[One-Verse Meditation]

2 Samuel 18:18, ESV

“Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and set up for himself the pillar that is in the King’s Valley, for he said, ‘I have no son to keep my name in remembrance.’ He called the pillar after his own name, and it is called Absalom’s monument to this day.”

(Meditation)

Despite David’s command, Joab thrusts into the heart of Absalom while he is still hanging alive in the tree. In that way, he brings to an end a son’s rebellion against his father. Then they throw his body into a great pit in the forest and heap stones over him. Such is the death of Absalom, who is not even left with a proper tomb. Scripture draws our attention to this heap of stones laid over his death. It sets it in contrast with the monument he had prepared for himself during his lifetime.

Absalom had set up a pillar for his own name. And he explains the reason: he had no son to carry on the memory of his name. Yet 2 Samuel 14:27 tells us that he had at least three sons. Whether those sons had all died, and when exactly this pillar was set up, Scripture does not tell us further. But through this explanation we can understand what Absalom so desperately wanted. He wanted to leave behind his own name—as king of Israel. And that path was, in the end, rebellion against his father, King David.

But his end was to be buried beneath a heap of stones. Not a place of honorable remembrance, but a place of shame. Such is the end of the one who seeks to make himself king. In that sense, Absalom’s rebellious path had been heading toward this stony grave from the very beginning. For the path of one who is not king, yet tries to become king, is the path of death. So it was also with the first human beings who sought to take the place of God.

This scene makes us look back at our own steps. It shows us whether the path we are walking is the way of death, seeking to make ourselves king, or the way of life, serving and worshiping the King. God places those who examine their own steps where they ought to be. He does so by letting them taste His beautiful love. This grace is truly great and deep.

(Prayer)

Lord, make me examine my steps, and turn me back from the foolish path of trying to become my own king. In Your love, which You show anew every morning, let me walk the path of life, serving and worshiping You, my King. Amen.
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(Daily Meditation)

• 2 Samuel 18:13–17