Defeat and Inglorious Death

2 Samuel 18:1-18
    1 And David numbered the people who were with him, and set captains of thousands and captains of hundreds over them. 2 Then David sent out one third of the people under the hand of Joab, one third under the hand of Abishai the son of Zeruiah, Joab's brother, and one third under the hand of Ittai the Gittite. And the king said to the people, “I also will surely go out with you myself.” 3 But the people answered, “You shall not go out! For if we flee away, they will not care about us; nor if half of us die, will they care about us. But you are worth ten thousand of us now. For you are now more help to us in the city.”  4 Then the king said to them, “Whatever seems best to you I will do.” So the king stood beside the gate, and all the people went out by hundreds and by thousands. 5 Now the king had commanded Joab, Abishai, and Ittai, saying, “Deal gently for my sake with the young man Absalom.” And all the people heard when the king gave all the captains orders concerning Absalom.
    6 So the people went out into the field of battle against Israel. And the battle was in the woods of Ephraim. 7 The people of Israel were overthrown there before the servants of David, and a great slaughter of twenty thousand took place there that day. 8 For the battle there was scattered over the face of the whole countryside, and the woods devoured more people that day than the sword devoured.
    9 Then Absalom met the servants of David. Absalom rode on a mule. The mule went under the thick boughs of a great terebinth tree, and his head caught in the terebinth; so he was left hanging between heaven and earth. And the mule which was under him went on. 10 Now a certain man saw it and told Joab, and said, “I just saw Absalom hanging in a terebinth tree!”
    11 So Joab said to the man who told him, “You just saw him! And why did you not strike him there to the ground? I would have given you ten shekels of silver and a belt.”  12 But the man said to Joab, “Though I were to receive a thousand shekels of silver in my hand, I would not raise my hand against the king's son. For in our hearing the king commanded you and Abishai and Ittai, saying, ‘Beware lest anyone touch the young man Absalom!’ 13 Otherwise I would have dealt falsely against my own life. For there is nothing hidden from the king, and you yourself would have set yourself against me.”
    14 Then Joab said, “I cannot linger with you.” And he took three spears in his hand and thrust them through Absalom's heart, while he was still alive in the midst of the terebinth tree. 15 And ten young men who bore Joab's armor surrounded Absalom, and struck and killed him.  16 So Joab blew the trumpet, and the people returned from pursuing Israel. For Joab held back the people. 17 And they took Absalom and cast him into a large pit in the woods, and laid a very large heap of stones over him. Then all Israel fled, everyone to his tent.
    18 Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and set up a pillar for himself, which is in the King's Valley. For he said, “I have no son to keep my name in remembrance.” He called the pillar after his own name. And to this day it is called Absalom's Monument.

Absalom was the king’s son, but his rebellion cost his life.  His defeat ended in such an inglorious death with his head caught in a tree while escaping on a mule.  The hanging did not end his life, but the wrathful vengeance of Joab did at the point of the spear with the assistance of ten of his assistants.  This was in direct disobedience to David’s order to deal kindly with his son and not kill him.  Joab acted in his own vengeance in anger over Absalom’s sinful banishment and restitution instead. He had intervened to have David let Absalom back into Jerusalem, only to have him take the kingdom from his father by manipulating influence to build a loyal power base and assume the throne.  But in the end Absalom died such an inglorious death and left no heir, just a cold stone monument to his life.  Those opposed to the Lord and His Anointed will also face shame and death in the end, along with eternal regret and suffering.  No cold stone memorial of worldly accomplishments will long honor such a life opposed to Christ. Do we submit to the Anointed One, or rebel in the disobedience of disbelief?  How much better to submit in obedient faith now to the Savior and find life and peace and be remembered forever by the Anointed Lord!