Be Strong and Courageous

"Don't be afraid,"  or some variant of that is used over 360 times in the Bible. A companion for many of those reassurances is "be strong and courageous." Most of them are good and positive admonitions.

But 2 Samuel 13:28 contains one with insidious undertones. Here is how Holman translates it:
    28 Now Absalom commanded his young men, "Watch Amnon until he is in a good mood from the wine. When I order you to strike Amnon, then kill him. Don't be afraid. Am I not the one who has commanded you? Be strong and courageous!"

There is obviously a back story here, and it is one of extreme debauchery and callousness. Amnon was a son of David and the half brother of Absalom. Absalom had a beautiful sister, Tamar.  Amnon fancied himself to be in love with her. (As God's gift to women, as some guys reason, they should all be honored that I favor them with my attention.)  She did not feel honored.

Through some subterfuge, Amnon contrived to have her sent to his house and at the end of the encounter, raped her, and sent her away as a prostitute. She was humiliated, physically, emotionally, and presumably culturally. Amnon's servants were no dummies. They could put two and two together.

Absalom was beside himself in anger and wrath. David himself was "furious." (Verse 21) But he took no action. After two years Absalom struck. In a fitting twist of history, Absalom deceived David with his own bit of subterfuge and had Amnon sent down to his "shearing" party. Unknown to David and Amnon, the sheep were not the only ones who would be "sheared."

That brings us to our passage. Absalom is instructing his co-conspirators. They may have been unaware that they were involved to this point. That is not clear in the story, but they willingly and possibly enthusiastically participated in the assassination of the king's son.

Absalom's instructions are both ominous and insidious. "Don't be afraid." Most of the times we read this fortifying utterance from the Lord, or someone representing Him, they urge believers on to action. These are "good" actions, not cold blooded, premeditated murder. Absalom assumed the responsibility."Am not I the one who commanded you?"

We learned in Viet Nam and other places that illegal orders do not absolve the followers of responsibility for lawless acts. As far as we know, Absalom's helpers were not punished. David was reticent to chastize his son as well. Our focus, however is on the encouragement Absalom offered.

These hallowed words, "Be not afraid, be strong and of good courage," have echoed down the corridors of history. As mentioned before they occur hundreds of times as godly men and women are urged to more complete obedience and confidence in God's protecting and helping hand. To hear them subverted and probably perverted into such nefarious actions is jarring.

As we discussed earlier, (Christ Killers) words and meanings can be taken out of context and used in distinctly ungodly manners. The words themselves are not at fault. We can lay the blame at the foot of the manipulators.

And, personally, we must beware of taking God's words and using them for personal and selfish purposes. The third commandment says not to take God's Name in vain. We would not be too far afield to apply that to anything God says. He is not pleased when we misconstrue His words, especially for sinful purposes.

Using Scripture to justify wrong doing, well, call it sin, is a sin. We discussed oppressing the Jews on the wrongful interpretation of them as Christ killers as one example. Justifying slavery is a second one. And racial bias, based on the "lineage of Ham"is one more of this shameful trend. . God's Word is quick and powerful. (Hebrews 4:12) It is a two-edged sword. That means that it can, and does cut both ways.

Absalom placed himself in the place of God in encouraging his "helpers." He paid for that in life and possibly eternity. (Not going to judge.) We would be well advised to read carefully and like the Bereans, (Acts 17:11) examine what the Scripture says to see if what they heard was true. And we can read before we speak as well.

"Be careful little tongue what you say." "Don't be afraid. Be strong and courageous".