Absalom’s death, David’s grief
18
📚And David counted the people who were with him, and appointed captains of thousands and captains of hundreds over them. 2 📚And David sent out a third 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. And the king said to the people, “I myself will certainly go out with you also”.3 📚But the people answered, “You should not go out. For if we flee, they will not be concerned about us. Even if half of us die, they will not be concerned about us. But now you are worth ten thousand of us. Therefore it is better now that you help us from the city”.
4 📚And the king said to them, “I will do what seems best to you”. And the king stood at the side of the gate, and all the people came out by hundreds and by thousands. 5 📚And the king gave a command to Joab and Abishai and Ittai, saying, “For my sake deal gently with the young man, with Absalom”. And all the people heard the king giving all the officers this order concerning Absalom.
6 📚So the people went out into the field against Israel, and the battle was in the forest of Ephraim. 7 📚There the people of Israel were defeated before the servants of David, and that day there was a great slaughter of twenty thousand men. 8 📚For the battle there scattered over the whole countryside, and the forest devoured more people that day than the sword devoured.
9 📚And Absalom met the servants of David. And Absalom was riding on a mule, and the mule went under the thick branches of a great oak, and his head was caught in the oak, and he was taken up between heaven and earth, and the mule that had been under him went away.
10 And a certain man saw it and told Joab and said, “Look, I saw Absalom hanging in an oak”.
11 And Joab said to the man who told him, “And, lo and behold, you saw him! And why didn’t you strike him 📖 there to the ground? And I would have given you ten shekels 📖 of silver and a belt”.
12 📚And the man said to Joab, “Even if I got a thousand shekels 📖 of silver in my hand, I still would not put out my hand against the king’s son, for in our hearing the king ordered you and Abishai and Ittai, saying, ‘Beware that no one touches the young man Absalom.’ 13 📚Even if I had acted deceitfully, endangering my own life (for nothing is hidden from the king), you would have kept yourself away from me”.
14 📚Then said Joab, “I can’t wait around like this with you”. And he took three sharp stakes in his hand, and thrust them into the heart of Absalom, while he was still alive in the middle of the oak. 15 📚And ten young men who carried Joab’s armour surrounded Absalom, and struck and killed him.
16 📚And Joab blew the trumpet, and the people returned from pursuing Israel, because Joab was restraining the people. 17 📚And they took Absalom and threw him into a large pit in the forest and laid a very great heap of stones on him. And all Israel fled, each one to his tent.
18 📚Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken a pillar and set it up for himself in the king’s valley, for he said, “I have no son to keep my name in remembrance”. And he called the pillar after his own name, and to this day it is called Absalom’s Monument.
18:18 Absalom’s three sons (2 Sam 14:27) must have died before he erected this pillar.⚜
19 📚Then Ahimaaz, the son of Zadok, said “Let me run now, and take to the king the news of how the LORD has avenged him, delivering him from his enemies”.
20 📚And Joab said to him, “You shall not take the news today, but you can take news another day. But today you shall not take any news, because the king’s son is dead”.
21 Then said Joab to Cushi, “Go tell the king what you have seen”. And Cushi bowed to Joab and ran off.
22 📚Then Ahimaaz, the son of Zadok, said to Joab once again, “However that may be, please let me also run after Cushi”.
And Joab said, “Why will you run, my son, since you have no news ready?”
23 📚“However that may be”, he said, “let me run”.
And he said to him, “Run”. Then Ahimaaz ran by the road through the plain, and outran Cushi.
24 📚And David was sitting between the two gates. And the watchman went up to the roof over the gate by the wall, and raised his eyes and looked, and saw a man running alone. 25 And the watchman shouted and told the king.
And the king said, “If he is alone, there is news in his mouth”. And he kept on coming and drew near.
26 And the watchman saw another man running, and the watchman called out to the gatekeeper, and said, “Look! Another man running alone”.
And the king said, “He also brings news”.
27 📚And the watchman said, “I think the running of the one in front is like the way Zadok’s son Ahimaaz runs”.
And the king said, “He is a good man, and comes with good news”.
28 📚And Ahimaaz called out and said to the king, “All is well”. And he prostrated himself on his face on the ground before the king and said, “Blessed be the LORD your God, who has handed over the men who lifted up their hand against my lord the king”.
29 📚And the king said, “Is the young man Absalom safe?”
And Ahimaaz answered, “When Joab sent the king’s servant, and me your servant, I saw a great tumult, but I did not know what it was”.
30 And the king said to him, “Turn aside, and stand here”. And he turned aside and stood still.
31 📚And just then Cushi arrived, and Cushi said, “News, my lord the king! For today the LORD has avenged you on all those who rose up against you”.
32 📚And the king said to Cushi, “Is the young man Absalom safe?”
And Cushi answered, “May the enemies of my lord the king, and all who rise against you to harm you, be as that young man is”.
33 📚And the king was very moved, and went up to the room over the gate, and wept. And as he went, he was saying this: “O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! Would to God I had died for you! O Absalom, my son, my son!”
18:33 In David’s pathetic sorrow over his son there was the guilty knowledge that his own sin had a part in all that had happened (2 Sam 12:9-12).⚜