When one of the men saw what had happened, he told Joab, “I just saw Absalom hanging in an oak tree.”
Joab said to the man who had told him this, “What! You saw him? Why didn’t you strike him to the ground right there? Then I would have had to give you ten shekels of silver and a warrior’s belt.”
But the man replied, “…In our hearing the king commanded…, ‘Protect the young man Absalom for my sake.’ And if I had put my life in jeopardy—and nothing is hidden from the king—you would have kept your distance from me.”
Joab said, “I’m not going to wait like this for you.”
The slimy person that Joab was wasn’t lost on anyone… And if nothing was hidden from King David, everything is hidden from me unless I’m told. I am so clumsy, Lord. Please help me.
Joab said, “I’m not going to wait like this for you.” So he took three javelins in his hand and plunged them into Absalom’s heart while Absalom was still alive in the oak tree. And ten of Joab’s armor-bearers surrounded Absalom, struck him and killed him.
Suspended there in the tree, Absalom was no doubt thinking of his father David and counting on his mercy. At the first sight of Joab, however, he knew all hope was lost…
Then Joab sounded the trumpet, and the troops stopped pursuing Israel, for Joab halted them. They took Absalom, threw him into a big pit in the forest and piled up a large heap of rocks over him. Meanwhile, all the Israelites fled to their homes.
During his lifetime Absalom had taken a pillar and erected it in the King’s Valley as a monument to himself
A heap of rocks and a pillar is what Absalom left behind. May I leave more than that, Lord (Hebrews 11:4)!
During his lifetime Absalom… thought, “I have no son to carry on the memory of my name.” He named the pillar after himself, and it is called Absalom’s Monument to this day.
My name will also die with me. So? I’m not looking for a street to be named after me. If only I can shine like the brightness of the heavens (Daniel 12:3) and make you proud, Master (Luke 19:17).