Life of David: 27. Absalom's Death

This is week 27 in the Life of David series. The scripture is 2 Samuel 18-22.

The application worksheet discusses parents and children and obedience.

Absalom is David’s son and he returned to Jerusalem. He went to the city gate in the mornings and talked to the people. They thought he cared about them and their problems. After a time, he decided to try and take over David’s kingdom.

David fled from Jerusalem with his people and Absalom brought his followers in. David and his men crossed the Jordan and Absalom began to gather his followers together to find David and attack them.

David had been a warrior for a long time, and he counted the men that were with him. He put captains over thousands and captains of hundreds over them. David divided them into thirds and sent them out.

David said that he would go out with them, too. The people told David that he was worth 10,000 of them now. So, David agreed to do what the people thought was best. He stood by the gate as thousands of his people went out. David told his captains to deal gently with Absalom for his sake.

They went to battle in the woods of Ephraim. David’s people defeated the men of Israel and 20,000 were killed that day. Absalom was riding on a mule and the mule went under thick limbs of a big terebinth tree. The mule kept going and Absalom’s hair was caught, so he was left hanging in the air!

A man told Joab that he saw Absalom hanging from the tree and Joab said “Why didn’t you kill him? I would have given you money and a belt!” The man said “Even if someone were to give me 1,000 shekels of silver, I wouldn’t kill the king’s son. I heard the king’s commands to beware of harming Absalom.”

Joab took three spears and shoved them into Absalom’s heart while he was still alive hanging from the tree. Joab had ten young men that were armor bearers with him, and they killed Absalom.

Joab blew the trumpet, and the people of Israel ran. They put Absalom in a large pit in the woods and covered it with a large pile of stones.

Joab sent a runner to tell David the news of Absalom. A second runner also wanted to run and tell David the news. David was sitting between the gates and when the watchman said there was one person running to them, David knew there was news of the battle. David asked each runner if Absalom was safe.

David was so upset that Absalom had died. He cried for his son and mourned. Instead of celebrating the victory from their win, the people were mourning the death of the king’s son. Joab told David that the way he was mourning the death of Absalom was a disgrace to the people that had fought for him. Joab told him to go out and offer comfort to his servants or they would all leave during the night. So, David got up and sat at the gate. The people saw him and came before the king.

David the king returned to Jerusalem. He helped some people along the way. Some people came to help him and his men. David appointed Joab over the army of Israel. David picked men to be in charge of the money, a scribe, a recorder, priests and a chief minister to work under him.

There were more battles. More victories. They won more battles against Goliath’s sons that were huge men and good warriors. If time permits, read chapter 22 and David’s song and praises to God. It is incredible and worth the time.

The printables for David in this series are for an older age group than I usually post. Most of these lessons about David are not appropriate for early elementary. But David is a great study. So, as you can see from the above picture, there is a Q&A. This could be used with younger groups by using the answer sheet and just asking the questions for discussion. Each post in this series will have a maze and some type of puzzle. The additional application has thought questions about how the students can apply the lesson to their daily life. This application discusses David the father and Absalom the son. The scriptures can also be used to discuss the students and their obedience to their parents. There are answer sheets for all worksheets including the application worksheet. Click here to download.