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Sibling Drama - The Book of 2 Samuel · Bible in a Year with Jack Graham

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  Speaker 1: And it came to pass, while they were in the way,
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  Speaker 1: that tidings came to David, saying, Absalom hath slain all
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  Speaker 1: the king's sons, and there is not one of them left.
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  Speaker 1: 2 Samuel 13.30 Dear Lord, as the tragedy in 2
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  Speaker 1: Samuel 13 comes to light, I thank you that you
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  Speaker 1: are setting a hedge of protection around me, so that
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  Speaker 1: I am protected from others taking advantage of me and
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  Speaker 1: my kindness. When the grip of manipulation seems to overpower me,
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  Speaker 1: I lean on the fact that you will provide a
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  Speaker 1: way of escape. Even when the amnons of this world
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  Speaker 1: seem to have the upper hand, I choose to praise you,
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  Speaker 1: because in the end you will always vindicate and validate me,
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  Speaker 1: because I am your child. With this truth, I know
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  Speaker 1: that whatever is done to or against me will not
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  Speaker 1: stop the plans you have for my life because you
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  Speaker 1: are careful to bring every word you speak to fruition.
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  Speaker 1: It's through your power and through your might that I
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  Speaker 1: can boldly speak this over my life. In Jesus' name, Amen.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you for praying with me today. Continue listening for
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  Speaker 1: an incredible Bible story brought to you by BibleInAYear.com.
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  Speaker 2: Sibling Drama In our last story, we saw the restoration
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  Speaker 2: of David after a heinous sin. He had an affair
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  Speaker 2: with one of his most trusted soldier's wife. When she
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  Speaker 2: became pregnant, he covered it up by murdering him. As
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  Speaker 2: a result, David's heart grew hardened and distant from God.
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  Speaker 2: Nathan showed David the error of his ways, which began
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  Speaker 2: the process of bringing David back to God. Sadly, the
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  Speaker 2: child he had had with Bathsheba passed away from sickness,
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  Speaker 2: but a new son was born, who God would use
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  Speaker 2: to do great things. In this story, we learned about
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  Speaker 2: the descent of David's family. As predicted by Nathan, conflict
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  Speaker 2: and sin breaks out among David's children, and the neglect
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  Speaker 2: of David creates brokenness among his family, as inspired by
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  Speaker 2: the book of 2 Samuel.
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  Speaker 3: This is Pastor Jack Graham with today's episode of the
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  Speaker 3: Bible in a Year podcast. In our last episode, we
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  Speaker 3: heard how Nathan confronted David for his sin of adultery
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  Speaker 3: and then murder, and then the cover-up. God would spare
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  Speaker 3: David's life because of his repentance, but he took the
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  Speaker 3: son conceived in sin and promised that there would be
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  Speaker 3: acrimony and war and chaos in his household. David repented
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  Speaker 3: and turned back to God, worshiping him and drawing near
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  Speaker 3: and found comfort and strength and assurance in his grief.
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  Speaker 3: But while God had forgiven the sin, there would be
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  Speaker 3: consequences for David's choices. And today we'll see how David's
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  Speaker 3: failure creates conflict and drama among his children. It is
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  Speaker 3: a lesson on the brokenness that is caused by sin.
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  Speaker 3: Not only David's sin with Bathsheba, but his choice to
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  Speaker 3: marry many wives and disregard God's design for marriage between
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  Speaker 3: one man and one woman. So let's listen now to
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  Speaker 3: today's reading.
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  Speaker 2: David was blessed with many children. Yet because he had
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  Speaker 2: taken several wives, the family lines were blurred and skewed.
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  Speaker 2: Just as his ancestors, Abraham and Jacob, David found himself
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  Speaker 2: in the middle of a civil war between his wives
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  Speaker 2: and children. Tamar, David's daughter, was incredibly beautiful and sought
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  Speaker 2: after by many men throughout Israel. Amnon, David's son, and
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  Speaker 2: Tamar's half-brother lusted after her with great passion. He would
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  Speaker 2: watch her from a distance, pining after her relentlessly. He
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  Speaker 2: was tormented by his desires and greatly disturbed. Amnon vented
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  Speaker 2: to his friend Jonadab. Jonadab was a crafty man and
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  Speaker 2: had an unashamed darkness in his heart. My silly prince,
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  Speaker 2: Jonadab scoffed, here is what you shall do. Pretend to
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  Speaker 2: be ill, near death in bed. Ask for her to
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  Speaker 2: come and bring you food, and when she does, you
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  Speaker 2: can make your move. Amnon did as Jonadab suggested. He
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  Speaker 2: lay in his bed coughing and feverish. Tamar dabbed his
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  Speaker 2: head with a wet cloth and fed him stew from
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  Speaker 2: a spoon. Amnon could barely hold himself together around her.
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  Speaker 2: The smell of her hair, the delicate touch of her skin.
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  Speaker 2: Amnon leaned over to Tamar and.
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  Speaker 3: Touched her leg.
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  Speaker 2: Lie with me, he whispered. Tamar swatted his hand away
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  Speaker 2: and said, How could you ask such a thing? You
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  Speaker 2: shall not violate me in that way. Where would I
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  Speaker 2: be able to go with that type of shame? You
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  Speaker 2: would be the greatest fool in all of Israel. Amnon's
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  Speaker 2: blood boiled within him at her words. He grabbed her
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  Speaker 2: leg harshly and threw her beneath him on the bed.
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  Speaker 2: Amnon was far stronger than Tamar, so he had his
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  Speaker 2: way with her. Nobody could hear her whimpering through the
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  Speaker 2: chamber doors. After Amnon was through, he threw Tamar off
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  Speaker 2: of the bed and said, Get out of here! Because
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  Speaker 2: she rejected him, he hated her with a greater intensity than.
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  Speaker 3: He ever loved her.
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  Speaker 2: Tears filled her eyes as Amnon's servant was called in
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  Speaker 2: to throw her out of his home. She went to
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  Speaker 2: a secret place and wept before God, ashamed of what
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  Speaker 2: had happened. She ran to her brother, Absalom, and told
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  Speaker 2: him all that had happened. So she stayed with her brother,
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  Speaker 2: and Absalom plotted his revenge against Amnon. Two full years
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  Speaker 2: had passed, and Amnon had nearly forgotten his terrible crimes
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  Speaker 2: against Tamar, yet Absalom did not. He could never forgive him.
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  Speaker 2: He invited all of his brothers to feast in celebration
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  Speaker 2: of the sheep-shearing festival. Together they ate, drank, and celebrated
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  Speaker 2: with music. But Absalom drank nothing. He ate nothing. Instead,
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  Speaker 2: he observed Amnon closely. Amnon drank until his heart was
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  Speaker 2: merry without a care in the world. He danced and
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  Speaker 2: stumbled about, enjoying the company of his brothers. Soon, he
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  Speaker 2: passed out among the sheep. After this, the other brothers
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  Speaker 2: departed to leave Absalom alone with Amnon. He nudged Amnon awake.
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  Speaker 2: Amnon opened his eyes to see Absalom standing above him
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  Speaker 2: with his sword in his hand. Before he could say
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  Speaker 2: a word, a blade was driven straight through his heart.
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  Speaker 2: David was given word that Absalom had killed Amnon and
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  Speaker 2: was greatly disturbed. At first, he had thought that Absalom
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  Speaker 2: killed all of his sons, but was quickly comforted to
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  Speaker 2: know that Absalom had only killed Amnon. He was not
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  Speaker 2: surprised by Absalom's actions, for he knew that his son
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  Speaker 2: was capable of great violence. Nevertheless, He mourned his son's
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  Speaker 2: death and awaited the return of his other sons. Absalom, however,
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  Speaker 2: did not return. He remained in Geshur. A darkness had
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  Speaker 2: been unleashed that night in Absalom's heart. A bitterness towards
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  Speaker 2: his father arised. It was David that should have killed Amnon.
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  Speaker 1: Instead, he did nothing.
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  Speaker 2: So Absalom remained there for a while, plotting to seek
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  Speaker 2: revenge on his father David.
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  Speaker 3: Today's scripture opens with the echoes of Abraham and Jacob,
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  Speaker 3: but for all the wrong reasons. Like the patriarchs before him,
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  Speaker 3: David had not denied himself the pleasure of taking many wives.
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  Speaker 3: He was not ignorant of the sacredness of marriage, that
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  Speaker 3: God's design was for man to cleave to his wife,
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  Speaker 3: to be one flesh with her. But he was simply
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  Speaker 3: unwilling to deny himself the beautiful women that were available
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  Speaker 3: to him as a decorated warrior and a powerful king.
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  Speaker 3: And just as had happened with the men before him,
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  Speaker 3: David's choices produced a fertile ground for divided loyalties, family dysfunction,
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  Speaker 3: and animosity among siblings. God's design for marriage is not
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  Speaker 3: a trivial rule meant to deprive us of enjoyment. It
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  Speaker 3: is a wise guardrail to protect his own children, to
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  Speaker 3: produce flourishing in the family and peace in the community
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  Speaker 3: and world. And when it is violated, there will always
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  Speaker 3: be problems and terrible consequences. There's no greater reminder of
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  Speaker 3: this than the history of Amnon, Tamar, and Absalom. Amnon
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  Speaker 3: burned with desire for his own sister, and he listened
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  Speaker 3: to a wicked friend who told him to just take
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  Speaker 3: what he wanted, even giving him a plan for how
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  Speaker 3: to go about it. It's no mistake that the book
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  Speaker 3: of Proverbs opens with the truth that blessed are those
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  Speaker 3: who do not walk in the counsel of the wicked.
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  Speaker 3: But Amnon listened to the counsel of the ungodly and
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  Speaker 3: lured his sister into his room. When she properly rejected
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  Speaker 3: his advances, Amnon raped her, then cast her away, hating
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  Speaker 3: her for the rejection. So Tamar fled to another brother's home,
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  Speaker 3: the home of Absalom, and told him what had happened.
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  Speaker 3: And what about David? Was he even aware of what
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  Speaker 3: was happening? 2 Samuel 13, 21 gives us the answer.
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  Speaker 3: When King David heard of all these things, he was
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  Speaker 3: very angry. So he did know what happened, but apparently...
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  Speaker 3: He does nothing. Again, like others before him, men like
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  Speaker 3: Isaac and Jacob, David saw the strife and the sin
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  Speaker 3: of his own children but did nothing to intervene. But
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  Speaker 3: Absalom was not going to sit idly by. Absalom is
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  Speaker 3: in a rage because what has happened to his sister.
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  Speaker 3: and he is about to take revenge on his brother.
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  Speaker 3: One day he called his siblings to a feast. He
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  Speaker 3: waited until Amnon was good and drunk, and then he
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  Speaker 3: sent his servants to kill Amnon. His other brothers fled
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  Speaker 3: in fear of their brother. David received word of what
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  Speaker 3: had happened and tore his clothing in mourning, thinking that
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  Speaker 3: all of his sons were dead. But Jonadab let him
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  Speaker 3: know that only Amnon had died as punishment for violating Tamar.
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  Speaker 3: Absalom knew now that he would be persona non grata
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  Speaker 3: in the kingdom and with the king, so he fled
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  Speaker 3: where he hid, letting his hatred and bitterness toward his
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  Speaker 3: father grow. He would one day return to Jerusalem, but
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  Speaker 3: would not find his father waiting in open arms And
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  Speaker 3: this rejection would fill his heart with murderous intent. We'll
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  Speaker 3: hear about Absalom's return the next time. Dear Lord, we
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  Speaker 3: are reminded in this passage of Scripture that there are
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  Speaker 3: always consequences for sin. And we pray that therefore we
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  Speaker 3: would turn from sin and never allow sinful choices to
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  Speaker 3: destroy our lives and our families. We do pray for
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  Speaker 3: grace and mercy for those who have failed. that each
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  Speaker 3: one of us would find in you and your grace
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  Speaker 3: and love displayed at the cross eternal life and salvation.
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  Speaker 3: We thank you that there is no sin that you
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  Speaker 3: cannot forgive and that your blood, the blood of Jesus Christ,
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  Speaker 3: cleanses us from every sin. So, Lord, we turn to
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  Speaker 3: you and we trust in you and we find mercy
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  Speaker 3: and grace in Jesus' name.
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  Speaker 1: Amen.
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  Speaker 3: Thank you for listening to today's Bible in a Year podcast.
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  Speaker 3: I hope you are enjoying it as much as I am.
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  Speaker 3: This is Pastor Jack Graham from Dallas, Texas. You can
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  Speaker 3: download the Pray.com app and make prayer the priority in
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  Speaker 3: your life. And if you have enjoyed this podcast, share
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  Speaker 3: can make a difference in someone's life. This podcast is
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  Speaker 3: being listened to all over the world by millions of
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  Speaker 3: how to tap into God's power for living, be sure
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  Speaker 3: to visit jackgram.org. God bless you.
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  Speaker 1: This episode is sponsored by MediShare, an innovative health care
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