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2 Samuel 18 of 24

2 Samuel 18

A father orders his generals to deal gently with his rebellious son; the general kills the son, and the father's grief destroys the victory.

Summary

David numbers the people and appoints a third each under Joab, under Abishai the son of Zeruiah Joab's brother, and under Ittai the Gittite. The king says he will go out himself; the people say he shall not, for if they flee the enemy will not care about them, but David is worth ten thousand of them. David agrees to stay in the city. He stands by the gate as all the people go out, and charges the commanders: deal gently with the young man, even with Absalom. All the people hear the king's charge concerning Absalom. The army goes out into the field against Israel and the battle is in the wood of Ephraim. The people of Israel are smitten before the servants of David; a great slaughter of twenty thousand men. The battle spreads over the face of all the country, and the wood devours more people than the sword that day. Absalom meets the servants of David; he is riding on his mule. The mule goes under the thick boughs of a great oak; his head catches in the oak. He is taken up between the heaven and the earth while the mule goes on.

A certain man sees this and tells Joab: Absalom is hanging in an oak. Joab asks why the man did not smite him. The man says: though I should receive a thousand shekels of silver I would not put forth mine hand against the king's son, for the king charged thee and Abishai and Ittai in our hearing, saying, Beware that none touch the young man Absalom. Joab says: I may not tarry thus with thee. He takes three darts in his hand and thrusts them through the heart of Absalom while he still lives in the oak, and ten young men that bear Joab's armour smite Absalom and slay him. Joab blows the trumpet and the people return from pursuing Israel. They take Absalom and cast him into a great pit in the wood and lay a very great heap of stones upon him. All Israel flee every one to his tent. Ahimaaz son of Zadok runs to David with news. A Cushite also runs. David, sitting between the two gates, asks the watchman what he sees. He sees Ahimaaz coming first. He runs and bows before the king and says: all is well. The king says: is the young man Absalom safe? Ahimaaz says: when Joab sent me I saw a great tumult but knew not what it was. The king stands aside. The Cushite arrives with the news of Absalom's death. The king covers his face and cries with a loud voice: O my son Absalom, O Absalom, my son, my son!

Appears
David Absalom Joab
Themes
The Cost of Rebellion Grief and Mourning Obedience vs. Duty
All 24 chapters — click to jump
  1. 2 Samuel 1Chapter 1 is the hinge between 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel.
  2. 2 Samuel 2Chapter 2 opens the period of civil war that will occupy much of the first half of the book.
  3. 2 Samuel 3Chapter 3 is one of the most politically complex chapters in the book.
  4. 2 Samuel 4Chapter 4 closes the civil war with a brief, ugly episode.
  5. 2 Samuel 5Chapter 5 is the pivotal chapter of the book's first half.
  6. 2 Samuel 6Chapter 6 is one of the most dramatically charged chapters in 2 Samuel, covering two episodes that frame the ark's arrival in Jerusalem.
  7. 2 Samuel 7Chapter 7 is the theological centre of the entire David narrative and one of the most consequential passages in the Hebrew Bible for later Jewish and Christian thought.
  8. 2 Samuel 8Chapter 8 reads differently from everything around it.
  9. 2 Samuel 9Chapter 9 is the chapter the Court History uses to establish one key dimension of David's character before the crisis arrives.
  10. 2 Samuel 10Chapter 10 establishes the military context of the Bathsheba episode.
  11. 2 Samuel 11Chapter 11 is the turning point of 2 Samuel and one of the most consequential chapters in biblical narrative.
  12. 2 Samuel 12Chapter 12 contains the most famous confrontation in the book.
  13. 2 Samuel 13Chapter 13 is the first fulfilment of Nathan's sentence in chapter 12.
  14. 2 Samuel 14Chapter 14 covers the three years in which David longs for Absalom but will not recall him, and Joab's intervention to change that.
  15. 2 Samuel 15Chapter 15 is the emotional nadir of the first movement of the Absalom crisis.
  16. 2 Samuel 16Chapter 16 covers three encounters as David makes his way out of Jerusalem.
  17. 2 Samuel 17Chapter 17 is the intelligence chapter of the Absalom revolt and turns on a moment of competitive counsel.
  18. 2 Samuel 18Chapter 18 is the emotional climax of 2 Samuel.
  19. 2 Samuel 19Chapter 19 covers David's return to Jerusalem and the political settlements it requires.
  20. 2 Samuel 20Chapter 20 is the coda to the Absalom crisis.
  21. 2 Samuel 21Chapter 21 opens the appendix section of 2 Samuel — chapters 21-24 are not chronological narrative but supplementary materials: two episodes of famine and plague bracketing two poems and two hero lists.
  22. 2 Samuel 22Chapter 22 is an extended psalm, found also as Psalm 18 in the Psalter, which the editors of 2 Samuel have placed near the end of the book as David's retrospective meditation on his life.
  23. 2 Samuel 23Chapter 23 contains two distinct sections.
  24. 2 Samuel 24Chapter 24 is the second appendix episode bracketing the poems of chapters 22-23, and it closes the book on an unexpected note.
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2 Samuel 17
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2 Samuel 19
The book itself
Summary & story
What 2 Samuel is, why it matters.
Analysis
Themes
Power, consequence, grief, the dynastic promise, and the realism of the prose.
Who's who
David's court
The household of a king who has everything and gives most of it away.

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