2 Samuel 18:6

_SO THE PEOPLE WENT OUT INTO THE FIELD AGAINST ISRAEL: AND THE BATTLE WAS IN THE WOOD OF EPHRAIM;_ The battle was in the wood of Ephraim, х_ YA`AR_ (H3293), a forest, or dense growth of trees]. Its name was derived, according to some, from the slaughter of the Ephraimites by Jephthah (Judges 12:1); according to others, from the connection of blood with the trans-Jordanic Manasseh....

1-8 How does David render good for evil! Absalom would have only David smitten; David would have only Absalom spared. This seems to be a resemblance of man's wickedness towards God, and God's mercy to man, of which it is hard to say which is most amazing. Now the Israelites see what it is to take counsel against the Lord and his anointed....

AGAINST ISRAEL - Implying that the revolt was in a great measure that of the ten tribes, Saul’s party, against the kingdom. THE WOOD OF EPHRAIM - This would naturally be sought in the west of Jordan (marginal reference). But on the other hand it seems certain that the scene of this battle was on the east of Jordan. It seems therefore inevitable to conclude that some portion of the thick wood of oaks and terebinths which still runs down to the Jordan on the east side was for some reason called “the wood of Ephraim,” either because it was a continuation on the east side of the great Ephraimitic forests on the west, or because of some transaction there in which Ephraim had taken part, such as the slaughter of the Midianites Judges 7:24, or their own slaughter...

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,

SO THE PEOPLE WENT OUT INTO THE FIELD AGAINST ISRAEL,.... Josephus e calls it a great field, with a wood behind it: AND THE BATTLE WAS IN THE WOOD OF EPHRAIM; or near it f rather; not in a wood in the tribe of Ephraim, which lay on this side Jordan; whereas this battle was fought on the other side Jordan, in the land of Gilead, not far from Mahanaim, where was this wood; and which was so called, either from the slaughter of the Ephraimites here in the times of Jephthah, Judges 12:4; or from the Ephraimites feeding their cattle here and near it; for the Jews say g, that Joshua gave them a grant to feed their cattle in any wood in any of the tribes of Israel; and lying near Jordan, they used to drive their cattle over to this place, from whence it had its name. e Ut supra, (Antiqu. l. 7. c. 10.) sect. 2. f ביער "ad sylvam", Junius Tremellius "prope sylvam", Piscato

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)....

WOOD OF EPHRAIM. Compare Joshua 17:15...

_in the wood of Ephraim_ "The forest of Ephraim" might naturally be expected to mean the great forest covering the high lands of central Palestine in which the tribe of Ephraim settled (Joshua 17:15-18). But all the circumstances are in favour of supposing the battle to have been fought on the eastern side of the Jordan. (_a_) Absalom marched into Gilead and encamped there (ch. 2 Samuel 17:26); David was at Mahanaim; and there is not the slightest hint that either army crossed the Jordan. (_b_) It is implied beforehand that the battle would be in the neighbourhood of Mahanaim (ch. 2 Samuel 18:3). (_c_) The return of the army to Mahanaim _on the same day_(ch....

AND THE BATTLE WAS IN THE WOOD OF EPHRAIM— It is supposed that this wood, which was in Gilead, not far from Maanaim, took its name either from the victory which Gideon gained over Oreb and Zeeb, kings of the Midianites, by the assistance of the Ephraimites, Joshua 7:25 or from the great daughter of the Ephraimites here by Jephthah, Judges 12:5. The expression in the eighth verse, _the wood devoured more people that day than the sword devoured,_ signifies that more perished in the wood than in the field of battle: their flight, as Josephus well expresses it, was more fatal to them than the combat....