12 One
day Abner (son of Ner, the commander of Saul’s army) led Ishbosheth’s
(Saul’s son) troops from Mahanaim to Gibeon. 13 About the same
time, Joab son of Zeruiah led David’s
troops out and met them at the pool of Gibeon. The two groups sat down
there, facing each other from opposite sides of the pool. 14 Then Abner suggested to Joab,
“Let’s have a few of our warriors fight hand to hand here in front of us.” “All
right,” Joab agreed. 15 So twelve men were
chosen to fight from each side—twelve men of Benjamin representing Ishbosheth
son of Saul, and twelve representing David. 16 Each one grabbed
his opponent by the hair and thrust his sword into the other’s side so that all
of them died. So this place at Gibeon has been known ever since as the Field of
Swords. 17 A
fierce battle followed that day, and Abner and the men of Israel were
defeated by the forces of David. 18 Joab, Abishai, and
Asahel—the three sons of Zeruiah—were among David’s forces that day. Asahel
could run like a gazelle, 19 and he began
chasing Abner. He pursued him relentlessly, not stopping for anything…. 21 “Go fight someone
else!”… But Asahel kept right on chasing Abner. 22 Again Abner
shouted to him, “Get away from here! I don’t want to kill you. How could I ever
face your brother Joab again?” 23 But Asahel refused to turn back, so Abner thrust the butt
end of his spear through Asahel’s stomach, and the spear came out through his
back…. 24 When Joab and
Abishai found out what had happened, they set out after Abner. The sun was just
going down as they arrived at the hill of Ammah near Giah, along the road to
the wilderness of Gibeon. 25 Abner’s troops
from the tribe of Benjamin regrouped there at the top of the hill to take a
stand. 26 Abner shouted down
to Joab, “Must we always be killing each other? Don’t you realize that bitterness is the only result? When will you
call off your men from chasing their Israelite brothers?” 27 Then Joab said,
“God only knows what would have happened if you hadn’t spoken…”
Just as an orange seed will produce oranges, violence seeds
will produce more violence with added elements like hatred and bitterness!
Please choose to plan seeds of love, peace and compassion for the love of God
and the sake of our future generations!!!
Today…. anywhere the tv shows a fight somewhere, we see people who get out their phones and records it; kind of like a celebration, instead of appeasing the
situation. Please remember this story and think twice!!!
This war between Israel and Judah started right then, when
two “ringleaders” decided to put up a “show”, an “entertainment” for everyone[1].
Must likely, there were some who celebrated, “…yeepeee a show!”, “…this must be
fun!” But the truth is that these two leaders became instigators, just to have entertainment. And this entertainment caused the beginning
of a long war between these two ring leaders which at the end of that period Saul’s
dynasty became weaker while David’s grew stronger.[2] We all know that still today, right in the
Middle East they’re still in battle, and only God knows if the genealogical records
are found of all of these who are still fighting today, they might find that
these two names will come to the conversation. Unbelievable!!! Can you imagine?
We MUST be careful, the things we do or suggest others to
do, just to entertain. We do not want to
become instigators ourselves otherwise we could be planting the same seeds Saul
and David’s dynasties planted. And if we
do that, let this battle be a testimony of what our lives could become; and it
all started as a “sport”. And thinking
about the word sport, we all know sports are not bad, but sometimes those sport
fans become aggressive, and we’ve heard the things that had happened when two
hardcore fans get in a confrontation.
Sometimes the confrontation happens even among those who are competing! And
this could be bad, really, really bad! So in regard to sports fans, be careful,
not to go too overboard, to the point it gets you in hot waters with the Lord. Remember the consequences could be long
lasting or even life-long. People, families,
entire towns get affected, and eventually impacting negatively generation after generation of these families
with bitterness, anger, arrogance and pride. Do we really want this?
I pray the Lord
continue to be with us as we grow older and in a deeper communion with HIM, and
help us realize when we are tempted to do or encourage someone to do something
that could bring long lasting repercussions.
I pray for HIM to let us see the long list of people that will be negatively
impacted if we choose to proceed in a predetermined way and to give us a
willing heart to act and speak accord to His Word. So if we are in doubt, we choose to stop and
not to proceed. And I pray for the glory
of God in JESUS name, AMEN!!!
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