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Absalom

Waited two years for justice that never came, then spent four more standing at the gate taking it for himself.

Absalom is David’s handsome son, and the account is careful to say there was no blemish in him from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. His sister Tamar is raped by their half brother Amnon, and their father is very angry and does nothing. Absalom says nothing to Amnon, good or bad, for two years, and then kills him at a sheepshearing and runs. Brought back but not received, he sets fire to Joab’s field to get a meeting. Then he rises early and stands beside the gate and tells everyone with a case that there is no one to hear them.

Where he appears2 Samuel 13 to 19

2 Samuel
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Absalom

The movements, in the order the text gives them.

The Account of Absalom

  1. 01

    2 Samuel 13:20-29

    Two years, and a sheepshearing

    He tells Tamar to keep quiet and takes her into his house, and says nothing to Amnon either way. Two years later he invites the king’s sons to a feast and gives his servants one instruction.

    Neither good nor bad is not a description of forgiveness. The next clause names Absalom's hatred and gives its reason: Amnon had forced Tamar. Silence has settled over the brothers' relationship, not over the Book of Second Samuel's explanation of it. Tamar remains desolate in Absalom's house. David is very angry. No punishment of Amnon is recorded before the two full years pass.

    The sheepshearing invitation then gives that silence a setting in which it can end. Absalom asks for the king, accepts his refusal only after pressing him, and specifically requests Amnon. David questions the request but ultimately permits the sons to go. The repeated family titles do not soften the arrangement. My brother Amnon is the man the servants have been instructed to kill.

    The wine supplies the signal for vulnerability, not an excuse for a quarrel that gets out of hand. Absalom has already given the command, and the servants act on it. His assurance rests on his own authority: he has ordered them to do it. The chapter does not turn the killing into a reported court judgment, nor does it describe Tamar's desolation as repaired. One brother has assaulted his sister. Another has arranged his brother's death. The family language remains in every line.

    Verse by verse

    1. 13:20

      Absalom tells Tamar to hold her peace, but the verse ends by calling her desolate. Her residence in his house should not be confused with a statement that she has recovered.

    2. 13:21

      The King James records David's anger here. It does not record a punishment of Amnon in the interval before the sheepshearing.

    3. 13:22-23

      The hatred is explicit, and two full years separate the assault from this gathering. The silence between the brothers is not described as reconciliation.

    4. 13:28

      The killing is ordered beforehand and timed to Amnon's condition after drinking. It is not presented as a spontaneous fight at the feast.

    5. 13:29

      The other royal sons flee on their mules. The report immediately afterward that all the sons were killed is corrected in verses 32-33; it is not the actual outcome.

    2 Samuel 13:20-29

    King James Version · 10 verses

    13:20And Absalom her brother said unto her, Hath Amnon thy brother been with thee? but hold now thy peace, my sister: he is thy brother; regard not this thing. So Tamar remained desolate in her brother Absalom’s house.

    13:21But when king David heard of all these things, he was very wroth.

    13:22And Absalom spake unto his brother Amnon neither good nor bad: for Absalom hated Amnon, because he had forced his sister Tamar.

    13:23And it came to pass after two full years, that Absalom had sheepshearers in Baal-hazor, which is beside Ephraim: and Absalom invited all the king’s sons.

    13:24And Absalom came to the king, and said, Behold now, thy servant hath sheepshearers; let the king, I beseech thee, and his servants go with thy servant.

    13:25And the king said to Absalom, Nay, my son, let us not all now go, lest we be chargeable unto thee. And he pressed him: howbeit he would not go, but blessed him.

    13:26Then said Absalom, If not, I pray thee, let my brother Amnon go with us. And the king said unto him, Why should he go with thee?

    13:27But Absalom pressed him, that he let Amnon and all the king’s sons go with him.

    13:28Now Absalom had commanded his servants, saying, Mark ye now when Amnon’s heart is merry with wine, and when I say unto you, Smite Amnon; then kill him, fear not: have not I commanded you? be courageous, and be valiant.

    13:29And the servants of Absalom did unto Amnon as Absalom had commanded. Then all the king’s sons arose, and every man gat him up upon his mule, and fled.

    2 Samuel 13:20-29: Two years, and a sheepshearing
  2. 02

    2 Samuel 14:28-33

    The field set on fire

    Back in Jerusalem for two years without seeing the king’s face. He sends for Joab twice and is ignored, so he burns his barley, and the meeting happens.

    Two unanswered messages are followed by a burning barley field. Joab would not come when Absalom summoned him; he comes after his field is burned. The change is almost brutally practical. The man who would not answer a summons now arrives with a question about his barley.

    The grievance he states is about access. Two full years in Jerusalem have followed the return from Geshur, yet he still has not seen the king's face. Living in the same city as his father has not ended the separation. Absalom now says he might as well have stayed away. His demand puts two outcomes before David: an audience, or death if there is iniquity in him. That is a challenge to settle his position, not a recorded confession of the killing that caused the exile.

    The audience finally comes, and the movements are exact: Absalom bows with his face to the ground, and the king kisses him. The text gives no accompanying speech from David, no recorded trial, and no words of apology from Absalom. The kiss matters, but it should not be made to say everything the chapter leaves unsaid. The son has reached his father's presence. The burned field has done its work.

    Verse by verse

    1. 14:28

      These two years are spent in Jerusalem after the return, not in Geshur. Second Samuel 13:38 gives three years for the earlier stay in Geshur.

    2. 14:30

      The field belongs to Joab and contains barley. Absalom orders his servants to burn another man's crop, not his own property.

    3. 14:32

      The conditional demand to be killed if guilty is not an explicit admission of guilt. The text does not supply a formal acquittal either.

    4. 14:33

      The bow and kiss are recorded actions of the reunion. No spoken terms of reconciliation or apology accompany them in this verse.

    2 Samuel 14:28-33

    King James Version · 6 verses

    14:28So Absalom dwelt two full years in Jerusalem, and saw not the king’s face.

    14:29Therefore Absalom sent for Joab, to have sent him to the king; but he would not come to him: and when he sent again the second time, he would not come.

    14:30Therefore he said unto his servants, See, Joab’s field is near mine, and he hath barley there; go and set it on fire. And Absalom’s servants set the field on fire.

    14:31Then Joab arose, and came to Absalom unto his house, and said unto him, Wherefore have thy servants set my field on fire?

    14:32And Absalom answered Joab, Behold, I sent unto thee, saying, Come hither, that I may send thee to the king, to say, Wherefore am I come from Geshur? it had been good for me to have been there still: now therefore let me see the king’s face; and if there be any iniquity in me, let him kill me.

    14:33So Joab came to the king, and told him: and when he had called for Absalom, he came to the king, and bowed himself on his face to the ground before the king: and the king kissed Absalom.

    2 Samuel 14:28-33: The field set on fire
  3. 03

    2 Samuel 15:1-6

    He stole the hearts of Israel

    Chariots, horses, fifty runners, and a place beside the gate. Your claims are good, but there is no one deputed by the king to hear you. He kisses everyone who tries to bow.

    Absalom looks conspicuous on the road and accessible at the gate. Chariots, horses, and fifty runners announce his importance; the outstretched hand and kiss make the encounter personal. Those details belong together. The royal son does not merely wait to be noticed. He rises early and places himself where people must pass on their way to seek the king's judgment.

    His reply gives each petitioner two assurances: the man's case is good, and the king has nobody appointed to hear it. The second statement is Absalom's claim, not an independently verified survey of David's courts. The first arrives without any described hearing of the opposing party. What the petitioner receives is agreement, followed by the promise that Absalom would provide justice if he held the office. No completed adjudication is recorded in these six verses.

    The physical greeting reinforces the verbal one. When a man approaches to bow, Absalom reaches out and kisses him. The distance signaled by the procession is replaced by contact at the moment of petition. The chapter then supplies its own verb for the result: he stole the hearts of the men of Israel. The men came toward the king seeking judgment. The account ends by naming where their allegiance has gone.

    Verse by verse

    1. 15:1

      The fifty men run before Absalom. The verse describes his procession, not the total size of an army already assembled for rebellion.

    2. 15:3

      The claim that no royal official is available comes from Absalom. The text does not independently confirm the claim or describe a hearing of both sides before he endorses each petitioner's case.

    3. 15:5

      Absalom interrupts the approach to obeisance by extending his hand and kissing the man. The greeting is part of the repeated manner of receiving petitioners.

    4. 15:6

      The Hebrew verb ganab means steal; that is the book's own description, not simply the neutral statement that Absalom became well liked.

    5. 15:6

      The next verse reads forty years in the King James, while Josephus, Antiquities 7.9.1, gives four years after the reconciliation. The chronology should not be silently harmonized or the King James number replaced.

    2 Samuel 15:1-6

    King James Version · 6 verses

    15:1And it came to pass after this, that Absalom prepared him chariots and horses, and fifty men to run before him.

    15:2And Absalom rose up early, and stood beside the way of the gate: and it was so, that when any man that had a controversy came to the king for judgment, then Absalom called unto him, and said, Of what city art thou? And he said, Thy servant is of one of the tribes of Israel.

    15:3And Absalom said unto him, See, thy matters are good and right; but there is no man deputed of the king to hear thee.

    15:4Absalom said moreover, Oh that I were made judge in the land, that every man which hath any suit or cause might come unto me, and I would do him justice!

    15:5And it was so, that when any man came nigh to him to do him obeisance, he put forth his hand, and took him, and kissed him.

    15:6And on this manner did Absalom to all Israel that came to the king for judgment: so Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.

    2 Samuel 15:1-6: He stole the hearts of Israel
  4. 04

    2 Samuel 15:13-30

    Barefoot over the Kidron

    David leaves the city on foot with his head covered, weeping, and sends the ark back. The whole country weeps as they pass, and Absalom comes into Jerusalem behind him.

    Absalom does not have to appear in this passage for the scale of his action to become visible. His father's household is on the road, the country is weeping, and David is calculating how to keep the city from being struck with the sword. The repeated title remains the king even as the king leaves his palace. Loss of possession and loss of identity are not treated as the same event.

    Ittai makes the family rupture sharper without a speech against Absalom. He is a stranger and an exile, recently arrived, and David releases him from the burden of an uncertain journey. Ittai instead commits himself to the king's place, whether in death or life. A foreigner's declared attachment stands beside a son's rebellion. The passage does not need to invent an insult between them to make the contrast felt.

    David also refuses to turn the ark into a possession that must travel wherever his claim to the throne travels. It goes back to Jerusalem. His own return, he says, rests on the LORD's favour, not on keeping the sacred object beside him. The ascent ends with a covered head, bare feet, and tears shared by those around him. Absalom had been brought back into Jerusalem. His father is now being driven out.

    Verse by verse

    1. 15:14

      David names the danger of a sudden attack and the city being struck with the sword as reasons to leave. Those stated concerns should not be replaced with an invented private explanation.

    2. 15:19-21

      David calls Ittai a stranger and exile and offers him release. Ittai's commitment to remain with him is therefore expressed after an opportunity to return.

    3. 15:25-26

      David orders the ark back and leaves his own restoration conditional on the LORD's favour. The statement does not make the ark a guarantee that he must recover the throne.

    4. 15:30

      The covered head, bare feet, and weeping belong to the public scene of mourning. The verse does not describe those details as evidence that David lacks clothing or resources.

    2 Samuel 15:13-30: Barefoot over the Kidron

    2 Samuel 15:13-30

    King James Version · 18 verses

    15:13And there came a messenger to David, saying, The hearts of the men of Israel are after Absalom.

    15:14And David said unto all his servants that were with him at Jerusalem, Arise, and let us flee; for we shall not else escape from Absalom: make speed to depart, lest he overtake us suddenly, and bring evil upon us, and smite the city with the edge of the sword.

    15:15And the king’s servants said unto the king, Behold, thy servants are ready to do whatsoever my lord the king shall appoint.

    15:16And the king went forth, and all his household after him. And the king left ten women, which were concubines, to keep the house.

    15:17And the king went forth, and all the people after him, and tarried in a place that was far off.

    15:18And all his servants passed on beside him; and all the Cherethites, and all the Pelethites, and all the Gittites, six hundred men which came after him from Gath, passed on before the king.

    15:19Then said the king to Ittai the Gittite, Wherefore goest thou also with us? return to thy place, and abide with the king: for thou art a stranger, and also an exile.

    15:20Whereas thou camest but yesterday, should I this day make thee go up and down with us? seeing I go whither I may, return thou, and take back thy brethren: mercy and truth be with thee.

    15:21And Ittai answered the king, and said, As the LORD liveth, and as my lord the king liveth, surely in what place my lord the king shall be, whether in death or life, even there also will thy servant be.

    15:22And David said to Ittai, Go and pass over. And Ittai the Gittite passed over, and all his men, and all the little ones that were with him.

    15:23And all the country wept with a loud voice, and all the people passed over: the king also himself passed over the brook Kidron, and all the people passed over, toward the way of the wilderness.

    15:24And lo Zadok also, and all the Levites were with him, bearing the ark of the covenant of God: and they set down the ark of God; and Abiathar went up, until all the people had done passing out of the city.

    15:25And the king said unto Zadok, Carry back the ark of God into the city: if I shall find favour in the eyes of the LORD, he will bring me again, and shew me both it, and his habitation:

    15:26But if he thus say, I have no delight in thee; behold, here am I, let him do to me as seemeth good unto him.

    15:27The king said also unto Zadok the priest, Art not thou a seer? return into the city in peace, and your two sons with you, Ahimaaz thy son, and Jonathan the son of Abiathar.

    15:28See, I will tarry in the plain of the wilderness, until there come word from you to certify me.

    15:29Zadok therefore and Abiathar carried the ark of God again to Jerusalem: and they tarried there.

    15:30And David went up by the ascent of mount Olivet, and wept as he went up, and had his head covered, and he went barefoot: and all the people that was with him covered every man his head, and they went up, weeping as they went up.

  5. 05

    2 Samuel 18:9-17

    Caught in the oak

    His head catches in the branches and the mule goes on without him. Joab is told and does it anyway, and they throw him into a pit in the wood under a very great heap of stones.

    The mule continues without the prince. At the sheepshearing, the royal brothers escaped on their mules; here the animal goes on while Absalom is held between heaven and earth. The Book of Second Samuel does not give a final speech or a last thought. It gives the position of his body, the branches above it, and the mount that is no longer beneath it.

    His helplessness does not immediately become his death. A soldier sees him and refuses to kill him because of David's command. There is a space in the account between capture and killing, filled with a plainly remembered order to protect the king's son. Joab closes that space with weapons, and his armourbearers complete the attack. The prince who had drawn men to himself at the gate is now surrounded by ten men for an entirely different purpose.

    The trumpet stops the pursuit, and Absalom is cast into a pit under a great heap of stones. The following verse recalls the pillar he erected during his lifetime so that his name would remain. The juxtaposition is severe without requiring an invented deathbed realization: one memorial was raised at his own direction, and the burial was made by the men who defeated him. The pillar carries his name. The pit receives his body.

    Verse by verse

    1. 18:9

      The King James says his head caught hold of the oak. Although his heavy hair is described in 14:26, this verse does not expressly say that the hair was entangled.

    2. 18:12

      The soldier recalls the instruction David gave the commanders in everyone's hearing. The account therefore includes a refusal to kill Absalom before recording the killing.

    3. 18:14-15

      Joab attacks with three darts, and ten armourbearers then strike Absalom dead. No final words from Absalom are recorded.

    4. 18:16

      Joab halts the pursuit after Absalom's death. The trumpet is a recall signal here, not the announcement of Absalom's accession heard in the plan of 15:10.

    5. 18:17

      The pit and heap of stones are the burial described here. They should not be confused with the separately mentioned pillar Absalom had erected during his lifetime in verse 18.

    2 Samuel 18:9-17

    King James Version · 9 verses

    18:9And Absalom met the servants of David. And Absalom rode upon a mule, and the mule went under the thick boughs of a great oak, and his head caught hold of the oak, and he was taken up between the heaven and the earth; and the mule that was under him went away.

    18:10And a certain man saw it, and told Joab, and said, Behold, I saw Absalom hanged in an oak.

    18:11And Joab said unto the man that told him, And, behold, thou sawest him, and why didst thou not smite him there to the ground? and I would have given thee ten shekels of silver, and a girdle.

    18:12And the man said unto Joab, Though I should receive a thousand shekels of silver in mine hand, yet would I not put forth mine hand against the king’s son: for in our hearing the king charged thee and Abishai and Ittai, saying, Beware that none touch the young man Absalom.

    18:13Otherwise I should have wrought falsehood against mine own life: for there is no matter hid from the king, and thou thyself wouldest have set thyself against me.

    18:14Then said Joab, I may not tarry thus with thee. And he took three darts in his hand, and thrust them through the heart of Absalom, while he was yet alive in the midst of the oak.

    18:15And ten young men that bare Joab’s armour compassed about and smote Absalom, and slew him.

    18:16And Joab blew the trumpet, and the people returned from pursuing after Israel: for Joab held back the people.

    18:17And they took Absalom, and cast him into a great pit in the wood, and laid a very great heap of stones upon him: and all Israel fled every one to his tent.

    2 Samuel 18:9-17: Caught in the oak

Why it matters

The rebellion is the sentence Nathan spoke coming due, and the account says so directly. What makes it more than a political episode is that the grievance is real: a crime went unpunished in the king’s own house, and the son who exploits it is also the only person who acted on it. He dies caught by the head in an oak with his mule walking out from under him, and the father whose throne he took cannot stop saying his name.

6 songs

The music

Every song in the catalogue whose passage falls inside these chapters.

  1. 2 Samuel 13-19

    O Absalom

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  2. 2 Samuel 13:1-39

    Tamar's Desolation

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  3. 2 Samuel 14:1-15:12

    He Stole the Hearts of Israel

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  4. 2 Samuel 15:13-17:29

    Barefoot over the Brook Kidron

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  5. 2 Samuel 18:1-19:8

    O Absalom, My Son

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  6. 2 Samuel 19:9-20:26

    The King Came Again to Jordan

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