The third and final verse I want to highlight is verse 32. What is Absalom’s complaint there? It’s that it would have been better for him still to be in exile than to return, but not be able to go into the king’s presence. Or literally, as some versions have it, to see the king’s face. Is that not how […]

I want to finish with 3 verses from this chapter that illustrate the gospel. Not verses which we are all necessarily intended to apply the way I’m about to apply them, but which provide helpful ways to think about how God works in our own lives. The first of the three verses is v30. When Joab stops taking Absalom’s calls, […]

David lets Absalom back. But he won’t let him come into his presence. It’s a compromise. But it doesn’t last long. Once David has let Absalom back into the country, it seems inevitable that Absalom will end up back as if nothing had ever happened. Often, whether in our personal lives, our family lives, our church lives, our national lives, […]