David numbered his men and set captains over thousands and captains over hundreds. He split them into three. Joab to lead one third, Abishai to lead a third and Ittai to lead the remaining third (v1-4). The first two were David’s nephews, but Ittai was an outsider who became faithful and loyal to David. This was a great honour for Ittai.
Are we faithful and loyal to our God? We were once aliens and foreigners to the family of God, but we are brought nigh by the blood of Christ (Ephesians 2:12,13). We have so much to thank Him for and to depend upon Him for. We should be faithful and loyal and maybe God will place us in positions of leadership as a result.
David says that he will go out and lead them, but they said, “You shall not go out; for if we flee away, they will not care about us; nor if half of us die, will they care about us. But you are worth ten thousand of us now. For you are now more help to us in the city.” David replied that he would do whatever seemed best to them. Taking the advice of his faithful men he stood beside the gate while all his men marched out in units of hundreds and of thousands. He gave the three leaders a command (v5) “Deal gently for my sake with the young man Absalom.” And all the troops heard the king giving the orders concerning Absalom. I presume that he simply wanted Absalom to be captured and brought safely back home. Absalom didn’t deserve this care and neither do we deserve any care and love from God.
But this a battle – it might be difficult – David’s men were fighting against Israel in the woods of Ephraim, spreading over the whole countryside. (v6-8) Absalom and his armies were defeated to the tune of 20,000 men that day and not all by the sword (v8) “The woods devoured more people that day than the sword devoured.” I don’t really know what that means, save to say that God, through natural creation did more damage to the enemy than the swords of men. This may be plainer in the next verse (v9). Ahithophel’s counsel was to take 12,000 men, but Hushai said to take all the people.
Absalom came along riding his mule (v9) and he went under the thick boughs of a great terebinth tree (some versions say an oak tree). His head caught and stuck fast in the tree and the mule went on without him and left him hanging from the tree. Maybe by his hair but certainly by his head. We have seen earlier that Absalom was a good-looking young man and he obviously treasured his long hair, and we shall see later in v 18 how vain he was.
One of David’s men saw what happened and went to Joab to tell him. Joab’s reaction was utter amazement – “What, you just saw him? Why didn’t you kill him? I would have given you a reward of 10 shekels of silver and a belt” The man’s reply was “Though I were to receive 1,000 shekels in my hand I would not raise my hand against the king’s son.” This was no ordinary passer-by; he was a member of the army and he had heard the king’s command to the three leaders (v12). He reminded Joab of the king’s command. He evidently respected and revered the King’s command, but he also knew that he would be found out and that he couldn’t trust Joab. If the king had blamed Joab there was no doubt in this man’s mind that Joab would have told David who had actually killed Absalom, to save his own skin. (v13)
Joab is impatient with this loyal servant of the king (v14) and in effect he says, ‘Be hanged with your loyal obedience, we are fighting a battle against the enemy whoever the enemy is. There is not time for niceties, let’s finish the job off.’ Joab went to where Absalom was hanging and thrust him through with three spears, and then Joab’s ten armour bearers finished Absalom off. Joab blew the trumpet to indicate the battle was over. It is apparent that none of Absalom’s followers stayed with him – v7 told us that twenty thousand men had been slaughtered. We are not told how many from each side, but I guess from the reading that it was twenty thousand of Absalom’s men and maybe the rest had fled. Ahithophel’s counsel was to take twelve thousand so there would have been many thousands in reserve, but Hushai’s counsel persuaded Absalom to take all his men, which he did.
Absalom was still not dead so ten of Joab’s young armour-bearers struck him and killed him and took him down from the tree and buried him in a large pit in the woods and place a very large heap of stones over him. Some sort of monument I suppose (v17). All Israel fled – they wanted nothing more to do with it.
Next, we see how vain and full of his own importance Absalom had been (v18). “Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and set up a pillar for himself, which is in the King’s Valley. For he said, “I have no son to keep my name in remembrance.” He called the pillar after his own name. And to this day it is called Absalom’s Monument.”
Ch 14:27 tells us that he had 3 sons and a daughter, but maybe his children didn’t follow him and stayed faithful to their grandfather, or possibly they had been killed earlier or maybe the monument had been set up before he had any children!
It is normal that people put up monuments to others after they are dead, but to put up a monument to ourselves while we are still alive, indicates insecurity, uncertainty, conceitedness, pride and self-importance. Not at all what Christians should be! In fact, the Bible says we should be the very opposite. What a contrast between the monument he put up and the pile of stones he was buried under. Is that how people remember us? Or do they remember us of their own volition? It is a pity that we have to remember ourselves or persuade other people to remember us by putting up monuments to ourselves. Do we look for monuments to us or are we humble before God? What accolades are we looking for? What good is a monument? It is better that people remember us for the characters we are.
Absalom didn’t even leave a legacy, all he left was a monument. However, his death deeply affected one person. In v19 Ahimaaz, one of the appointed runners (news bearers) wanted to take the news to David, but Joab wouldn’t allow him – ‘Not today’ he said. v20 ‘You are not the one to take the news today,’ Joab told him. ‘You may take the news another time, but you must not do so today, because the king’s son is dead.’
Instead, Joab instructed a foreigner to take the news to David, a Cushite. I guess Joab had a rough idea of what David’s reaction would be, so it was better that a foreigner bore the brunt of it. No doubt he remembered David’s reaction to the news of King Saul’s death (Chapter 1). In chapter 14:1 ‘Joab perceived that the king’s heart was concerned about Absalom’ and he had received instructions about the treatment of Absalom (18:5). Joab was a callous soldier and cared not for the enemy whoever it was, but he knew that whilst his king was a mighty man of valour, he also had a heart of love, even for his enemies, and particularly for his prodigal son Absalom.
How like God in His love for us! God is Almighty and could quite justifiably annihilate us because of our sin, but He loves us with an amazing love even when we were enemies, He sent His only Son to die for us. He forgives our sin and remembers it no more. That is amazing and yet we are often guilt-ridden because of our failures. Yet God has blotted our confessed sin out, totally, never to be brought up against us again.
Ahimaaz was persistent, he wanted to go after the Cushite, but Joab replied, “My son, why will you run, since you have no news ready?” He obviously persisted, and, in the end, Joab let him go. Joab was in effect saying, ‘You only need to go when there is good news, the king doesn’t want to hear bad news and this is bad news.’ ‘No news is good news’ is a phrase we often hear, and when one considers the News Bulletins of today, they are filled with bad news. In fact, good things rarely make the News. It was Martin Lewis, former newsreader, who said, there was too much bad news in our newscasts. It is time we included good things rather than bad.
Joab knew what David’s reaction would be, so he tried to delay it and sent a foreigner unofficially. It really didn’t matter what happened to him! The Cushite was going to be the scapegoat. Ahimaaz was eventually allowed to go, and he knew his way about, the quickest route, and outran the Cushite.
v 24-27 tell us that while David was sitting between the inner and outer gates, a watchman was on the roof of the gateway, and he saw a man running alone. He called out to David and told him of this, and the king said that if he is running alone, he must have good news. It was obviously significant that he was running alone! As the runner drew closer, the watchman saw another runner and called down to the gatekeeper that there was another man running alone. The king thought that he too had good news and then the watchman recognized the first runner as Ahimaaz. The king said that he is a good man and must have good news.
David was alert, sitting in the gate, near the watchtower. Some years earlier David had been lying on his bed when he should have been at war. Then, he had seen Bathsheba, was tempted and fell into great sin. Not now! He wanted to go and fight but was persuaded by his men that it was better for him to stay behind in the city. They didn’t want him killed – Absalom would have wanted that more than anything to further his claim for the throne, but, more than that, David would have hampered the fight against Absalom – he wanted his son dealt with gently. He would have been a hinderance to the army, fighting against an enemy whom he loved.
David trusted Ahimaaz, but the man knew that David would not be happy with the news that Absalom was dead, so he had to break it gently – in fact, a lie. He threw up a smokescreen and spoke in ‘religious terms’ (v28) – “All is well; Blessed be The LORD your God who has delivered up the men who raised their hand against my LORD the king”. It sounded fine, but David wanted to know (v29)– “Is the young man Absalom safe?” In other words, “Get to the point man!” This is where Ahimaaz lied, he’d fudged the picture – When Joab sent me, I saw a great tumult, but I did not know what it was about. That wasn’t true, he did know. The very reason he came was because the Cushite would tell the truth when he arrived. Sure enough, the Cushite was excited that the battle had been won and the enemy Absalom killed and had nothing to lose by telling the truth. (v31,32) The king asked the Cushite, “Is the young man Absalom safe?” The Cushite, who would have no compassion on the enemy, and perhaps not realising the situation, replied, “May the enemies of my LORD the king and all who rise up against you to do you harm be like that young man.” One commentator has said, ‘The delicacy of Ahimaaz’ communication was made up by the unmistakable plainness of the Cushite’s’.
This was like a bombshell to David and v 33 is a very moving description of David’s reaction and mourning for his lost son. He went up to his room over the gateway and wept. He was deeply moved. As he went, he said, “O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom, if only I had died in your place! O Absalom, my son, my son.”
David was distraught. He had loved his son despite his anarchy, and he even wished he had died in Absalom’s place. Amazing when you consider Absalom’s behaviour especially towards his father, his pride and self-indulgence.
G. Campbell Morgan said, “It is as though he had said: He is indeed my son, his weaknesses are my weaknesses, his passions are my passions, his sins are my sins. Out of all that sense there came the deepest cry of all “Would I had died for thee!” Here surely David reached the profoundest moment of his suffering.
What a picture of God’s love for us – but with a difference? The LORD Jesus Christ, God’s only Son DID die for us. We, who are sinners of the deepest die, enemies of The Living God. God sent His Son to die for us on Calvary.
David wished he could have died for his son, but it wasn’t possible. Jesus died for us, and we can receive forgiveness for all our sin, the indwelling of The Holy Spirit to empower us to live the new life and an eternal home in heaven. Wonderful! Yet so many refuse and reject Him. What more could we ask for?
David loved Absalom despite his rejection and rebellion – God loves every one of us and longs that we will repent and turn to Him. David would have been glad for Absalom to come back to him, but it wasn’t to be. There is coming a time when it will be impossible for those outside of Christ to come to Him. The day of grace will not last for ever. Don’t put it off, delay is fatal. “Seek the LORD while He may be found, call on Him while he is near” (Isaiah 55:6) indicates that there will come a time when He is not.
