David struggled to respond to Absalom. He loved his grown son to the point of distraction, but he could not tell him so. Absalom had done such awful things that David held him at arm’s length lest he appear soft. When Absalom drove his father from the throne and took his place in Jerusalem, David vainly searched for a way to regain the throne without punishing his son. As David fled from Jerusalem to the Jordan River, he passed through Benjamite territory where two people connected with the late