Death of Absalom

As the troops marched out of Mahanaim, David's last word to them all, and especially to his general, Joab, was that they should deal gently with David's traitorous son and avoid, the death of Absalom. The king had himslef devised the plan of battle. As Absalom's forces were advancing toward Mahanaim through a wood a few miles away, David's veterans attacked them from three directions. There was scarcely a battle, only a flight and a pursuit. All the earlier wisdom of Absalom seems to have deserted him, and he had accomanied his army in ostentatious splendor mounted upon a mule, as though engaged in a peaceful pageant.

He fled with his people-- his mule rushing madly through the woods. But this speed, instead of insuring Absalom's escape, proved to be his destruction. The wonderful, bushy hair of which the young man had been so proud, was caught by an overhaning oak bough. His mule sped from under him leaving him to hang there helplessly, unable to free himself. The pursuing soldiers, remembering David's plea, would have spared Absalom, but word of his plight reached Joab, and the fierce warrior had no such compunction. With Absalom again pardoned and restored to favor, perhaps made king, what reward would the treacherous young man have for the general who had defeated him? Hurrying grimly forward, Joab stabbed the entangled prisoner with his own sword, thus ensuring the death of Absalom.

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