FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26
Scripture: 2 Samuel 18:9-12

In 2 Samuel 18:9-12, we are told, “Then Absalom met the servants of David. Absalom rode on a mule. The mule went under the thick boughs of a great terebinth tree, and his head caught in the terebinth; so he was left hanging between heaven and earth. And the mule which was under him went on. Now a certain man saw it and told Joab, and said, ‘I just saw Absalom hanging in a terebinth tree!’ So Joab said to the man who told him, ‘You just saw him! And why did you not strike him there to the ground? I would have given you ten shekels of silver and a belt.’ But the man said to Joab, ‘Though I were to receive a thousand shekels of silver in my hand, I would not raise my hand against the king’s son. For in our hearing the king commanded you and Abishai and Ittai, saying, “Beware lest anyone touch the young man Absalom!”’” Absalom found his hair caught in a tree and he was suspended from the earth. When Joab got the report, he could not believe that the man who saw him did not simply strike him and end the war. He would have received a great reward. But King David had commanded everyone, ‘Do not touch Absalom.’ And that was the answer the young man gave Joab. But Joab was a warrior and had a different mindset. He knew exactly what had to be done in order to save the nation and the king!