The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Samuel — Section 327

nnd, althou11:h natural reverence may swny their bearing toward him, they cannot help making critica.l observa.tions on anything thnt undermines the respect due. A really pious son would have wept in solitude over the father's sin, and have tenrlerly covered his shame; but the base tendencies of such young men as Amnon, and the pride of 11n Absa.lom, would only have given keenness to the critical spirit. It is a ,:ul prophecy of trouble when children begin to criticize a parent's conduct, and it is moral ruin in a home when II father does deeds which his children, even with their slivht knowledge of things, cannot but deplore. Once break down respect for moral condt~ct, and the home is open to the invasion of numberless ills. III. PARENTS' APPREHENSION. 'rhere is always some room for apprehension in connection with domestic life; for the powers of evil are active, and the best-guarded home may be occasionally invaded from without by a foul spirit. But, as a rule, where prudence in management is combiued with correctness of conduct and a spirit of trne practical godliness, confidence is in the asce:cdant. The blessing of God is on the abode of the faithful. In David's houoe at this time, consequent on the influence 0f his recent sin end the crime of Amnon, there was evident fear in the father's heart (vers. 26, 27). He had secret reasons for not going or wishing Amnon to go to the feast. Fears of business failures, and of possible changes in domestic mJ.terial comforts, are common and not to be altogether avoided, yet they may carry with them no secret sting; but anticipations of possible moral disasters and complications in the home life are of all things most fearful burdens to bear, and their gravity is the greater when they a.re felt •to be connected with one's own misconduct. Fathers and mothers should take care that they lay no foundation for painful apprehensions concerning the conduct of their children in deeds of their own performance. IV. DEVELOPMENTS OF SUPPRESSED ANIMOSITIES. The spirit of David was evidently troubled by observing the strained relations between his sous A.mnon and Absalom. The probability is that they were not on terms of familiarity, and seldom visited each other. 'l'he ill feeling created by the ruin of his sister had been secretly but steadily cherished •for two years, and the treasured revenge at last broke forth in the murder at the festival of sheep-shearing. It is the pain of a father still sometimes to witness the development in violent and distressing forms. of passions which he either, through loss of personal ·influence, could not or would not seek to remove or tone down. The first part of the prophet's prediction had now been fulfilled two years; the other part was on its way, and only awaited the maturity of the forces that were being secretly gathered. When domestic troubles, having a root in moral evil, begin in a home, it is hard to say how long it will be before the powers of evil assume a. portentous development. David was fearful, but he scarcely looked for such an issue of a family festival. Literally, in this, as in other cases, sin when it is finished bronght forth death (Jas. i. 15). The harvest came after the sowing and germinating of the seed. V. A FATHER'S DEEDS THE JUSTIFICATION OF EVIL. The bitterest element in David's domestic trouble was not simply the death of an incestuous son, sad as the death of a fi.rstborn always is, but the knowledge that his own conduct was, in the mind of Absalom, the justification of the murder. Absalom seems to have r".asoned thus : "Amnon has done II guilty deed worthy of death; no severe punishment has been inBicted on him by my father, perhaps because of his own previous adultery with Bathsheba, or because this is his firstborn; shame has been brought by this crime on the entire family, as the brother of the disgraced and ruined woman, I am her legitimate avenger in the. failure of law; and as the injury has been an open one in the centre of the family life, the doom shall be open, in the presence, if possible, of father and brothers." If Daviu. was the man of discernment now as formerly, he could scarcely have failed to see that there was something like this current of thought in the mind of his son Absalom, anu. that it fanned a specious justification of his daring deed. Rightly or wrongly, some do reason in defence of their rash and evil deeds, and it is the most serious element of the domestic trouble when the foundation of their reasoning is found in the deeds or neglect of their parents. The devil encourages those who do wrong to get all possible support from the actions of those professing to be good. VI. A FOMENTER OF MISCHIEF AND EVIL, One of the troubles in David's home life was the presence of an influential do:ible-faced man, who, being in the secrets, entered as ndviser into the schemes of some of the family, aud was instrument:u in 3.'32 THE SECOND BOOK OF SAMUEL. [cu. xm. 1-39.