READ THE BIBLE WITH AMANDA GRACE (Notes on Absalom & David) on December 26th, 2020

• Absalom was the 3RD Son of David with Maacah 2 Samuel 13-18 Maacah Daughter of king Talmi of Geshur Saw her went he went forth to war and takes her Capture as an: eshet yefat to' ar

a non-Jewish woman taken captive during wartime whose Israeli captor desires to marry her-(Deut. 21: l0-14) The Rabbis Did not look favorably on this kind of woman. She had to Shave her hair, Pare her nails Trim) & lament for her parents home for a month only then could She be taken as a wife).

The Rabbis see this as 1 transgression leads to another...In a way, a Domino effect of events and choices from one lustful act bringing this type of woman into the home introduces dissension into that home. The Shaved head is not desire able to the man so he loves 1 wife and hates the other. 

• • •

The one whom he hates the eshet yefat to’ar) this leads to his child being a wayward and defiant Son

Macaah(the eshet yefat to’ar) bore Absalom who acted as a wayward and defiant Son Deut 21: 18-21 Defines such a child as...

1. One who does not head his parents B. throws off all restraint C- AND has a riotous life gorging himself on meat & wine.

Deyteronomy 21:18-21: 18 “If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and who, when they have chastened him, will not heed them, 19 then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city, to the gate of his city. 20 And they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ 21 Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones; so you shall put away the evil from among you, and all Israel shall hear and fear.

Absalom = extreme actions = Stubborn and rebellious Son Mishnah

• tried to overthrow his Father 2:18

• Slept w/ his wills stubborn e. rebellious

• caused the Deaths of many 

This all starts in 2 Samuel chapter 13 where Absalom murders Amnon because Amnon basically raped their sister Tamar, this volcano that has been active in David’s home from all David has overlooked is about to erupt and it begins with brother murdering brother

2 Samuel 13:37-39 37 But Absalom fled and went to Talmai the son of Ammihud, king of Geshur. And David mourned for his son every day. 38 So Absalom fled and went to Geshur, and was there three years. 39 And [e]King David [f]longed to go to Absalom. For he had been comforted concerning Amnon, because he was dead.

 

Absalom flees back to where the seed of dissension was sown, where the crime happened on foreign soil when David took His mother Macash as a prisoner of war in order to marry her. He flees to his grandfather Talmi the King of Geshur. Which is the area I believe of Syria today. They were polytheists and worshipped pagan gods

So Absalom steeps in this polytheist pagan worship culture for 3 years, this is his mothers native land, she was a polytheist

Haddad (Adad), Sin, Ishtar (whom they called Astarte), Shamash, Tammuz, and Nergal,

haddad-storm and rain god

sin-god of the moon

ishtar-goddes love and war

shamash-son of sin, god of the sun

tammuz-god of fertility

nergal-He was identified with Irra, the god of scorched earth and war

So.. what Absalom was being steeped in for 3 years by King Talmai, who lost his daughter to David, love and war, fertility, scorched earth and war

So Absalom comes under the influence of the enemy through these pagan worship and perhaps is pumped by His grandfather to take the Kingdom from David and they could rule peacefully and perhaps merge Kingdoms...

At the end of 2 Samuel 13 it says that David longed to go to Absalom, however, David could not go because he basically stole King Talmai’s daughter and he would have to go through King Talmai to get to Absalom

Now Joab in Samuel 14 devises this elaborate scheme using a woman posing as a widow with a “similar” situation as Absalom and Amnon and then basically tells the King to bring Absalom home because he is the heir in the people's minds. Joab is behind this, Joab is opening a pandora's box that it appears the Lord wanted to remain closed for Absalom would of most likely stayed in Geshur had he not been sent for and brought back by King David’s advisors WITHOUT seeking the Lord on this matter. In such a matter the prophet Nathan or others should have been summoned and the Lord Inquired BUT instead David listens to a manipulative woman who was put up to this by one of his supposedly trusted Advisors

So Absalom is brought back and dwells 2 full years in Jerusalem without seeing the King’s face. He is stewing for this 2 years after three years of indoctrination in a pagan kingdom. So Absalom is plotting for 2 years in Israel right under the King’s nose. And the King trusts him because it's his son!

2 Samuel 14:29-31 29 Therefore Absalom sent for Joab, to send him to the king, but he would not come to him. And when he sent again the second time, he would not come. 30 So he said to his servants, “See, Joab’s field is near mine, and he has barley there; go and set it on fire.” And Absalom’s servants set the field on fire.

31 Then Joab arose and came to Absalom’s house, and said to him, “Why have your servants set my field on fire?”

So the very man who pushes the King to bring Absalom back without inquiring of the Lord, is the very man now whose field gets burnt to the ground or shall we say “scorched” false god Nergal... 

2 Samuel 15: 1-4 After this it happened that Absalom provided himself with chariots and horses, and fifty men to run before him. 2 Now Absalom would rise early and stand beside the way to the gate. So it was, whenever anyone who had a lawsuit[a] came to the king for a decision, that Absalom would call to him and say, “What city are you from?” And he would say, “Your servant is from such and such a tribe of Israel.” 3 Then Absalom would say to him, “Look, your [b]case is good and right; but there is no [c]deputy of the king to hear you.” 4 Moreover Absalom would say, “Oh, that I were made judge in the land, and everyone who has any suit or cause would come to me; then I would give him justice.” 5

Now Absalom would rise early and stand beside the gate. That is where the elders were, the same elders who could judge him as being a rebellious child and sentence him. So not only is Absalom trying to corruptly ensure he can do what he wants and never be judged according to Jewish law, he is trying to establish himself before the people that he actually cares about their problems unlike King David, and is attempting to establish himself as the Legal authority to the people…

And what does he promise the people “oh if I were only made a judge so I can give you true Justice” however he is so corrupted by the pagan lineage of his mother he has NO intention of giving Justice and NO intention of helping His Father the King continue to be King.

This is a coup in the making, and an internal coup by one who had access to the palace and the King who has had access to all the King’s officials, military, etc...

2 Samuel 15:6  In this manner Absalom acted toward all Israel who came to the king for judgment. So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.

He is committing a treasonous act here.

2 Samuel 15: 7-11

7 Now it came to pass after [d]forty years that Absalom said to the king, “Please, let me go to Hebron and pay the vow which I made to the Lord. 8 For your servant took a vow while I dwelt at Geshur in Syria, saying, ‘If the Lord indeed brings me back to Jerusalem, then I will serve the Lord.’ ”

9 And the king said to him, “Go in peace.” So he arose and went to Hebron.

10 Then Absalom sent spies throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, “As soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then you shall say, ‘Absalom reigns in Hebron!’ ” 11 And with Absalom went two hundred men invited from Jerusalem, and they went along innocently and did not know anything. 12 Then Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s counselor, from his city—from Giloh—while he offered sacrifices. And the conspiracy grew strong, for the people with Absalom continually increased in number.

After 40 years. 40 is a big number in the Bible, it represents the end of one era and the beginning of another. In Noah’s case, the unrighteous being judged and the righteous being spared. Jesus Yeshua being tried tempted in the wilderness 40 days before he could 40 it’s a go forth in Ministry.

So if we look at 40 it’s a line that gets drawn in the sand a plumbline gets dropped and it comes time for the Lord to judge the wicked by it...

Absalom lies and uses the Lord’s name to do it, why, because he is steeped in the pagan lineage of his mother. He says he must fulfill a vow to the Lord which is a bald-faced lie, he dupes the King so he can set himself up to try and dethrone David.

And what does Absalom do next, he sends spies through ALL the tribes, so throughout all the branches of the Kingdom we could say(just like ALL the branches of govt in this case)

And then he falsely uses the shofar which is so serious to the Lord that sound, and wants them blown to proclaim him King throughout the land. So he was never given the throne and did not earn the throne, yet he attempts to steal the highest position of authority humanly speaking in the land! He invites men who all have no clue what he is about to do, switch their loyalties without them knowing it, sound familiar? 

2 Samuel 5:12 12 Then Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s counselor, from his city—from Giloh—while he offered sacrifices. And the conspiracy grew strong, for the people with Absalom continually increased in number.

And the conspiracy grew because more fools got on Absalom's runaway train!

2 Samuel 15-14-18 14 So David said to all his servants who were with him at Jerusalem, “Arise, and let us flee, or we shall not escape from Absalom. Make haste to depart, lest he overtake us suddenly and bring disaster upon us, and strike the city with the edge of the sword.”

15 And the king’s servants said to the king, “We are your servants, ready to do whatever my lord the king commands.” 16 Then the king went out with all his household after him. But the king left ten women, concubines, to keep the house. 17 And the king went out with all the people after him, and stopped at the outskirts. 18 Then all his servants passed [f]before him; and all the Cherethites, all the Pelethites, and all the Gittites, six hundred men who had followed him from Gath, passed before the king.

So instead of standing and fighting for the Kingdom, DAVID is a warrior, he eats fighting for breakfast, he takes his men and runs….Instead of standing up and fighting, he begins to shy away

2 Samuel 15:23 23 And all the country wept with a loud voice, and all the people crossed over. The king himself also crossed over the Brook Kidron, and all the people crossed over toward the way of the wilderness.

“To the north of Jerusalem begins the torrent-bed of the Kidron. It sweeps past the Temple Mount, past what was afterward Calvary and Gethsemane. It leaves the Mount of Olives and Bethany to the left, Bethlehem far to the right. It plunges down among the bare terraces, precipices, and crags of the wilderness of Judea-the wilderness of the scapegoat. 

John 18:1 “When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron (Kidron), there was a garden, into the which he entered, and his disciples. (John 18:1)

Amazingly David is walking the same path because of the betrayal of Absalom that Jesus would walk to Gethsemane where there he would be betrayed by Judas, coincidence? I think not!

This is a very serious walk a walk of betrayal when one wants to kill you for their thirty pieces of silver, to say they removed you from your God-given position. David in some ways was experiencing what Jesus would experience down the Road!

2 Samuel 15:25-28

5 Then the king said to Zadok, “Carry the ark of God back into the city. If I find favor in the eyes of the Lord, He will bring me back and show me both it and His dwelling place. 26 But if He says thus: ‘I have no delight in you,’ here I am, let Him do to me as seems good to Him.” 27 The king also said to Zadok the priest, “Are you not a seer?[g] Return to the city in peace, and your two sons with you, Ahimaaz your son, and Jonathan the son of Abiathar. 28 See, I will wait in the plains of the wilderness until word comes from you to inform me.”

David finds out then that one of his trusted counselors Ahithophel has turned on him and is in Absalom's camp! David’s prayer: That the Lord would turn Ahithophel's counsel before Absalom into foolishness. NOW Ahithopel is Judas in this case and we will see why in a moment...

Ahithophel was a counselor of King David and a man greatly renowned for his wisdom of the law we shall say. During Absalom's revolt, he deserted David (Psalm 41:9; 55:12–14) and supported Absalom (2 Samuel 15:12). David sent his friend Hushai back to Absalom, in order to counteract the counsel of Ahitophel (2 Samuel 15:31–37).

Now Absalom enters the HUB Jerusalem that is where he is going to try and solidify this coup

Interestingly enough a man named Shimei curses David and throws stones at him the whole way up thinking David is the problem here and not the fact that Absalom is stealing the Kingdom. Does this sound familiar, all the Trump haters, the deep state, that is Shimei in a nutshell...He is pointing out all of David’s flaws and overlooking the fact that Absalom has executed a coup, committed treason against the King and the Kingdom, and committed fornication with David’s concubines in broad daylight none the less...

Now King David makes a very strategic move here, he sends his Friend and Advisor to Absalom on a covert mission to basically counter the Advice of this advisor gone rogue named Ahithophel. Hushai deceptively hails Absalom to gain his trust because basically Absalom is full of himself and cannot help himself when someone hails him as king! Even though Absalom questions Hushai, Hushai cleverly says he has served his father David, and now that’s done and he is here to now serve Absalom as well which is a big fat lie!!

Ahithophel is the one who tells Absalom at the end of 2 Samuel 16 to commit fornication with David’s concubines. He also wants to convince Absalom to let him choose 12000 men and pursue David that night. So this advisor is deep-state, waiting for his opportunity to turn on David for a higher position of power. You see Ahithophel thought he could have more control and influence with Absalom than with David and this is what partly is driving him to commit this horrible act of betrayal.

Hushai in chapter 17 quickly counters Ahithophel and ays “ no-no that’s not a good idea because your father and his men are mighty strategic men of war and they are probably already in a pit somewhere just waiting for you, and the people will see you have led your men to slaughter!”

So Hushai says “let's gather a huge crowd of people and find him, David, somewhere else and fall on him and his men as dew falls upon the ground. And to gather stones out of the river so there really isn’t one left” if David withdraws to a city...So Absalom likes Hushai’s advice better.

2 Samuel 17:14 So Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The advice of Hushai the Archite is better than the advice of Ahithophel.” For the Lord had purposed to defeat the good advice of Ahithophel, to the intent that the Lord might bring disaster on Absalom.

So the Lord compels Absalom to take the bad advice of Hushai and view it as good advice!

2 Samuel 17”15-16 15 Then Hushai said to Zadok and Abiathar the priests, “Thus and so Ahithophel advised Absalom and the elders of Israel, and thus and so I have advised. 16 Now therefore, send quickly and tell David, saying, ‘Do not spend this night in the plains of the wilderness, but speedily cross over, lest the king and all the people who are with him be swallowed up.’ ” 

Here Hushai is helping to set the ambush he is warning David, covertly through Zadok the priest where to go to keep him safe while he continues to poorly advise Absalom

2 Samuel 17:21-22 21 Now it came to pass, after they (Ahimaaz and Jonathan) had departed, that they came up out of the well and went and told King David, and said to David, “Arise and cross over the water quickly. For thus has Ahithophel advised against you.” 22 So David and all the people who were with him arose and crossed over the Jordan. By morning light not one of them was left who had not gone over the Jordan.

Here is what is so prophetically interesting about the Jordan River.

Crossing the Jordan River was a key event in Israel’s history. Just as crossing the Red Sea changed Israel’s standing from slavery to freedom, passing through the Jordan into the Promised Land, transformed Israel from a wandering horde into an established nation. To the people, the river seemed like an insurmountable obstacle. But to God, it represented a decisive turning point.

So David crossing over the Jordan was a key turning point because at this point everything was turning against Absalom.

Now here is why Ahithophel is Judas. 

2 Samuel 17:23

23 Now when Ahithophel saw that his advice was not followed, he saddled a donkey, and arose and went home to his house, to his city. Then he [b]put his household in order, and hanged himself, and died; and he was buried in his father’s tomb.

This is what Judas did after he betrayed Jesus after Jesus crossed the brook Kidron to get to Gethsemane.

So Absalom crosses over the Jordan in pursuit of David, David, and his men are in the wilderness, and THE Lord sends people with food and provisions to feed them and care for them and strengthen them at the end of 2 Samuel 17 the PEOPLE come to the rescue of David and his men when they are weary from Running from Absalom. This is going back to the beginning where David was the anointed leader and Saul pursued him and tried to hunt him down like a dog, just as Absalom was attempting.

2 Samuel 18, at the beginning of this chapter David pulls a Gideon. He divides the men into 3 groups each under the leadership of a general or advisor, AND the people rise up with them!

2 Samuel 18:2-4 And the king said to the people, “I also will surely go out with you myself.”

3 But the people answered, “You shall not go out! For if we flee away, they will not care about us; nor if half of us die, will they care about us. But you are worth ten thousand of us now. For you are now more help to us in the city.”

4 Then the king said to them, “Whatever seems best to you I will do.” So the king stood beside the gate, and all the people went out by hundreds and by thousands. So the people are coming to the aid of the King against Absalom and his army. Does this sound familiar to you because that is what is happening right now! The People are coming to the aid of the President and His trusted Advisors

Now David tells these leaders to deal gently with Absalom for his sake however they know what Jewish law says about such a son...

2 Samuel 18:6-10 

 So the people went out into the field of battle against Israel. And the battle was in the woods of Ephraim. 7 The people of Israel were overthrown there before the servants of David, and a great slaughter of twenty thousand took place there that day. 8 For the battle there was scattered over the face of the whole countryside, and the woods devoured more people that day than the sword devoured.

9 Then Absalom met the servants of David. Absalom rode on a mule. The mule went under the thick boughs of a great terebinth tree, and his head caught in the terebinth; so he was left hanging between heaven and earth. And the mule which was under him went on. 10 Now a certain man saw it and told Joab, and said, “I just saw Absalom hanging in a terebinth tree!”

Now the other servants are afraid to touch Absalom but Joab not only is loyal to David he knows what Jewish law requires from Deuteronomy for such a rebellious son and that is death and Joab and 10 young men struck down Absalom, and just like that the rebellion and the coup come to a screeching crashing halt.

Interestingly enough Absalom violated 10 of David’s concubines in broad daylight and it was 10 people led by Joab in broad daylight that struck down Absalom. And because of Brave men and women, generals and leaders the Kingdom was saved, David was upheld, the Lord upheld him even in the midst of his bad choices and imperfections, the Lord upheld his cause and caused the rebellion the coup to be struck down and the leader(s) destroyed, thus saving the Kingdom from wicked Absalom and those who jumped ship to side with him, they all went down and David and his men were upheld. David remained King and returned to the Kingdom, to the Throne Victorious. The battle is the Lords and we shall see the same happen in this case, Absalom will be struck down, he and his men for attempting to overthrow the United States of America for the hand of the Lord thy God is against them, and their plans will be as confused as was Absalom's.