While Joab and others lead the army of Judah against Absalom, David waits for news at the gate of Mahanaim (2 Samuel 18). It puts him in the same position as Eli the priest early in 1 Samuel, who also waited at a gate for news of a battle (1 Samuel 4).<\/p>\n
David\u2019s position is only one of several similarities. Like Eli, David has been dealing with sons who are rebels against him and against the Lord. Like Eli, David has failed to take a firm hand in dealing with his sons. He\u2019s waiting at the gate for news of the battle, especially for news of Absalom\u2019s fate; Eli too is waiting to hear about his sons, Hophni and Phineas, who have taken the ark into battle with the Philistines.<\/p>\n
That David comes to the end of his reign looking like Eli is a sobering thought. The book of Samuel has moved forward from priest to king, but in any other sense, nothing has changed: Still there are flawed fathers dealing with the turmoil caused by sons. We come to the end of Samuel wondering what it takes to turn the hearts of the fathers to the sons and the sons to the fathers.<\/p>\n
Perhaps it will take a divine Son turning back to His Father by means of a cross.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
While Joab and others lead the army of Judah against Absalom, David waits for news at the gate of Mahanaim (2 Samuel 18). It puts him in the same position as Eli the priest early in 1 Samuel, who also waited at a gate for news of a battle (1 Samuel 4). David\u2019s position is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3021,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-ot-samuel"],"yoast_head":"\n