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.