2 Samuel 18

2Sa 18:1-4.

DAVID

REVIEWING THE

ARMIES.

1, 2. David numbered the people that were with him--The hardy

mountaineers of Gilead came in great numbers at the call of their

chieftains, so that, although without money to pay any troops, David

soon found himself at the head of a considerable army. A pitched battle

was now inevitable. But so much depending on the life of the king, he

was not allowed to take the field in person; and he therefore divided

his forces into three detachments under Joab, Abishai, and Ittai, the

commander of the foreign guards.

2Sa 18:5-13.

GIVES

THEM

CHARGE OF

ABSALOM.

5. Deal gently for my sake with the young man, even with Absalom--This

affecting charge, which the king gave to his generals, proceeded not

only from his overwhelming affection for his children, but from his

consciousness that this rebellion was the chastisement of his own

crimes, Absalom being merely an instrument in the hand of retributive

Providence;--and also from his piety, lest the unhappy prince should

die with his sins unrepented of.

6. wood of Ephraim--This wood, of course, was on the east of Jordan.

Its name was derived, according to some, from the slaughter of the

Ephraimites by Jephthah--according to others, from the connection of

blood with the trans-jordanic Manasseh.

7. the people of Israel were slain--This designation, together with

the immense slaughter mentioned later, shows the large extent to which

the people were enlisted in this unhappy civil contest.

8. the wood devoured more people than the sword--The thick forest of

oaks and terebinths, by obstructing the flight, greatly aided the

victors in the pursuit.

9. Absalom met the servants of David--or was overtaken. "It is

necessary to be continually on one's guard against the branches of

trees; and when the hair is worn in large locks floating down the back,

as was the case with a young man of the party to which I belonged, any

thick boughs interposing in the path might easily dislodge a rider from

his seat, and catch hold of his flowing hair"

[HARTLEY]. Some, however,

think that the sacred historian points not so much to the hair, as to

the head of Absalom, which, being caught while running between two

branches, was enclosed so firmly that he could not disengage himself

from the hold, nor make use of his hands.

the mule that was under him went away--The Orientals, not having

saddles as we do, do not sit so firmly on the beasts they ride. Absalom

quitting his hold of the bridle, apparently to release himself when

caught in the oak, the mule escaped.

11, 12. Joab said unto the man that told him, . . . I would have given

thee ten shekels of silver, and a girdle--that is, would have raised

him from the ranks to the status of a commissioned officer. Besides a

sum of money, a girdle, curiously and richly wrought, was among the

ancient Hebrews a mark of honor, and sometimes bestowed as a reward of

military merit. This soldier, however, who may be taken as a fair

sample of David's faithful subjects, had so great a respect for the

king's wishes, that no prospect of reward would have tempted him to lay

violent hands on Absalom. But Joab's stern sense of public duty, which

satisfied him that there could be neither safety to the king, nor peace

to the kingdom, nor security to him and other loyal subjects, so long

as that turbulent prince lived, overcame his sensibilities, and looking

upon the charge given to the generals as more befitting a parent than a

prince, he ventured to disobey it.

2Sa 18:14-32.

HE

IS

SLAIN BY

JOAB.

14. he took three darts . . . and thrust them through the heart of

Absalom--The deed, partially done by Joab, was completed by his

bodyguard. Being a violation of the expressed wish, as well as of all

the fond paternal feelings of David, it must have been deeply offensive

to the king, nor was it ever forgotten

(1Ki 2:5);

and yet there is the strongest reason for believing that Joab, in doing

it, was actuated by a sincere regard to the interests of David, both as

a man and a monarch.

16. Joab blew the trumpet, . . . and held back the people--Knowing

that by the death of the usurper there was no occasion for further

bloodshed, he put an end to the pursuit and thereby evinced the

temperate policy of his conduct. However harsh and unfeeling to the

king Joab may appear, there can be no doubt that he acted the part of a

wise statesman in regarding the peace and welfare of the kingdom more

than his master's private inclinations, which were opposed to strict

justice as well as his own interests. Absalom deserved to die by the

divine law

(De 21:18, 21),

as well as being an enemy to his king and country; and no time was more

fitting than when he met that death in open battle.

17. they took Absalom, and cast him into a great pit . . . and laid a

very great heap of stones upon him--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.

18. Absalom in his lifetime had reared up for himself a

pillar--literally, "hand." In the valley of Jehoshaphat, on the east of

Jerusalem, is a tomb or cenotaph, said to be this "pillar" or monument:

it is twenty-four feet square, dome-topped, and reaches forty feet in

height. This may occupy the spot, but cannot itself be the work of

Absalom, as it evidently bears the style of a later architecture.

19. Then said Ahimaaz . . . Let me . . . run and bear the king

tidings--The reasons why Joab declined to accept Ahimaaz' offer to

bear intelligence of the victory to David, and afterwards let him go

along with another, are variously stated by commentators--but they are

of no importance. Yet the alacrity of the messengers, as well as the

eager excitement of the expectants, is graphically described.

23. by the way of the plain--or ciccar, "circle." This word is only

used elsewhere in connection with the valley of the Jordan. It is

possible that there may have been a place or region so called on the

tablelands of Gilead, as the Septuagint seems to indicate. Or

Mahanaim may have been so situated, with the regard to the battlefield,

as to be more easily accessible by a descent to the plain of the Jordan,

than over the hills themselves. Or the word may signify

(as EWALD

explains) a manner of quick running [STANLEY].

24-32. David sat between the two gates--that is, in the tower-house on

the wall that overhung the gate of Mahanaim. Near it was a watchtower,

on which a sentinel was posted, as in times of war, to notify every

occurrence. The delicacy of Ahimaaz' communication was made up by the

unmistakable plainness of Cushi's. The death of Absalom was a heavy

trial, and it is impossible not to sympathize with the outburst of

feeling by which David showed that all thoughts of the victory he had

won as a king were completely sunk in the painful loss he had sustained

as a father. The extraordinary ardor and strength of his affection for

this worthless son break out in the redundancy and vehemence of his

mournful ejaculations.