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.