Yesterday's portion of our text ended with us being told that "all the troops" heard King David giving the orders that Absalom is to be captured unharmed. David's nephew and top general, Joab, knows exactly what David said but, as usual, he will do what seems best to him. He feels it is in the best interests of David and in the best interests of the nation for Absalom to be taken out of the picture. When an opportunity presents itself to take Absalom out of the picture, Joab will do it. Absalom may be his first cousin and Joab may still harbor some familial affection toward him, but whatever concern or pity he feels toward the young man is outweighed by his concern for the king and his concern for the security of the nation.
"David's army marched out of the city to fight Israel, and the battle took place in the forest of Ephraim. There Israel's troops were routed by David's men, and the casualties that day were great---twenty thousand men. The battle spread out over the whole countryside, and the forest swallowed up more men that day than the sword." (2 Samuel 18:6-8) You'll recall that David divided his men into three divisions headed by Joab, Abishai, and Ittai. These divisions swoop down on Absalom's troops from three different directions, for David is an experienced battle strategist and Absalom (along with his newly appointed general, Amasa) is not. I think perhaps Absalom and his army don't expect to be attacked from so many directions at once and this throws them into confusion and panic, causing many of them to flee the fight and charge into the woods and thickets. The forest of Ephraim contained many pits and steep precipices that were often concealed by the thick vegetation. A number of them probably fell to their deaths without realizing they were about to step off a cliff or fall into a pit. Many others may have suffered disabling injuries that prevented them from being able to extricate themselves, instead succumbing to their injuries or dying of exposure.
"Now Absalom happened to meet David's men. He was riding his mule, and as the mule went under the thick branches of a large oak, Absalom's hair got caught in the tree. He was left hanging in midair, while the mule he was riding kept on going." (2 Samuel 18:9) It's ironic that Absalom's downfall will not be caused by losing the fight but by being caught by something about which he was so vain. In 2 Samuel 14:26 we learned that he had unusually thick, fast-growing hair and that he cut it once a year and weighed it. The insinuation is that he weighed it because he was proud of it. He was so proud of it that he didn't prudently cut it or braid it up out of the way before riding into battle. I think he liked the idea of how he must have looked from behind with his hair, which must have been several feet long, flowing out behind him on the wind. But it's this very vanity that gets him caught in the oak tree. When his mule runs under the tree, the branches catch his flowing hair and he is left hanging with his feet off the ground, unable to reach far enough above his head to loosen himself.
"When one of the men saw what had happened, he told Joab, 'I just saw Absalom hanging in an oak tree.' Joab said to the man who had told him this, 'What! You saw him? Why didn't you strike him to the ground right there? Then I would have had to give you ten shekels of silver and a warrior's belt.'" (2 Samuel 18:10-11) I don't know whether Joab had already secretly made the promise to the men under his command that he would give ten shekels of silver and a warrior's belt to anyone willing to kill Absalom. If not, he's making the promise now if this man will go back to the tree and thrust Absalom through with his sword. But this soldier fears and respects King David more than he wants money and military medals. "But the man replied, 'Even if a thousand shekels were weighed out into my hands, I would not lay a hand on the king's son. In our hearing the king commanded you and Abishai and Ittai, 'Protect the young man Absalom for my sake.' And if I had put my life in jeopardy---and nothing is hidden from the king---you would have kept your distance from me.'" (2 Samuel 18:12-13) He says, "No amount of money would be enough to convince me to kill the king's son. If I did such a thing and the king found out---and the king usually finds out everything!---you would claim you had not commanded me to kill him. You would pretend you knew nothing about it until after it had happened. I could not count on you to defend me. You'd let me be executed."
"Joab said, 'I'm not going to wait like this for you.' So he took three javelins in his hand and plunged them into Absalom's heart while Absalom was still alive in the oak tree. And ten of Joab's armor-bearers surrounded Absalom, struck him and killed him. Then Joab sounded the trumpet, and the troops stopped pursuing Israel, for Joab halted them. They took Absalom, threw him into a big pit in the forest and piled up a large heap of rocks over him. Meanwhile, all the Israelites fled to their homes." (2 Samuel 18:14-17) Joab and his men don't cover Absalom's body in an attempt to conceal it. Their intention is not that he would simply come up missing and that it would be presumed he fell into a pit and died somewhere in the forest. We know this isn't their intention because it quickly becomes common knowledge that Absalom is dead. Later in Chapter 18 we'll find David being informed of his death. Throwing him in a pit and covering him with stones is a method of burial that was commonly used in ancient times when soldiers died at a distance from home. Absalom died at a distance from his home because he crossed over the Jordan River with his troops in pursuit of David. Rather than carrying his body and the bodies of all the fallen troops back to their various hometowns, it makes more sense to use what's available for burial. Since the area is rough and rocky and contains numerous pits, placing the dead in pits and covering them with rocks is actually a respectful burial because it protects their bodies from being scavenged by animals. If Absalom had truly been a king, accepted by all Israel as king and accepted by Joab and all of David's army as a king, naturally the men would have carried his body home to Jerusalem so he could be given a royal funeral and burial.
Another way we can know that Joab and his men aren't attempting to conceal Absalom's body is that the author adds this final verse to our segment today to let us know that Absalom expected to be remembered by a greater, more memorable monument than the pile of stones that now covers his dead body. "During his lifetime Absalom had taken a pillar and erected it in the King's Valley as a monument to himself, for he thought, 'I have no son to carry on the memory of my name.' He named the pillar after himself, and it is called Absalom's Monument to this day." (2 Samuel 18:18) In 2 Samuel 14:27 we were told that Absalom fathered three sons and one daughter. But his unnamed sons must have died in infancy or childhood since none of them is still living when he erects the monument to himself. Only his one daughter, Tamar who is named after his sister, reached adulthood because the author told us that she grew up to be a beautiful woman.
Absalom's life has come to an inglorious end. It can't even be said of him that he died courageously in battle. He might have survived the day and perhaps even the whole war if it had not been for his extreme vanity over his hair. He died without sons to carry on his name and his branch of the family tree. If he had survived, he might have fathered more sons in the future and they might have grown up to become men, but instead he made foolish choices that led to his death and now he has no offspring who can someday make any claims to the throne. This will be to the advantage of David's son Solomon, whom the Lord will choose to succeed David. The line of Absalom is cut off due to his treachery and his selfish ambition and his personal vanity.
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