April
13 - Psalm 3; 2 Samuel 18-19
Despite
all he had done, David still loved Absalom and wanted him treated ‘gently’ by
his soldiers. What would have happened if the two had just talked? Or if David
had been close enough to his son to know what was happening? Could twenty
thousand deaths have been prevented?
We
learned back in 2 Sam 14:25-26 that Absalom was an incredibly handsome man who
was very proud of his thick hair. It said that he would cut it once per year
when it got too heavy, and that when weighed it was equal to two hundred
shekels – about five pounds! But that was to be his undoing when it got
inextricably tangled in a tree. Can you imagine the pain of hanging by your
hair? Probably less than being hit with a bunch of javelins, though.
I
was confused when verse 18:18 said Absalom had no son to carry on his name –
back in chapter 14:27 it said he had three sons. We have to presume they had
died. Some sources say the average life expectancy in 1000 BC (estimated to be
the time of David) was only 30 years, and infant mortality was high. One source
(ourworldindata.org/child-mortality) suggests that 25% of infants didn’t live
through their first year, and almost half died before puberty. I wonder if
Tamar, his daughter, was still alive?
As
a side note, apparently Absalom’s pillar still exists! (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomb_of_Absalom).
Why
would Ahimaaz lie to David about his son?
And what did you think of Joab’s straight talk coaching of David in
Chapter 19? Things get a bit complex through the rest of the chapter – you
almost need a playbook to keep everyone straight! It sounds like the aftermath
of this civil war took a while to resolve.
TOMORROW’S
TEXT: 2 Sam 20-21; 23:8-23; 1 Chron 20:4-8; 11:10-25
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