Ch. 2Sa 18:1-8<\/span>. The battle in the forest of Ephraim<\/p>\n 1<\/strong>. And David<\/em>, &c.] The events here recorded cannot have followed immediately on David’s arrival at Mahanaim. An interval of a few weeks must be assumed, during which the rival armies were mustered and organized. Cp. note on ch. 2Sa 17:24<\/span>.<\/p>\n numbered<\/em> ] The word means not merely to count<\/em>, but to muster<\/em> and review<\/em>.<\/p>\n captains of thousands and captains of hundreds<\/em> ] The usual military divisions (1Sa 22:7<\/span>; Num 31:14<\/span>; and see note on 1Sa 8:12<\/span>); corresponding originally to the civil divisions instituted by Moses (Exo 18:25<\/span>). See note on 1Sa 10:19<\/span>.<\/p>\n 2Sa 18:1-17<\/span><\/p>\n And David numbered the people that were with him.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n The fatal fight<\/strong><\/p>\n This chapter is a narrative of that fatal fight wherein Absalom the son, fought with David his father for the kingdom of Israel.<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>David mustered all his forces, which Josephus reckons but four thousand, yet Comestor computes them to be seven thousand (2Sa 18:1<\/span>), but tis probable they were many more from these cogent reasons.<\/p>\n (1)<\/strong> Davids army must needs be greatly augmented by the two tribes and half beyond Jordan, who, living far distant from Absaloms court at Jerusalem, had not been corrupted with that usurpers flatteries, nor alienated in their affections to David, whom they knew to be a good king, and made now miserable only by an unnatural rebellious son, therefore out of compassion, as well as out of loyalty, they could not but flock to him in great numbers.<\/p>\n (2)<\/strong> Had they been so small a number as Josephus saith, David needed not to have been so exact in setting captains over them by hundreds, and by thousands, and in dividing them into three battalions, and committing them to the conduct of three generals, as it is expressly recorded in 2Sa 18:12<\/span>, though the number be not, etc.<\/p>\n (3)<\/strong> That expression, Thou art worth ten thousand of us (2Sa 18:4<\/span>) doth imply that this number was but the one-half of the army, beside a fourth part of it left behind to garrison Mahanaim.<\/p>\n (4)<\/strong> Tis certain they were such a considerable army as therewith David durst venture to take the field, and rationally commit his righteous cause to the trial of a pitched battle.<\/p>\n (5)<\/strong> Davids prospect of his victory, whereof he was so confident, that he giveth charge to his army not to kill Absalom, but only to take him prisoner. Though victory doth not, indeed, depend upon the multitude of armies, yet David knew well he ought not to tempt the Lord, and to expect a conquest by a miracle (which God had not promised), but by the use of probable means.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>Davids offering himself to hazard his royal person with his army in the field-battle (2Sa 18:2<\/span>.)<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>The armies refusal of his royal offer (2Sa 18:3<\/span>), which they did not out of any contempt of the king to cross his kingly power and pleasure, but out of the highest veneration to his royal person, which made them so careful and conscientious for his personal preservation, and they grounded their laudable refusal of his offer upon solid reasons:<\/p>\n (1)<\/strong> Thou art the main mark the rebels aim at, and should they know that thou art in the field they would bend all their forces against thee, as (1Ki 22:31<\/span>) the Syrians did.<\/p>\n (2)<\/strong> The slaughter of thee (whom only the rebels resolve to ruin) would rejoice them more than the slaughter of ten thousand of us thy subjects, for then have they their end, to set up Absalom in thy throne (2Sa 17:2<\/span>.)<\/p>\n (3)<\/strong> The dignity of thy person exalts thee above ten thousand of us, and therefore thy ruin by the rebels would do ten thousand times more damage to the state of Israel.<\/p>\n (4)<\/strong> But if thou be kept alive, though the rebels rout us, yet mayst thou recruit a new and another army, and so disappoint them still from accomplishing their design.<\/p>\n 4. <\/strong>Davids prudence to the people, and his indulgence to his rebellious son (2Sa 18:4-5<\/span>.)<\/p>\n (1)<\/strong> From his natural, affectionate disposition, always a fond father to his children, full of clemency, insomuch that be spared Saul his enemy when in his power once and again (1Sa 24:1-22; 1Sa 26:1-25<\/span>.) No wonder, then, if he were for sparing his eldest son.<\/p>\n (2)<\/strong> He doth not call him my son, because that would have aggravated his crime, but Hebr. the boy, or young man, imputing his heinous rebellion to the heat of his youth, which makes men heady, high-minded, and inclinable to evil counsels and practices; but if he might be spared and live till he were older, age and experience would make him wiser.<\/p>\n (3)<\/strong> David was conscious to himself that he was the meritorious and procuring cause of this rebellion, and that Absalom was given up of God to punish Davids sins (2Sa 12:11-12<\/span>), and therefore pitied him.<\/p>\n (4)<\/strong> This pious father would not have his impious son to die in his sin, without repentance, for then soul and body perish for ever.<\/p>\n (5)<\/strong> Peter Martyr makes David a type of Christ,, who prayed for his crucifiers, as David did here, for a rebel son against his father.<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>The place where the battle was <\/strong>fought, tis called the wood of Ephraim (verse 6), though it was certainly beyond Jordan, so not in that tribe, but called so either because it was over against Ephraim, or because of forty thousand Ephramites lost their lives there (Jdg 12:5-6<\/span>).<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>Davids victory: (verse 7) The battle was soon determined. Absaloms army (consisting of raw, inexperienced men in martial matters) stood not the first shock of Davids old soldiers.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>The wood devoured more than the sword (verse 8.):Behold, here Davids policy and Absaloms infatuation to fight in so fatal a place as the wood of Ephraim which had been so fatal to Oreb and Zeeb in Gideons time (Jdg 7:25<\/span>; Jdg 8:3<\/span>), and to the Ephramites also (Jdg 12:5-6<\/span>.) The routed rabble, running from death, ran to it while they ran into the wood to hide themselves; some fell upon stubs that did beat the breath out of their bodies when they had spent the most of it by their hasty running away; some for haste plunged themselves into pits and ditches which were in the wood (verse 17), and which either they saw not (being covered with the rubbish of the wood), and so their violent flight hurried them in at unawares. So dreadful a thing it is to provoke the Lord of Hosts, who call arm all things to destroy us, etc.<\/p>\n 4. <\/strong>Absalom was hanged by the neck upon the forked bough of an oak in this same wood (verse 9).<\/p>\n (1)<\/strong> Absalom met Davids soldiers, and they, according to Davids command, spared him, and gave him an opportunity to escape, but Divine vengeance would not spare him.<\/p>\n (2)<\/strong> The great God directed the branch of the oak, as he rode under it, to catch hold of his long hair that was loosely dishevelled upon his shoulders, and there hangs him up by the neck betwixt heaven, and earth, as one rejected of both, and not fit to live in either of them.<\/p>\n (3)<\/strong> Some do wonder how Absalom came here among the thickets of the wood, where there was no way, especially for riders? Sanctius wittily observes that seeing it is said, Absalom met Davids servants by chance, it seems he rather peeped upon them (fighting in the battle) out of some safe and secret place than fought against them in the front of the fight; this was a chief leader and general <\/em>likely to conquer. However, this is beyond doubt that when he saw his rabble were routed, a dreadful fright fell upon him, and fleeing, left the common road and rode among the thickets, till caught by his long locks (such as Samson had, Jdg 16:13<\/span>) in a crotch of the oak.<\/p>\n (4)<\/strong> He being held fast there by the hair of his head, his mule that was under him went away, which might easily happen, because, being in flight, the mule passed along very swiftly. As this mule lurched, his master, so will worldly wealth lurch worldlings at their death, however: and so will false grounded hopes lurch hypocrites (Job 8:13<\/span>; Job 11:20<\/span>), whereas a lively hope (1Pe 1:3<\/span>), a daughter of the faith of Gods elect (Tit 1:1<\/span>) rightly grounded on Gods promises will not lurch us, no, not at death (Pro 14:32<\/span>), but will do to us what Bucephalus, Alexanders great horse, did to him, which (as Aulus Gellius reporteth), though deeply wounded in both neck and sides in a battle, yet carried his master with great speed out of danger of the enemy, and when he had set his master down in safety then himself fell down and died: So true hope lands us in glory, then expectation dies into fruition, etc. This unnatural wretch was unworthy to be slain by the sword, but he must be hanged on a tree, and so die that cursed death (Deu 21:23<\/span>, Gal 3:13<\/span>.) His haughty mind resolved to be on high, right or wrong, though he made his own too affectionate fathers carcase a stepping-stone whereon to step up to the highest throne; and now is he hanged up on high, anti his ambitious head is in its proper exaltation. He is hanged by that very head wherewith he had been plotting the worst sort of high treason, against so good a father. His hair, wherein he had so much prided himself, God made an halter to hang him with: The instrument of his vainglory became the instrument of his death and ignominy. So perilous it is to pride ourselves in any habiliments either of nature or of fortune, seeing the matter of our pride may be the means of our ruin.<\/p>\n 5. <\/strong>The <\/em>dialogue between General Joab and the soldier that first saw Absalom hanged in an oak (verse 10, 11, 12, 13.)<\/p>\n (1)<\/strong> It seems Absalom did hang some time before he was seen, being in a by-path and blind place, this long and lasting colour was far more intolerable than had he been hanged outright m a halter.<\/p>\n (2)<\/strong> This soldier that first saw him durst not dispatch him, though Absalom might desire him to do it, to put him out of his pain, as Saul had desired his armour-bearer on the like account (1Sa 31:4<\/span>.)<\/p>\n (3)<\/strong> Joab, when he told him what he had seen, chides him for not doing it, and if he would still go back and do it he would give him a rich reward (verse 11). Though Joab was desirous that such a public pest were slain, yet would he rather have it to be done by another hand than by his own, for fear of Davids displeasure. Politicians, like the ape, pull nuts out of the fire with the paw of a eat.<\/p>\n (4)<\/strong> The soldier answers (verse 12) I dare not do it for a thousand shekels, for the king commanded to the contrary (verse 5), it would be as much as my life is worth, which is of more value to me than all thy thousand shekels, and belts and badges of valour. What mad men are many, that for a few paltry shillings play away their precious souls, which this soldier durst not do.<\/p>\n (5)<\/strong> Should I have done it, saith he, I should have been false to myself (verse 13) in betraying myself to Davids revenge, or should I do it now, and then deny it to save my life by a lie, the king is so wise he would soon discover it, and then inflict a double punishment upon me not only for my foul fact in doing it, but also for my falsehood in denying it.<\/p>\n (6)<\/strong> And thou thyself (saith he) wouldst set thyself against me, that is, thou wouldst become my adversary, or satan, and wouldst be the first that would accuse me to the kings court, for doing that which thou now wouldst, draw me to do against the kings command. Thus the devil deals with tempted souls, as Joab would have dealt with this soldier, first he tempts them to sin, and then he accuses them for sin, as he is the accuser of the brethren (Rev 12:10<\/span>, Job 1:9<\/span>.)<\/p>\n 6. <\/strong>Joabs slaughter of Absalom (verses 14, 15.)<\/p>\n (1)<\/strong> Daring Joab, saith, as his vale or farewell to the soldier.<\/p>\n (2)<\/strong> Behold here the just judgment of God upon this vilely vicious, ambitious Absalom: He will needs be a new king before his time, and now hath here this oak for his throne, his twisted hair about the bough for his crown, three darts in his heart for his sceptre, his proud heart is darted through, and Joabs ten armour-bearers for his royal guard, for defiling Davids ten concubines. Thus God writ his sin upon his punishment, that little breath still left in him these ten did beat out of his body (verse 15). So heres ten to ten in both cases.<\/p>\n (3)<\/strong> Joabs killing of Absalom contrary to the kings command some condemn, but others justify and commend it; Peter Martyr and Grotius do canvas this controversy pro and con, etc. (C. Ness<\/em>.)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The battle and its issue<\/strong><\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>Before the battle, David does not bear prosperity well. He shines best in trial. He is greater when fleeing from Saul than when in the palace. His flight without his crown reveals his real kingliness. Surely David is in much communion with God. He is pressed with sorrow, but then his character like as myrrh is most fragrant. He is most restful. Fear has gone. He pillowed his head on the truth, that ever drives fear away. <\/strong>Such a calm restfulness would be sure to give indications of Gods nearness, and we find many signs of Divine guidance. How discreet he is! How they are blundering at Jerusalem! How wise to make Mahanaim his headquarters, though most probably his choice was made all unconscious of its splendid adaptability to the necessities of the hour. He was led by a Hand Divine. Did David pray for wisdom? Surely such quiet restfulness in Gods guidance is ever accompanied by prayerful fellowship! The Father of light gives to those who ask: how far wiser should we be if we asked! Was it this hallowed experience at <\/strong>Mahanaim which evoked his impressive charge to Solomon? (1Ch 22:12; 1Ki 3:9<\/span>.) So passed the week before the battle.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>Concerning the battle itself, as to details of conflict, we know little. Probably Absalom has been three months king. According to the counsel of Hushai, he heads the army. The first shock decided the fortunes of the day, as indeed is still common in Eastern warfare, and Absaloms army flees in confusion. Davids army is victorious, and ere the evening came all Israel and Judah knew that David had conquered.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>After the battle. David is sitting between the two gates (2Sa 18:24<\/span>) waiting for the news. The watchmen upon the wall are gazing anxiously, and yet more anxious is the expectation of the king. All is so graphically told. His hope when he hears the bearer is Ahimaaz, the parent-heart asking for his son amid the news of victory, the falsity of the messenger when face to face with the agitated king (2Sa 18:29<\/span>), the quickened hope so bluntly quenched by the less cautious Cushi, and then the wail, that has been echoed from so many hearts since: O my son Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!<\/p>\n (1)<\/strong> An entire absence of resignation to Gods will. Strange, is it not, that which is so prominent in all his other times of trial is prominent by its absence here! He abandons himself uncontrolledly to his feelings. Unless those in public places of honour sink their private feelings in public duty, why are they there? Davids heart is lacerated now. His own sins make his grief the heavier. We note too–<\/p>\n (2)<\/strong> His petulant wish and foolish complaint. Had he died in place of Absalom, what would have become of Israel with such a king, and where the promise of God to him? On public grounds Davids utterance can find no justification, and Joab is right when he arouses him from his selfish grief. Better for David had he sought, in the early days of his sons life, by prayer and holy conduct, to have lived for his children than wished to die for them. We need to learn it is better to live for our children than wail a wish to die over characters we have helped to form. Still, we can but admire him as a father! Does love first ruin and then pray? We can, however, understand the wail of David if he was thinking of the eternal interests. This was agony time might mitigate and soften but never obliterate. Before the mysterious in the dealings of God with him, he bowed in an agony Joab could not <\/strong>understand. That surely is one of the sad penalties of declension from the ways <\/strong>of God. Grief was borne by him and not carried to God. Hence for a while Davids character is clouded again. (H. E. Stone<\/em>.)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n David and Absalom<\/strong><\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>The first thing that strikes us in chap. 18, is the reward of faithfulness in the appointment of the three captains. (Luk 22:28-30<\/span>.)<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>The charge concerning Absalom (v. 5; Rom 12:19<\/span>; Gal 6:1<\/span>)–a lesson for us in our treatment of others. The Lord is ever saying, Deal gently with my rebels. The wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. We are too like Joab, so indignant against the sinner that we forget our own weakness, and yet he followed Adonijah! And we too generally find when we are very indignant against soma one else, we are pretty sure to go away and commit the same sin.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>The fate of Absalom. Two things are said to have contributed to his fate–his ostentation in going into battle on a mule instead of on foot, as David and all warriors did, and his vanity in wearing his hair long (though it does not follow that this caused his death, as we are only told that he was caught by his head, probably his helmet). The heap of stones–disgrace. (Jos 7:26<\/span>.)<\/p>\n 4. <\/strong>The kings grief. (Luk 19:41<\/span>; Rom 5:7<\/span>.) A beautiful contrast between type and antitype Would God I had died. I lay down my life for the sheep. (R. E. Faulkner.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Absalom: a character study<\/strong><\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>Some have mounted the mule of intellectual pride, and are posting off into the wood of scepticism, rationalism, deism, agnosticism, secularism, atheism. Much learning is generally conceit, and conceit is turning men intellectually and morally insane. Advanced thought is but the synonym for advanced alienation of the heart from the living God, and advanced thought is only the modern form of unbelief. Pseudo-philosophy is weaving a shroud for the burial of truth. Men to-day glory in what they do not rather than in what they do know. Ignorance seems bliss. Doubting is emphasised and glorified. Believing and knowing are childish. Thus the advocates of doubt, the spastics of unbelief, the boastful know-nothings, have exiled from their little world the Creator, and enthroned blind chance or arrogant-reason. They have struck out from their sky the blazing sun of truth, and are groping their way amid the shadows and uncertainties of a scholarly scepticism or an ignorant know-nothingism! In a word, they have mounted the mule of intellectual vanity, imagining thereby to escape God, who pursues them on the line of their intuitions, moral instincts, inner consciousness, and crushed but not extinguished spiritual nature, not knowing that there is a mystic tree of judgment, whose giant branches shall seize their haughty heads and swing their spirits back to the God who gave them.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>Again, there are others who are trying to escape from their convictions of right, duty, and personal responsibility to humanity and God on the mule of alcohol. Such foolish Absaloms I have known. Some of them men of broad intellect, wide reading, and splendid parts, but weak on one side of their nature in more senses than one. For years there has been hostility to God, the will running counter to the Divine Will, the actions contrary to the Divine Commands, the heart opposite to the Divine Spirit. They <\/em>have defied the Divine Almightiness, trampled in the dust the Divine Law, and flung insult and injury on the Divine Heart of Love. Thus have they tried to get away from conscience, remorse, God! But what folly. True, they may drown conviction for a time, but only for it to come back with tenfold force. I can conceive of no infatuation greater than that of a man resorting to drink in order to drown trouble, quell fear, or quiet conscience. As well attempt to extinguish debt by burning the creditors bills, or to ease pain by plunging the hand into the fire, as to evade trouble, remorse, God, by fleeing to the gin palace or the beershop. In reality this method is only adding fuel to the fires of conscience, poignancy to the stings of remorse, terror to the recurring thought of God and eternity. It is heaping up wrath against the day of wrath. Absalom never intended riding rote the jaws of death, but he got there. Once seized by the iron grip of the drink appetite, and it clutches a man most insidiously but surely; there is little or no chance of release from its fatal consequences.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>Once more, others in society to-day are making the effort to escape from their convictions of right, duty, God, on the mule of absorbing worldliness. They have plunged into business, and are, driving bargains and speculations furiously. They have invested all their capital, their energies, talents, attention, interests, being, with its wealth of possibilities, in pushing trade to a golden success. Principle has to do homage to policy, morality to bow to fraud or the ordinary so-called tricks of trade in order to pile up a pyramid of gold and to rank as merchant princes. It is business, nothing but business; bargains, nothing but bargains; the muck-rake of mammon and nothing else, until they become walking icebergs of materialism. But conscience lifts up its thunderous voice and pours forth a whole valley of warnings, threatenings, alarms. Its voice is unpleasant. Its constant speakings are distracting and offensive. To get beyond its condemnatory voice they spur on their mule into the denser wood, the more perilous forest of worldliness, oblivious of the Nemesis of retribution which will seize their sordid soul, and swing them into eternal poverty with a Dives and a rich fool.<\/p>\n 4. <\/strong>Another, as the representative of a large class, has saddled the mule of worldly pleasure. He rides in search of carnal amusement, delight of the senses, spurning religion which holds the true secret of abiding happiness by fixing itself within the man. He hurries hither and thither, seeking job: from without, rootless joy, and all he gets proves false, precarious, brief. Like gathered flowers, though fair and fragrant for awhile, it speedily withers and becomes offensive. Whereas joy from within, rooted in God, is akin to drinking in aroma from the rose on the tree; it becomes more sweet and beautiful; it is enduring; it is immortal. To live in the realm of sense is to die in the realm of sorrow I Believe me, there is no pleasurist of this world without his Eve, no Eve without her serpent, and no serpent without its sting. The wages of sin is death. The sting of death is sin. I tell you, you cannot get away from all Gods servants. If you escape pinching poverty, blasting pestilence, drivelling insanity, torturing affliction, painful bereavement, there is one servant that will overtake you, the pale horse and his rider. That horse of untiring strength and unpausing celerity is teeter of foot than your mule. (J. O. Keen, D. D<\/em>.)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Bush warfare<\/strong><\/p>\n This district appears to have resembled the bush of Australia and the jungle of India. It was not a dense forest, but consisted of rocky ground covered with prickly shrubs and tangled underwood, having stout oaks and other trees as well as precipitous glens to increase its terrors and perils. Such a place of thickets and thorns was called in Bible times yaar, and now is known as waar. It would give a certain advantage to a smaller force of experienced warriors like Davids in resisting the onset of a larger but less disciplined array such as followed Absalom. Probably, too, many of the latter were more accustomed to the bare wadies (or valleys) and limestone rocks of Western Palestine, while the loyalists were not unfamiliar with bush warfare, British troops have often had to encounter difficulties and dangers similar to those which aided to defeat Absalom on this occasion. During the war of 1755, several of King Georges best regiments were nearly annihilated in a thick wood near Pittsburgh, in Pennsylvania. Embarrassed by the brushwood and irregular trees, they could not perceive their Indian foes, who, keeping out of sight, discharged their muskets, with horrible yells more disconcerting than the weapons. (Sunday Companion<\/em>.)<\/p>\n CHAPTER XVIII <\/P> David reviews and arranges the people, and gives the command<\/I><\/P> to Joab, Abishai, and Ittai<\/I>, 1, 2.<\/P> On his expressing a desire to accompany them to the battle,<\/I><\/P> they will not permit him<\/I>, 3.<\/P> He reviews them as they go out of the city, and gives<\/I><\/P> commandment to the captains to save Absalom<\/I>, 4, 5.<\/P> They join battle with Absalom and his army, who are discomfited<\/I><\/P> with the loss of twenty thousand men<\/I>, 6-8.<\/P> Absalom, fleeing away, is caught by his head in an oak; Joab<\/I><\/P> finds him, and transfixes him with three darts<\/I>, 9-15.<\/P> The servants of David are recalled, and Absalom buried<\/I>, 16-18.<\/P> Ahimaaz and Cushi bring the tidings to David, who is greatly<\/I><\/P> distressed at hearing of the death of Absalom, and makes<\/I><\/P> bitter lamentation for him<\/I>, 19-33. <\/P> NOTES ON CHAP. XVIII<\/P> <\/P> Verse 1<\/span>. And set captains of thousands<\/B><\/I>] By this time David’s small company was greatly recruited; but what its number was we cannot tell. Josephus says it amounted to four thousand<\/I> men. Others have supposed that they amounted to ten thousand<\/I>; for thus they understand a clause in 2Sa 18:3<\/span>, which they think should be read, We are now ten thousand<\/I> strong.<\/P> <\/p>\n The people that were with him; <\/B>which flocked to him thither, so as to make up a small army. <\/P> <\/p>\n 1, 2. David numbered the people thatwere with him<\/B>The hardy mountaineers of Gilead came in greatnumbers at the call of their chieftains, so that, although withoutmoney to pay any troops, David soon found himself at the head of aconsiderable army. A pitched battle was now inevitable. But so muchdepending on the life of the king, he was not allowed to take thefield in person; and he therefore divided his forces into threedetachments under Joab, Abishai, and Ittai, the commander of theforeign guards. <\/P> 2Sa18:5-13<\/span>. GIVES THEMCHARGE OF ABSALOM.<\/P><\/p>\n And David numbered the people that [were] with him<\/strong>,…. Which Josephus says d were four thousand; but one would think there should be more by what follows:<\/p>\n and set captains of thousands and captains of hundreds over them<\/strong>; he divided his army into companies, which consisted some of a thousand and others of a hundred; over each of which he set captains, to lead them on, direct, and command them in battle.<\/p>\n d Antiqu. l. 7. c. 10. sect. 1.<\/p>\n Preparation for war.<\/em> – 2Sa 18:1-2<\/span>. David mustered the people that were with him, and placed over them captains of thousands and hundreds, and divided them into three companies, under the generals Joab, Abishai, and Ittai the Gathite, who had given such decided proofs, according to 2Sa 15:21-22<\/span>, of his fidelity to David. , to leave to the hand of a person, i.e., to his power, is used here in the sense of placing under his direction. The people opposed in the most decided manner the wish of the king to go with them to the war, saying (2Sa 18:3<\/span>), “Thou shalt not go out: for if we flee, they will take no heed of us (i.e., attach no importance to this); and if half of us die, they will take no heed of us: for thou art as ten thousand of us (we must evidently read for , and has merely got into the text in consequence of following): and now it is good that thou be ready to give us help from the city” (the Chethib<\/em> , inf. Hiphil<\/em> for , is not to be disputed). David was to stay behind in the city with a reserve, that he might be able to come to their relief in case of need. <\/p>\n Preparations for Battle.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/I><\/span><\/P> <\/TD> B. C.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN> 1023.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/P> <\/TD> <\/TR> <\/TABLE> 1 And David numbered the people that were<\/I> with him, and set captains of thousands and captains of hundreds over them. 2 And David sent forth a third part of the people under the hand of Joab, and a third part under the hand of Abishai the son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother, and a third part under the hand of Ittai the Gittite. And the king said unto the people, I will surely go forth with you myself also. 3 But the people answered, Thou shalt not go forth: for if we flee away, they will not care for us; neither if half of us die, will they care for us: but now thou art<\/I> worth ten thousand of us: therefore now it is<\/I> better that thou succour us out of the city. 4 And the king said unto them, What seemeth you best I will do. And the king stood by the gate side, and all the people came out by hundreds and by thousands. 5 And the king commanded Joab and Abishai and Ittai, saying, Deal<\/I> gently for my sake with the young man, even<\/I> with Absalom. And all the people heard when the king gave all the captains charge concerning Absalom. 6 So the people went out into the field against Israel: and the battle was in the wood of Ephraim; 7 Where the people of Israel were slain before the servants of David, and there was there a great slaughter that day of twenty thousand men.<\/I> 8 For the battle was there scattered over the face of all the country: and the wood devoured more people that day than the sword devoured.<\/P> Which way David raised an army here, and what reinforcements were sent him, we are not told; many, it is likely, from all the coasts of Israel, at least from the neighbouring tribes, came in to his assistance, so that, by degrees, he was able to make head against Absalom, as Ahithophel foresaw. Now here we have,<\/P> I. His army numbered and marshalled, 2Sa 18:1<\/span>; 2Sa 18:2<\/span>. He had, no doubt, committed his cause to God by prayer, for that was his relief in all his afflictions; and then he took an account of his forces. Josephus says they were, in all, but about 4000. These he divided into regiments and companies, to each of which he appointed proper officers, and then disposed them, as is usual, into the right wing, the left wing, and the centre, two of which he committed to his two old experienced generals, Joab and Abishai, and the third to his new friend Ittai. Good order and good conduct may sometimes be as serviceable in an army as great numbers. Wisdom teaches us to make the best of the strength we have, and let it reach to the utmost.<\/P> II. Himself over-persuaded not to go in person to the battle. He was Absalom’s false friend that persuaded him to go, and served his pride more than his prudence; David’s true friends would not let him go, remembering what they had been told of Ahithophel’s design to smite the king only.<\/I> David showed his affection to them by being willing to venture with them (v.<\/I><\/span> 2<\/span>), and they showed theirs to him by opposing it. We must never reckon it an affront to be gain-said for our good, and by those that therein consult our interest. 1. They would by no means have him to expose himself, for (say they) thou art worth<\/I> 10,000 of us.<\/I> Thus ought princes to be valued by their subjects, who, for their safety, must be willing to expose themselves. 2. They would not so far gratify the enemy, who would rejoice more in his fall than in the defeat of the whole army. 3. He might be more serviceable to them by tarrying in the city, with a reserve of his forces there, whence he might send them recruits. That may be a post of real service which yet is not a post of danger. The king acquiesced in their reasons, and changed his purpose (v.<\/I><\/span> 4<\/span>): What seemeth to you best I will do.<\/I> It is no piece of wisdom to be stiff in our resolutions, but to be willing to hear reason, even from our inferiors, and to be overruled by their advice when it appears to be for our own good. Whether the people’s prudence had an eye to it or no, God’s providence wisely ordered it, that David should not be in the field of battle; for then his tenderness would certainly have interposed to save the life of Absalom, whom God had determined to destroy.<\/P> III. The charge he gave concerning Absalom, v.<\/I><\/span> 5<\/span>. When the army was drawn out, rank and file, Josephus says, he encouraged them, and prayed for them, but withal bade them all take heed of doing Absalom any hurt. How does he render good for evil! Absalom would have David only smitten. David would have Absalom only spared. What foils are these to each other! Never was unnatural hatred to a father more strong than in Absalom; nor was ever natural affection to a child more strong than in David. Each did his utmost, and showed what man is capable of doing, how bad it is possible for a child to be to the best of fathers and how good it is possible for a father to be to the worst of children; as if it were designed to be a resemblance of man’s wickedness towards God and God’s mercy towards man, of which it is hard to say which is more amazing. “Deal gently,<\/I>” says David, “by all means, with the young man, even with Absalom, for my sake;<\/I> he is a young man, rash and heady, and his age must excuse him; he is mine, whom I love; if you love me, be not severe with him.” This charge supposes David’s strong expectation of success. Having a good cause and a good God, he doubts not but Absalom would lie at their mercy, and therefore bids them deal gently with him, spare his life and reserve him for his judgment.<\/P> Bishop Hall thus descants on this: “What means this ill-placed love? This unjust mercy? Deal gently with a traitor? Of all traitors, with a son? Of all sons, with an Absalom? That graceless darling of so good a father? And all this, for thy sake, whose crown, whose blood, he hunts after? For whose sake must he be pursued, if forborne for thine? Must the cause of the quarrel be the motive of mercy? Even in the holiest parents, nature may be guilty of an injurious tenderness, of a bloody indulgence. But was not this done in type of that immeasurable mercy of the true King and Redeemer of Israel, who prayed for his persecutors, for his murderers, Father, forgive them? Deal gently with them for my sake.<\/I>” When God sends and affliction to correct his children, it is with this charge, “Deal gently with them for my sake;” for he knows our frame.<\/P> IV. A complete victory gained over Absalom’s forces. The battle was fought in the wood of Ephraim<\/I> (v.<\/I><\/span> 6<\/span>), so called from some memorable action of the Ephraimites there, though it lay in the tribe of Gad. David thought fit to meet the enemy with his forces at some distance, before they came up to Mahanaim, lest he should bring that city into trouble which had so kindly sheltered him. The cause shall be decided by a pitched battle. Josephus represents the fight as very obstinate, but the rebels were at length totally routed and 20,000 of them slain, v.<\/I><\/span> 7<\/span>. Now they smarted justly for their treason against their lawful prince, their uneasiness under so good a government, and their base ingratitude to so good a governor; and they found what it was to take up arms for a usurper, who with his kisses and caresses had wheedled them into their own ruin. Now where are the rewards, the preferments, the golden days, they promised themselves from him? Now they see what it is to take counsel against the Lord and his anointed,<\/I> and to think of breaking his bands asunder.<\/I> And that they might see that God fought against them, 1. They are conquered by a few, an army, in all probability, much inferior to theirs in number. 2. By that flight with which they hoped to save themselves they destroyed themselves. The wood,<\/I> which they sought to for shelter, devoured more than the sword,<\/I> that they might see how, when they thought themselves safe from David’s men, and said, Surely the bitterness of death is past,<\/I> yet the justice of God pursued them and suffered them not to live. What refuge can rebels find from divine vengeance? The pits and bogs, the stumps and thickets, and, as the Chaldee paraphrase understands it, the wild beasts of the wood, were probably the death of multitudes of the dispersed distracted Israelites, besides the 20,000 that were slain with the sword. God herein fought for David, and yet fought against him; for all these that were slain were his own subjects, and the common interest of his kingdom was weakened by the slaughter. The Romans allowed no triumph for a victory in a civil war.<\/P> <\/p>\nFuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
I. <\/strong>The antecedents of the battle.<\/p>\n
II. <\/strong>Now come we to The concomitants of this fatal fight.<\/p>\n
I. <\/strong>The first suggested point in this Old Testament character study is, that of a royal father and son in deadly antagonism. The ground of this antagonism was Absaloms attempt to usurp the throne. He sought by intrigue to dethrone his father, and to seize the kingdom and crown for himself. There is another antagonism of a more momentous character raging to-day between the Royal Father in heaven and the rebel Absaloms in our midst. An antagonism spiritual in its nature, gigantic in its proportions, fearful in its tendencies, tremendous in its issues. It is hostility between the creature and his Creator, the subject and his Sovereign, the recreant son and his loving, all-compassionate Father. Wonder, O heavens, and be astonished, O earth! Can the finite contend with the Infinite? Can the worm: strive with his Maker? Can man fight with God? Woe unto him, says the prophet, that striveth with his Maker. Woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, that take counsel but not of Me, and that cover with a covering but not of My spirit, that they may add sin to sin. The Lord shall go forth as a mighty man. He shall stir up jealousy like a man of war. He shall cry yea, roar. He shall prevail against His enemies.<\/p>\n
II. <\/strong>The second practical suggestion of this Old Testament character study is, that the means used to escape from the kings servants brought defeat and death. Absalom depended on the fleetness of his mule for safe and speedy flight, which, had it been on the unobstructed highway instead of the untrodden, perilous forest path, might in all human probability have been accomplished. <\/em>As it was, the fleeter the animal, the greater the danger of becoming entangled among the trees of the wood. So it is to-day with the modern Absaloms who have formed conspiracies against goodness, purity, justice, right; who are subtly or openly assailing the kingdom of truth, the throne of God, the kinghood of the Nazarene, doing their utmost to wrench the sceptre of authority from His grasp, and to dash the diadem of divinity from His kingly head, they are getting the worst of the contest. Absalom-like, they are trying to evade the Kings army, to escape the Kings pursuing servants, but ere long they will find the giant oak of Divine retribution in the way, which will grasp them between its mighty arms, while their fleet-footed mules will go suddenly from under them.<\/p>\nFuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible <\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n