2 Samuel 18:1

Which way David raised an army here, and what reinforcements were sent him, we are not told; many, it is likely, from all the coasts of Israel, at least from the neighbouring tribes, came in to his assistance, so that, by degrees, he was able to make head against Absalom, as Ahithophel foresaw. Now here we have,

I. His army numbered and marshalled, Sa2 18:1, Sa2 18:2. He had, no doubt, committed his cause to God by prayer, for that was his relief in all his afflictions; and then he took an account of his forces. Josephus says they were, in all, but about 4000. These he divided into regiments and companies, to each of which he appointed proper officers, and then disposed them, as is usual, into the right wing, the left wing, and the centre, two of which he committed to his two old experienced generals, Joab and Abishai, and the third to his new friend Ittai. Good order and good conduct may sometimes be as serviceable in an army as great numbers. Wisdom teaches us to make the best of the strength we have, and let it reach to the utmost.

II. Himself over-persuaded not to go in person to the battle. He was Absalom's false friend that persuaded him to go, and served his pride more than his prudence; David's true friends would not let him go, remembering what they had been told of Ahithophel's design to smite the king only. David showed his affection to them by being willing to venture with them (Sa2 18:2), and they showed theirs to him by opposing it. We must never reckon it an affront to be gain-said for our good, and by those that therein consult our interest. 1. They would by no means have him to expose himself, for (say they) thou art worth 10,000 of us. Thus ought princes to be valued by their subjects, who, for their safety, must be willing to expose themselves. 2. They would not so far gratify the enemy, who would rejoice more in his fall than in the defeat of the whole army. 3. He might be more serviceable to them by tarrying in the city, with a reserve of his forces there, whence he might send them recruits. That may be a post of real service which yet is not a post of danger. The king acquiesced in their reasons, and changed his purpose (Sa2 18:4): What seemeth to you best I will do. It is no piece of wisdom to be stiff in our resolutions, but to be willing to hear reason, even from our inferiors, and to be overruled by their advice when it appears to be for our own good. Whether the people's prudence had an eye to it or no, God's providence wisely ordered it, that David should not be in the field of battle; for then his tenderness would certainly have interposed to save the life of Absalom, whom God had determined to destroy.

III. The charge he gave concerning Absalom, Sa2 18:5. When the army was drawn out, rank and file, Josephus says, he encouraged them, and prayed for them, but withal bade them all take heed of doing Absalom any hurt. How does he render good for evil! Absalom would have David only smitten. David would have Absalom only spared. What foils are these to each other! Never was unnatural hatred to a father more strong than in Absalom; nor was ever natural affection to a child more strong than in David. Each did his utmost, and showed what man is capable of doing, how bad it is possible for a child to be to the best of fathers and how good it is possible for a father to be to the worst of children; as if it were designed to be a resemblance of man's wickedness towards God and God's mercy towards man, of which it is hard to say which is more amazing. "Deal gently," says David, "by all means, with the young man, even with Absalom, for my sake; he is a young man, rash and heady, and his age must excuse him; he is mine, whom I love; if you love me, be not severe with him." This charge supposes David's strong expectation of success. Having a good cause and a good God, he doubts not but Absalom would lie at their mercy, and therefore bids them deal gently with him, spare his life and reserve him for his judgment.

Bishop Hall thus descants on this: "What means this ill-placed love? This unjust mercy? Deal gently with a traitor? Of all traitors, with a son? Of all sons, with an Absalom? That graceless darling of so good a father? And all this, for thy sake, whose crown, whose blood, he hunts after? For whose sake must he be pursued, if forborne for thine? Must the cause of the quarrel be the motive of mercy? Even in the holiest parents, nature may be guilty of an injurious tenderness, of a bloody indulgence. But was not this done in type of that immeasurable mercy of the true King and Redeemer of Israel, who prayed for his persecutors, for his murderers, Father, forgive them? Deal gently with them for my sake." When God sends and affliction to correct his children, it is with this charge, "Deal gently with them for my sake;" for he knows our frame.

IV. A complete victory gained over Absalom's forces. The battle was fought in the wood of Ephraim (Sa2 18:6), so called from some memorable action of the Ephraimites there, though it lay in the tribe of Gad. David thought fit to meet the enemy with his forces at some distance, before they came up to Mahanaim, lest he should bring that city into trouble which had so kindly sheltered him. The cause shall be decided by a pitched battle. Josephus represents the fight as very obstinate, but the rebels were at length totally routed and 20,000 of them slain, Sa2 18:7. Now they smarted justly for their treason against their lawful prince, their uneasiness under so good a government, and their base ingratitude to so good a governor; and they found what it was to take up arms for a usurper, who with his kisses and caresses had wheedled them into their own ruin. Now where are the rewards, the preferments, the golden days, they promised themselves from him? Now they see what it is to take counsel against the Lord and his anointed, and to think of breaking his bands asunder. And that they might see that God fought against them, 1. They are conquered by a few, an army, in all probability, much inferior to theirs in number. 2. By that flight with which they hoped to save themselves they destroyed themselves. The wood, which they sought to for shelter, devoured more than the sword, that they might see how, when they thought themselves safe from David's men, and said, Surely the bitterness of death is past, yet the justice of God pursued them and suffered them not to live. What refuge can rebels find from divine vengeance? The pits and bogs, the stumps and thickets, and, as the Chaldee paraphrase understands it, the wild beasts of the wood, were probably the death of multitudes of the dispersed distracted Israelites, besides the 20,000 that were slain with the sword. God herein fought for David, and yet fought against him; for all these that were slain were his own subjects, and the common interest of his kingdom was weakened by the slaughter. The Romans allowed no triumph for a victory in a civil war.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Ch. 2Sa_18:1-8. The battle in the forest of Ephraim

1. And David, &c.] The events here recorded cannot have followed immediately on David’s arrival at Mahanaim. An interval of a few weeks must be assumed, during which the rival armies were mustered and organized. Cp. note on ch. 2Sa_17:24.

numbered] The word means not merely to count, but to muster and review.

captains of thousands and captains of hundreds] The usual military divisions (1Sa_22:7; Num_31:14; and see note on 1Sa_8:12); corresponding originally to the civil divisions instituted by Moses (Exo_18:25). See note on 1Sa_10:19.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Sa 18:1 And David numbered the people that [were] with him, and set captains of thousands and captains of hundreds over them.

Ver. 1. And David numbered the people.] Which seem to be by this time not so few as four thousand, as Josephus reporteth them, or seven thousand, as Comestor, but many more; so that he was confident of the victory, and gave charge concerning Absalom, that his life should be spared.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Sa_18:1-17

And David numbered the people that were with him.

The fatal fight

This chapter is a narrative of that fatal fight wherein Absalom the son, fought with David his father for the kingdom of Israel.

I. The antecedents of the battle.

1. David mustered all his forces, which Josephus reckons but four thousand, yet Comestor computes them to be seven thousand (2Sa_18:1), but tis probable they were many more from these cogent reasons.

(1) Davids army must needs be greatly augmented by the two tribes and half beyond Jordan, who, living far distant from Absaloms court at Jerusalem, had not been corrupted with that usurpers flatteries, nor alienated in their affections to David, whom they knew to be a good king, and made now miserable only by an unnatural rebellious son, therefore out of compassion, as well as out of loyalty, they could not but flock to him in great numbers.

(2) Had they been so small a number as Josephus saith, David needed not to have been so exact in setting captains over them by hundreds, and by thousands, and in dividing them into three battalions, and committing them to the conduct of three generals, as it is expressly recorded in 2Sa_18:12, though the number be not, etc.

(3) That expression, Thou art worth ten thousand of us (2Sa_18:4) doth imply that this number was but the one-half of the army, beside a fourth part of it left behind to garrison Mahanaim.

(4) Tis certain they were such a considerable army as therewith David durst venture to take the field, and rationally commit his righteous cause to the trial of a pitched battle.

(5) Davids prospect of his victory, whereof he was so confident, that he giveth charge to his army not to kill Absalom, but only to take him prisoner. Though victory doth not, indeed, depend upon the multitude of armies, yet David knew well he ought not to tempt the Lord, and to expect a conquest by a miracle (which God had not promised), but by the use of probable means.

2. Davids offering himself to hazard his royal person with his army in the field-battle (2Sa_18:2.)

3. The armies refusal of his royal offer (2Sa_18:3), which they did not out of any contempt of the king to cross his kingly power and pleasure, but out of the highest veneration to his royal person, which made them so careful and conscientious for his personal preservation, and they grounded their laudable refusal of his offer upon solid reasons:

(1) Thou art the main mark the rebels aim at, and should they know that thou art in the field they would bend all their forces against thee, as (1Ki_22:31) the Syrians did.

(2) The slaughter of thee (whom only the rebels resolve to ruin) would rejoice them more than the slaughter of ten thousand of us thy subjects, for then have they their end, to set up Absalom in thy throne (2Sa_17:2.)

(3) The dignity of thy person exalts thee above ten thousand of us, and therefore thy ruin by the rebels would do ten thousand times more damage to the state of Israel.

(4) But if thou be kept alive, though the rebels rout us, yet mayst thou recruit a new and another army, and so disappoint them still from accomplishing their design.

4. Davids prudence to the people, and his indulgence to his rebellious son (2Sa_18:4-5.)

(1) From his natural, affectionate disposition, always a fond father to his children, full of clemency, insomuch that be spared Saul his enemy when in his power once and again (1Sa_24:1-22; 1Sa_26:1-25.) No wonder, then, if he were for sparing his eldest son.

(2) He doth not call him my son, because that would have aggravated his crime, but Hebr. the boy, or young man, imputing his heinous rebellion to the heat of his youth, which makes men heady, high-minded, and inclinable to evil counsels and practices; but if he might be spared and live till he were older, age and experience would make him wiser.

(3) David was conscious to himself that he was the meritorious and procuring cause of this rebellion, and that Absalom was given up of God to punish Davids sins (2Sa_12:11-12), and therefore pitied him.

(4) This pious father would not have his impious son to die in his sin, without repentance, for then soul and body perish for ever.

(5) Peter Martyr makes David a type of Christ,, who prayed for his crucifiers, as David did here, for a rebel son against his father.

II. Now come we to The concomitants of this fatal fight.

1. The place where the battle was fought, tis called the wood of Ephraim (verse 6), though it was certainly beyond Jordan, so not in that tribe, but called so either because it was over against Ephraim, or because of forty thousand Ephramites lost their lives there (Jdg_12:5-6).

2. Davids victory: (verse 7) The battle was soon determined. Absaloms army (consisting of raw, inexperienced men in martial matters) stood not the first shock of Davids old soldiers.

3. The wood devoured more than the sword (verse 8.):Behold, here Davids policy and Absaloms infatuation to fight in so fatal a place as the wood of Ephraim which had been so fatal to Oreb and Zeeb in Gideons time (Jdg_7:25; Jdg_8:3), and to the Ephramites also (Jdg_12:5-6.) The routed rabble, running from death, ran to it while they ran into the wood to hide themselves; some fell upon stubs that did beat the breath out of their bodies when they had spent the most of it by their hasty running away; some for haste plunged themselves into pits and ditches which were in the wood (verse 17), and which either they saw not (being covered with the rubbish of the wood), and so their violent flight hurried them in at unawares. So dreadful a thing it is to provoke the Lord of Hosts, who call arm all things to destroy us, etc.

4. Absalom was hanged by the neck upon the forked bough of an oak in this same wood (verse 9).

(1) Absalom met Davids soldiers, and they, according to Davids command, spared him, and gave him an opportunity to escape, but Divine vengeance would not spare him.

(2) The great God directed the branch of the oak, as he rode under it, to catch hold of his long hair that was loosely dishevelled upon his shoulders, and there hangs him up by the neck betwixt heaven, and earth, as one rejected of both, and not fit to live in either of them.

(3) Some do wonder how Absalom came here among the thickets of the wood, where there was no way, especially for riders? Sanctius wittily observes that seeing it is said, Absalom met Davids servants by chance, it seems he rather peeped upon them (fighting in the battle) out of some safe and secret place than fought against them in the front of the fight; this was a chief leader and general likely to conquer. However, this is beyond doubt that when he saw his rabble were routed, a dreadful fright fell upon him, and fleeing, left the common road and rode among the thickets, till caught by his long locks (such as Samson had, Jdg_16:13) in a crotch of the oak.

(4) He being held fast there by the hair of his head, his mule that was under him went away, which might easily happen, because, being in flight, the mule passed along very swiftly. As this mule lurched, his master, so will worldly wealth lurch worldlings at their death, however: and so will false grounded hopes lurch hypocrites (Job_8:13; Job_11:20), whereas a lively hope (1Pe_1:3), a daughter of the faith of Gods elect (Tit_1:1) rightly grounded on Gods promises will not lurch us, no, not at death (Pro_14:32), but will do to us what Bucephalus, Alexanders great horse, did to him, which (as Aulus Gellius reporteth), though deeply wounded in both neck and sides in a battle, yet carried his master with great speed out of danger of the enemy, and when he had set his master down in safety then himself fell down and died: So true hope lands us in glory, then expectation dies into fruition, etc. This unnatural wretch was unworthy to be slain by the sword, but he must be hanged on a tree, and so die that cursed death (Deu_21:23, Gal_3:13.) His haughty mind resolved to be on high, right or wrong, though he made his own too affectionate fathers carcase a stepping-stone whereon to step up to the highest throne; and now is he hanged up on high, anti his ambitious head is in its proper exaltation. He is hanged by that very head wherewith he had been plotting the worst sort of high treason, against so good a father. His hair, wherein he had so much prided himself, God made an halter to hang him with: The instrument of his vainglory became the instrument of his death and ignominy. So perilous it is to pride ourselves in any habiliments either of nature or of fortune, seeing the matter of our pride may be the means of our ruin.

5. The dialogue between General Joab and the soldier that first saw Absalom hanged in an oak (verse 10, 11, 12, 13.)

(1) It seems Absalom did hang some time before he was seen, being in a by-path and blind place, this long and lasting colour was far more intolerable than had he been hanged outright m a halter.

(2) This soldier that first saw him durst not dispatch him, though Absalom might desire him to do it, to put him out of his pain, as Saul had desired his armour-bearer on the like account (1Sa_31:4.)

(3) Joab, when he told him what he had seen, chides him for not doing it, and if he would still go back and do it he would give him a rich reward (verse 11). Though Joab was desirous that such a public pest were slain, yet would he rather have it to be done by another hand than by his own, for fear of Davids displeasure. Politicians, like the ape, pull nuts out of the fire with the paw of a eat.

(4) The soldier answers (verse 12) I dare not do it for a thousand shekels, for the king commanded to the contrary (verse 5), it would be as much as my life is worth, which is of more value to me than all thy thousand shekels, and belts and badges of valour. What mad men are many, that for a few paltry shillings play away their precious souls, which this soldier durst not do.

(5) Should I have done it, saith he, I should have been false to myself (verse 13) in betraying myself to Davids revenge, or should I do it now, and then deny it to save my life by a lie, the king is so wise he would soon discover it, and then inflict a double punishment upon me not only for my foul fact in doing it, but also for my falsehood in denying it.

(6) And thou thyself (saith he) wouldst set thyself against me, that is, thou wouldst become my adversary, or satan, and wouldst be the first that would accuse me to the kings court, for doing that which thou now wouldst, draw me to do against the kings command. Thus the devil deals with tempted souls, as Joab would have dealt with this soldier, first he tempts them to sin, and then he accuses them for sin, as he is the accuser of the brethren (Rev_12:10, Job_1:9.)

6. Joabs slaughter of Absalom (verses 14, 15.)

(1) Daring Joab, saith, as his vale or farewell to the soldier.

(2) Behold here the just judgment of God upon this vilely vicious, ambitious Absalom: He will needs be a new king before his time, and now hath here this oak for his throne, his twisted hair about the bough for his crown, three darts in his heart for his sceptre, his proud heart is darted through, and Joabs ten armour-bearers for his royal guard, for defiling Davids ten concubines. Thus God writ his sin upon his punishment, that little breath still left in him these ten did beat out of his body (verse 15). So heres ten to ten in both cases.

(3) Joabs killing of Absalom contrary to the kings command some condemn, but others justify and commend it; Peter Martyr and Grotius do canvas this controversy pro and con, etc. (C. Ness.)

The battle and its issue

1. Before the battle, David does not bear prosperity well. He shines best in trial. He is greater when fleeing from Saul than when in the palace. His flight without his crown reveals his real kingliness. Surely David is in much communion with God. He is pressed with sorrow, but then his character like as myrrh is most fragrant. He is most restful. Fear has gone. He pillowed his head on the truth, that ever drives fear away. Such a calm restfulness would be sure to give indications of Gods nearness, and we find many signs of Divine guidance. How discreet he is! How they are blundering at Jerusalem! How wise to make Mahanaim his headquarters, though most probably his choice was made all unconscious of its splendid adaptability to the necessities of the hour. He was led by a Hand Divine. Did David pray for wisdom? Surely such quiet restfulness in Gods guidance is ever accompanied by prayerful fellowship! The Father of light gives to those who ask: how far wiser should we be if we asked! Was it this hallowed experience at Mahanaim which evoked his impressive charge to Solomon? (1Ch_22:12; 1Ki_3:9.) So passed the week before the battle.

2. Concerning the battle itself, as to details of conflict, we know little. Probably Absalom has been three months king. According to the counsel of Hushai, he heads the army. The first shock decided the fortunes of the day, as indeed is still common in Eastern warfare, and Absaloms army flees in confusion. Davids army is victorious, and ere the evening came all Israel and Judah knew that David had conquered.

3. After the battle. David is sitting between the two gates (2Sa_18:24) waiting for the news. The watchmen upon the wall are gazing anxiously, and yet more anxious is the expectation of the king. All is so graphically told. His hope when he hears the bearer is Ahimaaz, the parent-heart asking for his son amid the news of victory, the falsity of the messenger when face to face with the agitated king (2Sa_18:29), the quickened hope so bluntly quenched by the less cautious Cushi, and then the wail, that has been echoed from so many hearts since: O my son Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!

(1) An entire absence of resignation to Gods will. Strange, is it not, that which is so prominent in all his other times of trial is prominent by its absence here! He abandons himself uncontrolledly to his feelings. Unless those in public places of honour sink their private feelings in public duty, why are they there? Davids heart is lacerated now. His own sins make his grief the heavier. We note too--

(2) His petulant wish and foolish complaint. Had he died in place of Absalom, what would have become of Israel with such a king, and where the promise of God to him? On public grounds Davids utterance can find no justification, and Joab is right when he arouses him from his selfish grief. Better for David had he sought, in the early days of his sons life, by prayer and holy conduct, to have lived for his children than wished to die for them. We need to learn it is better to live for our children than wail a wish to die over characters we have helped to form. Still, we can but admire him as a father! Does love first ruin and then pray? We can, however, understand the wail of David if he was thinking of the eternal interests. This was agony time might mitigate and soften but never obliterate. Before the mysterious in the dealings of God with him, he bowed in an agony Joab could not understand. That surely is one of the sad penalties of declension from the ways of God. Grief was borne by him and not carried to God. Hence for a while Davids character is clouded again. (H. E. Stone.)

David and Absalom

1. The first thing that strikes us in chap. 18, is the reward of faithfulness in the appointment of the three captains. (Luk_22:28-30.)

2. The charge concerning Absalom (v. 5; Rom_12:19; Gal_6:1)--a lesson for us in our treatment of others. The Lord is ever saying, Deal gently with my rebels. The wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. We are too like Joab, so indignant against the sinner that we forget our own weakness, and yet he followed Adonijah! And we too generally find when we are very indignant against soma one else, we are pretty sure to go away and commit the same sin.

3. The fate of Absalom. Two things are said to have contributed to his fate--his ostentation in going into battle on a mule instead of on foot, as David and all warriors did, and his vanity in wearing his hair long (though it does not follow that this caused his death, as we are only told that he was caught by his head, probably his helmet). The heap of stones--disgrace. (Jos_7:26.)

4. The kings grief. (Luk_19:41; Rom_5:7.) A beautiful contrast between type and antitype Would God I had died. I lay down my life for the sheep. (R. E. Faulkner.)

Absalom: a character study

I. The first suggested point in this Old Testament character study is, that of a royal father and son in deadly antagonism. The ground of this antagonism was Absaloms attempt to usurp the throne. He sought by intrigue to dethrone his father, and to seize the kingdom and crown for himself. There is another antagonism of a more momentous character raging to-day between the Royal Father in heaven and the rebel Absaloms in our midst. An antagonism spiritual in its nature, gigantic in its proportions, fearful in its tendencies, tremendous in its issues. It is hostility between the creature and his Creator, the subject and his Sovereign, the recreant son and his loving, all-compassionate Father. Wonder, O heavens, and be astonished, O earth! Can the finite contend with the Infinite? Can the worm: strive with his Maker? Can man fight with God? Woe unto him, says the prophet, that striveth with his Maker. Woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, that take counsel but not of Me, and that cover with a covering but not of My spirit, that they may add sin to sin. The Lord shall go forth as a mighty man. He shall stir up jealousy like a man of war. He shall cry yea, roar. He shall prevail against His enemies.

II. The second practical suggestion of this Old Testament character study is, that the means used to escape from the kings servants brought defeat and death. Absalom depended on the fleetness of his mule for safe and speedy flight, which, had it been on the unobstructed highway instead of the untrodden, perilous forest path, might in all human probability have been accomplished. As it was, the fleeter the animal, the greater the danger of becoming entangled among the trees of the wood. So it is to-day with the modern Absaloms who have formed conspiracies against goodness, purity, justice, right; who are subtly or openly assailing the kingdom of truth, the throne of God, the kinghood of the Nazarene, doing their utmost to wrench the sceptre of authority from His grasp, and to dash the diadem of divinity from His kingly head, they are getting the worst of the contest. Absalom-like, they are trying to evade the Kings army, to escape the Kings pursuing servants, but ere long they will find the giant oak of Divine retribution in the way, which will grasp them between its mighty arms, while their fleet-footed mules will go suddenly from under them.

1. Some have mounted the mule of intellectual pride, and are posting off into the wood of scepticism, rationalism, deism, agnosticism, secularism, atheism. Much learning is generally conceit, and conceit is turning men intellectually and morally insane. Advanced thought is but the synonym for advanced alienation of the heart from the living God, and advanced thought is only the modern form of unbelief. Pseudo-philosophy is weaving a shroud for the burial of truth. Men to-day glory in what they do not rather than in what they do know. Ignorance seems bliss. Doubting is emphasised and glorified. Believing and knowing are childish. Thus the advocates of doubt, the spastics of unbelief, the boastful know-nothings, have exiled from their little world the Creator, and enthroned blind chance or arrogant-reason. They have struck out from their sky the blazing sun of truth, and are groping their way amid the shadows and uncertainties of a scholarly scepticism or an ignorant know-nothingism! In a word, they have mounted the mule of intellectual vanity, imagining thereby to escape God, who pursues them on the line of their intuitions, moral instincts, inner consciousness, and crushed but not extinguished spiritual nature, not knowing that there is a mystic tree of judgment, whose giant branches shall seize their haughty heads and swing their spirits back to the God who gave them.

2. Again, there are others who are trying to escape from their convictions of right, duty, and personal responsibility to humanity and God on the mule of alcohol. Such foolish Absaloms I have known. Some of them men of broad intellect, wide reading, and splendid parts, but weak on one side of their nature in more senses than one. For years there has been hostility to God, the will running counter to the Divine Will, the actions contrary to the Divine Commands, the heart opposite to the Divine Spirit. They have defied the Divine Almightiness, trampled in the dust the Divine Law, and flung insult and injury on the Divine Heart of Love. Thus have they tried to get away from conscience, remorse, God! But what folly. True, they may drown conviction for a time, but only for it to come back with tenfold force. I can conceive of no infatuation greater than that of a man resorting to drink in order to drown trouble, quell fear, or quiet conscience. As well attempt to extinguish debt by burning the creditors bills, or to ease pain by plunging the hand into the fire, as to evade trouble, remorse, God, by fleeing to the gin palace or the beershop. In reality this method is only adding fuel to the fires of conscience, poignancy to the stings of remorse, terror to the recurring thought of God and eternity. It is heaping up wrath against the day of wrath. Absalom never intended riding rote the jaws of death, but he got there. Once seized by the iron grip of the drink appetite, and it clutches a man most insidiously but surely; there is little or no chance of release from its fatal consequences.

3. Once more, others in society to-day are making the effort to escape from their convictions of right, duty, God, on the mule of absorbing worldliness. They have plunged into business, and are, driving bargains and speculations furiously. They have invested all their capital, their energies, talents, attention, interests, being, with its wealth of possibilities, in pushing trade to a golden success. Principle has to do homage to policy, morality to bow to fraud or the ordinary so-called tricks of trade in order to pile up a pyramid of gold and to rank as merchant princes. It is business, nothing but business; bargains, nothing but bargains; the muck-rake of mammon and nothing else, until they become walking icebergs of materialism. But conscience lifts up its thunderous voice and pours forth a whole valley of warnings, threatenings, alarms. Its voice is unpleasant. Its constant speakings are distracting and offensive. To get beyond its condemnatory voice they spur on their mule into the denser wood, the more perilous forest of worldliness, oblivious of the Nemesis of retribution which will seize their sordid soul, and swing them into eternal poverty with a Dives and a rich fool.

4. Another, as the representative of a large class, has saddled the mule of worldly pleasure. He rides in search of carnal amusement, delight of the senses, spurning religion which holds the true secret of abiding happiness by fixing itself within the man. He hurries hither and thither, seeking job: from without, rootless joy, and all he gets proves false, precarious, brief. Like gathered flowers, though fair and fragrant for awhile, it speedily withers and becomes offensive. Whereas joy from within, rooted in God, is akin to drinking in aroma from the rose on the tree; it becomes more sweet and beautiful; it is enduring; it is immortal. To live in the realm of sense is to die in the realm of sorrow I Believe me, there is no pleasurist of this world without his Eve, no Eve without her serpent, and no serpent without its sting. The wages of sin is death. The sting of death is sin. I tell you, you cannot get away from all Gods servants. If you escape pinching poverty, blasting pestilence, drivelling insanity, torturing affliction, painful bereavement, there is one servant that will overtake you, the pale horse and his rider. That horse of untiring strength and unpausing celerity is teeter of foot than your mule. (J. O. Keen, D. D.)

Bush warfare

This district appears to have resembled the bush of Australia and the jungle of India. It was not a dense forest, but consisted of rocky ground covered with prickly shrubs and tangled underwood, having stout oaks and other trees as well as precipitous glens to increase its terrors and perils. Such a place of thickets and thorns was called in Bible times yaar, and now is known as waar. It would give a certain advantage to a smaller force of experienced warriors like Davids in resisting the onset of a larger but less disciplined array such as followed Absalom. Probably, too, many of the latter were more accustomed to the bare wadies (or valleys) and limestone rocks of Western Palestine, while the loyalists were not unfamiliar with bush warfare, British troops have often had to encounter difficulties and dangers similar to those which aided to defeat Absalom on this occasion. During the war of 1755, several of King Georges best regiments were nearly annihilated in a thick wood near Pittsburgh, in Pennsylvania. Embarrassed by the brushwood and irregular trees, they could not perceive their Indian foes, who, keeping out of sight, discharged their muskets, with horrible yells more disconcerting than the weapons. (Sunday Companion.)

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2Sa 18:1-3. David numbered the people that were with him — Which had flocked to him thither, so as to make up a small army. And finding himself sufficiently strong to go against the enemy, he resolved not to wait their coming, but to give the assault; and accordingly marched his forces out of the city, dividing them into three parts, and setting a captain over each, one of whom, however, Joab, was, doubtless, also general of the whole army. I will surely go forth with you myself also — Which he thought would be a great encouragement to them, and cause them to fight the more valiantly. The people answered, Thou shalt not go with us — They did not think it advisable that he should hazard his life, on the preservation of which their common cause, in a great measure, depended; signifying that if they should be routed, and half of them slain, Absalom would not think himself a conqueror as long as David was alive, who might raise new forces and give him battle again. Indeed it was Absalom’s great error, and the utter ruin of himself and his cause, to go to battle in his own person, an error into which he was drawn by a divine infatuation, through Hushai’s craft. Now thou art worth ten thousand of us — Not only for the dignity of thy person, but also for the importance of our common cause, which, if thou art slain, is irrecoverably lost. It is better that thou succour us out of the city — By sending us supplies of men and provisions of all sorts, together with counsel and advice, as we shall have occasion; and by securing our retreat if we be defeated.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

THE COUNSEL OF AHITHOPHEL DEFEATED BY HUSHAI, 2Sa_18:1-14.

Most vividly graphic is this sketch of what Kitto calls “the first cabinet council to which history admits us.” It would be difficult to find in the same space a more perfect word picture. After his most shameful incest in the sight of all Israel, Absalom returns for further counsel, and finds his great adviser full of deep-laid plans for future action. He would have the prince continue his lewd pleasures at Jerusalem, whilst himself, at the head of a strong force, would pursue the fugitive David, steal upon him in the still darkness of the night, paralyze his heart and hands with fear, scatter his defenders, and smite him whom alone it was necessary to smite in order to crush all opposition. Absalom and all his cabinet are highly pleased, and we fancy the graphic language and great influence of the wise counsellor make them almost feel that the desired result is already as good as reached. But Hushai is called in to give also his opinion, and what we have already learned of the weight of Ahithophel’s counsel only serves to prepare us for a fuller appreciation of the superior skill and captivating eloquence of Hushai. He adroitly acknowledges the excellence of Ahithophel’s advice, but thinks it ill-timed, and then, with winged words, depicts the chafed monarch, furious as the wild bear robbed of her whelps, cunning and crafty as years of dangerous warfare could make him, not to be taken by surprise, nor so easily smitten as Ahithophel had presumed. He counsels delay, until Absalom himself, with overwhelming numbers, shall he able to cover his enemies as with the dews of night, or to drag down the walls of the city in which they might entrench themselves. And so totally did his speech defeat the counsel of Ahithophel that Absalom and all his council adopted his opinions.

1. Twelve thousand men — How numerous already had the adherents of Absalom become! The two hundred innocent followers of 2Sa_15:11, come back twelve thousand strong, but not now “in their simplicity.”

THE BATTLE IN THE WOOD OF EPHRAIM, AND DEATH OF ABSALOM, 2Sa_18:1-33.

1. Numbered the people — Josephus says he found them to be about four thousand. Others have inferred, from 2Sa_18:3, that they were ten thousand. Many had probably rallied to his standard at Mahanaim.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL AND EXPOSITORY NOTES.—

2Sa_18:1. “David numbered,” etc. “The hardy mountaineers of Gilead came in great numbers at the call of their chieftains.”—(Jamieson.) Josephus says the army numbered about 4000.

2Sa_18:6. The situation of this battle-ground is much disputed. Erdmann thinks the name can be understood only of the forest covering the mountains of Ephraim mentioned in Jos_17:15-18, and Keil agrees with him; but against this view the majority of writers on the subject urge the statement that Absalom encamped in Gilead (2Sa_17:26.), and the fact that the army returned to Mahanaim after the battle (2Sa_19:3; 2Sa_19:15). The expression in 2Sa_18:3, “that thou succour us out of the city” is also strongly in favour of the assumption that the battle took place in Gilead. But if so, there is no satisfactory answer to the question why the site bore this designation. Mr. Groves suggests (Bib. Dict.) that the forest may have been so called after this battle on account of the conspicuous part which the tribe of Ephraim probably took in the rebellion. Grotius suggests that the name was derived from the slaughter of the Ephraimites by Jephthah in the neighbourhood (Jdg_12:1-3), and Dean Stanley and others, that there was a settlement of Ephraim there in connection with the neighbouring brother tribe of Manasseh.

2Sa_18:7. “People of Israel.” “This designation, together with the immense slaughter afterwards, shows the large extent to which the people were enlisted in this unhappy civil contest.”—(Jameison.) “Twenty thousand men.” It is commonly supposed that Absalom’s army was far larger than David’s.… A great loss, yet not improbable under the circumstances. The victory may be accounted for by the superior organisation of David’s troops and the superior generalship of his army-leaders.”—(Translator of Lange’s Commentary.)

2Sa_18:8. “The wood devoured.” “Most likely the woody region was full of ravines, precipices, and marshes, into which the flying foe was pursued, and where so many perished.”—(Keil).

2Sa_18:9. “Met.” Rather, Came upon, found himself among. “A mule.” Lit. “upon the mule.” Josephus says that it was the king’s mule. Compare 1Ki_1:33; 1Ki_1:38; 1Ki_1:44, where the riding upon the king’s mule is represented as an act of royal authority.—(Wordsworth). “Oak.” “Terebinth.” “Probably Quercus Ægilope, Valonia Oak, for which Gilead and Bashan were famous.”—Jameison. “Caught hold.” Lit., made itself fast in. There is no mention made here of the hair of Absalom being the cause of his entanglement. That would be covered by his helmet.

2Sa_18:11. “A girdle.” “A girdle, curiously and richly wrought, was among the ancient Hebrews a mark of honour, and sometimes bestowed as a reward of military merit.” (Jamieson.)

2Sa_18:13. “Otherwise,” etc. Rather, “Or, had I dealt deceitfully against his life, i.e., have wrought falsehood by killing him, inasmuch as I should then have acted against the express prohibition of the king. The words, ‘and nothing is hid from the king,’ form a parenthesis; the apo-dosis begins with, ‘and thou.’ ” (Erdmann.)

2Sa_18:14. “Darts.” The Hebrew word means a sharp, wooden staff. “This explains the reason for his taking three, whereas one javelin or dart would have been sufficient; and also the fact that Absalom was not slain, notwithstanding their being thrust at his heart. The last clause of this verse belongs to what follows:—“Still living in the midst of the terebinth, ten young men,” etc. (Keil.)

2Sa_18:17 : “Laid.” Rather, threw. “The people of the East indicate their detestation of the memory of an infamous person by throwing stones at the place where he is buried. The heap is increased by the gradual accumulation of stones which passers-by add to it.” (Jamieson.) (See also, Jos_8:26; Jos_8:29). “All Israel.” Absalom’s army.

2Sa_18:18. “The king’s dale.” The valley of the Kidron, or Jehoshaphat, so called from the events recorded in Gen_14:17. “No son.” Those mentioned in 2Sa_14:27 must have died, or were born after the erection of the pillar. “Absalom’s place.” Lit., hand, that which pointed him out. “And perhaps, also, as being his handiwork.” (Wordsworth.)

2Sa_18:21. “Cushi.” It is uncertain whether this is a proper name for an Israelite, or whether it signifies a descendant of Cush. “The form of the name rather favours the latter view, in which case it would suggest the idea of a Moorish slave in the service of Joab.” (Keil.) “He sent an Ethiopian, thinking it small damage if he received hurt of the king.” (Grotius.)

2Sa_18:22. “No tidings ready.” “The message is not a reward—bringing one.” (Erdmann.) “Thou wilt not carry a good message.” (Luther.) “Thou hast not idings sufficient,” that is—“The Cushite has already carried the news.” (Biblical Commentary.)

2Sa_18:23. “The plain.” The Jordan valley. Those who contend that the battle was fought on the west of the Jordan, think that this statement confirms their view. But those who favour the general opinion, contend that if the battle were on the eastern side of the river, Ahimaaz might still have found a quicker way to Mahanaim by way of the Jordan valley; and that the expression intimates that Cushi did not take that route which he would have done, had he been on the west of Jordan,

2Sa_18:24. “The two gates.” “The outer and inner gate of the fortified city wall, between which there was a small court.” (Keil.)

2Sa_18:25. “Tidings.” “Good tidings.” If the army had been defeated there would have been many as fugitives.

2Sa_18:27. “Good man.” One whom Joab would not have sent as a messenger of evil.

2Sa_18:28. “All is well.” Heb. Shalom, Peace! The usual Hebrew salutation.

2Sa_18:33. “The chamber,” etc. A sequestered part of the building to which a person can retire for meditation and undisturbed solitude.” (Dr. Shaw.) “O my son.” “To understand this passionate utterance of anguish, we must bear in mind not only the excessive tenderness, or rather weakness, of David’s paternal affection for his son, but also his anger that Joab and his generals should have paid so little regard to his command to deal gently with Absalom. With the king’s excitable temperament, this entirely prevented him from taking a just and correct view of the crime of his rebel son, which merited death, and of the penal justice of God which had been manifest in his destruction.” (Keil.)

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE CHAPTER

THE DEATH OF ABSALOM

I. The wicked are successful only until they have fulfilled God’s purposes. Hitherto all Absalom’s plans had prospered. Great numbers—possibly a large majority (see note on 2Sa_18:7) of the people of Israel—had gathered to his standard; he had entered the capital without resistance and had apparently secured an efficient leader of his army. So far he was allowed to proceed without check, because he was the instrument in God’s hand of executing His sentence upon David. But his mission was now fulfilled. David had received his chastisement with becoming submission, and given full evidence of his sincere and hearty repentance, and now God has no more work for Absalom to do, and permits so insignificant a thing as the branch of a tree to seize and hold him until he receives the doom he deserves. This is the lot of all ungodly men. Unwilling to be workers with God—having no sympathy with His desires and aims—they shall yet unconsciously work for Him, while they follow the lead of their own unlawful passions. In this sense God called Nebuchadnezzar his “servant” (Jer_25:9; Jer_27:6; Jer_43:10) because while he was pursuing his own ambitious designs, he was unconsciously inflicting the chastisement necessary to Israel’s moral restoration; but when he and his descendants had accomplished the work their power was given into other hands. It is ever so when the rulers of the world take “counsel against the Lord and against His anointed” (Psalms 2)—for a time all their plans seem to prosper, but when they have fulfilled the counsel of the most High, the word goes forth:—“Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further; and here shall thy proud waves be stayed.” (Job_38:11)

II. There are depths of human affection which no ingratitude can exhaust. The strength of human love is measured by the demands made upon it. We cannot certify that the well is deep from which we only draw a few buckets of water, but if it yields abundantly after an unusual demand has been made upon it, we know certainly that it must be fed from an almost inexhaustible source. There is an ordinary natural affection which will bear an ordinary strain, but gives way under the pressure of great unkindness or even neglect. But, as in the case of David, there is a human love so strong and deep that no cruelty can dry it up or even lessen its intensity. If Absalom had been David’s most dutiful son he could have scarcely uttered a more pathetic lament over him; although he had received at his hands as much dishonour and insult as it was possible for one man to offer to another, the father’s heart still acknowledges the tie between them and first tries to save the traitor’s life and then bitterly mourns the failure of his effort. Perhaps no man could thus retain his tenderness towards an erring child unless he had himself been made sensible of the love of the Divine Father towards himself, a deep consciousness of our own ingratitude to God and of His infinite patience and mercy to us must make us long-suffering and pitiful, and even loving towards those who sin against us. This sense of the love of God is the living spring whence must flow unfailing springs of tenderness towards all men, and especially towards those related to us by natural ties, and streams so fed are not dried up by their wrong-doing. David’s love, we know, was fed by such a fountain, and hence its depth and strength.

OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS

2Sa_18:4. So meekly doth David submit himself to the will of his men. Affliction and meekness grow both on the same root in a holy tongue.—Trapp.

2Sa_18:1-4. Whatever fears of Divine desertion might occasionally darken the soul of David, between the day of his flight and the battle, it is certain that these visitations of alarm did not restrain him from prayer.… The immediate answer to prayer, in the present emergency, consisted to a large extent in the spirit of wisdom and counsel poured out upon David and his friends. Every step they took was taken with prudence, while every movement of their opponents was a blunder. It was wise in David, as we have already seen, to cross the Jordan and retire to Gilead; it was wise in him to make Mahanaim his head-quarters; it was wise, as we shall by and bye see to have a wood in the neighbourhood of the battle-field; and it was wise too, to make the arrangements that were actually adopted, in expectation of the enemy’s attack.… It is instructive to mark this; because there is a lurking feeling in the minds of some, that it is not so proper to pray for wisdom as for other and more spiritual gifts. And yet it is very certain that sound discretion is one of the gifts we are most specially invited to ask, and which believers through the merits of Christ, may most certainly expect.—Blaikie.

2Sa_18:4-8. Easy gained, easy lost. Absalom’s example shows that. And to-day also, in great as in small things, how can it be otherwise?—Schlier.

2Sa_18:10. When the hour of Absaloms’s calamities arrived it found him without a single friend! Even Saul had his armour-bearer at his side when lie fled over the mountains of Gilboa; but not an armour-bearer, not a servant, not a friend, not a single human being attended Absalom as he hastened from the battle-field. It could hardly be that he was last of all his army. Riding on a mule, he must have made more speed than most. Many of those who flocked to his standard must have passed him as he hung with his hair entangled in the prickly oak; but not one would spare the time to help him: intent on saving himself, each one left him to his fate. The world has seldom witnessed a more striking instance of retribution than in the fate of Absalom. As Saul had destroyed all the wizards in the land, and could hardly find one when he desired their help; so Absalom had made havoc of the loyal hearts of the kingdom, and when he needed a loyal heart not one could he obtain. If he had secured but one heart by honest means, it would have served him in better stead than all that he had stolen.—Blaikie.

2Sa_18:14. It was the purpose of the Lord that Absalom should perish, and in the person of Joab God found a fitting instrument for carrying His purpose into effect. How often have we occasion to remark the intrepid boldness of the ways of Providence. The mind of God is a wonderful combination of qualities; with a tenderness more soft than that of the most affectionate woman, it combines a courage more fearless than that of the most iron-hearted warrior. When once it appears to God that some dreadful blow is necessary for the greater good of an individual or the world, He advances to strike it with an unhesitating and unshrinking step.… But it is not always when such things must be done that God finds an instrument for doing them, animated by the same spirit of mingled firmness and tenderness as Himself. Nay, it is not often that He does so. Firm men are not commonly tender; tender men are not commonly firm. The separation is the usual result of human imperfection. The instruments God has to employ for His sterner judgments are commonly men of little compassion, of firm nerve, and relentless purpose. Such was His instrument in the death of Absalom.—Blaikie.

2Sa_18:18. So did Absalom esteem himself, that he thought it would be a wrong to the world to want the memorial of so goodly a person. God had denied him sons; how just it was that he should want a son, who had robbed his father of a son, who would have robbed himself of a father, his father of a kingdom! It had been pity so poisonous a plant should have been fruitful: his pride shall supply nature; he rears up a stately pillar in the king’s dale, and calls it by his own name, that he might live in dead stones, who could not survive in living issue; and now behold this curious pile ends in a rude heap, which speaks no language but the shame of that carcass which it covers. Hear this, ye glorious fools, that care not to perpetuate any memory of yourselves to the world, but of ill-deserving greatness; the best of this affectation is vanity; the worst, infamy and dishonour; whereas the memorial of the just shall be blessed: and if his humility shall refuse an epitaph, and choose to hide himself under the bare earth, God Himself shall engrave his name upon the pillar of eternity.

2Sa_18:9-18. Absalom and David did each his utmost, and showed what he could do; how bad it is possible for a child to be to the best of fathers, and how good it is possible for a father to be to the worst of children; as if it were designed to be a resemblance of man’s wickedness towards God, and God’s mercy towards man, of which it is hard to say which is more amazing.—Henry.

Heaven-wide opposites that cannot be reconciled. I. God’s strict righteousness, when the measure of His holy wrath is full, and human compassion, when the measure of Divine patience and long-suffering is full. II. Rude exercise of power, which in self-will and recklessness destroys a human life, and tender conscientiousness, which fears to strive against God by attempts upon a human life. III. The honour, which man in his pride prepares for himself before the world, and the shame, with which God punishes such pride.—Lange’s Commentary.

Justly was he lift up to the oak, who had lift up himself against his father and sovereign; justly is he pierced with darts, who had pierced his father’s heart with so many sorrows; justly is he mangled, who hath dismembered and divided all Israel; justly is he stoned, who not only cursed, but pursued his own parent.—Bp. Hall.

What is this we hear? that he, whose life Israel valued at ten thousand of theirs, should be exchanged with a traitor’s: that a good king, whose life was sought, should wish to lay it down for the preservation of his murderer. The best men have not wont to be the least passionate. But what shall we say to that love of thine, O Saviour, who hast said of us wretched traitors, not “Would God I had died for you!” but, I will die, I do die, I have died for you. O love, like thyself, infinite, incomprehensible, whereat the angels of heaven stand yet amazed, where-with thy saints are ravished!—Bp. Hall.

When the infant of Bathsheba died, he could say, “I shall go to him;” but on this occasion there is no such comforting assurance. Absalom’s sun had gone down in thickest darkness; no one ray of hope remained to relieve the gloom of his father’s heart; and none but those who have been called to mourn in similar circumstances can tell how bitter is a grief like that.

But worse than either of these ingredients in this cup of anguish would be, as I think, the consciousness in David’s heart, that if he had himself been all he ought to have been, his son might not thus have perished. Was there no connection between his own great trespass and Absalom’s iniquity? If he had been less foolishly indulgent, Absalom might never have rebelled. Nay, if he had been wiser, even after Absalom’s fratricidal guilt, probably he had not stung him into revolt. Such thoughts and questionings as these, would, I doubt not, intensify the sadness of the Psalmist in this trying hour; and it becomes every parent among us to see that in his training of his children, and in his life before them, there is nothing that may tend to ruin them. David now professes, and I believe with truth, to desire that he had died for Absalom; but that was a vain wish. He ought to have lived more for Absalom. He ought, by his own character, to have taught him to love holiness, or, at all events, he ought to have seen that there was nothing in his own conduct to encourage his son in wickedness or to provoke him to wrath; and then, though Absalom had made shipwreck, he might have had the consolation that he had done his utmost to prevent such a catastrophe.—Taylor.

We must bring David’s terrible grief to the standard of God’s Word, and try to apportion to it in due measure its need of praise and of blame. To begin with the least agreeable element. We cannot but be struck with the absence of what had kept him so calm in the climax of his public trials—the absence of any recognition of the hand of God, and of any expression of submission to his will.… His uncontrolled vehemence confirms a former remark, that in domestic matters, the Divine will was not regarded as his rule so much as in his public undertakings. It was not so regarded actively in considering what ought to be done, nor passively, in bearing what had to be borne.… In the agony of his private grief he forgot the public welfare of his kingdom. Noble and generous though the wish was—“Would God I had died for thee”—it was not on public grounds a wish that could be justified.—Blaikie.

David mourning over Absalom. I. Wherein it was right, (a) Parent love is indestructible. (b) Absalom was not wholly bad, and his faults had been aggravated by the misconduct of others, (c) David was conscious that all this was a chastening required by his own sin. II. Wherein it was wrong. (a) In that it excluded gratitude to his faithful and brave followers. (b) In preventing attention to the pressing duties of his position. (c) In causing him to overlook the fact that so long as Absalom lived the kingdom could have no peace. (d) In so far as it was not tempered by submission to the will of Jehovah.—Translator of Lange’s Commentary.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

For the Chapter 18 passage and footnotes, see 1Sa_17:24 ff.

b. 2Sa_18:1-8. The battle in the forest of Ephraim

2Sa_18:1-2. David organizes his army, and disposes it for battle.

2Sa_18:1 sq. 1) The mustering of the whole body of people with David, which had been constantly growing by reinforcements from the country east of the Jordan; 2) the division into smaller bodies of hundreds and thousands; 3) the organization of the whole army in three grand divisions under Joab, Abishai and Ittai the Gittite, comp. 2Sa_15:29. He “gave them into the hand” (Vulg.), that is, put them under the command of Joab and the others [Eng. A. V. not so well: “sent forth under the hand”].

2Sa_18:3-4. David’s attitude in respect to the impending battle. 1) David’s declaration that he would himself go into the fight; 2) the declaration of the people that they were unwilling to this, since the point was to secure his safety for the benefit of the whole people in the battle. “Thou1 art as we ten thousand,” that is, equal to ten thousand of us. David was to remain behind with a reserve-corps, in order in case of need to come to their help from the city, whence it may be inferred that Mahanaim was a strong place, where a stand might be made. The king agreed to this prudent proposition,2 and stood at the gate-side, while the army filed out before him.

2Sa_18:5. David’s order respecting Absalom. He said to the generals: Deal gently with the young man Absalom.—[Heb. has the dativus commodi: “deal me gently;” Eng. A. V.: “deal gently for my sake,” a fair rendering.—Tr.] The people heard it, that is, from bystanders, who spread it abroad.—[The text rather says that the people heard the king give the order; the fact is mentioned to explain the answer of the man to Joab in 2Sa_18:12; notice the phrase: “in our hearing” there.—Tr.] The brief exclamation of David accords with the vividly portrayed scene and with his feeling when he saw his army going forth against his son.

2Sa_18:6-8. The battle. “The people went out against Israel,” that is, David’s army made the attack. The battle was in the wood of Ephraim. This name can be understood only of the forest covering the mountains of Ephraim, which, when the Israelites entered Canaan, stretched over the whole mountain (Jos_17:15-18 : “go up into the forest,—a mountain shall be thine, for it is forest), and was still extensive in later times; see 1Sa_14:22-26, where it is said that the children of Israel first hid from the Philistines in mount Ephraim (that is, in the mountain-gorges and in caves), and then that all the people came into the forest. We are thus pointed to the wooded heights in the tribe of Ephraim, not far west of the Jordan. Further, Ahimaaz (2Sa_18:23) traverses the Jordan-valley in order to carry the news to David at Mahanaim. “Ahimaaz could not have gone this way if the battle had been on the east of the Jordan, and he wished to take a short route” (Keil). Ewald admits that the name “forest of Ephraim” seems certainly to point to the west of the river, but yet puts it on the east, because David’s army returned after the victory to Mahanaim, “while, if the battle had occurred on the west side, it would obviously have been much better to stay on that side and take possession of Jerusalem.” To this it need not be replied with Vaihinger (Herzog, Art. Ephraim) that “David wished to avoid further shedding of blood, and prudence and clemency dictated a return to Mahanaim;” rather it must be urged that Absalom’s defeat had put an end to the insurrection (2Sa_18:17; 2Sa_19:9), his followers were completely broken up, and therefore an immediate occupation of Jerusalem was unnecessary. But besides, the battle was a severe one, as appears from the fact that of Absalom’s army (which fought very bravely) twenty thousand men fell, and David’s army was not in condition after the fight to make a long and rapid march to Jerusalem. Moreover, even in that case it would have been necessary for the reserve with David to join the victorious army; this junction effected (by crossing the Jordan), the whole army marched to Jerusalem under the lead of the king. Thenius holds that the forest of Ephraim was east of the Jordan, on the ground that nothing is said of Absalom’s re-crossing the river (according to 2Sa_17:28 he encamped in Gilead, east of the river), that, if he had re-crossed, David (who stood only on the defensive) would have awaited another attack on his present position [Mahanaim], and that the expectation of help from the city [2Sa_18:3] presupposes that the battle occurred near Mahanaim, to which it is to be replied that 2Sa_18:6 shows that David did not act merely on the defensive (he marched against Absalom), and that David’s unexpected attack on Absalom’s army (which could not spread out in the relatively narrow space between Mahanaim and the Jordan) may well have forced its passage across the river, so that the decisive conflict occurred in’ the wooded hill-region of the tribe of Ephraim. The fact that David stayed behind with one division in Mahanaim, and sent the three generals with their divisions against Absalom, shows clearly that he acted on the offensive. The proposed “help from the city” was only for the case that the attack was not successful, and cannot be urged in support of the view that the battle was near Mahanaim. The narrator here relates only the final and decisive conflict, it not being his purpose to describe the previous actions by which Absalom’s army was forced across the Jordan. That the messengers (2Sa_18:19-27) had then to re-cross the Jordan in order to reach David makes no difficulty, since the river could easily be crossed by the fords. From the eastern edge of the wooded Mount Ephraim the messengers could reach Mahanaim by rapid travel in about two hours. The assumption by some expositors of a “Forest of Ephraim “east of the Jordan, presumedly so called from the defeat of the Ephraimites by the Gileadites (Jdg_12:1-5) is a mere conjecture untenable against the demonstrated geographical-historical significance of the name. [Another conjecture is that the “wood of Ephraim” was so called from the place Ephraim where Absalom had sheep-shearers (2Sa_13:23); but this has nothing in its favor, since, if the forest is to be put west of the river, the region in the tribe of Ephraim is the most natural here. Most expositors hold (against Erdmann) that the battle must have been near Mahanaim and on the east of the river, since the centre of action seems to be Mahanaim, and nothing is said of Joab’s crossing the river. But in the absence of all information about a “forest of Ephraim” east of the Jordan, the question must be regarded as unsettled. Mr. Grove suggests (Smith’s Bib.-Dict., Art. Wood of Ephraim) that the forest may have been called after this battle, from the prominent part taken in it by the powerful tribe of Ephraim on Absalom’s side; but this is not probable.—If the battle were on the east of the river Ahimaaz might still have found a quicker way to Mahanaim through the Jordan-valley; while, if it were on the west, it would seem necessary that the Cushite also should pass through this valley, and it is intimated that he did not go that way.—Tr.]

2Sa_18:8. Further description of the defeat of Absalom’s army. The defeat was terrible because the fight spread3 wide over the woody mountain-terrain, and more of Absalom’s men perished in the gorges of the mountain than by the sword. “The forest of Ephraim lay no doubt in the northeastern part of the tribe-territory, towards the Jordan and Succoth” (Vaihinger), where there were deep, narrow gorges and steep declivities towards the Jordan. [It is commonly supposed that Absalom’s army was far larger than David’s; but we know nothing of their numbers. Twenty thousand slain is a great loss, yet not improbable under the circumstances.—The victory may be accounted for by the superior organization of David’s troops and the superior generalship of his army-leaders. As to Amasa see 2Sa_20:4-6.—Tr.]

c. 2Sa_18:9-18. Absalom murdered by Joab.

2Sa_18:9. In the tumult of the battle Absalom got into the neighborhood of “David’s servants.” The verb4 is to be taken as strictly reflexive: “he came upon, found himself” in a position, where he saw himself already captured or slain. He therefore entered a thicket, on the mule which he rode as royal prince (hence the Art.: “the mule”), in order to escape. His head, however, caught in (literally: “made itself fast in”) the boughs of a terebinth, not merely from his large growth of hair, but doubtless also because the head was jammed in between the branches in consequence of the entanglement of the long hair; thus he was “set,” that is, hung [Eng. A. V.: “was taken up”] between heaven and earth, since the mule went away from under him. [Bib.-Com.: “It would seem that the two things that his vain-glory boasted in, the royal mule and the magnificent head of hair, both contributed to his untimely death.”—Tr.]

2Sa_18:10. Only one of David’s men saw it and reported it to Joab as commander-in-chief. [The text does not say that “only one man” saw it, but that “a man” saw it; others may have seen it, but this man reported it.—Tr.]

2Sa_18:11. Joab’s desire of revenge prevents him from regarding David’s command given to the whole army (2Sa_18:5). He, the highest commander, forgets himself in disobedience so far as to chide his subordinate for not killing Absalom, and tell him of the reward he had thus lost. This accords precisely with the rude passionateness, violence and barbarity of Joab’s character, as before described.—It was my affair richly therefor to reward thee with ten silver pieces (= about seven dollars5) and with a girdle (comp. Eze_23:15), as a valuable and essential part of military dress.

2Sa_18:12. The man’s reply. And thought6 I should weigh in (or, on) my hand a thousand shekels [or pieces], that is, if they were already given to me, I would not do such a deed. He refers to the command of the king: Beware, whoever7 it be [= all of you], of (touching) the young man. Maurer: “whoever (of you shall come on him”). [So Eng. A. V.: “beware that none touch”]. Most of the ancient versions and some [Heb.] MSS. read: “beware me of touching,” etc., where me is Dativus commodi; but this is to be rejected as a conjecture to avoid a difficult construction, and suggested probably by the similar phrase in 2Sa_18:5 [Eng. A. V.: “for my sake”]. David’s command was to all, not merely to the generals (2Sa_18:5), and to the common soldiers, one of whom here shows himself nobler-minded and more obedient than his commander.

2Sa_18:13. The initial word “or” (אוֹ) indicates a contrasted assertion.—The preference is to be given to the text “his life” over the marginal reading “my life.” The latter is found in the Sept.: “and how shall I do wrong against my life?”, and the Vulg.: “if I had boldly acted against my life,” and Ewald: “if I had lied (acted deceitfully) against my conscience.” Against Ewald Thenius says that the natural course of thought here is that the man should first state the act itself, and then its consequences for himself. Or, had I dealt deceitfully against his life, wrought falsehood by killing him, inasmuch as I should thus have acted against the express prohibition of the king. The words “and nothing is hid from the king” form a parenthesis; the apodosis begins with “and thou.” And thou wouldest have stood against me, that is, have appeared against me before the king as accuser. For this expression comp. Psa_109:6; Zec_3:1. [On other explanations of this difficult verse see “Text. and Gram.” The man’s reply seems to be: “In the first place, I have too much respect for the king’s command to lift my hand against his son for any reward; and in the next place, the reward would avail me nothing, for the king would find out what I had done and punish me, and you yourself would be witness against me,” wherein he says plainly that he does not trust Joab. That the latter does not resent the answer by violence is perhaps to be ascribed to his consciousness of being in the wrong.—Eng. A. V. follows the marginal reading, which also gives a good sense, as does the reading of the Sept.: “the king charged thee, etc., saying, Beware of doing the young man harm, and nothing will be hid from the king,” etc.—Tr.]

2Sa_18:14. Joab’s answer betrays his vengeful, rudely passionate nature: I will not tarry thus with thee, that is, lose time in myself doing what is necessary. He took three staffs; such is the meaning of the word (שֶׁבֶט), and not “spear, dart, spit” (comp. 2Sa_23:21), as Sept. and Vulg. [and Eng. A. V.] give it. Thenius therefore changes the text; but the word he proposes (שֶׁלַח) is used (as Keil remarks) in the older Hebrew only as = “missile” (Job_33:18; Job_26:12; Joe_2:8), and not till postexilian times in the general sense of “weapon” (2Ch_23:10; 2Ch_32:5; Neh_4:11); and moreover no change is necessary, since our text-word signifies such sharp wooden staffs as Joab could find in the hard terebinth-wood; and this view is supported by the fact that he had to use three weapons, while one spear-thrust would have been sufficient.—The words: “and he was still alive,” etc., are connected with the preceding, not with the succeeding context; in the latter case they would be introduced by a Conjunction or other Particle. Joab thrust “through the heart of the still living prince” (Ewald). The hanging in the tree did not immediately produce death, though it would have done so finally.—“In the heart of the terebinth” (Exo_15:8) = “in the midst of the terebinth,” agreeing with the description in 2Sa_18:9. This expression Böttcher would unnecessarily change to: “in the thicket (עָב) of the terebinth.”

2Sa_18:15. After Joab’s thrust in the heart, Absalom is killed by ten of Joab’s young men, probably at his command.—[Thus neither the hanging nor the thrusts in the heart produced death. This, if surprising, is by no means impossible. On Wellhausen’s unnecessary re-disposition of the text (putting 2Sa_18:16 before 2Sa_18:15) see “Text. and Gram.”—Tr.]

2Sa_18:16. By Absalom’s death the end of the battle was secured, and Joab therefore called the people off from further pursuit. The motive for his barbarous slaying of Absalom was not private revenge (Kurtz in Herzog), but revenge for the honor of the ejected king, and the conviction that only his death could put an end to the unhappy civil war. He stopped the pursuit, however, because he wished to spare the people, that is, Absalom’s people. A piece of clemency alongside of his barbarity! [The rendering of Eng. A. V. is better: “he held back the people” from pursuit. The phrase “the people” here naturally refers to David’s (and Joab’s) people.—Tr.]

2Sa_18:17. Absalom cast aside. And they threw over it a very great heap of stones, a sign of embittered feeling against a dead man. [In his translation Erdmann has: “over him.”—Tr.] The great heap of stones over the pit (the Art. denotes the well-known pit into which Absalom’s corpse was thrown) was to be a monument of shame for his crime;8 comp. Jos_7:26 (Achan), Jos_8:29 (the king of Ai). All Israel had fled, every man to his tent, that is, all of Absalom’s army (gathered from all Israel) that survived the defeat; this also confirms the view that the battle took place on the west of the Jordan. [But they would have fled to their homes, no matter where the battle was fought.—Tr.]

2Sa_18:18. In sharp contrast with this mention of the monument of shame stands the following account of the monument that the vain and ambitious Absalom had set up in his own honor during his lifetime. The word “took” [Eng. A. V. “had taken”] (Num_16:1; 1Ki_11:37) is pleonastic, as is common in circumstantial and vivid narration: [“took and reared” = “reared”]. But it may be understood as = “took for himself,” not pleonastic (Böttcher). The form of the pillar (probably of stone) cannot be determined. In the king’s dale, the valley of the Kidron, two stadia east of Jerusalem (Jos. Ant. 7, 10, 3); it took its name from the event described in Gen_14:17, and was in later times called also the valley of Jehoshaphat. The “Absalom’s pillar” of ecclesiastical tradition, shown even in the Middle Ages, and to-day called “Absalom’s grave,” a pyramidal pointed monument about forty feet high,9 cannot in its present form be the work of Absalom. See Thenius’ excellent argument against the view of Winer and Ewald, that the “king’s dale” was north of Jerusalem, perhaps (according as the Salem in Gen_14:18 is understood) not far from Salem, a northern city on the Jordan.—I have no son, comp. 2Sa_14:27; his three sons there mentioned must have afterwards died. “It is called to this day Absalom’s Hand” (1Sa_15:12), a monument recalling his memory like an uplifted hand. This monument of honor (whether it was “adorned with a splendid inscription of his name” (Ew.) must be left to the imagination) he had himself erected during his life; that monument of shame in the wood of Ephraim was set up by others after his terrible death. A significant contrast!

d. 2Sa_18:19-32. The tidings of joy and grief. David’s lament over Absalom.

2Sa_18:19. Ahimaaz, the son of Zadok, who with Jonathan (2Sa_17:15 sq.) had brought to David the information concerning Absalom’s design, and had remained with the army. He wishes to bear to the king the tidings that the Lord has judged the king [= done him justice] from the hand of his enemies—the theocratic conception of an immediate divine interposition.

2Sa_18:20. Joab refuses the request. His reason is: “because10 the king’s son is dead.” He says: Thou art not a messenger to-day [Eng. A. V.: “thou shalt not bear tidings this day”], because he knew that David, notwithstanding the victory, would be deeply moved by the news of Absalom’s death. He did not wish to expose Ahimaaz to the king’s anger, and therefore refused to let him carry the tidings.

2Sa_18:21. He rather committed this task to the Cushite, the Ethiopian slave, whom he had at hand for all sorts of work. The name is gentilic, not the proper name of an Israelite (Sept., Vulg. [Eng. A. V.]). After the manner of a slave, he cast himself down before Joab. Grotius: “he sent an Ethiopian, thinking it small damage if he received hurt from the king.”

2Sa_18:22 sqq. A remarkably vivid description of the lively conversation between Joab and Ahimaaz. The latter says: “but happen what may11 [Eng. A. V.: “however”], let me run;” he thought more of the victory than of the death. Joab still refuses, but gives an exacter reason than before. “Why wilt thou run? if thou go, the message is not a reward-bringing one,”12 not such a one as will bring thee profit (Böttcher). Luther: “thou wilt not carry a good message.” Thenius alters the text after the Sept., and renders: “there is to thee no message leading to profit.” But according to the explanation given above, there is no need for such insertion and alteration. [Eng. A. V.: “thou hast no tidings ready,” but the signification “ready” is not easily gotten from the Hebrew word. Better: “thou hast no tidings sufficient” (Bib. Com.); that is, the Cushite has already carried the news; or, “thou hast no profitable tidings,” none that can do any body good. The Syr. is as Erdmann’s rendering, the Vulg. as Luther’s. See “Text, and Gramm.”—Tr.]

2Sa_18:23. In the quick and lively account of the conversation, the phrase “and he said” (easily supplied by the reader) is omitted, as in 1Sa_1:20. The repetition of the “and be it as it may” shows Ahimaaz’s ardent desire to carry the tidings to David. He went “by the way of the plain,”13 the Jordan valley (Gen_13:10-12; Gen_19:17; Gen_19:25; Gen_19:29; Deu_34:3; 1Ki_7:47). As “way” has here a local meaning, it cannot be explained as indicating a particular manner of running (Ewald: “he ran in the manner of the Kikkar (plain-) running”). [Erdmann supposes this statement to support the view that the battle was fought on the west of the river; but it has already been pointed out (see note on 2Sa_18:6) that it is here intimated that the Cushite did not go by the way of the Jordan-valley, which he must have done if he had come from the west to the east side. (Bib. Com. also calls attention to this fact in note on 2Sa_18:23.) Assuming that the scene of battle was on the east, the paths of Ahimaaz and the Cushite cannot be described with exactness; but if it was south-west of Mahanaim and near the river, the Cushite may have struck in over the hills, while Ahimaaz took the more level northward route along the river, and then passed in to Mahanaim (so Patrick). See Bib. Comm. in loco.—Tr.] 2Sa_18:24-27. That the two runners are seen by the watchman confirms the view that they both came through the Jordan-valley, and so could be seen afar off coming one after the other. The Cushite is seen in the same direction as Ahimaaz, and therefore they could not have come different ways (Thenius).

2Sa_18:24. David sat between the two gates (that is, in the space between the outer and the inner gate) waiting for tidings. The watchman went up to the roof of the gate on the wall.—That is, the outer gate connected with the city-wall.

2Sa_18:25. [The watchman reports to the king the approach of a runner.] The king said: If he be alone, there is good tidings14 in his mouth.—He has been despatched as a messenger. If the result was bad, several would come as fugitives.

2Sa_18:26. The watchman, seeing another man running, called out to the gate;15 “for here, at the farthest possible distance from the outer gate, the king must have taken his position, if he wished also to see the watchman on the flat roof” (Thenius). He also, said the king, brings good tidings—namely, since he comes alone.

2Sa_18:27. The watchman recognizes Ahimaaz, probably by the swiftness of his running. The king said, He is a good man, whom Joab would not have chosen as the messenger of evil.

2Sa_18:28-32. The double message.—Ahimaaz called out: Hail! [or, Peace! Eng. A. V. giving the sense: All is well!—Tr.] The brief exclamation corresponds to the haste of the runner, and gives David assurance of victory. It was understood, as a matter of course, that Ahimaaz would report on this point first. “The Lord hath shut up (the ground-meaning of the Verb is to be retained) thy enemies;” that is, the Lord has set bounds to thy enemies in their revolt, has surrounded and embraced them with His power, so that they can no longer stir. So Sept. and Vulg. Comp. 1Sa_17:46; 1Sa_24:19; 1Sa_26:8; Amo_1:6; Amo_1:9; Psa_31:9 [8].

2Sa_18:29. To David’s question concerning Absalom, Ahimaaz answers evasively. I saw, says he, the great tumult.—He describes it from personal observation—hence the Article. In the first part of Ahimaaz’s answer, Vulg., Luther and Michaelis render: “when the king’s servant, Joab, sent me, thy servant;” but “the king’s servant” is not the subject of the verbal form (Infin.), and besides the copula (“and thy servant”) renders this translation impossible, unless the text be altered and the copula omitted. “The king’s servant” is the Cushite, while Ahimaaz calls himself “thy servant.” The subject of the sentence, Joab, stands (as sometimes occurs in such Infinitive-constructions) after the object (so Jos_14:11; Isa_5:24; Isa_29:23; Isa_20:1; Ezr_9:8; Psa_56:1 [title]; 2Ch_12:1. Comp. Ges. § 133, 3 Rem). [Dr. Erdmann renders here as Eng. A. V. Perhaps a better text would be: “when Joab sent thy servant;” it is not likely that Ahimaaz would call the Cushite “the king’s servant,” or mention him at all. See “Text. and Gramm.”—Tr.] Ahimaaz is unwilling to give the sad news; but he not only keeps back the truth, but makes the false impression that Absalom’s fate was not decided when Joab sent him off.

2Sa_18:30. Meantime the Cushite has arrived. At David’s command Ahimaaz stepped to one side (literally: “turned about”). The Cushite speaks in completely theocratic style: “The Lord hath done thee justice on thy enemies.”

2Sa_18:32 sq. He answers the question about Absalom indirectly, yet so as not only clearly to make known his death, but also to express condemnation of his hostile attempt against his father and king. The Cushite refers to God’s punitive justice in Absalom’s destruction—a fact that David in this moment of heart-rending grief loses sight of

2Sa_18:33 [Heb. 19:1]. “And the king was shaken”16 [Eng. A. V.: “was much moved”]. David’s behaviour is so vividly and touchingly portrayed as only an eye-witness could do it. Augustine (cont. Gaud. II. 14): “Absalom afflicted his father more by his death than by his life.”

HISTORICAL AND THEOLOGICAL

1. The religious-moral character of David’s disposition of heart is clearly expressed in the Psalms pertaining to this gloomy time, through which the experiences of the royal singer have become the common possession of the theocratic community, and the source of comfort and strength to innumerable pious hearts. While Pss. 41. and 55. belong to the time of the development of Absalom’s insurrection, Psa_3:4. are to be referred to the time immediately after David’s flight; for the particulars see Ewald, Hengstenberg, Delitzsch, and Moll [in Lange’s Bible-Work]. Indeed, the time of day that gives coloring to each Psalm may be determined. They are not, however, both evening-songs, as Hengstenberg holds, who refers them to the evening of the day of flight; but Psalms 3. is a morning-song (J. H. Mich., Ew., Del., Moll), written after that dreadful day and the following night in which Ahithophel would have surprised him, and only Psalms 4. is to be regarded as an evening-song, whether written the day of the flight or the next day. “There is indeed,” says Moll on Psalms 3., “no special note of time, and the absence of such note is felt by many expositors to be a difficulty. But they fail to consider that we have here a specifically lyrical-religious effusion, which is not the expression of the feelings of an anxious father (as 2Sa_16:11), but sets forth the complaint and the confidence of faith of a commander and king (hard-pressed indeed, but cheerful in prayer) in such terse sentences and vigorous words that the reader hears the royal singer sigh, cry, weep from the bottom of his heart.” The first strophe of Psalms 3. (the title of which is: “Psalm of David when he fled from Absalom his son”), Psa_3:2-3 [Psa_3:1-2] describes his distress by reason of his numerous enemies, who revile him for his trust in God. In the second strophe, Psa_3:4-5 [Psa_3:3-4] he indicates his ground of hope, namely, that God, who has lifted up his head, will help and hear him. In the third strophe, Psa_3:6-7 [Psa_3:5-6] he expresses his confidence of faith, based on the experience of the Lord’s protection during the past night, to which this morning bears testimony. The fourth strophe, Psalm 3:8, 9 [Psa_3:7-8] contains a prayer for deliverance and blessing, growing out of his confidence of faith and his ground of hope.—Psalms 4., as an evening-song, is a cry of the sorely-pressed singer to “his refuge of righteousness,” the creator and possessor of righteousness, the judge of unrighteousness, the protector and restorer of persecuted righteousness. Psa_4:2 [Psa_4:1] contains (with a reference to already experienced help) a prayer that God would hear him, Psalm 4:9 [Psa_4:8], the confident conviction of its fulfilment. “The pillars of the bridge (Psa_4:3-8) between distress and deliverance, prayer and confidence, are: 1) God’s choice of the singer, and the enemies’ opposition to the divine decision; 2) the singer’s sincere piety (Psa_4:4 [Psa_4:3]), the hypocritical and external religiosity of the enemies (see the words of Psa_4:6 [Psa_4:5]: ‘offer the sacrifices of righteousness’); 3) the singer’s living trust in God, Psa_4:7-8 [ Psa_4:6-7], while the enemies trust in human helps; comp. the ‘trust in the Lord,’ Psa_4:6 [5] (Hengstenberg). To these two Psalms we must add Psalms 63 on account of its direct reference to David’s stay as fugitive west of the Jordan. The title: “Psalm of David when he was in the wilderness of Judah” is confirmed by the agreement of the expressions, “thirsting in a dry land, without water,” with 2Sa_16:2; 2Sa_16:14; 2Sa_17:29, compared with 2Sa_15:23; 2Sa_15:28; 2Sa_17:16. The mention of the sanctuary, ’ Psa_4:3 [Psa_4:2] and the royal office, ’ Psalm 4:12 [ Psalm 4:11] forces us to refer it to the flight from Absalom, not to the Sauline persecution. The singer, “pining in the wilderness,” desires that God may be as near to him (’ Psa_4:2 [1]) as He formerly was in the sanctuary, of which he is now, alas! deprived (’ Psa_4:3 [Psa_4:2]). His highest good and only comfort is God’s grace, which is “better than life,” and his communion with God (’ Psa_4:2-4 [Psa_4:1-3]), wherein he now even in suffering rejoices (’ Psa_4:7-8 [Psa_4:6-8]), having also the joyful hope for the future that the Lord will bless him (’ Psa_4:5-6 [Psa_4:4-5]) and judge his enemies (’ Psalm 4:10, 11 [Psalm 4:9, 10]), both of these being combined in ’ Psalm 4:12 [Psalm 4:11]: “But the king will rejoice in God; every one that sweareth by Him (God) shall glory; for the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped.” To the time of distress, when he was on the east of the Jordan, belong Psalms 61, 62. Psalms 61 expresses first the sorrowful feeling of homelessness, and removal from the sanctuary, whence the psalmist is banished to the “end of the earth” (’ Psa_61:3 [Psa_61:2]). All the more earnestly does he pray from afar (Psa_61:2-5 [Psa_61:1-4]) for deliverance from the evil, which he likens to a steep rock, and which he cannot escape without God’s guidance (Psa_61:3 [Psa_61:2]), appealing to God’s former acts of help (Psa_61:4 [Psa_61:3]), and begging for protection in the “tabernacle” (Psa_61:5 [Psa_61:4]). In Psa_61:6-8 [Psa_61:5-8] he states the ground of his confident prayer, referring to the prophetic word that assures him an everlasting dominion, himself affirming this dominion (on the ground of 2 Samuel 7., especially 2Sa_7:29), and closing with joyous thanksgiving for the mercy and truth that would defend him. In Psalms 42 David first affirms his trust in God, and the truth that rest and salvation are in Him alone (Psa_42:2-3 [1, 2]). The wickedness of his enemies, who wish to deprive him of his God-given dignity and of his life, drives him to God (Psa_42:4-5 [Psa_42:3-4]). He calls on his soul to seek God only (Psa_42:6-8 [Psa_42:5-7]), and invites all to trust Him (Psa_42:9 [Psa_42:8]), warning against trust in all else (Psa_42:10-11 [Psa_42:9-10]), and giving in conclusion as the ground of all this God’s mighty power and love. Psa_42:5-6 [Psa_42:4-5], referring to attempts of enemies against his dignity and life, touch Psalms 3, 4, and point to the time of Absalom. Ewald: “From Psa_42:5 [Psa_42:4] the enemies seem to be slanderous fellow-citizens, who, relying on a newly-established power, attempt to cast the psalmist down to the ground and destroy him, because they cannot bear his spiritual superiority.” Closely allied with this Psalm is Psalms 39, which is therefore properly referred by several commentators (for example, Delitzsch) to the Absalomic time. David first declares that in the presence of the ungodly he was submissively silent, in order that he might avoid sin (Psa_39:2-3 a [Psa_39:1-2 a]). Yet he gave utterance to his burning grief (Psa_39:3-4 [Psa_39:2 b, Psa_39:3]), and prays to be taught how brief is the measure of his days (Psa_39:5-6 [Psa_39:4-5]). The nothingness of human things forbids trust in them, therefore he will wait on the Lord alone (Psa_39:7-8 [Psa_39:6-7]). On this is founded next the prayer to be delivered from transgression, and from the reproach of the ungodly (Psa_39:9 [Psa_39:8]). He will not complain, indeed (“for thou, thou hast done it”), but he prays for deliverance, lest he be destroyed (Psa_39:10-12 [Psa_39:9-11]). Since he is only a sojourner and pilgrim, he prays that help may be given him before he departs.—To this time belong also Psalms 42, 43, which together form a whole. The Psalmist is east of the Jordan (Psa_42:7 [Psa_42:6]), and sorrowfully recalls the time when at the head of the rejoicing multitude (comp. 2Sa_6:14) he went to the house of the Lord (Psa_42:5[Psa_42:4]), lamenting the present desolation of the sanctuary by the enemy, who mock at him as one forsaken by God, in a land far from any holy place. With this is combined desire and hope of sharing in the service of the sanctuary. In both Psalms the enemies are described as internal as in the Absalomic psalms. Comp. Psa_43:1 : “Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against a people without love [i. e., ‘ungodly’—Tr.]; deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man.” Thrice in the same words (Psa_42:6 [Psa_42:5], Psa_42:12 [Psa_42:11], Psa_43:5) the Psalmist bids his unquiet soul “hope in God.” Not from the soul of David, indeed (Hengst., Thol.), but from his own soul does the Korahite psalmist [the title ascribes the song to the Sons of Korah] utter his lamentations and hopes; but the tones of the song are the same as those of the Davidic psalms of this time.—Further, Psalms 23, 26-27. owe their origin to the outward and inward experiences of the royal singer at this time (Del., Moll). In all of them the psalmist is far from the sanctuary, and longs to worship God in His house; in all there is the sharp contrast between the oppression of enemies, and trust in God. The refreshing aid of friends, narrated in 2Sa_17:27 sq., he extols in Psalms 23 as the kindness of God, his good shepherd; here we recognize the tones of Psa_3:7 [ Psa_3:6]; Psa_4:8 [Psa_4:7]; Psalms 63.—The enemies, described in Psalms 26 are identical in character with the abettors of the insurrection of Absalom. The psalmist appeals to his righteous life, and to the tribunal of God, and prays not to be carried off with sinners, from whom he has ever been separate, and by reason of his love for the sanctuary will still be separate; confidently he looks for help from the Lord, and restoration to the sanctuary.—While this Psalm closes in joyful hope, Psalms 27 begins with the expression of happy confidence in God, affirms the hope of victory over enemies, and vows a thank-offering for deliverance to the Lord in His sanctuary.—Psalms 28 (in many respects similar to Psalms 27) is a passionate cry in the midst of danger for requital on enemies, and for deliverance for the Lord’s Anointed and for His people. It closes with: “the Lord is the saving strength of His Anointed. O help thy people and bless thy heritage, and feed them and bear them up forever.”17

2. In these psalms are contained the following truths, valid for all times and relations of the kingdom of God, especially for times of depression and convulsion. The Lord permits such times to come to purify His people, and by sifting to determine who are for Him and who against Him, and for both these classes they contain lessons. The former [God’s people] are, as David, 1) in humble penitence to confess that their own sins have helped to bring distress on God’s kingdom; 2) to learn, for the strengthening of their faith, that not human power and wisdom, but God’s, conduct and further the affairs of His kingdom; 3) to see, for their consolation, that no human power shall long hinder, or even destroy this kingdom, and 4) to recall, for their joy, God’s deeds in the past, which He has not performed in vain, and His sure promises, which will not be left unfulfilled.—On the other hand, the enemies of God’s kingdom are to reflect that they are only instruments in His hand for chastising His house, that their anti-godly work has its limits in the will and command of the Almighty God, and that they can escape His wrath only by humbly bowing under His hand and giving Him the honor.

3. The faithfulness of human love, strengthening in need and cheering in misfortune, is not only the copy, but also the means and instrument of the faithfulness of the divine love, granted to those that how humbly beneath God’s hand, and wholly trust Him.

4. In the contest for the holy cause of the kingdom of God all those that are called to defend it, must thoroughly combine all the forces that willingly offer themselves, in order to overcome the power of evil. But, with all bravery and all anger against evil, the servant of God must guard against sinful fleshly anger, and bring God’s merciful love as near as possible to the authors of the evil, in order to afford them the opportunity and means of conversion, and to save them from destruction. While their evil cause falls under the divine judgment, through human hands, the human hand is not arbitrarily and self-led to be laid on their persons, but to commend them to God, whether they may not be brought to repentance by His long-suffering, by the failure of their wicked undertakings and the exhibition therein given of God’s punitive justice.

5. He who (as Joab), self-determined, angry, merely executing strict justice, anticipating God’s judgment, sits in judgment on his neighbor and executes judgment on him, himself falls under the divine judgment. Comp. 1Ki_2:28-34.

6. David’s lament over Absalom, as a father’s lament over his lost son, was not in itself in conflict with his theocratic calling, with all his force, to restore the kingdom of God, on the ground of God’s promises to him, against his son, even at the cost of his destruction. Peter Martyr: “in his heart two feelings met, grief for his son and joy in the divine judgment, so that he could say: just art thou, O Lord, thy judgment is right. But these feelings of joy and grief, being contrary to one another, could not have place together in his mind.” It is psychologically perfectly natural and ethically unexceptionable to feel grief at the judicial destruction of a human life and soul near and dear to us, as David here for Absalom, and at the same time to give place to anger at the unauthorized intrusion of a violent human hand into the course of divine judgment on a lost man, whose soul might else have been saved. But one may easily sin (as David did) in such justifiable sorrow and anger, by weakly yielding to passionate excitement, and holding merely to the human, so that the eye of the spirit loses sight of the earnestness of the divine justice, which permits unauthorized human intrusion into its plans, in order thus to complete itself, and to secure its ends over all human thoughts and weakly human feelings. Kurtz (Herz. III. 304): “Absalom’s sin and shame had two sides: there was in it the curse that David’s sin brought on David’s house (2Sa_12:10), the misdeed of the fathers, that is visited on the children (Exo_20:5),—and not less Absalom’s own wickedness and recklessness, which made him the bearer of the family-curse. David looks at Absalom’s deed not on the latter side, but on the former (for his own guilt seems to him so great, that he looks little at Absalom’s); hence his deep, boundless compassion for his misguided son.”—This king’s path was full of tears. He wept when he parted from Jonathan and went into banishment; he wept when Saul and Jonathan perished; he wept over the death of the son of Bathsheba begotten in adultery; he wept over the murder of his son Amnon by Absalom; he wept when, a dethroned fugitive, he ascended the Mount of Olives; he mentions the tears that he so often shed on his lonesome bed; he weeps most violently and longest over Absalom’s terrible end, since he saw herein the culmination of God’s judgments on his house, which he had incurred by his sin. Augustine: “Not in his life does he weep for him, but when he is dead, because all hope of salvation for him, was then cut off.” But his unrestrained tears, his immoderate grief, as the following narrative shows, obscured his view of the divine judgment, that of necessity came upon Absalom on account of his own reckless wickedness.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

2Sa_17:24 to 2Sa_18:8. The proof of genuine fidelity in troubled times: 1) By willing gifts of love to relieve bodily need; 2) By swift help in battle against an evil foe; 3) By offering our own person to save the dear life of our friend; and 4) By tenderly showing forbearance towards his wounded heart in the conflict against the author of his distress.—God wonderfully helps His people in battling for the interests of His kingdom: 1) By awakening and revealing hidden and faithful love, which consoles and refreshes (2Sa_17:24-29); 2) By collecting brave soldiers, who shrink not from taking part in the battle (2Sa_18:1-4); 3) By securing glorious victory even against the apparently superior foe (2Sa_17:5-8).

2Sa_18:5-16. Divine righteousness and human compassion towards the adversaries of God’s kingdom: 1) Divine righteousness in executing its judgment upon wickedness and the wicked goes its own way, independently of the feelings of human compassion for their purification and rectification. Yet 2) Human compassion is not excluded by thinking of the earnestness of the divine righteousness; but as a daughter of the divine compassion, when engaged in delivering a human life from eternal ruin, it has a right to ask that it may glory against judgment, so far as in the counsel of God patience and long-suffering is still resolved on.

2Sa_18:9-18. Heaven-wide opposites that cannot be reconciled: 1) God’s strict righteousness, when the measure of His holy wrath is full, and human compassion, when the measure of the divine patience and long-suffering is full; 2) Rude exercise of power, which in self-will and recklessness destroys a human life, and tender conscientiousness, which fears to strive against God by attempts upon a human life; 3) The honor, which man in his pride prepares for himself before the world, and the shame, with which God punishes such pride.

2Sa_18:19-33. Sweet and bitter in the leadings and dispensations of God: 1) From one source—the Lord’s wise counsel; 2) For one and the same human heart—in order to humble and exalt it; 3) To a like end—the Lord’s glory.

Fr. Arndt: David’s victory over Absalom—how it Isaiah 1) prepared, 2) gained, and 3) crowned.

2Sa_7:27-29. Schlier: In the fidelity of men David was to recognize the fidelity of the Lord; he was to take courage from the fact that the Lord, who is such a friend, and in the midst of his wretchedness has cared for him, will also care for him still further, and help him out of all his wretchedness. Precisely thus, at the present day also, the Lord our God deals with His children. He leads us into trouble, it is true, but in the midst of trouble He sends us refreshing again.—Starke: So God knows how to refresh His people in time of need, even through strangers, from whom nothing would have been expected (Psa_34:11 [(Psa_34:10]; Psa_37:19).—S. Schmid: A righteous cause finds everywhere its supporters and defenders.

Chap 2Sa_18:1 sqq. Fr. Arndt: O when a man first reaches the point that he is lord of his pain, that no longer sorrow rules over him, but he rules over his sorrow, that thoughtfulness, quiet and peace returns into his heart, then he is again in a good way, no more brought to a stand but in progress, and a door is opened for all help and deliverance.—Osiander: Though we ought to trust God, yet we ought in so doing to neglect nothing that we have and can fitly use to turn away the evil.—[Henry: It is no piece of wisdom to be stiff in our resolutions, but to be willing to hear reason, even from our inferiors, and to be overruled by their advice, when it appears to be for our own good. Whether the people’s prudence had an eye to it or no, God’s providence wisely ordered it that David should not be in the field of battle; for then his tenderness had certainly interposed to save Absalom’s life, whom God had determined to destroy.—Tr.]

2Sa_18:4-8 : Schlier: Easy gained, easy lost. Absalom’s example shows that. And to-day also, in great as in small things, how can it be otherwise than according to the saying, Easy gained, easy lost. But another thing we also clearly see from this history: If God is left, we are not forsaken. David held fast to his God, even when the world stormed in upon him from all sides. Let us hold fast to the Lord, let us perseveringly wait for His help. To us also He will at the right time assuredly send help.—[Henry: Absalom and David …..each did his utmost, and showed what he could do; how bad it is possible for a child to he to the best of fathers, and how good it is possible for a father to be to the worst of children; as if it were designed to be a resemblance of man’s wickedness towards God, and God’s mercy toward man, of which it is hard to say which is more amazing.—Tr.]

2Sa_18:9. Starke: God punishes the disobedience of children to their parents very severely (Pro_30:17; Pro_20:20; Deu_27:16).—Osiander: Those who are puffed up with the gifts that God has granted them, and misuse them for the ends of arrogance and luxury, are often brought by these very gifts to ruin.—S. Schmid: A man whom the divine vengeance is pursuing does not escape.

2Sa_18:14 sqq. S. Schmid: He must be a very bad man who is not attracted to what is good by the good example of his subordinates.

2Sa_18:17 sq. Cramer: As the death of the saints is precious (Psa_116:15), so on the contrary the death of the ungodly is little esteemed and horrible (Psa_34:22).—Starke: As the memory of the just is blessed (Pro_10:7), so the memory of the ungodly abides in dishonor and shame.

2Sa_18:19 sq. Starke: Joy is always the beginning of sorrow, and good and evil fortunes are in this world always mingled.—Hedinger [from Hall]: O how welcome deserve those messengers to be that bring us the glad tidings of salvation, that assure us of the foil of all spiritual enemies, and tell us of nothing but victories, and crowns, and kingdoms.

2Sa_18:28. Starke: When one has obtained a victory, he should ascribe it to God Himself, and not to human powers (2Ch_25:8).

2Sa_18:29. Schlier: David knows well how to bring his duty as ruler into harmony with his duty to his family; for he has a kingly heart full of kingly thoughts, and yet has also a faithful fatherly heart, full of love and compassion, and who should not be glad to learn from such a man? We recognize the upright man in the fidelity he shows to both his calling and his kinsmen, and he who little esteems the one or the other does not rightly do his duty. [It is not necessary to maintain that David did just right in the matter. Certainly he sometimes erred very greatly; and in this case his parental fondness seems to have overbalanced his sense of duty as a king.—Tr.]

2Sa_18:32 sq. S. Schmid: Pious parents are justly more anxious for their dissolute children than for the pious and obedient, because they are nearer to ruin.—Berl. Bible: God is the true and only source of all parental love and all the compassion which parents maintain even towards their ungodly Absaloms.—[Taylor: But the worst ingredient in this cup of anguish would be, I think, the consciousness in David’s heart that if he had himself been all he ought to have been, his son might not thus have perished. …… David now professes, and I believe with truth, to desire that he had died for Absalom; but that was a vain wish. He ought to have lived more for Absalom. He ought, by his own character, to have taught him to love holiness, or, at all events, he ought to have seen that there was nothing in his own conduct to encourage his son in wickedness, or to provoke him to wrath; and then, though Absalom had made shipwreck, he might have had the consolation that he had done his utmost to prevent such a catastrophe.—Tr.]

[2Sa_18:14. The death of Absalom: 1) He has missed his golden opportunity. (He slighted Ahithophel’s counsel, and now David has organized a strong army.) 2) He has fought desperately, but in vain (2Sa_18:6). 3) The very objects of his vanity have occasioned his ignominy (riding the royal mule, his long hair). 4) His father’s often abused fondness continues to the end, but no longer avails him (2Sa_13:39; 2Sa_18:5; 2Sa_18:11-15; 2Sa_18:33). 5) His splendid gifts and reckless ambition have brought him only ruin, and destined him to immortal infamy (2Sa_18:17-18).—Tr.]

[2Sa_18:33. David mourning over Absalom; 1) Wherein it was right. a) Parental love is indestructible. b) Absalom was not wholly bad, and his faults had been aggravated by the misconduct of others. c) David was conscious that all this was a chastening required by his own sins. 2) Wherein it was wrong. a) In that it excluded gratitude to his faithful and brave followers (2Sa_19:1 sqq.). b) In preventing attention to the pressing duties of his position (2Sa_19:7). c) In causing him to overlook the fact that as long as Absalom lived, the kingdom could have no peace. d) In so far as it was not tempered by submission to the will of Jehovah.—Tr.]

Footnotes:

[1]Read אַתָּה instead of עַתָּה (obviously an error from following עַתָּה).

[2][He was probably willing not to have to go in person against Absalom (Bib.-Com.).—Tr.]

[3]Read the Qeri נָפוֹצֶת, “scattered,” Niph. Particip. fem. [of פּוּץ], instead of the Kethib נפְצוּת, “dispersal” [Ges. reads נְפֻצוֹת, “was scattered.”—Tr.]

[4] יִקָּרֶה = יִקָּרֵא, Niphal. [See “Text, and Gram.”—Tr.]

[5][This sum would be equivalent to one hundred dollars at the present day.—On the various kinds of ancient girdles (a necessary article of dress for men and women), including that of the high-priest, and on the custom of presenting them as gifts (still found in Persia), see Art. Girdle in Smith’s Bib.-Dict.—Tr.]

[6]Read Qeri לוּ, with most ancient versions.

[7]On this construction of מִי with aposiopesis see Exo_24:14; Jdg_7:3, and below, 2Sa_18:22; 2Sa_18:33. Ewald, § 104 d, a. לּי for מִי is conjecture.

[8][The custom still exists, in respect to robbers, for example. See Thomson, Land and Book, II. 234.—Tr.]

[9]See an exact description of it in Titus Tobler’s Siloahquelle und der Œlberg (1852), p. 267 sqq. [Its base is surrounded by Ionic pillars; it is doubtful whether it is a tomb. See Robinson I. 350.—Tr.]

[10]Read the Qeri כִּי עַל־כֵּן (the כֵּן has evidently fallen out by reason of the following בֶּן); it = “because” (Gen_18:5; Gen_19:8), see Ges. § 155, 2 d. Maurer [so Syr., Chald.,] retains the Kethib (כִּי עַל) and renders: “for concerning the king’s son as dead (thou wouldest have to carry tidings).” But 1) this addition [of a sentence to the construction] is suspicious, and 2) if מֵת [“dead”] belonged to “the king’s son” as Adjective, it must have the Article.

[11] וִיהִי מָה. Comp. Ew. § 104 d: quidquid id est.

[12] לְמָה .וּלְכָה אֵין־בְּשׂרָה מֹצֵאת is here permissive Imperative (Böttcher, Thenius): “go thou” = “and if thou go” (as תְּנָה, Psa_8:2 [1]). It can be taken (with Preposition) as Pronoun = לְךָ (Gen_27:37) only where it is conditioned by the word-tone (Böttcher), as Num_22:33; 1Sa_1:26; Psa_141:8. Here, however, אֵין, not לְכָה (as = thee), has the tone, for the message was profitable for nobody. Thenius: לְבֶצַע מוֹצֵאת, Hiph. Particp. of יָצָא. But the word is Act. Qal. Particp. of מצא, “to come upon” = “that comes on (finds)” an end or a reward.

[13] בִּכָּר with or without הַיַּרְדֵּן.

[14][The word (בְּשׂרָה) sometimes means good tidings, sometimes bad tidings, sometimes simply tidings; the meaning in any particular case must be decided by the context. Here either “tidings” or “good tidings” would give a proper sense.—Tr.]

[15]Read שַׁעַר “gate” instead of שֹׁעֵר “porter.” [This change of the text (after Sept., Vulg., Syr.) seems hardly necessary. The watchman may have called to the porter, and the porter to the king. The expression “called to (or, towards) the gate” is certainly possible and intelligible, but still strange and unexampled. The fact that the porter is not said to speak to the king makes some difficulty, but not enough to call for a change of text.—Tr.]

[16]Vulg.: contristatus est, “was grieved.” [Erdmann gives the Sept. rendering of this word (וַיִּרְגַּן) as ἐδάκρυσεν (wept), which he rightly characterizes as weak; but though this word is given in the text of Stier and Theile’s Polyglot (an eclectic text), both the Vatican and the Alexandrian texts have the strong and appropriate rendering, ἐταράχθη, “violently perturbed.”—Tr.]

[17][It is clear that the internal proofs here adduced by the author of the origination of these Psalms (especially Psalms 23, 26-28, 42, 43.) in the insurrection of Absalom are of a very general nature, and cannot be considered as a demonstration. The lessons drawn from them, however, are not the less valid from the uncertainty of the authorship.—Tr.]

Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8. The Civil War and Absalom’s Death

CHAPTER 18

1. The battle in the forest of Ephraim (2Sa 18:1-8)

2. The death of Absalom (2Sa 18:9-18)

3. The tidings of his death and David’s grief (2Sa 18:19-33)

And now everything is ready for the battle and the victory. The army of David consisted of three divisions, Joab, Abishai and the faithful Ittai had the command. David was ready to go forth with his warriors, but the people refused to let him go. What a testimony they gave concerning him! “Thou art worth ten thousand of us. But of Him, who according to the flesh is the Son of David, we say, “He alone is worthy.” The king then stood by the gate of Mahanaim to see the departure of his troops. As his generals Joab, Abishai and Ittai left him he gave them the message, “Deal gently with the young man, even with Absalom.” The battle took place in a wild jungle forest, most likely with many steep rocks and gulches. Absalom lost 20,000 men “and the forest (on account of rocks and gulches) devoured more people that day than the sword devoured.”

Absalom fled, but his flight was arrested when his head caught in the bough of an oak, as Josephus states, entangled by his hair. “And he was taken up between the heaven and the earth and the mule that was under him went away.” The first one who saw him would not smite him, not for a thousand shekels of silver, for he had heard the king’s request. Then Joab, unscrupulous Joab, whose scheme had brought Absalom back into the presence of the king, took three darts (literally “staves”) and thrust them through the heart of Absalom while he was yet alive. Most likely the unfortunate rebel son was unconscious through the impact with the tree. The armour bearers made a complete end of him. Joab’s deed was unjustifiable in view of the king’s command to deal gently with Absalom. Absalom’s body was cast into a pit and covered with a very great heap of stones, a criminal’s monument. He had looked for a more honorable death, for he had reared a pillar in his lifetime, which he called after his own name, “for he said, I have no son to keep my name in remembrance.” Those who claim that the books of Samuel are a patchwork of a number of writers who made use of different sources, refer us to 2Sa 14:27 and point out the discrepancy. But why should there be? Absalom may have put up this monument before he had any sons, or he may have lost his two sons.

And then comes the record of how the tidings were carried to David. The watchman announces that he recognizeth in the swift runner Ahimaaz the son of Zadok. “And the King said, He is a good man, and cometh with good tidings.” All is well--is his message, while the anxious father-heart but paying little attention to the victory won, inquired for the young man Absalom. Cushi the second runner makes his appearance and he carries the tidings of Absalom’s death, which he transmits to David in a tender and cautious manner. And then that grief. How pathetic! The weeping King, crying out over and over again: “O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!”

“The conduct of David in reference to his profligate son, is certainly extraordinary, but is not occasioned by weakness of character, which would be inconsistent with the judicial severity with which he banished him from his presence during five years. The shameful and sinful conduct of Absalom may be viewed in two aspects: it exhibits, on the one hand, the operation of the curse which David’s sin brought upon his house (2Sa 12:10), and the influence of the iniquity of the fathers, which is visited upon the children (Exo 20:5); it exhibits, on the other hand, Absalom’s own degeneracy and profligacy, which fit him to be the bearer of the family-curse. It was not in the latter, but in the former aspect, that David regarded the conduct of Absalom, for his own guilt is so grievous in his eyes, that, in comparison with it, he deems Absalom’s wickedness to be inconsiderable. Hence arises the deep and boundless compassion with which he surveys his reprobate son. David’s treatment of Shimei may be regarded in the same light; his consciousness of his own great guilt causes him to overlook the guilt of that criminal.” (J.H. Kurtz, Sacred History.)

Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CHAPTER X X I I I.

ABSALOM'S DEFEAT AND DEATH.

2Sa_18:1-18.

WHATEVER fears of defeat and destruction might occasionally flit across David's soul between his flight from Jerusalem and the battle in the wood of Ephraim, it is plain both from his actions and from his songs that his habitual frame was one of serenity and trust. The number of psalms ascribed to this period of his life may be in excess of the truth; but that his heart was in near communion with God all the time we cannot doubt. Situated as his present refuge was not far from Peniel, where Jacob had wrestled with the angel, we may believe that there were wrestlings again in the neighbourhood not unworthy to be classed with that from which Peniel derived its memorable name.

In the present emergency .the answer to prayer consisted, first, in the breathing-time secured by the success of Hushai's counsel; second, in the countenance and support of the friends raised up to David near Mahanaim; and last, not least, in the spirit of wisdom and harmony with which all the arrangements were made for the inevitable encounter. Every step was taken with prudence, while every movement of his opponents seems to have been a blunder. It was wise in David, as we have already seen, to cross the Jordan and retire into Gilead; it was wise in him to make Mahanaim his headquarters; it was wise to divide his army into three parts, for a reason that will presently be seen; and it was wise to have a wood in the neighbourhood of the battlefield, though it could not have been foreseen how this was to bear on the individual on whose behalf the insurrection had taken place.

By this time the followers of David had grown to the dimensions of an army. We are furnished with no means of knowing its actual number. Josephus puts it at four thousand, but, judging from some casual expressions ("David set captains of hundreds and captains of thousands over them," 2Sa_18:1; "Now thou art worth ten thousand of us," 2Sa_18:3; "The people came by thousands," 2Sa_18:4), we should infer that David's force amounted to a good many thousands. The division of the army into three parts, however, reminding us, as it does, of Gideon's division of his little force into three, would seem to imply that David's force was far inferior in number to Absalom's. The insurrectionary army must have been very large, and stretching over a great breadth of country, would have presented far too wide a line to be effectually dealt with by a single body of troops, comparatively small. Gideon had divided his handful into three that he might make a simultaneous impression on three different parts of the Midianite host, and thus contribute the better to the defeat of the whole. So David divided his army into three, that, meeting Absalom's at three different points, he might prevent a concentration of the enemy that would have swallowed up his whole force. David had the advantage of choosing his ground, and his military instinct and long experience would doubtless enable him to do this with great effect. His three generals were able and valuable leaders. The aged king was prepared to take part in the battle, believing that his presence would be helpful to his men; but the people would not allow him to run the risk. Aged and somewhat infirm as he seems to have been, wearied with his flight, and weakened with the anxieties of so distressing an occasion, the excitement of the battle might have proved too much for him, even if he had escaped the enemy's sword. Besides, everything depended on him; if his place were discovered by the enemy, their hottest assault would be directed to it;and if he should fall, there would be left no cause to fight for. "It is better," they said to him, "that thou succour us out of the city." What kind of succour could he render there? Only the succour that Moses and his two attendants rendered to Israel in the fight with Amalek in the wilderness, when Moses held up his hands, and Aaron and Hur propped them up. He might pray for them; he could do no more.

By this time Absalom had probably obtained the great object of his ambition; he had mustered Israel from Dan to Beersheba, and found himself at the head of an array very magnificent in appearance, but, like most Oriental gatherings of the kind, somewhat unwieldy and unworkable. This great conglomeration was now in the immediate neighbourhood of Mahanaim, and must have seemed as if by sheer weight of material it would crush any force that could be brought against it. We read that the battle took place "in the wood of Ephraim." This could not be a wood in the tribe of Ephraim, for that was on the other side of Jordan, but a wood in Gilead, that for some reason unknown to us had been called by that name. The whole region is still richly wooded, and among its prominent trees is one called the prickly oak. A dense wood would obviously be unsuitable for battle, but a wooded district, with clumps here and there, especially on the hill-sides, and occasional trees and brushwood scattered over the plains, would present many advantages to a smaller force opposing the onset of a larger. In the American war of 1755 some of the best troops of England were nearly annihilated in a wood near Pittsburg in Pennsylvania, the Indians leveling their rifles unseen from behind the trees, and discharging them with yells that were even more terrible than their weapons. We may fancy the three battalions of David making a vigorous onslaught on Absalom's troops as they advanced into the wooded country, and when they began to retreat through the woods, and got entangled in brushwood, or jammed together by thickset trees, discharging arrows at them, or falling on them with the sword, with most disastrous effect. "There was a great slaughter that day of twenty thousand men. For the battle there was scattered over the face of all the country, and the wood devoured more people that day than the sword devoured." Many of David's men were probably natives of the country, and in their many encounters with the neighbouring nations had become familiar with the warfare of "the bush." Here was one benefit of the choice of Mahanaim by David as his rallying-ground. The people that joined him from that quarter knew the ground, and knew how to adapt it to fighting purposes; the most of Absalom's forces had been accustomed to the bare wadies and limestone rocks of Western Palestine, and, when caught in the thickets, could neither use their weapons nor save themselves by flight.

Very touching, if not very business-like, had been David's instructions to his generals about Absalom: "The king commanded Joab and Abishai and Ittai saying, Deal gently for my sake with the young man, even with Absalom. And all the people heard when the king gave all the captains charge concerning Absalom." It is interesting to observe that David fully expects to win. There is no hint of any alternative, as if Absalom would not fall into their hands. David knows that he is going to conquer, as well as he knew it when he went against the giant. The confidence which is breathed in the third Psalm is apparent here. Faith saw his enemies already defeated. "Thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheekbone; Thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly. Salvation belongeth unto the Lord; Thy blessing is upon Thy people." In a pitched battle, God could not give success to a godless crew, whose whole enterprise was undertaken to drive God's anointed one from his throne. Temporary and partial successes they might have, but final success it was morally impossible for God to accord. It was not the spirit of his own troops, nor the undisciplined condition of the opposing host, that inspired this confidence, but the knowledge that there was a God in Israel, who would not suffer His anointed to perish, nor the impious usurper to triumph over him.

We cannot tell whether Absalom was visited with any misgivings as to the result before the battle began. Very probably he was not. Having no faith in God, he would make no account whatever of what David regarded as the Divine palladium of his cause. But if he entered on the battle confident of success, his anguish is not to be conceived when he saw his troops yield to panic, and, in wild disorder, try to dash through the wood. Dreadful miseries must have overwhelmed him. He does not appear to have made any attempt to rally his troops. Riding on a mule, in his haste to escape, he probably plunged into some thick part of the wood, where his head came in contact with a mass of prickly oak; struggling to make a way through it, he only entangled his hair more hopelessly in the thicket; then, raising himself in the saddle to attack it with his hands, his mule went from under him, and left him hanging between heaven and earth, maddened by pain, enraged at the absurdity of his plight, and storming against his attendants, none of whom was near him in his time of need. Nor was this the worst of it. Absalom was probably among the foremost of the fugitives, and we can hardly suppose but that many of his own people fled that way after him. Could it be that all of them were so eager to escape that not one of them would stop to help their king? What a contrast the condition of Absalom when fortune turned against him to that of his father! Dark though David's trials had been, and seemingly desperate his position, he had not been left alone in its sudden horrors; the devotion of strangers, as well as the fidelity of a few attached friends, had cheered him, and had the worst disaster befallen him, had his troops been routed and his cause ruined, there were warm and bold hearts that would not have deserted him in his extremity, that would have formed a wall around him, and with their lives defended his grey hairs. But when the hour of calamity came to Absalom it found him alone. Even Saul had his armour-bearer at his side when he fled over Gilboa; but neither armour-bearer nor friend attended Absalom as he fled from the battle of the wood of Ephraim. It would have been well for him if he had really gained a few of the many hearts he stole. Much though moralists tell us of the heartlessness of the world in the hour of adversity, we should not have expected to light on so extreme a case of it. We can hardly withhold a tear at the sight of the unhappy youth, an hour ago with thousands eager to obey him, and a throne before him, apparently secure from danger; now hanging helpless between earth and heaven, with no companion but an evil conscience, and no prospect but the judgment of an offended God.

A recent writer, in his "History of the English People" (Green), when narrating the fall of Cardinal Wolsey, powerfully describes the way of Providence in suffering a career of unexampled wickedness and ambition to go on from one degree of prosperity to another, till the moment of doom arrives, when all is shattered by a single blow. There was long delay, but "the hour of reckoning at length arrived. Slowly the hand had crawled along the dial-plate, slowly as if the event would never come; and wrong was heaped on wrong, and oppression cried, and it seemed as if no ear had heard its voice, till the measure of the wickedness was at length fulfilled. The finger touched the hour; and as the strokes of the great hammer rang out above the nation, in an instant the whole fabric of iniquity was shivered to ruins."

This hour had now come to Absalom. He had often been reproved, but had hardened his heart, and was now to be destroyed, and that without remedy. In the person of Joab, God found a fitting instrument for carrying His purpose into effect. The character of Joab is something of a riddle. We cannot say that he was altogether bad man, or altogether without the fear of God. Though David bitterly complained of him in some things, he must have valued him on the whole, for during the whole of his reign Joab had been his principal general. That he wanted all tenderness of heart seems very plain. That he was subject to vehement and uncontrollable impulses, in the heat of which fearful deeds of blood were done by him, but done in what seemed to him the interest of the public, is also clear. There is no evidence that he was habitually savage or grossly selfish. When David charged him and the other generals to deal tenderly with the young man Absalom, it is quite possible that he was minded to do so. But in the excitement of the battle, that uncontrollable impulse seized him which urged him to the slaughter of Amasa and Abner. The chance of executing judgment on the arch-rebel who had caused all this misery, and been guilty of crimes never before heard of in Israel, and thus ending for ever an insurrection that might have dragged its slow length along for harassing years to come, was too much for him. "How could you see Absalom hanging in an oak and not put an end to his mischievous life?" he asks the man that tells him he had seen him in that plight. And he has no patience with the man's elaborate apology. Seizing three darts, he rushes to the place, and thrusts them through Absalom's heart. And his ten armour-bearers finish the business with their swords. We need not suppose that he was altogether indifferent to the feelings of David; but he may have been seized by an overwhelming conviction that Absalom's death was the only effectual way of ending this most guilty and pernicious insurrection, and so preserving the country from ruin. Absalom living, whether banished or imprisoned, would be a constant and fearful danger. Absalom dead, great though the king's distress for the time might be, would be the very salvation of the country. Under the influence of this conviction he thrust the three darts through his heart, and he allowed his attendants to hew that comely body to pieces, till the fair form that all had admired so much became a mere mass of hacked and bleeding flesh. But whatever may have been the process by which Joab found himself constrained to disregard the king's order respecting Absalom, it is plain that to his dying day David never forgave him.

The mode of Absalom's death, and also the mode of his burial, were very significant. It had probably never happened to any warrior, or to any prince, to die from a similar cause. And but for the vanity that made him think so much of his bodily appearance, and especially of his hair, death would never have come to him in such a form. Vanity of one's personal appearance is indeed a weakness rather than a crime. It would be somewhat hard to punish it directly, but it is just the right way of treating it, to make it punish itself. And so it was in the case of Absalom. His bitterest enemy could have desired nothing more ludicrously tragical than to see those beautiful locks fastening him as with a chain of gold to the arm of the scaffold, and leaving him dangling there like the most abject malefactor. And what of the beautiful face and handsome figure that often, doubtless, led his admirers to pronounce him every inch a king? So slashed and mutilated under the swords of Joab's ten men, that no one could have told that it was Absalom that lay there. This was God's judgment on the young man's vanity.

The mode of his burial is particularly specified. "They took Absalom and cast him into a great pit in the wood, and laid a very great heap of stones upon him; and all Israel fled everyone to his tent." The purpose of this seems to have been to show that Absalom was deemed worthy of the punishment of the rebellious son, as appointed by Moses; and a more significant expression of opinion could not have been given. The punishment for the son who remained incorrigibly rebellious was to be taken beyond the walls of the city, and stoned to death. It is said by Jewish writers that this punishment was never actually inflicted, but the mode of Absalom's burial was fitted to show that he at least was counted as deserving of it. The ignominious treatment of that graceful body, which he adorned and set off" with such care, did not cease even after it was gashed by the weapons of the young men; no place was found for it in the venerable cave of Machpelah; it was not even laid in the family sepulcher at Jerusalem, but cast ignominiously into a pit in the wood; it was bruised and pounded by stones, and left to rot there, like the memory of its possessor, and entail eternal infamy on the place. What a lesson to all who disown the authority of parents! What a warning to all who cast away the cords of self-restraint! It is said by Jewish writers that every by-passer was accustomed to throw a stone on the heap that covered the remains of Absalom, and as he threw it to say, "Cursed be the memory of rebellious Absalom; and cursed for ever be all wicked children that rise up in rebellion against their parents!"

And here it may be well to say a word to children. You all see the lesson that is taught by the doom of Absalom, and you all feel that in that doom, terrible though it was, he just reaped what he had sowed. You see the seed of his offence, disobedience to parents, bringing forth the most hideous fruit, and receiving in God's providence a most frightful punishment. You see it without excuse and without palliation; for David had been a kind father, and had treated Absalom better than he deserved. Mark, then, that this is the final fruit of that spirit of disobedience to parents which often begins with very little offences. These little offences are big enough to show that you prefer your own will to the will of your parents. If you had a just and true respect for their authority, you would guard against little transgressions - you would make conscience of obeying in all things great and small. Then remember that every evil habit must have a beginning, and very often it is a small beginning. By imperceptible stages it may grow and grow, till it becomes a hideous vice, like this rebellion of Absalom. Nip it in the bud; if you don't, who can tell whether it may not grow to something terrible, and at last brand you with the brand of Absalom?

If this be the lesson to children from the doom of Absalom, the lesson to parents is not less manifest from the case of David. The early battle between the child's will and the parent's is often very difficult and trying; but God is on the parent's side, and will give him the victory if he seeks it aright. It certainly needs great vigilance, wisdom, patience, firmness, and affection. If you are careless and unwatchful, the child's will will speedily assert itself If you are foolish, and carry discipline too far, if you thwart the child at every point, instead of insisting on one thing, or perhaps a few things, at a time, you will weary him and weary yourself without success. If you are fitful, insisting at one time and taking no heed at another, you will convey the impression of a very elastic law, not entitled to much respect. If you lose your temper, and speak unadvisedly, instead of mildly and lovingly, you will most effectually set the child's temper up against the very thing you wish him to do. If you forget that you are not independent agents, but have got the care of your beloved child from God, and ought to bring him up as in God's stead, and in the most humble and careful dependence on God's grace, you may look for blunder upon blunder in sad succession, with results in the end that will greatly disappoint you. How close every Christian needs to lie to God in the exercise of this sacred trust! And how much, when conscious of weakness and fearing the consequences, ought he to prize the promise - "My grace is sufficient for thee!"

William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.

For certain of the Reubenites, Gadites, and of the half tribe, could not bear the insolence of the son against the father, and therefore joined with David.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

CHAPTER XVIII

David reviews and arranges the people, and gives the command

to Joab, Abishai, and Ittai, 1, 2.

On his expressing a desire to accompany them to the battle,

they will not permit him, 3.

He reviews them as they go out of the city, and gives

commandment to the captains to save Absalom, 4, 5.

They join battle with Absalom and his army, who are discomfited

with the loss of twenty thousand men, 6-8.

Absalom, fleeing away, is caught by his head in an oak; Joab

finds him, and transfixes him with three darts, 9-15.

The servants of David are recalled, and Absalom buried, 16-18.

Ahimaaz and Cushi bring the tidings to David, who is greatly

distressed at hearing of the death of Absalom, and makes

bitter lamentation for him, 19-33.

NOTES ON CHAP. XVIII

Verse 1. And set captains of thousands] By this time David's small company was greatly recruited; but what its number was we cannot tell. Josephus says it amounted to four thousand men. Others have supposed that they amounted to ten thousand; for thus they understand a clause in 2Sa 18:3, which they think should be read, We are now ten thousand strong.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

XVIII.

(1) Numbered the people.—The word means rather mustered. David was some time at Mahanaim, organising the forces which continually gathered to him there.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And David numbered the people that were with him,.... Which Josephus says (d) were four thousand; but one would think there should be more by what follows:

and set captains of thousands and captains of hundreds over them; he divided his army into companies, which consisted some of a thousand and others of a hundred; over each of which he set captains, to lead them on, direct, and command them in battle.

(d) Antiqu. l. 7. c. 10. sect. 1.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Hundreds. Josephus only allows David 4000 men. But his army seems to have been pretty numerous, since he divides it into three parts, and appoints three head commanders, with officers of a thousand, &c., under them. See ver. 4. (Calmet) --- He designed to lead them to battle himself, if the people had not dissuaded him. (Salien)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

The people that were with him; which flocked to him thither, so as to make up a small army.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The Defeat and Death of Absalom

1. Numbered] rather, 'mustered.'

3. Succour us out of the city] David, holding Mahanaim with a sufficient force, would be of the greatest assistance to the fugitives, if his army were defeated.

5. The people heard] This statement explains 2Sa_18:12.

6. The wood of Ephraim] LXX reads 'Mahanaim' here.

8. The battle was there scattered] So Joab was able to destroy Absalom's forces in detail. The wood devoured, etc.] The thickness of the wood, its swamps, precipices, etc., militated against the fugitives, and increased the slaughter: cp. the manner of Absalom's death.

9. Met] RV 'chanced to meet.' By misfortune, in his flight Absalom encountered some of the pursuers. His head] The tradition that Absalom was caught by his hair comes from Josephus.

13. Against me] RV 'aloof.' Joab would have stood on one side and let his accomplice bear the brunt of the king's anger.

16. Joab held back the people] Absalom was dead and the war ended.

17. A very great heap of stones] This might be simply to mark his burying-place.

18. This v. is evidently parenthetical, and informs us that Absalom had a suitable permanent memorial, though the building now known as Absalom's tomb in the vicinity of Jerusalem is of much later date. Evidently Absalom's three sons (2Sa_14:27) had died before him. Place] RV 'monument.'

21. Cushi] RV 'the Cushite.' He was probably a slave of Joab, who could be trusted to say exactly what he was told.

22. Thou hast no tidings ready] RV 'thou wilt have no reward for the tidings.' His message would be a sad one.

23. By the way of the plain] The direct way lay across the hills, but Ahimaaz, by choosing the level road along the Jordan valley, reached his goal first.

24. Between the two gates] i.e. between the outer and the inner gate in the city wall.

25. If he be alone, there is tidings] Had he been a fugitive, he would have been followed by others.

29. And me] RV 'even me.' I knew not what it was] This statement was untrue (2Sa_18:20). Probably Joab had commanded him to leave the announcement to the Cushite

J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And David numbered. The verb really means that he organized his army, and arranged it in companies and divisions. As Absalom gathered all Israel to him, there would be some delay; and David, like a wise general, made use of it for training the brave but undisciplined men who had joined him, chiefly from Gilead. Besides these, he had with him numerous veterans, whose skill and experience would be invaluable in such service. The result was that when the rebels came to close quarters, they had a vast body of men, but David a disciplined force, which, under skilful generalship, scattered Absalom"s raw levies with ease. The arrangement into thousands and hundreds was in accordance with the civil divisions, (Exo_18:25) both being, in fact, dictated by nature as multiples of our hands.

Vers. 1-18. The facts are:

1. David, refreshed by the aid sent him, sets himself to the work oforganizing his followers, and divides them into three corps, under Joab, Abishai, and Ittai respectively.

2. On his proposing to head the force, the people urge him to desist fromdoing so, pointing out that, in case of a conflict, the enemy would be sure to make an endeavour to kill him rather than to fight a regular battle.

3. The king yields to their persuasions, and, as they suggest, abides by thecity to render succour if required.

4. Having seen his men march out, he lays strict injunction on his captains,in the hearing of their forces, to deal gently with Absalom for his sake.

5. A severe battle takes place, in which the followers of Absalom aredefeated with great slaughter.

6. Absalom, in riding through a wood, is entangled in the branches by hishead, and, while hanging there, is seen by a man who reports the fact to Joab.

7. On being reproached for not slaying Absalom, the man reminds Joab ofthe solemn injunction of the king, and that he was restrained by that, as also by the fear of being discovered should he attempt the deed in secrecy.

8. Joab in a rage takes three darts, and thrusts them through the heart ofAbsalom, and his armour bearers also join in the infliction of wounds on his body.

9. Joab thereupon recalls the people from the pursuit, and causes Absalomto be buried in a pit and covered by a heap of stones, the only monument in his memory being the pillar which he himself had erected during his lifetime.

10. On the death and burial of Absalom becoming known, his forces are dispersed, each man fleeing to his tent.

The discharge of painful obligations.

The hasty flight of David from Jerusalem was not the result of cowardice, but of prudence and of spiritual penetration. He thought it possible that a movement which had won over so able a man as Ahithophel, and which had developed so secretly, might issue in a sudden rising which would involve the city in bloodshed. Moreover, with the keen spiritual insight which ever characterized him, he could not but see in this rebellion the chastising hand before which it became him in his lifelong penitence, mingled with sincere trust, to bow. But now that Jerusalem was safe from bloodshed, and the sanctuary of God was undefiled, and his faithful adherents were refreshed and in personal safety, the time had come to consider his position and devise such measures as Providence might render possible; and he thus at once found himself face to face with the unwelcome necessity of waging war against his own son. We may, then, take this as illustrating the obligations under which good men sometimes find themselves to pursue a course most distressing to their feelings.

I AS A MATTER OF FACT, OBLIGATIONS INVOLVING MUCH PAIN IN THEIR DISCHARGE DO ARISE SOME TIME OR OTHER IN THE COURSE OF A GOOD MAN"S LIFE. Our entire life is a continuous duty. Obligations attend us every day. Right action means fulfilment of purposes, obeying laws, harmony with moral necessity. The pressure is incessant, and ordinarily is, for the Christian, a not unwelcome yoke. But now and then duty is in forms requiring all the resources of a strong will, and in a direction against some of the most cherished feelings of the heart. David was bound to care for the kingdom over which he had been appointed by God. The validity of his anointing was still unrevoked by him who ordained it. It was, therefore, due to himself, his kingdom, and his God that he should take means to put down the usurpation of his own son. Paternal feeling might be pained, but the obligation was imperative. The Church furnishes many such instances. The most tender of ties have been severed in order to be true to Christ"s commands. The doing of his work in the world often costs much pain because of its apparent antagonism to those best loved. Peter did not exercise discipline in the early Church without anguish of spirit. (Act_5:1-5) The reproofs of the Apostle Paul were with much sorrow of heart. Letters are daily written with tears. Parents daily have to resist the self-will of sons and daughters, and they mourn the sad necessity. Fidelity to right is, in many instances, a secret martyrdom.

II IN THE MENTAL CONFLICT INCIDENT TO THE DISCHARGE OF DUTY, THE SENSE OF RIGHT RISES ABOVE PERSONAL CONSIDERATIONS. The whole history of David proves that when, at Mahanaim, he began to collect his thoughts and consider the path of wisdom, a most painful conflict must have arisen in his mind as to the course to be taken. The clearer the conviction that, as God"s anointed, he was bound to put down the force that was driving him from the throne, the sharper the pang awakened by the thought of raising the sword against his own child. The battle had to be fought out within his own nature before it was transferred to the open field. The human spirit is the arena of great struggles and victories, before men see visible triumphs. The dreadful disaster had for a time taken away David"s strength; the pains of hell got hold of him: he was poor, weak, and forlorn. But now the recollection of duty to God and man brought back his old courage and resolution; and the calm and sober way in which he began to marshal his forces showed that help had come from God to subordinate the anguish of his heart to the sense of duty. Providence seems to work along these lines in the training of the best men. Character is strengthened by the triumph of conscientious regard for the will of God over the strivings of personal considerations. If to fight against a son, to face the possibility of much slaughter, and to see a prosperous reign darkened by civil war, were evils endured by David in order to carry out the kingly purposes of his anointing, how does it become Christians, in carrying out the purposes of their special anointing, to bring every thought, desire, and preference into subjection? Christ has left us the noblest example of this.

III A RESOLVE TO SUBORDINATE PERSONAL CONSIDERATIONS TO A SENSE OF DUTY BEING TAKEN, A GOOD MAN WILL DEVISE MEANS OF MEETING DIFFICULTIES AND SECURING THE END IN VIEW. The season of mental conflict being passed, and stern duty being accepted, David proves his courage and sagacity by his calm determination, his collection of resources, his estimate of his numerical strength, his dispositions for meeting difficulties and accomplishing the end in view, his preparedness to incur personal risks, his acceptance of good and generous counsel, and his precautions against disaster at the outset (vers. 1-5). The king"s soul was evidently sustained by the assurance often expressed in the Psalms that the Lord was his Salvation; and this, instead of encouraging neglect and carelessness, stimulated, as it always does, energy to work along the lines of the Divine purpose. The emotions of the father are kept under by prompt and energetic application of all the powers of body and mind to the performance of kingly duty. Our faith in God and in the realization of his purpose will appear in the zeal with which we work to bring that purpose to pass.

IV IN SUBORDINATING PERSONAL CONSIDERATIONS TO A SENSE OF DUTY, A GOOD MAN WILL NEVERTHELESS CHERISH SENTIMENTS NATURAL TO HIS RELATIONSHIPS. David suppressed the pain of making war on his son because it was right so to do; but that did not imply the uprooting from his heart of those feelings of tenderness and compassion and yearning sorrow which are proper to a father, even for a prodigal son. He did not waver in his kingly design to subdue rebellion, nor did he show a wicked leniency towards an evil life in the son, when he, in the presence of the whole army, enjoined on Joab to "deal gently with the young man Absalom." The rebel was his own child, and a pious heart could not but wish to have opportunity once more to pour upon that child the full force of its sorrowful love, in hopes of winning him over to a sense of his guilt. No feeling so natural as the wish that a prodigal may not be cut off by unpitying hands in the midst of his sins. The legal question as to what would have to be done with a captured rebel was not yet for decision. Sanctified human nature simply yearned to save the sinner from men as cruel as the grave. Knowing the character of Joab, and being a stranger to mere personal revenge, David urged upon him, as a strong restraint, consideration for himself as king and father. There are many Christian parents today who feel for their erring ones just as David did for his, although, like him, they are obliged, out of regard to their families and themselves, to pursue a line of rigid duty. Hope of salvation never dies from a parent"s heart. Beautifully does this adumbrate the compassion of God towards his prodigals! "Deal gently with him" seems to be the message sent forth to the forces which work out the king"s purposes in the discipline of life. "Do not crush him" is the spirit of God"s government. How much we each owe to that!

V THERE ARE PROVIDENTIAL ENCOURAGEMENTS TO THE SUBORDINATION OF PERSONAL CONSIDERATIONS TO A SENSE OF DUTY. David was helped in his mental conflict by reflection on the past and present. He was so far spared by God. Sympathetic friends had brought him aid when in great distress. His own followers were intelligently loyal (ver. 3), and were obviously strong in their confidence in the justice of his cause. This kind of external support is of great service when a man is passing through a struggle as to whether he can perform a painful duty. Generally when God assigns duties involving pain in the performance, provision is made for encouragement. When our Saviour required his apostles to renounce all and to look on to persecution like that which he was suffering from, he cheered them by the promise of the Comforter, and a peace which the world could not give. The Resurrection made them strong to endure the loss of all things, and to subordinate love of home, friends, and country to the obligation of fighting against evil in the world.

GENERAL LESSONS.

1. In the time of disaster it behoves us, when occasion arises for reflection on the situation, to avail ourselves with vigour of the resources for recovering our position which God places around us.

2. One of the best preservatives from utter despondency is a remembrancethat God has a work for us to accomplish in life, and hence, the more clearly this is kept in view, the more readily shall we be able to face disagreeable duties.

3. It is the duty of citizens to take precautions for the safety of those inhigh positions, since the welfare of the state is involved in their lives.

4. One of the elements of a perfect moral character to be attained to is thebalance between the most rigid justice and the cherishing of feelings free from the taint of personal revenge.

5. As in the state we ought to do things for the "king"s sake" which do notinvolve a breach of morality, so in the Church there are things we should do for Christ"s sake, which would not be done did we simply follow out the bare tendencies of our imperfect nature and conform to the usages of society.

A revelation of sin and its issue.

The remarkable space given in the sacred history to the life and conduct of Absalom in their relation to David may arouse the question as to the reason. It is not easy to assign all the reasons that may have operated in the mind of the inspired collector of the annals of Israel to give such prominence to these details; but we may be safe in saying that it was the Divine will to set forth, for the instruction of all ages, the discipline of the "man after God"s own heart" and also, for the same object, the development and issue of sin in a conspicuous instance. Men learn a lesson written out in large bold characters; and herein lies most of the teaching value of the Old Testament histories. We may, then, trace here, in a concrete instance and striking form, illustrations of what all sin more or less is and involves, though the particular forms it assumes may vary.

I ALIENATION OF HEART AND LOSS OF THE GENUINE FEELING OF SONSHIP. Absalom had known a time when, in the assertion within his own spirit of self-hood, he virtually ceased to be a true son. This was his fall. The old child affection became weak; an aversion sprang up; father was no longer regarded as a father should be, and child ceased to be genuine child. This was the secret of all. It was a sort of moral death. The schism was more than political. Virtually he had said, "I will be free and do as I wish." This is also the essence of our sin against God. Adam lost somehow the sonship feeling. Self-will asserted its power. God became one, and he another. Union was gone. This is our Saviour"s teaching in the parable of the prodigal son. The young man was weary of his father, and wanted to do as he liked away from him. If we examine our hearts, it will be found to be the same with ourselves. Sin is, negatively, destitution of the sonship feeling; positively, the assertion of self-hood as against God. In this lies its desperate evil, its incurable vice, its secret of doom.

II A PERVERSION OF GIFTS. As soon as Absalom"s heart was gone, he began to use up his beauty, his eloquence, his scheming, every faculty of his nature, to render himself happy in his self-hood, and to be able to dispense with his father"s favour. In human nature all gifts flow in the line of one master feeling. Hence when the dominant feeling is alienation from God, the entire man goes away, and all powers are made subservient to self as against the rightful dominion of God. The prodigal son used his patrimony away from his father. Sinners use up their patrimony for self, and not in harmony with God. Kindness is abused.

III A RESOLVE TO GET RID OF AUTHORITY. For a time Absalom simply cherished the feeling of alienation and knew the misery of a lost love. But evil is a force, and we cannot remain as we are when it once enters the soul. The wretchedness of a lost love put him on the way to get rid of the authority which existed in spite of his loss of loving delight in it. Thought begets thought, and so in due time positive rebellion arose. The royal father must be formally dethroned. There is a corresponding phase in the life of many a sinner. It is misery to be loveless and to know at the same time that God lives. Hence, thoughts flow in suggesting how, by what scepticism, or disbelief, or defiance, or desperation in vice, he can be dislodged from the conscience. Possibly the war becomes violent. No more welcome thought to some men than that God is not. Lost love means in the end antagonism.

IV THERE IS FOR A WHILE AN APPEARANCE OF SUCCESS. Unhappy Absalom found abettors and flatterers. His independent spirit accorded with the temper of others. His endeavours to live without his father"s love and blessing seemed most successful, for never did men make so much of him as now when he has shaken off the yoke of dependence and has gone in for a free life. His "strength was firm." The aim of his ambition seemed within reach. Wise and astute men encouraged and helped him, and threes were placed at his disposal. So all seems to go well for a while with those who are alienated from God the Father. No visible punishment comes on them. They are free from restraints to which once they submitted. They "become as gods, knowing good and evil." Others, some of them wise and learned and astute, encourage them in their mode of life and join in their aims. The forces of wit, learning, science, worldly sagacity, combine to enable them to put down the authority to which they ought to submit. These are the wicked who prosper in the world.

V THERE ARE THE BEGINNINGS OF REVERSE. Absalom finds his forces scattered by a force the strength of which he did not expect to meet. The mighty array of power on his side receives a check (vers. 6-8). He has to learn that the authority despised can make itself felt. And in the course of Providence there are times when events remind sinners that God still rules over forces which they cannot resist, that powers are at work before which they have to bow. Sickness, bereavement, adverse conditions of life, ruin of wicked helpers, pangs of conscience, and personal wretchedness, come and beat down the proud array of wit, learning, jovial companionship, and stoutness of will, as the rebel army was beaten down in the wood of Ephraim. Wicked men have intimations of destruction before it fails on them. The conscience sees, as with prophet"s eye, the dark shadows of the future in passing events.

VI VALUABLE GIFTS HASTEN DESTRUCTION. The pride of Absalom"s person warn the means of hastening his death. The hair which had been so much admired, which he counted as a treasure, and made him conspicuous in Israel, now combined with the silent forces that ran through the forest trees to bring him into the judgment for which his course of rebellion had been preparing him. When God"s time has come, he has many instruments for effecting his purpose. The best gifts of sinful men sometimes get so entangled with the stable order of nature as to prematurely bring their life to an end. There are always "branches" stretching out in the natural order of things, forming objects against which the powers and possessions of men run, to their detriment and speedy death. The young man"s natural vigour, of which he is proud, may run against a resisting force which shatters it in proportion to its strength. Brilliant intellects, in their defiance of God, have, in modern times, become so absorbed in literary work bearing on their infidelity, as to be caught early in the arms of death. Of how many may it be said that their beauty has been their destruction!

VII THEIR MEMORY IS DESTINED TO BE UNHONOURED. Absalom, proud of his name and ambitious of posthumous fame, erected a memorial pillar for himself a mournful premonition, as it were, of his miserable end. Nothing could have been more mortifying to him, had he known it, than to be cut down from a tree like a common felon and be buried as a dog. The wicked are cut off; their memorial perishes. It may be that men who die in sin have reared to their memory tablets or monuments of marble or brass; but the truth remains that they shall have no everlasting memorial in the assembly of the upright in the new Jerusalem. Earthly monuments are perishable. It is said of those who are so unfortunate and guilty as to die in a state of alienation from God, that their name shall "rot". (Pro_10:7) The only enduring order of things is that of the kingdom of God: it "cannot be shaken," and a place in that kingdom alone can ensure a perpetual memorial. Those who are true sons, who have recovered the lost feeling of love, shall shine in the kingdom of the Father, and shall be heirs with Christ of his glory and joy. The wicked shall go into "outer darkness.

GENERAL LESSONS.

1. The attention of all, especially of the young, should be called to the factthat the right feeling of sonship is that of loving submission, and that the loss of this towards earthly parents is really the fruit of a loss of the filial feeling towards the heavenly Father.

2. If we would form right notions of the guilt of sin, the need and nature ofatonement, and the punishment awarded to sin in Scripture, we must pay due regard to what sin is in its essence the assertion of self against God.

3. We see here the real nature of the change that is necessary in order toadoption into the redeemed family of God a radical change of the governing feeling of the heart in relation to God. Regeneration is the inner antecedent of the conversion of the entire man.

4. Young men may take warning against the terrible power of evil whenonce thee break the bonds of love to parents, and in this first and chief sin they have the germ of unspeakable crimes and woes.

5. Let those who in the height of sinful prosperity imagine that all is goingwell, remember that, though they thus rejoice, yet for all these things God will bring them into judgment. (Ecc_11:9)

6. Both the righteous and the wicked may accept it as a certainty that, insome way or other, the very inanimate creation will sooner or later be subservient to the ends of justice.

7. The best monument we can rear to ourselves, or that others can raise toour memory, is that blessed memory of the just which rests on a life of love to earthly parents and righteous fulfilment of all the obligations we owe to God and man.

The place of principles in conduct.

The controversy between the "certain man" and Joab near the oak where Absalom was hanging was natural, and sprang from diversity of views, which took their shape in each case from the character of the individuals. The man was an ordinary loyal subject of David"s, simple in life and thought, governed, as such men generally are, by a few great first principles of conduct. Joab was an astute man of the world, true to David for reasons of a compound nature, entertaining such views of duty and life as generally sway the minds of men of the world, who regard present facts in the light of an unsentimental expediency. Each one was true to himself, and the discussion raised was well sustained on each side by reasons cogent to the men themselves who expressed them, but of no force beyond the individual to convert the other to his view. We see, then

I THAT LIFE MAY IN DIFFERENT MEN BE CONDUCTED ON DIFFERENT AND TOTALLY IRRECONCILABLE PRINCIPLES. Here was a simple countryman unwilling to touch the life of Absalom, solely because of the king"s commandment (vers. 5, 12, 13). The question of the prudence or imprudence of the act was not for a moment entertained. Obedience to the royal authority was the prime duty. This belief was the governing rule of conduct. No imaginary advantage to Israel, no example or persuasion of a great general, could turn the man from this fixed principle. On the other hand, Joab swept aside a such forceful pressure of supreme obligation to the royal will, because his conduct was governed, in this case at least, by a worldly wisdom, a consideration of what seemed to himself to be the best thing to do a policy of expediency. There was a general admission of the existence and value of what the countryman regarded as primary principles of conduct on the part of subjects; but theory was good for theorists, and Joab was a man of deeds when matters were urgent! These men certainly represent two classes those who accept first principles of obligation, primary conceptions of duty as lying at the very basis of society and of the individual life; and those who, while formally admitting the existence and propriety of such principles, nevertheless set them aside whenever, for prudential reasons, they think it well to do so. There are such primary principles: in government, the law of the ruler is supreme; in the family, e.g., the expressed will of the father is binding; in matters of religion, e.g., God prohibits unholiness of feeling, malice, cruelty, and commands men to repent, believe, and in all things do justly, irrespective of consequences. There are men who do base their action on these principles. But there are men who, like Joab, break the law of their land, and set aside supreme authority for reasons of their own; there are children who violate the fundamental principle of domestic order, because their judgment goes against their parents; there are men of the world who dare to disobey the Eternal King"s commandment in relation to repentance, faith, and unswerving righteousness of life, for reasons which seem to them sufficient at the time. Do all Christians follow out the regal commands as to righteousness in all things? Is there not too much expediency in Christian conduct? (cf. Mt 6)

II CONDUCT BASED ON PROMPT RECOGNITION OF FIRST PRINCIPLES IS MORE LIKELY TO CHARACTERIZE UNSOPHISTICATED MEN THAN MEN IMMERSED IN THE PUBLIC AFFAIRS. This plain countryman simply followed the order of the king because the king"s will to him was sacred. He was not learned in casuistry, not versed in diplomacy, not skilled in keeping the letter and violating the spirit of the Law. He was amazed that any one should think of deviating from a command so plain. Its justice or injustice, its prudence or imprudence, were no matters for him to settle. Law was binding. The king must be obeyed. This was the instinct of a guileless nature. The force of the principle of obedience to the authority of God"s anointed was recognized, because his spirit was politically and morally sound and pure. Joab was a man of the world, a man of many designs and combinations of thought, a man whose purity and guilelessness were gone. In the struggle of high and low principles within his nature, pure principle was deprived of its native force. Our Saviour, in reference to much higher matters, points out this difference of conduct proceeding from difference of character, when he thanks his Father that "these things," which were bidden from the "wise and prudent," were "revealed unto babes". (Mat_11:25, Mat_11:26) We must become as little children guileless, unsophisticated, quick to act on primary principles apart from the warping influences of worldly prudence, if we would enter his kingdom and be as he was. There may be advantages in being versed in affairs, familiar with the tricks and ways of men, and famed for astuteness and such like qualities; but on the whole, in matters of pure right and strict adherence to clear duty to God and man, the guileless man is most likely to be the most dependable. Moral intuitions are swift in the pure hearted, and to debate their applicability is at once to weaken their force.

III CIRCUMSTANCES MAY ARISE IN WHICH DEVIATION FROM PRIMARY PRINCIPLES MAY AT FIRST APPEAR MOST CONFORMABLE TO REASON. On the face of it most men would have said that Joab was justified in setting aside conscientious scruples about the sacredness of the royal command. The rebel deserved death, the only place of restraint for him was the grave, the king"s paternal feelings were a danger to the state, Providence had evidently put Absalom"s life in the hands of Joab, and the king would be sure to condone the deed, all this might be said with force. So may it be argued still. Immediate repentance may be right; but surely a man whose livelihood is at stake may be cautious, and not by a sudden change of life bring himself and family into poverty! "Love your enemies" is a Divine command; but we are not so good as was he who gave the command, and so he will condone our cherishing some hatred! Be truthful in word and deed is the meaning to us all of Christ"s life; but the pressure of business and the difficulties of diplomacy in national affairs are such that we cannot take this grand law of life into all departments of activity! Thus by arguments apparently conclusive the "commandments of God" are "made of none effect.

IV THE TRUE INTERESTS OF ALL LIE IN ADHERENCE TO PRIMARY PRINCIPLES. Joab, by his deviation from the king"s command, while seeming to secure an advantage to the state, was really sowing the seed of rebellion; for it set aside the supreme law, and its natural tendency was to weaken the royal authority throughout Israel. To gain a temporary advantage at the cost of damning the force of a cardinal truth is no real gain in the end, for the consequences of such an injury are incalculable. Once impair the supremacy of right principles in the national or individual mind, and you have prepared the way for all kinds of degeneracy. God never departs from right, and his ways always come out right. Moral principles are as rind in their demand for implicit and full recognition as any laws of physics, and they vindicate their neglect with as absolute a certainty. Christ has made it clear that strict and severe adherence to his authority alone will issue well. The sermon on the mount is a statement of unconditioned practical truth. The Church of Christ would have done more for the world had this sermon been more recognized, apart from the limitations of accommodating rules of interpretation.

HOMILIES BY B. DALE Vers. 1-8. (MAHANAIM.)

David"s victory over his rebellious subjects.

Having found refuge in the fortified city of Mahanaim, (2Sa_2:8) and recruited their exhausted energies, David and those who were with him prepared for the conflict which now seemed inevitable. Meanwhile (during several weeks) Absalom collected a great army, (2Sa_17:11) appointed Amasa captain, crossed the Jordan, and encamped in the land of Gilead. (2Sa_17:24-27) Here, "in the wood of Ephraim" (ver. 6; Jud_1:12:4) he was met by the forces of David, and the issue was quickly decided. "The traveller who only knows Palestine to the west of the Jordan, can form no idea of the luxuriance of the hillsides of Gilead. Here we crossed sparkling rivulets, where the sunlight glinted through the foliage of handsome oak, terebinth, and carob trees, and traversed glades seldom disturbed by the foot of man, which led into the deep solitudes of the forest. In one of these Absalom met his end; and one could well understand, as one came suddenly upon the brink of some rock or gorge, why possibly, in headlong and disastrous flight, so many of the combatants on that fatal day should have been numbered among the missing, that it was said the wood devoured more than the sword" (Oliphant). Attention is especially directed to David, concerning whom observe

I THE RENEWED ENERGY OF HIS CHARACTER. After his deep humiliation, the old king is himself again. His youth is "renewed like the eagle"s." Passive submission is succeeded by active exertion, to which he is urged by inward impulses and new circumstances. There is a time to pray, and a time to work.

1. He actively musters his friends around him; and constantly attracts andreceives reinforcements from the people who dwell on the east of the Jordan. (2Sa_17:27-29 Ps 27 Ps 28 Psa_110:3)

2. He skilfully organizes his forces, appointing captains of thousands and captains of hundreds, and arranging them in three divisions under Joab, Abishai, and Ittai, (2Sa_15:19-22) well knowing the worth of able leaders and of strict order and discipline. (2Sa_8:15-18)

3. He courageously purposes to go forth himself into the conflict, (2Sa_21:17) and is prevented from doing so only by their considerate determination (ver. 4). "Those who engage others in arduous and perilous attempts must be willing to take their full share of hardship; but true courage and firmness of mind are very different from rashness and obstinacy, and wise men are always must ready to listen to prudent counsel, even from their inferiors" (Scott).

4. He specially charges them to do his son no harm. "Gently for me withthe young man Absalom" (ver. 5); "Beware, whoever it be," etc. (ver. 12). A general and intense feeling of resentment is naturally felt against him; and none are concerned about his welfare, save his father, whom he has chiefly wronged. "See what a thing a godly father"s affection is to his child. No undutifulness, no practice on a child"s part, no, nor death itself, can divide between him and his child. What though Absalom can forget David, yet David cannot forget him; what though he be a very ungracious imp, yet "he is my child, my child," saith David, "I cannot but love him;" and, indeed, he over loves him; which I do not commend, but only observe, to note the strength of parents" love, if it be natural a love indeed as strong as death. Is the love of an earthly father so great? What, then, is the affection of our heavenly Father towards us?" (R. Harris: 1610).

II THE ARDENT ATTACHMENT OF HIS FOLLOWERS; in contrast with the disaffection and hostility of others.

1. They offer themselves willingly to his service, and readily risk their livesfor his sake.

2. They set an inestimable value on his life in comparison with their Own."thou art worth ten thousand of us" (ver. 3). How much often depends on one man! The safety, unity, religion, prosperity, of a whole nation. Both patriotism and piety require the utmost care for his preservation.

3. They see the peculiar peril to which he is exposed, and seek to guardhim against it. "They will pay no attention to us," etc. Of Washington, one of his officers wrote, "Our army love their general very much; but they have one complaint against him, which is the very little care he takes of himself.

4. They deem it expedient to provide, in case of need, for receiving his Aid."it is better that thou succour us out of the city." Their proposal is prudent, courteous, and honourable. Whilst he waits in the city with the "reserves," he still commands them, prays for them, and cooperates with them. They go forth under his sanction (ver. 4), are animated on the battlefield by the remembrance of him, and look forward to his approval as their recompense. (2Sa_19:3) Such devotion is rare, not merely towards an earthly commander, but even on the part of those who war a spiritual warfare towards the heavenly Leader and "Captain of their salvation.

III THE SIGNAL OVERTHROW OF HIS ADVERSARIES (vers. 7, 8); which is accomplished by the valour, discipline, and devotion of his "servants," and chiefly:

1. By the interposition of Divine providence (vers. 28, 31). "The race is notto the swift, nor the battle to the strong". (Ecc_9:11) "Providence is" by no means "always on the side of big battalions.

2. In retribution upon the disobedient and ungodly, over whom mercylingers long, but not forever, and who, though used as instruments of chastising others, are themselves ultimately broken in pieces.

3. For the deliverance of the faithful, the restoration of the "Lord"sanointed," and the maintenance of the theocracy.

4. As a preparation for, and a foreshadowing of, the nobler victories of theKing Messiah. It was another of the decisive battles of the world. "The contest was of short duration. The victors were soon vanquished. The storm was like a whirlwind, and like a whirlwind it passed away, leaving the enemies of God under the foot of the Messiah. To the depth of David"s fall, to the height of his exaltation, there is but one parallel. We see it in the Passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The two Davids fell in a manner alike mysterious to their astonished friends. The two Davids rose again in a manner alike terrible to their astonished foes" (M. Hill, "The Typical Testimony to the Messiah"). D.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

David prepares to engage the rebels, ver. 1-5. The total defeat of Absalom, ver. 6-8. His death and burial, ver. 9-18. The news brought to David, ver. 19-32. His lamentation over Absalom, ver. 33.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

The End of Absalom

v. 1. And David numbered the people that were with him, and set captains of thousands and captains of hundreds over them, the mustering being done with the care of the experienced general.

v. 2. And David, having made three divisions of his army, sent forth a third part of the people under the hand of Joab and a third part under the hand of Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother, and a third part under the hand of Ittai the Gittite, the three divisions thus being sent forth under the command of these three tested warriors. And the king said unto the people, I will surely go forth with you myself also, in supreme command of all the forces.

v. 3. But the people, who loved him and were thoroughly loyal to him, answered, Thou shalt not go forth; for if we flee away, they will not care for us, that fact would have comparatively little weight with them; neither if half of us die, will they care for us, that also would not really satisfy their hearts; but, now, thou art worth ten thousand of us, his power and influence was equivalent to that of ten thousand common soldiers; therefore, now, it is better that thou succor us out of the city, remaining with a reserve corps in case assistance should be needed at any point of the battle-line.

v. 4. And the king said unto them, What seemeth you best I will do, he agreed to this prudent suggestion. And the king stood by the gate side, in the entrance of the city gate, and all the people came out by hundreds and by thousands, he reviewed them as they marched by.

v. 5. And the king commanded Joab and Abishai and Ittai, saying, Deal gently for my sake with the young man, even with Absalom; they should abstain from all harshness against his person. And all the people heard when the king gave all the captains charge concerning Absalom, the command was given in the hearing of the entire army.

v. 6. So the people went out into the field against Israel, the army of David advancing to the attack; and the battle was in the wood of Ephraim, in the northeastern part of the country of Gilead;

v. 7. where the people of Israel were slain before the servants of David, completely defeated by the veteran army of the king, and there was there a great slaughter that day of twenty thousand men.

v. 8. For the battle was there scattered over the face of all the country, it was spread out over the entire woody mountain terrain, which was cut up by deep gorges; and the wood devoured more people that day than the sword devoured, for soldiers were lost in the mountain fastnesses and perished from exhaustion and hunger.

v. 9. And Absalom met the servants of David, he found himself face to face with the heroes of David and in imminent danger of being captured. And Absalom rode upon a mule, the animal used for riding by the royal children: and the mule went under the thick boughs of a great oak, one of the splendid terebinths of the forest, and his head caught hold of the oak, evidently because his long hair, of which he was so proud, wrapped around a limb; and he was taken up between the heaven and the earth, suspended from the tree by the hair of his head. And the mule that was under him went away, continuing his flight without his master.

v. 10. And a certain man, a private of the army of David, saw it and told Joab, making a report to his commander, and said. Behold, I saw Absalom hanged in an oak.

v. 11. And Joab said unto the man that told him, And, behold, thou sawest him, and why didst thou not smite him there to the ground? Joab severely reprimanded the private as though he had neglected an important duty. And I would have given thee ten shekels of silver and a girdle, as a reward for killing Absalom.

v. 12. And the man said unto Joab, Though I should receive a thousand shekels of silver in mine hand, literally, "weighed into my hand," that is, seven hundred dollars instead of the seven offered, yet would I not put forth mine hand against the king’s son; for in our hearing

v. 5. the king charged thee and Abishai and Ittai, saying, Beware that none touch the young man Absalom, to harm his person or to take his life.

v. 13. Otherwise I should have wrought falsehood against mine own life, literally, "Had I dealt deceitfully against his life," by acting against the express prohibition of the king; for there is no matter hid from the king, and thou thyself wouldest have set thyself against me, appearing before the king as accuser and causing the private to be punished.

v. 14. Then said Joab, I may not tarry thus with thee, losing time in this discussion, instead of doing what he considered necessary. And he took three darts in his hand, wooden staffs sharpened to he weapons, and thrust them through the heart of Absalom, while he was yet alive in the midst of the oak, suspended in the thicket of its branches.

v. 15. And ten young men that bare Joab’s armor compassed about and smote Absalom, and slew him, completing the work of their master.

v. 16. And Joab blew the trumpet, since Absalom’s death made further fighting unnecessary, and the people returned from pursuing after Israel; for Joab held back the people, since he wanted to spare the party of Absalom and not provoke a civil war.

v. 17. And they took Absalom, and cast him into a great pit in the wood, not granting him a proper burial, and laid a very great heap of stones upon him, a sign of embittered feeling for the rebel, a proper monument of shame for his crime; and all Israel fled, every one to his tent, to his own home. The rebellion was definitely broken.

v. 18. Now, Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself a pillar, a monument of stone, which is in the king’s dale, Gen 28:22; Gen 31:52, the valley of the Kidron, some distance east of Jerusalem; for he said, I have no son to keep my name in remembrance, those mentioned 2Sa 14:27 evidently having died in early childhood; and he called the pillar after his own name; and it is called unto this day Absalom’s Place, literally, "Absalom’s Hand," recalling his memory like an uplifted hand. A significant contrast: the monument which his own vanity erected during his lifetime, and that actually placed over his body after his death! His example shows how jealously God guards the honor of parents and masters according to the Fourth Commandment, how severely He punishes disobedience and contempt of the authorities established by Him.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

David counted the soldiers who were with him and appointed

David did not count all of the people himself, rather other men counted them. AT: "David commanded for the soldiers who were with him to be counted and he appointed" or "David arranged the soldiers who were with him and appointed" (See: Metonymy)

captains of thousands and captains of hundreds

Possible meanings are 1) these numbers represent the exact amount of soldiers that these captains led. AT: "captains of 1,000 soldiers and captains of 100 soldiers" or 2) the words translated as "thousands" and "hundreds" do not represent exact numbers, but are the names of larger and smaller military divisions. AT: "captains of large military divisions and captains of smaller military divisions" (See: Numbers)

captains

A captain is a person who is in authority over a group of soldiers.

one-third ... another third

"one-third of the army ... another third of the army." A "third" is one part out of three equal parts. (See: Fractions)

Abishai ... Zeruiah

See how you translated these men's names in 2 Samuel 2:18. (See: How to Translate Names)

Ittai

See how you translated this man's name in 2 Samuel 15:19. (See: How to Translate Names)

Gittite

This refers to a person from Gath, which is a Philistine city. (See: How to Translate Names)

I will certainly go out with you myself, too

This means that he will go out with them to battle. This can be stated clearly. AT: "I myself will go with you to battle" or "I personally will go with you into battle" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

translationWords

David

appoint

send

command

Joab

king

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.