September 22
2 Samuel 18; 2 Corinthians 11; Ezekiel 25; Psalm 73
2 Samuel 18
The death of Absalom in 2 Samuel 18 brings his rebellion to its tragic end.
As in so many other cases, God ordains that an evil actor bring judgment on His rebellious people - in this case, David - but then that evil actor is himself judged by God. Proud Absalom has brought havoc and civil war upon David, which was just, considering the evils that David has allowed to fester (see the sordid tale of Tamar).
But now Absalom meets his end . . . By a tree. Imagine how long that tree grew, and spread it branches, until God’s awful purpose for it came to pass. The battle that day between “Israel” and “David’s army” spread into the forest of Ephraim (6). David’s army was clearly superior, led by superior leaders (2). And great was the bloodshed - twenty-thousand soldiers fell that day. But what is most intriguing is what is said next (8):
“. . . The forest devoured more people that day than the sword.”
In the heat of battle, men got lost in the wilderness, separated from their units, and then were slaughtered or injured or never seen again. Foremost in death was Absalom, his proud hair caught in the branches of a tree, so quickly and deeply that he could not free himself (9). In due course, the ever-pragmatic and manipulative Joab saw to Absalom’s death.
David is a man after God’s own heart, and so he mourns for Absalom (33; Ezekiel 18:23). As for Absalom, he dies a cursed man’s death (Deuteronomy 21:23), just as another betrayer would die in a day yet to come (Matthew 27:5).
How David mourned! “O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!” (33). In this David pictures the heart of God, displayed most vividly centuries later on another tree, on a hill outside of Jerusalem. On that tree, God indeed would die in the place of His children, under God’s judgment for all our sin.
Sin is the great complicator of life. But grace has come, in Christ. Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree, so Christ redeemed us from the curse by becoming the curse for us (Gal. 3:13). And to bring this redemption, God wastes nothing, sovereignly employing even nature - even trees - for it too longs for the redemption of God’s people (Romans 8:19).