Fear No Fear

(All scripture from Lexham English Bible, Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software)

David was concerned for Absalom. But David was still mad at Absalom. Yet, the concern was noticeable. Joab noticed it. It was affecting David’s ability to be an effective king. Brooding is NEVER a good idea (1 Corinthians 13:5). Joab knew David. Knew he wasn’t going to SAY anything. So he got a wise woman from Tekoa and taught her what to say. She went into David and did what Nathan had done (probably where Joab got the idea, since Nathan talked to David while he was ready to judge the issue and that’s usually done in open court). She came looking like she was mourning and told a good tale. He sided with her about this situation that was eerily like the one between his sons. Then she rebuked David and called him a hypocrite for not dealing with his sons the way he was ready to deal with hers.

David wasn’t fooled any longer. He knew Joab was behind it. He called him in and said, okay. I’m not going to kill Absalom. Go fetch him from Geshur. But David had a stipulation. Absalom could live in his own house like before (it hadn’t been taken from him or anything), BUT he was not allowed to see David’s face. He could be in the city, but no interaction with David. Joab went and did it. Absalom returned to Jerusalem after three years of self-imposed exile (2 Samuel 13:38).

It would have been better for David to deal with the situation instead of continuing an exile in Jerusalem. But David hasn’t been dealing with his situations lately. He did nothing about the murder of his son. He did nothing about the rape of his daughter. Perhaps it was a pride issue. Perhaps it was guilt over what he had done to Uriah and Bathsheba. It doesn’t say in the Word, so everything is speculation. This wasn’t that far in time from his sin (five years or so), he may still have been adjusting to the new circumstances of being judged. It’s a sad situation. I am grateful to the Lord, we have a NEW covenant and His judgment is NOT laid on us at all – only correction (James 1:17, 2 Timothy 3:16).

Absalom comes back. Lives in Jerusalem. Praised for his good looks and magnificent hair. He has three sons and a daughter he names after his sister who is presumably still at home. He is there for two full years and still no contact with David. Absalom has had enough. He sends a message to Joab to get him an audience with the king. Joab doesn’t answer. Absalom tries again. Joab says nothing. No response. Ghosted. So Absalom sends his servants (he doesn’t seem to do much of his own dirty work, just the public good face stuff) to set fire to Joab’s barley field which is near Absalom’s own. THAT gets Joab’s attention and he comes to demand what the big idea is.

Absalom points out that he may as well have stayed away if this was how David was going to treat him. Absalom says look, if the king wants to settle the account let him kill me. But if he isn’t going to kill me then let me back into the normal routine. Joab relents and arranges a meeting. Absalom goes before David and bows on his face before David. David kisses him. All is restored.

“Now David was going up on the Ascent of the Olives, weeping as he went, with his head covered and going barefoot. All the people who were with him each covered their head and wept as they went.” (2 Samuel 15:30).

Absalom did not fall into the actions and patterns that were about to happen. He did it on purpose. There was a meeting with his father, and a kiss of acceptance, but no mention of true reconciliation. Absalom didn’t seem to like that much. He also didn’t seem to be willing to wait for anything. He had brooded for the last five years and was ready to act. He got chariots and horses and a fifty-man entourage to run ahead of him wherever he went. Absalom was all about making a SHOW.

Absalom would get up early and stand by the way to the king’s gate. He talked to everyone coming for judgment and asked where they were from. He took their sides. He wouldn’t let them bow to him, he bowed to them – he showed himself as a server of the people. He would say things like, ‘It is too bad I do not have power to help you.’ He stole the people’s hearts little by little. After four years (about forty years since David was anointed or since he fled from Saul – there are differing opinions), Absalom asked permission from David to go to Hebron for a sacrifice because he claimed to have made a vow (five years previous on the inside and eight on the outside) that if David let him back home, he would go to Hebron to worship God. The ark was not in Hebron, but Jerusalem. David let him go with his blessing. Absalom went to Hebron.

He had prepared well. He had spies throughout the kingdom watching for the signal. When they got it, they would proclaim Absalom king in Hebron. He had about two hundred men from Jerusalem with him who knew nothing of anything, but it made for a grand entrance. Absalom also sent for Ahithophel, who was one of David’s counselors and renowned for his wisdom and decision making skills. He was also Bathsheba’s grandfather and clearly sided AGAINST David. Absalom offered sacrifices and wined and dined the people. And the people went with Absalom. He declared himself king.

When David heard he gathered up his household – all but ten concubines who were left to keep order in David’s house so that he could return (who would touch women who weren’t even technically his wives, even though they kinda were?). David did not want the city attacked. He really cared for Jerusalem. His servants stayed loyal and they came with him. Six hundred men – the ones from the campaigns when David was living in Ziklag – came with him. David told a particular man (Ittai the Gittite – from Gath, birthplace of Goliath and where the king Achish lived. Some think Ittai was Achish’s son and banished from the Philistine cities) to stay. He was a foreigner and an exile from home, very recently arrived. But the man swore that David’s fate would be his own. A loyal man.

They crossed over the Brook Kidron heading toward the wilderness. The priest Zadok and Levites bearing the ark came too, but David sent them back. The ark was for the people. A symbol to them. David would return to the ark if it was God’s will, and wouldn’t if it wasn’t. David may have made a blunder (God called it his single blunder – 1 Kings 15:5), but David was secure in his relationship with and knowledge of God. Also, since two of Zadok’s sons (Ahimaaz and Jonathan) were fast, Zadok could send David messages about what was happening in the city. So they went back.

David learned that his counselor Ahithophel had turned on him as he went up the Mount of Olives. He prayed that the Lord would confuse the counsel of Ahithophel and bring it to nothing. David stopped at the top and worshipped God. Hushai the Archite showed up – one of David’s government ministers – with mourning robes and ashes. David told him to return because he wasn’t a fighting man. But he would be of use in the city. David asked him to claim to be the king’s man – serving whomever the KING was, not a particular man – and offer counsel. Then Hushai would be in position to defeat the counsel of Ahithophel. Also, Hushai could pass word to David through Zadok’s sons. Hushai agreed and he went back and into the city.

Absalom also arrived in Jerusalem.

Summary

Key Players: God, David, Absalom, Joab

Key Themes: Sin, Reconciliation, Brooding, Rebellion, Loyalty

Key Verse(s): 2 Samuel 14:1-3, 19-21, 24, 33; 15:1-6, 13-14, 29, 34-37