forseeing the deceitful tricks of his enemies: || him, and so prevent him, and seize upon him yet will he leave his own soldiers in the even- before he should be in safety. Now the highing; and will either hide himself in some val- priests had their sons concealed in a proper ley, or will place an ambush at some rock; place out of the city; that they might carry so that when our army joins battle with him, news to David of what was transacted. Achis soldiers will retire for a little while; but cordingly they sent a maid servant, whom they will come upon us again as encouraged by the could trust, to them, to carry the news of Abking's being near them; and in the mean time salom's counsels, and ordered them to signify your father will shew himself suddenly in the the same to David with all speed. So they time of the battle, and will infuse courage into made no delay; but, taking along with them his own people, when they are in danger; but their father's injunctions, became pious and bring consternation to thine. Consider there- faithful ministers; and judging that quickness fore my advice, and reason upon it; and if and alacrity was the best mark of faithful serthou canst not but acknowledge it to be the vice, they made haste to meet with David. best, reject the opinion of Ahithophel. Send But certain horsemen saw them, when they to the entire country of the Hebrews, and or- were two furlongs from the city, and informder them to come and fight with thy father. ed Absalom of them, who immediately sent And do thou thyself take the army, and be some to take them. But when the sons of the thine own general in this war, and do not high-priest perceived this, they turned out of trust its management to another. Then ex- the road, to a village called Bahurim. There pect to conquer him with ease, when thou they desired a certain woman to hide them, overtakest him openly with his few partisans; and afford them security. Accordingly she but hast thyself many ten thousands; who let the young men down by a rope into a well, will be desirous to demonstrate their diligence and laid fleeces of wool over them, and and alacrity. And if thy father shall shut when those that pursued them came to her, himself up in some city, and bear a siege, and asked her whether she saw them, she did we will overthrow that city by machines of not deny that she had seen them: for that war, and by undermining it." When Hushai they stayed with her some time; but she said had said this, he obtained his point against they then went their ways, and she foretold, Ahithophel for his opinion was preferred by that if they would follow them directly, they Absalom before the other's. However, it was would catch them. But when after a long no other than God who made the counsel of pursuit they could not catch them, they came Hushai appear best to the mind of Absalom. back again. And when the woman saw those men were returned, and that there was no longer any fear of the young men being caught by them, she drew them up by the rope, and bid them go on their journey. Accordingly they used great diligence in the prosecution of that journey, and came to David, and informed him accurately of all the counsels of Absalon. So he commanded those that were with him to pass over Jordan while it So Hushai hastened to the high-priests, Zadok and Abiathar, and told them the opinion of Ahithophel, and his own, and that the resolution was taken to follow this latter advice. He therefore bade them send to David, and tell him of it; and to inform him of the counsels that had been taken; and to desire him to pass quickly over Jordan, lest his son should change his mind, and make haste to pursue *This reflection of Josephus's, that God brought to That peculiar manner of the divine operations or permis nought the dangerous counsel of Ahithophel, and direct-sions, or the means God makes use of in such cases, is ly infatuated wicked Absalom to reject it, (which infa- often impenetrable by us. Secret things belong to the tuation is what the Scripture styles the judicial harden- Lord our God; but those things that are revealed belong ing the hearts and blinding the eyes of men, who, by to us, and to our children for ever, that we may do all their former voluntary wickedness, have justly deserved the words of his law, Deut. xxix. 29. Nor have all to be destroyed, and are thereby brought to destruc- the subtilties of the moderns, so far as I see, given any tion,) is a very just one. Nor does Josephus ever puz- considerable light in this and many other similar points zle himself or. perplex his readers with subtle hypo- of difficulty relating either to divine or human operations. theses as to the manner of such judicial infatuations by See also the Notes on V. 1, and IX. 4. God; while the justice of them is generally so obvious. was was night, and not to delay at all on that ac count. But Ahithophel, on the rejection of his advice, got upon his ass and rode away to his own country, Gilon: calling his family CHAP. X. OF ABSALOM'S DEFEAT AND DEATH. together, by' told them distinctly what ad. W in this situation, Absalond get together vice he had given Absalom: and since he had not been persuaded by it, he should certainly perish, and this in no long time, and that David would overcome him, and return to his kingdom again. So he said it was better that he should take his own life away with freedom and magnanimity than oppose himself to be punished by David; in opposition to whom he had acted entirely for Absalom. When he had discoursed thus to them, he went into the innermost room of his house, and hanged himself.* WHILST David his adherents a vast army of Hebrews to oppose his father; and passed therewith over the river Jordan, and sat down not far off Mahanaim, in the country of Gilead. He appointed Amasa to be captain of all his host, instead of Joab his kinsman. His father was Ithra, and his mother Abigail. Now she and Zeruiah the mother of Joab were David's sisters. But when David had numbered his followers, and found them to be about four thousand, he resolved not to tarry till Absalom attacked him; but set over his men captains of thousands, and capAnd this was the death of Ahithophel, who tains of hundreds, and divided his army into was self-condemned. And when his relations three parts; one part he committed to Joab, had taken him down from the halter, they the next to Abishai, Joab's brother, and the took care of his funeral. Now, as for Da-third to Ittai, David's companion and friend, vid, he passed over Jordan, as we have but one that came from the city Gath. And said already, and came to Mahanaim, a when he was desirous of fighting himself very fine and strong city; and all the chief among them, his friends would not let him: men of the country received him with great and their refusal was founded upon very wise pleasure: both out of the shame they had that reasons. "For," said they," if we be conquerhe should be forced to flee away from Jerusa-ed when he is with us, we have lost all hopes lem; and out of the respect they bare to him while he was in his former prosperity. These were Barzillai the Gileadite; Siphar, the ruler among the Ammonites; and Machir, † the principal man of Gilead: these furnished him with plentiful provisions for himself and his followers, insomuch that they wanted no beds nor blankets for them, nor loaves of bread, nor wine. of recovering ourselves; but if we should be beaten in one part of our army, the other parts may retire to him, and may thereby prepare a greater force; while the enemy will naturally suppose that he hath another army with him." So David was pleased with this advice, and resolved to tarry at Mahanaim. And as he sent his friends and commanders to the battle, he desired them to shew all possible alacrity and fidelity, and to bear in mind what advantages they had received from him; which though they had not been very great, yet had they not been quite inconsiderable; and he begged of them to spare the young with Ittai, whom the Jews suppose to have been the son of Achish, king of Gath, and, being proselyted to the Jewish religion, became a part of David's guard, and attended him in his wars. But others rather think that they were men of Jewish extract, but had this additional name, from their flying unto David, probably under the conduct of Ittai, while he was at Gath, and accompanying him ever after, not only in the time of Saul's persecution of him, but even after his accession to the united kingdoms of Judah and Israel. Patrick's Com ment. B. man Absalom, lest some mischief should befall himself if he should be killed.* And thus did he send out his army to the battle, and wished them victory therein. Then did Joab put his army in array over against the enemy, in the great plain, where he had a wood behind him. Absalom also brought his army into the field to oppose him. Upon the joining of the battle both sides performed great actions: the one side exposing themselves to the greatest hazards, and using their utmost alacrity, that David might recover his kingdom; and the other being no way deficient either in doing br suffering, that Absalom might not be deprived of that kingdom, and be brought to punishment by his father for his impudent attempt against him. Those also that were the most numerous were solicitous that they might not be conquered by those few that were with Joab, and with the other commanders, because that would be the greatest disgrace to them: while David's soldiers strove greatly to overcome so many ten thousands as the enemy had with them. Now David's men were conquerors, as superior in strength and skill in war. So they followed the others as they fled away through the forests and valleys: and some they took prisoners, and many they slew; and more in the flight than in the battle;t for there fell about twenty thousand that * 2 Sam. xviii. 5. †The expression in the text is, The wood devoured more people that day than the sword devoured, 2 Sam. xviii. 8, which some think was occasioned by their falling into pits, pressing one another to death in strait places. creeping into lurking holes, and there being starved to death, or otherwise devoured by wild beasts, which met them in their fight. But the most easy and simple meaning of the passage is, that there were more slain in the wood than in the field of battle. The field of battle was a plain, with a wood contiguous to it; and therefore, when Absalom's army was put to the rout, and betook them. selves to the wood for refuge, their pursuers made a greater slaughter of them there, than they otherwise would have done, because they could not run away so fast in the wood as they might have done in the open field. Patrick's Comment. B. 2 Sam. xviii. 14. § In the description of the Holy Land, some geographers tell us that this heap of stones remained even to their days, and that all travellers, as they passed by it, were wont to throw a stone to add to the heap, in detestation of his rebellion against his father. For though it became a custom among the Greeks to raise a heap of stones in the place where any great person was interred, as a monument of honor and respect; yet it is plain that So But day. But all David's men ran violently upon Absalom; for he was easily known by his beauty and stature. He was himself also afraid lest his enemies should seize him. he got upon the king's mule and fled. as he was carried along with violence, and a great motion, as he being himself light, he entangled his hair in the large spreading boughs of a knotty tree, and there he hung after a surprising manner. And as for the beast, it went on swiftly,, as if his master had been still upon his back. his back. But he, hanging in the air upon the boughs, was left to his enemies. Now when one of David's soldiers saw this, he informed Joab of it: and when the general said, that if he had shot at and killed Absalom, he would have given him fifty shekels, he replied, "I would not have killed my master's son if thou wouldest have given me a thousand shekels; especially when he desired that the young man might be spared in the hearing of us all." But Joab made him shew him where it was that he saw Absalom hang. Whereupon he shot him to the heart, and slew him; and Joab's armor-bearers stood round about the tree, and pulled down his dead body, and cast it into a great chasm that was out of sight, and laid a heap of stones upon him till the cavity cavity was filed up, and had the appearance of a grave. of a grave. Then Joab sounded a retreat, none of David's army intended any honor to Absalom's memory in accumulating stones upon him; nor can we think that David himself, though too fond of this rebel son, made any alteration afterwards in the form of his burial, for fear of enraging the people against him. Some, however, are of a quite contrary opinion, viz. that David, who lamented him with such excess, removed him from this pit, in order to have him laid in the sepulchre belonging to the kings, or, perhaps, somewhere about the place where the monument which goes under his name, and even to this day is shewn to travellers, was dug in a rock. It is a little chamber wrought with a chisel, out of one piece of rock, which stands at some distance from the rest of the mountain, and is a square of eight paces from out to out. The inside of this chamber is all plain, but the outside is adorned with some pilasters of the same kind of stone. The upper part, or covering, is made in the form of a conic pyramid, pretty high and large, with a kind of flower-pot on its top. The pyramid is composed of several stones, but the monument itself is square, and all cut out of one block. In the time of Josephus, the monument, which was said to be Absalom's, was so. thing more than one marble pillar, widely different from what, at present, goes under his name; and which, therefore, must be accounted a more modern building. Le Clerc's and Patrick's Comment, and Calmet's Dictionary, under the word Absalom. B. and and recalled his soldiers from pursuing the enemy's army, in order to spare their countrymen.* Now Absalom had erected for himself a marble pillar, in the king's dale, two furlongs distant from Jerusalem, which he named Absalom's Hand; saying, that if his children were killed, his name would remain by that pillar. For he had three sons, and one daughter, named Tamar, as we said before, who, when she was married to David's grandson, || Rehoboam, bare a son,† Abijah by name, who succeeded his father in the kingdom. But of these we will speak in a part of our history which will be more proper. After the death of Absalom, they every one returned home. Now Ahimaaz, the son of Zadok, the highpriest, went to Joab, and desired he would permit him to go and tell David of this victory; and to carry him the good news that God had afforded his assistance and his providence to him. However, he did not grant this request; but said to him, "Wilt thou, that hast always been the messenger of good news, now go and acquaint the king that his son is dead?" So he desired him to desist. He then called Cushi, and committed the business to him, that he should tell the king what he had seen. But when Ahimaaz again desired him to let him go as a messenger, and assured bim that he would only relate what concerned the victory, but not concerning the death of Absalom, he gave him leave to go to David. Now he took a nearer road than the former did for nobody knew it but himself; and he came before Cushi. Now as David was sitting between the gates, and waiting to see when somebody would come to him from the Commentators have observed the justice of God, in bringing Absalom to a condign punishment, and such a kind of death as was ordained by the law for offences like unto his. For whereas, in the first place, he was hanged as it were, this was declared by the law to be an accursed death, Deut. xxi. 23. and was afterwards, in some measure, stoned; this was the particular kind of death that the law prescribed for a stubborn and rebellious son, Deut. xxi. B. + 2 Chron. xi. 20. Those that take a view of my description of the gates of the temple will not be surprised at this account of David's throne, both here, and 2 Sam. xviii. 24. that it was between two gates, or portals. Gates being in cities, as well as at the temple, large open places, with a por battle; one of the watchmen saw Abimaaz running, and before he could discern who he was, he told David that he saw somebody coming to him, who said, he was a good messenger. A little while after he informed him that another messenger followed him. Whereupon the king said that he was also a good messenger. But when the watchman saw Ahimaaz, and that he was already very near, he gave the king notice that it was the son of Zadok, the high-priest, who came running. So David was very glad, and said, he was a messenger of good tidings, and brought him such news from the battle as he desired to hear. While the king was saying thus, Ahimaaz appeared, and worshipped the king. And when the king inquired about the battle, he said, he brought him the good news of victory and dominion. And when he had inquired what he had to say concerning his son, he said, that he came away on the sudden, as soon as the enemy was defeated; but that he heard a great noise of those that pursued Absalom, and that he could learn no more, because of the haste he made when Joab sent him to inform him of the victory. But when Cushi was come, and had worshipped him, and informed him of the victory, he asked him about his son: who replied, "May the like misfortune befall thine enemies as hath befallen Absalom." That word did not permit either himself or his soldiers to rejoice for the victory, though it was very great; but David went up to the highest part of the § city, and wept for his son, and beat his breast, tearing the hair off his head, and tormenting himself, and crying out, "O my son! I wish that I had died myself, and ended my days with tal at the entrance, and another at the exit: between which judicial causes were heard, and public consultations held; as is well known from several places of Scripture, 2 Chr. xxxi. 2. Psal. ix. 14. cxxvii. 5. Prov. i. 21. viii. 3, 34. xxxii. 23. and often elsewhere. § Since David was now in Mahanaim, and in the open place of that city gate, which seems still to have been built the highest of any part of the wall; and since our other copies say he went to the chamber over the gate, 2 Sam. xviii. 33. I think we ought to correct our present reading of Josephus, and for city, should read gate : i. e. instead of the highest part of the city, should say, the highest part of the gate. Accordingly we find David presently in Josephus, as well as in our other copies, 2 Sam. xix. 8. sitting as before in the gate of this city. thee!" for he was of a tender natural affection, and had extraordinary compassion for this son in particular. But when the army and Joab heard that the king mourned for his son, they were ashamed to enter into the city in the habit of conquerors: but they all came in as cast down, and in tears, as if they had been defeated.* Now while the king covered himself, and grievously lamented his son, Joab went to him, and comforted him, and said, "O my lord the king, thou art not aware that thou layest a blot on thyself, by what thou now doest: for thou seemest to hate those that love thee, and undergo dangers for thee; nay, to hate thyself and thy family, and to love those that are thy bitter enemies; and to desire the company of those who have been justly slain. For had Absalom obtained the victory, and firmly settled himself in the kingdom, there had been none of us left alive; but all of us, beginning with thyself and thy children, had miserably perished; while our enemies had not wept for us, but rejoiced over us, and punished even those that lamented our misfortunes. And thou art not ashamed to do this in the case of one that has been thy bitter enemy; who, while he was thine own son, hath proved so wicked to thee. Leave off, therefore, thy unreasonable grief, and come abroad to thy soldiers; and return them thanks for the alacrity they shewed in the fight. For I myself will this day persuade the people to leave thee, and to give the kingdom to another, if thou continuest to do thus; and then I shall make thee grieve bitterly and in earnest." Joab's speaking thus made the king leave off his sorrow, and brought him to the consideration of his affairs. So he changed his habit, and exposed himself in a manner fit to be seen by the multitude, and sat at the gates. Whereupon all the people heard of it, and ran together † and saluted him. tle, when they were all returned home, sent messengers to every city to put them in mind of what benefits David had bestowed upon them; and of that liberty which he had procured them, by delivering them from many and great wars. But they complained, that whereas they had ejected him out of his kingdom, and committed it to another governor, who was already dead; they did not now beseech David to leave off his anger at them, and to become friends with them; and, as he used formerly to do, to resume the care of their affairs, and to take the kingdom again. This was often told to David; and this, notwithstanding David sent to Zadok and Abiathar the high-priest, that they should speak to the rulers of the tribe of Judah after the following manner: that it would be a reproach upon them to permit the other tribes to choose David for their king before their tribe, and this while they were akin to him, and of the same common blood. He commanded them also to say to Amasa, the captain of their forces: that whereas he was his sister's son, he had not persuaded the multitude to restore the kingdom to David. That he might expect from him not only a reconciliation, for that was already granted, but that supreme command of the army also which Absalom had bestowed upon him. Accordingly, the highpriests, when they had discoursed with the rulers of this tribe, and said what the king had ordered them, persuaded Amasa to undertake the care of his affairs. So he persuaded that tribe to send ambassadors immediately, to beseech him to return to his own kingdom. The same did all the Israelites, at the like persuasion of Amasa. When the ambassadors came to David, he went to Jerusalem: and the tribe of Judab was the first that came to meet him at the river Jordan, and Shimei, the son of Gera, came with a thousand men, which he brought with him out of the tribe of Benjamin; and Ziba, the freed man of Saul, with his sons, fifteen in number; and with his twenty servants. All these, as well as the tribe of Judah, laid a bridge of boats over the river, that the king, and those that were with him, might with ease pass over it. Now as soon as + 2 Sam. xix. 8. he |