2 Samuel 18:11

11 And Joab said to 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 silver pieces 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 found himself in the presence of David's servants. And Absalom was riding upon a mule, and the mule went under the thick boughs of the great terebinth, and his head caught in the terebinth, and he was taken up between the heaven and the earth; and the mule that was under him went away.

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

11 And Joab said to 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 silver pieces and a girdle.

12 And the man said to Joab, Though I should receive a thousand silver pieces 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, Take care, whoever it be [of you], of the young man Absalom.

13 Or I should have acted falsely against mine own life, for there is no matter concealed from the king, and thou wouldest have set thyself against [me].