2 Samuel 18:3-13

3 But the people answered , Thou shalt not go forth : for if we flee away , they will not care * for us; neither if half of us die , will they care * for us: but now thou art worth ten thousand of us: therefore now it is better that thou succour 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 gate side, and all the people came out by hundreds and by thousands.

5 And the king commanded Joab and Abishai and Ittai, saying , Deal gently for my sake with the young man, even with Absalom. And all the people 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 Ephraim;

7 Where the people of Israel were slain before the servants of David, and there was there a great slaughter that day of twenty thousand men.

8 For the battle was there scattered over the face of all the country: and the wood devoured more people that day than the sword devoured .

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 head caught hold of the oak, and he was taken up 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 receive a thousand shekels of silver in mine hand, yet would I not put forth mine 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 I should have wrought falsehood against mine own life: for there is no matter hid from the king, and thou thyself wouldest have set thyself against me.

2 Samuel 18:3-13 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO SECOND SAMUEL 18

In this chapter is an account of David's review of his army, preparing it for battle with Absalom, and those with him, 2Sa 18:1-5; and of the defeat and flight of the rebels, 2Sa 18:6-8; and of the death of Absalom, and the manner of it, and of his burial, 2Sa 18:9-18; and of the news of it brought to David by different persons, 2Sa 18:19-32; and of his great grief and sorrow on that account, 2Sa 18:33.

Footnotes

• [a]. care...: Heb. set their heart on us
• [b]. devoured: Heb. multiplied to devour
• [c]. receive: Heb. weigh upon mine hand