Burning Bush Blogs
Equipping Men with Biblical Knowledge and Leadership Skills
Category: Personal Study
Thread: Game of Thrones
Post Topic: Absalom Conspires to Take Down the King
Post in Thread: #16
Previous: The King’s Deadly Affair
Next: King David Flees the Revolt
Scripture: 2 Samuel 15:1-12
Key Verses:
2 Samuel 15:6
6 Absalom behaved in this way toward all the Israelites who came to the king asking for justice, and so he stole the hearts of the people of Israel.
Observations
Backstory / Psychological Context
- Absalom was the third son of David by his wife Maacah, daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur. He was born of a polygamous marriage.
- Absalom’s sister Tamar was defiled by his half-brother Amnon. Adding to Tamar’s disgrace (given the customs of the time), Amnon refused to marry her, and she lived as a desolate woman for the rest of her life.
- David was angry with Amnon, but he did nothing about it. Perhaps he felt guilt over what he’d done with Bathsheba and didn’t feel worthy to condemn?
- Absalom harbored hate in his heart for two years, before he finally orchestrated an opportunity to have his men kill Amnon.
- Absalom fled to Geshur, where his grandfather Talmai lived.
- Absalom stayed in Geshur for three years before David allowed him to return to Jerusalem.
- Even then, David essentially refused to acknowledge Absalom face to face.
Advanced Dig Deeper Exercise (optional)
Parenting Mistakes of David (click to expand)
Trigger Warning: This Bible passage contains sexual content and violence
Using the Context from this post to start your Observations, build an entire Bible study of 2 Samuel 13-14, focusing on what the passage is teaching us about King David and parenting. Hints for filling out details of each of the four sections are provided below.
NOTE – you may discover your own interpretations and applications beyond the prompts provided. If your conclusions are biblical, that’s good!
OBSERVATION
Hint – Start with the context from the post as your initial list of observations. Add at least one of your own observations from the following verses:
- 2 Samuel 13:6-7
- 2 Samuel 13:21 (what doesn’t this verse say about David)
- 2 Samuel 13:39
- 2 Samuel 14:28 and 2 Samuel 14:32
INTERPRETATION
Hints – Consider the following prompts and note any takeaways that come to mind
- How did David handle Amnon’s lust for his half-sister vs what he should have done?
- Using this resource Click Here, what did Deuteronomy 22 say about sexual assault? Do you agree with the assessment of verse 28 that the word “rape” is a mis-interpretation of the Hebrew?
- How did David handle Amnon’s abuse of his half-sister?
- How did David respond to Absalom’s anger?
- What was David’s response to Amnon’s death? How was his heart toward Absalom?
- Why did Absalom decide to burn Joab’s fields?
- Note any thoughts on why David wasn’t more involved in Amnon’s situation and in reconciliation with Absalom.
CORRELATION
Hints – Perform a google search with the text “what does the Bible say about parenting?” List and summarize a few verses that apply to David’s handling of Amnon and Absalom.
APPLICATION
Hints –
- How can we apply David’s mistakes in parenting to our own parenting style?
- How did David’s past affect his parenting, and what can we learn from it? Guilt?
- How can I apply these principles to my relationships with my children? My relationships with my parents?
Remember – you can have free access the answer key to all Dig Deeper exercises as a subscriber. Click Subscribe and follow the prompts to have the secret link emailed to you.
Winning the Hearts of the People
- After returning to Jerusalem, Absalom won the hearts of the people, while David sat passively in lofty towers
- He sat at the gates of the city and greeted everyone warmly, really listening to them.
- He told them “too bad there’s nobody here to address your complaints. If only I had the authority to do something, I’d help.”
- Absalom was a true politician – kissing hands and hearing their complaints without actually doing anything, while blaming others.
- Appearances
- Absalom was an insanely handsome man, with a crazy head of hair.
- He purchased a gleaming chariot and kept 50 strong men around him, yet still made time for the common man.
The Conspiracy
- Absalom won David’s advisor, Ahithopel, over to his side.
- Absalom brought 200 men from Jerusalem with him to Hebron under the guise of fulfilling a vow to the Lord.
- Absalom lied to David about going to Hebron to fulfill a vow.
- David, wanting to believe the best and hoping the reports of Absalom’s disparaging words were false, was probably happy to support the trip.
- Absalom conspired to have word spread throughout Israel: Absalom rules in Hebron.
- Away from the City of David, he organized the revolution against his father.
This map illustrates the falling out between David and Absalom and the subsequent insurrection. The same map will be used for numerous posts in the Game of Thrones series.
- Absalom’s flight to Geshur, his mother’s homeland, is described in the context section of this post.
- This post describes Absalom’s journey south to Hebron where his conspiracy took shape.
- Future posts will describe David’s escape from Jerusalem and the subsequent battle near Mahanaim.
Interpretation
Setting
Jebus/Jerusalem was of strategic importance because it was the highest and safest point around. With its natural springs, a protracted siege would be difficult. If David felt confident that his supporters in the city would remain loyal for him, he wouldn’t have had much to fear from an insurrection.
Hebron sat to the south of Jerusalem. It had been David’s original capital city when he was crowned king of Judah. He moved the capital to Jerusalem after uniting the northern and southern tribes, and defeating the Jebusites in the battle for Jerusalem.
Genre
Narrative description.
Author
The author is unknown, but they had access to the records of the kings and possessed a thorough knowledge of the life and times of Samuel and the events surrounding the first kings of Israel.
Takeaways
- Absalom spent at least four years planning his conspiracy, probably while stewing over the disintegrating relationship with his father. Yes, David had allowed him to return from exile, but David never reached out to Absalom.
- Absalom won the hearts of the people, appealing to their needs and capitalizing on his own popularity.
- He lied to 200 men who accompanied him to Hebron about the purpose of the trip.
- Many of them David likely believed to be loyal.
- Absalom probably picked men that had expressed grievances to him at the city gates and hadn’t received justice.
- He would have chosen men who could then argue with others on his behalf.
- When Absalom spread word throughout Israel that Absalom rules in Hebron, perhaps many would believe he had officially succeeded David.
- Hebron is where David first ruled in Judah before moving to Jerusalem; this was a strategic symbol of Absalom’s power move.
- Flattery and winsomeness does not equate to character.
Imagine
How could the people of Israel turn against David this way, after he had done so much for them? After he’d united the kingdom, pushed back its enemies, and brought it to greatness? Does it remind you of the finicky nature of politics today?
In their shoes, would you have remained loyal to this somewhat aging king who was no longer as involved as he’d once been in the people’s affairs?
Correlation
Proverbs 29:4-5 – By justice a king gives a country stability, but those who are greedy for bribes tear it down.5 Those who flatter their neighbors are spreading nets for their feet.
- Back to back verses talk about kings, bribes, and flattery. Absalom talked a good game, but the truth is, neither he nor David seemed to be giving the common man justice.
- Was Absalom’s flattery spreading a net for the feet of those he met at the gates of Jerusalem?
Application
Generic Applications
- If we remain passive, Satan works right under our noses, possibly corrupting those we trust.
- If David had maintained a more personal relationship with Absalom, maybe this wouldn’t have happened.
- If David had remained more in tune with the people of his kingdom, Absalom would have found it more difficult to win their hearts.
- Absalom played to the people’s ego by heaping flattery upon them from a handsome prince. Many of them didn’t realize: integrity is more important than ego.
Personalize it
- How does it affect me when people appeal to my ego? Is it harder to resist when a person is attractive and popular?
- Have I become distant with someone who was once important to me? If there wasn’t a good reason for distancing myself, should I reach out to them?
Bible study methodology adapted from Searching the Scriptures with permission from Tyndale House:
Swindoll, Charles, Searching the Scriptures. Tyndale House Publishers, 2016.
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