0202. His Immediate Environment

His Immediate Environment

"Absalom prepared him chariots and horses, and fifty men to run before him" (2Sa_15:1).

1. It is easy to grasp the meaning of our key verse. Absalom was reared in the midst of palatial glories. His father David had quite a different early training–David had been a shepherd lad, tending the sheep of his father Jesse.

The children of luxuriant wealth are too often wholly unprepared for the hard battles of life. They give themselves over to living deliciously; they pamper their hearts in a day of slaughter.

Poverty and toil helps to put iron into the blood; ease and lounging helps to make vitiate every fiber of the being.

Absalom was a sport. He prepared him chariots and fifty men to run before him. He utilized the position and wealth of his father to feed his lustings for self-glory.

Absalom failed utterly to surmount the natural tendencies of his environment. He rather allowed his environment to sweep him along, step by step, in its rushing, until he had lost all sense of sobriety and righteousness.

2. Special notice should be given to the associates of this young man, Absalom. He had fifty men to run before him. These and others had great influence in forming Absalom’s character.

Every youth needs to carefully guard his associates. Some Scriptures just here, are well worth considering:

Pro_1:10 : "My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not."

Pro_4:14-15 : "Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men."

Psa_1:1-2 : "Blessed is the man who walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful."

Eph_5:11 : "And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness."

"Shun evil companions,

Bad language disdain,

God’s name hold in reverence

Nor take it in vain."

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR