It does not take long for the lie and deceit of David to begin to destroy his own family relationships. In 2 Samuel 13, we begin a section of the Book of 2 Samuel that is concerned with the succession plans, but these plans are born out of the blood, Uriah's blood and the blood of David's own family.
We are told that David's oldest son, Amnon, the heir to the throne, is infatuated with his sister by a different mother, Tamar, who is the sister of Absalom, the third in line to the throne. Amnon is able to hold his lust in check until his servant, Jonadab, presents a plan. Amon listens, and feigns being ill. When his father, David, comes to see him, Amnon requests that his sister, Tamar, be sent to care for him. So David sends Tamar to Amnon.
In much the same way that David's lust drew him to Bathsheba, so Amnon's lust leads him to rape Tamar. Tamar realizes what Amnon is suggesting is wrong, she appeals to her as a brother as well as moral person. Finally she admits that if this is what Amnon truly wants, all he needs to ask is for David's permission for surely David would not withhold her from his heir. (Not exactly comforting to know.) But Amnon will hear none of it, he takes Tamar by force and rapes her.
Tamar, in further humiliation, is tossed out on the streets. Absalom comes to her aid, takes her in and then informs David. David is angry, David who has killed for less does nothing. David, in this moment, in impotent to take appropriate action and while he saves blood in his inaction, he lays the groundwork for even greater bloodshed because he does not act justly.
Absalom, however, will not sit back idly. He does bid his time, though, and when the right opportunity arises, he has servants kill Amnon, much the same way David had his servants kill Uriah. (A family systems theorist would have a field day with this.) David at first hears that all his sons have been killed, but then reports come that only Amnon is killed. Absalom, realizing he is probably in a lot of trouble flees to his relatives for protection. While David mourns Amnon's death, he also yearns for Absalom. Again, his inaction will lead to even great bloodshed.
Joab, ever the faithful servant, senses David's unease at Absalom's exile and devises a way to bring him home in 2 Samuel 14. In much the same way that Nathan presents David's guilt over Bethsheba, Joab and a "wise woman" present a case by which the blood guilt of a son be lifted so that the family may continue. David and the woman have an exchange whereby David is forced to recognize that Absalom may be brought home without it being a loss of face.
Joab is sent to bring Absalom home, but not everything is fixed. Absalom may not come to the king, but basically is placed under house arrest. Absalom seeks to get around this and summons Joab who does not respond until Absalom sets Joab's fields on fire. Joab comes and Absalom convinces him to take him David. Absalom kneels before David and David forgives him.
While it might seem that Absalom is only seeking forgiveness, this is only part of his plan. Absalom wants the throne!
1 Corinthians 6
Paul is now on a role! He will not be stopped. Just as he criticized the community for not acting to remove one from the community who was involved in an incestuous behavior, now he takes the community to task for not truly living as a community.
In the action of taking one another to court, over trivial items, the Corinthian church has refused to be responsible for one another. To take a "brother" to court means that the "family", the community has been torn asunder, it means that the needed mutual dependence and mutual responsibility of a community has been avoided and instead decision making has been given over to "outsiders", the unclean of the world.
Again, Paul jibes the Corinthian community, "What's the matter, no one is smart enough to make a decision in the disputes?" For a community that was claiming to be wise, the fact that they could not find someone within the community to help the process was damming. Furthermore, it was an established fact that the civil judicial system of the day always favored the rich over the poor, and the Christian community was not supposed to be split in such a manner. Rich and poor were called to live together, for each other. This is not what the church was doing.
Paul closes this section with a final criticism of the "freedom" that the Corinthians have taken for themselves in the name of the Gospel; they claim, "I am free to do anything". Not so says Paul. You are free to worship the Lord and recognize that all that we do is for the Lord. While this is freedom, it comes with a boundary that means are actions a limited to that which will bring glory to God and not ourselves.
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