Sometimes there is a
tendency to forget that these stories in the Bible are being told about people
that were very much flesh and blood individuals. These were not idealized characters that wore
black or white hats. These were real
people with which all who read this study share a common humanity. They
had thoughts that are not recorded by the Biblical authors, insecurities, and
doubts about their place and role in the Creator God’s mission in the world, with
these occurring right alongside all of the problems and concerns of life lived
in what would have to be described as less than comfortable conditions. So
even though conditions change and mindsets change, and even though the Christ-event
and its results have had a singularly massive effect on the world for the last
two thousand years (as a transformative force unlike the world has ever known),
human nature remains unchanged. This
fact is what allows for a sensitivity and attunement to culture and custom by
those that approach the Biblical narrative, so as to be able to enter these
stories and to read them for all that they are worth.
Getting back to the
light in which Absalom might be hoping that these events are seen, and
remaining aware of not only the narrative structure of the Bible that
constantly points to themes of exile and exodus, but also that Israel was
always especially cognizant of the story of the exodus under the leadership of
Moses, a fearful King David can be found saying “Go immediately, or else he
will quickly overtake us and bring disaster on us and kill the city’s residents
with the sword” (2 Samuel 15:14b).
If Absalom is indeed
painting David as a new Pharaoh, and if the author is mindful of that, then
David’s order is quite interesting. It returns a reader to chapter twelve
of Exodus, following the plague which brought the death of the firstborn
(remember, all of these events concerning Absalom are ultimately connected with
the death of Amnon, David’s firstborn). There, in fear of what might
happen next to his people and his land, “Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron in
the night and said, ‘Get up, get out from among my people, both you and the
Israelites! Go, serve the Lord as you have requested! Also, take
your flocks and herds, just as you have requested, and leave. But bless
me also’.” (12:31-32) In addition, it is there reported that “The
Egyptians were urging the people on, in order to send them out of the land
quickly, for they were saying, ‘We are all dead!’” (12:33)
Though they are not
identical, the words of David have a strange affinity with the words of Pharaoh
and the Egyptians. Regardless of the non-identical words, they can be
said to share a nature and the point would seem to be clear. What is going
to follow is an exile and an exodus. In Leviticus and Deuteronomy, both
of which build upon the foundation of the Exodus narrative, the Creator God
will promise His people that the curses that will fall upon them for violating
His commandments would be similar to the plagues that He brought upon
Egypt. So Egypt, by retrojection, has already experienced something like
exile (though they are not the Creator God’s people).
Furthermore, owing to
what would take place at the sea, the plague of death (exile) would be further
visited upon the Egyptians. The exodus to follow, of course, would be
that of Israel. With David and Absalom, exile and exodus were also
coming. David was going to leave Jerusalem in a self-imposed exile, as it
seemed that his power over the Creator God’s people had been broken in a way
that was not at all unlike that of Pharaoh. Absalom, at the head of a
loyal populace, was exodus-ing his own long exile and heading for the throne,
which he may very well have seen (embodying the Israel story) as his promised
land.
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