II SAMUEL 18 Lesson # 20
PUBLIC TRIUMPH, PRIVATE TRAGEDY
I. Introduction:
Q In the last few weeks we have seen David running from whom?
An = His own son Absalom, who wishes to be king in his place. This is the son David has pardoned, against his better judgment, and forgiven for the murder of his other son: Amnon.
Q Is it just the lust for power that motivates Absalom to supplant his father?
An = No, there are other motives as well. David did not bring justice for Absalom’s sister when she was raped, even though David was king and therefore high justice of the land. Absalom took the law into his own hands and murdered Amnon. In a twisted sort of way, Absalom no doubt blamed David for his (Absalom’s) crimes. Absalom has no remorse for his actions (14:32) and though David has allowed Absalom to return to Israel, and finally to the King’s presence, Absalom still harbors hatred. Therefore, in the beginning of chapter 15 (15:3), Absalom tarnishes his dad’s reputation by saying that little justice could be found at the court of King David. He is, no doubt, acting out his anger for David’s lack of justice for his sister, which forced him to act on his sister’s behalf.
Q Does David hate Absalom?
An = No, he does not (13:39). Perhaps, he also feels that his own lack of swift justice against Amnon’s sexual impropriety was paralyzed because of his own sexual impropriety (adultery with Bathsheba). On the one hand, you have a son hating the father and willing to lie about his character (15:3), betray him, start a coup against his father’s government, degrade his father’s honor (16:21-22), and destroy him (17:2-4). On the other hand, you have a father who still loves his son. David leaves Jerusalem weeping, not in a rage (15:30). David is a warrior who acts, not weeps, when faced with mortal danger.
Note: It is with these thoughts in mind that we enter into the final confrontation of David’s forces and Absalom’s forces.
II. The Battle and Death of Absalom: II Samuel 18:1-18.
>>>> Have some one read II Samuel 18:1-5.
Q Why didn’t David go out to battle with his troops?
An = His troops did not want him to come. Athithophel had wisely known that the death of David would end the matter in favor of Absalom (17:3) and David’s men are aware of that as well.
Note: David agrees to listen to his troops. Notice, in contrast, that Absalom observes no such caution (Gordon, p. 283) but has listened to Hushai’s advice to enter the battle himself (17:11). Hushai’s advice will seem more and more ominous as the account goes on.
Q What is David’s final request or statement to the troops?
An = Deal gently with the “young man” Absalom for my sake. David uses a curious term: “young man”. The justification for his request is consideration of himself.
Everyone hears this says our narrator.
>>>> Have someone read II Samuel 18:6-8.
Q Did the narrator take long to describe the battle? How many verses were used?
An = Only three. More time was taken just to show the troops leaving (five) than to describe the decisive blow that shattered Absalom’s regal hopes. Twice the space will be used to describe something else (Gordon, p. 283).
Note: It appears that nature works for David’s troops. Some scholars speculate that David was allowed to pick the terrain for the battle and use it to neutralize Absalom’s greater numbers (C.f. McCarter, p. 405). The aspect of nature working on behalf of David’s fortunes seems to appear again in what follows….
>>>> Have someone read II Samuel 18:9.
Q What prevented Absalom from fleeing David’s men after a chance meeting?
An = The forest. Either Absalom got his head caught in the branches or his hair got entangled in the tree and he was left suspended in mid-air.
Note: The rabbis long interpreted Absalom’s mid-air suspension to be because of his long hair (14:26). For them, the vanity and pride of his appearance was used to bring about his undoing. The text does not say it was Absalom’s hair that caused him to be caught in the tree, but it is certainly reasonable to infer this.
Note: The text is clear about Absalom being dislodged from his mule. A mule was a royal mount. The text wants us to see that Absalom was loosing his grip on royal status.
Note: Brueggemann, believes that Absalom’s suspension between the earth and heaven means more than his physical condition, but also refers to his suspension between life and death, between the value of a rebel and the value of a son.
He is clearly vulnerable, defenseless, without no room to politically plot, or devise his future (p. 319). He is now in the hands of others and the one who would have saved him was not present in the battle. The man who would not forgive, but sought the safety of revenge, was left vulnerable to what his pride did to him.
>>>> Have someone read II Samuel 18:10-13.
Q Why was the unidentified solder not willing to kill Absalom, the leader of the rebellion?
An = He knew two things. The clear instructions of the king and the untrustworthiness of Joab. He wanted neither the silver nor the “warrior belt”.
>>>> Have someone read II Samuel 18:14-15.
Q Who actually kills Absalom?
An = It appears that Joab’s retainers did the job. The text makes it appear Joab struck Absalom while he was suspended, with three “darts” or three “sticks”. There are two possible understandings here that harmonize the two verses. Joab struck Absalom with sticks until he fell into the grasp of the ten retainers or amour-bearers, or that Joab drew blood with darts that marked Absalom out for the ten men to finish him off (see McCarter, p. 407). Joab could then say no one man killed Absalom.
In any case, Joab is certainly responsible for Absalom’s death.
>>>> Have someone read II Samuel 18:16-18.
Q Why does Joab restrain his troops?
An = Probably for the same reason Joab killed Absalom: political expediency. He, like the wise Athithophel, knew there was no future in creating a permanent hostile segment of the population. He showed mercy to his fellow Israelites.
Note: Absalom’s sons had probably preceded him death, which might account for their names not being given in 14:27 and the fact that he felt he needed a monument to keep his memory alive. His actual burial place though was anything but an honorable sight.
>>>> Have someone read Joshua 10:26-27.
>>>> Have someone read Deuteronomy 21:23.
Note: Absalom’s hanging and burial place marked with a heap of stones were not great or honorable ways to die in Israelite society. Such humiliating circumstances were later to be applied to the most noble of all Israel’s sons. One who was innocent of all crimes and was also killed as a traitor but legally cleared of such charges before his death.
III. The Report of the News: 18:19-32.
>>>> Have someone read II Samuel 18:19-23.
Q Why does Joab not want Ahimaaz to run with the news?
An = Joab knows David and that the victory coupled with Absalom’s death will not be received well. Joab appears to like Ahimaaz and only reluctantly lets him run after he warns him that there will be “no reward”.
Note: Ahimaaz appears to be a typical “impulsive” youth. He wants to run!
>>>> Have someone read II Samuel 18:24-27.
Note: Three times (18:25,26,27) David hears reports and puts a good face on everything the watchman reports. David puts a positive “spin” on everything reported. He seems to be hoping against hope that the news is good. What David wants we are not told, but the author has brilliantly showed us a man amazingly taunt and hopeful. What is he is hopeful for we are kept in suspense.
>>>> Have someone read II Samuel 18:28-32.
Q After the report of battle victory is given by each runner what does David really want to know?
An = The fate of his son Absalom. He wants to know the fate of the rebel, the traitor, the hater, the murderer of Amnon: He wants to know the fate of his son.
Note: Even when fathers watch their sons go bad, they are still their sons. When fathers are betrayed or hated by their sons, it is still their sons that are doing the betraying or hating. David is a deep and good man. He still loves Absalom.
Note: The Bible lets us see, via masterful literary technique, the aching, anxious heart of a father. The battle is described in three short verses. The author takes fifteen verses to describe the news and its affect on a father.
>>>> Have someone read II Samuel 18:33.
Q David calls Absalom, by what term, five times?
An = my son! That sums it all up. He sounds the name of that whom he loved, and still loves. Absalom is not a traitor, not a seducer, not greedy for power, to David Absalom is “my son”.
Q Do we weep for our betrayers and those who hate us like this?
An = This is the ultimate challenge to a youth minister or pastor.
>>>> Have someone read Luke 23:34.