Consequences: The King in Jeopardy

Where is David in all this? He seems completely disconnected and not because he’s off in battle with his troops. He is actually right there in the city with his children—he unwittingly helps orchestrate the fateful meeting between Amnon and Tamar. But when it comes to the life of his kids, David is clueless. Even when David finds out about Tamar’s rape, he does nothing. The man who had stood up to the giant Goliath does nothing to avenge his little girl.

David’s passivity sets the scene for the next outbreak of familial damage. Another of David’s sons, Absalom, finds out about what happened to his sister Tamar. He responds as David should have, by showing compassion on Tamar and welcoming her into his home after her rape (13:20). But he also watches as his father responds to horror with silence (v. 21). What a disappointment that must have been! Absalom had grown up hearing stories of David’s heroism and courage. His father was his hero. And at this crucial moment, when courage and heroism were most required, David was nowhere to be found. So Absalom decides he will take matters into his own hands. Amnon must die.

Absalom’s plot to kill Amnon is remarkably patient (13:22-29). He must have known Amnon might suspect violence initially, so instead of attacking Amnon in the immediate aftermath, he plans a scheme that will take a full two years. He believed back then what they say nowadays: revenge is a dish best served cold. But in the end the result was the same as if Absalom had assaulted Amnon the next day. He got Amnon drunk and had him murdered. Note again the parallels with David’s story. David had tried (unsuccessfully) to cover up his affair by getting Uriah drunk. And when that did not work, he had Uriah murdered. Once again the sin sown by the father is harvested in the child.

After Absalom murders Amnon, he flees for his life. For three years he remains in exile. David knows where he is this whole time but never once goes to him or even sends word to him. Eventually Joab, the captain of David’s army, reaches out to bring Absalom back (14:1-23). But even then, when Absalom was in the palace itself, David refused to see him. “He may return to his house, but he may not see my face” (v. 24).

David’s family is in shambles at this point, but each successive tragedy is preventable. Had David been more involved, he could have prevented Amnon from acting on his perverse desires. Had David gone to Tamar after her assault, he could have prevented Absalom from avenging his sister’s death. Even now, with all this death and destruction in the rear view, David could still stem further damage. If he would reach out to Absalom, he could prevent him from descending further into darkness. Sadly, once again, David does nothing.

The greatest temptation men face, then as now, is not to outright wickedness but to the smoother—and equally destructive—path of apathy and inaction. When we look around at the family situation in the United States today, we are grieved by the failure of fathers to fulfill the role God has given them. In some instances this manifests in outright abuse. But far more often it manifests in absent dads, men who would rather know what is happening on ESPN than in the lives of their sons and daughters. Were most of the men in our churches to show the same level of apathy in their jobs as they do in their home lives, they would have been fired long ago.

2 Samuel 14:25-33

Unfortunately, David remains stuck in passivity. Perhaps he was nursing old wounds, wallowing in self-pity. Perhaps he was busying himself with other kingly duties. Either way, his failure to act would result in further destruction. Now, instead of just watching his own family unravel, his apathy would lead to the unraveling of a nation. Absalom is a ticking time bomb, and the question is not if but only when and how he will explode.

It begins, in 14:29-30, with a seemingly petty act of vandalism. Absalom, frustrated that his father continues to give him the cold shoulder, decides that he will act up to get his dad’s attention. So he takes a few torches and goes after the fields of Joab, David’s right-hand man. In short order Joab’s fields are ablaze. David may not have much cared to reconcile with his son, but at this point Joab has been given renewed motivation. Joab becomes, once again, the primary agent attempting to get David and Absalom to settle their feud.

Joab is able to get Absalom back into King David’s presence, but all is not well in Jerusalem. Like most dysfunctional families these two never address the five years of silence or the heinous acts that precipitated them. They gloss over the deeper issues—a tactic that never ends well.

David, for his part, should have known better. His failure to address Tamar’s rape enraged Absalom to begin with. Now he is confronted with the same hotheaded son, a son who is still seething and liable to do tremendous violence. But David’s response is the same. Sadly so is Absalom’s.

Absalom begins to plot an armed revolution to take the kingdom from his father (ch. 15). We have already seen how savvy Absalom can be when hatching a devious plot, and his coup proves once again how resourceful the young man is. He parks himself outside David’s palace and gradually begins to steal away devotees to King David by adjudicating their disputes for them. Absalom’s silver tongue disparages David’s capacity to rule with justice while simultaneously implying that, if he were in charge, he would set things right. Thus, right under David’s nose, “Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel” (15:6). When the time was right, he rose up and took the capital by storm. David and his loyalists were forced to flee. As we will see, this is the red-eyed beast of ambition rearing its ugly head in Absalom’s life and is the outworking of David’s passivity.