GET ALL THE INFO BEFORE DELIVERING A MESSAGE

PROCLAMATION

“And Ahimaaz called, and said unto the king, ‘All is well.’  And he fell down to the earth upon his face before the king, and said, ‘Bless be The Lord thy God, which hath delivered up the men that lifted up their hand against my lord the king.  And the king said, ‘Is the young man Absalom safe?’  And Ahimaaz answered, ‘… I know not …’  And the king said unto him, ‘Turn aside, and stand here.  And he turned aside, and stood still.”  2 Samuel 18:28-30 (KJV)

 

EXPLANATION

These words were written under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God after the death of the prophet Samuel by Nathan the prophet and Gad the seer.  In the battle with his son Absalom and the army of Israel, King David instructed each of his three commanders to be gentle with his son.  David’s men routed the Israelite army.  They were not prepared to fight in the forest.  As he fled, Absalom’s long hair got caught in the branches of a large oak tree and his mule kept going leaving him hanging in the tree.  Absalom was proud of his very long hair (2 Samuel 14:25-26) and that vanity played a part in his demise.  Joab’s soldiers found him there and, remembering King David’s words, they would not harm him.  When Joab arrived, after confronting the first soldier to find him, Joab thrusted three spears into his body and then ten of his armor-bearers attacked Absalom and killed him.  Ahimaaz the son of Zadok asked to carry the news of the victory to the king but Joab initially told him no and sent the Cushite runner instead. (2 Samuel 18:19-21)  A little while later Ahimaaz asked again if he could run to the king with the news even though there was no need for him to do so. (2 Samuel 18:22-23)  This time he was allowed to go, and he outran the Cushite and got to the king first, but he could not give a full report.  It was the Cushite who arrived later that told the king his son was dead.

 

APPLICATION

Sometimes in our haste, we go off “half-cocked” without all of the information that we need in order to present the whole story.  The first report of “breaking news” is not always the most accurate and it is usually lacking in specific details.  All too often we give out misinformation because we do not have, or intentionally do not present, all of the facts.  Sometimes we accept what we have heard as the truth and share that with others without bothering to verify the information for ourselves.   We are to also read and study The Bible and verify that which heard is in fact the truth. (2 Timothy 2:15)  Without personally reading and studying The Bible we are relying on the words of others whose message may be missing significant information.