore his clothes, and lay down on the ground; and all his servants stood by with their clothes torn.
But Jonadab, the son of David's brother Shimeah, spoke up: "My lord must not think they have killed all the sons of the king, for only Amnon is dead. In fact, Absalom has planned this since the day Amnon violated his sister Tamar. So now, my lord the king, do not take to heart the report that all the sons of the king are dead. Only Amnon is dead."
Meanwhile, Absalom had fled. When the young man standing watch looked up, he saw many people coming down the road west of him, along the side of the hill. And the watchman went and reported to the king, "I see men coming from the direction of Horonaim, along the side of the hill."
So Jonadab said to the king, "Look, the sons of the king have arrived! It is just as your servant said."
And as he finished speaking, the sons of the king came in, wailing loudly. Then the king and all his servants also wept very bitterly.
Now Absalom fled and went to Talmai son of Ammihud, the king of Geshur. But David mourned for his son every day.
After Absalom had fled and gone to Geshur, he stayed there three years. And King David longed to go to Absalom, for he had been consoled over Amnon's death.
Now Joab son of Zeruiah perceived that the king's heart longed for Absalom. So Joab sent to Tekoa to bring a wise woman from there. He told her, "Please pretend to be a mourner; put on clothes for mourning and do not anoint yourself with oil. Act like a woman who has mourned for the dead a long time. Then go to the king and speak these words to him." And Joab put the words in her mouth.
When the woman from Tekoa went to the king, she fell facedown in homage and said, "Help me, O king!"
"What troubles you?" the king asked her.
"Indeed," she said, "I am a widow, for my husband is dead. And your maidservant had two sons who were fighting in the field with no one to separate them, and one struck the other and killed him. Now the whole clan has risen up against your maidservant and said, 'Hand over the one who struck down his brother, that we may put him to death for the life of the brother whom he killed. Then we will cut off the heir as well!' So they would extinguish my one remaining ember by not preserving my husband's name or posterity on the earth."
"Go home," the king said to the woman, "and I will give orders on your behalf."
But the woman of Tekoa said to the king, "My lord the king, may any blame be on me and on my father's house, and may the king and his throne be guiltless."
"If anyone speaks to you," said the king, "bring him to me, and he will not trouble you again!"
"Please," she replied, "may the king invoke the LORD your God to prevent the avenger of blood from increasing the devastation, so that my son may not be destroyed!"
"As surely as the LORD lives," he vowed, "not a hair of your son's head will fall to the ground."
Then the woman said, "Please, may your servant speak a word to my lord the king?"
"Speak," he replied.
The woman asked, "Why have you devised a thing like this against the people of God? When the king says this, does he not convict himself, since he has not brought back his own banished son? For surely we will die and be like water poured out on the ground, which cannot be recovered. Yet God does not take away a life; but He devises ways that the banished one may not be cast out from Him.
Now therefore, I have come to present this matter to my lord the king because the people have made me afraid. Your servant thought, 'I will speak to the king. Perhaps he will grant the request of his maidservant. For the king will hear and deliver his maidservant from the hand of the man who would cut off both me and my son from God's inheritance.'
And now your servant says, 'May the word of my lord the king bring me rest, for my lord the king is able to discern good and evil, just like the angel of God. May the LORD your God be with you.'"
Then the king said to the woman, "I am going to ask you something; do not conceal it from me!"
"Let my lord the king speak," she replied.
So the king asked, "Is the hand of Joab behind all this?"
The woman answered, "As surely as you live, my lord the king, no one can turn to the right or to the left from anything that my lord the king says. Yes, your servant Joab is the one who gave me orders; he told your maidservant exactly what to say. Joab your servant has done this to bring about this change of affairs, but my lord has wisdom like the wisdom of the angel of God, to know everything that happens in the land."
Then the king said to Joab, "I hereby grant this request. Go, bring back the young man Absalom."
Joab fell facedown in homage and blessed the king. "Today," said Joab, "your servant knows that he has found favor with you, my lord the king, because the king has granted his request."
So Joab got up, went to Geshur, and brought Absalom to Jerusalem. But the king added, "He may return to his house, but he must not see my face." So Absalom returned to his own house, but he did not see the king.
Now there was not a man in all Israel as handsome and highly praised as Absalom. From the sole of his foot to the top of his head, he did not have a single flaw. And when he cut the hair of his head-he shaved it every year because his hair got so heavy-he would weigh it out to be two hundred shekels, according to the royal standard.
Three sons were born to Absalom, and a daughter named Tamar, who was a beautiful woman.
Now Absalom lived in Jerusalem two years without seeing the face of the king. Then he sent for Joab to send him to the king, but Joab refused to come to him.
So Absalom sent a second time, but Joab still would not come.
Then Absalom said to his servants, "Look, Joab's field is next to mine, and he has barley there. Go and set it on fire!"
And Absalom's servants set the field on fire.
Then Joab came to Absalom's house and demanded, "Why did your servants set my field on fire?"
"Look," said Absalom, "I sent for you and said, 'Come here. I want to send you to the king to ask: Why have I come back from Geshur? It would be better for me if I were still there.' So now, let me see the king's face, and if there is iniquity in me, let him kill me."
So Joab went and told the king, and David summoned Absalom, who came to him and bowed facedown before him. Then the king kissed Absalom.
Once we were safely ashore, we learned that the island was called Malta. The islanders showed us extraordinary kindness. They kindled a fire and welcomed all of us because it was raining and cold.
Paul gathered a bundle of sticks, and as he laid them on the fire, a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened itself to his hand. When the islanders saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, "Surely this man is a murderer. Although he was saved from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live." But Paul shook the creature off into the fire and suffered no ill effects. The islanders were expecting him to swell up or suddenly drop dead. But after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.
Nearby stood an estate belonging to Publius, the chief official of the island. He welcomed us and entertained us hospitably for three days. The father of Publius was sick in bed, suffering from fever and dysentery. Paul went in to see him, and after praying and placing his hands on him, he healed the man. After this had happened, the rest of the sick on the island came and were cured as well.
The islanders honored us in many ways and supplied our needs when we were ready to sail.
After three months we set sail in an Alexandrian ship that had wintered in the island. It had the Twin Brothers as a figurehead. Putting in at Syracuse, we stayed there three days. From there we weighed anchor and came to Rhegium. After one day, a south wind came up, and on the second day we arrived at Puteoli. There we found some brothers who invited us to spend the week with them. And so we came to Rome.
The brothers there had heard about us and traveled as far as the Forum of Appius and the Three Taverns to meet us. When Paul saw them, he was encouraged and gave thanks to God.
When we arrived in Rome, Paul was permitted to stay by himself, with a soldier to guard him.
After three days, he called together the leaders of the Jews. When they had gathered, he said to them, "Brothers, although I have done nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers, I was taken prisoner in Jerusalem and handed over to the Romans. They examined me and wanted to release me, because there was no basis for a death sentence against me. But when the Jews objected, I was compelled to appeal to Caesar, even though I have no charge to bring against my nation. So for this reason I have called to see you and speak with you. It is because of the hope of Israel that I am bound with this chain."
The leaders replied, "We have not received any letters about you from Judea, nor have any of the brothers from there reported or even mentioned anything bad about you. But we consider your views worth hearing, because we know that people everywhere are speaking against this sect."
So they set a day to meet with Paul, and many people came to the place he was staying. He expounded to them from morning to evening, testifying about the kingdom of God and persuading them about Jesus from the Law of Moses and the Prophets.
Some of them were convinced by what he said, but others refused to believe. They disagreed among themselves and began to leave after Paul had made this final statement: "The Holy Spirit was right when He spoke to your fathers through Isaiah the prophet:
'Go to this people and say,
"You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving."
For this people's heart has grown callous;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts,
and turn, and I would heal them.'
Be advised, therefore, that God's salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen!"
Paul stayed there two full years in his own rented house, welcoming all who came to visit him. Boldly and freely he proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ.