2 Samuel 18:9-18

9 Now Absalom happened to meet David’s men. He was riding his mule, and as the mule went under the thick branches of a large oak, Absalom’s hair got caught in the tree. He was left hanging in midair, while the mule he was riding kept on going.

10 When one of the men saw what had happened, he told Joab, “I just saw Absalom hanging in an oak tree.”

11 Joab said to the man who had told him this, “What! You saw him? Why didn’t you strike him to the ground right there? Then I would have had to give you ten shekels^[a] of silver and a warrior’s belt.”

12 But the man replied, “Even if a thousand shekels^[b] were weighed out into my hands, I would not lay a hand on the king’s son. In our hearing the king commanded you and Abishai and Ittai, ‘Protect the young man Absalom for my sake.^[c] ’

13 And if I had put my life in jeopardy^[d] —and nothing is hidden from the king—you would have kept your distance from me.”

14 Joab said, “I’m not going to wait like this for you.” So he took three javelins in his hand and plunged them into Absalom’s heart while Absalom was still alive in the oak tree.

15 And ten of Joab’s armor-bearers surrounded Absalom, struck him and killed him.

16 Then Joab sounded the trumpet, and the troops stopped pursuing Israel, for Joab halted them.

17 They took Absalom, threw him into a big pit in the forest and piled up a large heap of rocks over him. Meanwhile, all the Israelites fled to their homes.

18 During his lifetime Absalom had taken a pillar and erected it in the King’s Valley as a monument to himself, for he thought, “I have no son to carry on the memory of my name.” He named the pillar after himself, and it is called Absalom’s Monument to this day.

2 Samuel 18:9-18 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. S 2 Samuel 3:39
• 3. 1 Samuel 18:4
• 4. 2 Samuel 14:19-20
• 5. S 2 Samuel 2:18; 2 Samuel 14:30
• 6. S 2 Samuel 12:10
• 7. S 2 Samuel 2:28; 2 Samuel 20:22
• 8. Joshua 7:26
• 9. Joshua 8:29
• 10. Genesis 14:17
• 11. S Genesis 50:5; S Numbers 32:42; 1 Samuel 15:12
• 12. 2 Samuel 14:27

Footnotes

• [a] That is, about 4 ounces or about 115 grams
• [b] That is, about 25 pounds or about 12 kilograms
• [c] A few Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint, Vulgate and Syriac; most Hebrew manuscripts may be translated "Absalom, whoever you may be."
• [d] Or "Otherwise, if I had acted treacherously toward him"