Absalom Slain
The Army (1-5)
At Mahanaim, David numbered and divided his troops equally among his three generals: Joab, Abishai, and Ittai. The king then readied himself to lead the troops to battle, but was dissuaded for the obvious reason that he would be the primary focus of any attack. Because protecting David would complicate their battle strategies, the generals persuaded David to stay at Mahanaim with a small reserve force. David reviewed the army as it departed and gave orders to the generals, for all to hear, not to harm Absalom (1-5).
The Battle (6-10)
Instead of waiting, David’s army took the battle to Absalom, and the two armies clashed in the forest of Ephraim. The place was too daunting, the thickets and underbrush a harum-scarum labyrinth of reckless growth. The less-skilled warriors of Absalom’s army were in over their heads. David’s seasoned army had an immediate and decisive advantage. In the end, the forest was a greater enemy to them than the swords of David’s army. Even Absalom, while seeking to escape, was jerked off the back of his mule. As he turned his head to look back, his neck slammed into the fork of a terebinth tree, leaving him dangling between Heaven and Earth (6-10).
The Execution (11-18)
Absalom’s predicament was reported to Joab, who was incensed that the one reporting did not kill Absalom (11). The soldier who witnessed Absalom’s dangling told Joab that no amount of money would have tempted him to kill Absalom, for he had heard the king’s wishes regarding his son (12). Further, he knew if he had killed Absalom, Joab, absent of character, would not have supported his action before the king (13). Joab then incautiously went to Absalom’s pendulous body and stabbed Absalom with three javelins. Then, with three javelins being inadequate, Joab had 10 armor-bearers finish him off (14-15).
Joab then blew the trumpet, David’s troops ceased pursuing Israel, and his men unceremoniously threw the body of Absalom into a pit and tossed stones over it (16-18).
The Grieving (19-33)
Ahimaaz (Zadok’s son) got in Joab’s face and wanted to run with the news (19). He had once been the bearer of bad news carried from Hushai—“You must immediately cross the river (17:21),” but now he wanted to bear the good news of victory. Even more, he may have wanted to soften the blow concerning the fate of Absalom.
Joab instead sent an Ethiopian runner. Ahimaaz persisted with Joab to let him run anyway. Exasperated, Joab finally let him go.
The Ethiopian no doubt took the short but slow route through the forest of Ephriam with all its hills and obstacles. Ahimaaz took a different route, the longer route, along the Jordan Valley, the ravine of Jabbok. Eventually, Ahimaaz outran the Ethiopian. When Ahimaaz arrived, he breathlessly told the king his army was victorious. Ahimaaz avoided answering the king's anxious question about Absolom. He knew the answer, for Joab had not wanted him to carry the news because he had told Ahimaaz that Absalom was dead (20-23).
The Ethiopian runner then arrived and discreetly answered the question concerning Absalom. “May the enemies of my lord the king and all who rise up against you for evil be like that young man” (32). The wise answer was proclaiming the sovereign will of God as driving this entire portion of Israel’s history. From the moment Ahithophel counseled Absalom on how to defeat David and usurp God’s crown from his head, “The Lord had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, so that the Lord might bring harm upon Absalom” (17:14b). Every activity of God was aimed at bringing harm to Absalom and nothing would discourage His resolve, not even a sentimental king.
Then David began to grieve deeply, more concerned over the loss of his son than the ordained purposes of Yahweh (24-33).
Yahweh's Excellent Word
Psalm 119 is a “Wisdom Psalm” whose author is unknown, and yet there is reason to believe it was written by Ezra in the post-exilic times. It is an acrostic Psalm, constructed into twenty-two eight-verse stanzas corresponding to the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
The Psalm is self outlined in the sense of the acrostic, so let me fill in the literary background of the Psalm to give it meaning in relationship to the time of its writing. Because the evidence of Ezra's authorship is most likely, I will assume throughout my review that Ezra is the author.
Ezra's main theme in the Psalm is Yahweh (appearing twenty-four times in the text). Ezra's main subject of the Psalm is the “word” which appears 175 times in 176 verses in some form, and it appears in every verse except verses 3, 37, 84, 90, 121, 122, and 132.
The basic words used for “word”:
“Law” 25 times,
“Testimonies” 23 times
“Precepts” 21 times
“Statutes” 22 times
“Commandments” 22 times
“Judgments”/“ordinances” 33 times
“Word” (Hebrew davar, ordevarim) 23 times
“Word” (imrah) 30 times
Ezra uses afflictions as the circumstantial backdrop for his Psalm, the word appearing in verses 8, 20, 22, 23, 25, 28, 39, 42, 50, 51, 53, 61, 67, 69, 71, 75, 78, 81–87, 92, 94, 95, 107, 110, 115, 121– 23, 134, 136, 141, 143, 145–47, 149, 150, 153, 154, 157, 161, 170, and 176.
The aim of Ezra is clear: he is calling upon Yahweh to deliver him, thus Judah, according to His word and for the sake of His lovingkindness, so that those who consider the act of honoring Yahweh and His word fruitless will have their insults buried beneath Yahweh's faithfulness. He further commits to bearing faithful witness to the world concerning Yahweh's promise-keeping nature, and further he is ready to surrender to wholehearted obedience to Yahweh's command.
Place this Psalm against the background of Judah’s returning from Babylon to rebuild the Wall of the City of Jerusalem on the basis of God's word. You can see Ezra writing this Psalm to imprint on the heart and minds of Yahweh's people the great faith they should have in Yahweh to fulfill what He had started, according to His promise.
Observation: This Psalm serves as a motivating song, reviving faith in Yahweh's word against the adversaries wishing to stop Judah's resettlement and rebuilding. After Judah had rebuilt the wall, the nation asked the scribe Ezra to come and read the law. He did so at the Water Gate (Nehemiah 8). A revival of God's word was sweeping the nation at this time. It is hard to imagine this Psalm not being written by Ezra at this time.
Purpose: To show us how to pray when we are partway through God’s completing and fulfilling a word Yahweh has spoken into our lives, restoring and renewing our faith in His promises.