David counted the people who were with him, and set captains of thousands and captains of hundreds over them. Jos 8:101Sa 8:12Exo 17:9 David sent the people out, a third part under the hand of Joab, and a third part under the hand of Abishai the son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother, and a third part under the hand of Ittai the Gittite. The king said to the people, “I will also surely go out with you myself.” Jdg 7:162Sa 15:19-221Sa 11:112Sa 10:7-102Sa 17:11Jdg 7:19Jdg 9:43Psa 118:6-8
But the people said, “You shall not go out, for if we flee away, they will not care for us, neither if half of us die, will they care for us. But you are worth ten thousand of us. Therefore now it is better that you are ready to help us out of the city.” 2Sa 21:171Ki 22:312Sa 10:112Sa 17:2Exo 17:10-12Lam 4:20Zec 13:7
The king said to them, “I will do what seems best to you.” 2Sa 18:241Sa 29:22Sa 18:1Isa 28:6
The king stood beside the gate, and all the people went out by hundreds and by thousands. The king commanded Joab and Abishai and Ittai, saying, “Deal gently for my sake with the young man Absalom.” All the people heard when the king commanded all the captains concerning Absalom. Deu 21:18-212Sa 16:112Sa 17:1-42Sa 17:142Sa 18:12Luk 23:34Psa 103:13
So the people went out into the field against Israel; and the battle was in the forest of Ephraim. Jos 17:18Jos 17:15Jdg 12:4-6 The people of Israel were struck there before David’s servants, and there was a great slaughter there that day of twenty thousand men. Pro 24:212Ch 13:16-172Ch 28:62Sa 15:62Sa 19:41-432Sa 2:172Sa 2:262Sa 2:31 For the battle was there spread over the surface of all the country, and the forest devoured more people that day than the sword devoured. Exo 15:10Jos 10:111Ki 20:30Jdg 5:20-21Psa 3:7Psa 43:1
Absalom happened to meet David’s servants. Absalom was riding on his mule, and the mule went under the thick boughs of a great oak; and his head caught hold of the oak, and he was hanging between the sky and earth; and the mule that was under him went on. 2Sa 14:26Job 31:3Pro 30:172Sa 17:232Sa 18:14Deu 21:23Deu 27:16Deu 27:20 A certain man saw it, and told Joab, and said, “Behold, I saw Absalom hanging in an oak.”
Joab said to the man who told him, “Behold, you saw it, and why didn’t you strike him there to the ground? I would have given you ten pieces of silver and a sash.”
The man said to Joab, “Though I should receive a thousand pieces of silver in my hand, I still wouldn’t stretch out my hand against the king’s son; for in our hearing the king commanded you and Abishai and Ittai, saying, ‘Beware that no one touch the young man Absalom.’ 2Sa 18:5 Otherwise, if I had dealt falsely against his life (and there is no matter hidden from the king), then you yourself would have set yourself against me.” 2Sa 14:19-20Heb 4:132Sa 1:15-162Sa 4:10-12
Then Joab said, “I’m not going to wait like this with you.” He took three darts in his hand and thrust them through Absalom’s heart while he was still alive in the middle of the oak. 1Th 5:32Sa 14:302Sa 18:5Jdg 4:21Jdg 5:26Jdg 5:31Mat 12:40Psa 45:5 Ten young men who bore Joab’s armor surrounded and struck Absalom, and killed him. Joab blew the trumpet, and the people returned from pursuing after Israel; for Joab held the people back. 2Sa 2:282Sa 20:221Co 14:8Num 10:2-10 They took Absalom and cast him into a great pit in the forest, and raised over him a very great heap of stones. Then all Israel fled, each to his own tent. Jos 7:26Jos 8:292Sa 19:82Sa 20:12Sa 20:22Jer 22:18-19Jos 10:27Pro 10:7
Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself the pillar which is in the king’s valley, for he said, “I have no son to keep my name in memory.” He called the pillar after his own name. It is called Absalom’s monument, to this day. Gen 14:171Sa 15:122Sa 14:27Dan 4:30Act 1:18-19Gen 11:4Gen 11:9Job 18:16-17
Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said, “Let me now run and carry the king news, how the LORD has avenged him of his enemies.” 2Sa 15:362Sa 18:312Sa 17:172Sa 18:232Sa 18:27-29Psa 10:14Psa 10:18Psa 7:6
Joab said to him, “You must not be the bearer of news today, but you must carry news another day. But today you must carry no news, because the king’s son is dead.” 2Sa 17:16-212Sa 18:272Sa 18:292Sa 18:332Sa 18:5
Then Joab said to the Cushite, “Go, tell the king what you have seen!” The Cushite bowed himself to Joab, and ran.
Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said yet again to Joab, “But come what may, please let me also run after the Cushite.” Eph 5:4Rom 1:28
Joab said, “Why do you want to run, my son, since you will have no reward for the news?”
“But come what may,” he said, “I will run.” Jhn 20:4
He said to him, “Run!” Then Ahimaaz ran by the way of the Plain, and outran the Cushite.
Now David was sitting between the two gates; and the watchman went up to the roof of the gate to the wall, and lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, a man running alone. 2Sa 19:81Sa 4:132Sa 13:342Sa 18:4Ezk 33:2-7Isa 21:11-12Isa 21:6-92Ki 9:17-20 The watchman shouted and told the king. The king said, “If he is alone, there is news in his mouth.” He came closer and closer.
The watchman saw another man running; and the watchman called to the gatekeeper and said, “Behold, a man running alone!”
The king said, “He also brings news.”
The watchman said, “I think the running of the first one is like the running of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok.” 2Ki 9:201Ki 1:42Rom 10:15Isa 52:7Pro 25:13Pro 25:25
The king said, “He is a good man, and comes with good news.”
Ahimaaz called, and said to the king, “All is well.” He bowed himself before the king with his face to the earth, and said, “Blessed is the LORD your God, who has delivered up the men who lifted up their hand against my lord the king!” 2Sa 14:4Gen 14:201Sa 24:181Sa 26:82Ch 20:262Sa 1:22Sa 22:27Gen 24:27
The king said, “Is it well with the young man Absalom?” 2Sa 18:222Sa 18:19-202Sa 20:9
Ahimaaz answered, “When Joab sent the king’s servant, even me your servant, I saw a great tumult, but I don’t know what it was.”
The king said, “Come and stand here.” He came and stood still.
Behold, the Cushite came. The Cushite said, “Good news for my lord the king, for the LORD has avenged you today of all those who rose up against you.” 2Sa 18:192Sa 18:282Sa 22:48-49Deu 32:35-36Luk 18:7-8Psa 124:2-3Psa 58:10Psa 94:1-4
The king said to the Cushite, “Is it well with the young man Absalom?” Jdg 5:311Sa 25:262Sa 18:29Dan 4:19Psa 68:1-2
The Cushite answered, “May the enemies of my lord the king, and all who rise up against you to do you harm, be as that young man is.”
The king was much moved, and went up to the room over the gate and wept. As he went, he said, “My son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! I wish I had died instead of you, Absalom, my son, my son!” 2Sa 19:42Sa 12:10-23Pro 10:1Pro 17:25Psa 103:13Exo 32:32Rom 9:3Jas 5:17