commit with impunity whatever lawless actions he thought fit. Now Absalom, it appears, besides being of a fierce and revengeful temper, was an ambitious man: he was determined to possess himself of power, no matter at what price: his aim was no less than to dethrone his unsuspecting father, and to seize his kingdom. He must have been irreligious too; for if he had had any reverence for God, he must of necessity have submitted himself to the divine disposition already made to David of the kingdom for his lifetime, and, after his death, to Solomon, his son. Being, however, as he was, a child of this world, he proved himself, as they often do, wise in his generation:* he began by frequently showing himself to the people, complaining of defects in the administration of justice, and assuring them, that if he were only put in authority, they should see a far better state of public affairs this, with much flattery and familiar conversation, addressed to all classes of the king's subjects, by degrees won their hearts from him, and led them to look with favour upon Absalom, who, when he judged the time ripe for action, proclaimed openly his traitorous purpose, and putting himself at the head of a strong body of followers, marched against Jerusalem, from which David was compelled to fly. Designing men like him there will always be in every age and country, who make it their business to fill the ears of the people with complaints of all public institutions, and with assurances how readily all defects will be remedied, if they only are entrusted with power to carry out the requisite reforms; men who wish to make it appear that their sole object is the good of the people, while in reality they have no other end in view than the furtherance of their own private interests; who make a profit out of the sim * Luke xvi. 8. plicity of those, whose hearts, like Absalom they have stolen.* With such men all those who fear God and the king should cautiously abstain from meddling :† if imperfections exist, let them be temperately pointed out, and judiciously corrected, by those who are competent to the task, and are duly authorized so to do: but let us remember always, that it is much easier to pull down than to build up again, and that a man may be well enough qualified for the one, who will lack altogether ability for the other. Absalom did not show himself so wise in managing his usurped authority as he had in obtaining it; he took, indeed, the counsel of the celebrated sage Achitophel to do a deed of open wickedness upon the person of his father's wives, whom he had left behind him in Jerusalem; but when urged by the same sagacious adviser to pursue at once after David, and finish the struggle by one decisive blow, he adopted rather the temporizing counsel of Hushai, the Archite, who came purposely to deceive him, and suffered the king to gain time, and finally to place himself in comparative security beyond the Jordan; a piece of folly which convinced Achitophel that his ruin was certain, and prompted that wicked man, in a fit of gloomy despondency on finding his deep-laid schemes completely baffled, to put an end to his own life, reaping thus the due reward of his ingratitude and treachery. Sad and sorrowful in the mean time had been the flight of David, when, driven out by his own son, betrayed, as he fancied, by Mephibosheth, whom he had fed at his table, cursed and insulted by Shimei, he bent his way to Mahanaim, where Ishbosheth, the son of Saul, had formerly held his court: and yet, in the psalm which he composed upon this mournful occasion, we find indeed expressions of complaint, * 2 Sam. xv. 6. + Prov. xxiv. 21. but we find also evident tokens of unabated confidence and faith in God. "I laid me down," he says, "and slept. I awaked, for the Lord sustained me. I will not be afraid for ten thousands of people, that have set themselves against me round about. Salvation belongeth unto the Lord; thy blessing is upon thy people. Happy may we esteem ourselves, if, in the trying times of our own calamity, we can find the same comfort in thinking upon God as David did in his; if we have learnt to look upon him as our protector, as our sure friend, who will never fail us nor forsake us, so long as we put our trust in him. A battle shortly ensued between the soldiers of David, commanded by his faithful servant Joab, and the rebels under Absalom: the latter were defeated, and Absalom, being entangled by his long and beautiful hair in an oak, was slain by Joab, in despite of a command given by David to the contrary; for Joab well knew that if the young man was once suffered to come into the presence of his father, he would be again forgiven, and probably let loose upon the world to devise and execute fresh schemes of mischief. That Joab had not miscalculated the tenderness of David towards his rebellious son was plain, from the excessive grief which he showed when he heard of his death, insomuch that the plain-spoken soldier seems to have been justified when he said to the king, "This day I perceive, that if Absalom had lived, and all we had died this day, then it had pleased thee well." May we attend always to the advice of Christ's apostle, and, where many have an equal claim to share in our good will, be careful not to prefer one before another, to do nothing by partiality, being well assured that *Psalm iii. 5, 6, 8. + 2 Sam. xix. 6. t1 Tim. v. 21. an opposite line of conduct, especially towards those of our own family, can lead to nothing but heart-burnings and strife amongst them, and deep vexation to ourselves. The king appeared to take his honest servant's admonition in good part, mixed again with his people, and soon excited in them a general determination to bring him back to Jerusalem. In returning, he showed his gratitude to Barzillai, the Gileadite, who had assisted him in the time of his distress, and his clemency towards Mephibosheth, whose excuses he accepted, and Shimei, to whom, upon confession of his fault, he granted a pardon. To Amasa, who had been the leader of Absalom's army, he did even more than this, taking him into his favour, and confiding his own troops to his command, in an expedition against the men of Israel, who, having taken offence at his too marked preference shown to his own tribe of Judah, had revolted from him, under the guidance of Sheba, a Benjamite. Joab's proud spirit could not brook this affront; and, joining the army, he slew Amasa with his own hand, and took the command of it himself, redeeming perhaps his fault in the eyes of David by the activity and perseverance with which he brought the war to a successful issue, and returned, with the head of Sheba the rebel, to Jerusalem. A famine, after this, afflicted the land for three years; and David, having consulted God as to the cause, was told that it was an offence which Saul had formerly committed, in putting to death, out of mistaken zeal, a portion of those Gibeonites, who, having been enslaved by Joshua, were kept for the menial offices of the house of God. The manner of expiating this crime was to be the surrender of some of the surviving branches of Saul's family to the Gibeonites, to be put to death; which act of solemn retribution having taken place, God was entreated for the land. But its calamities were not yet entirely over: David himself committed a new offence, in numbering the people; thereby making flesh his arm,* ,* and trusting not so much in the promised and long-tried protection of Israel's God, as in that by which he had himself declared no king could be preserved, "the multitude of a host."+ Therefore, when the numbering, which Joab had wisely opposed as much as possible, was at last completed, we are told that "David's heart smote him," for what he had done. Nor was he left long to the terrors of conscience only the prophet Gad was sent unto him, to offer him three things; either a renewal, for three years, of the famine which had already vexed his kingdom, or a flight of three months before his victorious enemies, or three days' pestilence in the land. Being in this great strait, he chose rather to lie under the immediate hand of God, whose mercies he knew were great, than to receive his chastisement from human enemies, of whose implacable and pitiless character he had had a long and bitter experience. Accordingly, the land of Israel was subjected to a visitation of pestilence; and, as if to show him how rapidly those multitudes in whom he had placed his ill-grounded confidence, could melt away, seventy thousand of them died on the first day of the plague. Then David experienced the advantage of his choice, in placing himself in the hands of God: the Lord repented him of the evil, and said unto the destroying angel, "It is enough; stay now thine hand."§ His anxious prayers, united with those of his suffering people, who doubtless saw in this infliction their own just punishment for their frequent rebellions and many sins, were heard and * Jerem. xvii. 5. 2 Sam. xxiv. 10. + Psalm xxxiii. 16. § Ver. 16. |
