Before I write this long post, I think it is very important to say that I love King David in the Bible. He was a strong and mighty king who God anointed. He ruled with wisdom and courage and strength and he honored the Lord. He wrote so many beautiful psalms that bring me comfort every day.
David trusted God and gave Him his heart from his youth. He defeated Goliath and many of the enemies of God's people. He had to flee from King Saul and then when he had the chance more than once to kill Saul, he refused to touch the anointed king. He trusted God to bring justice.
I could go on and on about what a good man David was and how amazing it is to know that I will actually meet him in Heaven some day. One of the things I love that David said over and over was that he wanted the Lord to remember him for his righteousness. I love that so much because it's one of my prayers too. As humans, we are born with a sin nature. We mess up and sometimes we mess up so bad that we recognize that we deserve to head straight to Hell. But God's grace is an amazing thing and we can turn to Him and ask Him to remember the good we have done and bless us according to our righteousness while asking Him to forgive our sins and wipe us clean.
David will be remembered in eternity for his righteousness. But the Bible also allows us to see David's mess ups. And it's a good thing for us to see because we also get to see that God loves us all even when we mess up super bad. David had an affair with a married woman and got her pregnant and then had her husband killed. Um, that's pretty darn bad. And guess what... it displeased the Lord. In fact, one of the consequences of his big sin was that his baby died at only seven days of age. What a horrible thing for any parent to endure. Another consequence was that for the remainder of his days, David would know war. His life was not easy.
I am so grateful to God for forgiveness. We all need it. We don't earn it. We are given it by grace. So, I am not mad at God for what sometimes seems like a lack of justice. I don't always understand it, but I trust God and fully believe that the day is coming when our real enemy will go down forever and we will be remembered for our righteousness.
What gets to me the most about David and the things he did wrong really is something he didn't do at all. He seemingly failed his own daughter by not coming to her defense when she was violated. This has troubled me all my life. Tamar was a real princess, the daughter of the king of Israel. Yet when she was violently raped by her own brother, David's son, nothing happened to him. He was not punished by David. But Tamar was left to live like trash, all alone and childless for the remainder of her life. She was raped and trashed and never got justice. It angers me. It profoundly hurts me and sometimes I wonder about her and how she was able to breathe.
I know that God's eyes see all of the good and bad here on Earth. He saw what happened to Tamar and I know without an ounce of doubt that God didn't see her as trash. But He did see that she was thrown out like trash to live alone and rejected and hurt for the rest of her sad life. I believe that Tamar is with the Lord. I believe that she and I will be friends in eternity. I believe that she has no memory of the horrible rape or lonely life she was forced to live on this planet.
There were many times when I got mad at David. Of course, we only know what we read in the Bible. Maybe David loved her enough to visit her. But I do know that he did not punish his rapist son. I do not claim to understand what it would be like to have a son do that. I know that us parents love our kids unconditionally, but we also need to see when they do something evil and handle it. I can't help but think of this recent show I saw about a family called the Duggars. It was a documentary about them called "Shiny Happy People". Their daughters were molested by their son and they did nothing! Later, their son was arrested for child pornography! Thankfully, he is in prison now. And guess what! These disgusting parents have rejected their daughter Jill for telling the truth and according to her, they love her "pedophile brother" more than her.
Tamar never got her justice in this life. Her other brother ended up killing her rapist brother two years after the assault. Then he tried to kill David. In fact, David ended up having to flee for his life again, just like he had to do with King Saul. I think that was one of the consequences of not handling the rape. He had a lot of war and very little peace.
But, back to Tamar. She remains one of those sad characters from the Bible whose story hurts me to my core. I have literally cried for her. I have screamed out in pain "JUSTICE FOR TAMAR" so many times. I think about some people I love who are just like Tamar. Alone. Total lack of justice while the rapist has gotten away with his evil deed. I have begged God to help me understand. But I don't.
I think women were treated badly. Women were treated like they were not as important as men. But I know that is not how God sees us. How do I know? Because I know God. Also because of Jesus. Jesus is God and He came to Earth as a Man to save us all. While He was here, He showed us all how God feels about women and children. He was friends with women and He loved hanging out with kids. God loved men too. He loved men who were poor and he loved men who were rich. He loved Jews and He loved Gentiles. He loved everyone in the world so much that He became the sacrificial Lamb and died for us all. Now, whoever of us chooses to believe in Him will never die. We will live forever with Him, completely free of sin forever and ever.
Jesus really is the only answer to the pain I feel for Tamar. He is the only answer to the pain I feel for the others who have to live like Tamar did. He loved Tamar. I have to believe that even in her pain, He was with her. He loved on her. It grieved Him to see what happened to the beautiful princess. So, maybe Tamar (and so many others) don't get the justice they deserve here, but God loves the broken hearted. He died for us all and I await His return.
See you soon, Tamar.
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