HOW, WHEN ABSALOM WAS BEATEN, HE WAS CAUGHT IN A TREE BY HIS HAIR AND WAS SLAIN FJAJ 7.56
1. AND this was the state of David and his followers: but Absalom got
together a vast army of the 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 captains of hundreds, and divided his army into three parts;
the one part he committed to Joab, the next to Abishai, Joab's brother,
and the third to Ittai, David's companion and friend, but one that came
from the city Gath; and when he was desirous of fighting himself among
them, his friends would not let him: and this refusal of theirs was founded
upon very wise reasons: "For," said they, "if we be conquered
when he is with us, we have lost all good hopes 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 their advice, and resolved himself to tarry at Mahanaim;
and as he sent his friends and commanders to the battle, he desired them
to show 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 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. FJAJ 7.57
2. Then did Joab put his army in battle-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 showed great actions with their hands and their boldness; 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 or 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 greater
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; some they took prisoners,
and many they slew, and more in the flight than in the battle for there
fell about twenty thousand that day
But all David's men ran violently
upon Absalom, for he was easily known by his beauty and tallness
He was
himself also afraid lest his enemies should seize on him, so he got upon
the king's mule, and fled; but as he was carried with violence, and noise,
and a great motion, as being himself light, he entangled his hair greatly
in the large boughs of a knotty tree that spread a great way, and there
he hung, after a surprising manner; and as for the beast, it went
on farther, and that swiftly, as if his master had been still upon his
back; but he, hanging in the air upon the boughs, was taken by 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 wouldst 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 bade him show 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 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 was filled up, and had both the appearance and the bigness
of a grave
Then Joab sounded a retreat, and recalled his own soldiers
from pursuing the enemy's army, in order to spare their countrymen. FJAJ 7.58
3. 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 shall speak in a part of our history which will be more proper
After
the death of Absalom, they returned every one to their own homes respectively. FJAJ 7.59
4. But now Ahimaaz, the son of Zadok the high priest, went to Joab,
and desired he would permit him to go and tell David of this victory, and
to bring him the good news that God had afforded his assistance and his
providence to him
However, he did not grant his request, but said to him,
"Wilt thou, who 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 him 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, (18)
and waiting to see when somebody would come to him from the battle, and
tell him how it went, one of the watchmen saw Ahimaaz running, and before
be could discern who he was, be 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
also was 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 some such news from
the battle as be desired to hear. FJAJ 7.60
5. While the king was saying thus, Ahimaaz appeared, and worshipped
the king
And when the king inquired of him about the battle, he said he
brought him the good news of victory and dominion
And when he 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 be 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 a very great one; but David went up to the highest part of the city,
(19)
Since David was now in Mahanairn, 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 up to the chamber over the gate,
2 Samuel 18:33, I think we ought to correct our present reading in 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 Samuel 19:8,
sitting as before, in the gate of the city. and
wept for his son, and beat his breast, tearing [the hair of] his head,
tormenting himself all manner of ways, and crying out, "O my son!
I wish that I had died myself, and ended my days with 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 the city in the habit of
conquerors, but they all came in as cast down, and in tears, as if they
had been beaten
Now while the king covered himself, and grievously lamented
his son, Joab went in 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 that are
no more, and who have been justly slain; for had Absalom gotten 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 his, but rejoiced over us,
and punished even those that pitied us in 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 and be seen of
thy soldiers, and return them thanks for the alacrity they showed 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 to grieve bitterly and in earnest." Upon Joab's
speaking thus to him, he made the king leave off his sorrow, and brought
him to the consideration of his affairs
So David 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 to him,
and saluted him
And this was the present state of David's affairs. FJAJ 7.61