Monuments and Pits

19Aug
Absalom happened to meet the servants of David. Absalom was riding on his mule, and the mule went under the thick branches of a great oak. His head caught fast in the oak, and he was left hanging between heaven and earth, while the mule that was under him went on. A man saw it, and told Joab, ‘I saw Absalom hanging in an oak.’ Joab said to the man who told him, ‘What, you saw him! Why then did you not strike him there to the ground? I would have been glad to give you ten pieces of silver and a belt.’ But the man said to Joab, ‘Even if I felt in my hand the weight of a thousand pieces of silver, I would not raise my hand against the king’s son; for in our hearing the king commanded you and Abishai and Ittai, saying: For my sake protect the young man Absalom! On the other hand, if I had dealt treacherously against his life (and there is nothing hidden from the king), then you yourself would have stood aloof.’ Joab said, ‘I will not waste time like this with you.’ He took three spears in his hand, and thrust them into the heart of Absalom, while he was still alive in the oak. And ten young men, Joab’s armour-bearers, surrounded Absalom and struck him, and killed him.

Then Joab sounded the trumpet, and the troops came back from pursuing Israel, for Joab restrained the troops. They took Absalom, threw him into a great pit in the forest, and raised over him a very great heap of stones. Meanwhile all the Israelites fled to their homes. Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and set up for himself a pillar that is in the King’s Valley, for he said, ‘I have no son to keep my name in remembrance’; he called the pillar by his own name. It is called Absalom’s Monument to this day.

-2 Samuel 18:9-18


This scripture passage begins with a vivid and disturbing image of Absalom, the son of David, caught in the branches of a tree—suspended between heaven and earth. It ends with some of Absalom's back story, how in a vain attempt to secure a name for himself he had built a pillar "called Absalom’s Monument to this day". In the middle we learn of Absalom's fate, how Joab’s spear ended his life in a brutal act of violence and how he was was thrown into a pit and covered with a pile of stones. 


The monument Absalom had built for himself stood in stark contrast to the nameless pit where his body was cast. His story is sobering: self-exaltation leads to emptiness and monuments to our own importance cannot save us. This passage reminds us that it is not what we build for ourselves that endures, but what God establishes through us. Christ teaches us that life comes not through self-promotion but through surrender, not through rebellion but through obedience. Where Absalom’s pride lifted him up only to be brought low, Jesus humbled himself unto death—and God highly exalted him. I think we would do well to serve our fellow man in humility and grace, to listen to and learn from each other, and strive for greater understanding and peace 


Musical Reflection - Absalom, Absalom, Pierce Pettits


Merciful God, teach me again today the gift of humility and obediance to your love. Amen

Old TestamentHumilityPridePentecost

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