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大卫登基作王多年之后，他的儿子当中的一个，押沙龙尝试夺取王位，押沙龙宣称自己是王，他招聚了一群人跟从他。

大卫在位时曾犯下若干严重的罪行。例如，他夺了另一个男人的妻子拔示巴，并且设计谋杀了她的丈夫。大卫悔罪后，尽管神赦免了他，但并非每一个人都能忘记大卫所作的恶事。（参撒下 11-12）

大卫也是一个不合格的父亲。由于他有几个妻子，他的子女有些是同父异母的兄弟姊妹。有一天，大卫的儿子暗嫩玷辱了同父异母的妹妹他玛，而他玛则是押沙龙的同胞妹妹。大卫发怒，但却不采取任何行动。事过一段时间之后，押沙龙便杀了暗嫩，然后逃跑了。（参撒下 13）

现今押沙龙发动了政变，而大卫所信赖的一个谋士亚希多弗，也跟从了押沙龙，这是出于什么原因呢？亚希多弗似乎是拔示巴的祖父。（参撒下 11:3，23:34）果真如此的话，亚希多弗又怎能轻易忘记昔日大卫怎样对待他的孙女呢？

大卫从自己的所作所为获得深刻教训。纵观回顾，错误的选择给他带来很多痛苦的后果。然而，我们不要容让事情恶化，我们可以转向神祈求赦免，又努力去饶恕别人，就像主饶恕我们一样。

After David had been king for many years, one of his sons, Absalom, tried to take over. Absalom declared himself king and built up a following.

David had committed some terrible sins while he was king. For example, he took another man's wife, Bathsheba, and had her husband killed. And although God forgave David when he repented, not everyone forgot what David had done (see 2 Samuel 11-12).

David had also been a terrible father. Because he had several wives, some of his children were half-brothers and half-sisters. One day David's son Amnon raped his half-sister Tamar, the full sister of Absalom. David was furious but did nothing about it. Then, awhile later, Absalom killed Amnon and ran away (2 Samuel 13).

Now Absalom was staging a coup—and one of David's trusted advisers, Ahithophel, had joined Absalom. Why? It seems that Ahithophel may have been Bathsheba's grandfather (see 2 Samuel 11:3;23:34). If that was the case, could Ahithophel easily forget what David had done to his granddaughter?

David learned many lessons from the deeds he had done. The consequences of wrongdoing can be painful, on all sides. But instead of making things worse, we can turn to God and ask for forgiveness, and we can work to forgive as the Lord forgives us.