📅 Parenting lessons from David – Daily Bible Reading

June 23, 2022

Today’s reading: 2 Samuel 14:24

Parenting lessons from David

We read in 2 Samuel 14:24:

24 And the king said, “Let him return to his own house, but do not let him see my face.” So Absalom returned to his own house, but did not see the king’s face.

Looking at the life of David and his family, we can learn a lot from him in terms of parenting.

One, polygamy is disastrous for children. We read how David had at least eight wives and at least 20 children. David might have been a great king, but he wasn’t a great father to all his children.

It is virtually impossible to emotionally fulfill David’s parental duties to every single one of his children. Inevitably, David will develop favoritism and neglect others. Aside from his family, he was also a king who was busy managing, defending, and expanding the nation’s territory.

Two, discipline is an important part of parenting. We can see how David failed in this regard. Amnon just raped his half-sister. The best that David could do was just become very angry. Under Israel’s law, rape is punishable by death. As a result, the bitterness in Absalom’s heart was sown and eventually led to bigger problems.

Three, parents should seek reconciliation. Absalom’s estrangement from David could have been solved or at least minimized if David should have reached out to Absalom. However, their half-hearted reconciliation took years to happen.

Being a parent isn’t an easy job. It demands a lot of time, energy, and conscious effort. Thankfully, we have the written Word of God to guide us and may we learn these parenting lessons from David’s life.


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