It was the day of the big battle: David’s army against the army of his son, Absalom.
David has carefully ordered his men: One third under the commander of his army, Joab, one third under Joab’s brother, Abishai, and one third under Ittai, another of David’s great warriors. David himself would have gone with them to battle, but the people wouldn’t hear of it, “But you are worth ten thousand of us now. For you are now more help to us in the city.” (2 Sam 18:3 NKJV), and so David stayed behind at the city gate.
I can just imagine him pacing madly back and forth, waiting for word, hoping for news of victory, yet at the same time fearing for his son’s life. Weren’t his last words to his commanders, “Deal gently for my sake with the young man Absalom” (2 Sam 18:5 NKJV)?
Meanwhile, there is Absalom. Now we know only a little about Absalom, but one of things we know is that he was handsome, he had a lot of hair, and he was, perhaps, also just a little vain: “But in all Israel there was none so much to be praised for his beauty as Absalom; from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him. And when he cut the hair of his head, he weighed it – for at each year’s end he cut it, because its weight was a burden to him – and it weighed 200 shekels by the king’s weight.” (2 Sam 14:25-26 AMP)
And it was his bane, his hair, that in the end, cost him his life.
There was a great slaughter and 20,000 of Absalom’s men were killed. The army was in retreat mode, and Absalom was riding through the woods on a donkey, the usual transport of a king, when his donkey went under the boughs of a great Terebinth tree. The Bible says that Absalom’s head became trapped in the Terebinth branches and “… so he was left hanging between heaven and earth. And the mule which was under him went on.” (2 Sam 18:9-10 NKJV)
Though the Bible says Absalom’s “head” became caught in the branches, tradition tells us that it was his hair that became entangled. This theory, though not specifically verified in the Bible, does not against the Biblical record. We know that Absalom had long, thick and heavy hair, and what other part of his head could have become so entangled in the branches?
Along came some of David’s men who reported what they had seen to Joab. Joab wasted no time in surrounding Absalom with 10 of his fighting men, and then plunging spears into Absalom’s heart.
Not a very dignified way to die!
If Absalom hadn’t become tangled in the tree, could he have gotten away?
Maybe. We know that his army had already been defeated, so his brief kingship was over. But maybe, just maybe he, himself, could have hidden in a cave somewhere until the excitement had passed, and then gone into hiding. But the bane of his life, the hair of his head, was his downfall.
But then, if you think about it, it wasn’t just the hair. The truth of the matter was that Absalom’s entire life, or at least all the years since the rape of his sister, had been one lived in anger and pride. He flaunted himself as better than his father, he stole the hearts of the people, and went on to try and roust his father from the throne. The fact that his death came about by his beautiful hair was symbolic of what really stole his life: His pride!
Friends, is there pride in your heart today? What is it driving you to do? Or what is it keeping you FROM doing? Beware, for pride will rob you of your dignity, it will rob you of your life’s dreams, and it may, in the end, even rob you of your life.
Remember, pride will not get you where you want to go, but a humble heart will: “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.” (James 4:10 NKJV)
Please join me today in renouncing pride. Join me in humbling ourselves before the Lord, for He, in His might and power, is the One who can lift us up beyond what we can even imagine!
Join us next Saturday for LESSONS FROM DAVID’S FALL, Part 9: An Ungrateful King? Or a Grieving Father?
In His love,
Lyn
Lyn Chaffart, Speech-Language Pathologist, mother of two teens, Author and Moderator for The Nugget, a tri-weekly internet newsletter, and Scriptural Nuggets, a website devoted to Christian devotionals and inspirational poems, www.scripturalnuggets.org, with Answers2Prayer Ministries, www.Answers2Prayer.org.
(To access the entire “Lessons From David’s Fall” mini-series, please click here.)