The Death of a Son

2nd Samuel 18

Do you ever get sad when you hear about the death of someone that you may have not liked? Now what if it was one of your family members that did something mean to you and they passed away? What if it was your son, if you had one?

In this chapter we read that David’s son Absalom dies.

The Death of a Son

Absalom went out to make war with his father. Absalom had his men and David had his. The battle was going on and the fight took place all over the place and ended up in the forest of Ephraim. It says in verse 8 that many men died in the forest. David’s men defeated Absalom’s men. The tragedy that was meant to be. Absalom had a lot of hair. That is one thing that he was known for was his bountiful hair that he had. It weighed a lot and he had to cut it every year because it became too heavy. He was riding in battle in the forest while his hair got caught in a tree. It was so tangled that he could not get out of it. 

Word came to Joab that Absalom was stuck in a tree but was alive. Joab took the initiative to go ahead and kill him. David heard that his son was dead and said, “I would have died in his place.” He mourned for his son. Remember that Absalom killed David’s other son Amnon. He fled from Jerusalem for about 5 years and came back. David did the sign of, “I forgive you,” by kissing him but really did not. Absalom became bitter with his dad and rallied the people so he could be king. Absalom forced his dad to leave his palace and live in the wilderness. He then came to kill his dad so he could be king and establish his kingdom. This was not God’s plan; his plan was that Solomon would become king after David. God was not done with David yet. Now when we think about all the harsh and mean things Absalom did, David should have been relieved that his son would not be chasing him any longer but we see David mourning and crying for his son. Maybe it was the wave of realizing he never forgave his son, it could have been the fact that he failed as a father somewhere down the road. Either way, that was his flesh and blood and he knew he was gone. 

The Death of a Son 2

Jesus died on the cross for us and we read in the Gospels that even Jesus cried out to God a couple of times. 1 was for us to be forgiven and another was, “Why have you forsaken me.” Instead of God crying our for his son we see God not being able to have anything with Jesus as he took on all of our sins. Jesus who knew no sin, became sin and took on our sin so we could have everlasting life. As Jesus died, he rose again as he conquered death, he conquered sin. Jesus sits at the right hand of God, not forsaken but everlasting in glory and honor. Thank you God the Son as you were abandoned by your followers. As you were beaten and whipped for us. Thank you for taking my sin, thank you for shedding your blood. You chose to die so we might have life and life more abundantly. My sin is atoned for.