¹⁸ Earlier in his life Absalom had set up a pillar in the King’s Valley. He had put it up as a monument to himself. He thought, “I don’t have a son to carry on the memory of my name.” So he named the pillar after himself. It is still called Absalom’s Monument to this day.

David Mourns Over Absalom

¹⁹ Ahimaaz, the son of Zadok, said to Joab, “Let me run and take the news to the king. Let me tell him that the Lord has shown that David is in the right. The Lord has done this by saving David from his enemies.”

²⁰ “I don’t want you to take the news to the king today,” Joab told him. “You can do it some other time. But you must not do it today, because the king’s son is dead.”