Commentaria in II Regum (II Samuelis)
Chapter 18
David draws up three lines, and three leaders of them, with whom he joins battle with the forces of Absalom, and overthrows them. Absalom flees, verse 9, but entangled by his hair in a thick oak he hung there, and, hanging, is pierced by Joab with three lances. Then, verse 17, his body is cast into a pit, and covered with stones. Soon, verse 19, Joab sends the news of victory to David; who, hearing that Absalom is slain, laments inconsolably, and
1. David therefore having numbered his people, appointed over them tribunes and captains of hundreds, 2. And he sent out a third part of the people under the hand of Joab, and a third part under the hand of Abisai the son of Sarvia, Joab’s brother, and a third part under the hand of Ethai, who was of Geth, and the king said to the people: I also will go out with you. 3. And the people answered: Thou shalt not go out; for if we flee, they will not much care about us, or if half of us fall, they will not greatly regard it; because thou alone art accounted for ten thousand; it is better therefore that thou be in the city to succour us. 4. And the king said to them: What seemeth good to you, that I will do. And the king stood by the gate; and all the people went out by their companies, by hundreds and by thousands. 5. And the king commanded Joab, and Abisai, and Ethai, saying: Save me the boy Absalom. And all the people heard the king giving charge to all the captains concerning Absalom. 6. So the people went out into the field against Israel, and the battle was fought in the forest of Ephraim. 7. And the people of Israel were cut down there by David’s army, and there was a great slaughter that day of twenty thousand men. 8. And the battle there was scattered over the face of all the country, and there were many more of the people whom the forest consumed than whom the sword devoured that day. 9. And it happened that Absalom met the servants of David, riding on a mule; and as the mule went under a thick and large oak, his head stuck fast in the oak; and while he hung between heaven and earth, the mule on which he rode passed on. 10. And one saw this and told Joab, saying: I saw Absalom hanging upon an oak. 11. And Joab said to the man that told him: If thou sawest him, why didst thou not stab him to the ground, and I would have given thee ten sicles of silver, and one belt? 12. And he said to Joab: If thou wouldst weigh in my hands a thousand pieces of silver, I would not put forth my hand against the king’s son: for in our hearing the king charged thee, and Abisai, and Ethai, saying: Save me the boy Absalom. 13. Yea, and if I had done boldly against my own life, it could not have been hid from the king, and wouldst not thou have stood against me? 14. And Joab said: Not as thou wilt, but I will set upon him in thy sight. So he took three lances in his hand, and thrust them into the heart of Absalom; and whilst he yet panted for life, sticking in the oak, 15. Ten young men, armourbearers of Joab, ran up and striking him slew him. 16. And Joab sounded the trumpet, and held back the people from pursuing after Israel in their flight, being willing to spare the multitude. 17. And they took Absalom and cast him into a great pit in the forest, and they laid a very great heap of stones upon him; and all Israel fled to their tents. 18. Now Absalom had reared up for himself in his lifetime a pillar, which is in the king’s valley: for he said: I have no son, and this shall be a monument of my name. And he called the pillar by his own name, and it is called the Hand of Absalom unto this day. 19. Then Achimaas the son of Sadoc said: I will run and tell the king, that the Lord hath done judgment to him from the hand of his enemies. 20. And Joab said to him: Thou shalt not be the messenger this day, but shalt carry tidings another day: today I will not have thee bring tidings, for the king’s son is dead. 21. And Joab said to Chusi: Go, and tell the king what thou hast seen. Chusi bowed down to Joab, and ran. 22. Then Achimaas the son of Sadoc said again to Joab: What hindereth but that I also may run after Chusi? And Joab said to him: Why wilt thou run, my son? thou wilt not be the bearer of good tidings. 23. But he answered: But what if I run? And he said to him: Run. Then Achimaas running by the shorter way, outran Chusi. 24. Now David sat between the two gates; and the watchman that was on the top of the gate upon the wall, lifting up his eyes, saw a man running alone. 25. And crying out he told the king, and the king said: If he be alone, there is good news in his mouth. And while he made haste and came nearer, 26. The watchman saw another man running, and calling from the top, he said: I see another man running alone. And the king said: He also is a good messenger. 27. And the watchman said: I think the running of the first is like the running of Achimaas the son of Sadoc. And the king said: He is a good man, and cometh with good news. 28. And Achimaas crying out, said to the king: God save thee, O king, and falling down before the king, with his face to the ground, he said: Blessed be the Lord thy God, who hath shut up the men that have lifted up their hands against my lord the king. 29. And the king said: Is the young man Absalom safe? And Achimaas said: I saw a great tumult, when thy servant Joab, O king, sent me thy servant; I know nothing else. 30. And the king said to him: Pass, and stand here. And when he had passed, and stood, 31. Chusi appeared: and coming, said: I bring good tidings, my lord the king: for the Lord hath judged for thee this day from the hand of all that have risen up against thee. 32. And the king said to Chusi: Is the young man Absalom safe? And Chusi answering, said: Let the enemies of my lord the king, and all that rise against him unto evil, be as the young man is. 33. Then the king being much moved, went up to the high chamber over the gate, and wept. And thus he said as he went: My son Absalom, Absalom my son, who would grant me that I might die for thee, Absalom my son, my son Absalom?
5. SAVE ME THE BOY ABSALOM.—Here David’s fatherly piety contends with Absalom’s hostile impiety, in the very blaze of his parricidal crime and battle. Hear St. Chrysostom, homily On Absalom, vol. 1: “On one side madness rises against the father, on the other clemency asks that the parricide be spared. On one side fury, on the other piety works. On one side insanity, on the other mercy intervenes. On one side cruelty, on the other goodness is displayed. The parricide is not softened, he rages. David is hurt and grows gentle. Piety is warred on by impiety, yet the piety of the father is not moved, is not conquered by the sword, is not changed by terror. The parricide is neither broken by reason nor deterred by imminent destruction.”
6. AND THE BATTLE WAS FOUGHT IN THE FOREST OF EPHRAIM.—This forest was not in the tribe of Ephraim, for that dwelt on this side of the Jordan; but both armies had crossed the Jordan into Galaad, as was said in the preceding chapter, verses 22, 24. This forest was therefore beyond the Jordan, in the tribe of Gad near the city of Mahanaim, into which David had retired, not far from the sea of Galilee: see the geographical maps of Adrichomius. It was called “of Ephraim” from some event, either because it lay opposite to the tribe of Ephraim, or because that tribe sent its flocks there to pasture, or because some battle had been fought in it. So Abulensis, Vatablus and others.