Absalom Dies and David Mourns

David organised the people who were with him and appointed commanders over thousands and over hundreds. He wanted to go out to battle with them, but the people urged him to stay in the city, saying he was worth far more to them than many soldiers. So David stood by the gate as the troops went out. Before they left, he publicly commanded Joab, Abishai and Ittai to deal gently with the young man Absalom.

The battle was fought in the forest of Ephraim. David's servants defeated Israel there, and twenty thousand men fell that day. The fighting spread across the countryside, and the forest took more lives than the sword. Absalom, riding on his mule, passed under a great oak and was left hanging there when the mule went on. A man saw him and told Joab, but he would not strike Absalom because he had heard the king's command.

Joab did not obey David's order. He took three darts and struck Absalom while he was still alive in the oak, and then Joab's young armour-bearers surrounded Absalom and killed him. Joab blew the trumpet and called the troops back from pursuing Israel. Absalom was thrown into a great pit in the forest, and a large heap of stones was raised over him. The passage also says Absalom had earlier set up a pillar for himself because he said he had no son to keep his name in memory.

After the battle, Ahimaaz wanted to carry the news, but Joab sent a Cushite first because the king's son was dead. Even so, Ahimaaz ran and arrived first. David was sitting between the two gates as the watchman reported the runners. Ahimaaz announced victory, and David immediately asked whether Absalom was safe. Ahimaaz did not give a clear answer. Then the Cushite arrived and answered in a way that showed Absalom had died like the king's enemies.

David was deeply shaken. He went up to the room over the gate and wept, crying again and again for Absalom, his son, and wishing he had died instead. Word spread quickly, and the day of victory became a day of mourning for the army. The soldiers slipped back into the city quietly, like people ashamed after fleeing in battle, because they heard how the king grieved.

Then Joab came to the king and spoke sharply. He said David had shamed the servants who had saved his life and the lives of his household. Joab accused him of acting as though those who loved him meant nothing. He warned that if David did not go out and encourage his servants, not one man would remain with him that night, and that would be worse than all the trouble he had faced before.