Proverbs 18: 21

Death and life are in the power of the tongue…

(this verse I have memorised, although I can never remember the citation!)

 

then… here’s what I read today (my verse for today was 2 Samuel 18:8, but obviously I read most of the chapter… and you have to get an idea of the context)

 

2 Samuel 18: 5 (David´s instruction to his army and generals before going into battle):  “Deal gently for my sake with the young man, even with Absalom”… (obviously, he still loved him as his son, even though his son had defied him and wanted him dead so he could be king)

 

2 Samuel 18: 7-8

7-There the army of Israel was defeated by David’s men, and the casualties that day were great–twenty thousand men.

8-The battle spread out over the whole countryside, and the forest claimed more lives that day than the sword.

now… just my suggestion… read that again!  (the forest did what? what kind of forest was it? did I just get transported into an enchanted forest in Lord of the Rings?)

 

And now… read verse 9:

9-Now Absalom happened to meet David’s men. He was riding his mule, and as the mule went under the thick branches of a large oak, Absalom’s head got caught in the tree. He was left hanging in midair, while the mule he was riding kept on going.

 

Now… I don’t want you to believe that I’m into paganism of ANY sort, but to me it’s VERY clear that God is not only the God of my heart, my spirit & my soul, but God is the God of the world (in every sense of it).  Of the riviers (dividing the River Jordan); the seas (drying the Red Sea); and the forests (He uses them as weapons at His will).  In Joshua 10, Joshua commands the sun and the moon to stand still…  “and there was no day like that before it or after it, that the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man…”  Taking the time to actually READ the Bible slowly, not hurrying through it as an obligation but looking for the “best kept” secrets and what people aren’t talking about is fascinating!

How many times have I read this story of Absalom and failed to notice verses 8 & 9, and make the connection?

 

And even the oak tree obeyed David’s request to “deal gently with … Absalom”.  (If you carry on reading, you see it was a rogue general that killed Absalom contrary to David’s order, not the forest.)

And that’s the God that I’m starting to believe in… the one that I’m getting to know.