Sons Of Absalom

Q. Your site is very informative and a blessing. I have a question regarding the account in 2 Samuel 14:27 which states that Absalom had three sons and one daughter, whose name was Tamar (his sister had the same name, 2 Sam. 13:1). Then we read in 2 Sam. 18:18 that Absalom says “I have no son to carry on my name,” so he named a monument after himself.   How can this be understood?

A. Unbelievers use these two verses to support their claim that the Bible is not free from error. But a much simpler and more logical conclusion would be that none of Absalom’s sons survived to adulthood.  This conclusion is supported by the fact that the Bible doesn’t mention any of their names, which would be unusual if they had lived, especially since it does mention the name of their sister, Tamar.