ABSALOM father of peace; Sept.
'AgeacraXth,u,; Vulg. Absalan), the third son of David, and his only son by Maachah, daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur (2 Sam. iii. 3). He was deemed the handsomest man in the kingdom ; and was particularly noted for the profusion of his beautiful 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 at times ()'pn crlyS does not necessarily mean 'every year', as in the A.V.) to cut it off, it was found to weigh `zoo shekels after the king's weight;' but as this has been interpreted as high as 112 ounces (Geddes) and as low as 74 ounces (A. Clarke), we may be content to understand that it means a quantity un usually large. David's other child by Maachah was a daughter named Tamar, who was also very beautiful. She became the object of lustful regard to her half-brother Amnon, David's eldest son ; and was violated by him. In all cases where polygamy is allowed, we find that the honour 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, 13, 25, sqq.) 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 present, 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. The other princes took to their mules and fled to Jerusalem, filling the king with grief and horror by the tidings which they brought. As for Absalom, he hastened to Geshur, and remained there three years with his grandfather, king Talmai.
Now Absalom, with all his faults, was eminently 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 how ever discerned by Joab, who employed a clever woman of Tekoah to lay a supposed 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. Regarding this as in some 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, con trolled the impulse of his feelings, and declined to admit him to his presence. After two years, how ever, Absalom, impatient of his disgrace, found means to compel the attention of Joab to his case; and through his means a complete reconciliation was effected, and the father once more indulged himself with the presence of his son (2 Sam. xiii. xiv.) By the death of Amnon and that of Chileab, his two elder brothers, Absalom was now, according to the law of primogeniture, the heir of the crown, a claim which his royal descent by the mother's side would probably have conferred on him, even had they lived. But under the peculiar theocratical institutions of the Hebrews, the Divine king re served and exercised a power of dispensation, over which the human king, or viceroy, had no control; and although the law of primogeniture was allowed to take in general its due course, the Divine king had exercised his power in the family of David by the preference of Solomon, who was at this time a child, as the successor of his father. David had known many years before that his dynasty was be established in a son not yet born (2 Sam. vii. 12); and when Solomon was born, he could not be ignorant, even if not specially instructed, that he was the destined heir. This fact must have been known to many others as the child grew up, and probably the mass of the nation was cognizant of it. In this we find a motive for the rebellion of Absalom; he wished to secure the throne which he deemed to be his in right by the laws of primo geniture, during the lifetime of his father; lest delay, while awaiting the natural term of his days, should so strengthen the cause of Solomon with his years, as to place his succession beyond all contest.