Ahimaaz, son of the priest Zadok, asked Joab for permission to be the one who tells David of Absalom's demise. Joab cautioned him that this isn't in his best interests. Absalom was David's enemy but he was also his son; David will not be happy or be handing out a reward when given the news. Joab instead told a servant, a Cushite, to run to Mahanaim to tell David. But Ahimaaz insisted on going as well so Joab allowed him to go. This is where we pick up with the narrative today.
"While David was sitting between the inner and outer gates, the watchman went up on the roof of the gateway by the wall. As he looked out, he saw a man running alone. The watchman called out to the king and reported it." (2 Samuel 18:24-25a) This runner is Ahimaaz because we were told that even though the Cushite had a head start on him, Ahimaaz ran by another route and arrived at Mahanaim first.
"The king said, 'If he is alone, he must have good news.' And the runner came closer and closer. Then the watchman saw another runner, and he called down to the gatekeeper, 'Look, another man running alone!" The king said, 'He must be bringing good news, too.'" (2 Samuel 18:25b-26) A large number of men would be running toward the city if David's army was in retreat from the enemy. The sight of two messengers, coming from opposite directions, is taken as a good sign that David's men are winning the battle and that these two messengers are bringing news of victory from two different divisions of his army. We were told that when David sent his men out, he separated them into three divisions: one under his nephew Joab, one under his nephew Abishai, and one under Ittai the Gittite.
David doesn't want Absalom killed but he does want to win the war. He expects his men to fight just as fiercely as if they were fighting foreign invaders, which means inflicting heavy casualties on Absalom's army, but he gave strict instructions that Absalom was to be captured alive.
The runners are getting close enough to the city to be recognizable. The watchman doesn't personally know the Cushite because he is a foreign servant (perhaps a slave). But the watchman knows Ahimaaz and he believes the first runner looks like him. "The watchman said, 'It seems to me the first one runs like Ahimaaz son of Zadok.'" (2 Samuel 18:27a) This is the verse that has caused some scholars to believe Ahimaaz was well known for being an exceptionally fast runner and that the reason he wanted to run to Mahanaim with news of the battle was to show off his athletic skills. If that's the case, pride is what sent him to David with news he won't want to hear, but David doesn't suspect him of any selfish motives. He believes if a man as well known to him as Ahimaaz is running toward the city, it must be to tell him something he will be glad to hear. "'He's a good man,' the king said. 'He comes with good news.'" (2 Samuel 18:27b)
For Ahimaaz's sake, Joab didn't want him to be the person David will always associate with the news of his son's death. He warned the young man, "You are not the one to take the news today." Instead Joab wanted to send the Cushite who David does not know personally and with whom he will probably never have further interactions. It may have been a custom that bad news was delivered in such a manner whenever possible so that the receiver of the bad news won't have to have personal, social, business, or political interactions with the person he will always associate with a tragedy. The reason I think this is because David is relieved to hear that one of the runners is Ahimaaz because he does not think someone as well known to him as Ahimaaz would bring bad tidings to him. Ahimaaz was instrumental earlier in the book in helping David and his people escape from Absalom across the Jordan. David is grateful to him for his bravery and considers him a good man and a friend. In David's day it may have been a major breach of etiquette for someone of a close relationship to bring such a message if someone of a less-close association could bring it instead.
After all his eagerness to get there first, we will see in a moment that Ahimaaz finds himself unable to speak the words he came to say. Maybe he realizes he's made an error in judgment. Maybe he's ashamed of himself when he sees the fear in David's eyes for Absalom's safety. Maybe the fact that David asks only about Absalom, and not about who won the battle or about whether any of his own men fell on the battlefield, takes Ahimaaz aback and causes him to see that Joab was right: David will not receive the news of the death of his enemy in the way Ahimaaz hoped he would. Absalom was more than willing to have David killed but the last thing David wanted was for Absalom to be killed. Ahimaaz failed to take into consideration the love a father has for his child, perhaps because the young Ahimaaz doesn't yet have children of his own. When asked about the safety of Absalom, Ahimaaz can't bring himself to deliver the news but instead assures David that his troops won the battle.
"Then Ahimaaz called out to the king, 'All is well!' He bowed down before the king with his face to the ground and said, 'Praise be to the Lord your God! He has delivered up those who lifted their hands against my lord the king.' The king asked, 'Is the young man Absalom safe?' Ahimaaz answered, 'I saw great confusion just as Joab was about to send the king's servant and me, your servant, but I don't know what it was.' The king said, 'Stand aside and wait here.' So he stepped aside and stood there. Then the Cushite arrived and said, 'My lord the king, hear the good news! The Lord has vindicated you today by delivering you from the hand of all who rose up against you.' The king asked the Cushite, 'Is the young man Absalom safe?' The Cushite replied, 'May the enemies of my lord the king and all who rise up to harm you be like that young man.'" (2 Samuel 18:28-32) The Cushite's words make it clear that Absalom is dead. The way he phrases this news isn't the way we'd do it today but when he says, "May the enemies of my lord the king and all who rise up to harm you be like that young man," it's the same as saying, "He is dead and may everyone who rose up against you meet the same fate."
A lot of criticism has been poured out on David in Bible commentaries for the way he fails to acknowledge the great victory his army won over Absalom's army. These men risked their lives for him and he does not, at first, thank and congratulate them. It will take Joab speaking harshly with him in our next chapter and telling him to get himself together before he will say what he should to his brave soldiers. I understand the criticism of the commentators but at the same time I understand that the loss of his son is the uppermost thing in his mind right now. He is so grief stricken that he can't even be around other people while he processes this terrible news. "The king was shaken. He went up to his room over the gateway and wept. As he went, he said: 'O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you---O Absalom, my son, my son!'" (2 Samuel 18:33)
I feel deeply sorry for David. Like any loving parent, he wishes he could trade places with his son so his son could still be alive. It would not be in the best interests of the nation to have Absalom as king instead of David but David isn't speaking from a political perspective. He's speaking from a father's perspective. It's natural for a loving parent to feel this way. Many a bereaved parent has said exactly what David says in today's text: "I wish it was me who died and not my child!" I feel deeply sorry for David and I think his men do too but at the same time his overwhelming grief for Absalom coupled with his failure to thank his troops causes them to feel as if they did something wrong in fighting for their king. There is no joy in their victory. There is no sense of having done something good for their king and country. In tomorrow's text we'll be told they slink back into the city like men "who are ashamed". It's at that point that Joab has to take the situation in hand and warn David that if he doesn't get a hold of himself, and that if he doesn't come out to address the troops, they will not stand with him again. David is a man who makes mistakes in the Bible (and who doesn't make mistakes?) but he's also a man who is willing to admit his mistakes when confronted with them. He will get up and do what he needs to do for the sake of his men and for the sake of all Israel.
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