2 Samuel 18:9

THE AMAZING MANNER OF ABSALOM'S DEATH

"And Absalom chanced to meet the servants of David. Absalom was riding upon his mule, and the mule went under the thick branches of a great oak, and his head caught fast in the oak, and he was left hanging between heaven and earth, while the mule that was under him went on.. And a certain man saw it and told Joab, "Behold, I saw Absalom hanging in an oak." Joab said to the man who told him, "What, you saw him! Why then, did you not strike him there to the ground? I would have been glad to give you ten pieces of silver and a girdle." But the man said to Joab, "Even if I held in my hand the weight of a thousand pieces of silver, I would not put forth my hand against the king's son; for in our hearing the king commanded you and Abishai and Ittai, `For my sake, protect the young man Absalom.' On the other hand, if I had dealt treacherously against his life (and there is nothing hidden from the king), then you yourself would have stood aloof." Joab said, "I will not waste time like this with you." And he took three darts in his hand, and thrust them into the heart of Absalom, while he was still alive in the oak. And ten young men, Joab's armor bearers, surrounded Absalom and struck him and killed him."

"His head caught fast in the oak" (2 Samuel 18:9). We are indebted to Josephus for the tradition that Absalom's hair was a factor in this episode. He wrote that, "He entangled his hair greatly in the large boughs of a knotty oak tree, but the beast went swiftly on; and there he hung after a surprising manner."[13] The sacred text does not support Josephus' account of what happened. Absalom was caught, not by his hair, but by his head. "Absalom, riding headlong on uneven ground, was carried with force into an oak tree, so that his head stuck in a fork between two branches, and he perhaps lost consciousness."[14] This is likely true, because there is no account of his trying to dislodge himself. Of course, the mule went on, leaving his rider suspended between heaven and earth.

"Thus the most notable victim of the forest was Absalom himself."[15] Matthew Henry noted that for especially notorious rebels against God's will, the Lord often provided some SPECTACULAR manner of taking them from the face of the earth, as in the rebellion of Korah, and here in the case of Absalom.

"If I had dealt treacherously against his life ... then you yourself would have stood aloof" (2 Samuel 18:13). "The man who thus answered Joab was not only loyal to King David, but he also thoroughly understood the unscrupulous character of Joab."[16]

"And he (Joab) took three darts ... and thrust them into the heart of Absalom, while he was still alive" (2 Samuel 18:14). The last clause here shows that the darts did not kill Absalom. "These weapons were inferior, being merely wooden stakes sharpened and hardened in the fire."[17] Joab evidently used these since they were the only weapons immediately at hand. "Absalom's heart, mentioned here, is not a reference to the blood pump, but refers to the midst of Absalom's body."[18] That this is indeed true appears from the fact that. "The word "heart" occurs in 2 Samuel 18:14, which in the KJV is rendered, while he was still alive in the midst of the oak."[19] Therefore, if heart means "midst of the oak" in this same passage, it has to mean in the midst of Absalom's body in the previous verse.

Was it right for Joab to kill Absalom? No! However, his action is understandable in the light of his knowledge that, in all probability, David would have spared Absalom's life, if he had been captured. Joab should have captured him and have carried him to David for the decision. Joab was not king and did not have the right to take a decision of this kind into his own hands.