2 Samuel 18:11

11 And Joab said unto the man that told him, And, behold, thou sawest it, and why didst thou not smite him there to the ground? and I would have given thee ten [pieces of] silver, and a girdle.

2 Samuel 18:11 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 18:11

And Joab said unto the man that told him
That gave the above account of him:

and, behold, thou sawest [him];
in reality; or, "didst thou see him?" is it a fact?

and why didst thou not smite him there to the ground;
kill him on the spot, that he might have dropped from the tree to the ground:

and I would have given thee ten [shekels] of silver;
on the news of it, for doing it, which was near twenty four shillings of our money; Josephus says ^F9 fifty shekels; the Arabic version has it ten thousand talents of silver, too great a sum by far:

and a girdle?
which was a mark of great honour, and a token of a commission under him, and of investing: him with a military office; see ( 1 Samuel 18:4 ) ; it used to be given as an honorary reward to soldiers that behaved well, as on the contrary it was reckoned a reproach to be ungirt, or the girdle to be taken away ^F11.

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FOOTNOTES:

F9 Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 7. c. 10. sect. 2.)
F11 Vide Lydium de re militare, l. 3. c. 6.

2 Samuel 18:11 In-Context

9 And Absalom chanced to meet the servants of David. And Absalom was riding upon his mule, and the mule went under the thick boughs of a great oak, and his head caught hold of the oak, and he was taken up between heaven and earth; and the mule that was under him went on.

10 And a certain man saw it, and told Joab, and said, Behold, I saw Absalom hanging in an oak.

11 And Joab said unto the man that told him, And, behold, thou sawest it, and why didst thou not smite him there to the ground? and I would have given thee ten [pieces of] silver, and a girdle.

12 And the man said unto Joab, Though I should receive a thousand [pieces of] silver in my hand, yet would I not put forth my hand against the king's son; for in our hearing the king charged thee and Abishai and Ittai, saying, Beware that none touch the young man Absalom.

13 Otherwise if I had dealt falsely against his life (and there is no matter hid from the king), then thou thyself wouldest have set thyself against [me].