Matthew Henry on 2 Samuel 18:1-8
Which way David raised an army here, and what reinforcements were sent him, we are not told; many, it is likely, from all the coasts of Israel, at least from the neighbouring tribes, came in to his assistance, so that, by degrees, he was able to make head against Absalom, as Ahithophel foresaw. Now here we have,
I. His army numbered and marshalled, Sa2 18:1, Sa2 18:2. He had, no doubt, committed his cause to God by prayer, for that was his relief in all his afflictions; and then he took an account of his forces. Josephus says they were, in all, but about 4000. These he divided into regiments and companies, to each of which he appointed proper officers, and then disposed them, as is usual, in…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on 2 Samuel 18:7
the people of Israel were slain--This designation, together with the immense slaughter mentioned later, shows the large extent to which the people were enlisted in this unhappy civil contest.
Adam Clarke on 2 Samuel 18:7
Twenty thousand men - Whether these were slain on the field of battle, or whether they were reckoned with those slain in the wood of Ephraim, we know not.
John Gill on 2 Samuel 18:7
Where the people of Israel were slain before the servants of David,.... That is, the people of Israel that were under Absalom, these were beaten by David's army:
and there was a great slaughter that day of twenty thousand men; including both those that fell in the field of battle, and that were slain in the pursuit; and this is to be understood only of Absalom's party.
Keil & Delitzsch on 2 Samuel 18:6-7
Battle in the wood of Ephraim, and death of Absalom. - Sa2 18:6, Sa2 18:7. When the people, i.e., David's army, had advanced into the field against Israel (those who followed Absalom), a battle was fought "in the wood of Ephraim," when Israel was smitten by David's warriors and sustained a loss of 20,000 men. The question, where the "wood of Ephraim" was situated, is a disputed one. But both the name and the fact that, according to Jos 17:15-16, the tribe-land of Ephraim abounded in forests, favour the idea that it was a wood in the inheritance of Ephraim, on this side of the Jordan; and this is in perfect harmony with the statement in Sa2 18:23, that Ahimaaz took the way of the Jordan valle…
