absalom
 男子名;猶太王大衛的三子


 Absalom
    father of peace; i.e., "peaceful" David's son by Maacah (2 Sam.
    3:3; comp. 1 Kings 1:6). He was noted for his personal beauty
    and for the extra-ordinary profusion of the hair of his head (2
    Sam. 14:25,26). The first public act of his life was the
    blood-revenge he executed against Amnon, David's eldest son, who
    had basely wronged Absalom's sister Tamar. This revenge was
    executed at the time of the festivities connected with a great
    sheep-shearing at Baal-hazor. David's other sons fled from the
    place in horror, and brought the tidings of the death of Amnon
    to Jerusalem. Alarmed for the consequences of the act, Absalom
    fled to his grandfather at Geshur, and there abode for three
    years (2 Sam. 3:3; 13:23-38).

      David mourned his absent son, now branded with the guilt of
    fratricide. As the result of a stratagem carried out by a woman
    of Tekoah, Joab received David's sanction to invite Absalom back
    to Jerusalem. He returned accordingly, but two years elapsed
    before his father admitted him into his presence (2 Sam. 14:28).
    Absalom was now probably the oldest surviving son of David, and
    as he was of royal descent by his mother as well as by his
    father, he began to aspire to the throne. His pretensions were
    favoured by the people. By many arts he gained their affection;
    and after his return from Geshur (2 Sam. 15:7; marg., R.V.) he
    went up to Hebron, the old capital of Judah, along with a great
    body of the people, and there proclaimed himself king. The
    revolt was so successful that David found it necessary to quit
    Jerusalem and flee to Mahanaim, beyond Jordan; where upon
    Absalom returned to Jerusalem and took possession of the throne
    without opposition. Ahithophel, who had been David's chief
    counsellor, deserted him and joined Absalom, whose chief
    counsellor he now became. Hushai also joined Absalom, but only
    for the purpose of trying to counteract the counsels of
    Ahithophel, and so to advantage David's cause. He was so far
    successful that by his advice, which was preferred to that of
    Ahithophel, Absalom delayed to march an army against his father,
    who thus gained time to prepare for the defence.

      Absalom at length marched out against his father, whose army,
    under the command of Joab, he encountered on the borders of the
    forest of Ephraim. Twenty thousand of Absalom's army were slain
    in that fatal battle, and the rest fled. Absalom fled on a swift
    mule; but his long flowing hair, or more probably his head, was
    caught in the bough of an oak, and there he was left suspended
    till Joab came up and pierced him through with three darts. His
    body was then taken down and cast into a pit dug in the forest,
    and a heap of stones was raised over his grave. When the tidings
    of the result of that battle were brought to David, as he sat
    impatiently at the gate of Mahanaim, and he was told that
    Absalom had been slain, he gave way to the bitter lamentation:
    "O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died
    for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!" (2 Sam. 18:33. Comp. Ex.
    32:32; Rom. 9:3).

      Absalom's three sons (2 Sam. 14:27; comp. 18:18) had all died
    before him, so that he left only a daughter, Tamar, who became
    the grandmother of Abijah.



 Absalom, father of peace