2 Samuel18chapter 18

2 Samuel 18:9

"It is necessary to be continually on one's guard against the branches of trees; and when the hair is worn in large locks floating down the back, as was the case with a young man of the party to which I belonged, any thick boughs interposing in the path might easily dislodge a rider from his seat, and catch hold of his flowing hair" [HARTLEY].

2 Samuel 18:9

“Thus he that fleeth from the fear shall fall into the pit, and he that getteth up out of the pit shall be taken in the snare, Jer. xlviii. David is inclined to spare him, but divine justice passes sentence upon him as a traitor, and sees it executed--that he hang by the neck, be caught alive, be embowelled, and his body dispose of disgracefully. He is hanged by the neck.”

2 Samuel 18:10

“Thus was he set up for a spectacle, as well as a mark, that the righteous might see him and laugh at him ( Ps. lii. 6 ), while he had this further vexation in his breast, that of all the friends he had courted and confided in, and thought he had sure in his interest, though he hung long enough to have been relieved, yet he had none at hand to disentangle him.”

2 Samuel 18:11

“Ten shekels - (About 25 shillings.) The word “shekel” is understood, as in Gen 20:16; Gen 37:28. See the Exo 38:24 note. A girdle - Girdles were costly articles of Hebrew dress used to put money in Mat 10:9, and given as presents 1Sa 18:4.”

2 Samuel 18:13

“The man gives a remarkable incidental testimony to David’s sagacity and penetration (compare 2Sa 14:19), and to Joab’s known unscrupulousness.”

2 Samuel 18:14

“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. Joab should have obeyed the king’s commandment: and yet the safety of the state required the sacrifice of Absalom. But independently of this, his life was quadruply forfeited to the law: - 1. In having murdered his brother Amnon. 2. In having excited an insurrection in the state.”

2 Samuel 18:14

“Being a violation of the expressed wish, as well as of all the fond paternal feelings of David, it must have been deeply offensive to the king, nor was it ever forgotten (1Ki 2:5); and yet there is the strongest reason for believing that Joab, in doing it, was actuated by a sincere regard to the interests of David, both as a man and a monarch.”

2 Samuel 18:14

“I know not whether Joab can be justified in this direct disobedience to the command of his sovereign; was this to deal gently with the young man? Would David have suffered him to do it if he had been upon the spot?”

2 Samuel 18:15

“Ahimaaz, the young priest (one of those who brought David intelligence of Absalom's motions, ch. xvii. 17 ), was very forward to be the messenger of these tidings, so transported was he with joy that this cloud was blown over; let him go and tell the king that the Lord hath avenged him of his enemies,”

2 Samuel 18:16

“The danger is over, now that Absalom is slain; the people will soon return to their allegiance to David, and therefore no more blood shall be spilt; no prisoners are taken, to be tried as traitors and made examples; let every man return to his tent; they are all the king's subjects, all his good subjects again.”

2 Samuel 18:17

“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. The ancient cairns or heaps of stones, in different parts of the world, are of this kind. The various tumuli or barrows in England are the same as the cairns in different parts of Ireland and Scotland. In the former, stones were not plenty; hence they heaped up great mounds of earth.”

2 Samuel 18:18

“Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken,.... Had taken it into his head, had of himself devised it, as Kimchi explains it; he contrived the following scheme to perpetuate his memory: and reared up for himself a pillar, which is in the king's dale: or valley, the valley of Jehoshaphat; this pillar was of marble, as Josephus (o) says, and stood about two furlongs or a quater mile from Jerusalem.”

2 Samuel 18:18

“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. See the note on 1Sa 15:12.”

2 Samuel 18:18

“Absalom in his lifetime had reared up for himself a pillar--literally, "hand." In the valley of Jehoshaphat, on the east of Jerusalem, is a tomb or cenotaph, said to be this "pillar" or monument: it is twenty-four feet square, dome-topped, and reaches forty feet in height.”

2 Samuel 18:19

Ahimaaz was a well-known runner 2Sa 18:27. Speed was a heroic virtue in those simple times (compare 2Sa 2:18). In Hezekiah’s reign 2Ch 30:6, 2Ch 30:10 we find an establishment of running post-men; and the same name (“runners”) is given Est 3:13 to the Persian posts, though at that time they rode on mules and camels. Bear tidings - The original word is used almost exclusively of bearing good tidings, and hence, is rendered in the Septuagint (though not always) εὐαγγίζεσθαι euangelizesthai 2Sa 4:10; 1Sa 31:9. In 2Sa 18:21, it is not “carry the good tidings,” but “tell,” simply “announce.”

2 Samuel 18:21

“Cushi - “The Cushite,” a foreign slave, perhaps of Joab’s, whom he did not scruple to expose to David’s anger. If, however, it is a name, it must be rendered “Haccushi.” In the title to Ps. 7, “Cush, the Benjamite,” cannot mean this Cushi, since the contents of the Psalm are not suitable to this occasion.”

2 Samuel 18:23

“But howsoever (said he) let me run,.... Be it as it may, I beg I may have leave; and being so very importunate, it was granted: and he said unto him, run; since he would take no denial: then Ahimaaz ran by the way of the plain, and overran Cushi; who ran by the way of the mountains; which though the shorter way, that through the plain was easiest, and soonest run, though the longest.”

2 Samuel 18:23

“The plain - The floor of the valley through which the Jordan runs. The Cushite did not run by that road, but took the road over the hills, which may well have been the shorter but also the more difficult road. The two roads would probably meet a short distance from Mahanaim.”

2 Samuel 18:24

“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. Over the larger gate there appears to have been a turret, on which a sentinel or watchman stood continually, and gave information of what he saw in the country.”

2 Samuel 18:24-32

“David sat between the two gates--that is, in the tower-house on the wall that overhung the gate of Mahanaim. Near it was a watchtower, on which a sentinel was posted, as in times of war, to notify every occurrence.”

2 Samuel 18:25

“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.”

2 Samuel 18:28

“Ahimaaz called - This marks the eager haste with which, before he had quite reached the king, he shouted out the pithy decisive word of good tidings, “Shalom!” Peace! Hath delivered - See the margin. The figure seems to be that of confining a person within the power of his enemy, in opposition to “giving him his liberty” “in a large room,” to work what mischief he pleases.”

2 Samuel 18:28

"They are all cut off that lifted up their hands against the king; " and, as became a priest, while he gives the king the joy of it, he gives God the glory of it, the God of peace and war, the God of salvation and victory: " Blessed be the Lord thy God, that has done this for thee, as thy God, pursuant to the promises made to uphold thy throne," ch. vii.

2 Samuel 18:29

“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. Others think he knew all, and told this untruth that he might not be the messenger of bad news to David.”

2 Samuel 18:29

THIS WAS SAID by David after a great battle in which many had been slain, and the hosts led by Absalom had fallen to the number of twenty thousand; perishing not only by the sword, but among the thick oaks and tangled briers of the wood, which concealed fearful precipices and great caverns, into which the rebels plunged in their wild fright when the rout set in. His father's anxious question concerned his wicked but still well-beloved son, "Is the young man Absalom safe?" He does not appear to have asked, "How have we won the victory?"

2 Samuel 18:32

“And the king said unto Cushi, is the young man Absalom safe?.... The same question that was put to Ahimaaz, 2Sa 18:29; which shows what lay nearest his heart, and was uppermost in his mind: and Cushi answered, the enemies of my lord the king, and all that rise against thee to do thee hurt, be as that young man is, which was tacitly saying he was dead, and so David understood it; and he expressed it in such a manner, that David could not be displeased with the messenger; though the message was grievous to him.”

2 Samuel 18:32

“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.”

2 Samuel 18:33

But that same David, that the difference of his actions may not perhaps disturb those who cling to the words of Scripture; that same David, I say, who had not wept for the innocent infant, wept for the parricide when dead. For at the last, when he was wailing and mourning, he said, "O my son Absalom, my son Absalom! Who will grant me to die for thee!"

2 Samuel 18:33

“There is not in the whole of the Old Testament a passage of deeper pathos than this. Compare Luk 19:41. In the Hebrew Bible this verse commences the nineteenth chapter. The King James Version follows the Greek and Latin versions.”

2 Samuel 18:33

“Over the gate - Retiring himself from all men and business, that he might wholly give up himself to lamentation. My son - This he might speak from a deep sense of his eternal state, because he died in his sins, and because David himself had by his own sins been the occasion of his death.”