Whom Do You Mourn More?

I can think of no harder tragedy to live thru than that of losing a child. It’s not natural to outlive one’s progeny, yet David did so on several occasions. How did he deal with that loss?

On two different occasions, we see David in the process of mourning the loss of a son. The first time it is in the loss of his infant child with Bathsheba, the second is after his son Absalom is killed.

His infant child dies as a result of David’s own personal sin. He was an innocent cut down at the start of his life. David spends hours praying and fasting for the Lord’s to save the child, still, the child dies. Yet David doesn’t wail, he rather gets up and resumes his normal life.

Yet in the death of Absalom David takes it much harder.

The king was deeply moved and went up to the chamber over the gate and wept. And thus he said as he walked, "O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!"

2 Samuel 18:33

David cries shame his people. He doesn’t stop till his army’s commander tells him he is disrespecting those that stood beside the King. You see they had just been fighting against Absalom. This son had rebelled against his father. He had publicly defied and defiled his Father. He attempted to murder him and take his throne.

Yet David seemingly cries more for this rebellious son that his innocent one. Why? Shouldn’t he be more satisfied with the loss of a wicked one than a righteous one? Why cry for the sinner more than the innocent?

A clue to this behavior is David’s reasoning for his seemly odd behavior in the loss of his infant child. He tells his servants in 2^nd Samuel 12:23, "But now he has died; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me." He knows while the child may be gone, he has the hope of being with him again in heaven. But with Absalom, that hope is lost.

David is a lot like God in this. God wants all to be saved (1^st Tim. 2:4) yet he knows that many will perish. God rejoices more over “one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance” (Luke 15:7). Maybe that’s because he knows that he will have eternity with faithful but the lost will be gone forever.

I started out by saying that there is no greater tragedy than losing a child. Maybe I should amend that to losing a child forever. That why God is so concerned with the lost. That’s why we should be as well.

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Ecclesiastes 12:10

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