18 David mustered the men who were with him and appointed over them commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds. 2 David sent out his troops, a third under the command of Joab, a third under Joab’s brother Abishai son of Zeruiah, and a third under Ittai the Gittite. The king told the troops, “I myself will surely march out with you.”
3 But the men said, “You must not go out; if we are forced to flee, they won’t care about us. Even if half of us die, they won’t care; but you are worth ten thousand of us. It would be better now for you to give us support from the city.”
4 The king answered, “I will do whatever seems best to you.”
So the king stood beside the gate while all his men marched out in units of hundreds and of thousands. 5 The king commanded Joab, Abishai and Ittai, “Be gentle with the young man Absalom for my sake.” And all the troops heard the king giving orders concerning Absalom to each of the commanders.
6 David’s army marched out of the city to fight Israel, and the battle took place in the forest of Ephraim. 7 There Israel’s troops were routed by David’s men, and the casualties that day were great—twenty thousand men. 8 The battle spread out over the whole countryside, and the forest swallowed up more men that day than the sword.
9 Now Absalom happened to meet David’s men. He was riding his mule, and as the mule went under the thick branches of a large oak, Absalom’s hair got caught in the tree. He was left hanging in midair, while the mule he was riding kept on going.
10 When one of the men saw what had happened, he told Joab, “I just saw Absalom hanging in an oak tree.”
11 Joab said to the man who had told him this, “What! You saw him? Why didn’t you strike him to the ground right there? Then I would have had to give you ten shekels of silver and a warrior’s belt.”
12 But the man replied, “Even if a thousand shekels were weighed out into my hands, I would not lay a hand on the king’s son. In our hearing the king commanded you and Abishai and Ittai, ‘Protect the young man Absalom for my sake.’ 13 And if I had put my life in jeopardy—and nothing is hidden from the king—you would have kept your distance from me.”
14 Joab said, “I’m not going to wait like this for you.” So he took three javelins in his hand and plunged them into Absalom’s heart while Absalom was still alive in the oak tree. 15 And ten of Joab’s armor-bearers surrounded Absalom, struck him and killed him.
16 Then Joab sounded the trumpet, and the troops stopped pursuing Israel, for Joab halted them. 17 They took Absalom, threw him into a big pit in the forest and piled up a large heap of rocks over him. Meanwhile, all the Israelites fled to their homes.
18 During his lifetime Absalom had taken a pillar and erected it in the King’s Valley as a monument to himself, for he thought, “I have no son to carry on the memory of my name.” He named the pillar after himself, and it is called Absalom’s Monument to this day.
David Mourns 19 Now Ahimaaz son of Zadok said, “Let me run and take the news to the king that the Lord has vindicated him by delivering him from the hand of his enemies.”
20 “You are not the one to take the news today,” Joab told him. “You may take the news another time, but you must not do so today, because the king’s son is dead.”
21 Then Joab said to a Cushite, “Go, tell the king what you have seen.” The Cushite bowed down before Joab and ran off.
22 Ahimaaz son of Zadok again said to Joab, “Come what may, please let me run behind the Cushite.”
But Joab replied, “My son, why do you want to go? You don’t have any news that will bring you a reward.”
23 He said, “Come what may, I want to run.” So Joab said, “Run!” Then Ahimaaz ran by way of the plain and outran the Cushite.
24 While David was sitting between the inner and outer gates, the watchman went up to the roof of the gateway by the wall. As he looked out, he saw a man running alone. 25 The watchman called out to the king and reported it.
The king said, “If he is alone, he must have good news.” And the runner came closer and closer.
26 Then the watchman saw another runner, and he called down to the gatekeeper, “Look, another man running alone!”
The king said, “He must be bringing good news, too.”
27 The watchman said, “It seems to me that the first one runs like Ahimaaz son of Zadok.”
“He’s a good man,” the king said. “He comes with good news.”
28 Then Ahimaaz called out to the king, “All is well!” He bowed down before the king with his face to the ground and said, “Praise be to the Lord your God! He has delivered up those who lifted their hands against my lord the king.”
29 The king asked, “Is the young man Absalom safe?”
Ahimaaz answered, “I saw great confusion just as Joab was about to send the king’s servant and me, your servant, but I don’t know what it was.”
30 The king said, “Stand aside and wait here.” So he stepped aside and stood there.
31 Then the Cushite arrived and said, “My lord the king, hear the good news! The Lord has vindicated you today by delivering you from the hand of all who rose up against you.”
32 The king asked the Cushite, “Is the young man Absalom safe?”
The Cushite replied, “May the enemies of my lord the king and all who rise up to harm you be like that young man.” 33 The king was shaken. He went up to the room over the gateway and wept. As he went, he said: “O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you—O Absalom, my son, my son!”
David appoints commanders over his growing army: Joab, Abishai and Ittai. He is eager to lead the troops into battle, but the troops advise that he should not go, for he is worth too much. David accepts this and David remains at the gates of the city while his troops decimate Absalom’s troops. The fight in the forest of Ephraim where the woods “swallowed up more men that day than the sword.” David issues the warning to all his men that they are not to harm Absalom. Absalom, riding his mule, gets his hair caught in the branches of a large oak and is hanging there when one of David’s men sees him. Joab is called and Joab wonders why he didn’t kill him. But the man is loyal and will not harm Absalom. But Joab takes matters into his own hands. He takes three javelins and plunges them into Absalom. Ten armor bearers finish him off and he is thrown in a pit and buried by rocks. He had no sons to carry on his legacy, so he erected a statue of himself in his honor. ,David’s response to his men is really the first time in this long story that good advice is given and taken. We may say that since David was once again right with the Lord, he had the ability to understand good counsel. That isn’t true of Amnon and Absalom, who both accepted wicked counsel and thus suffered for it. It also brings up the point that perhaps bad counsel would not have been necessary if David had been involved with his sons. It also speaks to the sin that David committed and the consequences of that sin (see 2 Sam 12:9-10). Nevertheless, David takes the good advice of his men and remains in Mahanaim for some very good reasons: He is too old to go into battle and he can be of use to them back at the city. He issues the order for his troops not to harm Absalom, which all of the troops hear. We also see that David is fighting against Israel in the woods of Ephraim and discover the very odd phrase that “the woods swallowed up more men that day than the sword.” This is because David, the tactician, brought the fight to a familiar terrain. Knowing the terrain, David was able to confuse and segregate Absalom’s troops in the forest. In this forest Absalom is riding into the battle on a mule. That’s the first sign that Absalom isn’t exactly the kingly type. He gets his hair caught in an oak tree and is hanging from the tree by his hair. This tells us that Absalom was tripped up by his own vanity. The soldier that comes upon him displays a great and telling degree of loyalty to David. He will not touch Absalom, even after Joab offers him money and the prestigious warrior’s belt. Joab’s approach is far less tactful. Joab assassinates Absalom right then and there. This is a character trait of Joab. He killed Abner for revenge (2sam 3) and orchestrated Absalom’s return to Jerusalem. We see more impetuousness from Joab in the future. Absalom is killed by ten armor bearers and thrown into a grave covered with stones. This is so that Absalom cannot be memorialized. And we also learn that Absalom created a statue of himself since he didn’t have son’s to carry on his legacy. It is interesting to note that 2 Sam 14:27 says that Absalom had three sons. This is easily rectified by Absalom’s son’s dying before their father, thus destroying his legacy. Ahimaaz, son of Zadok, wants to run to give David the message that David has beaten Absalom’s forces. This is problematic because Joab is already sending a Cushite to tell David the message. Joab doesn’t want to send Ahimaaz, but Ahimaaz begs to go and, after the Cushite has already been sent, Ahimaaz runs the road toward David and actually outruns the Cushite. David sees Ahimaaz and the Cushite running toward the gates of Manahaim (where David is) and assumes the message will be good. When Ahimaaz reaches the King, he tells him that Absalom has been defeated. But David is only concerned with Absalom’s fate, of which Ahimaaz does not know. But the Cushite knows, and when he tells David, David breaks down in grief crying for his dead son.