2 Samuel 18:1-18--Absalom Killed

2 Samuel 18:1-18
English Standard Version

Absalom Killed
18 Then David mustered the men who were with him and set over them commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds. 2 And David sent out the army, one third under the command of Joab, one third under the command of Abishai the son of Zeruiah, Joab's brother, and one third under the command of Ittai the Gittite. And the king said to the men, “I myself will also go out with you.” 3 But the men said, “You shall not go out. For if we flee, they will not care about us. If half of us die, they will not care about us. But you are worth ten thousand of us. Therefore it is better that you send us help from the city.” 4 The king said to them, “Whatever seems best to you I will do.” So the king stood at the side of the gate, while all the army marched out by hundreds and by thousands. 5 And the king ordered Joab and Abishai and Ittai, “Deal gently for my sake with the young man Absalom.” And all the people heard when the king gave orders to all the commanders about Absalom.

6 So the army went out into the field against Israel, and the battle was fought in the forest of Ephraim. 7 And the men of Israel were defeated there by the servants of David, and the loss there was great on that day, twenty thousand men. 8 The battle spread over the face of all the country, and the forest devoured more people that day than the sword.

9 And Absalom happened to meet the servants of David. Absalom was riding on his mule, and the mule went under the thick branches of a great oak, and his head caught fast in the oak, and he was suspended between heaven and earth, while the mule that was under him went on. 10 And a certain man saw it and told Joab, “Behold, I saw Absalom hanging in an oak.” 11 Joab said to the man who told him, “What, you saw him! Why then did you not strike him there to the ground? I would have been glad to give you ten pieces of silver and a belt.” 12 But the man said to Joab, “Even if I felt in my hand the weight of a thousand pieces of silver, I would not reach out my hand against the king's son, for in our hearing the king commanded you and Abishai and Ittai, ‘For my sake protect the young man Absalom.’ 13 On the other hand, if I had dealt treacherously against his life (and there is nothing hidden from the king), then you yourself would have stood aloof.” 14 Joab said, “I will not waste time like this with you.” And he took three javelins in his hand and thrust them into the heart of Absalom while he was still alive in the oak. 15 And ten young men, Joab's armor-bearers, surrounded Absalom and struck him and killed him.

​16 Then Joab blew the trumpet, and the troops came back from pursuing Israel, for Joab restrained them. 17 And they took Absalom and threw him into a great pit in the forest and raised over him a very great heap of stones. And all Israel fled every one to his own home. 18 Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and set up for himself the pillar that is in the King's Valley, for he said, “I have no son to keep my name in remembrance.” He called the pillar after his own name, and it is called Absalom's monument to this day.

---

It is finally time for David to muster his troops (count them and organize them into an army with divisions and commanders).  He sent one-third of the army out under the leadership of Joab.  Another third was put under the leadership of Abishai the son of Zeruiah, Joab's brother.  The final third was put under the command of Ittai the Gittite.  All three of these commanders have proven themselves to David and to Israel in battle.  David wanted to go with them, but they forbid it saying that the king was work more than 10,000 men and they were less likely to be pursued or killed if David was not among them.  David gave into their wishes and stayed behind to work on marshalling some reinforcements for them, but I think they also didn't want him around in case they had to kill Absalom, for they knew it was not in David's heart to see his son killed.  In fact, David pleads with the commanders to deal gently with his son before they leave.  There's usually no way to put down a rebellion gently.

They fought the battle to the Northwest of Jerusalem in the forests of Ephraim.  There Absalom's men were defeated by David's army with Absalom losing 20,000 men that day.  The battle was widespread and more people were lost to the conditions in the forest than those that were killed by the sword (I'm not exactly sure how the forest killed them, but God was at work here to even have the forest and the terrain be David's allies in this battle).

Absalom was out close to the battle riding his mule, and Absalom's long locks of hair (remember that earlier it talked about how he only cut his hair once a year and had long, flowing locks of hair) got caught in an oak tree so that Absalom was hanging from the tree by his hair, "suspended between heaven and earth" as the text says (his feet could not touch the ground).  One of Joab's men reported to Joab that he had seen Absalom hanging from an oak tree and Joab wondered why that man had not taken the opportunity to kill Absalom.  Joab even claims he would have paid a bounty of ten pieces of silver and a belt if the soldier had done this, but the soldier answered that no amount of money offered as a bounty could make him reach out his hand against the king's son, for that soldier heard David's command to his commanders when David said, "For my sake protect the young man Absalom."  The soldier argues that if he had dealt treacherously with Absalom by defying the king's orders, it would have put Joab in a bad place, especially if Joab had paid the soldier a bounty, for the king had ways to find out anything he wanted to know.

​Joab doesn't want to hear any of this because he has his mind set on vengeance, just like when he and Abishai went out to take vengeance against Abner for killing their brother, Asahel, in the battle of Gibeon.  David should not have entrusted Joab or Abishai to deal mercifully with Absalom after how they dealt with Abner.  Joab says he will not waste any more time with this soldier and took three javelins in his hand and thrust them into the heart of Absalom.  In addition, ten young men who were Joab's armor-bearers (meaning they were part of his personal protection detail) made sure the Absalom was dead.

Joab then took Absalom's body down from the tree and threw it in a pit in the forest, trying to cover up what he had done and make it appear that he was just another casualty of the battle and the forest.  They even covered Absalom's body with a great heap of stones which may have been trying to protect him from animals, but more likely was their way of further trying to cover up what they had done.  After this, all the rebellious people that had gathered around Absalom returned to their homes and ceased their fighting against David and his army.

Since Absalom had no sons who would imagine that the throne would belong to them, the rebellion stopped here.  Absalom did build a pillar in the Valley of the Kings so he would be remembered, and at the time that this book of the Bible was written, it was still there as a monument to him.  So ends the tragic story of Absalom, but we will still have to see how David mourns the loss of his son, and how David will deal with Joab who directly disobeyed his order.  The way is now clear though for David to return to his throne in Jerusalem.