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In Christ, Mark
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In the course of time, Absalom provided himself with a chariot and horses and with fifty men to run ahead of him. He would get up early and stand by the side of the road leading to the city gate. Whenever anyone came with a complaint to be placed before the king for a decision, Absalom would call out to him, "What town are you from?"
He would answer, "Your servant is from one of the tribes of Israel."
Then Absalom would say to him, "Look, your claims are valid and proper but there is no representative of the king to hear you." And Absalom would add, "If only I were appointed judge in the land! Then everyone who has a complaint or case could come to me and I would see that he gets justice."
Also, whenever anyone approached him to bow down before him, Absalom would reach out his hand, take hold of him, and kiss him. Absalom behaved in this way toward all the Israelites who came to the king asking for justice and so he stole the hearts of the men of Israel.
At the end of four years, Absalom said to the king, "Let me go to Hebron and fulfill a vow I made to the Lord. While your servant was living at Geshur in Aram, I made this vow: 'If the Lord takes me back to Jerusalem, I will worship the Lord in Hebron.'"
The king said to him, "Go in peace."
So he went to Hebron.
Then Absalom sent secret messengers throughout the tribes of Israel to say, "As soon as you hear the sound of the trumpets, then say, 'Absalom is king in Hebron.'"
Two hundred men from Jerusalem had accompanied Absalom. They had been invited as guests and went quite innocently, knowing nothing about the matter. While Absalom was offering sacrifices, he also sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David's counselor, to come from Giloh, his hometown. And so the conspiracy gained strength and Absalom's following kept on increasing.
A messenger came and told David, "The hearts of the men of Israel are with Absalom." Then David said to all his officials who were with him in Jerusalem, "Come! We must flee or none of us will escape from Absalom. We must leave immediately or he will move quickly to overtake us and bring ruin upon us and put the city to the sword."
The king's officials answered him, "Your servants are ready to do whatever our lord the king chooses."
The king set out with his entire household following him; but he left ten concubines to take care of the palace. So the king set out with all the people following him and they halted at a place some distance away.
2 Samuel 15:1-17
This ends our reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
As 2 Samuel, chapter 14 closed, we saw where David had made amends with his son Absalom who he had turned away from for so long after Absalom killed his brother Amnon. At that time, we got a sense that Absalom had yearned for the reconciliation to take place but as chapter 15 opens, we see where Absalom had other things in mind regarding David and his throne.
For we read where Absalom began to assert himself around Jerusalem, providing himself with “a chariot and horses and with fifty men to run ahead of him”. He would also “get up early and stand by the side of the road leading to the city gate” and as “anyone came with a complaint to be placed before the king for a decision”, he would first see if the person was from “one of the tribes of Israel” before telling them that their claims were “valid and proper” even though “no representative of the king” would be able to hear them. He then would add, "If only I were appointed judge in the land! Then everyone who has a complaint or case could come to me and I would see that he gets justice."
Of course, all of this was intended to undermine David and enhance Absalom’s public image. He further worked to advance himself by reaching out his hand and taking hold of people who would come to him, kissing them as they bowed “down before him”. Note that he only did this for the Israelites who “came to the king asking for justice”.
How effective were Absalom’s actions?
The scriptures tell us that he “stole the hearts of the men of Israel”.
The operative word here was steal because that’s what he was up to…stealing his father’s favor and honor from the people of Israel. For Absalom’s words implied that his father, the king, was not capable of appropriately handling the complaints and cases of his people…but if given the chance, Absalom would make sure the people would get what they needed…what his father wasn’t providing. All they needed to do is appoint him (Absalom) as the judge over the land.
It’s here that we first get a taste of what Absalom is really up to for his interest was to unseat, not support David.
Well, this went on for four years after which we see where Absalom asked his father to let him “go to Hebron” because he needed to “fulfill a vow…made to the Lord”. He then elaborates further by saying that while he was “living at Geshur”, he made a promise saying:
"If the Lord takes me back to Jerusalem,
I will worship the Lord in Hebron."
Not suspecting anything was awry and trusting his son, we see where David granted his son permission to go to Hebron in peace, ironic because there was nothing peaceful about what Absalom was about to do.
Now, what made Absalom’s deception so much more evil and sinful was that he chose to invoke the name of the Lord to make his lie more convincing. He had no intention of going to Hebron to give God any honor or worship. Rather, he only wanted to glorify himself while further usurping the authority and rule of his father for as soon as Absalom arrived in Hebron, the scriptures tell us that he “sent secret messengers throughout the tribes of Israel” who said:
“As soon as you hear the sound of the trumpets, then say, 'Absalom is king in Hebron.'"
A trumpet sound was often used before an important proclamation was made in biblical times and here we see where Absalom would use it to finally reveal his treachery, having himself declared king of Hebron while his father was still on the throne in Jerusalem.
We read where Absalom had built quite a following over his four years of secretly trying to chip away at his father’s support among the people. In fact, “two hundred men from Jerusalem” accompanied him to Hebron, although they went completely unaware of Absalom’s true reason for going there. We see where “Ahithophel the Gilonite”, a former counselor of David, was summoned to join forces with Absalom as his “conspiracy gained strength”.
Well, we see in the Bible where word often traveled fast and it didn’t take long before a messenger came to David and told him about what Absalom was up to, saying:
“The hearts of the men of Israel are with Absalom”.
Of course, these words brought a great deal of distress to David who sensed immediately that he and his people in Jerusalem were in grave danger. And so we see where he issued the following orders:
"Come! We must flee or none of us will escape from Absalom. We must leave immediately or he will move quickly to overtake us and bring ruin upon us and put the city to the sword”.
To which his officials answered:
“Your servants are ready to do whatever our lord the king chooses."
And so David “set out with his entire household” and all the people following him before halting “at a place some distance away”, only leaving behind “ten concubines to take care of the palace”. Once again, David was on the run…something he was all too well familiar with after continuously having to try and elude a pursing, murderous Saul. Now, he would have to escape from his own son…a son who chose to betray him.
Of course, this isn’t the only time we witness betrayal in the scriptures. For when we get to the New Testament, we see an even greater act of disloyalty happen when Jesus is sold out to the Sanhedrin by Judas, one of His chosen disciples…not for the gain of a kingdom but rather for a mere thirty silver coins (Matthew 26:14-16). It’s also interesting to me that a simple kiss was also involved in both of these incidents.
It was the last thing David did to Absalom before he launched his deceitful plot while Judas used it as a way to identify Jesus so He could be arrested. You may remember Jesus say to His betrayer:
“Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?” Luke 22:48
What made Judas’ evil action significantly greater than Absalom’s was because it started Jesus traveling down the road to His crucifixion…a crucifixion that the Jewish religious authorities believed would eliminate Jesus for good.
They couldn’t have been more wrong after the tomb ended up empty.
Going back to our passage for today, Absalom’s intent was to eliminate his father from Israel’s throne but as we will soon see, he too was wrong to think he would be successful in carrying out such treachery.
In both these cases, success was never going to happen because neither Absalom or Judas were carrying out God’s will, at least not knowingly.
Absalom never asked God whether he should try and overthrow his father. Rather, he took it upon himself to try and take what wasn’t meant for him to have. And as we will see, he will fail in his efforts, dying while trying as his attempted conspiracy only led to his demise.
Likewise, Judas betrayed Jesus out of greed, not because he knew it was what God wanted him to do. And through his act of conspiracy and betrayal, he found himself awash in his own guilt for selling out His Lord, ultimately taking his own life. Like Absalom before him, his conspiracy led to his downfall.
Friends, the Lord is trying to teach us all an important lesson in all this. For too often, people scheme and connive against others, slyly thinking their conspiring efforts will lead to their benefit as they operate out of the view of those they wish to violate. Like Absalom and Judas, they are willing to sell out someone else for their own gain…whether for power or money or sometimes even revenge.
With this, all of God’s people need to keep something in mind that Absalom and Judas chose to forget.
For God sees everything. He sees into the cracks and crevices of every heart and soul…exposing evil desires and plots well before they are ever hatched. With this, no one ever gets away with anything, no matter how airtight their plan may be because nothing is concealed from the Lord.
Friends, this alone should deter someone from ever conspiring in any way…because conspiracy is only fruitful when it is done in a way that is deceptive and there isn’t a single person who can get over on God. He who is perfectly true sees through every lie.
In today’s passage, we saw where Absalom was a man who sought out and won over the hearts of the men of Israel…but as we will see, he would be no match up against his father, David, who was a man after God’s own heart. Soon, God will triumph and give his anointed and appointed king the victory over a son who will fully come to realize the fruitless nature of conspiracy,
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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