okieinexile
Well-Known Member
Threads
By Bobby Neal Winters
I’d skipped Maundy Thursday services at church during Holy Week and had stayed home to look over an article about Joab that I was working on when I reread the 18th chapter of the book of Second Samuel. Therein Joab and his men kill Absalom, David’s son, who has risen in rebellion against his father.
Absalom, who sports a generous head of hair, rides on a mule beneath a tree and his hair is caught in the tree while the mule continues on his way out from under him, leaving him suspended there between heaven and earth. While hanging there helpless, he is discovered by Joab’s men who carry the news back to Joab. Joab asks the messenger why he didn’t just kill him there because he would’ve be rewarded by ten pieces of silver, but he then proceeds to go to do the job himself, piercing Absalom’s chest with his minions’ spears.
After his death, they put Absalom’s body in a pit and covered it with stones and all of his followers fled.
Perhaps it was the day that opened my eyes to the obvious connections here with the Passion. I say obvious; they are now obvious to me after having looked at the story for years without having seen them. There was a sudden gestalt and it all clicked into place.
Jesus said that he didn’t come to replace the law, but to complete it. The story of Absalom, wherein an earlier Son of David, meets a shameful death just as Jesus did, provides a place where many threads running through the Bible come together, but it is not the only place this happens as the threads run in circles and are woven together.
Let us consider the setting. Absalom is in the wilderness under a tree. This is much like the Garden of Eden where God shed the blood of animals to make clothing to cover Man’s nakedness and the story about the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus sweated drops of blood over what he was about to endure. In the Garden of Eden, Man sinned by eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge and was barred from the Tree of Life, while Jesus was nailed to the Cross giving us access to the Tree of Life. Absalom, his hair tangled in the branches as it was, wore his own crown of thorns.
When Absalom is killed, his body is put into a pit in the ground which is covered with stones. This is an echo of Joseph’s being put into a pit by his brothers as they decide what to do with him, and it is made perfect when Jesus’ body is laid in the tomb with the stone rolled in front of it.
The sequence of events leading to Absalom hanging from a tree began when his half brother Amnon raped Absalom’s full sister Tamar. Absalom bided his time and killed Amnon that other son of David.
Thus we are connected to another portion of David’s story wherein many threads are also gathered. We may recall that Amnon was the second son of David who died, the first being the product of David and Bathsheba’s adulterous union. The affair between David and Bathsheba itself is curiously reminiscent of the Fall of Man wherein Eve offered Adam an apple and he took it. Being on the roof taking a bath in full view of the king’s bedroom might be viewed as an offer. In each case, the man had the option to refuse the offer.
This also has ties with a thread of manipulation and deception that runs through the Bible. Sarah manipulated Abraham to sire a son on her handmade; Rebecca has her son Jacob deceive Isaac to steal his brother’s birthright; Laban, Leah, and Rachael trick Jacob into marrying Leah first; Jacob’s son’s lie to him, tricking him with blood, to convince him Joseph is dead. Tamar pretends to be a prostitute and seduces Judah for the price of a goat. Samson is betrayed by Delilah who cut his hair; this again ties back to Absalom whose hair was caught in the tree.
Perhaps a more tenuous connection is that of miraculous birth. Bathsheba becomes pregnant after one act of intercourse with a baby whose exist is very inconvenient. Its existence leads to the death of Uriah the Hittite, Bathsheba’s cuckolded husband. Eve, when she gives birth to Cain, says, “I’ve got me a man with the Lord,” thereby proclaiming the sacred nature of childbirth. Cain, as we recall, also brings death by becoming the first murderer, killing his brother just as Absalom would!
Sarah, Rachael, and Hannah, by way of contrast, each have much difficulty becoming pregnant. In completion of this theme, Mary becomes pregnant as a virgin and rather than deceiving Joseph, tells him the unbelievable truth which he, unbelievably, believes.
Mary’s son Jesus, rather than killing, allows himself to be sacrificed on the Cross for the sins of the world.
After arranging the murder of Uriah, David is confronted with his sin when the prophet Nathan, somewhat deceptively, tells him the story of a rich man who stole and slaughtered his neighbors pet lamb. When Abraham takes Isaac to sacrifice him, Isaac innocently asks where the sacrifice is, and Abraham replies that God will provide a lamb. When God prevents Abraham from sacrificing his son, he points him to a ram whose horns are caught in the bushes—as was Absalom’s hair! Joseph’s brothers were going to kill him but spare his life using deceiving their father with the blood of a sheep.
When the Angel of Death comes in the final plague, the children of Israel protect themselves by putting the blood of a lamb on their door post. Jesus is born when shepherds are abiding in the fields as they do during lambing time. He is crucified during Passover when the Passover Lamb is consumed in a meal. He is marked for death by the chief priest whose job it is to choose the Passover Lamb. The priests pay Judas thirty pieces of silver to betray Jesus. Joseph’s brothers sold him for twenty and Joab thought Absalom’s life was worth ten. Twenty plus ten sums to thirty.
(Bobby Winters is Assistant Dean and Professor of Mathematics at Pittsburg State University. He is a lay minister in the United Methodist Church. He is the author of Grandma Dipped Snuff, Confessions of an Ice Cream Socialist, and The Book of Renovations. He lives in Pittsburg, Kansas with his wife and three daughters.)
By Bobby Neal Winters
I’d skipped Maundy Thursday services at church during Holy Week and had stayed home to look over an article about Joab that I was working on when I reread the 18th chapter of the book of Second Samuel. Therein Joab and his men kill Absalom, David’s son, who has risen in rebellion against his father.
Absalom, who sports a generous head of hair, rides on a mule beneath a tree and his hair is caught in the tree while the mule continues on his way out from under him, leaving him suspended there between heaven and earth. While hanging there helpless, he is discovered by Joab’s men who carry the news back to Joab. Joab asks the messenger why he didn’t just kill him there because he would’ve be rewarded by ten pieces of silver, but he then proceeds to go to do the job himself, piercing Absalom’s chest with his minions’ spears.
After his death, they put Absalom’s body in a pit and covered it with stones and all of his followers fled.
Perhaps it was the day that opened my eyes to the obvious connections here with the Passion. I say obvious; they are now obvious to me after having looked at the story for years without having seen them. There was a sudden gestalt and it all clicked into place.
Jesus said that he didn’t come to replace the law, but to complete it. The story of Absalom, wherein an earlier Son of David, meets a shameful death just as Jesus did, provides a place where many threads running through the Bible come together, but it is not the only place this happens as the threads run in circles and are woven together.
Let us consider the setting. Absalom is in the wilderness under a tree. This is much like the Garden of Eden where God shed the blood of animals to make clothing to cover Man’s nakedness and the story about the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus sweated drops of blood over what he was about to endure. In the Garden of Eden, Man sinned by eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge and was barred from the Tree of Life, while Jesus was nailed to the Cross giving us access to the Tree of Life. Absalom, his hair tangled in the branches as it was, wore his own crown of thorns.
When Absalom is killed, his body is put into a pit in the ground which is covered with stones. This is an echo of Joseph’s being put into a pit by his brothers as they decide what to do with him, and it is made perfect when Jesus’ body is laid in the tomb with the stone rolled in front of it.
The sequence of events leading to Absalom hanging from a tree began when his half brother Amnon raped Absalom’s full sister Tamar. Absalom bided his time and killed Amnon that other son of David.
Thus we are connected to another portion of David’s story wherein many threads are also gathered. We may recall that Amnon was the second son of David who died, the first being the product of David and Bathsheba’s adulterous union. The affair between David and Bathsheba itself is curiously reminiscent of the Fall of Man wherein Eve offered Adam an apple and he took it. Being on the roof taking a bath in full view of the king’s bedroom might be viewed as an offer. In each case, the man had the option to refuse the offer.
This also has ties with a thread of manipulation and deception that runs through the Bible. Sarah manipulated Abraham to sire a son on her handmade; Rebecca has her son Jacob deceive Isaac to steal his brother’s birthright; Laban, Leah, and Rachael trick Jacob into marrying Leah first; Jacob’s son’s lie to him, tricking him with blood, to convince him Joseph is dead. Tamar pretends to be a prostitute and seduces Judah for the price of a goat. Samson is betrayed by Delilah who cut his hair; this again ties back to Absalom whose hair was caught in the tree.
Perhaps a more tenuous connection is that of miraculous birth. Bathsheba becomes pregnant after one act of intercourse with a baby whose exist is very inconvenient. Its existence leads to the death of Uriah the Hittite, Bathsheba’s cuckolded husband. Eve, when she gives birth to Cain, says, “I’ve got me a man with the Lord,” thereby proclaiming the sacred nature of childbirth. Cain, as we recall, also brings death by becoming the first murderer, killing his brother just as Absalom would!
Sarah, Rachael, and Hannah, by way of contrast, each have much difficulty becoming pregnant. In completion of this theme, Mary becomes pregnant as a virgin and rather than deceiving Joseph, tells him the unbelievable truth which he, unbelievably, believes.
Mary’s son Jesus, rather than killing, allows himself to be sacrificed on the Cross for the sins of the world.
After arranging the murder of Uriah, David is confronted with his sin when the prophet Nathan, somewhat deceptively, tells him the story of a rich man who stole and slaughtered his neighbors pet lamb. When Abraham takes Isaac to sacrifice him, Isaac innocently asks where the sacrifice is, and Abraham replies that God will provide a lamb. When God prevents Abraham from sacrificing his son, he points him to a ram whose horns are caught in the bushes—as was Absalom’s hair! Joseph’s brothers were going to kill him but spare his life using deceiving their father with the blood of a sheep.
When the Angel of Death comes in the final plague, the children of Israel protect themselves by putting the blood of a lamb on their door post. Jesus is born when shepherds are abiding in the fields as they do during lambing time. He is crucified during Passover when the Passover Lamb is consumed in a meal. He is marked for death by the chief priest whose job it is to choose the Passover Lamb. The priests pay Judas thirty pieces of silver to betray Jesus. Joseph’s brothers sold him for twenty and Joab thought Absalom’s life was worth ten. Twenty plus ten sums to thirty.
(Bobby Winters is Assistant Dean and Professor of Mathematics at Pittsburg State University. He is a lay minister in the United Methodist Church. He is the author of Grandma Dipped Snuff, Confessions of an Ice Cream Socialist, and The Book of Renovations. He lives in Pittsburg, Kansas with his wife and three daughters.)
s drapes herself on okieinexile's shoulder, carefully "reading" the thread on Threads. She quietly meows her running commentary in okie's ear*
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