8/24/2006

Battle of the forest

2 Samuel 18:6-8 - The army marched into the field to fight Israel, and the battle took place in the forest of Ephraim. There the army of Israel was defeated by David's men, and the casualties that day were great—twenty thousand men. The battle spread out over the whole countryside, and the forest claimed more lives that day than the sword.

I wonder if the 20,000 were all on Absalom's side or if that number included both sides. In either case, that's a lot of men for one battle in just one day.

Again, I wonder why David didn't stay to defend Jerusalem. He had thousands of men with him -- perhaps tens of thousands. Why did he tire them out by fleeing into the countryside first? (Not that it mattered in the end.)

I wonder what creatures and features of the forest killed so many men. Lions? Bears? Quicksand? Pits? Trees?? Or does the writer mean that being in the forest aided David's men in killing Absalom's men? That seems to be a stretch though. Were David's men better trained to fight in the terrain?

No comments:

Post a Comment