2 Samuel 14 Absalom Returns
Absalom ran after killing his brother, Ammon. David finally sends for him and Absalom returns, but is kept at arm’s length from David.
David loves all his children, even when they do evil. Absalom certainly did evil. The law would require Absalom’s death if he were within Israel, so David won’t bring him back. Joab knows how much Absalom’s absence troubles David, and he makes a plan to get David to ‘bend the rules’ a little. Let’s jump back into our story and watch as this ‘exception’ comes about.
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Joab has seen David pining for Absalom for years. He has broached the subject of David bring him home on multiple occasions, with disastrous results. Each time, David has shot down his arguments and nearly banned him from his sight on one occasion. During that occasion, David had cried out; “Don’t you know that if I bring him back, I’m setting him up for the Avenger of Blood? He committed murder!”
Joab replied; “But it wasn’t his hand that struck the blow.”
“It was HIS order that wielded the hand. And it wasn’t even an accident. If I bring him back I will be sentencing my son to death.”
Joab let it drop after that encounter, yet David continues to mourn over the absence of his sons. One removed from him in death, and the other by reason of law.
It’s been more than three years, and Joab has reached the end of his patience. David hasn’t changed his mind, or his actions. Joab is going to ‘fix this’ somehow. He is a very cunning man, when he puts his mind to it.
While Joab is out walking one morning, he sees Nathan speaking with Bathsheba. Into his mind pops the story David confided in him about being confronted by Nathan over his sin with Bathsheba. Nathan had used an allegory. “Maybe I can bring something to David similar to that. One that would speak of him pardoning a son” thinks Joab.
Joab has a story in mind to present to David, but it cannot come from his lips or be connected to him in any way. This story will require a woman’s touch. Joab sends his most trusted servant to Tekoa in search of such a woman.
Tekoa is far enough from Jerusalem and Bethlehem that David will not know this woman. The woman must be wise, so that she can answer any question David might raise during her presentation of Joab’s story. She must the right age to make the story convincing. And she must be willing to perpetrate a lie. Joab doesn’t spell out this last requirement to his servant, lest he balk at the task himself.
It takes Joab’s servant two days to find such a woman. She fits all of Joab’s requirements. The two of them travel to Joab’s home and only enter it under cover of darkness. Joab wants no connection to be drawn between the woman and himself.
Joab’s servant introduces the two of them. “My lord, I present Agatha. She has agreed to meet with you.”
Joab takes her hands in his and presses a kiss onto the back of them before releasing them. “Thank you for coming. The task I have for you will require all your skill, but I believe it will ultimately benefit the heart of the king. Will you assist me?”
“I will do whatever I can to help the king.”
“Good. Here is what I need. ‘Pretend to be a mourner and put on mourning garments. Do not anoint yourself with oil, but behave like a woman who has been mourning many days for the dead. Go to the king and speak thus to him.’ (2 Samuel 14:2b-3a)…”
Agatha is very intrigued by the story Joab has for her to tell the king. It didn’t take Joab explaining the point behind the story for Agatha to see how a positive answer from the king would actually help him. All of Israel knew of David’s anguish over his sons.
Before first light, Agatha is taken from Joab’s home and brought just outside the city. It will make it appear that she is just arriving. Setting the stage is an important part of her story.
When day breaks, Agatha makes her way to the gates of Jerusalem. She comes to the guards stationed there. “I need an audience with the king” she beseechingly requests.
“Is there something one of the elders could help you with instead? There are many who will seek the king today.”
“No. It must be the king, for he is the only one with power to grant my petition.”
The guard shakes his head in resignation. “It is already starting” he thinks. He leads Agatha to the guard by the palace gate. “It looks like you will be the first one in line today. It’s a good thing you came early. This line can get a bit daunting at times.”
Agatha bows her head in respect and acceptance to the guard. She then waits beside the other guard for an audience with the king.
“It may be a while. I don’t believe the king is ready for business yet.”
“I will wait” she says. She looks around and locates a stone large enough to serve as a stool during her wait. “I will be over there” she says as she points to the stone she has chosen as her seat.
The guard nods and waits for the door guard to announce that the king is ready to see petitioners. He keeps an eye on Agatha to make sure she is safe during her time of waiting.
David has just risen from bed and is in the middle of his morning routine when Agatha is interacting with the guards. He doesn’t rush his mornings, no matter how many people may gather to see him. He has to be prepared to render fair judgment to the people. And part of this morning preparation is quiet time with the Lord.
Finally finished with his morning routine, David goes into his throne room. He calls out to the door guard. “Inform the palace guard that I am ready, should any petitioners have need of judgment.”
The door guard opens the inner doors and throws a hand salute to the outer guard. He in turn calls out to Agatha.
“The king is ready to receive petitioners.”
“Oh, praise the Lord most high! I put my life in His hands and in the hands of His anointed.”
The woman’s words make her matter sound quite urgent. The guard rushes her forward. The inner guard announces to David that he has a petitioner when the two of them are standing at the threshold.
David motions her forward. She rushes to the center of the room and falls on her face. She cries out; “Save me, O king.” (2 Samuel 14:4b)
David is taken aback by the anguish contained in her cry. He sits forward on his throne. “What is your trouble?” (2 Samuel 14:5a)
Abagail, with great feeling, pours out the story Joab gave her to bring before the king. “Alas, I am a widow; my husband is dead. And your servant had two sons, and they quarreled with one another in the field. There was no one to separate them, and one struck the other and killed him. And now the whole clan has risen against your servant, and they say, ‘Give up the man who struck his brother, that we may put him to death for the life of his brother whom he killed.’ And so they would destroy the heir also. Thus they would quench my coal that is left and leave to my husband neither name nor remnant on the face of the earth.” (2 Samuel 14:5b-7)
David is moved with compassion for the woman before him. He offers her the hope he believes she is seeking. “Go to your house, and I will give orders concerning you.” (2 Samuel 14:8b)
She shows David that she appreciates his intercession of her behalf, but she does not want him to be guilty of the blood that was shed. “On me be the guilt, my lord the king, and on my father’s house; let the king and his throne be guiltless.” (2 Samuel 14:9)
David is moved even more deeply by her words. He will protect her from retribution. “If anyone says anything to you, bring him to me, and he shall never touch you again.” (2 Samuel 14:10)
She is at the pivotal point in her presentation. She takes a deep breath and then lays the crucial part of her request before her king. “Please let the king invoke the Lord your God, that the avenger of blood kill no more, and my son be not destroyed.” (2 Samuel 14:11a)
David sees her fear and promises that all will be safe. “As the Lord lives, not one hair of your son shall fall to the ground.” (2 Samuel 14:11b)
“Gotcha” she thinks. It takes all she has not to smile at this point. David is right where he needs to be to help himself. She moves on with what Joab has given her to say to the king. Keeping an attitude of humility she speaks. “Please let your servant speak a word to my lord the king.” (2 Samuel 14:12)
“Speak” says David.
Agatha looks at the king with conviction and renders the final words from Joab. “Why then have you planned such a thing against the people of God? For in giving this decision the king convicts himself, inasmuch as the king does not bring his banished one home again. We must all die; we are like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. But God will not take away life, and he devises means so that the banished one will not remain an outcast. Now I have come to say this to my lord the king because the people have made me afraid, and your servant thought, ‘I will speak to the king; it may be that the king will perform the request of his servant. For the king will hear and deliver his servant from the hand of the man who would destroy me and my son together from the heritage of God.’ And your servant thought, ‘The word of my lord the king will set me at rest,’ for my lord the king is like the angel of God to discern good and evil. The Lord your God be with you!” (2 Samuel 14:13-17)
David immediately recognizes Joab’s hand in this. He gives the woman an intense stare. “Do not hide from me anything I ask you.” (2 Samuel 14:18b)
Agatha won’t lie. She is afraid, but she will answer truthfully from this point on. “Let my lord the king speak.” (2 Samuel 14:18c)
With narrowed eyes, David asks his question. “Is the hand of Joab with you in all this?” (2 Samuel 14:19a)
Agatha wonders how the king knew. She can’t lie to him and tell him that Joab is innocent of his suspicions. But she will make certain the king understands Joab’s heart in perpetrating this ruse. “As surely as you live, my lord the king, one cannot turn to the right hand or to the left from anything that my lord the king has said. It was your servant Joab who commanded me; it was he who put all these words in the mouth of your servant. In order to change the course of things your servant Joab did this. But my lord has wisdom like the wisdom of the angel of God to know all things that are on the earth.” (2 Samuel 14:19b-20)
Joab’s place during David’s time of judging is near the king himself. When David hears Agatha’s answer, instead of responding to her, he looks directly at Joab. He directs his answer to Joab alone. “Behold now, I grant this; go, bring back the young man Absalom.” (2 Samuel 14:21)
Joab’s relief is written all over his face. He falls to the ground to pay homage to the king. “Today your servant knows that I have found favor in your sight, my lord the king, in that the king has granted the request of his servant.” (2 Samuel 14:22)
After a moment, Joab rises from the floor and heads to the door. He is on his way this very minute to bring Absalom back. As he reaches the door, he hears David’s final command on the matter. “Let him dwell apart in his own house; he is not to come into my presence.” (2 Samuel 14:24)
Joab nearly trips as these words reach his ears. The king is letting Absalom return, but he cannot come near the Abba who has been mourning their distance. “I will deal with that another day” thinks Joab and he continues his mission to bring Absalom home.
Absalom is overjoyed to be home! He is finally reunited with his wife, his children, and his sister. He feels like his life is complete again. It doesn’t take long before that ‘completeness’ begins to fade. Absalom is barred from seeing his Abba’s face. For two years, Absalom convinces himself that he is alright with how things are and that his Abba will eventually change his mind. He can’t do it any longer.
Absalom is out in the field one morning. He is pacing around, agitated beyond what he can stand. “Enough is enough” yells Absalom to the hills. “I might as well still be in exile. I have to do something or I’m going to go mad.”
Absalom decides to seek help from the man who interceded on his behalf the last time; Joab. “If anyone can get my Abba to relent, it’s Joab” he tells himself. Absalom calls for one of his servants.
“Take a message to my cousin, Joab. Tell him I wish an audience with him.”
The servant bows and makes for the garrison where Joab is stationed. As soon as he locates Joab, he relays Absalom’s request. “My master Absalom wishes to have an audience with you.”
“I cannot come” answers Joab.
The servant is a little confused. He asks for clarification. “My lord, do you mean that you cannot come ‘now’, are too busy to come, or you will not come at all?”
“I will not come at all” answers Joab with finality, then turns and walks away.
Absalom’s servant knows that his master won’t like this answer, but it is the only one he has to bring him.
“Where is Joab” asks Absalom as soon as the servant enters the door.
“He will not be coming my lord.”
“What do you mean? Is he delayed?”
“No my lord. He says that he will not come at all.”
Absalom is stunned beyond words. Finally he asks, “Did he say why?”
“No my lord. He turned and walked away and would say no more.”
Absalom shakes his head in disgust. “You are dismissed” he tells his servant.
Absalom waited another month before reaching out to Joab again. He called the same servant to himself. “You are to take another message to Joab. Tell him that I desire him to bring me to the king.”
The servant is nervous. “What if he refuses to come again?”
“Then bring me that answer. I will decide what to do when and if it happens. Take the message.”
The servant makes his way to the garrison again. He sees Joab drilling some of the men. He waits until they are finished before approaching. Joab locks eyes with the servant, then turns and walks away. Absalom’s servant follows, calling out to Joab.
Joab recognized Absalom’s servant as soon as he sees him. He does not want to have to turn him down again, but he is unwilling to listen to another request from Absalom. Joab knows what that request will be. He fears that, if he gives in to Absalom’s request, his relationship with the king will suffer. It took some time for David to forgive him when he sent the woman from Tekoa to convince him to bring Absalom back. David made it clear that he didn’t want to personally see his son. Joab turns and walks away, as fast as he can, from Absalom’s servant.
“My lord Joab! Wait please. I have a message from my master. He wants…”
Absalom’s servant stops in mid-sentence. Joab spoke quickly to a guard, goes into a room, and shuts the door. The guard at the door steps into Absalom’s servant’s path and will not let him go any farther.
“Return home. Joab will not see you.”
Absalom’s servant is angry at this treatment. “He wouldn’t even give me a chance to speak with him” he fumes as he makes his way home.
Absalom is watching from the gate as his servant returns. He can tell by the look on his servant’s face that his message was not received well. When the servant is within a few steps from the gate, Absalom opens it to allow him in and begins asking questions.
“What happened? Your face tells me that it was not good? What did Joab say?”
“He didn’t say anything. As soon as he saw me, he turned and walked away. He went into a room and barred the door. And he had the guard at the door block my path to him. I’m sorry my lord. I did my best.”
“You always do. I will deal with this myself.”
The servant is glad that he is no longer in the middle of this conflict between his master and Joab. He has no idea what Absalom plans to do, but he prays that it doesn’t involve him.
Absalom is still brooding over Joab’s behavior. He knows that Joab is the only one who can bring his Abba around to making peace with him. Absalom cannot go on his own. It has to be Joab. But if Joab won’t even talk to him, how is he ever going to see his Abba’s face again.
Absalom comes up with a way that is sure to get Joab’s attention. It is nearly harvest time. Joab has a field next to Absalom’s. He calls to his servant again. As soon as he arrives, Absalom launches into his plan. “See, Joab’s field is next to mine, and he has barley there; go and set it on fire.” (2 Samuel 14:30)
Absalom’s servant’s mouth fell open in shock. “Is this truly your wish my lord?”
“It is more than my ‘wish’. It is my command. Joab will surely come to me after this.”
“Yes, my lord. It will be done as you have instructed.”
Absalom’s servant went out with a torch and set fire to Joab’s fields. The fire quickly spread through the ripe barley. Absalom had men ready to extinguish the fire if it came near his fields or home.
Joab worked like a madman getting the fire out. Once it is fully extinguished, Joab storms over to find Absalom. “Why have your servants set my field on fire?” (2 Samuel 14:31b) Joab’s face is red with anger and itching for a fight.
Absalom refuses to back down. “Behold, I sent word to you, ‘Come here, that I may send you to the king, to ask, “Why have I come from Geshur? It would be better for me to be there still.” Now therefore let me go into the presence of the king, and if there is guilt in me, let him put me to death.’” (2 Samuel 14:32)
Joab’s shoulders sag. He knows that he has to do this thing for Absalom. If he doesn’t speak to the king on Absalom’s behalf, who knows what he will do next. “I will speak to the king” Joab tells Absalom. “But I cannot guarantee what his answer will be.”
“It is enough that you ask on my behalf. Thank you Joab for answering my plea.”
The next morning Joab stands before David. “My lord, it has been two years since you brought Absalom back into Israel. I have made sure that he kept the distance, as you commanded. But it has been two years my king. How much longer are you going to punish your son? Absalom has this to say of his life since returning from exile; ‘Why have I come from Geshur? It would be better for me to be there still.’”
David knew it was time. “Bring Absalom to me.”
Joab bows low, then rushes from the throne room. He returns within half an hour wit hJOab at his side. David motions them both forward. Absalom falls on his face before his Abba. He doesn’t even try and speak.
David leaves his throne and hurries over to where his son is kneeling. He embraces Absalom, kisses him on his cheeks, and weeps. “My son who was lost is now found.”
A new chapter was beginning for both father and son. It will not be any less rocky than what they have already passed through.
(to be continued)
I cannot imagine being estranged from my kids. We don’t talk all the time; at least the boys and I don’t, but we can always pick up in an instant. And there isn’t anything they wouldn’t try and do for me, or me for them. I couldn’t let that kind of separation go on.
But what Absalom had done required a death sentence. Absalom even being alive was both a gift from the Lord and a promise of protection from David. I wonder how this went over with the people. Were they glad Absalom was back, or did they feel that he was too privileged? There were probably some in both camps.
Father God, thank You for my children. THANK YOU that they have not broken any serious laws. They are not walking in Your ways, but neither are they joining forces with Satan. Keep them safe Lord, while also stretching that safety to allow them to recognize their need of a relationship with You. Quite the balancing act, but I KNOW that You love them far more than I do. So I KNOW I can trust You with them.
