2 Samuel 3:33–39 (ESV)

Then David said to Joab and to all the people who were with him, “Tear your clothes and put on sackcloth and mourn before Abner.” And King David followed the bier. They buried Abner at Hebron. And the king lifted up his voice and wept at the grave of Abner, and all the people wept.

And the king lamented for Abner, saying,

            “Should Abner die as a fool dies?
            Your hands were not bound;
                        your feet were not fettered;
            as one falls before the wicked
                        you have fallen.”

And all the people wept again over him. Then all the people came to persuade David to eat bread while it was yet day. But David swore, saying, “God do so to me and more also, if I taste bread or anything else till the sun goes down!” And all the people took notice of it, and it pleased them, as everything that the king did pleased all the people. So all the people and all Israel understood that day that it had not been the king’s will to put to death Abner the son of Ner. And the king said to his servants, “Do you not know that a prince and a great man has fallen this day in Israel? And I was gentle today, though anointed king. These men, the sons of Zeruiah, are more severe than I. The LORD repay the evildoer according to his wickedness!”

This isn’t an act. David is genuinely mourning Abner. How can this be?

This is a difficult subject, but it is well treated in the literature because of its context—war.

If civilization is to endure, wars must end. Really end. Whatever issue the war was fought over must be settled and the combatants honored for their service. Forgiveness must be real and it must not be partial.

This is easy to say but hard to do. Still, it’s at the core of how to live as a Christian. C.S. Lewis put it best in his chapter on forgiveness in Mere Christianity. “Everyone says that forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive, as we had during the war.”

People have excellent reasons for not forgiving. Forgiveness isn’t logical. It isn’t fair. In some cases, it’s at odds with the best public policy.

But it’s always Christian.

Okay, but then what about Joab? If David can forgive Abner, why doesn’t he forgive Joab?

He does. David cursed what Joab did but left that to God. David will ultimately promote Joab.

So David reigned over all Israel; and David administered judgment and justice to all his people. Joab the son of Zeruiah was over the army; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder; — 2 Samuel 8:15–16

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These weekday DEEPs are written by Mike Slay. The Saturday ones are written by Matt Richardson. To subscribe to the DEEP click here:  https://www.ailbe.org/resources/community

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV stands for the English Standard Version. © Copyright 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved. NIV stands for The Holy Bible, New International Version®. © Copyright 1973 by International Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved. KJV stands for the King James Version.