The nation was split and the King was on the run but that wasn’t the hard part.  The agony was that it was his own son staging the coup.  He was the son with the biggest and brightest future.

But David’s enemies, led by his son, were out to kill him.  So David had to muster an army against them and all that rebelled against him.

A psalm of David. When he fled from his son Absalom
(Psalm 3-NIV)

But before his troops marched out to war, David told them plainly, “Treat the young man Absalom gently for my sake” (2 Sam 18:5).  In other words, ‘Protect the young man Absalom‘ (2 Sam 18:12).

But Joab, David’s general, killed David’s son Absalom.  And in one of the saddest Scriptures in the Bible, we read of David’s great grief:

“The king was shaken. He went up to the room over the gateway and wept. As he went, he said: “O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you—O Absalom, my son, my son!” (2 Sam 18:33).

Can you imagine a father’s grief?  His own son rebelled against him which caused them to go to war.  And then his son died in that very war.   A father’s heart is shattered.  What happened?  His lovely and beautiful son?