2 Samuel 18:9

9 Absalom happened to meet the servants of David. Absalom was riding on his mule, and the mule went under the thick boughs of a great oak, and his head caught hold of the oak, and he was taken up between the sky and earth; and the mule that was under him went on.

2 Samuel 18:9 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 18:9

And Absalom met the servants of David
When his army was routed, he was in such a fright that he knew not which way to flee, and instead of flying from David's men, he fled in the way of them; but none of them attempted to slay him, nor even to stop him, but let him pass by them, knowing David's charge concerning him:

and Absalom rode upon a mule;
as was common for great personages to do in those days, ( 2 Samuel 13:29 ) ;

and the mule went under the thick boughs of a great oak;
and running full speed, Absalom could not guide him, nor stop, nor divert him from going under it:

and his head caught hold of the oak;
either the hair of his head was twisted and entangled in the thick boughs of the oak; or rather his head was jammed into a forked branch of the oak:

and he was taken up between the heaven and the earth;
hung in the air between both, as unworthy to live in either:

and the mule that [was] under him went away;
and left him hanging in the oak.

2 Samuel 18:9 In-Context

7 The people of Israel were struck there before the servants of David, and there was a great slaughter there that day of twenty thousand men.

8 For the battle was there spread over the surface of all the country; and the forest devoured more people that day than the sword devoured.

9 Absalom happened to meet the servants of David. Absalom was riding on his mule, and the mule went under the thick boughs of a great oak, and his head caught hold of the oak, and he was taken up between the sky and earth; and the mule that was under him went on.

10 A certain man saw it, and told Joab, and said, Behold, I saw Absalom hanging in an oak.

11 Joab said to the man who told him, Behold, you saw it, and why didn't you strike him there to the ground? and I would have given you ten [pieces of] silver, and a sash.