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Bedrock Discipleship II: Testimony

Joe Harby on March 23, 2014

Introduction

We are evangelical Christians, and so we are very familiar with the word testimony. We have heard a good many of them. But we are also reformational Christians, and this means that a number of us grew either weary or suspicious of the practice because of how it has been mishandled so regularly in pop evangelicalism. But this is profound error on our part. Rightly understood, the Christian faith is testimony.

The Text

“And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (Rev. 19:10).

Summary of the Text

Near the climax of the book of Revelation, the apostle sees the judgment of the harlot, the false bride (Rev. 19:3), and the great preparations for the wedding of the true bride, the Christian church (Rev. 19:7). A mighty angel confirmed everything that the multitude of joyful voices were saying. And John, overcome, fell down to worship the mighty angel, and was stopped by him. The mighty angel said that he was a fellow-bondslave (sundoulos), a fellow bond-slave with John’s brothers, who had the testimony (marturia) of Jesus. Worship God, he said, for the marturia of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. We get the word martyr from this word for witness or testimony, but sealing your testimony with your blood is simply an exclamation point on something that all of us have. Every Christian is a martyr; every Christian has something to say. We all have the testimony in our midst.

Cliched Testimonies

One of the reasons we have drifted away from telling our testimony is that we have heard it done poorly. But slipshod work should never make us despise fine work. Counterfeit money should not make us reject real money. Clichés are a problem, but they are also a problem with sermons, books, songs, blog posts, Twitter feeds, and so forth. If we don’t like something done poorly, then we should not run in the other direction of not doing it at all. We should labor to do it right. This is particularly the case when the activity in question is a biblical one—which the idea of witnessing or testifying most certainly is.

Lurid Testimonies

One of the ways that people fight ho-hum testimonies is by means of making it really exciting—the way a lousy movie director tries to rescue a lame script by adding motorcycles and explosions. This is the testimony that makes the wild story the norm—as though you don’t really have a testimony unless you rode with the Hell’s Angels and beat up Mick Jagger’s bodyguard once. But for those of you growing up in the church . . . this is not what you should be shooting for. You do not have a boring testimony, but take care that you do not make the mistake of defining boring from the wrong dictionary.

What Testimony Is

The ark of the covenant was called the ark of the testimony numerous times (e.g. Ex. 26:34). The two tables of the Ten Commandments were called the “tables of testimony” (Ex. 31:18). The tabernacle was called the “tabernacle of testimony” (Num. 1:53). We testify to God’s testimony. God says “I am here,” and we say “Yes, He is.”

“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life . . . That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.” (1 John 1:1, 3).

There it is—testimony. Even though the word testimony is not there in that passage, the idea of it is. But one of the characteristics of modernity is that Hume and Kant, in a frenzy of high conceit, helped to banish “testimony” as a reliable source of knowledge. We want a way of knowing that we think is indubitable. But we are finite, and so it has to be testimony or nothing. We are like the fellow who says the world is a flat disk, resting on the back of a turtle. “What’s the turtle standing on?” a friend asked. “Another turtle,” was the reply. The friend started to ask another follow up question, and was cut off. “Look. It is turtles all the way down.” Our only choice is true testimony or false.

What do we testify to? We testify to the presence of Jesus. The Lord your God is in the midst of you. Jesus is under your sternum, and in the congregation. That is what we are talking about.

“The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; He will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; He will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing” (Zeph. 3:17).

Our testimony is based upon receiving God’s testimony. He testifies, and we either believe Him or we do not. Jesus came from Heaven and testified (John 3:31).

“And what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth; and no man receiveth his testimony. He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true” (John 3:32–33).

Not to believe Jesus is to call Him a liar. And here in 1 John we have the statement that “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness [marturia] in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record [marturia] that God gave of his Son” (1 John 5:10).

Telling the Story

So what then is true testimony? In order for us to have the right kind of testimony, we have to know that it isGod’s testimony. If He has no testimony concerning us, then we can have no testimony concerning Him. We are telling the story of what He has done, and when we tell the story of what He has done, He is continuing to do it. We tell our testimony faithfully when we are keeping His testimony (Ps. 119:88).

Where God Is All In

We do not serve a “pie dough” God, where the further it spreads, the thinner it gets. The longer history goes, it is not like playing the telephone game over three thousand years instead of two thousand, with increasing garble as we go. Going to Heaven will not be like going to a conference where ten thousand people are hoping to shake hands for two seconds with the main celebrity. If you have Jesus Christ in your life, you do not have afraction of Him. If God is with you, if Christ is in you, if the Spirit is upon you, you are not on the outskirts of His purposes. When you pray, it is not to a distracted God, who has billions of people chattering at Him. You—little old you—have His undivided attention. This means that He and you together are in this thing that is happening to you, and you are both all in, and you have the privilege of talking about it.

To Obligate Belief

When you tell others what God has done, and it is what He has done according to Scripture, this testimony resonates with the way God made the world. A true testimony obligates belief in the one hearing it. This is not affected by whether he does or does not believe. Often anger or irritation is present because the unbelievers knows this. The obligation is there, and it is felt, regardless of whether the faith is there.

“Long time therefore abode they speaking boldly in the Lord, which gave testimony unto the word of his grace, and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands. But the multitude of the city was divided: and part held with the Jews, and part with the apostles” (Acts 14:3–4).

Craft the Story

So write your story. Tell people about Jesus. Put it on Facebook. Facebook could use a little more of the spirit of prophecy.

Bedrock Discipleship I: Bible Reading

Joe Harby on March 16, 2014

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Introduction

Many of you were kind enough to fill out the survey on Bible reading that we sent out to the congregation. The results were of a nature to delight a pastor’s heart—which they certainly did. About ninety percent of you read the Bible either daily or multiple times weekly. That’s a good business, and it means that this message will not be packed with fulminations and blue ruination. You are doing well, and so the message will be to exhort you as Paul did the Thessalonians. You are doing well, but I want to urge you to do so more and more (1 Thess. 4:10). And this exhortation is particularly addressed to the young people. This is not something to rest on, but rather something to grow up into.

The Text

“And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live” (Dt. 8:3).

Summary of the Text

Moses reminded the people that God humbled them in the wilderness, and brought them to the point of hunger. He gave them hunger so that He might give them food. The food was unexpected—from a source that they “knew not.” Their fathers didn’t know anything about it either. He did this so that they would be made to know that man does not live by bread alone, but rather by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. That is our life.

The Fact of Food

The Scriptures refer to the words of God repeatedly under the heading of food. We have this passage from Deuteronomy, of course, but there are many others. Jesus says that He is the true manna, and that His words must be eaten (John 6:63). Peter tells us that we should, like newborn infants, sincerely desire the milk of the Word, so that we might grow. “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby” (1 Pet. 2:2).

But a young boy of six, who is eager to contend with his older brother in basketball, might push himself away from the table and complain, “I ate two helpings. Why am I not taller yet?” But that’s not how food works.

Some Basic Pointers

It should not be a great surprise that there are ways to read the Bible that turn out to be less than helpful. So . . . Walk, don’t run. It would be far better to read a chapter a day for several months—at which point it will be a habit—than to read half the New Testament over the course of three frenzied days, and then to quit in exhaustion. Scripture is food, but you are not to eat like a python, gorging occasionally.

Don’t wring the text out like a washcloth. Just read normally. Don’t panic if you think you missed something. You are a Bible reader—you will drive this stretch of road again.

Some of your meals will be filet mignon. But lots of them will be a spiritual bowl of Cheerios. Don’t create a set of false expectations. And some of the genealogies are Grape Nuts. But you are to live by every word—it is not just sola Scriptura, but also tota et sola Scriptura. All of Scripture and only Scripture.

Don’t be intimidated. The Bible can look imposing, but a little at a time adds up. The Bible has 1,189 chapters in it, with 260 of them from the New Testament. If you read a chapter a day, you would get through the entire Bible in just over three years. If you read that pace in the New Testament you would have read it twice in just over a year.

Some Intermediate Pointers

Half of you read the King James or New King James. Another quarter use the ESV. Happily, you are not going in for the versions that have the angel of the Lord greeting people with, “Hey, guys! Chill!” Using the translations you are using is not the barrier to understanding that it is often pretended to be. A recent study found that 9% of all Americans read the Bible daily, and that the King James was still the top translation used, and that by a wide margin—55% use the King James, with the next runner-up being the NIV at 19%. You might not be one of the hep cats, but you should still do all right.

Secondly, 75% you still read from a printed Bible—which I am not at all trying to discourage. About 16% of you read on an e-device, and 6% of you listen to audio. But I would encourage those of you who are still paper- and-ink-friendly to make a point of supplementing that with many of the electronic helps that are available now. And for those of you who use e-devices, I would like to give a blessing for you to bring them here. Some of you may have been holding back because you were afraid that people would think you were playing Angry Birds in church. Used rightly, you have many more options with much less ostentation.

Obedience Opens Eyes

The point is not to pack the head, but to fill the heart. Read with a spirit of openness. Ask the Lord to use the Word as a mirror that will show you how to escape from the snares of self-delusion.

Oriented in Joy

We live in a dark generation. We live in a time of great confusion. But when we read the Scriptures, we know what we are supposed to do, and we are equipped with the strength to do it. “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Ps. 119:105). We read and therefore we understand. “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee” (Ps. 119:11). We are kept in the way by the Word. And this overflows naturally into joy.

“And all the people went their way to eat, and to drink, and to send portions, and to make great mirth, because they had understood the words that were declared unto them” (Neh. 8:12).

Strangers in Your Midst

Joe Harby on February 23, 2014

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Introduction

From the beginning, the Christian faith has been at home in cosmopolitan settings. This has worked in two basic ways. One is when God’s people are living together in a way that truly honors God, and He blesses their land. When this happens, others are attracted to that blessing, and they want to come be near it. They want to partake of the blessing. The other way is when God’s people are scattered by something like persecution, and they go into other secular cosmopolitan settings in order to establish enclaves. Either way, we should see it as an opportunity to share the light of the gospel with those who don’t know the Lord. But there are temptations. In the first instance, we don’t want to become hostile to immigrants, and in the second we don’t want to hole up in our little ghettoes.

The Texts

“One law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you” (Ex. 12:49).

“But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God” (Lev. 19:34).

Summary of the Texts

We must begin with the understanding that what is commonly called “multiculturalism” is a secular attempt to seduce God’s people into believing that God is not the true and living God. Because there is only one God, there can only be one law. Whenever there is an attempt to have many laws, it is a surreptitious attempt to introduce many gods—polytheism. When we have anything to do it, to the extent we have anything to say, we must insist on “one law” for the native and the stranger both.

But the second greatest commandment in that true law is that we love our neighbors as ourselves. Our second text explicitly insists upon this and applies the principle to the stranger. We have strangers in our midst—they don’t know the customs, they don’t know the language, they don’t know the people—and we ourselves were once in that position. We were at one time strangers in Egypt. Remember that, and love the strangers in your midst as you love yourselves. We were once the immigrants. We were once the strangers. At the beginning of 1 Cor. 10, Paul tells the Gentile Corinthians that our fathers passed through the cloud and the sea. Live in the Scriptures, and learn to identify with your people.

One Law

One law is what makes love possible. Those who want to set this idea aside because they are driven by sentimental ideas of love are actually introducing the seeds of cultural chaos. When we lose control of our borders, the problem is not the people coming across. The problem is with our laws—government education, food stamps, anchor babies. We are confused. We are adrift. We are the problem. They are not the problem. You can’t build a merry-go-round in your front yard and then complain when the neighbor kids come to play on it. We want to crack down on the drug cartels instead of repenting of our drug use. In any supply/demand interaction, the demand is the engine that makes it go.

We don’t have a problem, for example, on the Rio Grande. We have a symptom on the Rio Grande. The problem is in our hearts, and is reflected in our representatives both in Washington and in our state capitols. That problem is that we will not confess the name of Jesus. If we were to do that, and we repented of the disorderliness of our institutions and legal system, would the stranger and alien be welcome? Of course. So we as Christians repudiate all forms of secularism, whether nativism or globalism. So the answer is not strict but disregarded laws. The answer is reformation and revival. The answer is Jesus. And when Jesus gives the Spirit, He will not just address one issue.

When We Are the Strangers

Jesus said that we were to go out into all the world and disciple the nations. This means that when we first get there—whether as refugees or church planters doesn’t matter—they will be operating under their system of law. They will be serving their gods. No one should be surprised by that. Our goal should be—peacefully—to supplant that unbelieving system through a bold proclamation of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. All idols must fall, and only God will be worshiped, from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same (Mal. 1:11).

Guarding Against a False Standard

There are some who say that, as a matter of theological principle, every congregation should be as mixed and as integrated as the universal church is, and as Heaven will be. This is sometimes overstated, and actually shows a lack of global awareness, rather than any real sensitivity. Does a church in northern Finland really need more Hispanics? Discipling the nations presupposes that nations will continue to exist as nations, and that is all right. The church is a salad, not a melting pot. Does everybody have to learn one language so that we can all worship together in one big service? If so, what language should the preacher use? “I know!” some helpful person says. “Mine!” But everybody all together all the time means that most of them would have to give way—and that is not catholicity, it is hegemony. You don’t improve the salad by making it one big crouton.

But at the same time, we should say, we can say, and we must say, that when the natural forces of cosmopolitan integration are doing their thing, whether in Corinth or Brooklyn, the Christian church has no business creating artificial barriers to fellowship. Remember that the church was born on Pentecost (Acts 2:1-11). That’s our birthday.

Cosmopolis on the Palouse

So we live in a small community, in two small towns, with a major university in each town. There are many international students here, almost three thousand. We do have strangers in our midst. We have almost as many opportunities as we have strangers.

Remember the principle of body life. Not everyone is an eye, or an ear. But the body, taken as a whole, if that body is alive and in proximity to such aliens and strangers, must be a welcoming place for them. As a congregation, we should be looking for opportunities. If they visit us, we should not be flummoxed. We should be looking for opportunities to have them in our homes, to help them with English, to explain how the supermarkets work. If you have traveled overseas at all, do you remember how bewildering another language can be? With everybody else using it?

So pray for opportunities, if not for you, then for this congregation. As you are praying for opportunities, you are praying for the love of God’s Word to encompass you both. How? Through the Spirit of God

The David Chronicles 51: Losing a Regained Grip

Joe Harby on February 17, 2014

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Introduction

We saw in the previous chapter that the death of Absalom was a reverse type of the death of the great son of David. We will see in this chapter another set of related contrasts—the attitude and response of the respective fathers involved.

The Text

“And it was told Joab, Behold, the king weepeth and mourneth for Absalom. And the victory that day was turned into mourning unto all the people: for the people heard say that day how the king was grieved for his son . . .” (2 Samuel 19:1-43)

Summary of the Text

Joab was told that David was in mourning (v. 1). The victory of the people was consequently turned into mourning (v. 2). The troops crept back into the city, as though they had been defeated (v. 3). The king covered his face, and cried out loudly (v. 4)—meaning that he could not see or hear. Joab came in and rebuked him bluntly (vv. 5-6). He tells him to get out there and review the troops (v. 7). Word spread that the king had come out, and the troops appeared before him (v. 8).

But things were still very unsettled politically (vv. 9-10). Israel wanted bring him back, so David sent word to Judah—why should you be last to bring back the king (vv. 11-12)? And David offered Amasa command of the army instead of Joab (v. 13), which would be like Lincoln offering a post-war command to Robert E. Lee. And so Judah, which had been with Absalom, came back to David, and so the king came back to them (vv. 14-15).

David was met by Shimei (v. 16), and then Ziba (v. 17). As the king was ferried across Jordan, Shimei pled for mercy (vv. 18-20). Abishai, true to form, wanted to execute Shimei, but David refused (vv. 21-23). Then Mephibosheth came—he had been in mourning the entire time (v. 24). He reported how Ziba had slandered him (vv. 25-28). David divided the land between Ziba and Mephibosheth (v. 29). Mephibosheth responded with great grace (v. 30). Barzillai, although old, met David, who offered to bring him back to Jerusalem. He declined being too old, and requested a blessing for Chimham instead (vv. 31-40). Judah escorted the king, along with half of Israel (v. 40). All Israel objected to the king (v. 41), and the men of Judah responded angrily and defensively (v. 42). The men of Israel retorted, but the men of Judah were harsher (v. 43).

David Restored, But Rattled

When David was in mourning, it was extravagant mourning, and inarticulate. When Saul and Jonathan had died, he had composed a moving elegy. When Abner was killed, he did the same thing. When his son by Bathsheba died, his words were sober and composed. But here, he just disintegrates. He covers his face and loudly cries, trying to shut out the world. Joab successfully rebukes him, but when David goes out to the troops, he does not speak to them as Joab had demanded. His subsequent behavior indicates that this episode did not endear David to Joab.

When David decides between Mephibosheth and Ziba, this is likely another indication that he does not have the strength or clarity of mind to cut through the competing claims. It is possible that his decision was a final test for Mephibosheth. If so, he passed, but it is more likely that David is simply weary.

On top of this, when David comes back to Jerusalem, he does not have the moral authority to keep the tribes from breaking out into a quarrel right in front of him. And Absalom had gotten much of his influence by complaining back in chapter 15 about how there was unequal treatment between tribes. There was a simmering discontent there that has not been addressed. There is an indication here that David was favoring rebellious Judah, much as he had favored rebellious Absalom.

Sons of Satan

When Shimei pleads for mercy, David gives it to him. Shimei is plainly more than just a private citizen here— he comes with a thousand men from Benjamin, and also represents to a certain extent “the house of Joseph.” David grants mercy, and fiercely rebukes Abishai, who claimed he wanted to defend David’s honor with blood.

Shimei is a stand-in for Absalom, and David forgives him. Note that he uses the plural in his rebuke—you sons of Zeruiah. This means it is likely that he has found out Joab’s role in the killing of Absalom. He calls Abishai a satan (adversary). When David appointed Amasa as commander, he was doing two things. He was demoting Joab (or so he thought), and he was consolidating the nation again. But this was a satan that would not go away readily.

Ascending Loyalty

As David comes back to Jerusalem, he is met by different kinds of people, and there is an ascending order of loyalty in it. First is Shimei, who confesses his treason. Then there is Ziba, who was a political friend, but who had falsehood in his heart. Then came Mephibosheth, who was true to David, but was falsely represented as a traitor. Last, David meets Barzillai, whose loyalty was unquestioned. David comes back into power, but after this insurrection, his hold on things is pretty tenuous.

Two Fathers

Joab rebuked David for preferring the life of Absalom over the lives of the people. The Father of Jesus Christ, by way of contrast, preferred the lives of His people over the life of His Son.

David saw himself in Absalom, and wanted to die in Absalom’s stead (2 Sam. 18:33). This can be a godly impulse, as we see in both Moses and Paul (Ex. 32:32; Rom. 9:3), and both those godly examples happen in the midst of conflict, just as here. The desire of Moses is expressed right after the Levites had been sent to slay the idolaters, and Paul’s desire is expressed concerning those who were trying to kill him—his enemies. But in David’s case, there is something misplaced, something wrong with it. He was not living in a world with just two people in it. As Joab pointed out, to love Absalom in the way he did was tantamount to hating the people who loved him as their king. Joab was right about this, and David accepted it—but Joab was right in the wrong way. God the Father acted quite differently. David would have sacrificed all his people for the sake of his son, on Joab’s account. But God sacrificed His Son for the sake of His people “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” (Rom. 8:32). God the Father does not cover His face and wail over your salvation. It was His settled purpose and intent. God gave up His Son willingly, and David most unwillingly.

The David Chronicles 50: Between Heaven and Earth

Joe Harby on February 9, 2014

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Introduction

We see in this passage a stark contrast between the shrewdness of Joab and the sentimentof David. Joab was not a godly man, but he was often clear-headed about the politics of the thing. David was a godly man, but he was at times muddled by his own sense of mingled love and guilt. This is one of those times. We also see a striking example of what might be called a reverse type of Jesus, the Messiah.

The Text

“And David numbered the people that were with him, and set captains of thousands and captains of hundreds over them. . .” (2 Sam. 18:1-33).

Summary of the Text

So David set his troops in order (v. 1). He placed a third of them under Joab, a third under Abishai, Joab’s brother, and the remaining third under Ittai, the warrior from Gath who had just joined David (v. 2). When the elderly king set out to go to battle with them, he was diplomatically dissuaded (v. 3). The king reviewed the troops as they went out (v. 4). Everyone heard the order that David gave his three commanders concerning Absalom (v. 5). So they went out, and the battle was joined in the forest wilderness of Ephraim (v. 6). And Israel fell before the servants of David (v. 7). In the aftermath, the wilderness devoured more than the sword did (v. 8).

Absalom himself encountered some of David’s soldiers, and as he was fleeing from them on his mule, his head got caught in the branches of a tree (v. 9). A soldier saw this and reported it to Joab (v. 10), only to have Joab rebuke him for not killing the rebel leader (v. 11). The man replied that he wouldn’t have killed Absalom for a million bucks, not after what David had said about it (v. 12). He would have taken his own life in his hands, and Joab wouldn’t have said a word to defend him (v. 13). Then Joab said he didn’t have time to argue like this, and took three sticks and thrust them into Absalom’s heart (v. 14). His ten armor bearers followed suit, and killed him (v. 15). So Joab blew the trumpet, and the pursuit of Israel ceased (v. 16). They then buried Absalom ignominiously (v. 17), he who had erected a pillar in his own honor during his lifetime (v. 18).

Ahimaaz, son of Zadok, wanted to be the courier (v. 19). Joab said no, because the news (for the king personally) was not good (v. 20). So Joab sent an African runner, a Cushite (v. 21). Ahimaaz still wanted to run, and Joab gave permission. Ahimaaz took a better route and outran the Cushite (vv. 22-23). David was between the inner and outer gate when a lookout spotted the approach of Ahimaaz (v. 24). The king said a solitary runner would be a courier (v. 25). Then the lookout saw another courier (v. 26). The frontrunner looked like Ahimaaz to the lookout, and the king interpreted that as good news (v. 27). Ahimaaz came and reported all was well (shalom), and that the king’s troops had prevailed (v. 28). “What about Absalom?”—and Ahimaaz falsely said that he didn’t know (v. 29). The king told him to stand aside (v. 30). Then the Cushite arrived with the news of victory (v. 31). What about Absalom?” The Cushite diplomatically told him that Absalom was dead (v. 32). At this news, the king came apart, and went up to the chamber above the gate, weeping for Absalom, his son (v. 33).

Nature Conspiring

This battle in the wilderness was not one in which we find any supernatural events—butnature fights against the forces of Absalom. David had shrewdly picked good terrain for such a fight, and his three commanders pursued the troops of Absalom in the forest. They killed twenty thousand men—eight thousand more than the entire force that Ahithophel wanted to take out against David on the first night of the rebellion. And then it says that the wood of Ephraim devoured more than the sword devoured. Nature itself was fighting on David’s side. That nature also took Absalom prisoner, as he caught his head in the crook of a tree.

Incidentally, we should note from all this that the terrain there in biblical times was quite different than it is today.

True Peace

This is a place where we can see that David’s priorities have plainly gotten out of whack—which will become even more plain to us in the next chapter. We don’t know how many men died fighting for David, but he clearly cared more for Absalom than for them. For David, peace of mind (shalom) is in this instance centered on his son. Ahimaaz comes as a courier and the first thing he says is shalom. This is the last part of Absalom’s name in Hebrew—’Avshalom. And these echoes are plain in David’s plaintive question, which he asks twice. Is it shalom with ’Avshalom? David is looking for peace in the wrong place.

Between Heaven and Earth

Absalom’s death is truly a striking one, and it is pointed out in a number of ways by the writer here. The unnamed soldier wouldn’t take a thousand pieces of silver in his palm, but Joab took three sticks (not darts) in his palm, and thrust them into Absalom’s heart. Then his ten armor-bearers finished him off. When David asked “who killed Absalom?, the response could now be “hard to say.” Joab pierced Absalom’s heart (v. 14), and in the Hebrew there is an untranslatable pun, because the ram’s horn that Joab blew in v. 16 made a piercing sound (same word). He ended the fighting by “stabbing” Absalom, and by “stabbing” the air with a blast of the horn. Absalom got his head caught in the tree (v. 9), and his head had been his vainglory (2 Sam. 14:26). He was pierced to the heart and he was caught in the heart of the tree (same word). The effect here is disturbing— Absalom’s heart was like a tangle of branches. A mule was in that day a royal mount (2 Sam. 13:29), and so Absalom’s royal seat passes on away from him, leaving him dangling between sky and earth. He is rejected by heaven, and rejected by earth. He was not to be a king, because God rules from Heaven.

An Antithetical Gospel

How unlike the Lord’s death! And yet there are striking similarities in that unlikeness. The Lord also was rejected by men, and forsaken by Heaven. He also was hanged on a tree, between sky and earth. But when that happened, Absalom’s followers all scattered for good. The Lord’s followers attempted to scatter, but God had a deeper purpose in mind (John 12:32). When Jesus was hanged on a tree, it was God’s purpose to gather all His followers.

Absalom was buried in a ravine, covered with multiple stones, there to remain. Jesus was buried in a cave, covered with one stone, that was to be rolled away. Absalom had entered Jerusalem in triumph just a few days before, presumably on a mule. Jesus entered Jerusalem just a few days before, seated on a donkey. The unnamed soldier here rejects silver to avoid betraying his king. Judas accepted silver to betray his king. Absalom was pierced by a soldier while he was hanging, and Jesus was pierced by a soldier while he was hanging.

Messengers ran from the death of Absalom with a message of shalom. We are messengers who run from the death and resurrection of Jesus with a message of everlasting shalom.