The Way Of Absalom Analysis

The Way of Absalom

As I have mentioned previously exercise caution with the phrase “Biblical family values.” King David was a polygamist with wives and concubines, and from these relations he fathered 19 sons and a daughter who are named in Scripture. The names of the children important for Sunday were Amnon, David’s eldest son; Absalom, his 3rd son; and, Tamar, his daughter. Absalom and Tamar were full brother and sister; Amnon was their half-brother, and most sibling relations in the family of King David were the half-brother and half-sister type.

This week’s sermon was the “The Way of Absalom,” and the way of Absalom suggest peace because in Hebrew Absalom means “father of peace” (av-shalom), and perhaps it would have been the way of peace, if it had not been for the actions of his older brother Amnon. To make a long story short Amnon violated his half-sister Tamar, and to add to her disgrace, he refused to marry her. Mind you their
His righteous indignation turned into ill-controlled anger, revenge, and unhealthy ambition that brought grief to David and the untold suffering of innocent people. Be wary of righteous indignation becoming something you do not intend. We grieve the Holy Spirit when we go the “way of Absalom,” and when we reject the direction and leading of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:25-31). As a Church Father noted: By despising God’s words of instruction we grieve the Holy Spirt, and the Holy Spirit leaves us to our own self-will, but then God’s work in us is cut short (Ambrosiaster).

We grieve the Holy Spirit when we ignore the Holy Spirit leading us in the way of compassion and love, the way of Christ. Absalom could have lived up to his name, the “father of peace,” but he did not. We do not always live up to the name of Christian. Sometimes we grieve the Holy Spirit; yet, God has not given up on us; God has not abandoned us; but, God’s heart is