"Retribution?"

So are there any leaders here for us to emulate? Or at least to learn lessons from?

[1] “Absalom” by Gerald Wartofsky, the B’nai B’rith Klutznick Collection of the Skirball Museum

2 Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33

November 17, 2024

Dr. Todd R. Wright

This story provides a fine display of a variety of leadership styles!

But before the actors take the stage, let’s consider what we know about three of them.

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David has been the one constant in this saga, but he has changed over time:

He ages from a forgotten shepherd, to a mighty warrior, to a crafty king.

He goes from a boy with a heart for God to a bully who rapes and kills and covers it up.

So Nathan tells David, on God’s behalf, that the sword shall never depart his household.

Anna Carter Florence says his sins unleashed a “predatory presence” in the palace.[2]

That comes true when David’s son, Amnon, rapes his own sister, Tamar.

When David heard of it, he was very angry but wouldn’t punish his first born son.

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At this point another of David’s sons, Absalom, takes the stage.

He will be remembered for being vengeful and vain.

Absalom hated Amnon, and avenged his sister, commanding his servants to kill him.

The narrator then feels the need to tell us that in all Israel there was no one as beautiful,

with such long thick hair that when he cut it, the locks weighed three pounds!

Worried that someone will harm him, he fled across the border.

Eventually tempers cooled and David forgave him.

But something had broken in their relationship and Absalom led a revolt against David.  

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The final figure is Joab, David’s general.

He was always loyal to David, carrying out his order to kill Uriah without hesitation,

and battling for him from one end of the country to the other, from Dan to Beersheba.

He is not sentimental and not shy about using violence, in fact, he often has blood on his hands.  

But when push comes to shove, he ignores David’s orders, thinking he is looking out for him.

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These three figures come together in a key battle recorded in our passage today.

Before things get started, David orders his generals, “deal gently with Absalom, for my sake.”

It is an odd order for a king trying to put down a revolt. As Frederick Buechner puts it:

“If he was afraid he might lose his throne, he was even more afraid he might lose Absalom. The boy was the thorn in his flesh, but he was also the apple of his eye.”[3]

As the battle rages in the forests of Ephraim, Absalom ends up caught in the branches of an oak tree, hanging “between heaven and earth” by his glorious hair!

Joab shows no mercy. He took three spears and thrust them into Absalom’s heart.

But it gets worse. Eugene Peterson describes it in graphic detail:

“Joab’s ten armor-bearers join in, compounding the violence. They all want a part of the action of killing Absalom. [It] turns into a frenzy. [Then they throw] the corpse into a pit and [assault] it with stones. No state funeral for Absalom – his violated body is not so much buried as pelted into oblivion in an orgy of stone-throwing ...”[4] until all the beauty is erased.  

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So are there any leaders here for us to emulate? Or at least to learn lessons from?

Do we want a leader whose pursuit of justice for his sister looks more like revenge?

One who judges the rightful king as too old, too passive, too forgiving, and leads a rebellion?

If not Absalom, then maybe Joab – loyal to a fault, pragmatic, willing to make hard decisions?

That sounds like a good leader. But he has no capacity for compassion or compromise.

Do we want a leader who is so rigid?

Which brings us back around to David, as this saga always seems to do.

He has a real blind spot for his sons, forgiving them for awful things.

But when he could have sought retribution against Absalom, he chooses mercy.

I wonder, if for all his faults and failings, David is channeling God’s heart in that moment.

When he cries out, “O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom!” can we not hear God grieving over us? And when he says, “Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!” can we not catch a glimpse of God’s salvation plan?

For God confronts rebellious sons and daughters in every one of us. Like Absalon (or Jonah, for that matter) we chafe at the way God does not seek the revenge, the retaliation, the retribution we think due others. We think we would do better if we were on the throne.

And yet, where has that kind of thinking gotten us?

“An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind” is a quote misattributed to Mahatma Gandhi.

Better, to follow Jesus’ advice “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you: Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other [cheek] also.”[5]

That’s leadership! And I’d like to think that in his old age, David was starting to grasp that.

So maybe he was grieving not just the death of his son, but the power violence has over us. May God show us a better way. Amen

[1] “Absalom” by Gerald Wartofsky, the B’nai B’rith Klutznick Collection of the Skirball Museum

[2] From her article in the Christian Century, “Read the Rape of Tamar, and pay attention to the verbs”, 8/1/18

[3] From Peculiar Treasures, page 5

[4] From First and Second Samuel, Westminster Bible Companion, page 222

[5] Matthew 5:38-39