2 Samuel 18:9-19

9 Now Absalom happened to meet the servants of David. For Absalom was riding on his mule, and the mule went under the thick branches of a great oak. And ¹his head caught fast in the oak, so he was left hanging between heaven and earth, while the mule that was under him kept going.

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

11 Then Joab said to the man who had told him, "Now behold, you saw him! Why then did you not strike him there to the ground? And I would have given you ten pieces of silver and a belt."

12 The man said to Joab, "Even if I should receive a thousand pieces of silver in my hand, I would not put out my hand against the king's son; for ²in our hearing the king charged you and Abishai and Ittai, saying, 'Protect for me the young man Absalom!'

13 "Otherwise, if I had dealt treacherously against his life (and ³there is nothing * * hidden from the king ), then you yourself would have stood aloof *."

14 Then Joab said, "I will not waste time here with you." ⁴So he took three spears in his hand and thrust them through the heart of Absalom while he was yet alive in the midst of the oak.

15 And ten young men who carried Joab's armor gathered around and struck Absalom and killed him.

16 Then ⁵Joab blew the trumpet, and the people returned from pursuing Israel, for Joab restrained the people.

17 They took Absalom and cast him into a deep pit in the forest and ⁶erected over him a very great heap of stones. And ⁷all Israel fled, each to his tent.

18 Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and ⁸set up for himself a pillar which is in ⁹the King's Valley, for he said, "¹⁰I have no son to preserve my name." So he named the pillar after his own name, and it is called Absalom's Monument to this day.

David Is Grief-stricken

19 Then ¹¹Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said, "Please let me run and bring the king news ¹²that the LORD has freed him from the hand of his enemies."

2 Samuel 18:9-19 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.

Cross References

• 1. 2 Samuel 14:26
• 2. 2 Samuel 18:5
• 3. 2 Samuel 14:19, 20
• 4. 2 Samuel 14:30
• 5. 2 Samuel 2:28; 2 Samuel 20:22
• 6. Deuteronomy 21:20, 21; Joshua 7:26; Joshua 8:29
• 7. 2 Samuel 19:8; 2 Samuel 20:1, 22
• 8. 1 Samuel 15:12
• 9. Genesis 14:17
• 10. 2 Samuel 14:27
• 11. 2 Samuel 15:36
• 12. 2 Samuel 18:31

Footnotes

• [a] Lit "placed"
• [b] So with some mss and the ancient versions; M.T. "Take care whoever" you are "of"
• [c] Lit "tarry thus"
• [d] Lit "heart"
• [e] Lit "the great"
• [f] Lit "for the sake of remembering"
• [g] Lit "vindicated"