The Most Painful Death

Scripture: Then the king was deeply moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept. And as he went, he said thus: "O my son Absalom; my son, my son Absalom; if only I had died in your place! O Absalom my son, my son!" (2 Sam 18:33 NKJV)

Observation: Absalom had show his rebellious spirit when he killed his brother Amnon, albeit to avenge the rape of his sister at the hands of Amnon, and by sitting at the gate of the city in judgment as if he were the king. That spirit of rebellion ripened into a coup d’état against his own father, King David. But for Absalom it was not enough that he had routed his father, he wanted to destroy him completely, so he pursued him as David fled. Among the things for which Absalom was known was a head full of long, thick hair. While pursuing David, Absalom ran under the thick boughs of a terebinth tree, his hair got caught in them and he was left hanging in mid air exposed to the enemy. Joab, David’s general, came and killed him there.
Joab sent news to David of Absalom’s death, and today’s text tell us of his reaction to the news. And while Israel could have been celebrating the victory and the fact David could now return to Jerusalem, they all felt awkward by seeing the king mourning. Joab chastised the king for not affirming the troops which protected him and who won this victory over those who were pursuing him.

Application: I have been told by those going through it that there is no more painful death than the death of a son or daughter, regardless of their age. I remember being at the hospital with the mother of a stillborn child and a few months later in another room nearby with the parents of a three-year-old. As a police chaplain I had to give a family the news of the tragic death on a motorcycle of their seventeen-year-old son and have officiated at the funeral of a forty-five year-old daughter who died of cancer. During times like these and many others like them, the parents have told me again and again how that the death of their parents or a sibling or a dear friend was painful but their pain at losing a child was so much worse, almost unbearable. Even if their son or daughter had left the fold, like Absalom, their death was nonetheless sad for their parents.
It seems like the right order of events should always be that as you get older and your parents age by the time they die you are old enough to accept it as a natural part of life. I lost my dad when I was fifteen years old and my mom when I was 42 years old, and their deaths affected me in different ways. At any rate, it is expected that at some point in time your parents will pass on. But your child will always be younger than you and thus you don’t expect to have them die before you; it is not the normal way of life. For Adam and Eve, the murder of their son Abel, particularly at the hand of his brother Cain, must have been horrible. For David the death of his first son with bathsheba and not of Absalom was most painful. For God the death of His Son Jesus must have been most difficult. And yet, he experiences the death of so many of His children every single day! That’s why during the difficult, painful days following the death of a child we can find comfort in Him who truly knows what it is like to loose a child. And with God, it’s not just the He understands, but somehow He also brings the healing we need.

Prayer: Father, I pray none of us ever experience the death of one of our children; bless them and protect them. For those who have, bless them and comfort them, and may Your comforting, loving arms surround them during their time of mourning until healing comes.