It’s hard to even call David’s affections for his son love. If David had really loved him, he would have said hard things to him. He would have made sure Absalom had faced the consequences for the cold-blooded murder he carried out. Sadly this is a theme in the books of Samuel. We’ve seen it with Eli. We’ve seen it […]

In the second half of the chapter, through to the first part of chapter 19, David is the winner – but he acts like the loser. What stops David acting like the king he should have been is his inordinate affection for his rebellious son. His desire for Absalom to stay alive seems to be the only thing that matters […]

One minute Absalom is on his mule, the next minute the mule is still running but with no rider on his back. It seems like a total fluke. But then we remember that in the words of Deuteronomy, ‘a hanged man is cursed by God’. Or as Paul quotes it in Galatians: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a […]