Читать книгу Bold Girls Speak - Mary Stromer Hanson - Страница 8

2 Samuel 14; 2 Samuel 17:17

A Lesson in Acting

“Help me, O King!” A woman with ragged clothes bowed deeply on the cold marble floor before David’s throne. Her dirty face was engraved with streaks by the tears streaming down her cheeks.

“What is troubling you?” King David asked simply.

“I am indeed a widow; my husband is dead. I, your servant, had two sons. They got into a fight with each other in the field. Now all the relatives want to kill my remaining son. This is the only burning coal I have left, leaving my husband neither name nor descendant on the face of the earth.”

“Go home, and I will issue an order on your behalf,” answered the king.The woman seemed to hold her shoulders higher as she raised herself from the floor and started to turn toward the exit.

A servant girl had the assignment of opening and closing the court doors to allow access to King David. At her post, she heard all the entreaties of people who approached King David for favors. Most required heart-wrenching decisions, which David made with super-human wisdom. Only a few moments earlier, the two women, among the lowest ranked in the kingdom, exchanged uncomfortable glances when they met over the threshold. Then the servant girl stepped aside and out of sight behind a potted palm where she would wait until called to open the great doors again. Apparently, this case was over, so she stepped in front of the doors. But wait, the woman was not finished with her petition.

“Let your servant speak a word to my lord the king,” she continued.

“Speak,” David said with some surprise.

“So, do you not convict yourself, for you have not brought back your own banished son?”

The lowly widow dared to put the great King David on the spot! Every attendant in the room gasped. They all knew the truth about the king’s son, Absalom, who three years ago had fled Jerusalem when he killed his half brother, another son of the king, Prince Amnon. Some people wanted Absalom executed as a murderer; others were not so sure. Now Absalom was the apparent successor to the throne after David. This supposedly poor widow had constructed her story parallel to the dilemma of David.

David answered the question with a question. “Has my army general, Joab, put you up to this?”

“Yes,” she dared not lie. “It was your servant Joab who instructed me and put the words into my mouth. You, King David have wisdom like that of an angel of God. You know everything that happens in the land.”

All ears in the throne room strained to hear every word. Lesser infractions of etiquette in the court had been known to cause heads to roll. What would David do to someone who tried to corner him? The woman, whose false identity as a grieving widow was now exposed, stood up proudly and walked out with a dignified bearing that betrayed her beggarly clothes. She knew she had influenced even the great King David to heal a family rift.

“Can you imagine? This encounter with the king was all acted!” The servants exclaimed later between themselves. “This woman is really known as the wise woman of Tekoa! She is not a poor widow at all. How easily we were all fooled, even King David, until he recognized the story as his own.”

“What an actress!” The servant girl wondered to herself. She was amazed that the woman so effectively pretended to be someone she was not. “This skill of acting could come in very handy around the court,” she continued. “But in reality,” she thought to herself, “I do this every day. In this service, I am always pretending to be someone I am not. It is like wearing a mask. I pretend to know things I do not, I pretend not to know things I do know. It is a very tricky skill to survive in this palace world.”

Joab, the great military leader, by employing the wise woman of Tekoa to carry out this deceit, succeeded in bringing the crown prince back to Jerusalem. However, the longed for reunion between King David and his son, Absalom, did not immediately take place face-to-face. Two great men, even though father and son, did not talk to each other; they both lived separately in their own residences. The return of Absalom drew great attention; he was so handsome he turned the heads of both men and women. The servants admired his magnificent hair, which was so thick that he had to cut it when it became too heavy. Locks of wavy hair were weighed and later appeared on the black market to be sold to adoring fans. A legend, started by those in a position to know, was that from the top of his head to the sole of his foot he had no blemish. He married and started a young family in Jerusalem, which included three sons and a daughter named Tamar, named in memory of his sister who was murdered by Amnon a few years earlier.

The men envied his natural ability to attract followers. When Absalom moved through the city, fifty young men would clear the streets to make room for his chariot, which was pulled by splendid horses. At the city gate, he made promises to people needing favors and claimed that if he were king, everything would be much better. Absalom stole the hearts of the people of Jerusalem by his good looks and slick promises. King David appeared to tolerate the audacious behavior of his son for four years, but never invited him to the palace.

Dangerous Times in Jerusalem

The servant girl did not understand why Absalom was allowed such free reign to disrespect his father. Acting as if he owned the place, the son brazenly anticipated the time when he would be king, since his father was getting along in years. David, unable to deny his son any wish, granted him his request to go to the city of Hebron to fulfill a vow and worship. Instead, Absalom had other intentions that were less pious; for in truth, he was conspiring to take over the throne. He sent messengers throughout the land with the message, “As soon as you hear the sound of the trumpets, shout ‘Absalom is king in Hebron.’”

Messengers rushed to David and told him, “The hearts of the people of Israel are with Absalom.” David was crushed with the hurt that his son, whom he loved, betrayed him.

“Come!” David told his officials that were with him, “We must flee, or none of us will escape from Absalom. We must leave immediately, or he will move quickly to overtake us and bring ruin upon us and put the city to the sword.”

Absalom declared himself the legitimate ruler of Israel and announced his intention to take over the country. With the sound of the shofar he moved into the palace.

The servant girl remembered verses from the psalms, which were claimed to be written by David. They were repeated at times of sacred service and became a prayer in times like this. It is time for You to act, O Lord, For they have regarded Your law as void (Ps 119:126).

“What will this day bring?” The servant girl thought as she woke that morning. She was filled with a sense of foreboding. King David was leaving the city without a fight to avoid more bloodshed. He was horrified with the thought of fighting his own son in battle.

A rumor spread like wildfire through the palace. “They are removing the Ark of the Covenant from the Holy of the Holies.” The servant girl did not know what to make of this news.

“For several years, no one has even seen the Ark of the Covenant except the priests on the Day of Atonement,” other servants informed her. “It is housed in a tent on the highest mound of the city, on Mount Moriah, the ancient location where Abraham almost sacrificed his son, until an angel intervened.”

Older servants added, “Some of us saw the ark when it was brought into Jerusalem. That was early in the reign of King David. It was a huge celebration, but with a dark side.”

“A man died when he touched it,” an elderly servant reminisced. “Yes, he only intended to stabilize it when it tipped from the ox cart. He innocently wanted to keep it from falling on the ground, and he was struck dead.”

“Struck dead?” The servant girl could not believe it.

“Yes, the Ark of the Covenant has a long history. Moses built this same ark in the wilderness when the Children of Israel escaped from Egypt. In it are the most holy items of the people, the tablets on which God had written the Ten Commandments and a sample of manna.”

“Oh, and David was seen frantically dancing, which upset his first wife, Micah,” the elderly servant added. “She was banned from his presence forever after that incident. And to think, she was a daughter of Saul.” Palace intrigue and gossip had kept tongues wagging for the many years of David’s reign. It was impossible to believe there would no longer be a King David.

“We are going to go out to get just a peek of the ark as it is removed from the Tent of the Tabernacle,” the servants were determined.

“But, I am not going to get too close,” the servant girl thought, somewhat nervously. She recalled the words of Moses written on ancient scrolls. They called upon the Lord, and He answered them. He spoke to them in the cloudy pillar; They kept His testimonies and the ordinance He gave them (Ps 99:6–7).

The remaining household staff sadly watched the assembly move down into the valley, and then climb up the Mount of Olives.

“Who could have imagined? The great King David is weeping,” the servant girls whispered to each other. The event was too solemn to speak about aloud. The most curious of the servants climbed the eastern wall of the city to observe the momentous event.

“He has covered his head and is walking barefoot down the trail followed by two priests, the Ark of the Covenant, and many soldiers,” the servants said while straining their eyes to see the events.

“Why is he is pausing?” they asked.

Unexpectedly, when the procession reached the summit of the Mount of Olives opposite the valley from Jerusalem, David came to a halt and let everyone pass him.

“The priests have put down the Ark of the Covenant and are gathering stones to build an altar. We see flames and a wisp of smoke rising into the sky. David seems to be having a heated discussion with the priests,” the servants reported to each other.

The servant girl, along with the other servants, guessed at the purpose of the discussion. Finally, David and the priests on the Mount of Olives seemed to come to an understanding.

“Carry the ark of God back to the city. If I shall find favor in the eyes of the Lord, he will bring me back, but if he say thus: ‘I have no delight in thee,’ behold, here I am, let him do to me as seems good unto him.” Then the two high priests, Zadok and Abiathar, who were carrying the ark, reversed direction and returned to the city.

“Why is he not carrying the Ark of the Covenant for Jehovah’s protection in battle?” The servants asked, dismayed. “Is he really entrusting it to Absalom?”

Two young sons of the priests, Jonathan and Ahimaaz, with David and his army, continued east until out of sight on the road toward the Jordan River.

Now neighbor was pitted against neighbor. Families and friends were divided over the issue. Who was the real king? Father or son? No one knew for sure.

The servant girl was bewildered and feared for her future. No one thought to tell the servants where they should go or what they should do. When the priests came back, she quickly made herself useful as a servant with one of them, Zadok. The girl was not certain if her new master was supporting Absalom or David. She could not imagine that he would change allegiance. Everything was very hush-hush in the large household of the priest. She really needed her acting skills, which were improving, and she observed everything.

Gossip was running wild, and abominable deeds were committed during the takeover. Eyes were averted from the atrocities committed on the rooftop of the palace. No one knew who was for Absalom and who was still loyal to David. Not that she paid much attention to rumors, for the steady stream of intrigue and gossip from the palace was rising to a shrill pitch.

Before all the recent events, for the first time, peace had seemed possible. David had united the twelve tribes of Israel, stretching from north to south, after years of war. Enemies were banished and the surrounding countryside subdued. It was the time to reap the benefits of all the building and conquest. Instead, it had come to this.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem; May they prosper who love you. Peace be within your walls, Prosperity within your palaces (Ps 122:6).

A Mission for a Girl

Unexpectedly, one morning the servant girl was called to her master. This was always occasion for apprehension. Had she done something wrong? Only a few days had passed since she started working for the high priest. He did not yet know her tendency to dawdle in the market too long, and she certainly did not have vacation time coming to visit her family in the country. Surely she could not have already done something questionable to get her in trouble.

“Come into my chamber as soon as your duties and errands are finished,” her master’s message had instructed. She swept, polished, dusted, and tried to remember all her duties, but Zadok’s beckoning was a major distraction. Finally, close to noon, she approached the servant who guarded his door.

“She is all right, let her in,” she heard her master call from inside. The room was heaped with tablets and scrolls. Zadok dismissed the scribes who were working with him and glanced around to be sure the walls had no ears.

“What do you think of King David?” he asked her in a low voice. “How do you like it that his son, Absalom, has taken over his palace and even his concubines?”

These were dangerous questions. She gulped and took a deep breath. Should she act opposite of how she really believed? She knew the story of how David became king long ago. When he was young, he had killed the giant, Goliath, with a sling. He had great faith in the Jehovah God, whom he said helped him win on that day. She was not quite sure where her master’s loyalty lay. She would have to take a chance and decided to be herself instead of acting.

“I think King David is a great king and what his son did was wrong. He should have waited to become king until his father was ready to appoint him.” She paused and tried to read her master’s face for approval or disapproval. He nodded to indicate interest in her continuing opinion. “Now there is more war and senseless killing. Absalom would become king anyway. He just had to wait longer. All the building and improvements that David has started in Jerusalem will come to an end.”

Zadok’s face registered interest and approval. The girl’s heart was pounding. What was this all about? She told herself, “Act calm, control your voice.”

“I need someone like you to carry out an important mission. This someone must be brave and must remember instructions exactly. I think you are the best person in the household to carry out this task,” he said.