Lack of Action

May 19, 2009

Today's Reading: 2 Samuel 13-14 and Mark 12

The reading today in the book of Mark tells of a story of tenants. This one owner sends servants to collect, but they just keep getting beat up. I’m not certain why he feels a need to do this again, but he does it again until he sends his son, believing his flesh and blood would be respected.

This was, of course, not so. Instead, they killed son so they could inherit the land. Sure enough, the owner gets mad and goes all medieval on their butts.

Some of you might find that the owner’s actions deplorable, that he really should have known better than to send more servants when it didn’t work the first time. All I have to say is that at least something was done.

I have read the story about Amnon and Tamar before, as well as Absalom’s involvement in it. What I can’t understand is why David didn’t do anything. It says that he was furious, but it doesn’t say that he sent for Tamar, or punished him, or anything. Is it any wonder why Absalom took the law in his own hands.

Granted, Absalom did some pretty stupid things, but I will have to say that I understand his motivation. His sister had been violated, and the king didn’t seem to do a thing.

I understand Absalom like I understand, Magneto, the villain in the X-men films. In the first film, Magneto is seen as a child in a concentration camp. He grew up believing that people with his powers would always be persecuted, and that tolerance would never outshine people’s general prejudice. Oddly enough, I actually felt a great sympathy toward the villain in this film, because I can understand his frustration in the general system.

Of course, by the time we got to X3, Magneto is a complete monster, willing to sacrifice his followers on a whim. I didn’t like the third X-men movie, because I felt Magneto was too much of a villain.

And yet Absalom became a monster, sleeping with David’s wives, simply because he had the power to do so.

There is no way that I can absolve Absalom for what he did, but this is what the heck happens when people who are in power don’t do justice. Eventually, it becomes down to a sin of omission that turns quickly into another’s sin of commission.

Why didn’t David act? Wasn’t he told that something like this would happen? Sure, hindsight is 20/20, but this should have been seen.