THE COVENANTER
“What, it’s still up?” they asked. Zhilayev and his men found him and finished him
replied, “The time will come when they will off with three javelins. His body was then
erect a monument to him.” thrown into a pit and covered with stones.

Not to remember, to blot out the past, to Meantime, David waited for news of the
erase the memory of people and events from outcome of the battle. His main concern
our minds, is not only a denial of the past; it was for Absalom. A runner came hotfoot
is also a denial of our common humanity. from the battlefield to tell him that the
king’s forces had won the day, but David
It is important that we remember. What and wasn’t listening. His only thought was for
whom we remember is an important part of Absalom. “Is the young man Absalom safe?
what we are. And an even more important The runner didn’t have the heart to tell him.
part of what we are is who remembers us. To He would only say, “I saw great confusion
remember other people is to be thoughtful, just as Joab was about to send me, your
considerate, and kind. To be remembered by servant, but I don’t know what it was.” But
other people is to be cared for and loved. a second messenger was blunt and to the
point. “May the enemies of my lord the
The desire to remember and be remembered king, and all who rise up to harm you be
runs deep in human nature. There’s a bit like that young man.”. Then we’re told that
in us all which says. “Remember me!” In David went to his room and wept – “O my
childhood we make sure we’re remembered son, Absalom! My son, my son, Absalom! If
when the sweets are shared out. In only I had died instead of you – O Absalom,
adulthood we still shout “Remember me!” my son, my son!”
as the annual pay review takes place, or
as the profit margins and dividends are Now in the middle of this moving story, the
shared out. “Remember me!” And if it’s chronicler tells us of the monument which
not our determination to have a fair share Absalom had erected in memory of himself.
of the cake which lies behind our cry to be Joab’s soldiers had buried Absalom without
remembered, then it’s our craving for status, ceremony under a rough heap of stones in
recognition, appreciation, or even love. the forest. And that reminds the chronicler
“Remember me!” We’re at it from the cradle of the very different memorial which
to the grave. The desire to remember and be Absalom had built for himself.
remembered is part of human nature.
Here one can’t help think of other memorials
Which brings us to the story in 2 Samuel which people have planned for themselves
of the pillar which Absalom erected. It was –the architectural dreams of Hitler; the
his bid for a kind of immortality of the sort statues and palaces which Saddam Hussein
which people still crave today. It may be an built for himself; the multi-million pound
entry in Who’s Who, or an autobiography, villa which Grace, the wife of President
or a plaque, or a stain glass window, or a Mugabe of Zimbabwe, has built for herself;
trust fund - Absalom’s pillars, some of them or the ornate tombs in the necropolis across
fitting and appropriate, others vulgar and from the Cathedral and the Royal Infirmary
pretentious. in Glasgow which were erected over the
remains of the tobacco barons who made
The story is part of the record of the reign of the city great to keep alive their memory.
King David. David was getting on in years
and beginning to lose his grip on the affairs Deep irony surrounds all these monuments
of state. His son, Absalom, led a rebellion which people have built for themselves.
against him. His force of malcontents was Who of us will ever forget those pictures we
defeated by the king’s army. But before saw on TV of the mob in Baghdad pulling
battle was joined, David had instructed down a huge bronze statue of Saddam
his commanders to spare his son’s life. Hussein, then dancing on his torso and
However, in the event he was put to death slapping his face with their shoes, which
by David’s commander-in-chief, Joab. It apparently is as insulting as you can get in
happened like this. As Absalom fled from Islamic culture. In the same way, the heap
the scene of battle through the forest on the of stones in the forest was a far cry from
back of a mule, his long hair caught in the the pillar which Absalom had erected to
overhanging branches of a tree. The mule perpetuate his memory.
ran on and Absalom was left hanging. Joab
21
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