Charm and manipulation: Lessons from Absalom (2 Sam 15:1-12)

A Christian friend gave up a prestigious job and a sizable salary to take on an IT role in a Christian organisation for much less pay. He was motivated to be of service to Christians and only asked that he might work flexible hours allowing him to have lunch with his wife at home. Since a lot of his job involved after-hours work when employees would not be disturbed by software updates and the maintenance of the IT systems, this seemed a reasonable request and his employer duly agreed. However, once my friend started the job, his employer insisted on a 9-5 routine, which meant that he sometimes had empty hours but had to stay put in his office, then work extra time after everyone had left. It was particularly disappointing that a Christian employer deceived him this way promising everything to gain his co-operation but delivering nothing. It is a pattern that can sadly happen in church contexts, too, where a potential pastor may know how to tap into the wishes and hopes of his future congregation to gain an appointment and power.

Charm and manipulation

Absalom’s attempts to acquire popularity and eventually kingship follow a similar pattern. The prince’s arrogance is underlined by his driving a chariot and having fifty runners ahead of him (2 Sam 15:1), hardly practicable on narrow hilly streets, but giving him an aura of importance. For readers, alarm bells would ring, given that the law warned against a king accumulating horses as expressions of power (Deut 17:16) and later prophets condemned a reliance on chariots and horses rather than on the Lord (e.g. Isa 31:1). Absalom knew how to charm, seemingly taking an interest in people’s affairs and promising justice from a position where he was not called upon to deliver (2 Sam 15:2-4). He also had the common touch in shaking hands and kissing people on the cheek (2 Sam 15:5), a common form of greeting in the Middle East even today.

Deception and rebellion

After four years,[1] Absalom is ready to initiate a rebellion and, under the pretext of fulfilling a vow (2 Sam 15:7-8), he goes to Hebron. David is once again unaware of what is going on and, ironically, sends him off ‘in peace’ when his intentions are anything but. Fulfilling a vow would have involved sacrifices and a feast, so having extra invited guests (2 Sam 5:11) would not have raised suspicions. Although these went innocently, they would have been hard put to disengage themselves once implicated in the rebellion. Absalom’s depiction here is a portrait of an arrogant power-grabber who uses tactics of charm, flattery, manipulation and deception. The narrator’s wording that Absalom ‘stole’ the heart of the people (2 Sam 15:6) and his was ‘a conspiracy’ (2 Sam 15:12) expresses condemnation. Yet David is not without fault, either. Absalom could not have gained such popularity, including the support of the king’s counsellor (v.12), if David had fulfilled his royal duties and given his subjects justice.

The portrait of godly power

Against this human picture of power-grabbing is set the example of Jesus in Scripture. He did not come with fanfare and an arrogant show of strength, but in weakness as a vulnerable baby. He did not promise what He could not deliver, and many of His sayings were so unpopular that even His disciples were affronted and left (John 6:60, 66). Neither did Jesus manipulate people to join him under false pretences but pointed out in love what hindered them and let them walk away if they found the cost too high (Mk 10:21-22). It is this attitude that we need to have when we exercise authority in some capacity, or when we call people to submit to God’s authority and kingship. There should be no room to bend the gospel and ignore the issue of our sin and lostness or to soften the requirements of discipleship. Neither should we make false promises about the Christian life with assurances of prosperity, health and wealth. Manipulation of people’s emotions or will so that they would be in no position to refuse the gospel is also unacceptable. True power speaks truth in love, invites rather than demands submission and allows freedom for the other person to walk away.

[1] The Hebrew manuscripts read ‘forty’, but this is unlikely as even four years is quite long for fulfilling a vow. The ancient Greek (Septuagint), Syriac and the latin Vulgate translations all amend this to ‘four’.

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