Shmuel II Chapter 18 | The Battle of Avshalom’s Rebellion

In our chapter, David successfully subdues the rebellion, and once again, he emerges victorious over his enemies.  We’ll highlight a few themes that run throughout our chapter:

1. Battle Strategy: When David fled Jerusalem, he was accompanied by elite units, likely giving him a more skilled but significantly smaller army. As a result, it would be difficult for David to retake the land west of the Jordan River in an open battle. Instead, he was forced to lie in ambush, defending a position carefully chosen to leverage the advantages of his smaller force. The armies clashed in a wooded area, a challenging terrain for a large force with many divisions to operate effectively. This environment caused Avshalom’s forces to disperse to the point where even the leader of the rebellion, caught in a tree, was left isolated and unprotected.

2. "Deal Gently with Young Avshalom": David’s paternal love is a recurring theme in this story, as seen in his repeated use of the term "my son", in Chapter 20. David struggles with the tension between treating Avshalom as an enemy and acknowledging him as his beloved son. When commanding his officers not to harm Avshalom, David refers to him as a "young man," implying that he views Avshalom’s rebellion as the reckless act of an impulsive youth rather than the calculated actions of a murderous traitor. However, the people, having heard David’s order, stop referring to him as "the young man" and instead call him simply "Avshalom": “For my sake, deal gently with young Avshalom. And the troops all heard the king’s orders about Avshalom to all the of his officials.” Ultimately, Yoav’s decision to kill Avshalom stems from a different perspective: he sees Avshalom not as David’s son but as an enemy.

3. Parallels to the Binding of Yitzchak: Several parallels can be drawn between our story here and the Akeida. In both, a father faces the potential loss of his beloved son, someone intervenes with words like "Do not lay your hand," and the one who is ultimately killed is found entangled in a thicket. A striking linguistic parallel appears in Yoav’s actions: Yoav spares the lives of the Israelites by sounding the trumpet to halt the battle, while Avraham did not spare his son. This contrast shows us that unlike Avraham, who was willing to sacrifice his beloved son for God, David spares his son, failing to discipline or confront him adequately. The result being the death of many Israelites.

4. Parallel to the News of the Ark’s Capture: Our story also parallels the account of Eli’s death. In both, the leader sits at the city gate, waiting for news. In both cases, the fathers failed to discipline their children in time, and in the end, both they and their children paid the price for their failings.