Absalom appears to be enjoying the Creator God’s favor upon
his life and his kingship. He has suffered in exile, and now he has been
vindicated from that suffering. He has been delivered to the kingship of the
covenant people of the covenant God. Much like Israel, it could be said
that he had “taken the land.” The demonstration of that ongoing Scriptural
theme of exile and exodus has been well demonstrated, and above all things, it
shows that he is not only now of kinship with Moses, but also Israel itself
(from Egypt to the Promised Land), of Jacob (to Haran and back to Canaan), and
Abraham (from Ur to Canaan, and from Egypt to Canaan). It cannot be
emphasized enough that he can consider himself to have been vindicated by his God,
with evidence of such, following his long ordeal, that he is hailed as Israel’s
king. It must be further emphasized, quite strenuously, that his
ascension to the throne (the completion of his personal exodus journey) has
been accomplished without resort to military operations.
As has been previously pointed
out, he has not had to raise his hand against Israel’s anointed king. The
people can freely support him in good conscience, knowing full well that David
appears to have abdicated willingly. If indeed the Bathsheba/Uriah
incident has been made public knowledge, which seems like a reasonable
proposition because of Absalom’s actions with David’s concubines (wives) in
sight of the people, that was meant to be a demonstration of the judgment
pronounced against him by the Creator God through the prophet Nathan, then
David’s peaceful abdication would have seemed altogether appropriate, with
Absalom’s peaceful taking of power (in this context) completely understandable.
Then, the unraveling
begins. Absalom quickly moves from the place of apparent favor and
blessing of Israel’s God, with an implicit sanction of his kingship (because of
his role in delivering prophesied and embarrassing judgment for David) with
David slinking quietly away into the background, into the opposite
situation. Almost immediately upon becoming secure upon the throne,
Absalom begins to see his station slipping from him. To a point, he had
been growing in favor with man (and apparently) with God, but this now
turns. Absalom starts to fall into the Creator God’s disfavor, and David
begins to regain in favor.
This can’t simply be because David had been anointed by God
to replace Saul and lead the covenant people, as the Creator God is free to
work through Absalom (according to the promise to David) to cause His people to
be a light to the nations and to reflect His glory into the world, so there
must be a signal reason why this takes place. Did Absalom have his own
Bathsheba situation? Not as far as the Scriptures report. Did he
fail to execute justice as did David in the situation with Amnon and
Tamar. Again, not as far as is known. So what was it? Why is the
Creator God’s blessing suddenly removed from him? What is it that causes
the people to slowly begin to turn from Absalom and reinstitute their support
of David?
The answer is found in the first
few verses of the seventeenth chapter of the second book of Samuel. What
does this passage say? There it is reported that, “Ahithophel said to
Absalom, ‘Let me pick out twelve thousand men. Then I will go and pursue
David this very night. When I catch up with him he will be exhausted and
worn out. I will rout him, and the entire army that is with him will
flee. I will kill only the king and will bring the entire army back to
you. In exchange for the life of the man you are seeking, you will get
back everyone’.” (17:1-3a) What was Absalom’s response to this? In
what should be a surprise, based on how things have gone and what has been
accomplished to that point, it is said that “This seemed like a good idea to
Absalom and to all the leaders of Israel” (17:4). Though Absalom would
also seek out further advice and eventually act upon advice contrary to what
was offered by Ahithophel, the point is that this seemed like a good idea to
Absalom.
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