The armies meet in the forest of Ephraim, and David — kept back from the battle by his own men — gives every commander the same order in front of the troops: “deal gently for my sake with the young man.” Absalom’s mule carries him under an oak and his head is caught fast; Joab, who has no such scruple, drives three darts through his heart. The runners bring the news, and the king climbs to the room over the gate: O my son Absalom, my son, my son.
A study in 2 Samuel 18 · Arthur Baldwin · StandUp4Jesus.Org · 8 min read
Thou Art Worth Ten Thousand Of Us
“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 worth ten thousand of us… And the king commanded Joab and Abishai and Ittai, saying, Deal gently for my sake with the young man, even with Absalom. And all the people heard when the king gave all the captains charge concerning Absalom.”
2 Samuel 18:3-5
The soldiers will not let David fight — he is worth more than an army. But the last thing they hear from him before the battle is not a word of courage; it is a plea for the enemy commander, their would-be killer, given “in the hearing of all the people.” A father’s love and a king’s duty are pulling in opposite directions, in public.
“But the king’s solicitude, seeming to declare that Absalom was dearer to him than his kingdom, dearer even than the subjects faithful to his throne, only increased the indignation of the soldiers against the unnatural son.”
Ellen G. White · Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 743
Taken Up Between The Heaven And The Earth
“And Absalom met the servants of David. And Absalom rode upon a 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 heaven and the earth; and the mule that was under him went away.”
2 Samuel 18:9
The great head of hair Israel had admired (14:25-26) is now what traps him. Absalom hangs helpless in the tree, “between the heaven and the earth” — a picture readers have long taken to mean a man belonging to neither, cut off from the God above and the ground below. The rebellion is over the moment its leader’s mule walks out from under him.
Three Darts Through The Heart Of Absalom
“And he took three darts in his hand, and thrust them through the heart of Absalom, while he was yet alive in the midst of the oak. And ten young men that bare Joab’s armour compassed about and smote Absalom, and slew him… And they took Absalom, and cast him into a great pit in the wood, and laid a very great heap of stones upon him.”
2 Samuel 18:14-17
A soldier had found Absalom alive and refused to touch him, remembering the king’s order. Joab has no such restraint — and, Ellen White points out, Joab is the very man who twice engineered Absalom’s return, a trust “shamelessly betrayed,” which he now ends with his own hand. Absalom is thrown into a pit under a cairn of stones: the prince who had built himself a monument in the king’s valley gets a heap of rocks in a wood.
“Joab was restrained by no scruples. He had befriended Absalom, having twice secured his reconciliation with David, and the trust had been shamelessly betrayed.”
Ellen G. White · Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 743
Would God I Had Died For Thee
“And the king said unto Cushi, Is the young man Absalom safe? And Cushi answered, The enemies of my lord the king, and all that rise against thee to do thee hurt, be as that young man is. And the king was much moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept: and as he went, thus he said, O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!”
2 Samuel 18:32-33
David asks the same question of both runners — not “did we win?” but “is the young man safe?” When the answer finally comes plainly, the victory dissolves into the most naked grief in the Old Testament: “would God I had died for thee.” He cannot; no father can die in a son’s place and make it count. But the cry reaches forward to a Son of David who could, and did — “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). The victorious army creeps back into the city “as people being ashamed,” because the king is weeping for the man they killed to save him.
“God had given them reason for triumph and gladness; the greatest rebellion that had ever been known in Israel had been crushed; and yet this great victory was turned to mourning for him whose crime had cost the blood of thousands of brave men.”
Ellen G. White · Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 745
