Why was Absalom David’s enemy?

Reflections on parenting

Photo by Mateus Campos Felipe on Unsplash

This is the fourth article in a series on King David. The articles were written to unpack David’s cryptic exclamation in Psalm 3:1, ‘Lord, how many are my foes?’

After examining Goliath, who represents an external enemy, I now delve into Absalom, the primary enemy of David when he composed Psalm 3. We know Absalom was his immediate enemy from the superscript (kind of sub-title telling the reader what the psalm was about) of Psalm 3, which reads, “A psalm of David. When he fled from his son Absalom.”

1. Who was Absalom?

Absalom was the third son born in Hebron

Absalom first appears in the Bible in 2 Samuel 3:2–3:

2 Sons were born to David in Hebron:
His firstborn was Amnon the son of Ahinoam of Jezreel;
3 his second, Kileab the son of Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel;
the third, Absalom the son of Maakah daughter of Talmai king of Geshur;

So we know that Absalom was David's third son, born in Hebron. David reigned from Hebron for seven and a half years while fighting against the house of King Saul.

After Israel was united under David, he moved to Jerusalem and reigned for thirty-three years, adding thirteen more sons to his family line.