2 Samuel 18:5

5 and the king chargeth Joab, and Abishai, and Ittai, saying, `Gently -- for me, for the youth, for Absalom;' and all the people heard in the king's charging all the heads concerning Absalom.

2 Samuel 18:5 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 18:5

And the king commanded Joab, and Abishai, and Ittai
His three generals, to whom he had committed his army divided into three parts:

saying, [deal] gently for my sake with the young man, [even] with
Absalom;
he does not call him his son, being in rebellion against him, but the young man, who was young, and rash, and foolish, and so to be pitied; his request is, that they would spare him, and not take away his life, when in their power; that they would not aim at him, and push him hard, and fall upon him with wrath and fury; but if he fell into their hands, to take him alive, and bring him away, and not put him to death. This flowed from a natural affection to him, and a concern for the welfare of his soul, that he might not die in this sin; and also from a consciousness that it was for his own sins that he was raised up to rebel against him; and he seems to speak as if he was certain that the battle would go for him, and against Absalom; and which he might conclude from the answer of prayer he had in defeating the counsel of Ahithophel:

and all the people heard when he gave all the captains charge
concerning Absalom;
not only the three generals, but all the captains of hundreds and thousands, and this was heard by the common soldiers as well as by the people of the city that were spectators on this occasion, see ( 2 Samuel 18:12 ) .

2 Samuel 18:5 In-Context

3 And the people say, `Thou dost not go out, for if we utterly flee, they do not set [their] heart upon us; and if half of us die, they do not set [their] heart unto us -- for now like us [are] ten thousand; and now, better that thou be to us from the city for an helper.'

4 And the king saith unto them, `That which is good in your eyes I do;' and the king standeth at the side of the gate, and all the people have gone out by hundreds and by thousands,

5 and the king chargeth Joab, and Abishai, and Ittai, saying, `Gently -- for me, for the youth, for Absalom;' and all the people heard in the king's charging all the heads concerning Absalom.

6 And the people goeth out into the field to meet Israel, and the battle is in a forest of Ephraim;

7 and smitten there are the people of Israel before the servants of David, and the smiting there is great on that day -- twenty thousand;