O Absalom, My Son, My Son!

DAVID WAS NOT a good father. That’s obvious from the way his own children treated each other—and him.Sometimes, kids turn out badly despite their parents’ best efforts. David seems to have been unable to discipline his sons. Amnon, his eldest, raped his half-sister, Tamar, and was murdered by David’s second son, Absalom. After a few years in exile, he returned to Jerusalem and began plotting to overthrow David, who, as we read last week, fled Jerusalem to spare the city the devastation of war. This week, we read that Absalom, on the advice of David’s former counselor Ahitophel, “went in” to David’s concubines—a crass but very blunt message to Israel that the old man was powerless to stop Absalom from taking over. But God foiled the plans of Absalom, Ahitophel, and the unseen principalities and powers that schemed to hijack the House of David. In a battle that probably took place east of the Jordan River, Absalom was undone by his pride and his long, flowing hair. And tragically, even though Absalom’s rebellion led to a civil war that claimed the lives of 20,000 men, David grieved more for Absalom than for those who had risked and lost their lives in David’s defense.