51 pages • 1 hour read
Gene EdwardsA Tale of Three Kings: A Study of Brokenness
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1980A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Part 2, Chapters 19-23Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 2, Chapter 19 Summary
The narrative picks up at a point late in King David’s reign, when his grown son Absalom has begun to attract the attention of the people. Two characters—an unnamed child and adult—talk to one another as they observe Absalom passing by in his chariot. The handsome young prince is called “David” by the crowd, and when the child wonders why, the adult responds that Absalom reminds many people of David when he was young. This leads the child to think about the way David was treated when he was that age: “Saul was very hard on David, was he not? […] Is King David going to treat Absalom the same way Saul treated David?” (54). This question is left largely unanswered, and the two unnamed characters depart the scene.
Part 2, Chapter 20 Summary
Chapter 20 describes the assessment of Absalom in the eyes of his fellow Israelites and their growing appreciation of him: “It warmed your heart to know a man who saw things so clearly. Discerning. Yes, that was the word that best described Absalom—discerning” (57). Absalom is hard at work as a populist, acting in his princely role as a listening ear and a sympathetic voice for the problems of those around him. At first, this seems entirely positive, and the people appreciate his insight and support. Little by little, though, their frequent meetings with Absalom result in a change of perspective—they become convinced that there are real, intractable problems with the way the kingdom is being run under David’s rule. Absalom does nothing outright to oppose his father, but his perspectives subtly begin to shift the popular opinion on his father’s reign.
Eventually, the people find themselves wishing that David was gone and Absalom was king. Though Absalom deals cagily with this upsurge of popular feeling, his words leave the door open for a possible future in which he takes charge: “And with these words, the rebellion was ignited. Ignited in all but one, that is. In the man who seemed noblest and purest, this was not the case. Rebellion had been in his heart for years” (60).
Part 2, Chapter 21 Summary
This chapter relays a conversation between a character called a “Sage” and another unnamed character. Although their initial interaction suggests they may be historical characters within the narrative of ancient Israel, the end of the chapter reveals an allegorized element to their identities, as the Sage reveals his identity as being, quite simply, “History.” The Sage relates his impressions of Absalom, whom he regarded as a gifted and articulate man but one with dreams that would limit his future to either submission or dictatorship. This leads to a reflection on rebellion in the abstract, which the Sage condemns: “I tell you emphatically, no rebellion in the kingdom of God is proper, nor can it ever be fully blessed” (64). An allegorical connection is hinted at yet again, pointing to the way that churches often end up splitting in the midst of leadership conflicts. The Sage suggests that a true leader would not split a church but would simply leave and begin a new church elsewhere: “I find it curious that those who feel qualified to split God’s kingdom do not feel capable of going somewhere else—to another land—to raise up a completely new kingdom” (65). Ultimately, the Sage brings his assessment of Absalom’s treasonous trajectory to a firm conclusion: “Those who lead rebellions in the spiritual world are unworthy. There are no exceptions” (66).
Part 2, Chapter 22 Summary
Much as the Sage and his unnamed interlocutor discussed Absalom’s rising ambitions in the previous chapter, David and Joab now have a similar discussion on the balcony of the king’s palace. Joab asks David how long he has known that Absalom was a threat, and David replies as if he has always known: “For months, years, perhaps a decade. Perhaps I have known for thirty years” (67). Despite this knowledge, David makes it clear that he will not do anything to stop Absalom’s rise, nor does he want Joab to intervene: “But for this occasion,” David says, “I have only the experience of my youth to draw on. The course I followed at that time seems to be the best I can follow now. […] To do absolutely nothing” (68).
Part 2, Chapter 23 Summary
David still walks on his palace balcony, talking to himself. He weighs his options: “The kingdom hangs in the balance. It seems I have two choices: to lose everything or to be a Saul. I can stop Absalom. I need only to be a Saul” (70). David’s reflections are interrupted by the arrival of Abishai (another of his “mighty men,” a brother of Joab). Abishai notes that perhaps as important as the question of whether he should be a Saul or not is whether Absalom acted as the young David did toward Saul. Since he did not, Abishai concludes, David ought not to be bound in his actions but should take direct action to stop Absalom. But David disagrees: “And if I stop him, will I still be a David?” (72). Ultimately, David expresses his belief that it is better for him to be defeated or to die rather than to become a new Saul. He believes that the kingdom is God’s to give or take, and he must submit to the possibility that God will now allow it to be taken from him. Abishai wishes David would act, but his respect for the king is made even greater by David’s unwavering resolve to submit to God’s will rather than grasp at authority.
Part 2, Chapters 19-23 Analysis
The first chapters of Part 2 jump chronologically ahead to David’s reign, at which point the problems under his administration have been noticed and criticized, and people look back at David’s younger days with a sense of nostalgia. Absalom, who strikes the crowds as a young David—handsome, charismatic, sympathetic, and with a clear gift of leadership—makes use of the murmurs of public discontent and begins to build his resistance movement. Like the final chapters of Part 1, these chapters also represent a mix of styles: a scene in which Absalom’s appearance in the story is presented in the form of a dialogue, a narrative of Absalom’s gradual rise given in expository prose, and a reflection on the meaning of those events in a dialogue between two otherwise unknown characters, including a sage who refers to himself as “History.”
The next two chapters are a dialogue between David and his military advisors, Joab and Abishai. This rapid shifting of scene and style gives the story a sense of movement and variety, very much as in a dramatic theater performance, which ties in once again with the motif of the theater as a setting in which the whole book unfolds. The format is less that of a passive viewer watching a play, however, as the reader has now become an Absalom. The novel functions in a meta-fictional way: As the reader doubts their own leader in their minds, Absalom appears to challenge David. The Difficulty of Knowing the Will of God is at play here, and the reader does not respond well, with Brokenness as a Godly Virtue. The role of the reader, however, and the appearance of Absalom are both part of Leadership and the Call of God, of God’s plan.
In contrast to the very short chapters that dominate Part 1, however, the chapters in Part 2—and particularly the dialogues between narrative characters—tend to be longer, running to several pages in length. This adds a sense of reflectiveness to Part 2. Unlike Part 1, in which much of the action was “onstage”—David being anointed, Saul throwing spears, David running away and hiding in caves—the action in Part 2 takes place offstage, and the chapters are reflections on those events, which are largely happening elsewhere. The narrative feels more fragmented, more in shambles, as Absalom challenges David and the reader can learn from the errors of Absalom to improve themselves, with this all being a part of Leadership and the Call of God. Absalom and the reader have a role here, and that is to demonstrate the chaos bad leaders cause, fragmenting the narrative itself in this way.
The same themes are present here as in Part 1, but the role structure has been reversed. Whereas in the first half of the book, the reader is naturally sympathetic to the young man who is rising in prominence, in Part 2 the reader is meant to be sympathetic to the old king who is already entrenched in a long-held position of authority. The reader, or reader-character, however, is also supposed to serve in the role of Absalom. The themes of the call of God and the difficulty of knowing God’s will are thus examined from a different angle than before. Before, David refused to make a judgment on Saul’s authority in office, and so opted for non-action. Now it is his own role that he refuses to make a judgment upon—whether or not it is God’s will that he remain king—and so is inclined toward non-action yet again. As the theme of The Difficulty of Knowing the Will of God has consistently shown throughout the book, to act as if one understands the divine will is a dangerous and foolhardy step, particularly in the case of an office of authority, which is God’s prerogative to give or take. While David knows that he has been anointed to serve as king, he does not know how long that calling will last, and so he is inclined to trust God to resolve any potential conflict over the throne, rather than trusting in his own authority or strength of arms.
Nevertheless, even while David seems uncertain, the narrator takes a rather stronger position on the matter in Part 2, asserting that anyone who raises a rebellion in one of God’s communities has already, by that very act, shown themselves unworthy to hold a position of authority. As a result of this insight, the narrator is willing to highlight Absalom’s unfitness for the role of king, but David is as yet unsure on this point. In this respect, David demonstrates humility, of Brokenness as a Godly Virtue, while Absalom does not, revealing who the true leader is.
