Mourning The Death Of Saul

I fininshed reading Luke a while back and am now in 2 Samuel. There are some interesting passages there about David's reaction to the death of Saul, the death of Saul's commander Abner, and the death of Saul's son Ish-bosheth (see 2 Samuel 1, 3 and 4). David had been anointed king by Samuel, who was obeying God's command to anoint David to replace the disobedient Saul. When Saul saw that the Lord was with David, he feared and envied him, and made his life miserable for over ten years, driving David out into the wilderness and repeatedly trying to kill him.

Eventually Saul died in battle. When David heard the news, he wept. In fact, when the remaining men of power and influence in Saul's house were removed by trickery, David reacted with grief and anger toward those who murdered them.

I found this to be very interesting. When I first left the abusive church I described in my blog, TH in SoC, there were some others who left at the same time who were constantly talking about the need to pray for the leaders of that church, that they might repent. The concern of those who were urging prayer was not that our leaders might otherwise continue to do harm to anyone or pose a danger to anyone, for at the time we left, our church disintegrated, along with many of its satellite churches. It largely ceased to be a danger to anyone. Our “leaders” were neutered, having become “ex-leaders.”

But those who were urging prayer for these men did so out of a genuine care and concern for them. Now there was something. I found that I really couldn't work myself up to any kind of care and concern for them, having been jacked, led astray and continually humiliated by them over a period of many years. And in fact, most of them haven't really repented in any true sense of the word. They haven't come clean about their behavior toward those they led, their abuse of power, their cover-up of abuse and of activities that were probably criminal and that they probably knew to be criminal, and their high-handedness toward the rest of us.

Based on their track record to date, I don't really expect our leaders to become repentant while they are still alive on earth. I certainly don't expect our former head honcho to become repentant. What I expect instead is that on the day of judgment, they all will be basted with napalm and set on the great barbecue grill of eternity. I have to confess that I have derived quite a bit of satisfaction from that thought, especially when I consider the ongoing costs I am still bearing from my involvement with them.

Yet here's David, who had a right to be angry at Saul, yet who mourned over his death. David's mourning is an indicator that he had longed for Saul's repentance and restoration. David had longed to have Abner as a friend, and even to reconcile Ish-bosheth to himself. David is an early example of Christ-likeness. I, on the other hand, have a long way to go. Guess I'd better take the first step...

P.S. Borz Loma Nal has also written a blog post about forgiving abusive church leaders. It can be found here: Forgiving Others.

P.P.S. I still believe that although we are commanded to forgive others, that doesn't mean that we are to associate with people who are abusive, yet unrepentant. Before they can have companions, they must show themselves to be safe. "Bring forth fruits in keeping with repentance..." as the Good Book says.