And Absalom used to rise early and stand beside the way of the gate. And when any man had a dispute to come before the king for judgment, Absalom would call to him and say, “From what city are you?” And when he said, “Your servant is of such and such a tribe in 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 as the Place of Judgment
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.
Morrish Bible DictionaryGates 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.
Morrish Bible DictionaryOnce 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.
Two Aims Behind One Question
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.
William KellyTwo 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.
Manufactured Discontent
Absalom never proposes a remedy to the king. That silence exposes his true aim.
Leslie M. GrantHe 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.
Creating an Empty Space
Notice the order of the work. Before Absalom offered himself, he made people feel the lack of something.
C. H. MackintoshThe 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.
C. H. MackintoshThis 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.
Borrowed Virtues
Everything Absalom displays at the gate is an imitation of something real, and the pretence runs on through the rest of the story.
H. L. RossierHe 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.
A Pattern That Returns
Commentators see more here than one man's ambition. They see a pattern that appears again in prophecy.
C. H. MackintoshHis history may justly be viewed as a type of that great prophetic character who, as Daniel tells us, "shall obtain the kingdom by flatteries."
Summary
- 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.