2 Samuel 18:11-17: a reflection

11Joab said to the man who told him, “Behold, you saw it, and why didn’t you strike him there to the ground? I would have given you ten pieces of silver and a sash.” 12The man said to Joab, “Though I should receive a thousand pieces of silver in my hand, I still wouldn’t stretch out my hand against the king’s son; for in our hearing the king commanded you and Abishai and Ittai, saying, ‘Beware that no one touch the young man Absalom.’ 13Otherwise, if I had dealt falsely against his life (and there is no matter hidden from the king), then you yourself would have set yourself against me.” 14Then Joab said, “I’m not going to wait like this with you.” He took three darts in his hand and thrust them through Absalom’s heart while he was still alive in the middle of the oak. 15Ten young men who bore Joab’s armor surrounded and struck Absalom, and killed him. 16Joab blew the trumpet, and the people returned from pursuing after Israel; for Joab held the people back. 17They took Absalom and cast him into a great pit in the forest, and raised over him a very great heap of stones. Then all Israel fled, each to his own tent.

In the battle against Absalom's forces, a soldier spots the fleeing Absalom caught in a tree. He reports it to Joab, David's commander, who rebukes him for not killing Absalom on the spot, offering a reward of silver and a belt. But the soldier refuses, and his reason is telling: even for a thousand pieces of silver, he says, I would not raise my hand against the king's son, for we all heard the king command you and the others to protect the young man Absalom. He would not violate the king's clear command, not for any reward. Joab, by contrast, ignores the command and kills Absalom himself.

Notice the soldier's integrity, and what it cost him. He was offered a reward, urged by his commander, to do what the king had forbidden. Many would have taken the money and done the deed. But the soldier would not; the king's command bound him, and no reward could buy him to violate it. His conscience was not for sale; his obedience to the king's word was worth more to him than silver.

That is a picture of integrity that cannot be bought. We are all, at times, offered rewards, or pressured by others, to do what we know is wrong, to violate a clear command or conviction. The temptation is to take the reward, to yield to the pressure, to do the wrong thing for the gain or to please those urging us. The soldier shows a better way: an integrity that will not be bought, that holds to what is right regardless of reward or pressure. When you are tempted, by reward or by the urging of others, to do what you know is wrong, be like this soldier. Let your integrity not be for sale. Hold to what is right, whatever the reward for abandoning it, and refuse to violate a clear command or conviction for any price.

Lord, when the soldier was offered a reward and urged by his commander to kill Absalom against the king's clear command, he refused, saying that not even for a thousand pieces of silver would he violate it; his integrity was not for sale. Give me that kind of integrity. I am at times offered rewards, or pressured by others, to do what I know is wrong, to violate a clear conviction or command. Keep my conscience from being for sale. When I am tempted by gain or by the urging of others to do wrong, help me hold to what is right, whatever the reward for abandoning it, and refuse to violate my convictions for any price. Let my integrity not be bought. Make me faithful to what is right, regardless of reward or pressure, as that soldier was faithful to his king's command.