2 Samuel 18:1-18

The Glory and the Lifter of my Head

Big Idea: Since God will humble the proud and exalt the humble, in humility you must submit yourself to the Lord.

Intro

There is one unalterable fact of life: If God has determined it, it will come to pass. There is no going against or getting around the will of God. We have been considering the story of Absalom’s rebellion. It’s a story that should be read from beginning to end. And I have tried to take rather large chunks for us to read. Today we are just going to focus on the battle between Israel and the Servants of David, we’re just going to focus on Absalom.

He comes out against David, and I am sure he must have felt quite confident. He has proved to be a shrewd and very proud man, stealing the kingdom right out from under his Father. But what Absalom doesn’t consider is that he is not just fighting against his Father, he is fighting against God. And God doesn’t exalt the proud he puts them down. For once the Lord has determined something, it will take place. We’ve seen that with David, and the consequences of his sin with Bathsheba that the Lord has visited upon him, but now Absalom must learn that lesson too.

2 Sam 18:1-18

Summary of the Text

According to the Word of the Lord, the counsel of Ahithophel was defeated by Hushai, because the Lord was against Absalom and his rebellion. So it would seem it took some time for Absalom to muster all Israel against David, time enough for David himself to gather more than the six hundred men who left Jerusalem with him. David has the strategic advantage of being able to choose the place of battle, he picks the forest of Ephraim, probably east of the Jordan along the Jabbok, a forest near Mahanaim, which was probably the city David remains behind in.

He divides his forces between three commanders, Joab, Abishai, and Ittai. This will give them another strategic advantage. David, himself had planned to go out, but His troops would not let him. For if he is caught in battle and killed, they would be forced to accept Absalom as king. The Hebrew is unclear whether David is worth ten thousand Israelites, or David has ten thousand Israelites in reserve to command if something should go wrong with the other commanders. Either way it would be valiant, but foolish for David to go out with the army. So he remains behind in the city but gives instructions for all to hear that they should deal kindly with the boy Absalom. You can hear a father’s heart in this plea for mercy.

The battle itself only takes up a mere two verses. You can tell a lot about what the narrator of Hebrew stories wants us to focus on by how much space they devote to describing it. It seems the battle itself is not the central thrust. Despite overwhelming numbers, Israel is defeated by the servants of David. It’s not because they have the strategic advantages I mentioned, but because they are actually fighting against the Lord. For in fact, something out of Lord of the Rings seems to happen since the forest devoured more than the sword (8). I picture Ents, grabbing men with their branches and smashing them with their roots. Who knows, maybe Tolkien was on to something.

But the central thrust of this story is not the battle but the death of Absalom, which gets a total of eleven verses to describe it.

Now we know that Absalom was a handsome man, and one thing handsome men may struggle with is pride. One thing he may have been particularly proud of was his hair. I mean, it’s thick and heavy. When he cuts it every year, it weighs four pounds. Now, it’s not typical for a man to glory in His hair, Paul tells us that’s a woman’s glory. The glory of man should be his wife. But Absalom is not glorying in another. Absalom glories in himself. He’s successful captured the kingdom from His father, and he almost did it in plain sight of him.

But what Absalom doesn’t know is the Lord is working against him, and has been from the moment that Hushai came in answer to David’s prayer to frustrate the counsel of Ahithophel. Whose counsel would have been more favorable to Absalom, but ends up being essentially what David does. He counseled that if they went with haste to find David, they would come upon him suddenly and easily defeat him weary as he would have been from fleeing Jerusalem. They would then have the element of surprise. But Absalom, at the counsel of Hushai, waits. Ironically, it is Absalom who is surprised when, in the thick of the woods, he comes upon the servants of David. As he turns to leave, maybe with his head looking back over his shoulders, he gets caught in a tree while his mule keeps going on.

There Absalom is, the text invites us to imagine he is hanging by his hair, although it doesn’t tell us explicitly. So he hangs suspended between heaven and earth, while his mule, a symbol of His royal kingdom, is taken right out from underneath him, just as he had sought to do to His father. His glory (his hair) also became the lifter of his head.

Now, because of David’s words to gently with the boy Absalom, soldiers that come upon him don’t immediately dispatch him, for David would find out. David has proven int he past not to look kindly on those who kill thinking they are doing David a favor. So it falls to Joab is both rebellious and realistic. The one who worked so hard to have Absalom brough back from exile is the one that will make sure he will not come back a second time and try to take the throne.

Joab thrusts three spears through his heart and his attendants do the rest. Then, having been hung to death on a tree, Absalom is taken down in thrown in a pit, and covered over with stones. Like an accursed one, in fact the only time a death like this is mentioned is twice in Joshua, with Achan who stole devoted things. And foreign kings who also hid themselves in pits until Joshua had the leaders put their feet on their necks, then they are killed and covered with stones as a monument to warn others. Absalom, whose name means “father of peace” has been a troubler in Israel, like Achan and like foreign kings.

This section ends with a curious note about Absalom’s monument to himself. Since he had no one to carry on His name, he erected a monument so that his name would be remembered. Which is curious because we were told earlier that he had three sons, and a daughter names Tamar. It would seem that they have not survived. Absalom died in the most ignoble way, and despite attempts to be remembered otherwise, the heap of stones eclipsed his little pillar he set up for himself.

So what?

So why is this story here, why these particular details? As we have seen throughout this episode towards the end of David’s life, God is bringing on David the consequences of His sin with Bathsheba. It is inevitable, the sword will come to David’s house, and it won’t be pretty. So far the sword Devoured Amnon, and now Absalom, not to mention the death of David’s first son by Bathsheba from sickness, all because David let His sword devour Uriah.

But there are limits to God’s judgement. He let David live and he never said the kingdom would be stripped from him. In fact, he is promised he would never lack a son to sit on his throne. But it wouldn’t be Absalom we’ve known that since ch. 13. But Absalom is still convinced he can win. Such is the hubris of prideful men, they often think they are invincible. Ironically, God would strike Absalom right where he was most proud, he would humble him for glorying in himself.

David has shown himself to be steadily waking up from the stupor his sin with Bathsheba caused him to be in. For here is a man stripped of things men glory in who nevertheless still glories in God. Listen to the words of Psalm 3 that he penned during this time.

Psalm 3 ESV

A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son. O Lord, how many are my foes! Many are rising against me; many are saying of my soul, “There is no salvation for him in God.” Selah But you, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head. I cried aloud to the Lord, and he answered me from his holy hill. Selah I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the Lord sustained me. I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around. Arise, O Lord! Save me, O my God! For you strike all my enemies on the cheek; you break the teeth of the wicked. Salvation belongs to the Lord; your blessing be on your people! Selah

God is David’s glory and the lifter of His head, but Absalom is his own glory, which was also the lifter of his head. The problem is that’s not real glory. For Absalom, his legacy is one of shame, his monument was death. Whereas for David, he went down into the pits to hide, but God brought him back out again in a kind of resurrection. Just as Jesus’ face betrayal and death at the hands of His own people, the ones he came to save. So too did God not allow him to see corruption, but raised him up to new life on the third day.

Those who glory in themselves will have all the honor they will ever receive in this life. But those who humble themselves and wait on the Lord will be exalted to eternal life. As David has taught us, sin makes a mess of one’s life such that you may face real consequences that are painful and sad. But he has also taught us that it is better to entrust yourself to the Lord, to glory in Him and wait for him to act. You may just be surprised when the forest comes to your aid to defeat your enemies. God loves to work in such surprising ways. Especially to put down the pride. But even if the proud should seem to escape consequence in this life, you can be sure that there will be no pride when they come to stand before King Jesus. For then they will bow, and then will be given the death of the accursed.

So humble yourself and wait for God to exalt you, commit your plans to the Lord and wait for him to act. For those who trust in him will never be put to shame. For he is a shield about you, your glory, and the lifter of your head. Amen.