ABSALOM (ab'sa-lom), ab-shaw km( ,6- • .; ith-et-shaw-lome% father of peace, that is, peaceful).
(1) Name and Family. The third son of David, and his only son by Maacali, the daughter of Ta !mai, king of Geshur (2 Sam. iii:3), horn B. C. about t000.
(2) Personal History. He was deemed the handsomest man in the kingdom; and was particularly noted for the profusion of his beauti ful hair, which appears to have been regarded with great admiration ; but of which we can know nothing with certainty, except that it was very fine and very ample. We are told that when its inconvenient weight compelled him to cut it off 'every year' (as in the A. V.), it was found to weigh '200 shekels after the king's weight ;' but as this has been interpreted as high as ounces (Geddes) and as low as 7V2 ounces (A. Clarke), we may be content to understand that it means a quantity unusually large.
(3) Avenges Tamar. David's other child by Idaachah was a daughter named Tamar, who was also very beautiful. She became the object of lust ful regard to her half-brother Amnon, David's eld est son; and was violated by him in pursuance of a plot suggested by the artful Jonadab (2 Sam. xiii:t.2o; B. C. ahout too). (See ANt sox.) In all cases where polygamy is allowed, we find that the honor of a sister is in the guardianship of her full brother, more even than in that of her father, whose interest in her is considered less peculiar and intimate. We trace this notion even in the time of Jacob (Gen. xxxiv :6, t3, 25, sq.). So in this case the wrong of Tamar was taken up by Absalom, who kept her secluded in his own house, and said nothing for the pres ent, but brooded silently over the wrong he had sustained and the vengeance which devolved upon him. It was not until two years had passed, and when this wound seemed to have been healed, that Absalom found opportunity for the bloody revenge he had meditated. He then held a great sheep-shearing feast at Baal-hazor, near Ephraim, to which he invited all the king's sons; and, to lull suspicion, he also solicited the presence of his father. As he expected, David declined for
himself, but allowed Amnon and the other princes to attend. They feasted together ; and, when they were warm with wine, Amnon was set upon and slain by the servants of Absalom, according to the previous directions of their master (Sam. xiii :23-29). Horror-struck at the deed, and not knowing but that they were included in the doom, the other princes took to their mules and lied to Jerusalem, filling the king with grief and horror by the tidings which they brought As for Absalom, he has tened to Geshur and remained there three years with his grandfather, king Talmai (2 Sam. xiii : 3o-38). (See GEsiii.a.) (4) Return to Jerusalem. Now it happened that Absalom, with all his faults, was emi nently dear to the heart of his father. His beauty, his spirit, his royal birth, may be supposed to have drawn to him those fond paternal feelings which he knew not how to appreciate. At all events, David mourned every day after the banished fratricide, whom a regard for public opinion and a just horror of his crime forbade him to recall. His secret wishes to have home his beloved though guilty son were, however, discerned by Joab, who em ployed a clever woman of Tekoah to lay a sup posed case before him for judgment ; and she applied the anticipated decision so adroitly to the case of Absalom, that the king discovered the object and detected the interposition of Joab (2 Sam. xiv :1-2o). Regarding this as in sonic degree expressing the sanction of public opinion, David gladly commissioned Joab to 'call home his banished.' Absalom returned; but David, still mindful of his duties as a king and father, controlled the impulse of his feelings, and de clined to admit him to his presence. After two years, however, Absalom, impatient of his dis grace, found means to compel the attention of Joab to his case; and through his means a com plete reconciliation was effected, and the father once more indulged himself with the presence of his son (2 Sam. xiv :21-33), B. C. about to36.