2 Samuel 18:9-16 – The Cursed Death
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 tree’. Suddenly it doesn’t seem so coincidental. Here is the man who rebelled against God and his kingdom. Now he’s hanging from a tree, under God’s curse. Humanly speaking the chances of him ending up hanging from a tree would have been minute. But in fact when that day dawned, nothing was more certain. Because God had decreed it. This will be the fate of all who are like him. All who fight against God’s kingdom, they will end up under God’s curse. That truth reassures us. It helps us go out into a hard world this week. Because we know we’re on the winning side.
This certainty should never make us proud or vindictive. As we picture Absalom hanging there, we need to realise: that should have been us. Why? Why should we have died under God’s curse? Like Adam and Eve, we have listened to the serpent’s lies – and so we deserve to be under God’s curse. But then we try and work our way back into God’s favour! What does the Bible say about that strategy? ‘Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them’. So we deserve to be under God’s curse, both because of our sin – but also because of what we try and do about our sin! We deserve to die under God’s curse. So why won’t we, if we’re believers? Because someone else died there in our place. It wasn’t a pretend, rebel king like Absalom, but the true King, Jesus Christ. On the cross, suspended between heaven and earth, dying under God’s curse, and dying for us. And if the unintentional death of David’s rebellious son – Absalom – brought peace in Israel. How much more will the deliberate death of David’s obedient son – Jesus Christ – mean life for the world? When we read about Absalom, we’re not simply reading about an interesting and unusual death. We’re seeing a picture of what we deserve. And we’re seeing the future of the unbeliever – dying under God’s curse. But by God’s grace, if we’ve put our faith in Jesus, it’s no longer our future, because Jesus has hung there in our place.
Question
- What is Absalom a picture of?
Prayer Points
- Give thanks for Christ’s death on the cross.
- Use prayer points from your congregation.
- Pray for family matters.