Absalom went on, “I want you to arrange for me to see the king, and if I’m guilty, then let him put me to death.”
So Joab went to King David and told him what Absalom had said. The king sent for Absalom, who went to him and bowed down to the ground in front of him. The king welcomed him with a kiss.
Forgiveness under duress. Why such difficulty? Sad. And it would come with a terrible price…
After this, Absalom provided a chariot and horses for himself, and an escort of fifty men. He would get up early and go and stand by the road at the city gate. Whenever someone came there with a dispute that he wanted the king to settle, Absalom would call him over and ask him where he was from. And after the man had told him what tribe he was from, Absalom would say, “Look, the law is on your side, but there is no representative of the king to hear your case.” And he would add, “How I wish I were a judge! Then anyone who had a dispute or a claim could come to me, and I would give him justice.” When the man would approach Absalom to bow down before him, Absalom would reach out, take hold of him, and kiss him. Absalom did this with every Israelite who came to the king for judgment, and so he won their loyalty.
A case study on how to seduce others. Absalom projected force (“chariot and horses”, “fifty men”), made himself available (“get up early and stand by the city gate”), flatter (“the law is on your side”), plant the idea (“if I were judge”) and lower himself to be one of the people (“kiss him”). Beauty (2 Samuel 14:25-26) and flattery. Insidious.
After four years Absalom said to King David, “Sir, let me go to Hebron and keep a promise I made to the Lord. While I was living in Geshur in Syria, I promised the Lord that if he would take me back to Jerusalem, I would worship him in Hebron.”
Absalom exercises great patience and provides the king with a valid and believable reason for his actions, just as he did in his plot to murder Amnon (2 Samuel 13:23-24).
“Go in peace,” the king said. So Absalom went to Hebron. But he sent messengers to all the tribes of Israel to say, “When you hear the sound of trumpets, shout, ‘Absalom has become king at Hebron!’” There were two hundred men who at Absalom’s invitation had gone from Jerusalem with him; they knew nothing of the plot and went in all good faith. And while he was offering sacrifices, Absalom also sent to the town of Gilo for Ahithophel, who was one of King David’s advisers. The plot against the king gained strength, and Absalom’s followers grew in number.
There is no doubt in my mind that Ahithophel was counceling Absalom all this time (2 Samuel 16:23). Likely being Bathsheba’s grandfather 2 Samuel 11:3; 2 Samuel 23:34), he was evidently bitter about David defiling her (2 Samuel 11:2-5) and no doubt felt under appreciated (2 Samuel 17:23). A man using a God-given gift to ride the ambition of another to exact his revenge. Petty. Keep me from having side agendas, Lord!
A messenger reported to David, “The Israelites are pledging their loyalty to Absalom.”
So David said to all his officials who were with him in Jerusalem, “We must get away at once if we want to escape from Absalom! Hurry! Or else he will soon be here and defeat us and kill everyone in the city!”
David was under no illusions regarding what Absalom was capable of…