“Yo’av sounded the shofar, and the people returned from pursuing Israel, because Yo’av held back the troops. They took Avshalom and threw him into a big pit in the forest and piled a big heap of stones over him. All Israel fled, each one to his tent.“-2 Samuel 18:16-17
Yo’av was a smart general.
As soon as Absalom was dead, he blew the shofar, signaling the army to stop chasing after the fleeing Israelites.
There was no need for further bloodshed now that the cause of the war had been eliminated.
On top of that, this had been a battle of Israelite against Israelite.
There were never any plans to completely remove every last person who had sided with Absalom.
Joab was politically shrewd and knew it was now time to begin the peace process of uniting all of the tribes again under King David.
The Israelites who had sided with Absalom would have noted that the killing ceased as soon as their leader was disposed of.
They would’ve been worried about the consequences of betraying David.
Yet since the fighting stopped, there was now also hope that there would be no further retaliation.
As for Absalom, verse 17 tells us he was denied a respectful burial.
His corpse was tossed into a pit like some dead scavenger, and then rocks were piled on top of him.
Only the most despicable were dealt with in this way.
Recall that there were other incidents when this occurred.
Remember Akhan, the dude who stole some of the war booty from Jericho when Joshua was fighting the Canaanites?
He trespassed on God’s holy property and, as a result, was stoned to death and denied a respectful burial.
Here’s the Scripture reference:
“Then Joshua, together with all Israel,
took Achan son of Zerah,
the silver, the robe,
the gold bar,
his sons and daughters,
his cattle, donkeys, and sheep,
his tent and all that he had,
to the Valley of Achor.
Joshua said, ‘Why have you
brought this trouble on us?
The Lord will bring trouble
on you today.’
Then all Israel stoned him,
and after they had stoned the rest,
they burned them.
Over Achan they heaped
up a large pile of rocks,
which remains to this day.
Then the Lord turned from his fierce anger.
Therefore, that place has been
called the Valley of Achor ever since.”
-Joshua 7:24-26
Then, later on, we see another time when a corpse was treated disrespectfully as punishment for evil.
“So Joshua burned Ai and made it
a permanent heap of ruins,
a desolate place to this day.
He impaled the body of the
king of Ai on a pole and
left it there until evening.
At sunset, Joshua ordered them
to take the body from the pole
and throw it down at the
entrance of the city gate.
And they raised a large pile
of rocks over it,
which remains to this day.“
-Joshua 8:28-29
So what takeaway can we extract from all of this?
The first thought that came to mind is that this shows the final end of those who go against God’s Son.
Not only are you destroyed, but even after your death, your corpse is treated disrespectfully.
And then your soul is cast into hell.
So, in this world or the next, nothing good comes from denying God or His anointed King.
That was the first thought that came to mind.
However, after that, another profound takeaway came to me.
Absalom was King David’s son.
He was David’s own flesh and blood.
Yet the fact he was family didn’t mean diddly squat.
The bottom line is that Absalom rebelled against God’s anointed.
He chose the path of evil.
And paid dearly for that wickedness.
This really struck me.
Why?
I feel like a lot of folks prioritize family over God when conflict between the two arises.
The Torah makes it very clear that’s a big no-no.
Check out these verses from Deuteronomy:
“If your brother, your mother, your father, or any of your family tries to secretly turn you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, saying, ‘Let’s go worship other gods,’ do not listen to them or show pity. Do not let them live. You must certainly put them to death. Your hand must be the first against them to execute them, and then the whole community must do it. In this way, you will remove evil from among you, and all Israel will hear about it and fear, so they will not do such a thing again.”—Deuteronomy 13:6-11
So the lesson to be learned is clear.
In Scripture, bloodlines do matter and are important.
Israel will always be God’s chosen people..
That will never change.
Yet, even if rebels arise within His family, the Lord will not hesitate to execute judgment of the harshest nature.
Let those who have ears to hear, SHEMA.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“If any man come to Me and
hate not his father and mother,
and wife and children,
and brethren and sisters,
yea, and his own life also,
he cannot be My disciple.”
-Luke 14:26
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