Absalom
As I was going through my study today in 1 Corinthians 5 meditating on what Paul termed as grave sin found in the church at Corinth. "...and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is sleeping with his father’s wife..hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh..." the holy spirit brought to my remeberance the story of other bible characters that had also committed this heinous act before and the consequences that befell them.Today we look at the most handsome man in all Israel Absalom. David's son.
Absalom was David’s third son, after Amnon and Daniel. At the time of his plot to overthrown his father, Absalom was probably the most likely next king.
Amnon, the firstborn, was dead; Daniel Abigail's son might not have survived childhood (or he died in a later battle) since he wasn’t mentioned beyond having been born to David in Hebron (see 1 Chronicles 3:1-9).
So Absalom didn’t have to plot for the throne. He could have just waited.
On the other hand, it’s possible Absalom never had a chance after killing Amnon. Remember the brother who was infatuated over his half sister Tamar who was Absoloms younger sister and slept with her after faking illness? (If not look up for that story on the page). Perhaps the years of exile from Israel, followed by more years of being excluding from court, led Absalom to believe that David would never willingly hand him the throne, even after death.
A four-year conspiracy to take the throne by ‘stealing the hearts’ of Israel started: every time I read this it gets me thinking...What manner of patience?!
2 Samuel 15:2-4 [Absalom ] got up early every morning and went out to the gate of the city. When people brought a case to the king for judgment, Absalom would ask where in Israel they were from, and they would tell him their tribe. Then Absalom would say, ‘You’ve really got a strong case here! It’s too bad the king doesn’t have anyone to hear it. I wish I were the judge. Then everyone could bring their cases to me for judgment, and I would give them justice!’
It worked.
It suggests David had lost touch with the people of Israel: why else would Absalom’s judging be so attractive? Even more to the point, how could Absalom do this for four years and not be found out?
It was only when Absalom called his supporters together and marched on Jerusalem that someone thought to tell David, and all he could do was flee with his closest supporters.
Even though it was at least 11 years after David took Bathsheba, Nathan’s words of God’s judgement would have had to have been in David’s mind as he fled Jerusalem:
2 Samuel 12:11-12 This is what the Lord says: Because of what you have done, I will cause your own household to rebel against you. I will give your wives to another man before your very eyes, and he will go to bed with them in public view. You did it secretly, but I will make this happen to you openly in the sight of all Israel.
As he fled, David refused the priests’ offer to leave Jerusalem with him:
15:25-26 Then the king instructed Zadok to take the Ark of God back into the city. ‘If the Lord sees fit’, David said, ‘he will bring me back to see the Ark and the Tabernacle again. But if he is through with me, then let him do what seems best to him.’
As Shimei cursed David, throwing insults, stones and dirt at him, his words were perhaps more stinging than they otherwise would have been:
15:7-8 Get out of here, you murderer, you scoundrel! … The Lord is paying you back for all the bloodshed in Saul’s clan. You stole his throne, and now the Lord has given it to your son Absalom. At last you will taste some of your own medicine, for you are a murderer!
David had murdered Uriah the Hittite, and he knew it. It might explain why David was unwilling to take action against Shimei.
15:11-12 … My own son is trying to kill me. Doesn’t this relative of Saul have even more reason to do so? Leave him alone and let him curse, for the Lord has told him to do it. And perhaps the Lord will see that I am being wronged and will bless me because of these curses today.
Now David was willing to fight for his own life, why would he flee otherwise? But he wasn’t willing to fight God for the throne. This appears to be a real difference between him and Saul.
2 Samuel 16:20-22 Absalom said to Ahithophel, “Give us your advice. What should we do?” Ahithophel answered, “Sleep with your father’s concubines whom he left to take care of the palace. Then all Israel will hear that you have made yourself obnoxious to your father, and the hands of everyone with you will be more resolute.” So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, and he slept with his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel.
Wait! What?! Absalom basically slept with his fathers ten concubines which you know were in actual sense more like David's "wives" or in other words Absalom step mom's in broad day light right at the palace rooftop before all Israel! Chaii.....Abomination!
The fact that this punishment takes place on the very roof where David had first yielded to his guilty passion makes it particularly striking.
We’re not told what David’s response was when Absalom took David’s concubines, in what was a very literal fulfillment of Nathan’s judgement, but Ahithophel’s advice to do that was possibly based on his knowledge of the affair. Having Absalom act in that way might have been aimed at not only enraging David (as stated) but also to dispirit David and his troops through an overwhelming display of the intent of God as Ahithophel tried to present it.
When David returned home after the tragic death of his rebel son, he took the ten concubines Absalom had outraged and kept them in pleasant captivity as “widows” or in “the widowhood of life,” having no further sexual contact with them.
As I was going through my study today in 1 Corinthians 5 meditating on what Paul termed as grave sin found in the church at Corinth. "...and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is sleeping with his father’s wife..hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh..." the holy spirit brought to my remeberance the story of other bible characters that had also committed this heinous act before and the consequences that befell them.Today we look at the most handsome man in all Israel Absalom. David's son.
Absalom was David’s third son, after Amnon and Daniel. At the time of his plot to overthrown his father, Absalom was probably the most likely next king.
Amnon, the firstborn, was dead; Daniel Abigail's son might not have survived childhood (or he died in a later battle) since he wasn’t mentioned beyond having been born to David in Hebron (see 1 Chronicles 3:1-9).
So Absalom didn’t have to plot for the throne. He could have just waited.
On the other hand, it’s possible Absalom never had a chance after killing Amnon. Remember the brother who was infatuated over his half sister Tamar who was Absoloms younger sister and slept with her after faking illness? (If not look up for that story on the page). Perhaps the years of exile from Israel, followed by more years of being excluding from court, led Absalom to believe that David would never willingly hand him the throne, even after death.
A four-year conspiracy to take the throne by ‘stealing the hearts’ of Israel started: every time I read this it gets me thinking...What manner of patience?!
2 Samuel 15:2-4 [Absalom ] got up early every morning and went out to the gate of the city. When people brought a case to the king for judgment, Absalom would ask where in Israel they were from, and they would tell him their tribe. Then Absalom would say, ‘You’ve really got a strong case here! It’s too bad the king doesn’t have anyone to hear it. I wish I were the judge. Then everyone could bring their cases to me for judgment, and I would give them justice!’
It worked.
It suggests David had lost touch with the people of Israel: why else would Absalom’s judging be so attractive? Even more to the point, how could Absalom do this for four years and not be found out?
It was only when Absalom called his supporters together and marched on Jerusalem that someone thought to tell David, and all he could do was flee with his closest supporters.
Even though it was at least 11 years after David took Bathsheba, Nathan’s words of God’s judgement would have had to have been in David’s mind as he fled Jerusalem:
2 Samuel 12:11-12 This is what the Lord says: Because of what you have done, I will cause your own household to rebel against you. I will give your wives to another man before your very eyes, and he will go to bed with them in public view. You did it secretly, but I will make this happen to you openly in the sight of all Israel.
As he fled, David refused the priests’ offer to leave Jerusalem with him:
15:25-26 Then the king instructed Zadok to take the Ark of God back into the city. ‘If the Lord sees fit’, David said, ‘he will bring me back to see the Ark and the Tabernacle again. But if he is through with me, then let him do what seems best to him.’
As Shimei cursed David, throwing insults, stones and dirt at him, his words were perhaps more stinging than they otherwise would have been:
15:7-8 Get out of here, you murderer, you scoundrel! … The Lord is paying you back for all the bloodshed in Saul’s clan. You stole his throne, and now the Lord has given it to your son Absalom. At last you will taste some of your own medicine, for you are a murderer!
David had murdered Uriah the Hittite, and he knew it. It might explain why David was unwilling to take action against Shimei.
15:11-12 … My own son is trying to kill me. Doesn’t this relative of Saul have even more reason to do so? Leave him alone and let him curse, for the Lord has told him to do it. And perhaps the Lord will see that I am being wronged and will bless me because of these curses today.
Now David was willing to fight for his own life, why would he flee otherwise? But he wasn’t willing to fight God for the throne. This appears to be a real difference between him and Saul.
2 Samuel 16:20-22 Absalom said to Ahithophel, “Give us your advice. What should we do?” Ahithophel answered, “Sleep with your father’s concubines whom he left to take care of the palace. Then all Israel will hear that you have made yourself obnoxious to your father, and the hands of everyone with you will be more resolute.” So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, and he slept with his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel.
Wait! What?! Absalom basically slept with his fathers ten concubines which you know were in actual sense more like David's "wives" or in other words Absalom step mom's in broad day light right at the palace rooftop before all Israel! Chaii.....Abomination!
The fact that this punishment takes place on the very roof where David had first yielded to his guilty passion makes it particularly striking.
We’re not told what David’s response was when Absalom took David’s concubines, in what was a very literal fulfillment of Nathan’s judgement, but Ahithophel’s advice to do that was possibly based on his knowledge of the affair. Having Absalom act in that way might have been aimed at not only enraging David (as stated) but also to dispirit David and his troops through an overwhelming display of the intent of God as Ahithophel tried to present it.
When David returned home after the tragic death of his rebel son, he took the ten concubines Absalom had outraged and kept them in pleasant captivity as “widows” or in “the widowhood of life,” having no further sexual contact with them.
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