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578

SECOND SAMUEL XVIII-DEATH OF ABSALOM

6 ¶ So the people went out into the field against Israel: and the battle was in the wood of Ephraim;

7 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. 8 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. 9 ¶ And Absalom met the servants of David. And Absalom rode upon a mule, and the mule went under the thick boughs of a great oak, and his head caught hold of the oak, and he was taken up between the heaven and the earth; and the mule that was under him went away. 10 And a certain man saw it, and told Joab, and said, Behold, I saw Absalom hanged in an oak.

11 And Joab said unto the man that told him, And, behold, thou sawest him, and why didst thou not smite him there to the ground? and I would have given thee ten shekels of silver, and a girdle.

12 And the man said unto Joab, Though I should receive a thousand shekels of silver in mine hand, yet would I not put forth mine hand against the king's son: for in our hearing the king charged thee and Abishai and Ittai, saying, Beware that none touch the young man

Absalom.

13 Otherwise I should have wrought falsehood against mine own life: for there is no matter hid from the king, and thou thyself wouldest have set thyself against me.

14 Then said Joab, I may not tarry thus with thee. And he took three darts in his hand, and thrust them through the heart of Absalom, while he was yet alive in the midst of the oak.

15 And ten young men that bare Joab's armour compassed about and smote Absalom, and slew him.

16 And Joab blew the trumpet, and the people returned from pursuing after Israel: for Joab held back the people.

17 And they took Absalom, and cast him into a great pit in the wood, and laid a very great heap of stones upon him: and all Israel fled every one to his tent.

18 ¶ Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself a pillar, which is in the king's dale: for he said, I have no son to keep my name in remembrance: and he called the pillar after his own name: and it is called unto this day, Absalom's place.

19 ¶Then said Ahimaaz the son of Zadok, Let me now run, and bear the king tidings, how that the LORD hath avenged him of his enemies. 20 And Joab said unto him, Thou shalt not bear tidings this day, but thou shalt bear tidings another day: but this day thou shalt bear no tidings, because the king's son is dead.

21 Then said Joab to Cushi, Go tell the king what thou hast seen. And Cushi bowed himself unto Joab, and ran.

22 Then said Ahimaaz the son of Zadok yet again to Joab, But

Jerusalem

MAP.

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"And David and all Israel went to Jerusalem, which is Jebus; where the Jebusites were, the inhabitants of the land." -I. Chron., 11, 4.

J

́ERUSALEM did not wholly and properly become a Hebrew city until David's time. It had indeed been captured in Joshua's day and used apparently as a capital by Saul. Yet the original inhabitants, the Jebusites, retained partial possession of it. Then came David's first great military exploit as king. He stormed Jerusalem, conquered even its central portion, the citadel of the Jebusites, and made the city his capital. Since then it has always remained the chief city of Palestine.

King David "dwelt in the castle; therefore they called it the city of David." He also "built the city round about." His general Joab "repaired the rest of the city." Under David, Jerusalem became also the chief religious centre of the Israelites, the shrine of the celebrated ark. Then Solomon built "the house of the Lord at Jerusalem in mount Moriah." The site of this was a "threshing floor," whereon David had erected an altar to God in the time of a great plague, hence apparently Mount Moriah had not before been within the walls of the city. Solomon extended these walls about his temple; then he built palaces for himself and his queens. David had also built himself a palace, so that the city now took on a look of splendor very different from its earlier ruggedness as a mountain fortress.

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