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people went out into the field against Israel: and the battle was in the wood of Ephraim; where the people of Israel were slain before the servants of David, and there was there a great slaughter that day of twenty thousand men. For the battle was there scattered over the face of all the country: and the wood devoured more people that day than the sword devoured." (2 Sam. xviii. 6-8.) The Jewish historian gives the following account. "Then did Joab put his army in battle array over against the enemy in the Great Plain, where he had a wood behind him. Now David's men were conquerors, as superior in strength and skill in war; so they followed the others as they fled through the forests and valleys; some they took prisoners, and others they slew, and more in the flight than in the battle."* From these accounts we elicit the following facts. 1. The battle was begun in the plain, and by the division of the army under the command of Joab. 2. The decisive part of the battle was fought in the wood. 3. This wood was at the commencement of the fight in the rear of the victorious army. 4. The ruinous defeat of the rebel army was occasioned by the wood. 5. There were more of the rebel army slain in the disorder of the flight than in the battle. 6. From what is said respecting the messengers who took tidings of the battle to David, it is clear that the field of battle was at some distance from the city.

From these facts, we think it may be safely concluded that Joab and his brother officers had carefully considered the best mode of meeting the rebel army with the greatest advantage, and had decided on a plan which proved eminently successful. In the ordinary course of warfare, we should not find that a battle * JOSEPHUS, Antiq., vii.

would be fought in a wood which, at the beginning of the conflict, was in the rear of the victorious army. This single fact is indicative of some strategy on the part of the victors; and such was, unquestionably, the case here. Joab, determined to avail himself of every advantage the state of the country offered, having informed himself of the approach of the enemy, led out his forces so as to place the wood of Ephraim in his rear. The divisions of the army under Abishai and Ittai were then concealed in the extreme sides of the wood, leaving the division of Joab alone to begin the battle. On the approach of Absalom's army, Joab engaged them; but, being greatly outnumbered, he, according to the plan laid down, gradually retreated under cover of the wood, where he was eagerly pursued by the rebel forces. Having retreated sufficiently for his purpose, Joab made a stand against the enemy, when the divisions of Abishai and Ittai assailed the rebels on their flanks, and thus threw them into inextricable confusion. From this time, it is no longer a battle, but a rout. The superior numbers of the rebels availed them nothing. The royal troops in compact bodies bear down all before them; and, as Josephus says, more were slain in the flight than in the battle." In this confusion, Absalom, to avoid a party of the royal troops, rode his mule under the thick branches of a tree, which, becoming entangled in the long hair of which the prince was proud, held him fast, while the mule passed away from under him, leaving him suspended.

In this state Absalom was found by one of the royal soldiers, who communicated the intelligence to Joab. He, taking no notice of the earnest entreaty of the king on behalf of his son, immediately put him to death, and had his body cast into a pit, and buried

beneath a large heap of stones. Having effected this, he sounded the trumpet, calling off his troops from the pursuit of the rebels. Thus fell this ungrateful son and rebellious prince. He was, as

we have seen, surrounded by strong temptations and various circumstances which, operating on a proud and ambitious spirit, led him into a course of infamous crime, and brought him to a miserable and disgraceful end.

On the death of the usurper, Ahimaaz, the son of the high priest Zadok, who accompanied Joab in the battle, requested that he might be allowed to carry tidings to the king of the successful issue of the conflict. But Joab refused, saying, "Thou shalt not bear tidings this day, because the king's son is dead." Rough and hardy soldier as Joab was, he would not allow a sincere friend of David to take to him intelligence which, although announcing victory, was accompanied by information of the most distressing character. So he called Cushi,* and directed him to go to the king, and tell him what he had seen. Cushi obeyed with alacrity; but, as soon as he was gone, Ahimaaz repeated his request, that he might also be allowed to run; and, being urgent, he at length obtained a reluctant assent. It would seem that by taking a more favourable route, (2 Sam. xviii. 23,) he was enabled to reach the gate of the city some time before Cushi. The watchman on the gate saw the two men running towards the place, and told the king that, from the peculiar action of the foremost, he thought it to be Ahimaaz. David replied, "He is a good man, and bringeth good tidings." As soon as he approached, he shouted to the king, "All is well!" and falling to the earth, he exclaimed, "Blessed be the

* Probably an Ethiopian servant.

Lord thy God, which hath delivered up the men that lifted up their hand against my lord the king." But when David inquired, "Is the young man Absalom safe?" he who so eagerly desired to run with tidings, did not dare to reveal the whole truth; his heart utterly failed him, and he sheltered himself by giving an evasive reply. Just then Cushi came, and said, "Tidings, my lord the king; for the Lord hath avenged thee this day of all them that rose up against thee." But David again showed the great anxiety that rested on his mind, by inquiring, “Is the young man Absalom safe?" to which the messenger replied, "The enemies of my lord the king, and all that rise against thee to do thee hurt, be as that young man is." The paternal heart of David, on receiving this intelligence, poured out a gush of feeling, which renders the scene one of the most remarkable of his life. Hasting to the chamber of the watchman, over the gate, the king retired, weeping and crying aloud, "O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!"

The excess of David's grief on this occasion, the extent to which the king was lost in the father, had nearly produced very serious consequences. When his troops returned to the city from the field of battle, where they had won a hardly-earned victory, they found their sovereign-instead of joyfully receiving them, and acknowledging their devotion and bravery—buried in profound affliction on account of the most important event of the day. Joab saw the impolicy of this conduct, and anticipated its probable results. So proceed. ing to the royal presence, he expostulated with the king, in the blunt and daring manner which he not unfrequently assumed. "Thou hast," said he, "shamed

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this day the faces of all thy servants, which this day have saved thy life, and the lives of thy sons and of thy daughters, and the lives of thy wives, and the lives of thy concubines; in that thou lovest thine enemies, and hatest thy friends. For thou hast declared this day, that thou regardest neither princes nor servants: for this day I perceive, that if Absalom had lived, and all we had died this day, then it had pleased thee well." He then urged the king to arise, and go forth, and speak encouragingly to his troops; assuring him that, unless he did so, every man of them would desert him that night. Roused by this appeal, the king went forth, and took his seat at the gate; when all his people crowded around, congratulating him, and rejoicing at the success of the day.

He who had so often turned his sorrows into songs, and sung of mercy in the midst of judgment, was not likely to allow such an event as this great victory to take place, without celebrating it in poetry, and pouring forth his grateful love to God in the sweetest strains his gifted mind could command. We accordingly find one of the most brilliant, powerful, and pious of his odes composed on this occasion :

:

PSALM CXLIV.

"Blessed be the Lord my strength,

Which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight:

My goodness, and my fortress;

My high tower, and my deliverer;

My shield, and He in whom I trust;

Who subdueth my people under me.