2 Samuel 18:6

6 And the people goeth out into the field to meet Israel, and the battle is in a 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.

---

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 And the king saith unto them, `That which is good in your eyes I do;' and the king standeth at the side of the gate, and all the people have gone out by hundreds and by thousands,

5 and the king chargeth Joab, and Abishai, and Ittai, saying, `Gently -- for me, for the youth, for Absalom;' and all the people heard in the king's charging all the heads concerning Absalom.

6 And the people goeth out into the field to meet Israel, and the battle is in a forest of Ephraim;

7 and smitten there are the people of Israel before the servants of David, and the smiting there is great on that day -- twenty thousand;

8 and the battle is there scattered over the face of all the land, and the forest multiplieth to devour among the people more than those whom the sword hath devoured in that day.