“Afterwards, when David heard of it, he said, ‘I and my kingdom are forever innocent of the death of Avner the son of Ner. Let it fall on the head of Yo’av and all his father’s family. May Yo’av’s family always have someone with a hemorrhage or tzara‘at, or who has to walk with a cane, or who dies by the sword or who lacks food.‘”-2 Samuel 3:28-29
Boy, I tell ya, it’s gotta be tough being a leader.
There are so many things outside of your control that can completely derail your plans to make peace.
For David, Yo’av killing Avner was one of those things.
Just as he was on the verge of uniting the northern and southern tribes, one of his chief subordinates (Yo’av) goes off and kills the de facto power of the north (Avner).
There’s no doubt the northern tribes would’ve viewed Avner’s death as something David plotted – as the beginning of David’s plans to systematically get rid of any obstacles in his way to assume the throne over all of Israel.
David knew he had to take immediate action to nip this political crisis in the bud.
So he quickly declared his innocence of Avner’s death.
He then proceeded to place a curse on Yo’av’s family, saying that someone in it would always suffer from a discharge, have a skin affliction, need to walk with a cane, die in battle, or not have enough LECHEM or bread to eat.
The Hebrew words for discharge and skin affliction are ZUV and TZARA’AT.
If your English Bible says “leprosy”, that’s a complete mistake.
TZARA’AT refers to a variety of serious skin diseases and bad rashes that render a person unclean.
The point is some serious damage control had to be done.
Now, you might be thinking…
Wasn’t it a great benefit to David that the North had just lost their legendary military leader?
Maybe, but I’d say the consequences of the political fallout were far more dangerous.
There was no way the northern tribes weren’t gonna be suspicious of Avner’s death.
I mean think about it.
Yo’av killed Avner at Hevron, where David’s headquarters were located!
So David had to distance himself from what Yo’av had done immediately.
Alrighty, let’s switch over to the takeaway.
It has to do with the curse that David issued upon Yo’av and his family.
Out of all the sufferings he said would perpetually affect Yo’av’s family, two are spiritual in nature.
Can you guess which two they are?
They are ZUV (a discharge of bleeding) and TZARA-AT (skin afflictions).
So here’s the thing.
From a Biblical perspective, these sufferings are NOT to be considered natural afflictions.
They are to be viewed as spiritual diseases even though the manifestations are physical.
Ya feeling me here?
So what does this mean for us?
To me, this is a reminder that if the external circumstances of our lives aren’t consistently going well…
It might be a good idea to see if there might be a spiritual cause.
I understand that believers can sometimes experience sickness, job loss, or other adverse events…
In a fallen world, no one is immune to adversity.
I’m not talking about that.
I’m talking about consistently experiencing issues with an emphasis on the word “consistently.”
When you often face trouble, the cause might be some sin in your life.
Those weekly porn binges you just looooooove to indulge in…
Going to New Age manifestation teachings instead of to God for your needs…
Breaking the Shabbat or eating unclean food regularly…
My point is to examine yourselves, folks!
Are you experiencing consistent blessings?
Or consistent curses in your life?
Either way, there could be a spiritual answer behind what’s going on.
Remember, when you’re obedient to the Lord and His commands, in due time, He will smooth out the rough patches for you.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“Therefore, my dear friends,
as you have always obeyed
—not only in my presence,
but now much more in my absence
—continue to work out
your salvation with fear and trembling,”
-Philippians 2:12
There is a laundry list of both blessings and curses that we will encounter in our life, based on our obedience to the Torah, and God outlines this list in Deuteronomy 28.
Good lesson, Rich (as always), about looking to God causing our tsouris (troubles) as a way to get us back on line, but I would also add a slight caveat: just because God is in control of everything, that doesn’t mean he does control everything.
What I mean is this- God will often let us go out on our own, not interfering one way or the other, to allow us to suffer the consequences of our actions.
People, in general, are fast to look outside themselves for someone to blame when things in their life go wrong, instead of staring into the mirror. And I have WAY too often heard people blame God for their car breaking down (when they never check the oil or test the tire pressure) or for having to suffer under a mean and punitive boss (when they have been constantly late to work and not performed well).
God doesn’t do bad things, and even though in Deut. 28 he promises curses on those who reject his Torah, I believe that God doesn’t always send curses: God’s punishment is more often accomplished simply by not protecting us from a cursed and fallen world.
So yes, you are correct, Rich- when things go bad, you have illness or personal tsouris in your life, look first to see if God is trying to tell you something.
On the other hand, it could also be just because you have created your own hell.
Thanks, Steven. I learned a new Hebrew word. I wasn’t aware of the word TSOURIS.
I think our conclusions are the same. You said, when things go bad, it could be because we have created our own hell.
But how does “creating our own hell” come about? At the end of the day, from sinning and disobeying the Lord, right?
Shalom!