Absalom’s Revenge

00:00:00 Speaker 1: Previously on the Chosen People. 00:00:03 Speaker 2: There is only one woman I want, Oh, Tamar, Absalom's. 00:00:10 Speaker 3: Sister, your half sister, you dog you. 00:00:18 Speaker 2: I can't eat, I can't sleep. Every night I see her, I feel like I'm dying. 00:00:28 Speaker 4: And take her. 00:00:30 Speaker 2: Stop stop, oh, none believe. 00:00:35 Speaker 1: When it was over, Tamar lay crumpled like a torn cloth, weeping into the pillows. Tamar couldn't speak. Absalom held her tightly. It was Amnon, wasn't it. But behind Absalom's calm eyes, his fury seethed like molten iron. His tongue was a sword's ill sheathed. His wrath are tiede yet to rise. Amnon had taken Tamar with lust and violence. Now Absalom would take Amnon with silence and patience. Vengeance is best served. 00:01:17 Speaker 5: Cold in a house full of kings. The one with the sharpest knife makes the rules. Shelloh, my friends, from here in the holy land of Israel, i'm l Extein with international Fellowship of Christians and Jews, and welcome to the Chosen People. Today's Bible story begins with absence, with silence, with the crime long buried and justice long delayed. That's where we find ourselves in Second Samuel thirteen. The crime has already been committed, the pain has already taken root, and yet nothing has been done. Tomorrow's tears dried long ago, but the silence has only deepened. The king and the father remains quiet, and that quiet becomes its own kind of curse. Absalom has waited two years long enough for grief to ferment into something darker. Well, what happens to justice when no one carries it out? And what happens to a man when righteousness is withheld and rage is left to simmer. Let's step into the field where wine is poured, sheep are sheared, and blood begins to speak. 00:02:31 Speaker 1: The evening stars drape themselves over balhazor like a royal mantle of silver and blue, casting a gentle glow over Absalom's lands. Warm air, thick with the scent of wool, roasted meat and sweet fig wine, drifted through the valley. In the great hall of his second home, Absalom played the gracious host, smiling wide and laughing louder than all his brothers. It was the season of shearing, a time of festivity and bounty, and he had invited every son of David under the pretense of merriment. The wine flowed freely, and the sons of the king toasted to memories of youth and tales of war and mischief. Cups clinked, songs were sung, and the moods soared. Yet beneath Absalom's smile was a stillness, a calculated quiet. Behind the eyes, his gaze followed Amnon all through the feast. Amnon bloated with wine and foolish pride, never sensed the trap. He drank deeply and danced with abandon, boasting, jesting, clapping his hands to the rhythm of liars and drums, a war, wine, more music. The prince had become drunk on more than wine. He was intoxicated by his own immunity. He lifted his cup to Absalom. 00:04:13 Speaker 2: Three cheers to Absalom for hosting this glorious party. When I'm king, we'll host feasts like these. Are the great owls, music and wine and dancing. 00:04:30 Speaker 1: Absalom raised his cup with a smile and sipped I still, never leaving his brother. As the hour grew late and the embers in the hearths dimmed, Amnon excused himself from the table. He staggered into the night, laughing softly at nothing. He wandered past the shearing pens and into the barn with a satisfied grunt. He collapsed into a pile of straw, letting the the warmth of the summer night cradle him. His eyes fluttered shut In the quiet darkness. Amnon drifted into sleep, the smirk still curling on his lips. But he was a fool to think himself safe under the hush of starlight. The barn door creaked open. The sound was quiet but deliberate. There stood Absalom, flanked by the lean shadows of his loyal men, each with a dagger drawn. Absalom turned to them, voice a low hush of command. 00:05:43 Speaker 2: With me, gentlemen, be strong and courageous. 00:05:46 Speaker 1: They entered. Torchlight licked the beams above, throwing flickering shadows across the hay strewn floor. Rats fled to their holes at the sudden glare. Amnon ster hed. His eyes blinked open, bloodshot and unfocused, until they locked on the form looming above him, Absolom. 00:06:09 Speaker 2: What are you doing here? How did I How did I. 00:06:14 Speaker 1: Find myself in the Absalom crouched low, the torchlight catching the gleam of his blade as he raised it to Amnon's throat. You're a rather clueless one, aren't you. 00:06:26 Speaker 2: Wait? Wait, wait, wait, Whatever it is you think I've done, I swear I haven't. If this is about Tamar, it was a misunderstanding, I swear, she quite. 00:06:39 Speaker 1: Absalom pressed the tip of his blade closer to Amnon's throat. A drop of blood trickled down his chest. You've always talked too much. Somehow, with all those words, you managed to say nothing. 00:06:55 Speaker 2: Would you really return my evil with evil? What would father say when he finds out you killed his first born? 00:07:05 Speaker 1: Absalom's grin returned, slow and sharp as a sword, Sliding free of its sheath. He flipped his dagger, toying with it in his hand. His laughter followed long, unhinged and echoing against the beams above him. 00:07:22 Speaker 2: Ha ha, ha ha. 00:07:26 Speaker 3: I can't wait for father to hear about this. When he hears of this night, I want him to feel it in his chest like a spear. 00:07:40 Speaker 2: David knew what. 00:07:41 Speaker 1: You did, and he was outraged, or so he said, But he did nothing. 00:07:50 Speaker 2: Nothing. 00:07:51 Speaker 4: What about everything? 00:07:52 Speaker 2: Lengthen told us about. 00:07:54 Speaker 1: Mercy, like the mercy you showed tomorrow. Amnon's breath quick and the bard felt suddenly too small, too Alice. 00:08:04 Speaker 2: And what about father? 00:08:06 Speaker 1: What will he do when he finds out. 00:08:11 Speaker 3: An He won't do anything a slap on the wrist. Perhaps our father is weak, just like you. You had to overpower a woman to feel like a man. You had to defile your own sister to feel powerful. 00:08:37 Speaker 4: And our father he let you live. After that, I want please let me explain, no explanation necessary. 00:08:48 Speaker 1: Brother, Absalom's blade flicked in his hand, He rose and stepped back, eyes locked on Amnon's. Then, with a tilt of his chin, he signaled his men to strike. The blades. All descended at once. Steel met flesh and bone. Hamlon gasped, then gurgled, then collapsed in silence, blood soaking into the straw. It was quick, but not merciful. Absalom wiped his blade with a strip of cloth and exhaled long through his nose, as if a weight had finally been lifted. 00:09:29 Speaker 3: Finally, justice, tell the others that Amnon is despot. 00:09:35 Speaker 1: Let them feel them. 00:09:36 Speaker 3: Let them ride, Let the house and David know what happens when they crossed. 00:09:42 Speaker 1: The message was delivered, and when the other sons of David heard what Absalom had done, terror gripped them like a wolf's jaws. They mounted their mules and flared into the night. Back in his house, long sat alone, the din of celebration long since faded. He poured himself wine and ate in silence, savoring the weight of the void he had created. He had cast his first stone in the war for the crown, and now all Juson would know Absalom was not a man to be trifled with. The palace was undone. Screams echoed through stone halls, and whispers ran like wildfire through the courtyards. Grief and fear held the city by the throat. Messengers stumbled in and out of the palace gates with wide eyes and trembling lips. Rumors grew with every breath. Absalom has slaughtered them. All. The sons of David lie dead in the fields. When the report reached the king's chamber, David collapsed where he stood. His knees struck the floor, and his hands tore through the fabric of his robes. The cries that followed were not the cries of a king, but of a father shattered by loss. He lay in the dust, his chest heaving, forehead pressed to cold stone. 00:11:17 Speaker 4: My sons, all of them, will God my children. 00:11:21 Speaker 1: It was then, through the grief and chaos, that a familiar voice rang out, with a sharp, mocking edge, marking why so plum It was Jonadab, the annoying nephew and instigator of the family. He leaned against the edge of the long table, a sarcastic grin splitting his thin cheeks. 00:11:44 Speaker 6: You look as though you've lost all your airs, save the one who'd killed them. 00:11:48 Speaker 1: David did not rise. His eyes were red, rimmed and hollow. 00:11:53 Speaker 4: Ooh, I've no patience for your jests, Jonadab, Leave me to my grief as you wishmarking. 00:12:01 Speaker 1: JOHNI da bowed low, sweeping a hand across his chest with theatrical flare, but lingered at the exit, rising again with an infuriating smile. 00:12:13 Speaker 6: However, I think it may lift your heart to know that not all your sons are it just one absalind struck only Amnon. The others yet live. What do you mean, come now, uncle, do you really think Absalom would kill all his brothers? 00:12:31 Speaker 3: No? 00:12:32 Speaker 6: No, them none alone has pain and rise. Absolom has plotted this since the day Tamar fled from em Non's bedchamber. He waited patiently, like a proper predator. You have a clever boy, David, a clever boy. 00:12:49 Speaker 1: Indeed, David stared at him, somewhere between disbelief and rage. Johnada bowed again, turned on his heel, and vanished. Baniah, the captain of the guard, stepped forward and bowed low. 00:13:04 Speaker 4: Absalam is to be exiled from Jerusalem if he dares de foot in my city. If I so much as here the loves of his donkeys crossed my gates, he shall die. Market Baniah, let the walls know he is banished. 00:13:19 Speaker 1: Beniah bowed, But even as the order passed through the palace, David's wrath soured into regret. The sin of the son was born of the father's silence. It was David who failed to punish Amnon, and now two sons were lost, the one to death, the other to exile. Absalom fled with haste to get sure where his mother's kin ruled. There he remained for three long years, surrounded by sheep, distant from the throne, yet not idle, while the grass grew high in Geshur valleys. Absalom's hatred grew higher still. In all that time, David never once sent for his son. He never spoke the boy's name aloud. That Absalom did not forget. He waited, he planned, and in the silence he sharpened his knives. For David would soon learn the most dangerous weapon of all is the fury of a patient man. 00:14:32 Speaker 5: Here's the question that haunts me. What happens when a son loses faith in his father. We often talk about Absalom's hideous act. We ask why he did it, But maybe first we should ask what was missing. Two years of royal feasts, of national victories, of palace intrigue. But there's been no word from the throne of the King of David about Mar's pain, no judgment, not even acknowledgement. And so Absalom acted. But in doing so, he traded the weight of grief for the burden of guilt. I found it interesting, then, the dramatized portion of this episode, our writers added a part with Absalom whispering only be strong and courageous, or for listeners of this show in Hebrew, you say rak hazakhvahmitz I point this out because those words weren't Absalom's tweeled. Those words belong to the leaders anointed by God. Moses gave them to Joshua before he crossed the Jordan, and David will give them to Solomon as he prepares to build the Holy Temple. Those words carry the weight of covenant of holy work, But in our dramatized interpretation of this story, when Absalom speaks them, those words only carry destruction. Jewish tradition teaches that whoever destroys the soul is as if he has destroyed an entire higher world, and in this story we watched that world collapse, and this collapse was long in the making. The abominable act of the rape of Tamar by her brother Omnon is particularly shocking, and Absalom's revenge by killing Omnoon only adds to the violence inflicted upon the house of David. Many of our sages suggest that it all goes back to David's sin with Batshiba at the time, God told David, now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriya Thehiti to be your own. As the old saying goes, what goes around comes around. Even though King David had performed exemplary repentance, even penning the fifty first Psalm, the stain of sin remained. David may have repented, but he also created an atmosphere of violence that came back on his very own family. This story reminds each of us today that we all need to be careful with our actions, because negative actions often lead to negative consequences. There are some Bible stories that feel like shattered mirrors. You look into them, and pieces of your own soul are staring back, but bent, fragmented, sharp around the edges. This one is like that. Absalom's act is full of heartache, and yet it teaches nothing about healing. His justice creates no wholeness. His vengeance restores it nothing to Tamar. Instead, it opens up a new wound, one that reaches all the way to Jerusalem's gates. The prophet Jeremiah once wept over Jerusalem and said peace, peace, They say, when there is no peace, that's what I feel here. A false peace settled over David's house after Tamar's shame, but it was just a calm on the surface, while the roots of rage twisted deep underground. 00:17:58 Speaker 1: And affected everything. 00:18:00 Speaker 5: And that's when Absalom's blade fell. It happened, and the peace was destroyed. I don't know your story, but maybe you've waited in silence for justice that never came. I want you to note that there is a better way, a way that balances strength and kindness, a way to love enemies while also holding them accountable for their actions, a way to show mercy when everything in us wants to lash out. David lost two sons, one to unchecked the lust and the other to unanswered rage, and his silence shadowed both. We can all learn from David's silence and never let in action become our legacy. Because the God of King David and the Chosen People still speaks, He still judges, and he still heals. 00:18:54 Speaker 1: You can listen to the Chosen People with the isle estein ad free by downloading and subscribe to the Prey dot Com app today. This Prey dog comproduction is only made possible by our dedicated team of creative talents. Steve Gattina, Max Bard, Zach Shellabarger and Ben Gammon are the executive producers. Of the Chosen People with Yiel Eckstein, edited by Alberto Avilla, narrated by Paul Coltofianu. Characters are voiced by Jonathan Cotton, Aaron Salvado, Sarah Seltz, Mike Reagan, Stephen Ringwold, Sylvia Zaradoc, Thomas Copeland, Junior, Rosanna Pilcher, and the opening prayer is voiced by John Moore. Music by Andrew Morgan Smith, written by Aaron Salvato, bre Rosalie and Chris Baig. Special thanks to Bishop Paul Lanier, Robin van Ettin, kayleb Burrows, Jocelyn Fuller, and the team at International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. You can hear more Prey dot com productions on the Prey dot com app, available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. If you enjoyed The Chosen People with Yail Egstein, please rate and leave a review.