by Steve » June 12th, 2006, 10:40 am
Our Sunday school lesson was on 2 Samuel 18, and I was struck by this comment:
2 Samuel 18:6 So the army went out into the field against Israel; and the battle was fought in the forest of Ephraim. 7 The men of Israel were defeated there by the servants of David, and the slaughter there was great on that day, twenty thousand men. 8 The battle spread over the face of all the country; and the forest claimed more victims that day than the sword.
(This is the battle against Absalom's rebellion, where Absalom gets caught by his hair in the tree).
The line about the forest claiming more victims is a puzzler, as one doesn't think of Israel having deep dark forests. But maybe thats where the last group of Ents wound up, and they thought Absalom's men were orcs.
Or maybe it was the descendants of Old Man Willow scarfing up weary soldiers who just sat down by a tree for a moment's rest.
Psalm 139:17 How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them!