Read 2 Samuel 15 here (text coming …) or at Bible Gateway.
The Hebrew paragraphs:
15:1-6 {p} Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel
15:7-9 {p} Absalom asks and receives permission to go to Hebron to pay a vow to YHVH
15:10-18 {s} Absalom declares himself king in Hebron/ flight of David and his servants from Jerusalem
15:19-24 {s} David, his servants, and the people cross over the brook Kidron toward the wil-derness
15:25-26 {s} David to Zadok: Return the ark to Jerusalem; if it be the Lord’s will, I will see it again
15:27-37 {s} David sent Zadok and Hushai back to Jerusalem, to be his agents until he should return
The Strong Themes:
2 Sam 14:31-15:6 {s+p} David restores Absalom to his heart, but Absalom stole the hearts of Israel
2 Samuel 14:28-15:13 Chiastic Structure:
That David cut Absalom’s heartstrings, by refusing to either send for him for the three years while he was in Geshur, or by refusing to see him for two years after he returned to Jerusalem, isn’t readily apparent from the text, but the Chiastic structure brings it to light. The matching elements of the greater structure from chapters 14 through 16 (stay tuned tomorrow) force the A pairs together.
Now as to what David could have done differently, I am not entirely sure. Absalom did murder someone after all, and the Torah requires the death penalty for murderers. But in a way, Amnon “murdered” someone too, when he violated Tamar. He ended her life that she had prepared for, as a wife and a mother. So it is a tangled knot applying justice and mercy, and David’s responsibility was not just as Absalom’s father, but also his king.
But the structure reveals the wisdom of God in tying children’s hearts to their parents’ hearts, for their own good, and the responsibility fathers have to maintain that precious gift.
And, you fathers, provoke not your children to wrath; but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Eph 6:4
But also, don’t miss that Absalom continues to make one bad choice after another, first in murdering his brother, then in allowing bitterness to take root in his heart, then in planning rebellion against the anointed king of Israel (something David never did even when Saul was unjustly seeking his life).
Leave a Reply