Poole on 2 Samuel 18:10-16: Absalom's Death

Verse 10:[1]  And a certain man saw it, and told Joab, and said, Behold, I saw Absalom hanged in an oak.

[I saw Absalom hanging from an oak]  Either, he did not dare to lift a hand against him; or he wanted to reserved these rich spoils for the leader of the campaign; or he obeyed the commandment of David, which what follows shows to be closer to the truth (Menochius).  Hence it is evident that Absalom hung from the tree for a considerable time (Sanchez).

Verse 11:[2]  And Joab said unto the man that told him, And, behold, thou sawest him, and why didst thou not smite him there to the ground? and I would have given thee ten shekels of silver, and a girdle.

[If thou sawest, etc., וגו״ ‎וְהִנֵּ֣ה רָאִ֔יתָ]  And, behold, thou sawest, etc.  Some take it interrogatively, and, behold, did thou seest?  When thou sawest, why didst thou not smite, etc. (Vatablus).

[Why didst thou not run his through with the ground?]  Cast down from the oak, and transfixed with a spear in such a way that he was pinned to the earth, dead (Menochius).

To the ground:  Why didst thou not smite him down from the oak, and with thy spear nail him to the ground?

[And I would have given thee, etc., וגו״ ‎וְעָלַ֗י לָ֤תֶת לְךָ֙]  And upon me (understanding, it would have been [Jonathan]) to give to thee, etc. (Montanus, Jonathan).  It would have been of concern to me, etc. (Piscator).  For it was in my power to give to thee, etc. (Junius and Tremellius).  It would have been mine, etc. (Vatablus in Tigurinus Notes).

[Ten shekels of silver]  [Thus nearly all supplement it.]  Hebrew:  ten of silver[3] (Septuagint, Jonathan), or silver coins (Montanus, Junius and Tremellius).

[And one belt]  A military girdle (Menochius).  How highly a belt was valued we learned in 1 Samuel 18:4 (Sanchez).

A girdle; a military belt of more than ordinary price, as a testimony of thy valour and good service.  See on 1 Samuel 18:4.

Verse 12:[4]  And the man said unto Joab, Though I should receive (Heb. weigh upon mine hand[5]) a thousand shekels of silver in mine hand, yet would I not put forth mine hand against the king’s son:  (2 Sam. 18:5) for in our hearing the king charged thee and Abishai and Ittai, saying, Beware that none touch (Heb. beware whosoever ye be of,[6] etc.) the young man Absalom.

[If thou shouldest weigh in my hands a thousand silver coins, וְלֻ֙א אָנֹכִ֜י שֹׁקֵ֤ל עַל־כַּפַּי֙ וגו״]  And if I am weighing (or should weigh [Vatablus, the Septuagint in certain codices, Nobilius, Jonathan, Junius and Tremellius]; if thou shouldest weigh [Pagnine]; if thou shouldest number and pay [Syriac, Tigurinus]; if one weighing, understanding, I should find [Mariana], or have [certain interpreters in Malvenda]) upon my palms, or hands, etc. (Montanus).  If one should have numbered to me such money at hand, I would not have acted (Junius).  In the place of לֻא/if others read לוֺא/not (Malvenda).  I would not accept it, if thou shouldest weigh in my hands (Munster).

[Keep the lad for me, ‎שִׁמְרוּ־מִ֕י בַּנַּ֖עַר]  [They render:]  Keep, or protect, for me the lad (Septuagint, Syriac, similarly the Arabic, Cappel).  In the place of מִי/who they read לִי, for me, out of verse 5, ‎לְאַט־לִי, gently for me (Cappel).  But the Septuagint translators did not read לִי, for me, but rendered the sense, as it appeared to them (Buxtorf’s Vindication 572).  Watch ye who against the lad (Montanus).  Watch ye who (or, beware lest anyone [Munster, Pagnine, Tigurinus]), understanding, rushes upon, or lifts a hand (Buxtorf), or would fly upon (Dieu out of Montanus).  To others the ב/upon πλεονάζει, is superfluous (Buxtorf).  Who the lad, understanding, might touch (Pagnine, Montanus, English, Kimchi in Dieu), or might wound (Tigurinus, similarly Strigelius).  There is an Ellipsis of the verb (Buxtorf, Glassius); which sort is found in 2 Samuel 23:17, the blood of those men, etc., understanding, should I drink, which is supplied in 1 Chronicles 11:19 (Glassius’ “Grammar” 401); 1 Samuel 22:23 (Buxtorf).  Rabbi Levi, with the significance of the Maqqeph (־) accent considered, conjoins מִי/who with the preceding שִׁמְרוּ, beware ye, whoever of you it is, that he put not forth his hand against the lad.  Junius follows him, beware, whosoever ye be, of the lad [similarly the Dutch, English].  This opinion is the best, just like in verses 22, 23, ‎יְהִי מָה, let it be whatever it may be.[7]  It is also able to be translated fittingly in this way, Beware ye, whoever upon the lad, understanding, happens; similarly in Rabbi Salomon (Dieu).  Observe him who is in the lad, that is, me, because he is part of me, my son.  Thus Rabbi Samuel Laniado.[8]  Moreover, this man did not repeat the very words of David, which were otherwise in verse 5, but the sense; that is, just as in that confusion they came to his aid; but if he had wanted to say that, as the Septuagint has rendered it, as Cappel contends, he would have said ‎שִׁמְרוּ־לִי לַנַּעַר, or הַנַּעַר, keep for me the lad (Buxtorf’s Vindication 572).

Beware that none touch, etc.:  Or, take heed what (for so the Hebrew pronoun מִי/mi is sometimes used, as Judges 13:17[9]) ye do with the young man.  He expresseth David’s sense, though not his words.

Verse 13:[10]  Otherwise I should have wrought falsehood against mine own life:  for there is no matter hid from the king, and thou thyself wouldest have set thyself against me.

[But even if I had acted against my life daringly, ‎אֽוֹ־עָשִׂ֤יתִי בְנַפְשִׁי֙ שֶׁ֔קֶר]  Or I had acted against my life [the Qere is ‎בְנַפְשִׁי, against my life] falsehood (Pagnine, Montanus).  Or would I certainly work on my soul falsehood? (Jonathan).  Or if I will have committed out of myself (Hebrew:  in my soul [Junius]) falsehood (Junius and Tremellius); that is, that slaying of Absalom, which afterwards I would deceitfully deny before the king, so that I might deliver myself, and look to my life (Junius).  Or, if I had done so, why would I lie at the risk of my life? (Tigurinus).  Or I wrought in my soul falsehood (Mariana, thus the Chaldean), that is to say, if I act depravedly, I conceive wickedness in my soul, with soul in the place of conscience (Mariana).  Otherwise I should have wrought falsehood against mine own life (English, French).  [Certain translators render אוֺ as if:]  Or if I had done (Munster) [similarly the Syriac, Vatablus, Arabic, Osiander].  I had acted iniquitously against my life (Munster) (I had offended against myself [Syriac]; I had done an iniquitous thing unto my own ruin [Vatablus]); but if I had done anything unjustly to the peril of my life (Strigelius).  Or I would act against mine own life an iniquitous thing, or a crime hidden and concealed; that is to say, neither plainly or openly, nor hiddenly, would I wish to harm the son of the king (Vatablus).  Still less that I would act so perfidiously, at such danger to my own life (Castalio).  If I had brought force to bear upon my reluctant conscience (Menochius).  But if I had wrought against his life [as if it were בְנַפְשׁוֹ, against his life,[11] just as the Septuagint translators also read it, but in another manner] prevarication; that is, if I had deprived him of life, etc. (Osiander).

Falsehood against mine own life:  Either, first, I should have been guilty of false and perfidious dealing against the king’s express injunction, and that with the manifest hazard of my own life.  Or, secondly I should have betrayed my own life.  I should not only have deceived myself with false hopes, either of concealing my fact from the king, or of obtaining a reward, yea, or a pardon, from him or thee for it; but also have destroyed myself thereby, and laid a plot against my own life.

[This could by no means remain hidden from the king, ‎ וְכָל־דָּבָ֖ר לֹא־יִכָּחֵ֣ד מִן־הַמֶּ֑לֶךְ]  And every word will not be hidden from the King (Vatablus, similarly Montanus, Pagnine).  A future in the place of the present, that is, nothing is wont to escape the notice of the king (Vatablus).  For, as kings have long arms, so also the most acute hearing (Osiander).

There is no matter hid from the king; this, as all other things, would certainly come to the king’s ear.

[And wouldest thou have stood opposite? ‎וְאַתָּ֖ה תִּתְיַצֵּ֥ב מִנֶּֽגֶד׃]  And thou hadst stood (wouldest have stood [Montanus]) opposite (Pagnine, Munster, Montanus); thou hadst set thyself against me (English, French, similarly Strigelius).  Thou thyself wouldest then perhaps condemn in me before the king, what now thou commandest me to do (Osiander).  And thou hadst stood at a distance (Syriac, similarly the Arabic, Vatablus).  At a distance, a far off; that is to say, and thou wouldest not defend me, but hadst rather stood against me before the king, with my death as the result (Vatablus).  Art thou not going to stand opposite? (Junius and Tremellius, similarly Tigurinus), that is, art thou going to oppose the king’s condemnation of me in my defense? (Junius).  Wouldest thou be my patron? wouldest thou rescue me from the hand of an enraged king? (Menochius).   Such is his rationale:  Thou wouldest give, says he, a reward; but thou wouldest bring my life (which is to be put before riches) into crisis.  I would sin against my own soul, that is, against my life, or against my conscience, I would do an unjust thing (Martyr).  Thou wouldest sit over against, either the king, to defend me; or me; that is, thou wouldest oppose me and assail me (Piscator).

Thou thyself wouldest have set thyself against me; thou wouldst have been my adversary and accuser; partly because it was thy duty to be so; and partly to vindicate thyself by casting the blame upon another.  Or, thou wouldst have stood afar off, as this phrase is used, Psalm 38:11.  Thou wouldst not have stood to me to intercede for my life or reward, but wouldst keep at a distance from me.

Verse 14:[12]  Then said Joab, I may not tarry thus with thee (Heb. before thee[13]).  And he took three darts in his hand, and thrust them through the heart of Absalom, while he was yet alive in the midst (Heb. heart[14]) of the oak.

[Not as thou wilt, but I will assail him before thee, ‎לֹא־כֵ֖ן אֹחִ֣ילָה לְפָנֶ֑יךָ]  Not thus will I wait (or tarry [Junius and Tremellius]) before thee (Pagnine, Tigurinus, Vatablus, similarly Montanus).  Understanding, as thou hast done:  I will not halt here before thee for long:  I am now going to kill him.  Or, I will not do as thou hast done:  I will not also delay, with thee looking on, to kill him; that is to say, I am going to kill Absalom without delay, even with thee present:  so that thou mightest know that I am not requiring of thee something that I am unwilling to do myself.  Others translate it, it is not right that I tarry before thee, understanding, from killing him, lest thou rescue him.  Or, it is not good that thy presence should recall me from the slaying of Absalom; that is to say, I am going to kill Absalom, and I do not fear thy presence (Vatablus).  Delay is not to be drawn out in this way before thy face (Munster), that is, neglecting an opportunity to destroy the enemy (Junius).  Thou art not going to see me hesitant in this way (Castalio).  I am not able to prolong delay before thee (Strigelius).  It is not good in this way; I am going to tarry before thee; that is, that I might tarry, namely, as thou hast done (Mariana).  I am going to undertake this; I am not going to remain before thee in this way (Septuagint).  But in the Complutensian, because of this [as if they had received כֵּן עַל] I will undertake before thee (Nobilius).  By no means is it the case that I am going to begin before thee (Arabic, thus the Syriac).

I may not tarry thus with thee; I must not lose time in contending with thee till I let the occasion slip.

[Therefore, he took three lances (thus Munster), ‎שְׁבָטִים]  Javelins (Munster, Tigurinus); darts (Pagnine, Jonathan, Junius and Tremellius); arrows (Arabic), spears (Syriac, Piscator), or shafts (Piscator); lances or small spears, that is, finer and less thick (Vatablus).

[He thrust them in the heart of Absalom:  and while he was yet quivering, etc.]  Heart here is taken for the middle (as often elsewhere), that is to say, in the thorax or chest of Absalom.  For, three spears were not able to be thrust in the one heart of a man:  and certainly if the heart were pierced with only one lance, he had not be able to hold on to life afterwards; but after three lances he is said yet to quiver, etc. (Sanchez nearly out of Munster):  neither would there have been any need for the staves of the squires, who are mentioned here to have killed him with their blows (Munster, similarly Vatablus).  Thus the Hebrew stands,וַיִּתְקָעֵם בְּלֵב אַבְשָׁלוֹם עוֹדֶנּוּ חַי בְּלֵב הָאֵלָה׃, and he fixed them in the heart of Absalom, and he was yet living in the heart of the tree (Munster, similarly Malvenda, Vatablus).  This sense is confirmed out of the following verse (Malvenda out of Vatablus).  And, nevertheless, he was not yet dead (certain interpreters in Vatablus).  And he thrust in the heart, etc., with him yet living, etc. (Septuagint, Jonathan, Pagnine, Montanus, similarly the Syriac, Arabic), or of him yet living (Junius and Tremellius), namely, before the piercing of the javelins; that is, he had not yet died from hanging (Malvenda).  Question:  Whether Joab sinned by killing Absalom against the commandment of the king?  There are arguments on both sides (Martyr).  [Some excuse Joab (thus Grotius):]  Joab regarded, not what David had commanded, but what he ought to have commanded; and he judged there to be less danger in this deed, than if he was at some point compelled to suffer Absalom as King.  Whenever the future heir of a Kingdom takes up arms against the King, it is in the interest of all good men that he die, lest what they did out of duty, they pay for as a crime, because neither side, if the adversary is appointed judge, is pure[15] (Grotius).  Joab has reasons.  The crime of Absalom was great and evident to all.  Forbearance had been extended to him time and again; therefore, he appeared incorrigible.  The future scandal was going to be enormous, if he had pardoned him.  Rebellious sons are to be stoned, Deuteronomy 21.  There was the danger, that he, freed from the tree, would renew and prolong the civil war.  David does not enumerate this among the reasons for executing Joab, 1 Kings 2.  [Others condemn Joab:]  What things are produced to the contrary are weak.  Outcomes are not to be regarded, but whether the matter was just.  Obedience was to be rendered to the King, lest civil discipline be violated.  Absalom does indeed justly suffer punishment, but it was not justly exacted; Joab was not an ordinary judge.  In Deuteronomy 16 the law requires, that just things be done in a just manner.  He ought to have considered what great sorrow was going to come back upon David.  The command of the king was able to be interpreted in a good way:  he wanted his son to be preserved, so that he might repent.  Care was to be taken, lest, with the king despised, he appear to gratify the soldiers, that he might deliver them from fear.  As far as the civil war is concerned, Joab was able to attend to the matter in a different way:  he was able to arrest him, and to deliver him bound to his father.  With respect to 1 Kings 2, David does indeed pass over this killing, but it was enough to enumerate the weightier crimes (Martyr).

Through the heart of Absalom; not properly so called, for he was yet alive after these wounds, and was slain, verse 15; but through his middle, as the word heart is oft used, as Psalm 46:2,[16] and that too not exactly, but more largely understood, as Deuteronomy 4:11;[17] Ezekiel 27:4;[18] Matthew 12:40; or through his body; which might be, and yet the wounds not mortal.  While he was yet alive, or, yet he continued alive, that is, the darts did not dispatch him, and therefore they smite him again, and kill him, verse 15.

Verse 15:[19]  And ten young men that bare Joab’s armour compassed about and smote Absalom, and slew him.

[They hastened]  Hebrew:  they surrounded[20] him, or it, that is, the tree (Vatablus).

And slew him:  Judging that there could be no safety to the king, nor peace to the kingdom, nor security to himself, and all David’s friends and loyal subjects, and good men, if Absalom had lived, as may seem probable from 2 Samuel 19:10, and yet perceiving that the king’s heart was reconcilable to Absalom, notwithstanding his abominable crimes of lying with his father’s concubines, and of horrid and unnatural rebellion; both which were capital crimes by the law of God; he adventured to save David’s life against his will.  But whether Joab did well in this, all things considered, I shall not here determine.

Verse 16:[21]  And Joab blew the trumpet, and the people returned from pursuing after Israel:  for Joab held back the people.

[He held back the people]  He did well.  See on 2 Samuel 2:26; and add Cicero, Epistles 4:7, the wise and good citizen only reluctantly undertakes the beginnings of civil war, and does not willingly pursue extremes (Grotius).  He appears to be content to use his victory modestly, so that he might refrain from civil blood.  He was satisfied with the death of Absalom.  For, he was thinking, that, with the head of the conspiracy cut off, the sedition was able easily to be restrained.  Now, he was of such authority, that all acquiesced in his command (Martyr).

Joab held back the people:  Who otherwise were highly incensed against the rebels, and hotly pursued them.  But the head of the rebellion being cut off, and the danger thereby past, be puts a stop to the effusion of Israelitish blood.

[1] Hebrew:  ‎וַיַּרְא֙ אִ֣ישׁ אֶחָ֔ד וַיַּגֵּ֖ד לְיוֹאָ֑ב וַיֹּ֗אמֶר הִנֵּה֙ רָאִ֣יתִי אֶת־אַבְשָׁלֹ֔ם תָּל֖וּי בָּאֵלָֽה׃

[2] Hebrew: וַיֹּ֣אמֶר יוֹאָ֗ב לָאִישׁ֙ הַמַּגִּ֣יד ל֔וֹ וְהִנֵּ֣ה רָאִ֔יתָ וּמַדּ֛וּעַ לֹֽא־הִכִּית֥וֹ שָׁ֖ם אָ֑רְצָה וְעָלַ֗י לָ֤תֶת לְךָ֙ עֲשָׂ֣רָה כֶ֔סֶף וַחֲגֹרָ֖ה אֶחָֽת׃

[3] Hebrew:  ‎עֲשָׂ֣רָה כֶ֔סֶף.

[4] Hebrew:  ‎וַיֹּ֤אמֶר הָאִישׁ֙ אֶל־יוֹאָ֔ב וְלֻ֙א אָנֹכִ֜י שֹׁקֵ֤ל עַל־כַּפַּי֙ אֶ֣לֶף כֶּ֔סֶף לֹֽא־אֶשְׁלַ֥ח יָדִ֖י אֶל־בֶּן־הַמֶּ֑לֶךְ כִּ֣י בְאָזְנֵ֜ינוּ צִוָּ֣ה הַמֶּ֗לֶךְ אֹ֠תְךָ וְאֶת־אֲבִישַׁ֤י וְאֶת־אִתַּי֙ לֵאמֹ֔ר שִׁמְרוּ־מִ֕י בַּנַּ֖עַר בְּאַבְשָׁלֽוֹם׃

[5] Hebrew:  ‎שֹׁקֵ֤ל עַל־כַּפַּי֙.

[6] Hebrew:  ‎שִׁמְרוּ־מִי.

[7] 2 Samuel 18:22, 23:  “Then said Ahimaaz the son of Zadok yet again to Joab, But howsoever (‎וִ֣יהִי מָ֔ה), let me, I pray thee, also run after Cushi.  And Joab said, Wherefore wilt thou run, my son, seeing that thou hast no tidings ready?  But howsoever (‎וִיהִי־מָה), said he, let me run.  And he said unto him, Run.  Then Ahimaaz ran by the way of the plain, and overran Cushi.”

[8] Rabbi Samuel Laniado (died 1605) was a Syrian Rabbi, head of the community at Aleppo.  He commented on much of the Hebrew Bible, including the Former Prophets (Keli Paz).

[9] Judges 13:17:  “And Manoah said unto the angel of the Lord, What is thy name (מִ֣י שְׁמֶ֑ךָ), that when thy sayings come to pass we may do thee honour?”

[10] Hebrew:  ‎אֽוֹ־עָשִׂ֤יתִי בְנַפְשׁוֹ֙ שֶׁ֔קֶר וְכָל־דָּבָ֖ר לֹא־יִכָּחֵ֣ד מִן־הַמֶּ֑לֶךְ וְאַתָּ֖ה תִּתְיַצֵּ֥ב מִנֶּֽגֶד׃

[11] Thus the Kethib.

[12] Hebrew: וַיֹּ֣אמֶר יוֹאָ֔ב לֹא־כֵ֖ן אֹחִ֣ילָה לְפָנֶ֑יךָ וַיִּקַּח֩ שְׁלֹשָׁ֙ה שְׁבָטִ֜ים בְּכַפּ֗וֹ וַיִּתְקָעֵם֙ בְּלֵ֣ב אַבְשָׁל֔וֹם עוֹדֶ֥נּוּ חַ֖י בְּלֵ֥ב הָאֵלָֽה׃

[13] Hebrew:  לְפָנֶיךָ.

[14] Hebrew:  בְּלֵב.

[15] Lucan’s Pharsalia 7.

[16] Psalm 46:2:  “Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea (‎בְּלֵ֣ב יַמִּֽים׃, into the heart of the sea)…”

[17] Deuteronomy 4:11:  “And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven (‎עַד־לֵ֣ב הַשָּׁמַ֔יִם, unto the heart of heaven), with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness.”

[18] Ezekiel 27:4:  “Thy borders are in the midst of the seas (‎בְּלֵ֥ב יַמִּ֖ים, in the heart of the seas), thy builders have perfected thy beauty.”

[19] Hebrew:  ‎וַיָּסֹ֙בּוּ֙ עֲשָׂרָ֣ה נְעָרִ֔ים נֹשְׂאֵ֖י כְּלֵ֣י יוֹאָ֑ב וַיַּכּ֥וּ אֶת־אַבְשָׁל֖וֹם וַיְמִיתֻֽהוּ׃

[20] Hebrew:  ‎וַיָּסֹבּוּ.

[21] Hebrew:  ‎וַיִּתְקַ֤ע יוֹאָב֙ בַּשֹּׁפָ֔ר וַיָּ֣שָׁב הָעָ֔ם מִרְדֹ֖ף אַחֲרֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל כִּֽי־חָשַׂ֥ךְ יוֹאָ֖ב אֶת־הָעָֽם׃