Antiquities of the Jews — Book 7, Chapter 10

1. And this was the state of David and his followers: but Absalom got
together a vast army of the Hebrews to oppose his father, and passed
therewith over the river Jordan, and sat down not far off Mahanaim, in
the country of Gilead. He appointed Amasa to be captain of all his host,
instead of Joab his kinsman: his father was Ithra and his mother
Abigail: now she and Zeruiah, the mother of Joab, were David's sisters.
But when David had numbered his followers, and found them to be about
four thousand, he resolved not to tarry till Absalom attacked him, but
set over his men captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds, and
divided his army into three parts; the one part he committed to Joab,
the next to Abishai, Joab's brother, and the third to Ittai, David's
companion and friend, but one that came from the city Gath; and when he
was desirous of fighting himself among them, his friends would not let
him: and this refusal of theirs was founded upon very wise reasons:
"For," said they, "if we be conquered when he is with us, we have lost
all good hopes of recovering ourselves; but if we should be beaten in
one part of our army, the other parts may retire to him, and may thereby
prepare a greater force, while the enemy will naturally suppose that he
hath another army with him." So David was pleased with this their
advice, and resolved himself to tarry at Mahanaim; and as he sent his
friends and commanders to the battle, he desired them to show all
possible alacrity and fidelity, and to bear in mind what advantages they
had received from him, which, though they had not been very great, yet
had they not been quite inconsiderable; and he begged of them to spare
the young man Absalom, lest some mischief should befall himself, if he
should be killed; and thus did he send out his army to the battle, and
wished them victory therein.

2. Then did Joab put his army in battle-array over against the enemy in
the Great Plain, where he had a wood behind him. Absalom also brought
his army into the field to oppose him. Upon the joining of the battle,
both sides showed great actions with their hands and their boldness; the
one side exposing themselves to the greatest hazards, and using their
utmost alacrity, that David might recover his kingdom; and the other
being no way deficient, either in doing or suffering, that Absalom might
not be deprived of that kingdom, and be brought to punishment by his
father for his impudent attempt against him. Those also that were the
most numerous were solicitous that they might not be conquered by those
few that were with Joab, and with the other commanders, because that
would be the greater disgrace to them; while David's soldiers strove
greatly to overcome so many ten thousands as the enemy had with them.
Now David's men were conquerors, as superior in strength and skill in
war; so they followed the others as they fled away through the forests
and valleys; some they took prisoners, and many they slew, and more in
the flight than in the battle for there fell about twenty thousand that
day. But all David's men ran violently upon Absalom, for he was easily
known by his beauty and tallness. He was himself also afraid lest his
enemies should seize on him, so he got upon the king's mule, and fled;
but as he was carried with violence, and noise, and a great motion, as
being himself light, he entangled his hair greatly in the large boughs
of a knotty tree that spread a great way, and there he hung, after a
surprising manner; and as for the beast, it went on farther, and that
swiftly, as if his master had been still upon his back; but he, hanging
in the air upon the boughs, was taken by his enemies. Now when one of
David's soldiers saw this, he informed Joab of it; and when the general
said, that if he had shot at and killed Absalom, he would have given him
fifty shekels,—he replied, "I would not have killed my master's son if
thou wouldst have given me a thousand shekels, especially when he
desired that the young man might be spared in the hearing of us all."
But Joab bade him show him where it was that he saw Absalom hang;
whereupon he shot him to the heart, and slew him, and Joab's armor-
bearers stood round the tree, and pulled down his dead body, and cast it
into a great chasm that was out of sight, and laid a heap of stones upon
him, till the cavity was filled up, and had both the appearance and the
bigness of a grave. Then Joab sounded a retreat, and recalled his own
soldiers from pursuing the enemy's army, in order to spare their
countrymen.

3. Now Absalom had erected for himself a marble pillar in the king's
dale, two furlongs distant from Jerusalem, which he named Absalom's
Hand, saying, that if his children were killed, his name would remain by
that pillar; for he had three sons and one daughter, named Tamar, as we
said before, who when she was married to David's grandson, Rehoboam,
bare a son, Abijah by name, who succeeded his father in the kingdom; but
of these we shall speak in a part of our history which will be more
proper. After the death of Absalom, they returned every one to their own
homes respectively.

4. But now Ahimaaz, the son of Zadok the high priest, went to Joab, and
desired he would permit him to go and tell David of this victory, and to
bring him the good news that God had afforded his assistance and his
providence to him. However, he did not grant his request, but said to
him, "Wilt thou, who hast always been the messenger of good news, now go
and acquaint the king that his son is dead?" So he desired him to
desist. He then called Cushi, and committed the business to him, that he
should tell the king what he had seen. But when Ahimaaz again desired
him to let him go as a messenger, and assured him that he would only
relate what concerned the victory, but not concerning the death of
Absalom, he gave him leave to go to David. Now he took a nearer road
than the former did, for nobody knew it but himself, and he came before
Cushi. Now as David was sitting between the gates, 18 and waiting to see
when somebody would come to him from the battle, and tell him how it
went, one of the watchmen saw Ahimaaz running, and before he could
discern who he was, he told David that he saw somebody coming to him,
who said he was a good messenger. A little while after, he informed him
that another messenger followed him; whereupon the king said that he
also was a good messenger: but when the watchman saw Ahimaaz, and that
he was already very near, he gave the king notice that it was the son of
Zadok the high priest who came running. So David was very glad, and said
he was a messenger of good tidings, and brought him some such news from
the battle as he desired to hear.

5. While the king was saying thus, Ahimaaz appeared, and worshipped the
king. And when the king inquired of him about the battle, he said he
brought him the good news of victory and dominion. And when he inquired
what he had to say concerning his son, he said that he came away on the
sudden as soon as the enemy was defeated, but that he heard a great
noise of those that pursued Absalom, and that he could learn no more,
because of the haste he made when Joab sent him to inform him of the
victory. But when Cushi was come, and had worshipped him, and informed
him of the victory, he asked him about his son, who replied, "May the
like misfortune befall thine enemies as hath befallen Absalom." That
word did not permit either himself or his soldiers to rejoice for the
victory, though it was a very great one; but David went up to the
highest part of the city, 19 and wept for his son, and beat his breast,
tearing [the hair of] his head, tormenting himself all manner of ways,
and crying out, "O my son! I wish that I had died myself, and ended my
days with thee!" for he was of a tender natural affection, and had
extraordinary compassion for this son in particular. But when the army
and Joab heard that the king mourned for his son, they were ashamed to
enter the city in the habit of conquerors, but they all came in as cast
down, and in tears, as if they had been beaten. Now while the king
covered himself, and grievously lamented his son, Joab went in to him,
and comforted him, and said, "O my lord the king, thou art not aware
that thou layest a blot on thyself by what thou now doest; for thou
seemest to hate those that love thee, and undergo dangers for thee nay,
to hate thyself and thy family, and to love those that are thy bitter
enemies, and to desire the company of those that are no more, and who
have been justly slain; for had Absalom gotten the victory, and firmly
settled himself in the kingdom, there had been none of us left alive,
but all of us, beginning with thyself and thy children, had miserably
perished, while our enemies had not wept for his, but rejoiced over us,
and punished even those that pitied us in our misfortunes; and thou art
not ashamed to do this in the case of one that has been thy bitter
enemy, who, while he was thine own son hath proved so wicked to thee.
Leave off, therefore, thy unreasonable grief, and come abroad and be
seen of thy soldiers, and return them thanks for the alacrity they
showed in the fight; for I myself will this day persuade the people to
leave thee, and to give the kingdom to another, if thou continuest to do
thus; and then I shall make thee to grieve bitterly and in earnest."
Upon Joab's speaking thus to him, he made the king leave off his sorrow,
and brought him to the consideration of his affairs. So David changed
his habit, and exposed himself in a manner fit to be seen by the
multitude, and sat at the gates; whereupon all the people heard of it,
and ran together to him, and saluted him. And this was the present state
of David's affairs.