Two Years

I am reading in 2 Samuel this week.  Oh the life of David!  So many ups and downs.  2 Samuel chapter 13 talks about one of the downs ~ Amnon, Tamar, and Absalom.  The deceit, the sexual assault, the love that turned to deep hatred.  Then we come to Absalom...

"And Absalom spake unto his brother Amnon neither good nor bad: for Absalom hated Amnon, because he had forced his sister Tamar.   And it came to pass after two full years..." (verses 22 and 23)

For two years Absalom didn't speak to his brother.  Two years he plotted and planned. Two years he remembered his sister's shame.  Two years he may have wondered when their father would do something to punish Amnon (and that a whole 'nother post of its own.)  But for two years, he never spoke, while his hatred burned hotter.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible had this to say about the story:

Absalom's hatred of his brother's crime would have been commendable, and he might justly have prosecuted him for it by a due course of law, for example to others, and the making of some compensation to his injured sister; but to hate his person, and design his death by assassination, was to put a great affront upon God.

If Absalom had reasoned the matter with Amnon, he might have convinced him of his sin and brought him to repentance; but, saying nothing, Amnon's heart was hardened, and his own more and more embittered against him.

It may be, at first, he did not intend to kill his brother (for, if he had, he might have had as fair an opportunity to do it as he had at last), and only waited for an occasion to disgrace him or do him some other mischief; but in time his hatred ripened to this, that he would be no less than the death of him. If the sun going down once upon the wrath gives such place to the devil (as is intimated, Ephesians 4:26-27), what would the sunsets of two full years do?

We will all face times when anger is our natural response, but we cannot risk holding on to that anger.  Jesus tells us what to do in Matthew chapter 5, "Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift."   Forgiveness and reconciliation are not easy - they hurt and can be very difficult.  But it is worth it.  And if you are the one who has done the offending, please humble yourself, don't lose two years, don't even lose two days with those whom you have wronged.

The story of Absalom doesn't end here, in the following chapter David allows Absalom to return to Jerusalem, but "Absalom dwelt two full years in Jerusalem, and saw not the king's face."  Another two years of bitterness and unforgiveness.

What has happened to you and me in the past two years?  Are we still carrying hurts and bitterness?  What will we do with the next two years?  We can't erase the past, but we can forgive, go forward and "as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men."