220 BATTLES OF THE BIBLE.

the Gittite. The king stood beside the gate of the city
while the army was marching out; and in the hearing
of all the people he gave to the three captains this com-
mand, “ Deal gently, for my sake, with the young man,
even with Absalom.”

George. Was David’s army large?

Grandfather. It could not have been large. We are
not told in the Bible the exact number of it; but Jose-
phus calls it four thousand.

Johnnie. Four thousand is a great deal of money.

George. It is not money, it is men that we are speak-
ing about. You have been sleeping surely.

Johnnie. No, no,—I heard quite well. Tell on,
grandfather, what did the four thousand do?

Grandfather. They fought in the wood of Ephraim
against a very large army, and beat them. Twenty
thousand were killed, many of them by the sword, but a
greater number by the pits and bogs, and wild beasts of
the wood. Absalom got upon his mule to fly, but as he
was passing under a large oak tree, the thick branches
caught hold of his long hair, and there he was left
hanging, the mule walking away. A soldier of David’s
army saw Absalom in the oak, and told Joab. The
captain asked why he had not killed him, and said that
if he had, he would have given him ten shekels,
or half crowns, and a girdle. The man said that
though he had got a thousand shekels, he would not
have touched Absalom, because of the charge that the
king had given, when his army were setting out to the