“9 Absalom was riding on his mule when he happened to meet David’s soldiers. When the mule went under the tangled branches of a large oak tree, Absalom’s head was caught fast in the tree. The mule under him kept going, so he was suspended in midair. 10 One of the men saw him and informed Joab. He said, “I just saw Absalom hanging in an oak tree!” 11 “You just saw him!” Joab exclaimed. “Why didn’t you strike him to the ground right there? I would have given you ten silver pieces and a belt!” 12 The man replied to Joab, “Even if I had the weight of a thousand pieces of silver in my hand, I would not raise my hand against the king’s son. For we heard the king command you, Abishai, and Ittai, ‘Protect the young man Absalom for me.’, 13 If I had jeopardized my own life—and nothing is hidden from the king—you would have abandoned me.” 14 Joab said, “I’m not going to waste time with you!” He then took three spears in his hand and thrust them into Absalom’s chest. While Absalom was still alive in the oak tree, 15 ten young men who were Joab’s armor-bearers surrounded Absalom, struck him, and killed him. 16 Joab blew the trumpet, and the troops broke off their pursuit of Israel because Joab restrained them. 17 They took Absalom, threw him into a large pit in the forest, and raised up a huge mound of stones over him. And all Israel fled, each to his tent. 18 When he was alive, Absalom had taken a pillar and raised it up for himself in the King’s Valley, since he thought, “I have no son to preserve the memory of my name.” So he named the pillar after himself. It is still called Absalom’s Monument today. 19 Ahimaaz son of Zadok said, “Please let me run and tell the king the good news that the Lord has vindicated him by freeing him from his enemies.” 20 Joab replied to him, “You are not the man to take good news today. You may do it another day, but today you aren’t taking good news, because the king’s son is dead.” 21 Joab then said to a Cushite, “Go tell the king what you have seen.” The Cushite bowed to Joab and took off running. 22 However, Ahimaaz son of Zadok persisted and said to Joab, “No matter what, please let me also run behind the Cushite!” Joab replied, “My son, why do you want to run since you won’t get a reward?” 23 “No matter what, I want to run!” “Then run!” Joab said to him. So Ahimaaz ran by way of the plain and outran the Cushite. 24 David was sitting between the city gates when the watchman went up to the roof of the city gate and over to the wall. The watchman looked out and saw a man running alone. 25 He called out and told the king. The king said, “If he’s alone, he bears good news.” As the first runner came closer, 26 the watchman saw another man running. He called out to the gatekeeper, “Look! Another man is running alone!” “This one is also bringing good news,” said the king. 27 The watchman said, “The way the first man runs looks to me like the way Ahimaaz son of Zadok runs.” “This is a good man; he comes with good news,” the king commented. 28 Ahimaaz called out to the king, “All is well,” and paid homage to the king with his face to the ground. He continued, “Blessed be the Lord your God! He delivered up the men who rebelled against my lord the king.” 29 The king asked, “Is the young man Absalom all right?” Ahimaaz replied, “When Joab sent the king’s servant and your servant, I saw a big disturbance, but I don’t know what it was.” 30 The king said, “Move aside and stand here.” So he stood to one side. 31 Just then the Cushite came and said, “May my lord the king hear the good news: The Lord has vindicated you today by freeing you from all who rise against you!” 32 The king asked the Cushite, “Is the young man Absalom all right?” The Cushite replied, “I wish that the enemies of my lord the king, along with all who rise up against you with evil intent, would become like that young man.” 33 The king was deeply moved and went up to the chamber above the city gate and wept. As he walked, he cried, “My son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you, Absalom, my son, my son!” -2 Samuel 18:9-33 (CSB)
How do you define a “counselor?” A quick search reveals that the word has an array of meanings. A counselor can refer to a guidance counselor in a public or private school. The term may also refer to a mental health professional who dispenses structured guidance in a clinical setting. A counselor can also be a high-ranking military officer who provides direction to civilian and uniformed commanders at various levels or an attorney who provides an understanding of the law and manages cases for clients. And, perhaps most well-known of all, a counselor can also be an individual possessing supervisory duties at a summer camp…
The most fundamental definition of a counselor is one “who gives advice.”[1] In other words, a counselor is a purveyor of truth and wisdom. While counselors come in many roles, contexts, and job titles, they all share in common a responsibility for sharing truth and helping those they counsel to follow truth. Unfortunately, not every individual who bears such a role appropriately fulfills its associated duties and responsibilities.
Absalom was the third son of King David.[2] His death is one of the great and tragic earthly consequences of sin given as an example in Scripture. David had sinned in his adulterous relationship with Bathsheba, as well as his murderous treatment of Uriah in a futile effort to conceal his adultery (2 Sam. 11:1-27). As a consequence of that sin, the Lord warned David through the prophet Nathan that he would not know peace in his own family from that day forward. The Lord declared in 2 Samuel 12:10, Now therefore, the sword will never leave your house because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hethite to be your own wife” (CSB). Absalom’s rebellion gave terrible testimony to that reality.
However, the events surrounding Absalom’s death also teach us several lessons beyond the dreadful consequences of sin.
First, no matter how powerful one may appear in earthly terms, the Lord always reigns supreme, and human lives are always far more fragile than we think. Of all things, Absalom’s downfall was ultimately brought about by a large oak tree. A tree…let that sink in for a moment. His hair was caught in the branches, the mule he was riding on took off, and Absalom was left hanging helplessly in midair (2 Sam. 18:9). He was discovered, and his subsequent gruesome ending flowed forth accordingly (18:10-15). “How the mighty are fallen” is a refrain that sounds again and again in Scripture. The young man, Absalom, who earlier caused the greatest king to ever sit upon the throne of Israel to flee in terror (2 Sam. 15:14), met his end because of a tree and a mule. Human lives are a vapor that can pass away remarkably fast (James 4:14). We can find ourselves on top of the world one moment and buried beneath it the next. Our lives, as we know them, can change in an instant.
Second, we must be wise in who we trust and how far we trust them. Joab’s Machiavellian treatment of Absalom would be commended by many in the world, then and now, as a reasonable and appropriate resolution to a treasonous pretender to the throne who sought to overthrow the king and government of Israel established by God. However, the fact remained that, whether wise or reckless in political terms, King David commanded that Absalom’s life be protected and spared. And Joab clearly – and publicly – defied the king’s order. In doing so, he not only brought a terrible and traumatic end to the king’s rebellious son but also proved himself an insubordinate rebel in the process.
Two wrongs do not make a right. While Absalom grievously sinned in his arrogant and disastrous rebellion, Joab also sinned in brazenly, even flippantly, defying the king’s commands and treating Absalom according to his own will rather than the command of the king. The wise servant of the Lord would take note of the treacherous actions and character of Joab. Despite his failures, David was a wise servant of the Lord who would remember Joab’s murderous conduct in time to come (1 Kings 2:5-6).
Third, Ahimaaz, son of Zadok, uniquely reminds us of something else vitally important: beware of those who are ravenously ambitious and self-advancing – those who will tell you only what you want to hear in order to advance their own standing. All of us naturally prefer to hear good news, and not bad – at least as it relates to us and our situation. David misread the signs of the coming messengers, thinking by the manner of their coming and their reputation that they were bringing good news. However, such was not to be for David personally. While the end of the rebellion was certainly welcome news, the death of his beloved, if wayward and rebellious, son was not.
Ahimaaz gave David only part of the news: “Blessed be the Lord your God! He delivered up the men who rebelled against my lord the king” (18:28 CSB). When David asked the messenger about the status of Absalom, Ahimaaz (at best) feigned ignorance. “When Joab sent the king’s servant and your servant, I saw a big disturbance, but I don’t know what it was” (18:29 CSB). More likely, this was an outright lie. In his commentary, Dr. Robert Bergen observed, “Although he knew the king’s son was dead (v. 20), he deceptively revealed only that he had observed ‘great confusion’ but did not ‘know what it was.‘”[3]
Exactly why Ahimaaz withheld the truth concerning Absalom’s death is not explicitly stated. It is possible that Ahimaaz withheld the full extent of what happened in order to break the news gently to David. Ahimaaz had previously proven to be a faithful messenger loyal to King David (17:17-22), and most scholars believe that his loyal character continued in this account.[4] However, one can also see the possibility that a man in Ahimaaz’s position sought the honor of delivering news of a glorious victory and restoration of David’s reign without the attendant cost of revealing the death of the king’s son. Regardless of Ahimaaz’s reasoning, his deception is clear. Only when the Cushite came did David learn the full weight of the tragedy that had befallen his royal house (18:31-32).
There is nothing wrong with presenting truth compassionately and lovingly. Such a manner of presentation is actually part of faithfully communicating truth. Scripture clearly commands that truth is to be presented in love (Eph. 4:15). However, there is a crucial line between a loving presentation and a corrupted presentation. Christians face intense pressure and temptation to compromise truth in the interests of self-preservation and advancement. Why risk upsetting someone with reality and paying the associated costs when you can simply tell them what they want to hear and be rewarded?
History is full of tragic examples of high-ranking officials in the position of “counselors” who withheld truth from their masters and presented them with a heavily edited version of reality. By pleasing the “powers that be,” one accumulates much greater job security…at least for a season. But in doing so, one also stores up tragedy and destruction, creating in deceitful counsel a ticking time bomb to explode at some unspecified future date. Speaking of the importance of truth in politics and statecraft, former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said, “It is always important in matters of high politics to know what you do not know. Those who think they know, but are mistaken, and act upon their mistakes, are the most dangerous people to have in charge.”[5]
If that is true in “high politics,” as Mrs. Thatcher put it, how much more is it true of our spiritual life? And what about spiritual leadership, where the care and eternal destiny of souls, rather than the temporal policy decisions of government, hang in the balance? As servants of Christ, Christians cannot surrender Gospel truth to the convenience of the moment. The stewardship of the Gospel is far too precious, and the consequences of distortion and compromise are far too destructive and costly.
Scripture warns us that in the last days, there will be those with “itching ears” who will appoint for themselves teachers and leaders who will tell them only what they desire to hear (2 Tim. 4:3-4). Such “counselors” are among the favorite instruments of Satan. They deceive subtly, imperceptibly, and cunningly – with a smile on their face and a curse under their breath.
Christians are called to stand for truth and to be a people of truth (John 8:32, 17:17; Eph. 4:15). We must fulfill that calling not only by the words we speak, the actions we take, and the convictions we hold, but also by the counselors we trust and the teachers, leaders, and advisors we follow. “But didn’t Jesus hang around with sinners?” Oh, yes! Jesus was, indeed, a friend of sinners. But He was – and is – a friend who loved them too much to leave them in their sin and their corrupted view of truth. He calls them to repent. He calls them to change. He calls them to truth.
“If we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say, “We have no sin,” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say, “We have not sinned,” we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” (1 John 1:7-10 CSB).
A Counselor of truth and of repentance, forgiveness, and righteousness flowing from that truth. That is the kind of Counselor we all need.
[1] Merriam-Webster, “Counselor,” Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, merriam-webster.com. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/counselor
[2] Jonathan Reck, “Absalom, Son of David,” ed. John D. Barry et al., The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).
[3] Robert D. Bergen, 1, 2 Samuel, vol. 7, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 424.
[4] Robert D. Bergen, 1, 2 Samuel, vol. 7, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 423; John Woodhouse, 2 Samuel: Your Kingdom Come, ed. R. Kent Hughes, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2015), 447; Stephen J. Andrews and Robert D. Bergen, 1, 2 Samuel, vol. 6, Holman Old Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2009), 319.
[5] Margaret Thatcher, Statecraft: Strategies for a Changing World (New York: Harper Collins, 2002), 140.
Preacher Talk 
The Christian faith teaches us to be humble and to walk in humility, just as Jesus did.
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