A father's love

Then the king was deeply moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept. And as he went, he said thus: “O my son Absalom—my son, my son Absalom—if only I had died in your place! O Absalom my son, my son!” – 2 Samuel 18.33

I had always seen this as a wonderful picture of a father’s love for an erring child. I devotionally reading through Pink’s ‘Life of David’ though and he disagrees. He thinks David’s love for his son was wrong because David let his love for his son interfere with what was good for Israel.

I don’t know. I’ll have to look at it more.

But whether his love was right or possibly wrong David did love his son despite all that he had done. His son led a rebellion, stile the hearts of the people, and led the opposition in a great civil war for the throne.

But he died. He caught that long beautiful hair in a tree and was killed with an arrow. When the news came instead of being overjoyed dad was distraught – ‘I wish I had died in your place Absalom.’

There is no explaining a father’s love. I don’t know if it was wrong for David to have so much love for his son or not. I don’t know if David’s love for his son allowed him to make bad choices or not. But as a dad I can sure identify with the words of a great George Strait song:

Let me tell you a secret about a father's love
A secret that my daddy said was just between us
He said daddies don't just love their children every now and then
It's a love without end, Amen, it's a love without end, Amen

I can understand why David hurt.