(KJV) 2 Samuel 181

<< 2 Samuel 17 2 Samuel 19 >>

⥃Absalom Killed

[1] And David numbered2 the people that [were] with him, and set captains of thousands3 and captains of hundreds over them. [2] And David sent forth a third part4 of the people under the hand of Joab5, and a third part under the hand of Abishai the son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother, and a third part under the hand of Ittai6 the Gittite. And the king said unto the people, I will surely7 go forth with you myself also. [3] But the people answered, Thou shalt8 not go forth: for if we flee9 away, they will not care for us10; neither if half of us die, will they care for us: but now11 [thou art] worth12 ten thousand of us: therefore now [it is] better that thou succour13 us out of the city. [4] And the king said unto them, What seemeth you best I will do. And the king stood by the gate14 side, and all the people came out by hundreds15 and by thousands. [5] And the king commanded Joab and Abishai and Ittai, saying, [Deal] gently16 for my sake with the young man, [even] with Absalom. And all the people17 heard when the king gave all the captains charge concerning Absalom.

[6] [¶]So the people went out into the field against Israel: and the battle was in the wood of Ephraim18; [7] Where the people19 of Israel were slain before the servants of David, and there was there a great20 slaughter that day of twenty thousand [men21]. [8] For the battle was there scattered over the face of all the country: and the wood devoured more22 people that day than the sword devoured.23

[9] And Absalom met the servants of David. And Absalom rode upon a mule, and the mule went under the thick boughs of a great oak, and his head24 caught hold of the oak, and he was taken up25 between the heaven and the earth; and the mule that [was] under him went away. [10] And a certain man saw [it], and told Joab, and said, Behold, I saw Absalom hanged in an oak. [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? and I would have given thee ten [shekels] of silver, and a girdle. [12] And the man said unto Joab, Though I should receive26 a thousand [shekels] of silver in mine hand, [yet] would I not put forth mine hand against the king’s son: for in our hearing27 the king charged thee and Abishai and Ittai, saying, Beware28 that none [touch] the young man Absalom. [13] Otherwise I should have wrought29 falsehood against mine own life: for there is no30 matter hid from the king, and thou thyself wouldest have set thyself against [me]. [14] Then said Joab, I may not tarry thus with thee31. And he took three darts in his hand, and thrust them32 through the heart of Absalom, while he [was] yet alive in the midst33 of the oak. [15] And ten young men that bare Joab’s armour compassed about and smote Absalom, and slew him. [16] And Joab blew the trumpet34, and the people returned from pursuing after Israel: for Joab held back the people. [17] And they took Absalom, and cast him into a great pit in the wood, and laid35 a very great heap of stones upon him: and all Israel fled every one to his tent.

[18] [¶]Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up36 for himself a pillar, which [is] in the king’s37 dale: for he said, I have no son38 to keep my name in remembrance: and he called39 the pillar after his own name: and it is called unto this day, Absalom’s place40.

⥃David Mourns for Absalom

[19] Then said Ahimaaz41 the son of Zadok, Let me now run, and bear the king tidings, how that the Lord hath avenged him42 of his enemies. [20] And Joab said unto him, Thou shalt not bear tidings43 this day, but thou shalt bear tidings another day: but this day thou shalt bear no tidings, because44 the king’s son is dead. [21] Then said Joab to Cushi, Go tell the king what thou hast seen. And Cushi bowed himself unto Joab, and ran. [22] Then said Ahimaaz the son of Zadok yet again to Joab, But howsoever45, let me, I pray thee, also run after Cushi. And Joab said, Wherefore wilt thou run, my son, seeing that thou hast no tidings ready46? [23] But howsoever, [said he], let me run. And he said unto him, Run. Then Ahimaaz ran by the way of the plain, and overran Cushi47. [24] And David sat between48 the two gates: and the watchman49 went up to the roof over the gate unto the wall, and lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold a man running alone. [25] And the watchman cried, and told the king. And the king said, If he [be] alone, [there is] tidings in his mouth. And he came apace, and drew near. [26] And the watchman saw another man running: and the watchman called unto the porter, and said, Behold [another] man running alone. And the king said, He also bringeth tidings. [27] And the watchman said, Me thinketh50 the running of the foremost is like the running of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok. And the king said, He [is] a good51 man, and cometh with good tidings. [28] And Ahimaaz called, and said unto the king, All is well52. And he fell down to the earth upon his face before the king, and said, Blessed53 [be] the Lord thy God, which hath delivered up54 the men that lifted up their hand against my lord the king. [29] And the king said, Is the young man Absalom safe55? And Ahimaaz answered, When Joab sent the king’s servant, and [me] thy servant, I saw a great tumult, but I knew not what [it was]. [30] And the king said [unto him], Turn aside, [and] stand here. And he turned aside, and stood still. [31] And, behold, Cushi came; and Cushi said, Tidings56, my lord the king: for the Lord57 hath avenged thee this day of all them that rose up against thee. [32] And the king said unto Cushi, [Is] the young man Absalom safe? And Cushi answered, The enemies58 of my lord the king, and all that rise against thee to do [thee] hurt, be as [that] young man [is].

[33] [¶]And the king was much moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept: and as he went, thus he said, O my son59 Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God60 I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!

<< 2 Samuel 17 2 Samuel 19 >>

  1. 2Sam 18:1, David viewing the armies in their march gives them charge of Absalom; 2Sam 18:6, The Israelites are sorely smitten in the wood of Ephraim; 2Sam 18:9, Absalom, hanging in an oak is slain by Joab, and cast into a pit; 2Sam 18:18, Absalom’s place; 2Sam 18:19, Ahimaaz and Cushi bring tidings to David; 2Sam 18:33, David mourns for Absalom. ↩

  2. Exod 17:9; Josh 8:10 ↩

  3. 1Sam 8:12 ↩

  4. Judg 7:16, Judg 7:19, Judg 9:43 ↩

  5. 2Sam 10:7-10 ↩

  6. 2Sam 15:19-22 ↩

  7. 2Sam 17:11; Ps 3:6, Ps 27:1-3, Ps 118:6-8 ↩

  8. 2Sam 21:17 ↩

  9. 2Sam 17:2; 1Kgs 22:31; Zech 13:7 ↩

  10. Heb. set their heart on us ↩

  11. The particle attah, Now, is doubtless a mistake for the pronoun attah, Thou, and so it appears to have been read by the LXX, Vulgate, and Chaldee, and by two of Kennicott's and De Rossi's manuscripts. ↩

  12. etc. Heb. as ten thousand of us, Lam 4:20 ↩

  13. Heb. be to succour, 2Sam 10:11; Exod 17:10-12 ↩

  14. 2Sam 18:24; Isa 28:6 ↩

  15. David's small company, by this time, was greatly recruited; but what its number was we cannot tell. Josephus says it amounted only to 4,000 men. 2Sam 18:1; 1Sam 29:2 ↩

  16. 2Sam 16:11, 2Sam 17:1-4, 2Sam 17:14; Deut 21:18-21; Ps 103:13; Luke 23:34 ↩

  17. 2Sam 18:12 ↩

  18. The wood of Ephraim was evidently beyond Jordan, and apparently not far from Mahanaim; and it is supposed to be the place where the Ephraimites were slain by Jephthah. Josh 17:15, Josh 17:18; Judg 12:4-6 ↩

  19. 2Sam 2:17, 2Sam 15:6, 2Sam 19:41-43 ↩

  20. Prov 11:21, Prov 24:21 ↩

  21. 2Sam 2:26, 2Sam 2:31; 2Chr 13:16-17, 2Chr 28:6 ↩

  22. Heb. multiplied to devour ↩

  23. in the wood, That is, probably, many more were slain in pursuit through the wood than in the battle, by falling into swamps, pits, etc., and being entangled and cut down by David's men. Such is the relation of Josephus; but the Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic state, that they were devoured by wild beasts in the wood. Exod 15:10; Josh 10:11; Judg 5:20-21; 1Kgs 20:30; Ps 3:7, Ps 43:1 ↩

  24. Riding furiously under the thick boughs of a great oak, which hung low and had never been cropped, either the twisted branches, or some low forked bough of the tree, caught him by the neck, or, as some think, by the loops into which his long hair had been pinned, which had been so much his pride, and was now justly made a halter for him. He may have hung so low from the bough, in consequence of the length of his hair, that he could not use his hands to help himself, or so entangled that his hands were bound, so that the more he struggled the more he was embarrassed. This set him up as a fair mark to the servants of David; and although David would have spared his rebellious son, if his orders had been executed, yet he could not turn the sword of Divine justice, in executing the just, righteous sentence of death on this traitorous son. 2Sam 18:14, 2Sam 14:26, 2Sam 17:23; Matt 27:5 ↩

  25. Deut 21:23, Deut 27:16, Deut 27:20; Job 18:8-10, Job 31:3; Ps 63:9-10; Prov 20:20, Prov 30:17; Jer 48:44; Mark 7:10; Gal 3:13 ↩

  26. etc. Heb. weigh upon mine hand ↩

  27. 2Sam 18:5 ↩

  28. etc. Heb. Beware, whosoever ye be, of the, etc ↩

  29. 2Sam 1:15-16, 2Sam 4:10-12 ↩

  30. 2Sam 14:19-20; Heb 4:13 ↩

  31. Heb. before thee ↩

  32. 2Sam 18:5; Judg 4:21, Judg 5:26, Judg 5:31; Ps 45:5; 1Thess 5:3 ↩

  33. Heb. heart, Matt 12:40 ↩

  34. 2Sam 2:28, 2Sam 20:22; Num 10:2-10; 1Cor 14:8 ↩

  35. This was the ancient method of burying, whether heroes or traitors; the heap of stones being designed to perpetuate the memory of the event, whether good or bad. The Arabs in general make use of no other monument than a heap of stones over a grave. Thus, in an Arabic poem, it is related, that Hatim the father, and Adi the grandfather of Kais, having been murdered, at a time before Kais was capable of reflection, his mother kept it a profound secret; and in order to guard him against having any suspicion, she collected a parcel of stone on two hillocks in the neighbourhood, and told her son that the one was the grave of his father, and the other of his grandfather. The ancient cairns in Ireland and Scotland, and the tumuli in England, are of this kind. Josh 7:26, Josh 8:29, Josh 10:27; Prov 10:7; Jer 22:18-19 ↩

  36. 1Sam 15:12 ↩

  37. Gen 14:17 ↩

  38. 2Sam 14:27; Job 18:16-17; Ps 109:13; Jer 22:30 ↩

  39. Gen 11:4; 1Sam 15:12; Ps 49:11; Dan 4:30 ↩

  40. Josephus says there was in his time, about two furlongs from Jerusalem, a marble pillar called Absalom's hand, as it is in the Hebrew (see note on 1Sam 15:12); and there is one shewn to the present day, in the valley of Jehoshaphat, which, though comparatively a modern structure, probably occupies the site of the original one set up by Absalom. Gen 11:9; Acts 1:18-19 ↩

  41. 2Sam 18:23, 2Sam 18:27-29, 2Sam 15:36, 2Sam 17:17 ↩

  42. Heb. judged him from the hand, etc. Ps 7:6, Ps 7:8-9, Ps 9:4, Ps 9:16, Ps 10:14, Ps 10:18; Rom 12:19 ↩

  43. Heb. be a man of tidings, 2Sam 17:16-21 ↩

  44. 2Sam 18:5, 2Sam 18:27, 2Sam 18:29, 2Sam 18:33 ↩

  45. Heb. be what may ↩

  46. or, convenient, Rom 1:28; Eph 5:4 ↩

  47. John 20:4 ↩

  48. 2Sam 18:4; 1Sam 4:13 ↩

  49. 2Kgs 9:17-20; Isa 21:6-9, Isa 21:11-12; Ezek 33:2-7 ↩

  50. Heb. I see, 2Kgs 9:20 ↩

  51. 1Kgs 1:42; Prov 25:13, Prov 25:25; Isa 52:7; Rom 10:15 ↩

  52. or, Peace be to thee, Heb. Peace, he fell down upon his face, This act was not only in reverence to the king, but in humble adoration of God, whose name he praises for this victory. The more our hearts are fixed and enlarged, in thanksgiving to God for our mercies, the better disposed we shall be to bear with patience the afflictions mixed with them. 2Sam 1:2, 2Sam 14:4 ↩

  53. 2Sam 22:27; Gen 14:20, Gen 24:27; 2Chr 20:26; Ps 115:1, Ps 124:6, Ps 144:1-2; Rev 19:1-3 ↩

  54. Heb. shut up, 1Sam 24:18, 1Sam 26:8; Ps 31:8 ↩

  55. Heb. is there peace to, etc. I saw a great. 2Sam 18:19-20, 2Sam 18:22 ↩

  56. Heb. Tidings is brought ↩

  57. 2Sam 18:19, 2Sam 18:28, 2Sam 22:48-49; Deut 32:35-36; Ps 58:10, Ps 94:1-4, Ps 124:2-3; Luke 18:7-8; Cushi was the man Joab ordered to carry the tidings to David. He was an Ethiopian, as his name signifies, and some think he was so by birth - a black, who waited on Joab, probably one of the ten who had helped to dispatch Absalom; though it was dangerous for one of those to bring the news to David, lest his fate should be the same with theirs that reported the death of Saul and Ish–bosheth to him. ↩

  58. Thus Cushi obliquely and slowly informs David of the death of his son Absalom. Judg 5:31; Ps 68:1-2; Dan 4:19 ↩

  59. 2Sam 19:4 ↩

  60. 2Sam 12:10-23; Ps 103:13; Prov 10:1, Prov 17:25; Jas 5:17 ↩