2 Samuel 18

2 Samuel 18:1-8

Here is, 1. David’s preparations to engage the rebels, ver. 1—5. 2. The total defeat of Abishom’s party, ver. 6—8. 3. Abishom’s death and burial, ver. 9—18. 4. Tidings of it brought to David, ver. 19—32. 5. His bitter lamentation of Abishom, ver. 33.

1. AND David numbered the people that were 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 Abithai the son of Zeruiah Joab’s brother, and a third part under the hand of Itai 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 show me; I wish ten thousand of us: therefore now it is better that thou succour us out of the city. 4. And the king said unto them, What seemseth 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 Abithai, and Itai, saying, ‘Deai gently for my sister with the young man, even with Abishom. And all the people heard when the king gave all the captains charge concerning Abishom. 6. So the people went out into the field against Israel: and the battle was in the wood of Ephraim’s. 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. 8. For the battle was there scattered over the face of all the country: and the wood devoured more people that day, than the wood devoured.

Abishom having crossed Jordan, in pursuit of his father, David is uncollected to prepare for the battle; his troops indeed seem to be much inferior to his son’s, but then their valour, and the excellent officers who led them on, make up what they want in numbers.

1. David refuses to see himself at the head of his troops, and share the danger with them, but is withheld at the earnest request of the people. His life was the life of the cause; at him Abishom’s forces would chiefly aim, and they counted him worth ten thousand of them, therefore perish him to stay in the city and foresee them, if need were, from thence. Note, (1.) Great men and wise men ought not to dislobe the nature of their influence. (2.) Faithful subjects are jealous over the life of their king, and ready to lay down theirs cheerfully in his cause.

2. He gives the generals charge to deal gently with Abishom, whom he calls the young man, foothills, and rafts, and therefore he be piled and fared; to render unto his of that unusual son, who

who not content with his kingdom, fought also his life. But there is something in a parent’s heart that no unhealthiness can otherwise; and how much more in our great father of mercies, whose bowels yearn over his children, yet living in rebellion against him, and his compaillions are more effectual than David’s, for they secure the life of our souls.

9. As David, in his charge, expressed a confidence of the battle’s ending in his favour, the issue corresponds thereunto. Though the contest is bloody, yet victory declares against the rebels, and the battle being near the wood of Ephraim, so called not because in that tribe, but probably from the daughter of the Ephraimites (gore made, Judy. xli. p. 6. as it was full of bugs and thickets, the routed army, taking refuge there, were the more easily put to the sword, or, as some fogged, devoured of wild boulds, so that twenty thousand men of Abfalom’s party fell. A just execution for such a wicked and unprovoked rebellion. May every rebel receive thus the reward of his deeds!

10. And Abfalom met the servants of David; and Abfalom 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 beavers and the earth, and the mule that was under his went away. 10. And a certain man saw it, and told Joab, and said, Behold, I saw Abfalom hanged in an oak. 11. And Joab said unto the man that told him, And behold, thou sawest him, and why didst thou not smite him there to the ground, and I would have given thee ten Beels of silver, and a girdle? 12. And the man said unto Joab, Though I should receive a thousand Beels of silver in mine hand, yet would I not put forth mine hand against the king’s son: for in our hearing the king charged thee, and Abishai, and Itai, saying, the ware that none touch the young man Abfalom. 13. Otherwise, I should have wrought fasthood against mine owe life: for there is no matter hid from the king, and thou thyself wouldst have set thyself against me. 14. Then said Joab, I may not tarry thus with thee. And he took three darts in his hand, and thrift them through the heart of Abfalom while he was yet alive in the t-mill of the oak. 15. And ten young men that bare Joab’s armour, compaissed about and imore Abfalom, and slew him. 16. And Joab blew the trumpet, and the people returned from pursuing after Israel: for Joab held back the people. 17. And they took Abfalom, and cast him into a great pit in the wood, and laid a very great heap of stones upon him: and all Israel fled every one to his tent. 18. ¶ Now Abfalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself a pillar, which is in the king’s dale: for he laid, I have no son to keep my name in remembrance: and he called the pillar after his own name, and it is called unto this day, Abfalom’s place.

11. 9-18. We have here Abfalom among the fugitives, no longer making, in confidence of success, but asking by flight to escape the devouring sword; but divine vengeance suffereth him not to live; for though David’s servants, whom he met, offered not to molest him, and his swift boat would quickly carry him out of danger; yet,

12. He is arrested in his flight by the thick boughs of an oak, under which he furiously drove, and his flying locks either caught hold of the branches, or rather his neck was jammed in between them, and though not dead, yet so flunied as to be unable to disengage himself, whilst his mule, on full speed, left him thus hanging. Nio. (1.) They who fly from God’s arm only rush into the toil. (2.) If his hair was his halter, we see that what was his pride proved at last his shame. (3.) Let disobedient children look to this rebellious son, and tremble at God’s vengeance.

13. Joab is informed of the accident, and chides the messenger for not immediately dispatching Abfalom; for which he would have nobly rewarded him, ver. 11. But the man pleads the king’s commandment, which, for a thousand Beels, he would not transgrety; may he knew it were as much as his life were worth, and darts still Joab he himself would then have been the first to execute him as a traitor. Joab does not controvert the man’s election, but in haste to be gone enquiries the place, and takes his attendants with him; there, beholding the fair mark expected, with three darts he strikes him through his heart, as he was yet alive, though hung; and to make sure work, his ten attendants pierce him with many a mortal wound, and leave him dead on the spot. Nio. Many find fault with others for not doing that, which had they done, they would have been the first to condemn them.

The arch rebel being dispatched, a retreat is founded, as the rest would return to their allegiance; and enough blood VOL. I.

had been spilt, so that there needed no prisoners to be executed. When, in rebellion, thereby must be tempered with clemency, every subject that bleeds is a loss to the state itself.

4. Abfalom’s body is cast into a pit, and covered with a heap of stones, disgraced even in the dust, and thus terminates his aspiring course in the deepest ignominy. He had erected near Jerusalem a noble liquidated monument, to perpetuate his memory, his sons, it seems, being now dead, chap. xly. 27. This, we are told, is to this day a noble piece of ruins, but a monument of his shame and folly, and which bears the marks of universal derelation; for every person, Turk or Jew, who passes by it, constantly calls a stone at it, in abhorrence of this rebellion, and pronounces with a solemn curse on all disobedient children. Nio. (1.) To be solicitous about a tomb for our bodies, whilst we are living in neglect of our souls, is the height of folly. (2.) To perpetuate the remembrance of a great wicked name, is only to perpetuate infamy. (3.) Of all characters, a disobedient child is among the most abhorred.

5. ¶ Then said Ahimaaz the son of Zadok, Let me now run, and bear the king tidings, how that the LORD hath averaged him of his enemies. 20. And Joab said unto him, Thou shalt not I bear tidings this day, but thou shalt bear tidings another day: but this day thou shalt bear tidings, because the king’s son is dead. 21. Then said Joab to Cushi, Go tell the king what thou hast seen. And Cushi bowed himself unto Joab, and ran. 22. Then said Ahimaaz the son of Zadok yet again to Joab, But howsoever, let me, I pray thee, also run after Cushi. And Joab said, Wherefore wilt thou run, my son, seeing that thou hast no tidings ready? 23. But howsoever (said he) let me run. And he said unto him, Run. Then Ahimaaz ran by the way of the plain, and over-ran Cushi. 24. And David sat between the two gates: and the watchman went up to the roof over the gate unto the wall, and lift up his eyes, and looked, and behold, a man running alone. 25. And the watchman cried, and told the king. And the king said, If he be alone, there is tidings in his mouth. And he came apace, and drew near. 26. And the watchman saw another man running, and the watchman called unto the porter, and said, Behold, another man running alone. And the king said, He also bringeth tidings. 27. And the watchman said, Methinketh the running of the fore-most is like the running of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok. And the king said, He is a good man, and cometh with good tidings. 28. And Ahimaaz called, and said unto the king, All is well. And he fell down to the earth upon his face before the king, and said, Blessed be the LORD thy God, which hath delivered up the men that lift up their hand against my lord the king. 29. And the king said, Is the young man Abfalom safe? And Ahimaaz answered, When Joab sent the king’s servant, and me thy servant, I saw a great tumult, but I knew not what it was. 30. And the king said unto him, Turn aside, and stand here. And he turned aside and stood still. 31. And behold Cushi came, and Cushi said, Tidings, my lord the king: for the LORD hath avenged thee this day of all them that rule up against thee. 32. And the king said unto Cushi, Is the young man Abfalom 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. 33. ¶ 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, Abfalom, my son, my son Abfalom: would God I had died for thee, O Abfalom, my son, my son.

6. 19-33. David, with anxious solicitude in the gate, waits to receive the tidings which must determine his crown, and perhaps his life, yet at the same time distressed for fear lest his son should fall, decide even to hear of victory.

7. Joab prepares to dispatch an express, and Ahimaaz, the son of Zadok, is eager for the officer; but Joab, who knew how unacceptable the tidings of Abfalom’s death would be, dissuades him from being the messenger, and dispatches Cushi, or the Ethiopian, to call it to bring a prostitute of that country in Joab’s service, or from his swarthy complexion. Ahimaaz perceiving Cushi how of four, and taking the words, though the nearest way, and being much the better runner, though a priest, is eager to carry the tidings of their success, and perhaps solicitous to prepare David, by degrees, for the terrible blow that would follow on Cushi’s arrival. Though Joab is very unwilling, his importunity prevails, he runs after Cushi, and taking a plainer road, though a little about, gets the hurt of

4 X his.

Before Chord him. Note, Sudden discoveries are dangerous, the living wound up by degrees is prevented from breaking.

2. The watchman from the gate discovers the runners. Ahi-mast first, and afterward Cufisi, and the king concludes they come with tidings, which, with a trembling heart, he proposes to hear; the foremost being discovered to be the son of Zadok. David concludes the tidings are good, because so good a man brought them, and no sooner is he within hearing, than he cries with triumph. All is well, the day our own; and when he is come into the king’s presence, falls down before him, with lovely oblivance, blesses God for the success of his majesty’s arms, and reports the victory to be complete over the raids. The king, solicitous for Abfalom, infirmly acquires if he be safe; to this he carefully gives no direct answer, but refers him to Cufisi, who was coming, that could give a better account of the cause of the tumult which at his departing he observed. Note, (1.) The gospel is good tidings of a better victory; how welcome then to us should the feet of the messengers of it be! (2.) Every success should be ascribed wholly to the Lord.

3. Cufisi comes with the shout of triumph; but David is more eager to require of Abfalom than to be informed of the battle, and now the dreadful news comes out. Cufisi loyally wishes all the king’s enemies as unable to hurt him at this young man, which tacitly implies his fall, though the circumstances of it he waves. Note, When we must carry messages of evil, they cannot be too tenderly delivered.

4. David, in an agony of grief, forgets the joys of victory, and his grateful acknowledgments to God. One object swallows up all other concerns; his dead Abfalom alone engrosses his heart, and abandoning himself to despair and sorrow, he bursts into a flood of tears, cries out in the most inconsolable anguish on his departed son, and longs to have died in his stead. Such was his fondness for this unnatural son, or perhaps his apprehension of his death in so terrible a state of guilt and rebellion, aggravated the bitterness of his loss. Note, (1.) Inconsolable sorrow is a great sin against God. (2.) The loss of a darling child is apt to shake the constancy even of truly godly parents. (3.) The death of an impenitent child is a most heart-breaking affliction.

5. Heb. That process and lessons are nothing to them. 18. Gal. vi. Heb. To the heart. 18.

6. AND it was told Joab, Behold the king weepeth and mourneth for Abfalom. 2. And the victory that day was turned into mourning unto all the people: for the people heard say that day, how the king was grieved for his son. 3. And the people got them by stealth that day into the city, as people being ashamed steal away when they flee in battle. 4. But the king covered his face, and the king cried with a loud voice, “O my son Abfalom, O Abfalom, my son, my son. 5. And Joab came into the house to the king, and said, Thou hast thamed this day the faces of all thy servants, which this day have saved thy life, and the lives of thy sons, and of thy daughters, and the lives of thy wives, and the lives of thy concubines: 6. In that thou lovest thine enemies, and hastest thy friends; for thou hast declared this day, that thou regardest neither princes, nor servants: for this day I perceive, that if Abfalom had lived, and all we had died this day, then it had pleased thee well. 7. Now therefore arise, go forth, and speak comfortably unto thy servants: for I swear by the LORD, if thou go not forth, there will not tarry one with thee this night; and that will be worse unto thee than all the evil that befel thee from thy youth until now. 8. Then the king arose, and fat in the gate: And they told unto all the people, saying, Behold, the king doth sit in the gate: and all the people came before the king: for Israel had fled every man to his test.

Deep was the gloom that obscured this day of victory.

1. The king’s unutterable distress was noised in the camp, and damped the joy of the returning conquerors; with his face covered he refuses to see his generals, and with the most paf-

sionate exclamations breaching his son, seems insensible to every other emotion, but inconsolable grief. Disconcerted with such a reception, the soldiers, instead of a triumphant entry, deal into the city as if from a defeat, and from ready to defeat a cause where they met to ill a reception for having hazarded their lives. Note, They who are exalted above others, should, in their deepest afflictions, put on a good countenance, hast they communicate their defpondence, and ruin thereby their affairs.

2. Joab, vexed at the king’s indifferent behaviour, with real zeal for his cause, though with an unbecoming disrespect, goes in to expulsion with him on the wrongness and danger of his conduct; he remonstrates how ungrateful it was to show such orgasm of those who, at the hazard of their own, had saved his life and the lives of all his family, which Abfalom would have murdered; that it appeared as if he had so loved the traitor, as to hast his best friends for his take, and would have been pleased if they had all perished to Abfalom had lived. He therefore urges him to appear in public infirmity, and speak comfortably to the people, thanking them for their fidelity, and congratulating their victory; with a solemn oath declaring, if he did not, that every soldier would defeat him, himself give him up, and a worse rebellion arise than had just been quashed. Note, If by our own folly we being ourselves into danger, we shall justly be upbraided with it.

3. David is convinced of the necessity of submitting to the advice, and infirming his anguish, waltzes, amours, and sin in public, to the great joy of his army, who approach his throne, and congratulate him on the success of his arms. Note, Good counsel, though bluntly given, should be thankfully received.

4. ¶ And all the people were at strife throughout: * Rom. xi. all the tribes of Israel, saying, The king saved us out of the hand of our enemies, and he delivered us out of the hand of the Philistines, and now he is tied out of the land for Abfalom. 10. And Abfalom whom we appointed over us is dead in battle: now therefore why speak ye not a word of bringing the king back? 11. ¶ And king David sent to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, saying, “Speak unto the elders of Judah, saying, ‘Why are ye the last to bring the king back to his house? (seeing the speech of all Israel is come to the king, even to his house.) 12. Ye are my brethren, ye are my bones and my flesh: wherefore then are ye the last to bring back the king? 13. And say ye to Ama-sa, ‘As thou not of my bone, and of my flesh? God do so to me, and more also, if thou be not captain of the host before me continually in the room of Joab, 14. And he bowed the heart of all the men of Judah, ’even as the heart of one man, so that they sent this word unto the king, Return thou and all thy servants.’ 15. So the king returned, and came to Jordan: and Judah came to Gilgal, to go to meet the king, to conduct the king over Jordan.

2 Samuel 18:9-15

David, with a victorious army at his beck, had no more to do than to march and seize the capital, and execute condign punishment on all who had appeared in arms against him; but as he chose to rule by love, not force, he waited to return amidst the congratulations of his subjects, rather than amidst the thours of his warriors.

1. The tribes of Israel, before in rebellion, now cast the blame of their ill conduct one upon another, and mutually upheard each other that they are not more eager in returning to their allegiance, and in bringing back their king. His former high defects are now remembered, and their folly in trusting to Abfalom evidenced by the event; therefore, though there were perhaps some rebellious spirits averse to it, his restoration is resolved, and notice given him of their resolution. Note, (1.) When we have done ill, we cannot too soon seek to amend it. (2.) We naturally desire to exculpate ourselves, by calling the blame on our neighbour.

2. Judah, which might be expected the first, is last in their application, fearing perhaps, as deepest involved in guilt, they should suffer for it. But David, to silence their fears and engage them in his cause, sends to Zadok and Abiathar a very kind message, for them to report to the elders, that he looked upon himself as their brother, and hoped for a like affection from them, and that it was highly unbecoming them to be the last; and to Ama-sa he sends a particularly gracious message, with the promise not only of pardon but the best preferment, even to be his captain in Joab’s room, whose haughtiness was no longer to be born. Such a kind message, or Ama-sa’s influence, who exerted himself on this occasion, gained the unanimous suffrage, and messengers are instantly dispatched, with an invitation to him to return, whilst in a body the elders and people come to Gilgal to welcome him. Note, (1). The ministers