Two Deaths on a Tree

While I am being poorly poetical and uncharacteristically mystical, contrast the cross of Christ with the tree upon which Absalom died. Absalom has rebelled against his father, again. Absalom is defeated in battle, his force scattered.

“So the people went out into the field of battle against Israel. And the battle was in the woods of Ephraim. The people of Israel were overthrown there before the servants of David, and a great slaughter of twenty thousand men took place that day. For the battle there was scattered over the face of the whole countryside, and the woods devoured more people that day than the sword devoured. Then Absalom met the servants of David. Absalom rode on a mule. The mule went under the thick boughs of a great terebinth tree, and his head caught in the terebinth; so he was left hanging between heaven and earth. And the mule which was under him went on.” [2 Sam. 18:6-9]

Joab, David’s general, was told of this and came and killed Absalom with three spears to the heart.

Amazing! Jesus hung on a tree, suspended between heaven and earth, in obedience to His Father, and redeemed His people. Absalom hung on a tree, suspended between heaven and earth, in rebellion against his father, and brought death to thousands in one day. Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a colt, the foal of a donkey, a peaceful creature unsuited to warfare. Absalom rides on a mule, a sterile hybrid, adequate for war and an image perhaps of unfruitful alliances. Absalom hangs by his head or hair, perhaps metonymy for his proud handsomeness. Jesus hangs by his hands and feet, organs and images of service to others. Think what you will of Joab, a complex character, but Joab spoke the truth to Absalom’s father David when he said, “...today I perceive that if Absalom had lived and all of us had died today, then it would have pleased you well.” [2 Sam 19:6b] Yet, in the death of Christ, it pleased the Father to forsake His Son so that His elect, His very enemies, should live. (Can you not detect the supernatural authorship within the human authorship? These events, these accounts occurred many centuries apart, but are one amazing story.)


Excerpt from "Are We Christians Dying to Meet Him?"