Gospel Reflections #1152: Our God never gives up on humanity

2 Samuel 20:13 ‘Once Amasa had been removed from the road, all the troops followed Joab in pursuit of Sheba, the son of Bichri.’

Towards the end of King David’s reign, a new rebellion broke out led by Sheba, a Benjaminite.

David had appointed Amasa—who had been a general in the rebel army during the previous uprising (Absalom’s rebellion)—as a general in his own army and ordered him to mobilise his troops.

However, as Amasa’s mobilisation was delayed, David, sensing a crisis, sent the troops of his former general, Joab, in pursuit.

When Amasa joined them at Gibeon along the way, Joab pretended to greet him warmly and then brutally murdered him.

The text describes how, upon seeing Amasa’s blood-soaked body lying in the middle of the road, the soldiers who were supposed to be pursuing the enemy all came to a halt, bringing the advance to a standstill.

The soldiers halted because they were shocked by the harrowing reality that Amasa, their new commander, had been brutally murdered by one of their own (Joab), and by the ethical contradiction this presented.

One of Joab’s foot soldiers ‘dragged the body from the main road (where it would be visible to the public) into a field and covered it with a cloth to hide it’.

Rather than resolving the root of the problem (the crime of murder committed by Joab), they merely ‘cleared it away so that it could not be seen’, and the soldiers once again began to march in obedience to Joab’s orders.

This is a cold-blooded depiction of how a human organisation turns a blind eye to ‘ethical wrongdoing (assassination)’ for the sake of its ‘objective (suppressing the rebellion)’.

Now that Amasa, the official commander, had been lost, the soldiers understood that the only person capable of countering the national crisis (Sheba’s rebellion) was Joab—cruel though he might be, he possessed the necessary ability.

The fact that, as soon as the body was hidden, even the people and Amasa’s own men ‘followed Joab’ proves that Joab’s actual military influence dominated the situation on the ground, rather than King David’s appointment of Amasa.

In this world, too, we can sometimes find ourselves swept up by power and forces that cannot be resisted, rather than by ethics.

At such times, we may feel there is nothing we can do and be tempted to give up, but we must continue to pray, trusting in God’s promises.

Our God never gives up on humanity, even when we have fallen into sin, but continues to speak to us in every possible way.

We are weak, but God is stronger than anything else.

May we always exercise our faith boldly.

AUTHOR'S BIO: This Gospel Reflections page is written by Masae San, who resides in Hiroshima, Japan. Masae is a dedicated student of the Bible with a deep passion for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She shares her daily reflections on Gospel perspectives to reach out to others and spread the message of God's true love through a Christ-centered approach. We are sharing her insights here so that you, too, can experience the joy that comes from knowing and understanding the true Gospel and the love of God through Jesus Christ.