Lives of Scripture

Absalom, David's third son, was renowned for his striking appearance, especially his hair (2 Samuel 14:25-26). When his brother Amnon raped their sister Tamar and David, though angry, failed to punish him, Absalom waited two years in silence before having Amnon killed at a feast and fleeing into exile (13:1-38). After years apart, David allowed him back to Jerusalem but at first refused to see him face to face; Absalom used the estrangement to begin cultivating public support, standing at the city gate intercepting people with grievances and telling them, "would that I were made judge in the land!" (14:33; 15:1-6). After four years of this, Absalom launched an open rebellion, forcing David to flee Jerusalem in humiliation (15:7-14). David, even in flight, ordered his commanders to "deal gently for my sake with the young man Absalom" (18:5). In the decisive battle in the forest of Ephraim, Absalom's hair or head caught fast in the branches of a great oak as his mule rode on beneath him, leaving him suspended and helpless; Joab, disregarding David's order, thrust three spears through his heart (18:9-15). When David heard the news, he wept uncontrollably, crying "O my son Absalom... would I had died instead of you" (18:33) -- one of Scripture's rawest expressions of a father's grief over a rebellious, beloved child.