Fiction’s “I’ll be back” and history’s “I shall return” are nothing compared to prophecy’s “I will come again.”
Awkward! What was the topic of discussion across Israel? “The king saved us from the hand of our enemies, he delivered us from the hand of the Philistines…But Absalom, whom we anointed over us, has died in battle” (2 Sam 19:9-10). David had been their champion, but Absalom had stolen their hearts. Now what should they do? To their leaders, those in Israel asked, “Why do you say nothing about bringing back the king?” (v 10). It seemed the only sensible thing to do. When this chatter arrived in Jerusalem, David approached the elders in Judah through “Zadok and Abiathar the priests” (v 11). Here was his message to them: “Why are you the last to bring the king back to his house, since the words of all Israel have come to the king, to his very house? You are my brethren, you are my bone and my flesh. Why then are you the last to bring back the king?” (vv 11-12). Say, Christian, don’t you find it strange that news pundits, climate activists, and artificial intelligence experts are all giving their doomsday predictions, but believers seem to “say nothing about bringing back the king”? This world will stagger on to its doom until “the King of glory shall come in” (Ps 24:7). Just as the men of Judah replied, “Return, you and all your servants!” (2 Sam 19:14), so it should be on all our lips, “Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev 22:20). Now when a ferry bore David and all his household across the Jordan, who should be the first to meet them? None other than Shimei with 1,000 Benjamites. Shimei fell down, confessed his sin in cursing the king when he left, and offered David a golden opportunity. Contrary to Abishai’s advice to execute him, David instead extended mercy, and thus won the loyalty of Saul’s whole warrior tribe.