5 Smooth Stones

Chapter Twenty-Five

ABSALOM—A BETRAYAL OF TRUST

A bsalom was Judas before Judas was. Washington had his Arnold, Caesar had his Brutus, Leonidas had his Ephialtes, Tecumseh had his Tenskwatawa, Jesus had his Judas, and David had his Absalom. Betrayal is the test of regents and patriarchs. It hides in the gates of delegated authority, lurks as the pretense of friend and family, betrays the foundational trust with greed as its power and death as its source. Often springing from perceived wounds or slights or the natural progression of gifting, but without grace or gratitude. Those in authority may have the test that David did with his son Absalom, a betrayal of trust that jeopardizes the kingdom, the business or the ministry. God Almighty experienced betrayal and treason in the garden, and it has been a companion to mankind ever since. Strong cities, nations and tribes have succumbed to its deception either blindly or in disbelief. It may not be totally avoided, but its disastrous e ff ects may be circumvented through wisdom and discernment (2 Corinthians 2:11). Cicero said “A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear. The traitor is the plague.” King David himself expressed similar: Psalms 55:12: “For it is not an enemy who reproaches me; Then I could bear it. Nor is it one who hates me who has exalted himself against me; Then I could hide from him. 13 But it was you, a man my equal, My companion and my acquaintance. 14 We took sweet counsel

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