Jasper County Democrat, Volume 18, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 July 1915 — THE THANKLESS, REBELLIOUS ABSALOM [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

THE THANKLESS, REBELLIOUS ABSALOM

i ; ■■■■■ t Samuel July f. The Story of Absalom—His Wasted Opportunities—His Contemptible End as a Traitor and Disobedient Son Who Sought His Father’s Life—Parents’ Responsibility—Eugenics Not Sufficient. “Children, obey your parents in the Lord; lor j this is right—Ephesians 6:2. CIIIS Study discusses the death of Absalom, and is sufficiently explicit without comment. It j will be valuable, however, to review the life of this young prince and to note some of his failures. lie was not well born. His mother. King David’s wife, was the daughter of a heathen king nearby; and her son had the disadvantage of being a member of the royal family and not required to labor with sweat of face, ‘ Absalom is first brought prominently to our attention by his murder of his half brother Amnon, to avenge his sis-

ter’s honor. For thus he fled to his grandfather’s protection. After several years his father. who had never ceased to love him. was induced to invite him back to Jerusalem; but j for two years more the king declined to receive his son into his presence.

All these influences were unfavorable to the young man, but none of them can excuse his treachery to his father. Absalom’s Conspiracy. There were judges throughout the land of Israel to decide ordinary causes of discontent; but when their decisions I were unsatisfactory, appeal was made to the king. David was busily engaged in preparing materials for the Temple, i which was not to be built until after his death. This may to some extent have hindered his work as superior 1 judge, so that some cases, as in every court, were delayed of a hearing. We are not sure, however, that anything was lacking respecting King David’s administration of justice. We merely know that his crafty son Absalom very graciously heard the people’s complaints, and very cunningly expressed sorrow for their delay, spying. “Would that I were king! It would be different!” Thus by deception. intrigue, falsehood, he “stole the hearts of the people” from his father. They really began to think that if Absalom were king, they would be immensely better off. They seem to have overlooked the fact that God was their King, and that King David merely sat upon the throne of the Lord. Absalom knew of his father’s religious sentiments, which apparently he did not at all share. He realized that lie would not probably be his father’s choice for a successor; and that it would soon be time for a new king, as King David was aged. Following Satan’s course of ambition and disloyalty to God. he became disloyal to his father the king. He recruited an army, proclaimed himself king, and did the matter so quickly and so thoroughly that King David and his army and his loyal courtiers fled for their lives. Our lesson recounts the battle between Absalom’s superior forces and King David’s smaller army, which, however, were better trained soldiers. King David was victorious. Absalom was slain, notwithstanding King David’s urgent request that his soldiers should not kill the young man.

What a contrast we have here between the man after God’s own heart and the man whom the people admired —the flashy, the ambitious, the deceitful. the intriguing, the rebellious, who sought his father’s life! The man of God. notwithstanding his weaknesses, which were acknowledged and repented of, had a heart loyal to God, true as the needle to the pole; and he had a sympathetic love for his son which found expression in that notable dirge, “O Absalom, my son, my son, would God I had died for thee!” A Very Important Principle.

The human will is wonderful, so that we might almost say that each boy is

responsible or his own career. This, however, does not excuse the parent whose duty it is to see that a proper child is born into the wo r 1 d—not merely outwardly beautiful, but conscientious, just, loyal to God and to the principles of righteousness. Nor

does it excuse the parent from giving the child proper conceptions of life. It seems pitiful indeed, that with all the preaching and teaching of centuries, so few parents realize their obligations toward their children. So few fathers realize that they are the caretakers of their wives and their children; and that it is their duty, not only to select a noble, conscientious wife, but to place her under favorable conditions during gestation and to assist her to keep her mind and heart pure, loving, noble, loyal to God and to righteous principles, that their child may be well birthmarked.

True, we have eugenics thrust upon our attention everywhere; but it sinks Into insignificance compared to the principle that during gestation the mother’s mind is stamping, favorably or unfavorably, her child’s character. Of course a mother could not produce a perfect child; but with her own Ideals high, true and unwavering, her child would be greatly blessed.

King David.

Death of Absalom.