And it came to pass after this, that Absalom prepared for himself chariots and horses, and fifty men to run before him.
Absalom's bid for the throne begins in the very next line after his father welcomed him home. Commentators read that sequence as cause and effect — the kiss of 2 Samuel 14 made the chariots of 2 Samuel 15 possible.
"The king kissed Absalom." Yes, the king kissed the murderer, instead of letting the law of the God of Israel take its course. What then? "After this Absalom got himself a chariot and horses, and fifty men to run before him." This was the next step. David's excessive tenderness only paved the way for Absalom's open rebellion. A terrible warning! Deal gently with evil, and it is sure to come to a head and crush you in the end.
The lesson reaches wider than one family. Spare someone to spare your own feelings, and the evil you refused to judge will turn on you.
This weakness and injustice soon bears the bitterest fruit. When we wrongly spare another to indulge our own feelings, we always expose ourselves to the evil of that nature which we should have controlled and condemned. The very next verse after the one that tells us how his father received Absalom announces Absalom's rebellion against his own father's life.
Nothing in this verse is practical. The chariot, the horses and the fifty runners are theatre, staged for the eyes of the nation.
Absalom knew how to take full advantage of his outward acceptance by his father. Now there was no difficulty in beginning to exalt himself in the eyes of Israel. His chariots and horses and fifty men to run before him (v.1) were all intended as a show of his importance. If this troubled David, we read nothing of it.
The horses themselves are worth noticing. Israel's story up to this point has almost no horses in it.
Note that there is no mention of a horse in Israel up to the days of Solomon. The only exceptions are the few that David captured and kept, according to 2 Samuel 8:4, and Absalom, who prepared chariots and horses for himself when making his bid for the kingdom (2 Sam. 15:1).
The display was only half of Absalom's method. He also flattered the people he despised.
Two main aims are clear: to undermine the king, and so to glorify himself. The quickest way was flattery. He never loved the people as David did; he despised them — and none more than those caught in his nets of fair words and fine speeches… There is no need to argue at length that there was neither righteousness nor love in all this.
Mackintosh traces the method back to the enemy himself. First create a lack in people; then step in as the one who fills it.
The enemy's way is first to create a want, to produce a blank, and then to fill it up with something, or someone, of his own providing. Those whose hearts were fully satisfied with David had no room for Absalom.
William Kelly reads Absalom as a picture of the antichrist, the final enemy of Christ. What makes Absalom worse than Saul is when his treachery came: after mercy.
In 2 Samuel 15 the traitor's wicked plans begin to ripen and unfold. Notice that this happens only after he had received the richest grace… It came after something that answers as much as anything could to the grace of God in the gospel. Then, as a result of all that mercy, a more terrible character of antichrist shows itself in Absalom than had ever been seen in king Saul. What distinction is meant? Surely this: Saul shows us antichrist more as the result of Israel's turning away from God, and Absalom more as the result of turning away from Christianity itself.
- Grace refused. The chariot is Absalom's answer to his father's kiss. Mercy without repentance hardened him.
- Grace abused breeds display. The first fruit of that hardening is show — horses and runners with no purpose but to make one man look like a king.
- Display breeds flattery. He praised the people he despised, all to undermine David and glorify himself.
- Flattery breeds a stolen kingdom. Create an emptiness in people, then fill it yourself — that is how Absalom drew hearts away from the rightful king.
- The safeguard is a full heart. Hearts fully satisfied with David had no room for Absalom. A heart filled by the true king has no space for a rival.
And Absalom rose early, and stood beside the way of the gate; and it was so, that when any man who had a controversy had to come to the king for judgment, then Absalom called him, and said, Of what city art thou? And he said, Thy servant is of one of the tribes of Israel.
Absalom's rebellion does not begin with an army, and its first target is not the throne. It begins at a city gate at dawn, with a friendly question put to people who had come to the king for justice.
The gate was not simply the way in and out of a city. People settled public business there. Absalom placed himself at the door of the nation's justice.
Gates protected a city, but "in the gate" was also the place where people settled many important matters. To "sit in the gate" was a place of honour: "I am the talk of those who sit in the gate." Psalm 69:12. It should have been the place of true judgement and justice, but was not always so.
The men Absalom stopped were not bringing small complaints. They were bringing appeals from the tribal judges.
Once the kingdom was set up, it is unlikely that every case was tried at Jerusalem. Only appeals from the tribal judges came there. That is the kind of case Absalom refers to in 2 Samuel 15:2-3.
The opening line — asking a man which city he is from — sounds like warm personal interest. Commentators read it as the first move in a plan with two ends.
Two main aims are clear: to undermine the king, and by that to glorify himself. So he takes the quickest way and flatters the people. He never loved them as David did; he despised them, and none more than those caught in his net of fair words and fine speeches. It hardly needs arguing that there was neither righteousness nor love in any of this. There was no love that sought the good of others instead of its own — only unbridled will and the highest ambition. His object was himself, and himself for the vilest purposes: his own exaltation by the overthrow of his father, whom God had anointed king of Israel.
Absalom never proposes a remedy to the king. That silence exposes his true aim.
He got away with stopping people who came early in the morning to the city gate, looking for judgment in personal disputes. He would be most friendly, beginning by asking where their home was. Then whatever grievance they had, he told them their case was right. He added that the king had appointed no one to handle these matters. If this was true, Absalom should have suggested that the king appoint someone to this work. But his object was to plant seeds of discontent and distrust toward David, and to worm his way into the affections of the people.
Notice the order of the work. Before Absalom offered himself, he made people feel the lack of something.
The enemy's way is first to create a want, to produce a blank. Then he fills it up with something, or someone, of his own providing. Those whose hearts were fully satisfied with David had no room for Absalom.
The same writer turns this straight onto the reader as a test of what fills the heart.
This is a fine principle when applied to our hearts in reference to Christ. If we are filled with Him we have no room for anything else. It is only when Satan succeeds in creating a want in our hearts that he introduces something of his own.
Everything Absalom displays at the gate is an imitation of something real, and the pretence runs on through the rest of the story.
He uses flattery. He puts on an appearance of righteousness, of having no interest of his own (vv. 3-4), and of love (v. 5), so as to steal the hearts of the men of Israel (v. 6). He deceives the simple (v. 11). He pretends to worship and serve the Lord (vv. 7-8), so as to seize the kingdom and take the place of the Lord's anointed — yes, of his own father — on the throne.
Commentators see more here than one man's ambition. They see a pattern that appears again in prophecy.
His history may justly be viewed as a type of that great prophetic character who, as Daniel tells us, "shall obtain the kingdom by flatteries."
- Gate. He set himself where Israel came looking for justice. That place should have been one of true judgement, but it was not always so.
- Want. His method was to hollow out a space first: create a blank, then offer himself to fill it.
- Flattery. The friendly question and the verdict given before any evidence put on a show of righteousness and love. Neither was present.
- Theft. What he stole first was not the throne but the hearts of Israel. Seizing the kingdom was the next step.
- Guard. A full heart is the safeguard. Those satisfied with David had no room for Absalom. Hearts filled with Christ have no room for anything else.
And Absalom said to him, See, thy matters are good and right; but there is no man to hear thee [appointed] by the king.
Absalom waits at the city gate. He stops every man on his way to David with a legal dispute, and tells each one the same two things: your case is sound, and nobody here will hear it. The words are kind. The effect is ruin. So what did he want, and why did the people believe him?
Absalom's friendly words at the gate serve another purpose. One writer names the two aims behind them, and what they lacked:
Two main objects stand out: the undermining of the king, and this to glorify himself. So he flatters the people, as the quickest way. He never loved them as David did. He despised them, and none more so than those caught in his nets of fair words and fine speeches. There was neither righteousness nor love in all this, but unbridled will and the highest ambition.
Absalom tells each man that the king has appointed no one to hear his case. If that were the real problem, there was an obvious fix. Absalom never suggested it:
He would be most friendly, beginning by asking where their home was. Then, whatever grievance they had, he told them their case was right. But he added that there was no one appointed by the king to handle these matters. If this was true, Absalom should have suggested to the king that he appoint someone to this work. Instead his object was to plant in the people seeds of discontent and distrust toward David, and to worm his way into their affections. He succeeded in this without David apparently suspecting anything.
Notice the order. Absalom does not start with himself. He starts with the gap he makes:
The enemy's way is first to create a want, to produce a blank. Then he fills it up with something, or someone, of his own providing. Those whose hearts were fully satisfied with David had no room for Absalom.
The same principle applies to us. The guard against a rival is not watching the rival. It is a heart already full of Christ:
This is a fine principle when applied to our hearts in reference to Christ. If we are filled with Him we have no room for anything else. It is only when Satan succeeds in creating a want in our hearts that he introduces something of his own. When we are able in truth to say, "The Lord is my portion," we are safe from the influence of Satan's attractive baits.
Absalom's goodness was a costume. One writer lists the virtues he put on, and what he wanted them for:
He uses flattery. He puts on an appearance of righteousness, unselfishness (vv. 3-4), and love (v. 5), to steal the hearts of the men of Israel (v. 6). He deceives the simple (v. 11). He makes a pretence of worshipping and serving the Lord (vv. 7-8). His aim is to seize the kingdom and to take the place of the Lord's anointed — yes, of his own father — on the throne. For he hates his father. He hates everyone but himself.
Now set his complaint beside what he is preparing to do. A writer weighs the two:
He complains of injustice when he is about to commit the greatest injustice a son and a subject could be guilty of. He spends years doing nothing. Then he is full of restless energy when the day comes to carry out his long-cherished plans.
The conspiracy did not begin at the gate. It began when David embraced a murderer instead of letting the law run its course:
"And the king kissed Absalom." Yes, the king kissed the murderer, instead of allowing the law of the God of Israel to take its course. What then? "After this Absalom got himself a chariot and horses, and fifty men to run before him." This was the next step. David's excessive tenderness only paved the way for Absalom's open rebellion. Terrible warning! Deal tenderly with evil, and it will certainly rise to a head and crush you in the end. On the other hand, meet evil in the name of the Lord, and your victory is sure. Plain, unflinching decision is, after all, the safest and happiest path.
- Unjudged evil — David spared a murderer instead of letting justice run its course. That gave Absalom his chariots and his gate.
- Manufactured grievance — Absalom never asked David to appoint judges. He wanted the discontent, not the cure.
- Borrowed virtues — righteousness, unselfishness and love were all an act. He wore them to reach a throne that was not his.
- Stolen hearts — the enemy first creates an empty place. Then he fills it with someone of his own.
- Full hearts — hearts full of David had no room for Absalom. A heart full of Christ is safe from every attractive bait.
And Absalom said, Oh that I were made judge in the land, that every man who has any controversy and cause might come to me, and I would do him justice!
Absalom meets each man who brings a complaint to the king's gate, and offers the same wish: if only he were the judge. It sounds like a care for justice, and it ends with the hearts of Israel stolen.
Absalom's first move was to make people feel that something was missing. One writer names the pattern behind it:
But notice how Absalom works. He begins by creating a want in the hearts of the men of Israel... The enemy's way is first to create a want, to produce a blank. Then he fills it up with something, or someone, of his own providing. Those whose hearts were fully satisfied with David had no room for Absalom.
The same writer turns that observation straight onto the reader:
This is a fine principle when applied to our hearts in reference to Christ. If we are filled with Him we have no room for anything else. It is only when Satan succeeds in creating a want in our hearts that he introduces something of his own. When we are able to say in truth, "The Lord is my portion," we are safe from the influence of Satan's attractive baits.
One writer names the two aims behind the wish, and the two things missing from it:
Two main aims stand out: to undermine the king, and by that to glorify himself. So he takes the quickest way and flatters the people. He never loved them as David did; he despised them — and none more than those caught in his nets of fair words and fine speeches... It takes no long argument to see that there was neither righteousness nor love in all this. Righteousness would have weighed the real ties — his own to the men who came, and still more the tie of all of them to the king. Without that, nothing could be right. Love would have sought the good of others instead of its own things. What drove him was unbridled will and the loftiest ambition.
David's own record had weakened him. One writer points to the case of Uriah, a soldier David had killed, as the argument no one could answer:
The next step shows again how David's sin must have weakened faith in the righteousness of all his government. To silence friends, to open the mouth of the attacker — what an effective argument was the case of Uriah the Hittite! And who could resist such charges of lax justice? The king's own brilliant and gracious son was pleading the man's own cause, ready to do what was right, with a kiss for everyone who honoured him. So no wonder the hearts of the Israelites were stolen, and the conspiracy gathered strength.
Absalom's wish rests on a claim: the king has appointed no one to hear these cases. One writer asks what a real concern for justice would have done with that:
Whatever grievance they had, he told them their case was right. But he added that the king had appointed no one to handle such matters. If this was true, Absalom should have asked the king to appoint someone to the work. His aim was different: to plant seeds of discontent and distrust toward David, and to worm his way into the affections of the people.
One writer lists the virtues Absalom put on, verse by verse, and the throne he wanted them to win:
He uses flattery. He puts on a show of righteousness, of wanting nothing for himself (vv. 3-4), and of love (v. 5), to steal the hearts of the men of Israel (v. 6)... to seize the kingdom and to take the place of the Lord's anointed — yes, of his own father — on the throne. For he hates his father; he hates everyone but himself.
One writer weighs Absalom's guilt against the closeness of the tie he broke and the mercy he had already received:
But in Absalom's case there was a still deeper character of lawlessness, since there was a nearer and more dependent tie to the king. Besides, there had been the richest display of mercy to himself. The most dreadful wickedness on his own part had been met by greater love and grace on the part of David.
- Want. Absalom's first work was to open a gap. He made people feel unheard, so that something of his own providing could fill it.
- Filler. The wish to be judge was the filler. Behind it lay no righteousness and no love — only two aims: undermine the king, and glorify himself.
- Foothold. David's own sin made the gap believable. His failure in government gave the accusation its force.
- Fraud. A true complaint would have gone to the king for a remedy. Absalom took it to the crowd instead. He wanted the throne, and he hated the father who sat on it.
- Fullness. The only safety is on the other side of the gap: hearts fully satisfied with the true King have no room for a rival.
And it was so, that when any man came near to do him obeisance, he put forth his hand, and took him, and kissed him.
Absalom stands at the city gate and greets each man who comes to bow to him with an outstretched hand and a kiss. It looks like humility, and it is how he takes his father's kingdom.
Two aims drove that greeting at once, and one writer names them both.
Two main aims are clear: to undermine the king, and by that to glorify himself. So, as the quickest way, he flatters the people — whom he never loved as David did, but despised... There was neither righteousness nor love in all this. There was no righteousness that weighed what he and the men who came owed each other, and still more what they all owed to the king; without that, nothing can be right. There was no love that sought the good of others instead of its own. There was only unbridled will and the highest ambition. His object was himself, and himself for the vilest purposes — his own exaltation by the overthrow of his father, whom God had anointed king of Israel.
The show runs verse by verse. First the complaint about neglected justice, then the wish to be judge, then the kiss.
He uses flattery and puts on an appearance of righteousness, selflessness (vv. 3-4), and love (v. 5) to steal the hearts of the men of Israel (v. 6)... All this is to seize the kingdom and to take the place of the Lord's anointed — yes, of his own father — on the throne. He does it because he hates his father. He hates everyone but himself.
Absalom first told these men that their case was good and that nobody would hear it. He dug the hole, then stepped into it himself.
The enemy's way is first to create a want, to produce a blank, and then to fill it up with something, or someone, he provides himself. Those whose hearts were fully satisfied with David had no room for Absalom.
The same writer turns it on the reader's own heart.
This is a fine principle when applied to our hearts in reference to Christ. If we are filled with Him we have no room for anything else. It is only when Satan succeeds in creating a want in our hearts that he introduces something of his own.
His father had recently taken him back and kissed him, though Absalom never admitted his guilt. That kiss changed nothing in him. Now he hands the same kiss out to strangers as bait.
David let Absalom come back into the middle of Israel without upholding righteousness. There was no full confession of guilt, and no submission to whatever the rights of the throne demanded. Absalom saw the king's face and took his kiss, and it did not melt his soul. It introduces to us the person of the rebel, and the heresy that shook the nation from its centre to its circumference.
His name means father of peace. At the gate there are no threats and no drawn sword, only good manners. One writer names the kind of peace it was.
He is Absalom, "the father of peace." But it is the peace of a deceiver. He comes in peaceably and takes the kingdom by flatteries. By good words and fair speeches he deceives the simple. He steals the hearts of his father's subjects, the people of the Lord and of His anointed.
The flattery worked on crowds, but not on everyone. David had seated Mephibosheth, the lame grandson of Saul, at his own table.
His heart was not captivated when "Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel." David had won his heart. When the many went with Absalom, he was still devoted to David.
- Pose. The chariots, the early rising and the kiss were all show. Behind the courtesy there was neither righteousness nor love — only a son undermining his father to glorify himself.
- Want. Nobody seizes a heart outright. The enemy first makes a blank — your case is good, nobody will hear you — and then fills it himself.
- Theft. Scripture calls it stealing, not winning. Good words and fair speeches take from the rightful king what was his.
- Throne. A kiss received without repentance left Absalom unchanged. The kisses he then gave out carried him toward his father's throne.
- Guard. A full heart is the one safeguard. Those satisfied with David had no room for Absalom; those filled with Christ have no room for anything else.
And in this manner did Absalom to all Israel that came to the king for judgment; and Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.
Absalom, the king's son, has come home from exile. Now he meets every man who comes to the king for judgment, and he wins each one over. The verse gives the result: their hearts went over to him. How does a man take a throne by affection rather than force?
Absalom did not begin by attacking his father. He began by making people feel that something was missing.
But notice how Absalom works. He begins by creating a need in the hearts of the men of Israel... The enemy's way is first to create a need, to produce an empty space, and then to fill it with something, or someone, of his own providing. Those whose hearts were fully satisfied with David had no room for Absalom.
His flattery served two aims at once. Neither aim was the good of the people he courted.
Two main aims are clear: to undermine the king, and by that to glorify himself. Flattery is the quickest road, so he flatters the people. He never loved them as David did. He despised them — and none more so than those he caught in his nets of fair words and fine speeches.
Every warm gesture had a purpose behind it. None of them was what it seemed.
He uses flattery. He puts on a show of righteousness, of wanting nothing for himself (vv. 3-4), and of love (v. 5), to steal the hearts of the men of Israel (v. 6). He deceives the simple (v. 11). He pretends to worship and serve the Lord (vv. 7-8). All of it is to seize the kingdom and to take the throne of the Lord's anointed — yes, of his own father. For he hates his father; he hates everyone but himself.
The timing matters. His plotting followed kindness, not harsh treatment.
The traitor's wicked plans now start to ripen and unfold. Notice that this happens only after the richest grace had been shown to him.
Absalom's charge was that the king's justice was slack. A charge like that only works if people are half ready to believe it. David had given them the reason.
In the next step we can see again how David's sin must have weakened faith in the righteousness of his whole government. What a powerful argument the case of Uriah the Hittite was! It silenced his friends and opened the mouth of his accuser. And who could resist such charges of lax justice, when the man pleading his own cause was this brilliant and gracious son of the king, ready to do right, with a kiss for everyone who honoured him?
The theft was not complete. Some men the charm could not reach. The difference was how close they stood to the king.
He came in by flatteries, and took David's place in their thoughts and affections. He was a handsome man, well suited to captivate the crowd... But his beauty and his flattery had no effect on those who were close to David himself. When the messenger came saying, "The hearts of the men of Israel have gone after Absalom," it became clear who were for David.
Rebellion sorts people out. A safe throne never tests loyalty.
When the king sits firmly on the throne, and no rebel rises to dispute his right to it, loyalty is easy. Anyone can cry with the crowd, "Long live the king!" ... The day of the king's rejection is the day for the subject to declare himself.
Commentators see more than palace politics here. They read the marks of Absalom's rise as a sketch of a coming enemy.
At the time of the end all these features will mark the true King of Israel's great enemy: "the Antichrist," "the man of sin," and "the lawless one" (2 Thess. 2:3, 8). He will seduce the people. He will support their national form of worship, only to overthrow it later. He will rise and exalt himself until he is worshipped as God. He will present himself as the true Messiah. He will deny the Father and the Son.
- Vacancy first. He first opened an empty space in the heart, then filled it himself. Hearts already full of David had no room for him.
- Vanity behind it. Flattery was the shortest road to two aims: pull the king down, lift himself up. He despised the very men he kissed.
- Veneer over hatred. Righteousness, fairness, love and even worship were all pretence. Underneath he hated his father and everyone but himself.
- Vulnerability supplied. Uriah's case had already shaken trust in David's rule. That is why the charge of lax justice stuck.
- Verified loyalty. The charm never touched those closest to the king. His rejection showed who really belonged to him.
And it came to pass at the end of forty years, that Absalom said to the king, I pray thee, let me go and pay in Hebron my vow which I have vowed to Jehovah.
Absalom's rebellion does not open with a sword. It opens with a request: leave to keep a promise he says he made to the Lord while he was away in Geshur. The words sound devout, and David agrees. Two questions follow: how was the lie so well hidden, and why did the king never see through it?
It only looks like piety. One writer calls the whole speech a lie:
He reaches his goal by an infamous piece of hypocritical falsehood. Absalom, so he says, had dedicated himself to the Lord in Geshur, on the condition that He would bring him back again to Jerusalem. Now he has a vow to fulfil in Hebron. The king, unsuspicious as ever, sends him away in peace. Then the agreed cry goes up: "Absalom reigns in Hebron."
Some texts read "forty years" here instead of four. Commentators explain this in more than one way:
This continued for about four years. ("Forty" is incorrect. Ancient versions have "four years," which we take to be the correct number. Others have suggested that the forty years should be reckoned from David's anointing — 1 Samuel 16:13. This, however, is unlikely.) During this time he stole the hearts of the men of Israel. All is now ripe for the great rebellion. He lies to his father about an alleged vow he had made at Geshur.
Another writer points to how the larger number may have entered the text:
It is considered that this may be an error in copying from the earliest manuscripts, and that four years seems more likely.
Whatever the number, Absalom's pious manner did the rest:
Though he had only treachery in his heart, Absalom was able to speak in such a pious way as to deceive David. He said he had made a vow to the Lord in Geshur: he would serve the Lord if the Lord brought him back to Jerusalem. Now he wanted to go to Hebron to fulfil the vow. David still does not suspect his hypocrisy. He does not even ask why Absalom was choosing Hebron as a place to serve the Lord.
The town he names was not chosen at random. It carried memories that worked in his favour:
But Absalom was making the most solid plans he knew how to. Hebron was the first place where David reigned. Absalom was putting on the appearance of a return to the kingdom's original principles. People would also treasure the place, because of its close links with Abraham's history.
Here the Lord's name becomes the wrapping around the treason. One writer puts it sharply:
At last he sets out on his terrible course, in the presence of his father, the Lord's anointed. He makes a hypocritical profession of respect for the Lord, and of thanks to Him for His goodness in bringing him back to Hebron. Surely it is Satan himself changed into an angel of light!
The pretended worship is not a single act. It is one step in a sequence:
He uses flattery. He puts on an appearance of righteousness, of having no self-interest (vv. 3–4), and of love (v. 5), to steal the hearts of the men of Israel (v. 6). He deceives the simple (v. 11). He makes a pretense of worshipping and serving the Lord (vv. 7–8). His aim is to seize the kingdom and to take the place of the Lord's anointed — yes, of his own father — on the throne. For he hates his father; he hates everyone but himself.
The deceit is worse because of what David had already shown him:
In Absalom's case the lawlessness went even deeper, because his tie to the king was closer and more dependent. Besides, there had been the richest display of mercy to himself. The most dreadful wickedness on his own part had been met by greater love and grace on the part of David. After all this, we find Absalom laying his plots and carrying out his schemes to take the place of the king, his own father.
- Pretext — Commentators call the Geshur vow an invention. Absalom lied to his father to leave the capital without suspicion.
- Period — Ancient versions read "four years," not "forty." Some count the forty from David's anointing, but commentators call that unlikely.
- Place — Hebron was David's first royal city, and Abraham's ground. There a rebel could pose as the man restoring the kingdom's true start.
- Pretence — Flattery, fake justice, fake love, now fake worship. Every link in the chain aimed at the throne of the Lord's anointed.
- Payment — David met his son's wickedness with greater love and grace. Absalom answered that mercy by plotting to take his father's throne.
For thy servant vowed a vow while I abode in Geshur in Syria, saying, If Jehovah shall bring me again indeed to Jerusalem, then I will serve Jehovah.
Absalom asks his father for permission to go to Hebron and pay a vow he says he made while living in exile at Geshur. Every word sounds like thanks to God, yet this is the hour his revolt begins.
The vow is the hinge of Absalom's plan, and commentators treat it as pure invention. One writer calls the story false from start to finish. The vow was supposedly made abroad, tied to God's help, and now needs paying far from Jerusalem:
The end is reached by an infamous piece of hypocritical falsehood. Absalom claimed he had dedicated himself to Jehovah in Geshur, on condition that He brought him back to Jerusalem. Now he has a vow to fulfil in Hebron. The king, unsuspecting as ever, sends him away in peace. Then the agreed cry goes up: "Absalom reigns in Hebron."
David hears him out and agrees. Absalom's words hid his heart completely, and the one question David never asked was why Hebron:
Though he had only treachery in his heart, Absalom was able to speak in such a pious way as to deceive David. He said he had made a vow to the Lord in Geshur: he would serve the Lord if the Lord brought him back to Jerusalem. Now he wanted to go to Hebron to fulfil the vow. David still does not suspect his hypocrisy. He does not even ask why Absalom was choosing Hebron as a place to serve the Lord.
The writer follows an older translation, where the vow reads "I will serve the LORD." The ESV renders the same words "I will offer worship to the LORD."
Hebron was not a random choice. The town carried memories Absalom could borrow, and he borrowed them:
Absalom was making the most solid plans he knew how to. Hebron was the first place where David reigned. So Absalom could look as if he were returning to the kingdom's original principles. The place was also dear to people because of its close links with Abraham's history.
One writer lists Absalom's methods and names what they were all for:
He uses flattery. He puts on a show of righteousness, of wanting nothing for himself (vv. 3-4), and of love (v. 5), to steal the hearts of the men of Israel (v. 6). He deceives the simple (v. 11). He pretends to worship and serve the Lord (vv. 7-8), so that he can seize the kingdom and take the place of the Lord's anointed — yes, of his own father.
Another writer sees more here than one man's cynicism. He reads this mix of royal power and religious show as the mark of the antichrist:
Notice here how men misuse the name of Jehovah. This always goes with the worst evil men do on the earth… Another mark appears here, one needed to complete the character of the antichrist: kingly power in Israel joined with religious pretension. There will be the highest religious claims. The antichrist is not merely an unbeliever. There will be unbelief, but always a show of religion along with it.
One writer traces the revolt back further than the vow — to the day David kissed a murderer instead of judging him:
"The king kissed Absalom." Yes, the king kissed the murderer, instead of letting the law of the God of Israel take its course. … David's excessive tenderness only paved the way for Absalom's open rebellion. Terrible warning! Treat evil gently, and it will surely rise to a head and crush you in the end.
- The pretence. Commentators read the vow at Geshur as a lie — a promise invented to buy a journey.
- The permission. Pious words won what treachery never could: David asked nothing, not even why Hebron.
- The place. Absalom chose Hebron for its memories — David's first throne, Abraham's ground — so revolt could look like a return to the beginning.
- The purpose. Flattery, a show of fairness, a vow — every religious move aimed at one seat, the place of the Lord's anointed. One writer sees the same mix of power and religion in the antichrist.
- The root. David treated evil gently instead of judging it, and it grew into open revolt. His kiss was the warning.
And the king said to him, Go in peace. And he rose up and went to Hebron.
David answers his son with three trusting words, and those words set loose the rebellion that will drive him out of Jerusalem. Why did Absalom invent a vow, why did he pick Hebron, and how did the king who beat Goliath miss what was happening?
Absalom asked leave to go on the strength of a promise he said he had made in exile at Geshur:
Absalom reaches his goal by a shameless piece of hypocritical falsehood. Absalom had supposedly dedicated himself to Jehovah in Geshur, on condition that He brought him back to Jerusalem. Now he has a vow to fulfil in Hebron. The king, unsuspecting as ever, sends him away in peace. Then the agreed cry goes up: "Absalom reigns in Hebron."
Absalom chose the place with care.
But Absalom was making the most solid plans he knew how to. Hebron was the first place in which David reigned. Absalom was making an appearance of returning to the original principles of the kingdom. Also, people held the place dear because of its close link with Abraham's history.
Absalom dressed his plan up as service to God. Kelly says where that habit always leads:
Notice here the profaning of the name of Jehovah, which always goes along with the worst evil of men on the earth… Another feature appears here which was needed to complete the character of the antichrist: the combination of kingly power in Israel with spiritual pretension. There will be the highest claims of a religious kind.
David's parting word is the very word his son's name carries. Bellett also notes the two hundred men who went along to Hebron:
He is Absalom, "the father of peace." But it is the peace of a deceiver. He comes in peaceably and takes the kingdom by flattery. By good words and fair speeches he deceives the simple… He pretends to pay a vow at Hebron, and takes with him two hundred men out of Jerusalem, as if to fill the table at the sacrificial feast. But all this was only to advance his design on his father's throne.
David's blindness here traces back to an earlier decision — he took Absalom back without ever asking him to own his guilt:
David allowed Absalom to return into Israel without upholding righteousness. There was no full confession of guilt, and no submission to whatever consequences the rights of the throne demanded. Seeing the king's face and receiving his kiss did not melt Absalom's soul. That allowance introduces us to the person of the rebel, and the heresy which shook the nation from its centre to its circumference.
Rossier gathers Absalom's methods into one list and names the goal behind them:
He uses flattery. He puts on an appearance of righteousness, unselfishness (vv. 3-4), and love (v. 5), to steal the hearts of the men of Israel (v. 6). He deceives the simple (v. 11). He makes a pretence of worshipping and serving the Lord (vv. 7-8), to seize the kingdom and to take the place of the Lord's anointed — yes, of his own father — on the throne.
Absalom's plot only succeeded because God allowed it. Darby traces God's hand to David's heart, not just his throne.
It is painful to see the conqueror of Goliath driven from his home and his throne by his beloved son, and that under God's hand. For if God had not allowed it, who could have driven God's chosen one from the royal seat in which Jehovah had placed him?… But whom He loves He chastens. So all this is a display of the righteous rule of God. For David it is also an occasion of deep heart-exercise, and of a more real and more intimate knowledge of God.
- False peace. Absalom's name means "father of peace." But his was a deceiver's peace, and he took the kingdom by flattery.
- False vow. The promise Absalom claimed to have made at Geshur was hypocritical falsehood. He invented it to win the king's blessing.
- False place. Hebron was where David first reigned. Going there looked like a return to the kingdom's original principles.
- False pardon. David took Absalom back without confession and without upholding the throne's rights. The kiss melted nothing, and the rebel walked away.
- Real chastening. None of it could have happened unless God allowed it — and the sorrow it brought David deepened his knowledge of God.
And Absalom sent emissaries into all the tribes of Israel, saying, When ye hear the sound of the trumpet, ye shall say, Absalom reigns in Hebron.
Absalom has already stolen the hearts of his father's people. Now comes the signal: one ready-made sentence for every tribe to shout. How does a revolt against God's anointed king get organised? And why were so many people ready to say the words?
Everything in this verse rests on work already done. One writer traces the path from the stolen hearts to the pretended vow at Hebron.
He comes in peacefully and takes the kingdom by flattery. With good words and fine speeches he deceives the simple. He steals the hearts of his father's subjects, the people of the Lord and of His anointed... He pretends he has a vow to pay at Hebron. He takes two hundred men out of Jerusalem with him, to fill the table at the sacrificial feast, or so it would seem. But all of this was only to push forward his plan to take his father's throne.
Absalom did not pick Hebron at random. The city held memories every Israelite shared — and one that mattered most.
He chose the place well. It was full of the dearest memories for every Israelite. There Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had lived and walked with God, and there they were buried... Perhaps more telling than all of this: David had begun his reign at Hebron. So people could hope that the new kingdom was nothing but a return to those principles of right and truth on which the throne had been established back then.
Absalom left Jerusalem claiming he owed God a vow. The same writer puts the claim and the shouted slogan side by side.
It all ends in a shameful piece of hypocritical lying. Absalom, so he said, had dedicated himself to Jehovah in Geshur, on condition that He would bring him back to Jerusalem. Now he has a vow to keep in Hebron. The king suspects nothing, as always, and sends him away in peace. Then the agreed cry goes up: "Absalom reigns in Hebron."
One writer reads Absalom as a picture of the antichrist, the false ruler still to come. This verse adds a missing feature to that portrait: a rebel king who also puts on religion.
Notice here the dishonouring of the name of Jehovah. It always goes along with the worst evil that men do on the earth... Here is another trait that was needed to complete the picture of the antichrist: royal power in Israel joined to a religious claim. He will make the highest religious claims of all. The antichrist is not simply an unbeliever. There will be unbelief, but always a show of religion along with it.
Absalom sends messengers to every tribe. The next verse shows the kind of following he had already gathered.
He went to Hebron and sent spies throughout all Israel. They were to tell the people that when the trumpet sounded, Absalom would be reigning in Hebron. When he left Jerusalem he also brought 200 men with him. They had no idea what he had in mind, but followed him, seemingly because they liked him.
(Older translations read "spies" and "Absalom reigns in Hebron"; the ESV has "secret messengers" and "Absalom is king at Hebron!")
Absalom was the public face of the revolt. One writer names who was working behind him.
The one who stirred up the rebellion was, without doubt, Satan. But Ahithophel directed the plot against the king.
Absalom planned it, but he did not have the last word on why it succeeded.
It is painful to see the man who conquered Goliath driven from his home and his throne by his beloved son, and that under God's hand. If God had not allowed it, who could have driven God's chosen one from the royal seat where Jehovah had placed him?... But the one He loves, He disciplines. So while all of this shows the righteous rule of God, for David it is a time of deep searching of heart, and of a more real and more intimate knowledge of God.
- Hearts first. The signal only worked because Absalom had already stolen the hearts of the people. Good words and fine speeches deceived the simple long before the trumpet sounded.
- Then the place. Absalom chose Hebron well. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had walked with God there, and David had begun his own reign there. A revolt could be sold as a return to right principles.
- Then the cover. A pretended vow to Jehovah took Absalom out of Jerusalem in peace. One writer calls it a shameful piece of hypocritical lying.
- Then the crowd. Messengers went to every tribe. Two hundred men marched out with him, knowing nothing of his plan, simply because they liked him.
- Then the reckoning. Satan stirred it. Ahithophel directed it. But God allowed it, for the one He loves, He disciplines. David's sorrow left him knowing God more closely.
And with Absalom went two hundred men out of Jerusalem, that were invited; and they went in their simplicity, and they knew nothing.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David's counsellor, from his city, from Giloh, while he offered the sacrifices. And the conspiracy gathered strength; and the people increased continually with Absalom.
Absalom's rebellion breaks into the open at Hebron. While he offers the sacrifices, he sends for Ahithophel, his father's own trusted adviser. Why is a revolt dressed in worship? And why does David's closest adviser join it?
The rebellion does not call itself godless. It borrows the language of worship, and one writer sees in that mixture the shape of an evil still to come.
Notice here how men profane the name of the LORD. That always goes together with the worst evil men do on the earth. One more feature appears here, needed to complete the character of the antichrist. It is kingly power in Israel joined with a false claim to spiritual authority. There will be religious claims of the highest kind. The antichrist is not simply an unbeliever. There will be unbelief, but a show of religion always comes with it. It may be in the same person, or in someone joined to him in the picture. The antichrist's true and full character needs something that brings in an evil spiritual power. That is why Ahithophel is linked with Absalom.
Another writer names what the worship was for, and why this one adviser mattered so much.
He makes a pretense of worshipping and serving the Lord, so that he can seize the kingdom and take the place of the Lord's anointed — his own father — on the throne. He allies himself with Ahithophel. In the eyes of the people this man had the standing a prophet would have had: "Now in those days the counsel that Ahithophel gave was as if one consulted the word of God" (2 Sam. 16:23).
Why would a man of Ahithophel's rank abandon the king he had served? Writers trace the answer back to a family connection and an injury David himself had caused.
How was it that Absalom had the nerve to send for David's trusted counsellor? This was another sorrowful part of the harvest from an earlier sin. Ahithophel appears to have been Bathsheba's grandfather. We can well understand that he had never forgiven David for the way he had treated his granddaughter. (Compare 2 Sam. 11:3 and 2 Sam. 23:34.)
That reading turns the defection into something more than bad luck. It is the working out of God's government in David's own household and kingdom.
He had been David's counselor, and people listened to him, we are told, as if he spoke for God. Yet his name means "brother of folly." Such is always the worldly wisdom we find in him. Again we see how, in the government of God, David's sin is now following him. This is what dissolves kingdoms and breaks up every social bond. The man who has not accepted it by faith must learn it by bitter experience.
Ahithophel's gift was real. What he lacked ruined him.
Though he was David's companion and close friend, in the time of testing he fell away completely. He showed that, for all his shrewdness, his heart was not true to God's anointed. His wisdom was remarkable, but no amount of wisdom makes up for a lack of uprightness and true devotion. So in David's time of trouble, when the people were unfaithful and his cause looked weak, Ahithophel turned traitor like another Judas. Afterwards he hanged himself and died.
The Psalms carry the pain of such betrayal. One writer hears more than one voice in them.
The psalm is also the voice of David himself, in his own measure, as he suffered the craft and treachery of Ahithophel working with Absalom (see 2 Sam. 15, 16). John 13:21 shows us how deeply the Lord felt what Judas did, and so does this psalm, and Psalm 41 as well. But His relief was in prayer.
The verse ends by measuring the rebellion's success in numbers. One writer takes that as a warning for readers today.
How great are the crowds today who are merely followers of men! They never seriously weigh the principles of the truth of God. What suits their own comfort or convenience moves them instead. Often their choice is not only unwise. It ties them to outright wickedness against God, as it did with these followers of Absalom.
- Cover. Sacrifices at Hebron gave the revolt a religious face. The worst evil always comes with a show of religion beside it.
- Counsellor. Absalom sent for Ahithophel because his advice carried the weight of a prophet's word. That lent the revolt a borrowed authority.
- Cause. Ahithophel appears to have been Bathsheba's grandfather, and he never forgave David. David's sin was coming back on him under God's government.
- Character. Remarkable wisdom did not keep him loyal. He turned traitor like Judas, and he died by his own hand.
- Crowd. A growing crowd proves numbers, not truth. People still follow what is convenient instead of what is right.
And there came one to David who reported saying, The hearts of the men of Israel are after Absalom.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And David said to all his servants that were with him at Jerusalem, Rise up and let us flee; for we shall not [else] escape from Absalom. Be quick to depart, lest he overtake us quickly, and bring evil upon us, and smite the city with the edge of the sword.
David has just learned that Israel's heart has turned to Absalom, and the man who once faced Goliath gives the order to run. Why does a king with an army give up his capital without a fight? And why does he fear for the city he leaves behind?
The rebellion did not fall on David out of nowhere. Commentators treat it as the start of a chastening he had already been warned about.
And now begins the heavy tale of David's woes, the fulfilment of the prophet's warning that the sword should never depart from his house.
Behind Absalom's success stood a higher hand.
It is painful to see the conqueror of Goliath driven from his home and his throne by his own beloved son. And this happened under God's hand. For if God had not allowed it, who could have driven God's chosen one from the royal seat in which the LORD had placed him? The sword was in his house; the word of God, sharper than a two-edged sword. How just is the LORD! But whom He loves He chastens.
David's order to flee looks like panic. Commentators see something else at work, and they link his haste to his fear for the city.
David flees in haste... This is not cowardice or weakness on his part: it is faith. Faith never follows the path that the natural man would choose. Who at this moment would not fight a growing conspiracy with an army trained to endure the hardships of war?... David flees, not because Absalom is stronger, but because he is God's rod raised to chasten His servant. But David does not think of himself alone. He is thinking of Jerusalem, the city of the LORD. He wants to spare it from the trial or ruin that his own resistance would surely bring on it.
Commentators differ in emphasis. Another writer links the flight to the damage David's sin had already done:
David has now to prove how his sin has thrown his kingdom into disorder... He soon finds that his only resource is flight. No doubt conscience robbed him also of his usual boldness. God is behind this, and resistance is useless: to bow is the only hope.
Further along the road a man curses the fleeing king, and one of David's officers offers to cut off his head. David refuses.
Then we shall not say with Abishai, "Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over, I pray you, and take off his head." Nor shall we, with Peter, draw the sword of natural excitement... Could David defend himself while God was dealing with his soul in a way so solemn and moving? Surely not. He dared not take himself out of the hands of the Lord. He was His, for life or death — as a king or an exile. Blessed subjection!
"Arise, and let us flee" is also a test. Everyone around David must now choose a side, and the choice shows what they valued in him.
When we see a loving band of followers crowding round the weeping, barefoot David, our hearts are far more deeply touched than when we see them crowding round his throne. We are more sure that his person, and not his office, was the centre of attraction. David had nothing to offer his followers now except fellowship in his rejection. Yet there was a charm about him, to those who knew his person, that bound them to him at all times. They could weep with him, as well as conquer with him.
David walks out of his own city as a rejected king. One writer looks past his sorrow to a greater one:
Sad as the scene was, it was only a faint picture in type. It pointed to the far more sorrowful rejection of the Son of God, the Son of David.
What looked like a defeat became a gathering point:
Rejected by Israel, He has become the centre of attraction for nations. They were strangers to the promises. They had no right to the blessings of the people. Rejected, He has become the centre of all. His own follow Him with delight, because they find security nowhere else but in Him whom the world refused. They follow Him because they know that the time of His rejection will come to an end, and that those who have shared in His tribulations will certainly share in His glory.
- Cause — David's flight is not mere politics. It is the chastening his own sin brought on his house.
- Choice — He runs not because Absalom is stronger, but because Absalom is God's rod. Retreat here is faith, not fear.
- Care — He hurries to spare Jerusalem. He will lose a throne rather than see the city cut down for his sake.
- Company — The order to flee sifts the kingdom. Those who love the king himself, not his office, walk out with him and share his rejection.
- Consummation — David's rejection is only a faint sketch of a greater one. The Son of David, refused by His own, draws strangers to Himself and shares His glory with all who shared His trials.