April 30

It is amazing the things some people become upset about. David was forced to leave Jerusalem because of the uprising of his son, Absalom. After Absalom had been defeated and David is returning to Jerusalem, a dispute broke out between the men of Israel and the men of Judah. Apparently, the men of Judah were more involved in David’s return to Jerusalem than were the men in the other ten tribes (the Levites were priests and would have been excluded from this dispute). “There are ten tribes in Israel, so we have ten times as much right to the king as you do. Why did you treat us with such contempt? Remember, we were the first to speak of bringing him (David) back to be our king” (II Samuel 19:43). Sounds almost like little children.
“Mommy, tell Johnny to give me back my toy!”
We see other similar stories in scripture. Jephthah was an outcast. Because his mother was a prostitute, his half-brothers chased him from their land. But, when the Ammonites began to war against Israel, the leaders of Gilead sent for Jephthah, requesting his help (Judges 11:4-6). After Jephthah successfully led an army composed of men from the tribes of Gilead and Manasseh and defeated the Ammonites, the tribe of Ephraim voiced their anger. They felt they had been slighted because they were not asked to also fight against the Ammonites (12:1). In truth, they really despised the tribe of Gilead, and Jephthah ended up having to defeat them in battle also.
Why is it that people fight over some of the most petty of things? James says it’s because of “the whole army of evil desires at war within you? You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous for what others have, and you can’t possess it, so you fight and quarrel to take it away from them” (4:1&2). Consequently, even brothers and sisters will fight with one another, friends will fight with one another, and Christians will fight with one another over what one wants but doesn’t have. The people of God should be smarter than that. As Solomon said, “there is a time for war and there is a time for peace” (Ecclesiastes 3:8). May God grant us the wisdom to know the difference between the two.