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[245]
But now Ahimaaz, the son of Zadok the high priest, went to Joab,
and desired he would permit him to go and tell David of this victory, and
to bring him the good news that God had afforded his assistance and his
providence to him. However, he did not grant his request, but said to him,
"Wilt thou, who hast always been the messenger of good news, now go
and acquaint the king that his son is dead?" So he desired him to
desist. He then called Cushi, and committed the business to him, that he
should tell the king what he had seen. But when Ahimaaz again desired him
to let him go as a messenger, and assured him that he would only relate
what concerned the victory, but not concerning the death of Absalom, he
gave him leave to go to David. Now he took a nearer road than the former
did, for nobody knew it but himself, and he came before Cushi. Now as David
was sitting between the gates,1
and waiting to see when somebody would come to him from the battle, and
tell him how it went, one of the watchmen saw Ahimaaz running, and before
be could discern who he was, be told David that he saw somebody coming
to him, who said he was a good messenger. A little while after, he informed
him that another messenger followed him; whereupon the king said that he
also was a good messenger: but when the watchman saw Ahimaaz, and that
he was already very near, he gave the king notice that it was the son of
Zadok the high priest who came running. So David was very glad, and said
he was a messenger of good tidings, and brought him some such news from
the battle as be desired to hear.
1 Those that take a view of my description of the gates of the temple, will not be surprised at this account of David's throne, both here and 2 Samuel 18:21, that it was between two gates or portals. Gates being in cities, as well as at the temple, large open places, with a portal at the entrance, and another at the exit, between which judicial causes were heard, and public consultations taken, as is well known from several places of Scripture, 2 Chronicles 31:2; Psalm 9:14; 137:5; Proverbs 1:21; 8:3, 31; 31:23, and often elsewhere.
Flavius Josephus. The Works of Flavius Josephus. Translated by. William Whiston, A.M. Auburn and Buffalo. John E. Beardsley. 1895.
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