The Error of Absalom
Robert Wurtz II
The Law of Sowing and Reaping
King David’s sin with Bathsheba and his murder of her husband, Uriah, set into motion the tragedy in 2 Samuel 15. The prophet Nathan pronounced God’s judgment that the sword would never depart from David’s house (2 Samuel 12:10). In response to Nathan’s parable, David unwittingly pronounced his own sentence, declaring that the guilty man “shall restore the lamb fourfold” (2 Samuel 12:6). Consequently, four of David’s sons died: the infant child (2 Samuel 12:18), Amnon (2 Samuel 13:28–29), Absalom (2 Samuel 18:14–15), and Adonijah (1 Kings 2:24–25). Fratricide claimed two of those four sons, as their own brothers killed them.
Absalom burned with rage because his father, David, refused to judge his eldest son, Amnon, for raping Absalom’s sister, Tamar (2 Samuel 13:21–22). Amnon used the ancient deception of feigned illness to win Tamar’s sympathy and lure her into his trap. He then raped her and sent her away crying, provoking Absalom to wrath. Sin creates impossible situations. Because all of the parties were David’s children, his deep love for them created an agonizing conflict of interest. The law in Deuteronomy 22 regarding punishment for this sin leaves room for interpretation (Deuteronomy 22:28–29), allowing both David and Absalom to choose the reading that best fits their personal ties and viewpoints.
Private Interpretations of the Law
When an offender victimizes our loved one, we may champion the strictest interpretation of the law to demand justice. But when our loved one commits the offense, we emphasize the text’s leniency to plead for mercy. David’s family was both victim and offender. In the end, personal opinions—who suffered the offense and who committed it—dictated how David and Absalom defined justice in this regard, rather than the scripture text itself.
As an aside, in Romans 13, Paul explains that under the New Covenant God delegates the public enforcement of justice to civil authorities so that individuals do not take private vengeance (Romans 12:19; 13:1–4). The magistrate “beareth not the sword in vain,” acting as “a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil” (Romans 13:4). This divine order prevents vigilante justice and keeps dangerous criminals who commit severe offenses from exploiting Christian mercy to escape earthly punishment.
Vigilante Justice
Because Absalom was consumed with hostility, he believed Amnon deserved death. He took matters into his own hands and murdered his half-brother (2 Samuel 13:28–29). Meanwhile, David hesitated in an effort to show mercy, leading Absalom and others to interpret his inaction as being “soft on crime.”
We are starting to see how David’s sin threw open a Pandora’s box of unimaginable horror when he murdered Uriah. Nathan’s prophecy to David in 2 Samuel 12:10–12—that the sword would never depart from his house—is one of the most vivid, sobering demonstrations of the Law of Sowing and Reaping in the entire Bible. The old-time preachers used to put it this way, “Sin will take you farther than you want to go and it will keep you longer than you want to stay.”
Absalom, the Self-Proclaimed Champion of Justice
In a political environment where no successor to the throne had been defined, Absalom once again took matters into his own hands. He actively pursued the throne by exploiting his sister’s tragedy, painting his father as negligent while presenting himself as the sole champion of justice (2 Samuel 15:2–4).
Absalom weaponized these circumstances to fabricate a deceptive narrative that easily ensnared shallow thinkers (2 Samuel 15:6). He deployed the oldest political trick in history: he highlighted the incumbent king’s perceived failures while stealing the hearts of the people with flattery and false promises.
The Magnetism of Absalom
Absalom fell into Satan’s deadly trap, and many others blindly followed him down the same path. He was corrupted by his own beauty; even weighing his hair, it was so long (2 Samuel 14:26). Coupled with what one writer described as “his charming manners, personal beauty, and insinuating ways, together with his love of pomp and royal pretensions,” Absalom completely captivated the hearts of the people. In their eyes, he could do no wrong, regardless of his evil character.
In modern terms, we might picture him living in style, driving a sporty chariot, and parading with an entourage of fifty men running before him (2 Samuel 15:1). He craved the prestige of royalty and recklessly took every measure to secure it. His charm produced what modern commentators may call “ride-or-die” followers who ignored all the red flags and pledged their loyalty no matter what—even to their own destruction.
The Art of Political Flattery
Absalom loved to charm the crowds. He told the people exactly what they wanted to hear, puffed them up with flattery, and pretended to be their trusted friend. All the while, his mind remained fixed on stealing his father’s throne. Notice how he addressed the people:
Absalom was sending a clear message: The current administration is failing. By exposing and magnifying his father’s perceived shortcomings, Absalom proved his hatred for David. Had he loved his father, he would have helped him, shielded him, covered his weaknesses, and offered genuine support rather than jockeying for his position. He would not want his father to fail.
Feigned Love
Absalom pretended to be helping the people, but it was all part of the scheme. Everything Absalom did aimed to move him one step closer to the throne. By appearing to be helping his father, he duped the people with another mouthful of deception. It was all pretense. One can almost hear his excuse: “I tried to help him… but he wouldn’t accept my help!”
While the common people fell for his facade, leaders with simple common sense saw right through him. Experienced leaders recognize when ambitious men are gunning for their positions. Sadly, Absalom feigned love for the people merely to gain their backing, and he fooled almost everyone. In modern times we might have given him an Academy Award for acting.
Poisoning the Minds of the People
Why did Absalom refuse to help his father? Why did he stand at the city gate and fill the ears of citizens seeking judgment with toxic rhetoric? He told them, in effect: “When I become king, real change will take place!” These were not prophetic words; they were political words, the kind spoken on a campaign stump speech.
Absalom did everything in his power to undermine his father, all under the guise that King David “was not doing his job.” In reality, Absalom engineered the very chaos and dissatisfaction he blamed on his father. Their minds were twisted like a pretzel because of his guile. He even persuaded prominent leaders in Israel to join his rebellion.
Falling Under the Spell
Ahithophel, David’s respected counselor, fell under Absalom’s spell (2 Samuel 15:31). Sadly, the “Ahithophels” of the world do not realize that opportunists are simply using them. As soon as another figure emerges who can better advance the usurper’s political ambitions, the opportunist discards the counselor he once called a friend.
When Absalom rejected Ahithophel’s counsel in favor of Hushai, David’s friend who acted as a secret agent, Ahithophel realized the game was over. He set his house in order and hanged himself (2 Samuel 17:23). His betrayal of David and subsequent suicide foreshadowed the fate of Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus. Just as Judas succumbed to grief upon realizing the religious leaders had used him as a pawn, Ahithophel could not face the public disgrace of backing a failed usurper.
The moral of the story? Do not be an Ahithophel. Never allow an Absalom to use your wisdom and influence to satisfy his own ambition, only to toss you aside like an empty disposable lighter (torch).
Ruthless Ambition Unmasked
Absalom used the tragedy involving his sister Tamar as a pretext to mount a vicious campaign against King David. Because David did not handle the situation to Absalom’s satisfaction, Absalom launched a rebellion. Modern opportunists use the same tactic: “You didn’t handle that situation right,” which gives them a self-justifying excuse for destructive behavior.
Only a reprobate mind could believe that murdering one’s father is justified because the father spared his own son. Absalom took matters into his own hands and executed Amnon (2 Samuel 13:28–29). Was that revenge not enough? Of course not! Because the issue was never about justice for Tamar or David’s handling of Amnon. It was always about Absalom’s ruthless ambition.
The Carnage of Revenge
Once Amnon was dead, Absalom could no longer blame him. Was Amnon’s death not an “eye for an eye”? Indeed it was and more. But ambitious politicians do not care about justice; revenge is simply the carnage they leave along the roadside on their self-appointed path to greatness.
Absalom resorted to brutal and unconscionable acts to seize power. He even set Joab’s grain field on fire to command his attention (2 Samuel 14:30). The “Absaloms” of the world regularly start fires to draw attention to themselves opportunistically. We call it a “manufactured crisis.” As Winston Churchill is alleged to have said, “Never let a crisis go to waste.”
In his shameless wickedness, Absalom pitched a tent on the royal roof in the sight of all Israel and went in unto his father’s concubines, a brazen act of treason and incest (2 Samuel 16:22). This again was fulfillment of prophecy and part of David’s judgment. Nevertheless, Absalom proved himself far more depraved than the half-brother he had killed, committing his sins with a defiant high hand. His actions signaled: Amnon committed his sin in secret, but I will commit even greater evil in broad daylight and make everyone applaud it. This was not merely fleshly sin; it was diabolical. His goal was also to make people believe his father would be angry about what had happened, thereby positioning his father as an angry and violent man.
The Pride That Precedes Destruction
Absalom wanted his own father dead and dispatched thousands of soldiers to accomplish the deed (2 Samuel 17:1–2). He was willing to murder his own father to secure the throne he coveted. That reality is ultra-sobering. It reveals the ruthless character of anyone who exalts himself into leadership outside of God’s will.
His arrogance echoes the dreadful cry from the heart of Satan:
Yet, as it was with Satan, so it was with Absalom:
The Kingdom of God and Not Men
On a practical level, we must realize that no one can build a spiritual kingdom through the arm of the flesh. You cannot politic your way into God’s will. Rather than waiting for God to “exalt them in due time” (1 Peter 5:6), self-appointed leaders take matters into their own hands and destroy any hope of fulfilling their true potential. Pride has led many to frustrate God’s purposes.
Before his rebellion ended, Absalom had divided the nation to the brink of full-scale civil war. All of this destruction stemmed from the political ambitions of a man who feigned concern for justice while positioning himself as the nation’s savior. In his own arrogant words: “Oh that I were made judge in the land!”
How did it end for him? Absalom’s big hair gave him a big head both literally and figuratively. It was the symbol of his pride and rebellion. His whole head was caught and wedged in a tree, and he was killed. As 17th-century Puritan John Trapp put it, “He was suspended between heaven and earth and rejected by both.” May Heaven protect us from ambitious men.
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