Basic HTML Version
death? Yo ur ha ods were not
bound, your feet not thrust into fet–
ters; you fell as one who falls at a
ruffian's hands'" ( II Samo 3:28-34,
excerpts)o
Here David describes the igno–
miny o f terrorist method s and
adroitly forces his guilty general to
mourn for Abner. Yet he could not
depose Joab and his brother Abishai,
the sons of David's sister Zeruiaho
There werc poli tical as well as family
connect ions to considero
Fo ll ow t he accou n t further o
"Everyone throughout Israel knew
on that day that the king had had
no hand in the murder of Abner
son of N ero The king said to his
servants, ' Do you not know that a
warrior, a great man, has fallen this
day in Israel'? King though
1
am,
1
feel weak and powerless in the face
of these ruthless sons of Zeruiah;
they are too much for me
ooo' "
(verses 37-39)0
David was not able to divest him–
self of Joab to the day of his deatho
His one serious attempt to replace
him with Amasa only resulted in
th e latte r 's tragic d emi seo l t
remai ned for Solomon to execute
J oab after David's deceaseo
Another Outbreak of Terrorlsm
Another outbreak of terrorism
marred the story before David's
ascendancy to the kingship of all
I srael at Jerusalemo After Abner's
murder, David 's lament had made
it abundantly clear that he hated
terrorist methodso
But sorne of his own men still
didn't get t he messageo They didn't
perceive the mind of their own chiefo
The gr isly account followso " R echab
and Baanah ooocarne to the house of
l shbosheth [puppet king] in t he heat
of the day and went in, while he was
taking his midday rest. Now the
door-keeper had been sift ing wheat,
but she had grown drowsy and fa llen
asleep, so Rechab and his brother
Baanah crept in, found their way to
the room where he was asleep on the
bed , and struck him deado They cut
o ff his head and took it with
them oooto Hebron" (11 Samo 4:5-7,
excerpts)o
Now notice David's reaction to
this act of terrorism-even when
ostensibly done to further the for–
tunes of his own government. "They
November/ December 1982
brought lshbosheth's head to David
at Hebron and said to the king,
' Here is the head of Ishbosheth son
of Saul, your enemy who sought
your li feo oo.' David answered ooo
'1
seized the man who brought me
word that Saul was dead a nd
thought it good news;
1
killed him in
Ziklago ooo
How much more when
ruffians have killed an innocent
man on his bed in his own house?
Am
1
not to take vengeance on you
now for the blood you have shed,
and rid the earth of you?' David
gave the word, and the young men_
killed them oo o" (verses 8-12,
excerpts)o
The Frlghtening Parallels
The vagaries of human nature have
not changedo The anarchists of
ant iquity used violence to obtain
political and personal endso The
only differences today lie in mass
commuo ications, ad va nces in
science and technology, newfangled
weaponry and the level and style of
such violenceo Joab had no ticking
time bombs or sophisticated two–
stage weapons to carry out his evi l
aimso
But terrorism was roundly con–
demned by those who were even
half-civilized in t he pre-Christian
world just as it is todayo By divine
standard s David's own credentials
were nothing to shout about. Listen
to his own testimony: "
' 1
had
intended to build a house in honour
of the name of the Lord my God;
but the Lord forbade me and said,
" You have shed much blood in my
sight
and waged great wars" ' . oo"
(1 Chrono 22:8)0
Yet all of his life David consis–
tently and zealously resisted terror–
ist activitieso David despised "shed–
ding the blood of war in peaceo" He
always punished the perpetrators of
terrorist acts no matter how long it
tooko
Many s t atesmen today are
expressing tha t same determina–
tiono Said Prime Minister Marga–
ret Thatcher: "These callous and
cowardly crimes have been com–
mitted by brutal and evi l men who
know nothing of democracyo We
shall not rest unti l they are brought
to justiceo" And Shadow Home
Secretary Roy Hattersley sta ted:
" We are absolutely determined
that suc h murderous mayhem shall
not succeedo"
The Ulster question has plagued
the British government and the
peoples of
f
reland for more than a
decad eo And Westminster un–
doubted ly has nnt been without
many faults and mistakes in dealing
with the
1
rish dimensiono But the
editors of
The Plain Truth
take no
political position on the questions
s urro undi ng Nort hern I relando
Tha t is for the parties themselves to
work out.
We do take a strong moral stand
against grievous crimes perpetrated
by terrorists anywhere. Terrorism
can
never
be a valid means for
righting human wrongso
lt
has no
place in any civil izat ion and that
goes double for C hrist ian-profess–
ing nationso
Sure End of Terrorism
" T error ism," said Paul Johnson,
"is the greatest evi l of our age, a
more ser ious threat to our cul ture
and survival than the possibility of
nuclear war, or even the rapid
depletion of the planet's natural
resourceso Civil ization not only has
a right, but a positive and impera–
tive duty to defend itself."
A terrorist always knows when
and where he wi ll strike next. The
author it ies don't always know thiso
How, t hen, can society rid itself of
terrorism?
Not until the time that the king–
dom of God finally arrives to rescue
this troubled world from its self–
inflicted woeso Not until the time
when "they shall beat their swords
into plowshares, and their spears into
pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up
sword against nation, neither shall
they learn war any more" (Isao 2:4,
KJV)o
That time is near! A New Age is
soon to visit this earth. Terrorism
will pass into history because the
present ineffective governments will
all be replaced by the government of
God o You ca n underst a nd by
requesting two free booklets:
The
Wonderful World Tomorrow–
What Jt Will Be Like
and
Just What
Do You Mean- Kingdom ofGod?
Only the kingdom of God can res–
cue this world from the violence and
terror that have beset this world
from tbe beginning of historyo o
41