2 Samuel 18:12

_AND THE MAN SAID UNTO JOAB, THOUGH I SHOULD RECEIVE A THOUSAND SHEKELS 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 ITTAI, SAYING, BEWARE THAT NONE TOUCH THE YOUNG MAN ABSALOM._ NO JFB COMMENTARY ON THESE VERSES....

9-18 Let young people look upon Absalom, hanging on a tree, accursed, forsaken of heaven and earth; there let them read the Lord's abhorrence of rebellion against parents. Nothing can preserve men from misery and contempt, but heavenly wisdom and the grace of God....

EXPOSITION 2 SAMUEL 18:1 AND DAVID NUMBERED. The verb really means that he organized his army, and arranged it in companies and divisions. As Absalom gathered all Israel to him, there would be some delay; and David, like a wise general, made use of it for training the brave but undisciplined men who had joined him, chiefly from Gilead. Besides these, he had with him numerous veterans, whose skill and experience would be invaluable in such service. The result was that when the rebels came to close quarters, they had a vast body of men, but David a disciplined force, which, under skilful generalship, scattered Absalom's raw levies with ease. The arrangement into thousands and hundreds was in accordance with the civil divisions (Exodus 18:25), both being,

AND THE MAN SAID UNTO JOAB,.... Disdaining his proposal: THOUGH I SHOULD RECEIVE A THOUSAND [SHEKELS] OF SILVER IN MINE HAND; or such a sum should be offered to me; the Arabic version is a million; [YET] WOULD I NOT PUT FORTH MY HAND AGAINST THE KING'S SON; to smite him, and slay him: FOR IN OUR HEARING THE KING CHARGED THEE, AND ABISHAI, AND ITTAI; his three generals: SAYING, BEWARE THAT NONE [TOUCH] THE YOUNG MAN ABSALOM; so as to slay him; they were charged to abstain from it themselves, and to watch and observe others, and keep them from doing it....

8. THE CIVIL WAR AND ABSALOM'S DEATH CHAPTER 18 _ 1. The battle in the forest of Ephraim (2 Samuel 18:1)_ 2. The death of Absalom (2 Samuel 18:9) 3. The tidings of his death and David's grief (2 Samuel 18:19) And now everything is ready for the battle and the victory. The army of David consisted of three divisions, Joab, Abishai and the faithful Ittai had the command. David was ready to go forth with his warriors, but the people refused to let him go. What a testimony they gave concerning him! “Thou art worth ten thousand of us. But of Him, who according to the flesh is the Son of David, we say, “He alone is worthy.” The king then stood by the gate of Mahanaim to see the d

1 SAMUEL 18:1 TO 1 SAMUEL 19:8. DEFEAT AND DEATH OF ABSALOM. DAVID'S GRIEF (J). 2 SAMUEL 18:1. Absalom's followers are defeated with great slaughter. Nothing is known as to the battle-field, the Forest of Ephraim, beyond what may be gathered from this story. Many fugitives lost their lives by falling headlong in the broken, rocky country; some perhaps, especially the wounded died of hunger and exhaustion in these inhospitable tracts, with which they were not familiar. Forest here, as often in England, _e.g._ Ashdown Forest, denotes the kind of country described above, and not a continuous mass of trees (_cf._ Budde)....

OUR HEARING. See 2 Samuel 18:5 BEWARE THAT NONE TOUCH. _Watch_ any one who (would touch) the, &c. After "Watch", Septuagint, Aramaean, Syriac, and Vulgate add "for my sake", _as_ in 2 Samuel 18:5....

Absalom's Death 9. _And Absalom_, &c. AND ABSALOM HAPPENED TO FIND HIMSELF IN THE PRESENCE OF DAVID'S SERVANTS: NOW ABSALOM WAS RIDING UPON HIS MULE, AND THE MULE, &c. In the course of the flight, Absalom found himself among enemies: he turned to escape into the denser part of the forest. The mule which he rode perhaps David's own was a mark of royalty (1 Kings 1:33; 1 Kings 1:38). _a great oak_ THE GREAT TEREBINTH; the article seems to shew that the tree was well known in after times. The Heb. _êlah_is generally said to denote the terebinth or turpentine tree, which is not unlike the oak in general appearance: but in the forests on the E. of Jordan, oaks are far more common than terebinths, and some kind of oak may be meant. his head caught hold of th

_The Death of Absalom._ 2 Samuel 18:9-18 9And 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. 10 And a certain man saw _it,_ and told Joab, and said, Behold, I saw Absalom 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 _shekels_ of silver, and a girdle. 12 And the man said unto Joab, Though I should receive a thousand _shekels_ 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 Ittai, saying, Beware tha

18:12 you], (a-49) Others, including LXX, read 'Take care for my sake.'...