184 DAVID’S

wood of Ephraim. David’s soldiers
soon conquered the rebellious peo-
ple; and twenty thousand were
slain. Absalom rode upon a mule,
and tried to escape; but as he went
through the wood, his long hair
caught in the branches of an oak,
and “he was taken up between the
heaven and the earth.” The mule
went away, and Absalom hung in
the oak; so that he could not es-
cape. One of David’s soldiers saw
Absalom hanging, but the man did
not hurt him, because he remem-
bered David’s command; but he
told Joab; and Joab took three
darts, and went to the tree where
Absalom hung, and smote him, and
killed him. So the battle was end-
ed,and David’s soldiers had the vic-
tory.

But where was David himself;
He did not see the battle. He was
waiting by the gate of the city Ma-
hanaim to hear the news; and the
watchman went up to the top of the
wall to look. At last the watchman
saw a man running, and he told the
king. Then David began to trem-
ble; he felt very much afraid. Soon
after, another man was seen running.
The first soon came to David, and
fell down, and said, “God has de-
livered up the men who lifted their
hand against the king.” But David
thought most about his son; and
he asked, “Is the young man Absa-
lom safe?” The messenger said,
“T cannot tell” Then the other
man came to David, and said, “The
Lord has avenged thee this day of
all them that rose up against thee.”
But David could not attend to the
victory ; he thought only about Ab-
salom, and he cried again, “Is the
young man Absalom safe?” The

 

FLIGHT.

messenger did not wish to grieve
the king; he could not then tell
him the whole of the sad story; he
only said, “ May the king’s enemies
all be as that young man is now.”
David understood what this meant ;
he knew how it was with Absalom ;
and he could not bear to hear more.
He arose directly and went to” his
own room, for he wished to be alone;
and as he went up, he cried very,
very sorrowfully. “O my son Absa-
lom, my son, my son Absalom! O
Absalom, my son, my son!”

This is a sad story. Absalom
knew what was right. He had
learned what he ought to do. David
had taught him to serve God; he
had talked to him about holy things;
he had prayed for him. But Absa-
lom had not attended; he had not
prayed for himself ; he had not
cared about God. God is angry
with those children who will not at-
tend to their parents’ and teachers’
holy lessons.

Joab did not like David to mourn
so much for Absalom. All the peo-
ple were very glad that the rebels
were conquered, and Joab wanted
David to go and speak comfortably
to them. Joab was a wise captain,
but he was not a kind friend. He
was not gentle to David in his trou-
ble. When our friends are unhap- |
py, we ought to speak very kindly
to them, and try to comfort them ;
but Joab spoke very harshly to
David.

David could not forget his poor
son, but he knew that he must not
be idle when there was so much for
him to do; so he attended to Joab
and arose, and sat by the gate, and
his people came to him.. They were
very glad to see him again; and to