Joab engineers a reconciliation with a staged parable, and Absalom comes home — but David keeps him at arm’s length for two more years, and the half-welcome only feeds the grievance. Absalom buys a chariot and fifty runners, stands at the city gate every morning telling every disappointed petitioner that he alone would give them justice, and stole the hearts of the men of Israel. Then he raises his standard at Hebron, and David walks out of Jerusalem barefoot and weeping.
A study in 2 Samuel 14-15 · Arthur Baldwin · StandUp4Jesus.Org · 9 min read
His Banished Be Not Expelled From Him
“For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him.”
2 Samuel 14:14
The wise woman of Tekoah, coached by Joab, wraps a plea for Absalom in a made-up legal case — and slips in one of the Old Testament’s great sentences about God: he “devise[s] means, that his banished be not expelled from him.” It is true of God, even though it is being used here to manoeuvre David. Ellen White calls the fact that a rough soldier like Joab could put such words in the woman’s mouth a mark of how deeply Israel knew the truths of redemption.
“This tender and touching portrayal of the love of God toward the sinner — coming as it did from Joab, the rude soldier — is a striking evidence of the familiarity of the Israelites with the great truths of redemption.”
Ellen G. White · Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 728
Two Full Years In Jerusalem
“And the king said, Let him turn to his own house, and let him not see my face. So Absalom returned to his own house, and saw not the king’s face… So Absalom dwelt two full years in Jerusalem, and saw not the king’s face.”
2 Samuel 14:24-28
This is the worst possible middle course. David neither leaves Absalom in exile nor truly forgives him — he brings him back to the city and shuts him out of the palace. A half-reconciliation is often more dangerous than an open breach: it keeps the wound and removes the distance.
“It was not wise for the king to leave a man of Absalom’s character — ambitious, impulsive, and passionate — to brood for two years over supposed grievances. And David’s action in permitting him to return to Jerusalem, and yet refusing to admit him to his presence, enlisted in his behalf the sympathies of the people.”
Ellen G. White · Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 729
So Absalom Stole The Hearts Of The Men Of Israel
“And Absalom said unto him, See, thy matters are good and right; but there is no man deputed of the king to hear thee. Absalom said moreover, Oh that I were made judge in the land, that every man which hath any suit or cause might come unto me, and I would do him justice!… And on this manner did Absalom to all Israel that came to the king for judgment: so Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.”
2 Samuel 15:3-6
The method is flattery plus grievance. Absalom tells every frustrated litigant that his case is “good and right” and only the king’s negligence stands in the way — “oh that I were made judge.” He never has to govern; he only has to promise, and to embrace the men who bow to him so that no one bows. David’s own passivity hands his son the opening. Four years of it, and the hearts are gone.
Let Him Do To Me As Seemeth Good Unto Him
“And the king said unto Zadok, Carry back the ark of God into the city: if I shall find favour in the eyes of the LORD, he will bring me again, and shew me both it, and his habitation: But if he thus say, I have no delight in thee; behold, here am I, let him do to me as seemeth good unto him.”
2 Samuel 15:25-26
The conspiracy breaks at Hebron; David chooses to abandon Jerusalem rather than see it deluged with blood, and goes out over the Kidron and up the Mount of Olives barefoot, his head covered, weeping, the whole column weeping with him. The priests try to carry the ark out after him and he sends it back: he will not use the symbol of God’s presence as a lucky charm. If God is finished with him, “let him do to me as seemeth good.” It is the same submission as chapter 12 — a man taking the rod without excusing himself.
“Conscience was uttering bitter and humiliating truths to David… He had wondered that God had so long borne with his sins, and had delayed the merited retribution.”
Ellen G. White · Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 737
