ABSALOM (Hebrew for " father of [or is] peace ")

This article appears in Volume V01, Page 73 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

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ABSALOM (Hebrew for " father of [or is] peace ") , in the Bible, the third son of David, king of

Israel

ISRAEL (Hebrew for " God strives " or " rules "; see Gen. xxxii. 28; and the allusion in Hosea xii. 4)

. He was deemed the handsomest man in the kingdom. His sister Tamar having been violated by David's eldest son Amnon, Absalom, after waiting two years, caused his servants to murder Amnon at a feast to which he had invited all the king's sons (2 Sam. xiii.). After this deed he fled to Talmai, " king " of Geshur (see Josh. xii. 5 or xiii. 2), his maternal grandfather, and it was not until five years later that he was fully reinstated in his father's favour (see JOAB). Four years after this he raised a revolt at Hebron, the former

capital

CAPITAL (i.e. capital stock or fund)
CAPITAL (Lat. caput, head)

. Absalom was now the eldest surviving son of David, and the present position of the narratives (xv.-xx.)---after the

birth

BIRTH (a word common in various forms to Teutonic languages from the root of the verb " to bear ")

of Solomon and before the struggle between Solomon and Adonijahmay represent the view that the suspicion that he was not the destined

heir

HEIR (Lat. heres, from a root meaning to grasp, seen in heres or erus, master of a
house
- HOUSE
- HOUSE (O. Eng. hiss, a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Dut. huis, Ger. Haus; in
  Gothic
  - GOTHIC
  it is only found in gudhiss, a temple; it may be ultimately connected with the root of " hide," conceal)
, Gr. xeip, hand, Sans. hat ana, hand)

of his father's throne excited the impulsive youth to rebellion. All

Israel

ISRAEL (Hebrew for " God strives " or " rules "; see Gen. xxxii. 28; and the allusion in Hosea xii. 4)

and Judah flocked to his side, and David, attended only by the Cherethites and Pelethites and some

recent

RECENT

recruits from

Gath

GATH

, found it expedient to flee. The priests remained behind in Jerusalem, and their sons Jonathan and, Ahimaaz served as his spies. Absalom reached the

capital

CAPITAL (i.e. capital stock or fund)
CAPITAL (Lat. caput, head)

and took counsel with the renowned Ahithophel. The pursuit was continued and David took

refuge

REFUGE

beyond the Jordan. A battle was fought in the "

wood

of Ephraim " (the name suggests a locality west of the Jordan) and Absalom's army was completely routed. He himself was caught in the boughs of an oak-tree, and as David had strictly charged his men to deal gently with the young man, Joab was informed. What a common soldier refused to do even for a thousand shekels of silver, the king's general at once undertook. Joab thrust three spears through the heart of Absalom as he struggled in the branches, and as though this were not enough, his ten armour-bearers came around and slew him. The king's overwhelming grief is well known. A great heap of stones was erected where he fell, whilst another monument near Jerusalem (not the modern " Absalom's Tomb," which is of later origin) he himself had erected in his lifetime to perpetuate his name (2 Sam. xviii. 17 seq.). But the latter notice does not seem to agree with xiv. 27 (cf. 1 Kings xv. 2). On the narratives in 2 Sam. xiii.-xix., see further DAVID; SAMUEL, BOOKS OF.

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