Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: Hair (07/04/19)
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TITLE: The End of Rage | Previous Challenge Entry
By Dave Walker
07/10/19 -
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His sister's feminine beauty, radiating purity and grace was a perfect foil for his masculine looks. Never were there more handsome siblings than Absalom and Tamar; never a glorious future more certain than for this fine-looking man.
Until that fateful day.
He held his sister gently, stroking her hair. "Try to forget, my Tamar. You're still the pure, lovely woman you always were, in spite of what happened. Come and stay with me."
His words were gentle, but his heart was a raging inferno. How could Amnon rape his own sister and then turn on her, expelling her from the palace? Why didn't their father intervene? Within his perfect body, hatred and revenge twisted his soul into a dark, brooding monster.
Absalom waited. Though daily, his hatred grew at seeing his sister crushed and broken, he acted calmly towards his brother whom he hated.
Two years later, he organised a party for his brothers. Suddenly, the vitriol burst as he shouted, "Now! Get him." A dozen men pounced on Amnon. A dozen swords ran him through. In the pandemonium, everyone fled --- his brothers to the palace and Absalom to Geshun.
David's heart bled. His beloved son was exiled for taking his brother's life. How does a father reconcile his longing for his son with justice? If he could just have him near.
He compromised. "Let Absalom back to Jerusalem. But he may never see my face."
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A turbulent, raging heart must seek a victim. With Amnon dead, Absalom's anger targeted his father. With charm and his fine looks, he seduced the people of Israel, listening sympathetically to their woes.
He'd shake his head with a "Tsk, tsk," and respond, "Now, if I were king....."
He sent messengers whispering throughout the tribes, "Let Absalom be king. At the trumpet blast, join the cause, shouting, 'Absalom is king in Hebron.' We'll march from there to Jerusalem."
With deep sorrow, David heard the whispers. At Absalom's request for permission to leave Jerusalem and go to Hebron, David chose to flee with an army of loyal followers. Across the Jordan, in Mahanaim, he prepared for battle.
A venomous Absalom mobilised his army to kill his father.
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The forest of Ephraim echoed with the pounding hooves of horses, the shouts of warriors and cries and groans of the wounded and dying.
As David's men gained victory, each man looked for the man with a glorious crown of dark hair --- not to kill him but spare him, on the orders of the king.
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Absalom tore through the forest behind his men. Suddenly, his head jerked backwards and his feet left the stirrups. As his mule raced on, he was left dangling by his hair.
"Joab, sir, I have seen Absalom hanging by his hair from a tree." The young man was excited.
"Take me to him."
Joab snarled at the man suspended before him. "Dog! You'd treat your father like this?" He jeered at him. "Look at you. Your crowning glory will be your death. Your father's better off without you."
He thrust a javelin through Absalom's heart.
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As his warriors told David of the victory, all he heard was Absalom's death. Great sobs rocked him like the waves of a violent storm. "Oh, Absalom, my son, my son. If only I had died instead of you." For a while he was inconsolable. His men stood by confused and puzzled. Yet a father's son is always his son, no matter what he does. When a father turns away from a wayward son, it's the pain that makes him turn.
Absalom's hair arrested his deadly pursuit of God's anointed, and brought him judgement. It probably won't be hair, but be sure if we rail against God, something will bring us to judgement, and death.
Yet David showed our heavenly Father's heart. No matter how antagonistic we are, He grieves for us with groans that echo David's. "Oh John, my son, my son. Oh Mary, my daughter, my daughter."
Yet He does not continue like David, saying, "If only I had died instead of you." He has died instead of us, if we will only accept it. We can turn His sorrow into dancing if we allow Him to flood our darkened souls with His light.
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I enjoyed this, always enjoy biblical references in stories.
Blessings~
I especially like bringing the gospel message in at the end of the story.