Text: 2 Samuel 18:33, King James Version of the Bible Tune: William Billings (1746-1800)
David the king was grieved and moved
He went to his chamber, and wept;
And as he went he wept, and said,
“Oh my son! Would to God I had died
For thee, Oh Absalom, my son.”
REFLECTION
Hardly anything in Scripture is more poignant than King David’s lament on hearing Absalom, his rebel son, has been killed by a loyal soldier, contrary to David’s explicit instructions. Most parents know this emotion all too well. When a child is ill or suffering some sorrow, we all say we would gladly take the illness or consequences on our shoulders. It is a pain one poet writing about the death of his daughter calls a “heart’s needle.”
We all know the story. David had a quiver full of sons by several wives. Absalom is not the heir apparent, but he wants to be. The whole sordid story is told in 2 Samuel 13-18. Scripture notes how handsome and attractive he was, and his cunning against his father as he was trying to usurp the throne. He had been outraged at the rape of his sister by his older brother Amnon. Absalom finally had him killed. David grieves for Amnon, and Absalom flees. They are reunited after a woman comes and tells a story that causes David to call Absalom back to Jerusalem, but not to David’s sight. After some time Absalom begins to foment a rebellion against his father, winning the hearts of the people by his clever treatment of them. He forms an army to fight David. Finally David has to flee absalom's army and Jerusalem over the Kidron. As he climbs the Mount of Olives weeping, one has forebodings of Jesus doing so many years later.
To make a long and complicated story short, after Absalom takes Jerusalem, David musters an army and prepares to go to battle with his son’s army. His own men plead with him not to fight as he is more valuable to them than thousands, they say. During the battle Absalom is caught in the branches of an oak. Joab, David’s loyal servant, kills him. David is sitting between the gates and waiting to hear the results. He sees two runners and assumes the news is good, but also fears for his son.
As one of the runners, a Cushite, approaches he tells him they have won; David asks after Absalom. The Cushite says, “May the enemies of my Lord the king and all who rise up against you for evil be like that young man.” At this, David retires to his chamber and weeps.
Scripture records the heartrending lament so well and so intimately we feel the reporter must have been there, as some scholars say is likely. Whether that is true, we know this cry of agony is true. While David is upbraided by his general for casting shame on his victorious troops, which David understands and changes his behavior, we see in his grief, the trials of the king, who is also a father.
While this not about the Bread of Life text, I cannot hear David’s grief without thinking of God the Father having to watch his own son dying on a tree. As Scripture says, Jesus has become sin itself. God has to forsake him briefly. While Asbalom is no Christ figure, we do feel the grief. Our Father God sent his only Son down to give himself to us so we, through his sacrifice, can receive eternal life. There is human and divine stuff here. The grief of David for his sinful child, which is so vivid in this song, can give us a small sense for the grief of our Father in heaven, watching his Son die as a criminal.
God in his Son gives everything, even his beloved Son, so we might live forever with him.
HYMN INFO
William Billings is considered the first great American composer. Born to a tanner in Boston, he supported himself in his father’s vocation as he began composing music. Untrained, but a quick study, he learned to compose very early, producing a collection of hymns in 1770, The New England Psalm Singer. Good friends with Samuel Adams and Paul Revere, who engraved his music, Billings supported their efforts in the American Revolution and wrote several songs such as Chester that became something of a national anthem in its time. Billlings wrote most of his own texts and frequently took them directly from the Bible, as he did with this text. In his day, his works were fairly popular, but during the last decade of his life his popularity faded and he and his large family were reduced to extreme poverty. He suffered from several disabilities—his one leg was shorter than the other, and one arm was lame. Today his work is appreciated especially by those who love the Sacred Harp tradition. One can hear that sound in several links provided here. It is a treasured part of the American tradition of song.
LINKS
Paul Hillier and His Majesties Clerkes
Cork Sacred Harp Convention—the way it sounded and looked
Christopher Wren Singers
Gerubach—watch the music scrolling along and sing along
Another setting of the story by Elam Rotem in Hebrew with the Profeti della Quinta
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