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.