It’s always better to be the one wronged than the one doing wrong; God will side with you!
I suppose we could skip this story today on one condition: No need for its lesson if we’ve never desired to get back at someone. “It isn’t fair,” we say, and think the best way to fix it is to inflict some hurt on the offender to get even. We think, if we don’t do something, they’ll get away with it! But what does God say? “Repay no one evil for evil…Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord.…Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (see Rom 12:17-21). Absalom brooded for “two full years” (2 Sam 13:23) over the violation of his sister, Tamar, by his half-brother, Amnon. Then he gave an invitation to celebrate the wool-gathering at Baal Hazor: “Your servant has sheepshearers; please, let the king and his servants go with your servant” (v 24), and perhaps David thought the matter was forgotten. The king declined the request, and wondered at the particular desire to have Amnon attend: “Why should he go with you?” (v 26). Absalom brushed away the query, then instructed his servants, “When Amnon’s heart is merry with wine, and when I say to you, ‘Strike Amnon!’ then kill him” (v 28). Sound familiar? David had used wine in attempting to break down Uriah’s inhibitions, then had others kill him! And so it came to pass again. With Amnon murdered, the other king’s sons fled to Jerusalem, and, for three years, Absalom hid out at the palace of “Talmai…king of Geshur” (v 37), his grandfather. Revenge usually brings out the worst in us, only adding evil to evil. God can “repay,” but in the right way, at the right time, with the right motive. Let’s leave it to Him. Instead, with God’s help, we can “overcome evil with good.”