Having made this
crossing of the Jordan (leaving the Promised Land), Absalom will never cross
back. It is not insignificant that Absalom’s crossing of the Jordan
coincides with blessings beginning to come David’s way. It is reported
that “When David came to Mahanaim,” men came to him and “brought bedding,
basins, and pottery utensils. They also brought food for David and all
who were with him, including wheat, barley, flour, roasted grain, beans,
lentils, honey, curds, flocks, and cheese” (2 Samuel 17:27a,28-29a).
Remarkably (or
perhaps not so remarkably), this provision of food and supplies for David and
the people with him sounds like what is to be found in the twenty-eighth
chapter of Deuteronomy. There, along with the copious listing of curses
that will come upon the covenant God’s people for failure to adhere to the
terms of the covenant, one also finds the promise of blessings. It is
written: “If you indeed obey the Lord your God and are careful to observe all His
commandments… the Lord your God will elevate you above all the nations of the
earth. All these blessings will come to you in abundance if you
obey the Lord your God: You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the
field. Your children will be blessed, as well as the produce of your
soil, the offspring of your livestock, the calves of your herds, and the lambs
of your flocks. Your basket and your mixing bowl will be blessed.
You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out” (28:1-6).
One can almost certainly imagine David reflecting upon these promised blessings
as he receives the items that are being brought to him at Mahanaim.
If he is thinking in
such ways, then it is at this point that he knows that his God has turned
things in his favor, that truly he is still the anointed one of Israel, and
that Absalom should not have raised his hand (or contemplated raising his hand)
against him. After contemplating the blessings related to sustenance,
David could go on to consider what follows in Deuteronomy, which is “The Lord
will cause your enemies who attack you to be struck down before you; they will
attack you from one direction but flee from you in seven different directions…
The Lord will designate you as His holy people just as He promised you… Then
all the peoples of the earth will see that you belong to the Lord, and they
will respect you” (28:7,9-10). It is after he receives the gifts that,
for him, could serve to indicate the return of the Creator God’s favor and to
remind him of the anointing and promise of his God that had been placed upon
his life and his rule, that “David assembled the army that was with him.
He appointed leaders of thousands and leaders of hundreds. David then
sent out the army” (18:1-2a).
David knew that Israel’s
God was going to be with him and that his return to the throne was now but a
foregone conclusion. With full knowledge that the change of events was
instigated by Absalom’s agreement to unnecessarily raise his hand in violence
against his father, when David sends out the army he says “For my sake deal
gently with the young man Absalom” (18:5b). This, of course, does not
happen, as Joab, David’s general (who has no fear of reprisal from David for a
variety of reasons), has Absalom executed at the first opportunity to do so,
which presented itself relatively quickly. In fact, Absalom was struck
down in the very first military engagement of his kingship, which is
extraordinarily telling. As was said before, once Absalom crossed the
Jordan, thus departing from his exodus and going into exile, he would never
cross back. The only thing that was waiting for him on the other side was
the completion of the curses of exile, which was death---dragged into the
subjugation of creation’s great and foreign power.
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