Absalom

This article is about the biblical figure. For the name, see Absalom (name).

Absalom (Hebrew: אַבְשָׁלוֹם‎ ʾAḇšālōm, "father of peace") was the third son of David, King of Israel with Maacah, daughter of Talmai, King of Geshur.^[2]

Absalom
Prince of Israel
Death of Absalom (Corrado Giaquinto, 1762)
Born	Hebron, Judah, Israel
Died	Ephraim's Wood, Israel
Burial	Ephraim's Wood, Israel
Issue	4+ children^[1] 3 sons^[1] Tamar^[1]
House	House of David
Father	David
Mother	Maacah bat Talmai

2 Samuel 14:25 describes him as the handsomest man in the kingdom.^[3] Absalom eventually rebelled against his father and was killed during the Battle of Ephraim's Wood.^[4]

Biblical account

Background

 

The Banquet of Absalom attributed to Niccolò de Simone around 1650

Absalom, David's third son, by Maacah, was born in Hebron.^[5] At an early age, he moved, along with the transfer of the capital, to Jerusalem, where he spent most of his life. He was a great favorite of his father and of the people. His charming manners, personal beauty, insinuating ways, love of pomp, and royal pretensions captivated the hearts of the people from the beginning. He lived in great style, drove in a magnificent chariot, and had fifty men run before him.

Little is known of Absalom's family life, but the biblical narrative states that he had three sons and one daughter, Tamar, who is described as a beautiful woman.^[1] From the language of 2 Samuel 18:18, Absalom states, "I have no son to keep my name in remembrance".^[6] It may be that his sons died before his statement,^[7] or, as Matthew Henry suggests, Absalom's three sons may have been born after his statement.^[8]

Aside from his daughter Tamar, Absalom had another daughter or granddaughter named Maacah,^[9] who later became the favorite wife of Rehoboam.^[a] Maacah was the mother of Abijah of Judah and the grandmother of Asa of Judah. She served as queen mother for Asa until he deposed her for idolatry.^[10]

Murder of Amnon

 

The Feast of Absalom, Niccolò Tornioli, 17th century

 

Leaf from the Morgan Picture Bible, "Scenes from the Life of Absalom", c. 1250

 

The death of Absalom, hanging from a tree by his hair (14th-century German miniature)

 

The Death of Absalom (circa 1447), Pietro di Tommaso del Minella (1391-1458), - tiled floor, south transept of Siena Cathedral

Absalom also had a sister named Tamar, who was raped by her half-brother Amnon, David's eldest son. After the rape, Absalom waited two years and then avenged Tamar by sending his servants to murder a drunken Amnon at a feast to which Absalom had invited all of King David's sons.^[11]

After this murder Absalom fled to Talmai, who was the king of Geshur and Absalom's maternal grandfather.^[12] Not until three years later was Absalom fully reinstated in David's favour and finally returned to Jerusalem.^[13]

The revolt at Hebron

While at Jerusalem, Absalom built support for himself by speaking to those who came to King David for justice, saying, "See, your claims are good and right; but there is no one deputed by the king to hear you", perhaps reflecting flaws in the judicial system of the united monarchy. "If only I were the judge of the land! Then all who had a suit or cause might come to me, and I would give them justice." He made gestures of flattery by kissing those who bowed before him instead of accepting supplication. He "stole the hearts of the people of Israel".^[14]

After four years he declared himself king, raised a revolt at Hebron, the former capital, and had sexual relations with his father's concubines.^[15] All Israel and Judah flocked to him, and David, attended only by the Cherethites and Pelethites and his former bodyguard, which had followed him from Gath, found it expedient to flee. The priests Zadok and Abiathar remained in Jerusalem, and their sons Jonathan and Ahimaaz served as David's spies. Absalom reached the capital and consulted with the renowned Ahithophel (sometimes spelled Achitophel).

David took refuge from Absalom's forces beyond the Jordan River. However, he took the precaution of instructing a servant, Hushai, to infiltrate Absalom's court and subvert it. Once in place, Hushai convinced Absalom to ignore Ahithophel's advice to attack his father while he was on the run, and instead to prepare his forces for a major attack. This gave David critical time to prepare his own troops for the battle. When Ahithophel saw that his advice was not followed, he committed suicide by hanging himself.

Battle of Ephraim's Wood

A fateful battle was fought in the Wood of Ephraim (the name suggests a locality west of the Jordan) and Absalom's army was completely routed.^[16] When Absalom fled from David's army, his head was caught in the boughs of an oak tree as the mule he was riding ran beneath it. He was discovered there still alive by one of David's men, who reported this to Joab, the king's commander. Joab, accustomed to avenging himself, took this opportunity to even the score with Absalom.^[17] Absalom had once set Joab's field of barley on fire^[18] and then made Amasa Captain of the Host instead of Joab. Killing Absalom was against David's explicit command, "Beware that none touch the young man Absalom". Joab injured Absalom with three darts through the heart and Absalom was subsequently killed by ten of Joab's armor-bearers.^[19]

When David heard that Absalom was killed, although not how he was killed, he greatly sorrowed.

O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!

— 2 Sam 18:33^[20]

David withdrew to the city of Mahanaim^[21] in mourning, until Joab roused him from "the extravagance of his grief"^[22] and called on him to fulfill his duty to his people.^[23]

Memorial

 

Two views of the burial chamber inside the so-called Tomb of Absalom in the Valley of Jehoshaphat, Jerusalem, which has no connection to biblical Absalom.

Absalom had erected a monument near Jerusalem to perpetuate his name:

Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself a pillar, which is in the king's dale: for he said, I have no son to keep my name in remembrance: and he called the pillar after his own name: and it is called unto this day, Absalom's place.

— 2 Sam 18:18^[6]

An ancient monument in the Kidron Valley near the Old City of Jerusalem, known as the Tomb of Absalom or Absalom's Pillar and traditionally identified as the monument of the biblical narrative, is now dated by modern archeologists to the first century AD.^[24] The Jewish Encyclopedia reports: "A tomb twenty feet high and twenty-four feet square, which late tradition points out as the resting-place of Absalom. It is situated in the eastern part of the valley of Kidron, to the east of Jerusalem. In all probability it is the tomb of Alexander Jannæus (Conder, in Hastings' Dict. Bible, article "Jerusalem", p. 597). It existed in the days of Josephus.^[25][26] However, archaeologists have now dated the tomb to the 1st century AD.^[27] In a 2013 conference, Professor Gabriel Barkay suggested that it could be the tomb of Herod Agrippa, the grandson of Herod the Great, based in part on the similarity to Herod's newly discovered tomb at Herodium. For centuries, it was the custom among passers-by—Jews, Christians and Muslims—to throw stones at the monument. Residents of Jerusalem would bring their unruly children to the site to teach them what became of a rebellious son.^[28]

Analysis of Absalom's character

Although Absalom did avenge his sister's defilement by Amnon, ironically he was not much different from Amnon. As Amnon had brought two curses upon himself for incest with his half sister and failing to fulfill the Torah Law, Absalom brought three curses upon himself for dishonoring his father, relations with his father's wife (concubines) and failing to fulfill the Torah Law (Deuteronomy 27:20, 26).^[29]

Rabbinic literature

The life and death of Absalom offered to the rabbis a welcome theme wherewith to warn the people against false ambition, vainglory, and unfilial conduct. The vanity with which he displayed his beautiful hair, the rabbis say, became his snare and his stumbling-block. "By his long hair the Nazirite entangled the people to rebel against his father, and by it he himself became entangled, to fall a victim to his pursuers".^[30] And again, elsewhere: "By his vile stratagem he deceived and stole three hearts, that of his father, of the elders, and finally of the whole nation of Israel, and for this reason three darts were thrust into his heart to end his treacherous life".^[31] More striking is the following: "Did one ever hear of an oak-tree having a heart? And yet in the oak-tree in whose branches Absalom was caught, we read that upon its heart he was held up still alive while the darts were thrust through him.^[32] This is to show that when a man becomes so heartless as to make war against his own father, nature itself takes on a heart to avenge the deed."

"The knowledge that a part of Absalom's following sided with him in secret,--that, though he was pursued by his son, his friends remained true to him,--somewhat consoled David in his distress. He thought that in these circumstances, if the worst came to the worst, Absalom would at least feel pity for him. At first, however, the despair of David knew no bounds. He was on the point of worshipping an idol, when his friend Hushai the Archite approached him, saying: "The people will wonder that such a king should serve idols." David replied: "Should a king such as I am be killed by his own son? It is better for me to serve idols than that God should be held responsible for my misfortune, and His Name thus be desecrated." Hushai reproached him: "Why didst thou marry a captive?" "There is no wrong in that," replied David, "it is permitted according to the law." Thereupon Hushai: "But thou didst disregard the connection between the passage permitting it and the one that follows almost immediately after it in the Scriptures, dealing with the disobedient and rebellious son, the natural issue of such a marriage."^[33] Absalom's end was beset with terrors. When he was caught in the branches of the oak-tree, he was about to sever his hair with a sword stroke, but suddenly he saw hell yawning beneath him, and he preferred to hang in the tree to throwing himself into the abyss alive. Absalom's crime was, indeed, of a nature to deserve the supreme torture, for which reason he is one of the few Jews who have no portion in the world to come.^[34]

Popular legend states that the eye of Absalom was of immense size, signifying his insatiable greed.^[35] Indeed, "hell itself opened beneath him, and David, his father, cried seven times: 'My son! my son!' while bewailing his death, praying at the same time for his redemption from the seventh section of Gehenna, to which he was consigned".^[36] According to R. Meir,^[37] "he has no share in the life to come". And according to the description of Gehenna by Joshua ben Levi, who, like Dante, wandered through hell under the guidance of the angel Duma, Absalom still dwells there, having the rebellious heathen in charge; and when the angels with their fiery rods run also against Absalom to smite him like the rest, a heavenly voice says: "Spare Absalom, the son of David, My servant."^[38] "That the extreme penalties of hell were thus averted from him, was on account of David's eightfold repetition of his son's name in his lament over him. Besides, David's intercession had the effect of re-attaching Absalom's severed head to his body. At his death Absalom was childless, for all his children, his three sons and his daughter, died before him, as a punishment for his having set fire to a field of grain belonging to Joab."^[39]

Art and literature

Poetry

• The Love of King David and Fair Bethsabe, with the Tragedie of Absalon, a play by George Peele, written before 1594 and published in 1599.
• Absalom and Achitophel (1681), a satirical poem by John Dryden, uses the biblical story as an allegory for contemporary politics.^[40]
• "Absalom" by Nathaniel Parker Willis (1806–1867).^[41]
• "Absaloms Abfall" by Rainer Maria Rilke ("The Fall of Absalom", trans. Stephen Cohn).^[42][43]
• "Absalom" is a section in Muriel Rukeyser's long poem The Book of the Dead (1938), inspired by the biblical text, spoken by a mother who lost three sons to silicosis.^[44]
• "Avshalom" by Yona Wallach, published in her first poetry collection Devarim (1966), alludes to the biblical character.^[45]

Fiction

• In the 1946 short story "Absalom" by C.L. Moore and Henry Kuttner, the character Absalom is a child prodigy, who does non-consensual brain surgery on his father (a former child prodigy, though not as intelligent as his son) to make the father totally focused on Absalom's success. This relates to the Biblical story of the son usurping his father.^[46][47]
• Georg Christian Lehms, Des israelitischen Printzens Absolons und seiner Prinzcessin Schwester Thamar Staats- Lebens- und Helden-Geschichte (The Heroic Life and History of the Israelite Prince Absolom and his Princess Sister Tamar), novel in German published in Nuremberg, 1710.^[48]
• Absalom, Absalom! is a novel by William Faulkner, and refers to the return of the main character Thomas Sutpen's son.^[49]
• Oh Absalom! was the original title of Howard Spring's novel My Son, My Son!, later adapted for the film of the latter name.^[50]
• Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton. Absalom was the name of Stephen Kumalo's son in the novel. Like the Biblical Absalom, Absalom Kumalo was at odds with his father, the two fighting a moral and ethical battle of sorts over the course of some of the novel's most important events. Absalom kills and murders a man, and also meets an untimely death.^[51]
• Throughout Robertson Davies's The Manticore a comparison is repeatedly made between the protagonist's problematic relations with his father and those of the Biblical Absalom and King David. Paradoxically, in the modern version, it is the rebellious son who has the first name "David". The book also introduces the term "Absalonism", as a generic term for a son's rebellion against his father.^[50]
• Absalom appears as a prominent character in Peter Shaffer's play Yonadab, which portrays Amnon's rape of Tamar and his murder at Absalom's hands.^[52]
• A scene in the Swedish writer Frans G. Bengtsson's historical novel "The Long Ships" depicts a 10th Century Christian missionary recounting the story of Absalom's rebellion to the assembled Danish court, including the aging King Harald Bluetooth and his son Sweyn Forkbeard; thereupon, King Harald exclaims "Some people can learn a lesson from this story!", casting a meaningful glance at his son Sweyn—whom the King (rightly) suspects of plotting a rebellion.^[53]
• In the novel The Book of Tamar by Nel Havas, the story of Absalom is presented from the viewpoint of his sister. While closely following the main events as related in the Bible, Havas concentrates on the motives behind Absalom's actions, which Havas presents as more complex than depicted in the scriptures.
• In the novel Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card, the main character Bean invokes the quote to give solace to the kamikaze pilots Ender had unknowingly sent to their deaths to defeat the Formics.
• The role played by luxuriant hair in the death of Absalom is referenced to telling effect in the ghost story The Diary of Mr Poynter by master of the genre M.R. James. The ghost in question is that of dissolute young nobleman Sir Everard Charlett, known to his Oxford University cronies by the nickname Absalom, on account of his beautiful, long hair and debauched lifestyle. Sir Everard has commemorated his flowing locks by the unusual expedient of having them portrayed in a wallpaper pattern, which later proves to have the power to summon his malign, hair-covered ghost - much to the horror of James’s unfortunate protagonist, Mr. James Denton.^[54]

Music

• Josquin des Prez composed the motet "Absalon, fili mi" on the occasion of the death of Juan Borgia (Absalon being a further alternative spelling).
• Nicholas Gombert composed the two-part, eight-voice motet "Lugebat David Absalon".
• Heinrich Schütz (1585–1672) composed "Fili mi, Absalon" as part of his Sinfoniae Sacrae, op. 6.
• The single verse, 2 Samuel 18:33, regarding David's grief at the loss of his son ("And the king was much moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept: and as he went, thus he said, O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!"), is the inspiration for the text of several pieces of choral music, usually entitled When David Heard (such as those by Renaissance composers Thomas Tomkins and Thomas Weelkes, or modern composers Eric Whitacre, Joshua Shank, and Norman Dinerstein). This verse is also used in "David's Lamentation" by William Billings, first published in 1778.
• Leonard Cohen's poem "Prayer for Sunset" compares the setting sun to the raving Absalom, and asks whether another Joab will arrive tomorrow night to kill Absalom again.
• "Absalom, Absalom" is a song on the 1996 Compass CD Making Light of It by singer/songwriter Pierce Pettis, incorporating several elements of the biblical narrative.
• The Australian composer Nigel Butterley set the verse in his 2008 choral work "Beni Avshalom", commissioned by the Sydney Chamber Choir.
• During the finale of the song "Distant Early Warning" by Canadian band Rush, Geddy Lee sings, "Absalom, Absalom, Absalom"; lyrics written by drummer Neil Peart.
• David Olney's 2000 CD Omar's Blues includes the song "Absalom". The song depicts David grieving over the death of his son.
• The story of Absalom is referred to several places in folk singer Adam Arcuragi's song "Always Almost Crying".
• The San Francisco–based band Om mentions Absalom in their song "Kapila's Theme" from their debut album Variations on a Theme.
• The garage folk band David's Doldrums references Absalom in their song, "My Name Is Absalom". The song alludes to Absalom's feelings of solemnity and abandonment of love and hope.
• In "Every Kind Word" by Lackthereof, Danny Seim's project parallel to Menomena, Seim sings "... and your hair is long like Absalom."
• "Barach Hamelech", an Israeli song by Amos Etinger and Yosef Hadar.
• The grindcore band Discordance Axis references Absalom at the end of the track entitled "Castration Rite".
• In 2007 Ryland Angel released "Absalom" on Ryland Angel-Manhattan Records.
• "Hanging By His Hair" from the 1998 Wormwood album by The Residents recounts Absalom's defiance and death. Also performed on Roadworms (The Berlin Sessions) and Wormwood Live.^[55]
• "Absalom" is a song on Brand New Shadows's debut album, White Flags. It is a mournful lament from King David's perspective.^[56]
• "Absalom" is an album by the experimental/progressive band Stick Men featuring Tony Levin, Markus Reuter and Pat Mastelotto.
• The American Rock band Little Feat reference Absalom in their song "Gimme a Stone" on the album entitled Chinese Work Songs.^[57] This song is written from the perspective of King David—mainly focusing on the task of fighting Goliath—but contains a lament to Absalom. This was a cover of the song, the original being on the 1998 Americana concept album Largo, by David Forman and Levon Helm.

References

Notes

1. A footnote in the New King James Version reads "Literally daughter, but in the broader sense of granddaughter"2 Chron 11:20

Citations

1. 2 Samuel 14:27
2. 1 Chron 3:22 Samuel 3:3
3. 2 Samuel 14:25
4. 2 Samuel 18:1–17
5. 2 Samuel 3:3
6. 2 Samuel 18:18
7. Kirkpatrick 1905, p. 173.
8. Henry, Matthew (1853). An Exposition of the Old and New Testament. Henry George Bohn. It is probable that it was a good while before he had a child. Then, despairing of having one, he set up the pillar (2 Samuel 18:18) to bear up his name, but afterwards he had three sons and one daughter (2 Samuel 14:27). Or perhaps these sons, while he was hatching his rebellion, were all cut off by the righteous hand of God, and he thereupon set up that monument.
9. 2 Chronicles 11:20
10. 1 Kings 15:1–142 Chron 11:20–222 Chron 15:16
11. 2 Samuel 13
12. 2 Samuel 13:37Joshua 12:5Joshua 13:2
13. 2 Samuel 13–14 (see Joab)
14. 2 Samuel 15
15. Kirk-Duggan 2004, p. 59.
16. 2 Samuel 16:18
17. 2 Samuel 14:30
18. 2 Samuel 17:25
19. 2 Samuel 18:14–15
20. 2 Samuel 18:33
21. 2 Samuel 19:32
22. Kirkpatrick 1905, p. 177.
23. 2 Samuel 19:1–8
24. Price & House 2017, p. 334.
25. "Antiquities" vii. 10, § 3
26. Singer 1901, p. 134.
27. Barkat 2003.
28. Vilnay 1999, p. 113.
29.   This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Legends of the Jews pp.62-67
30. Mishnah Soṭah, i. 8
31. Tosef., Soṭah, iii. 17
32. [Mek., Shirah, § 6]
33.   This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Legends of the Jews pp.100-101
34.   This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Legends of the Jews p.105
35. Niddah, 24b
36. Soṭah, 10b
37. Sanh. 103b
38. Singer 1901, p. 133.
39.   This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Legends of the Jews pp.107-108
40. Thomas 2006.
41. Willis 1845.
42. Rilke 1998, p. 161.
43. Freedman 1998, p. 283.
44. Dayton 2003, p. 48.
45. Giora 2003, p. 36.
46. Webster n.d.
47. Moore & Kuttner 2012, p. 10.
48. Goosen 1999, p. 26.
49. Urgo & Polk 2010, p. xi.
50. Lennox 2010, p. 62.
51. Jeffrey 1992, p. 14.
52. MacMurraugh-Kavanagh 1998, p. 74.
53. Anon 1988, p. 30.
54. M. R. James, "The Diary of Mr. Poynter," in Collected Ghost Stories, ed. Darryl Jones (Oxford UP, 2011).
55. . Archived from the original on 2009-05-19. Retrieved 2009-07-07.
56. (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 July 2011.
57. Kenny Gradney. . BubbleUp. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 13 November 2016.

Sources

• Anon (1988). Historisk tidskrift (in Swedish). Svenska historiska föreningen.
• Barkat, Amiram (22 July 2003). "Jewish Yad Avshalom revealed as a Christian shrine from Byzantine era". Haaretz. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
• Dayton, Tim (2003). Muriel Rukeyser's the Book of the Dead. University of Missouri Press. ISBN 978-0-8262-6314-8.
• Freedman, Ralph (1998). Life of a Poet: Rainer Maria Rilke. Northwestern University Press. ISBN 978-0-8101-1543-9.
• Giora, Rachel (2003). On Our Mind: Salience, Context, and Figurative Language. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-535050-0.
• Goosen, Louis (1999). Van Abraham tot Zacharia: thema's uit het Oude Testament in religie, beeldende kunst, literatuur, muziek en theater (PDF) (in Dutch). SUN. ISBN 9789061685784. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-10-09. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
• Jeffrey, David Lyle (1992). A Dictionary of Biblical Tradition in English Literature. Wm. B. Eerdmans. ISBN 978-0-8028-3634-2.
• Kirk-Duggan, Cheryl A. (2004). Pregnant Passion: Gender, Sex, and Violence in the Bible. Brill. ISBN 90-04-12731-3.
• Kirkpatrick, A.F. (1905). J J Stewart Perowne (ed.). Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges. Cambridge University Press.
• Lennox, Doug (2010). Now You Know The Bible. Dundurn. ISBN 978-1-4597-1871-5.
• MacMurraugh-Kavanagh, Madeleine (1998). Peter Shaffer: Theatre and Drama. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-230-37295-5.
• Moore, C. L.; Kuttner, Henry (2012). Absalom. eStar Books. ISBN 978-1-61210-446-1.
• Price, J. Randall; House, H. Wayne (2017). Zondervan Handbook of Biblical Archaeology: A Book by Book Guide to Archaeological Discoveries Related to the Bible. Zondervan Academic. ISBN 978-0-310-52764-0.
• Rilke, Rainer Maria (1998). "The Fall of Absalom". Neue Gedichte. Northwestern University Press. ISBN 978-0-8101-1649-8.
• Singer, Isidore, ed. (1901). "ABSALOM ("The Father of Peace")". The Jewish Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New York and London: Funk & Wagnall.
• Thomas, W. (2006). The Crafting of Absalom and Achitophel: Dryden's Pen for a Party. Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0-88920-584-0.
• Urgo, Joseph R.; Polk, Noel (2010). Reading Faulkner: Absalom, Absalom!. Univ. Press of Mississippi. ISBN 978-1-60473-435-5.
• Vilnay, Zev (1999). "Pillar of Absalom". The Vilnay Guide to Israel. Beit Or-Vilnay Publishers. ISBN 9789659026906.
• Webster, Bud (n.d.). "A Kuttner Above the Rest (But Wait, There's Moore!)". Philsp.com. Retrieved 2020-02-14.
• Willis, Nathaniel Parker (1845). The Poems, Sacred, Passionate, and Humorous, of Nathaniel Parker Willis. Clark & Austin.

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Absalom.

• "Absalom" . Collier's New Encyclopedia. 1921.
• Some musical scores of David's lament for Absalom: Absalon, fili mi ( 2022-01-25 at the Wayback Machine)