Adam Clarke

The battle spread over the whole countryside, and that day the forest devoured more people than the sword.

“The wood devoured more people - It is generally supposed that, when the army was broken, they betook themselves to the wood, fell into pits, swamps, etc., and, being entangled, were hewn down by David’s men; but the Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic, state that they…”

But Joab declared, “I am not going to wait like this with you!”

“I may not tarry thus with thee - He had nothing to say in vindication of the purpose he had formed. Thrust them through the heart of Absalom - He was determined to make sure work, and therefore he pierced his heart.”

They took Absalom, cast him into a large pit in the forest, and piled a huge mound of stones over him. Meanwhile, all the Israelites fled, each to his home.

“And laid a very great heap of stones - This was the method of burying heroes, and even traitors, the heap of stones being designed to perpetuate the memory of the event, whether good or bad.”

During his lifetime, Absalom had set up for himself a pillar in the King’s Valley, for he had said, “I have no son to preserve the memory of my name.”

“Reared up for himself a pillar - There was a marble pillar in the time of Josephus called Absalom’s pillar: and there is one shown to the present day under this name; but it is comparatively a modern structure. Absalom’s place - Literally Absalom’s Hand.”

Now David was sitting between the two gates when the watchman went up to the roof of the gateway by the wall, looked out, and saw a man running alone.

“David sat between the two gates - He was probably in the seat of justice. Before the gate of the city it is supposed there was an enclosure, which had its gate also; David sat in the space between these two doors.”

So he called out and told the king. “If he is alone,” the king replied, “he bears good news.” As the first runner drew near,

“If he be alone, there is tidings - That is, good tidings. For if the battle had been lost men would have been running in different directions through the country.”

The king asked, “Is the young man Absalom all right?” And Ahimaaz replied, “When Joab sent the king’s servant and your servant, I saw a great tumult, but I do…

“I saw a great tumult - It was very probable that Ahimaaz did not know of the death of Absalom; he had seen the rout of his army, but did not know of his death.”

The king asked the Cushite, “Is the young man Absalom all right?”

“Is the young man Absalom safe? - This was the utmost of his solicitude, and it well merited the reproof which Joab gave him, 2Sa 19:5.”

But the king covered his face and cried out at the top of his voice, “O my son Absalom! O Absalom, my son, my son!”

“The king covered his face - This was the custom of mourners. O my son Absalom - Calmet has properly remarked that the frequent repetition of the name of the defunct, is common in the language of lamentation. Thus Virgil, act. v., ver.”

Then King David sent this message to Zadok and Abiathar, the priests: “Say to the elders of Judah, ‘Why should you be the last to restore the king to his…

“Speak unto the elders of Judah - David was afraid to fall out with this tribe: they were in possession of Jerusalem, and this was a city of great importance to him.”

Then Shimei son of Gera, a Benjamite from Bahurim, hurried down with the men of Judah to meet King David,

“Shimei the son of Gera - It appears that Shimei was a powerful chieftain in the land; for he had here, in his retinue, no less than a thousand men.”

and crossed at the ford to carry over the king’s household and to do what was good in his sight.

“There went over a ferry-boat - This is the first mention of any thing of the kind. Some think a bridge or raft is what is here intended.”

For your servant knows that I have sinned, so here I am today as the first of all the house of Joseph to come down to meet my lord the…

“For thy servant doth know that I have sinned - This was all he could do; his subsequent conduct alone could prove his sincerity. On such an avowal as this David could not but grant him his life.”

Then Mephibosheth, Saul’s grandson, went down to meet the king. He had not cared for his feet or trimmed his mustache or washed his clothes from the day the king…

“Neither dressed his feet - He had given the fullest proof of his sincere attachment to David and his cause; and by what he had done, amply refuted the calumnies of his servant Ziba.”

and he has slandered your servant to my lord the king. Yet my lord the king is like the angel of God, so do what is good in your eyes.

“The king is as an angel of God - As if he had said, I state my case plainly and without guile; thou art too wise not to penetrate the motives from which both myself and servant have acted.”

Barzillai was quite old, eighty years of age, and since he was a very wealthy man, he had provided for the king while he stayed in Mahanaim.

“Barzillai was a very aged man - This venerable person had given full proof of his attachment to David by the supplies he had given him when he lay at Mahanaim, where his case was all but desperate; the sincerity of his congratulations now none…”

I am now eighty years old. Can I discern what is good and what is not? Can your servant taste what he eats or drinks?

“Can thy servant taste what I eat - Here is at once an affecting description of the infirmities of old age; and a correct account of the mode of living at an Eastern court in ancient times.”

When David returned to his palace in Jerusalem, he took the ten concubines he had left to care for the palace, and he placed them in a house under guard.

“The ten women - He could not well divorce them; he could not punish them, as they were not in the transgression; he could no more be familiar with them, because they had been defiled by his son; and to have married them to other…”

Then the king said to Amasa, “Summon the men of Judah to come to me within three days, and be here yourself.”

“Then said the king to Amasa - Thus he invests him with the command of the army, and sends him to collect the men of Judah, and to come back to receive his orders in relation to Sheba, in three days.”

And while they were at the great stone in Gibeon, Amasa joined them. Now Joab was dressed in military attire, with a dagger strapped to his belt.

“Joab’s garment - It appears that this was not a military garment; and that Joab had no arms but a short sword, which he had concealed in his girdle; and this sword, or knife, was so loose in its sheath that it could be easily…”

Amasa was not on guard against the dagger in Joab’s hand, and Joab stabbed him in the stomach and spilled out his intestines on the ground.

“In the fifth rib - I believe חמש chomesh, which we render here and elsewhere the fifth rib, means any part of the abdominal region.”

Sheba passed through all the tribes of Israel to Abel-beth-maacah and through the entire region of the Berites, who gathered together and followed him.

“Unto Abel - This is supposed to have been the capital of the district called Abilene in St. Luke’s Gospel, Luk 3:1.”

Then the woman said, “Long ago they used to say, ‘Seek counsel at Abel,’ and that is how disputes were settled.

“They shall surely ask counsel at Abel - This is a proverb, but from what it originated we know not; nor can we exactly say what it means: much must be supplied to bring it to speak sense.”

That is not the case. But a man named Sheba son of Bichri, from the hill country of Ephraim, has lifted up his hand against the king, against David.

“His head shall be thrown to thee - Thus it appears she had great sway in the counsels of the city; and that the punishment of a state rebel was then, what it is now in this kingdom, beheading.”

and Ira the Jairite was David’s priest.

“Ira - was a chief ruler about David - The Hebrew is כהן לדויד cohen ledavid, a priest to David; and so the Vulgate, Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic. The Chaldee has רב rab, a prince, or chief.”