2 Samuel 18:6

6 The army went out to the field to meet Israel, and the battle was [fought] in the forest of Ephraim.

2 Samuel 18:6 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 18:6

So the people went out into the field against Israel
Josephus ^F5 calls it a great field, with a wood behind it:

and the battle was in the wood of Ephraim;
or near it ^F6 rather; not in a wood in the tribe of Ephraim, which lay on this side Jordan; whereas this battle was fought on the other side Jordan, in the land of Gilead, not far from Mahanaim, where was this wood; and which was so called, either from the slaughter of the Ephraimites here in the times of Jephthah, ( Judges 12:4-6 ) ; or from the Ephraimites feeding their cattle here and near it; for the Jews say ^F7, that Joshua gave them a grant to feed their cattle in any wood in any of the tribes of Israel; and lying near Jordan, they used to drive their cattle over to this place, from whence it had its name.

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FOOTNOTES:

F5 Ut supra, (Antiqu. l. 7. c. 10.) sect. 2.
F6 (reyb) "ad sylvam", Junius & Tremellius; "prope sylvam", Piscator.
F7 In Jarchi, Kimchi, & Abarbinel, in loc.

2 Samuel 18:6 In-Context

4 The king said to them, "I will do what seems good in your eyes." So the king stood at the side of the gate [while] all of the troops went out by hundreds and by thousands.

5 The king ordered Joab, Abishai, and Ittai, "With respect to the young man Absalom, [deal] gently for me." And all the troops heard when the king ordered all of the commanders concerning the matter of Absalom.

6 The army went out to the field to meet Israel, and the battle was [fought] in the forest of Ephraim.

7 The army of Israel [was] defeated there before the servants of David, and the defeat there was great on that day: twenty thousand.

8 The battle there was spreading over the surface of all the land, and {the forest devoured more among the army than} the sword [did] on that day.