2 Samuel 18:1-18
During the American Civil War, in the border region of West
Virginia, two brothers grew up in the same home, prayed at
the same table, and learned the same Scriptures. But when
the nation split, so did their loyalties. One enlisted in the
Union Army. The other joined the Confederacy.
Years after the war, a photograph was taken of the brothers
sitting side by side —one still wearing Union blue, the other
Confederate gray. They are not embracing. They are not
fighting. They are simply sitting together, older now, marked
by loss, carrying the weight of what division had done to
their family.
History tells us they never fired weapons at each other. But
something just as painful happened: they spent years unable
to speak freely, to trust fully, to share life the way brothers
should.
That picture captures more than a war—it captures what
happens when allegiance to a cause becomes stronger than
allegiance to relationship.
Jesus once said, “A house divided against itself cannot
stand.” He wasn’t only talking about nations. He was talking
about homes. Hearts. Churches.
When division wins, nobody really wins.
Even when the war is over, the scars sit quietly with us.
And yet the gospel tells another story. Christ steps into
divided houses and says, “Be reconciled.” He doesn’t deny
the cost of truth—but He insists that love must be stronger
than division.
Today we are going to turn our attention back to David.
He is the king, but his son Absalom is attempting to
overthrow him.
We last saw David in chapter 16 where he was cursed by
Shimei. We saw David’s Christlike character as he
endured the cursing and stoning while he walked along
the road.
The rest of chapter 16 and chapter 17 don’t involve David
directly, so I will summarize them before we look into
chapter 18 this morning.
Absalom takes Jerusalem and has the support of almost
all of Israel.
Hushai deceives Absalom out of loyalty to David.
Ahithophel and Hushai give differing advice about
pursuing David.
Absalom listens to Hushai and David escapes by God’s
providence.
David crosses the Jordan and receives food and supplies.
Ahithophel takes his own life.
Let’s pray and ask God to show us the message He has
for us this morning.
2 Samuel 18:1-5
David is doing everything he can to appear kingly while
inside his fatherly instincts are to forgive his rebellious
son.
Notice
David’s Actions
Assembles the Army
David divides the men into thousands and hundreds and
appoints commanders appropriately.
He appoints Joab over 1⁄3 of the troops. This is not
surprising because Joab has been the commander over
David’s entire army for quite some time now.
He appoints Abishai, Joab’s brother, over 1⁄3 of the troops.
Again, not too surprising since he is part of the family.
He appoints Attai, a Philistine and Gittite, over the other
1⁄3 of the troops. This is surprising, but it does make
sense since Attai has already proven to be loyal to David.
Offers to Go to Battle
He doesn’t want to. Not because he is scared or because
he has an ulterior motive, but because the enemy is his
rebellious son who is trying to take over the kingdom by
force.
The men tell David he is too important to go to battle.
They need him to stay in the city in case they need him
to send help.
David agrees to stay home.
As the soldiers walk by David he
Commands the army to deal gently with Absalom
Everyone heard David’s command.
2 Samuel 18:6-18
The Lord’s Providence
The battle begins in the forest of Ephraim, which is
located east of the Jordan river. It’s a very dense forest.
The Lord’s Anointed
Remember David is the Lord’s anointed, so of course his
army prevailed against Absalom’s.
20k of Absalom’s men were killed that day.
Also, the Scripture tells us that more were killed by the
forest than the sword.
This was likely due to men falling in swamps or pits or
even being devoured by beasts of the forest.
V. 9 tells us Absalom happened to meet the servants of
David.
Of course this is all part of God’s providence.
Solomon wrote in Proverbs 16:9 “The heart of man plans
his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.”
The Lord’s Appointed Time for Absalom to Die
Absalom was riding on his mule when it went under an
oak tree and his head got caught in the branches and he
was hanging between heaven and earth while the mule
kept on walking.
Some translations state that Absalom was caught by the
hair, but the Hebrew word for head is used here rather
than the Hebrew word for hair.
Of course we know from chapter 14 that Absalom’s hair
weighed approximately 5 lbs when it was cut every year.
So it was likely a contributing factor in his head being
caught.
One of the men who saw the incident reported to Joab
what he had seen.
Joab can’t believe the man didn’t kill him.
He also told him he would have paid him 10 silver pieces
as a reward for killing the wannabe king.
The man gives two reasons for not killing Absalom.
1. He respected the king – everyone heard David when
he told them to deal gently for his sake with the
young man. He wouldn’t even have done it for 100
times the price Joab said he was willing to pay.
2. He knew Joab’s character – the man knew that even
if he had killed Absalom the king would have found
out and he suspected that Joab would have left him
out to dry.
Joab didn’t want to continue this conversation, so he
went off to take matters into his own hand.
Joab’s actions
Thrust 3 Javelins into Absalom’s heart – it seems like that
would have been enough to kill him, but the Scripture
tells that his armor-bearers struck him and killed him.
Blew the Trumpet – this was likely a shofar and it was a
signal for the troops to stop chasing the army of Israel.
Joab was restraining them.
Threw Absalom into a Pit and covered it with stones – the
stones covering the place where he lay is symbolic of the
stoning death that is due a rebel son according to Deut
21.
Verse 18 tells us about Absalom’s monument that he had
erected so people would not forget him. He had 3 sons,
but they didn’t reach adulthood. This monument was a
display of his selfishness and pride.
Clearly he was not the man God chose to be king.
I want to leave you this morning with two things to
ponder.
No man can Thwart God’s Plan –
what God wants done will be done. We can’t mess it up, nor can anyone
else mess up what God has planned for you.
We are All Accountable for our Actions –
as parents we want the best for our children. We want them to
accept Christ as their Savior and live a life surrendered to
Him. But we all know that children make their own
choices, sometimes despite what parents have taught
them.
My encouragement to you parents is to keep on praying,
keep on loving them, keep on sharing how God has
changed your life.