THE EEBEL PRINCE, LESSONS FROM THE CAREER OF THE YOUNG MAN ABSALOM, BY Rev. W. M. BLACKBURN, •» AUTHOR OF THE EXILES OF MADEIRA," " THE HOLY CHILD, " JUDAS THE MACCABEE," AC. PHILADELPHIA: PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OP PUBLICATION, No. 821 Chestnut Street. 2*^ Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1564, by THE TRUSTEES OF THE PRESBYTERIAN" BOARD 01 PUBLICAIZ In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 2.LL f9 CONTENTS PAGE Preface 5 CHAPTER I. Absalom's Birth-place and Boyhood 9 CHAPTER II. Absalom the Indulged Son 18 CHAPTER III. The Sinner's Victory 38 CHAPTER IV. The Lawless Avenger 51 CHAPTER V. * Absalom the Fugitive 68 CHAPTER VI. Absalom the Exile 78 CHAPTER VII. The Hand or Joab 90 CHAPTER VIII. Absalom Plotting Treason 110 CHAPTER IX. Stealing Hearts 119 CHAPTER X. All Israel in Rebellion , 129 4 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XI. PAGE The Flight of the King 140 CHAPTER XII. David Wept 153 CHAPTER XIII. Friends and Foes 162 CHAPTER XIV. David's Friend, the Orator 173 CHAPTER XV. The King's Head-Quarters 185 CHAPTER XVI. The Rebels on the March 190 CHAPTER XVII. Deal Gently 197 CHAPTER XVIII. The Battle 213 CHAPTER XIX. Absalom, my Son! 229 CHAPTER XX. The Pillar in the King's Dale 238 CHAPTER XXI. The Restoration 246 CHAPTER XXII. Imitators of Absalom 257 PREFACE This volume has grown out of a series of lectures, most of which were delivered to two different congregations. While some of the original branches have been pruned away, others have been added by growth and graft. The tree must now be judged by its fruits. The record of Absalom's life in 2 Samuel xiii. —xix. is as clear and concise as if written by the court-prophet Nathan. It has no parallel to it in Chronicles, and stands alone as a graphic piece of inspired Hebrew literature. In one view it is a vivid biography of the young man Absalom, the prodigal son of the Old Testament, who perished in his sins. In another view it is a sacred tragedy, full of most striking pictures of human nature, varied with deeply laid plots, enriched by frequent changes of scene, and enlivened by a great diversity of characters. For the study of the motives, policies, principles, and characters of evil and designing men, there are few portions of Scripture more profitable. Rarely do seven chapters furnish such a group of bold actors, such a record of great crimes against God 1* 5 6 PREFACE. and men, and such signal divine judgments upon the wicked. In the Prince Absalom we see the accomplished demagogue and the ambitious politician ; in Ahithophel the wise but corrupt statesman ; in Amnon, Jonadab, and ' ; Shimei, three ' lewd fellows of the baser sort " in Ziba the shrewdness of an experienced swindler ; in Joab the deepest private revenge combined with an effective use of his great military talents for eminent public services, and these are abundantly able to supply all the dark deeds re- quired in a vigorous, thrilling drama. Better men also appear, and it is worthy of notice that they are all upon the side of King David, who is the chief personage in the record. The priests—the church—did not abandon him in the time of his greatest national troubles. Unscrupulous as Joab was, his loyalty, duriDg Absalom's rebellion, was worthy of the greatest general under the Hebrew monarchy. Hushai gave his eloquence to the holy cause. Ittai was heroic in his patriotism, and poor Prince Mephibosheth, had he not been lame, might have carried his true alle- giance into kindly rivalry with that of Barzillai and his neighbouring chieftains of Grilead. Not a good, moral, godly man is named among those who engaged in Absalom's rebellion, unless the silence concerning the character of the incompetent Amasa is to be interpreted in his favour. The Prince seemed to de- pend upon a general ungodliness and hatred of David's piety then prevalent in the nation. The men, their spirit, their crafty designs, and their bold methods of gaining their ends, all tended to a great tragedy. In a third view we have before us a solemn history. It PREFACE. 7 presents us the record of a desperate attempt to dethrone David, revolutionize the nation, and destroy the theocracy. It is the chief one of all the movements which finally re- sulted in the separation of the ten tribes from the federal government. Absalom prepared the way for Jeroboam. No reader will fail to notice the hand of God in all this inspired history. He sustained his servant David in all his royal trials, and preserved the throne, the church, and the city of the great king, by a series of remarkable pro- vidences. Nor do these three views exhaust the record. It is a striking picture of a family, deserving of close and fre- quent study. A father's sins are intensified in some of his children, and bring the sword into his own house. There are shown to us some of the plainest lessons upon family government, family trials, and family judgments. It is not only as a king that David is sorely afflicted, but as a father. Those who magnify his faults should justly remember his very great and very many trials. In no other part of his reign did he exhibit more wisdom, ten- derness, and greatness in adversity. It is our effort in this unpretending volume to draw some useful lessons for our guidance in the family, in society, in the church, and in the national government. We have also kept in view the gospel light afforded by these seven chapters, for in the depths of David's heart we see an illustration of the boundless love of Grod, and in his sor- rows he stands as a type of our Lord Jesus Christ. It was the favour which the original lectures received from those who heard them, that prompted the author to 8 PREFACE. commit them to the press, and the volume is now laid at the feet of Him who sits upon David's throne, for only with His blessing can it be of any service in securing a further allegiance to the King of kings. W.M.B. Trenton, New Jersey. THE REBEL PRINCE CHAPTER I. Birthplace and Boyhood. IVe learned to judge of men by their own deeds ; I do not make the accident of birth The standard of their merit. Our starting point is one of king David's great unselfish sorrows. Had he been a usurper, or been impatient for the throne which Saul had forfeited, or revengeful toward the hunter after his life, he would have exulted when he heard of the death of the royal persecutor. But no : the fountains of his tenderness were opened, and the great deeps of his heart were broken up. Caesar wept when he heard that Pompey, his bitterest rival, was dead by other hands than his : with sincerer grief David lamented the fall of the mighty in Israel. Caesar, after conquering Pompey's sons, was honoured with the title, "Father of his country." David did not seek a victory over Saul's sons, and yet the people were ready to anoint him king over Judah, for he had long been the anointed of the Lord. 10 THE REBEL PRINCE. After he had vented his grief in tears and in song, he " inquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah ? And the Lord said unto him, Go up. And David said, Whither shall I go ? And he said, Unto Hebron." That was no mean city. It was associated with ancient and sacred events. No city in Palestine so carries one back to the earliest patriarchal times. It seems to have been the first haunt of civilized men in the land ; so ancient that it was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt. Under the oaks of that neighbourhood Abraham had often pitched his tent and raised his altar to the God who had sent him forth to sojourn in the land of promise, as in a strange country, and to join his example with that of our Lord, in teaching us to confess ourselves as strangers and pilgrims on the earth. There, among the olive-groves, had rambled Isaac, the child of promise, before he was chosen for the painful trial of his father's faith. There Sarah, the partner in Abraham's wanderings, and the partaker with him in the promises, had breathed her last, and thence she went to " a better country, that is an heavenly." There was the cave in which was laid the dust of so many of the patriarchs, in the hope of a glorious resurrection. "And from that day to this, it has so come to pass in the providence of God, that no na- tion or people has had possession of Machpelah, who would have been disposed to disturb the ashes of the illustrious dead within it." And there, BIRTHPLACE AND BOYHOOD. 11 doubtless, will rest in peace the dust of Abraham and Sarah, of Isaac and Rebekah, of Jacob and Leah, until God shall bid it rise. It was the only spot that the Father of the faithful ever owned, and no doubt, it will be held for his family until the last day. Perhaps Joshua and Caleb visited it, when they Were honestly spying out the land, and from the neighbouring valley they carried back the goodly Eshcol grapes, as a most acceptable proof of the richness of the promised land.