Revenge Planned and Executed

2 Samuel 13:23-39
    23 And it came to pass, after two full years, that Absalom had sheepshearers in Baal Hazor, which is near Ephraim; so Absalom invited all the king's sons. 24 Then Absalom came to the king and said, “Kindly note, your servant has sheepshearers; please, let the king and his servants go with your servant.”  25 But the king said to Absalom, “No, my son, let us not all go now, lest we be a burden to you.” Then he urged him, but he would not go; and he blessed him.  26 Then Absalom said, “If not, please let my brother Amnon go with us.”  And the king said to him, “Why should he go with you?” 27 But Absalom urged him; so he let Amnon and all the king's sons go with him.
    28 Now Absalom had commanded his servants, saying, “Watch now, when Amnon's heart is merry with wine, and when I say to you, ‘Strike Amnon!’ then kill him. Do not be afraid. Have I not commanded you? Be courageous and valiant.” 29 So the servants of Absalom did to Amnon as Absalom had commanded. Then all the king's sons arose, and each one got on his mule and fled.
    30 And it came to pass, while they were on the way, that news came to David, saying, “Absalom has killed all the king's sons, and not one of them is left!” 31 So the king arose and tore his garments and lay on the ground, and all his servants stood by with their clothes torn. 32 Then Jonadab the son of Shimeah, David's brother, answered and said, “Let not my lord suppose they have killed all the young men, the king's sons, for only Amnon is dead. For by the command of Absalom this has been determined from the day that he forced his sister Tamar. 33 Now therefore, let not my lord the king take the thing to his heart, to think that all the king's sons are dead. For only Amnon is dead.”
    34 Then Absalom fled. And the young man who was keeping watch lifted his eyes and looked, and there, many people were coming from the road on the hillside behind him. 35 And Jonadab said to the king, “Look, the king's sons are coming; as your servant said, so it is.” 36 So it was, as soon as he had finished speaking, that the king's sons indeed came, and they lifted up their voice and wept. Also the king and all his servants wept very bitterly.
    37 But Absalom fled and went to Talmai the son of Ammihud, king of Geshur. And David mourned for his son every day. 38 So Absalom fled and went to Geshur, and was there three years. 39 And King David longed to go to Absalom. For he had been comforted concerning Amnon, because he was dead.

The revenge for Absalom’s sister’s rape on his half-brother took over two years of planning and waiting for the moment to execute.  Absalom invited his father the king and all his sons to go with him under the guise of attending a sheep-shearing festival.  David refused, but also did not want Amnon to go, which may have been because he suspected something in the back of his mind.  David knew what Amnon had done to Tamar two years ago, and possibly did not trust Absalom’s request.  Either way, all the sons went and helped kill Amnon in vengeance for his rape of their sister.  There was a false report at first that they all were killed, until all returned but Absalom and Amnon.  The brother of David told him of the determined and premeditated killing of Amnon, as well as the safe return of all the other brothers.  Absalom ran away and the king mourned his lost sons, one dead and the other who fled.  This entire episode in king David’s life was a direct result of his own sin with Uriah and Bathsheba, for his murder of Uriah resulted in more than the death of that newborn child; it also brought the prophet’s curse on his family to set brother against brother and him as well (2 Samuel 12:10).  This clearly shows that vengeance is the LORD’s, not ours, to take, and murder to avenge a wrong does not make anything right, for it is yet another sin piled on a previous one.  This is why we have laws and governments to provide justice and not vengeance (Romans 13:4).  If we take justice into our own hands, we face God’s and the consequences of our own lawlessness. May we learn not to plan and execute revenge on anyone who wrongs us or our family, but trust justice to God in His time through the means He has put in place over us all.