The KT OLLA Web Stories

PRINCE S’alom was beaten once; and then a second time. It was by two things that baffle the mind. For not only was he shocked that his men kept running for their lives. As they fled when they were chased past; and he wished they could stop to help. But now he was even more dazed when he saw that his father’s men left him hanging. He realized that those boys weren’t sent to kill him. Yes, the Third One knew this from the start. That if David had wanted him dead, he’d have been long dead and buried. Now it was clear that he’d been taking advantage of the just man’s goodwill. And this he knew himself. The prince faced this truth; so it knocked him off that David was still being kind. No, he’d so taken things for granted. Therefore, it happened that one of the chasers who ran past returned to find Joab when he saw the prince hanging. He told the captain what he saw and assured him the prince wasn’t dead. Now when the general saw that the boy didn’t kill him, he went all mad and furious. ‘W...

IT was a frightening war for Absalom’s army, as about twenty thousand soldiers of his fell. Yet Joab and his soldiers didn’t do much with their weapons. As it was said of that war: that there were more that were killed by the woods, than the blades and spears of men hacked down. The oaks and the wild branches. The rough pines with their twigs. Even the roots and the boughs of huge sycamores. Everything green heard the call from the sky. And they caught and shredded people. It was the sentence for all the rot and wrath that lasted so long in Israel. As the time to cleanse her tainted throne was then. Absalom had pledged to destroy his father himself. And so he raced his animal on a desperate flight through the woods. But the young man wasn’t fleeing from the army chasing his men. Neither was he racing away to buy time for a sudden counter. When he’d be able to turn about and launch his fight. No, Absalom had sworn his life to find David and butcher him to pieces. Like he wasted the kin ...

ABSALOM’S troops were the fleeing ones. They were caught unprepared when the ambush came. Yes, they’d been the one giving the chase all along. So they never expected the enemy to turn back and fight. But those enemies had reached a wall. And then, they were back and fierce. When David’s army arrived the Jordan River, it was with the force of a mighty throng. So the Third One’s men leapt on their horses and fled. They fled back into dense wood overlooking Jordan in that region of Ephraim. It is the region neighbouring close to Gilead, within Israel’s land. Even so, the mad hounds chasing them didn’t stop killing. They chased them far into the wood with the wrath of a fearless killer. And they cut down so many with their swords and spears. On that day the woodland lost her peace and quiet, and the trees fell as the soldiers did. And when bones and branches broke in twos, no one could tell if it was a limb or a log. That day, the Ephraim wood became a maze with no door of escape. But the ...

THE plains of war were a bath in blood. The forest through which the coward fled helped to slaughter them more. David’s third son was pounced on at the banks of Jordan. It was like a sudden blast that wakes a volcano. It was midnight eruption. There was a brutal clash and skulls gave way to swords. Bones cracked and broke as angry spears were thrust in men. That fight was sad and distasteful, that it was almost a taboo to talk about it. It was the battle between father and son: and men died like the lambs of sacrifice. Yes, it was a war called the Fire of God. It was hail and brimstone, wrath and fury. It was the fire of everything. King David had no intention to kill his son. He just wanted to stop him. And everyone in David’s camp knew this… except one man. And that one was Joab. He was the king’s best aide. But Joab was a different fire. He wasn’t anything like Absalom’s flames. For his fury burned hot without a depth and his heart warred without a motive. It was the case that, sinc...

BEFORE the first light the next morning, David rose up to a task. The king didn’t sleep through the night; and so the morning only brought him up from his seat of thought. The old monarch had made a resolve the night before and it wasn’t one that could earn him a good calm. He had decided to protect the people on his side and fight his chaser, his own son. He was the one with an advantage then. And he wanted to strike the first shot, and win. The great monarch stood up. He gathered his many soldiers, and he divided them into units of hundreds and a few thousands. Then he grouped all of them into three contingents, placing Joab and his brother Abishai as head of two of them. And then he placed Ittai to lead the third group. But David wasn’t going to send his men out there without going along. The old monarch’s heart was one which thumped at the sound of war. Still this fight wasn’t the kind that got the king excited. He simply wanted to see his son. He wanted to see Absalom and talk him...

IT was after a few days of an exhausting journey that the large company arrived at the furthest part of Israel’s land. It was the eastern border side, Gilead. And they settled at a town called Mahanaim in that region. There at the outskirts of that large town, David’s people camped for days, worn and tired out by their travel. A wealthy company of three elders approached them from the first day. They brought with them food supplies, and basins of water to drink and wash their feet with. The weary camp accepted the gestures with gratefulness; and so they ate and were refreshed abundantly. But the people’s helpers didn’t just provide them with food and water. Those good men of Mahanaim also supplied bedding materials, so they could rest from their pains. David watched his people eat. He saw how famished they were and he was grateful for the gift of kind helpers. But then something struck the king when he saw the folks eat. It seemed he’d always known that fact; but the fact came shoving ...

IT was night at the Jordan River, where David and his company had camped. The waterside lay in the valley that belonged to the Israelite region of Ephraim. Then the further side of the river crossing was equally occupied by Israel’s people. As the land overlooking the Jordan were Israel’s territory belonging to a tribe of hers called Manasseh. Now David sat the bank of the river, a little away from where the travellers had pitched their tents. He sat at the riverside and pondered a huge load of worries. When it was almost midnight, Joab walked up to the monarch with a report. ‘Your Majesty, there is a message for you. The sons of the priests have come. They say they carry a message for my lord.’ David stood up and hastened back to the camp. He was curious about the new report, what exactly it could be. So when Ahi and Jona were brought to him, he hoped it was good news they brought. It was Jona who spoke. He was the older boy. ‘Sire, our fathers ask us to bring Father Hushai’s words. T...

IT had happened that the night Ahi and Jona fled the palace, Ahithophel the Sage had also hit the road on a thoughtful ride. But that journey on his ass was one so different from the first. As the old one didn’t know that his ride would be an endless one. The wise elder was anxious to know if the king would call for him, and ask to follow his advice. But there was no way he’d know as the night itself promised a long wait. So when the old man couldn’t take it any longer, he decided to go out to the streets and check for himself how things were. Ahithophel mounted his donkey and cantered through town. He’d done this before, waiting for King David. Like he was then waiting for his son. In the case of David, the man always waited for weeks. Waiting for the former king to return and heed his advice. Truly, the wise one did feel insulted that he always had to wait those times. But often times it was a sense of pride he felt, that David would in time heed him. So the elder did not mind waitin...

LIFE on earth seems to be a road of surprises. For in the same town where David was hated, there lived a kind, simple woman. And she cared so little for party or bloc. All she lived and cared for was people. She loved to aid the weak. So this woman heard the soldiers comb the street nearby. She was busy sieving off dirt from her grains. And she sat over the cover of an empty well at the back of her house. From there she saw the two boys searching desperately for where to hide. She calculated the situation and sensed they were being hounded. So within a moment she called the kids to her side and asked about their story. When the boys told her they were carrying news to David; and that they were being tracked down by the new king, the woman forgot everything called reason, let alone treason. She just decided to be a mother. In one flash of a moment, the mother found what to do. She swung to action with such swiftness as that of a sword fighter. And the next instant the way was cleared. T...

AHI and Jona ran throughout the night. They ran so fast their breath struggled to catch up. For earlier on before, they had brushed death’s rough shoulders. The two boys had been off and on in the palace courts, always carrying news to David on his way. But no one would naturally suspect the tiny ones. As the affairs at hand were too grand and stately; then too gross and dangerous, for any playful chap to dabble in. So that had been David’s ploy when he asked his priests to send him news by them… those frisky, chatty boys. But this time round, someone’s eyes caught them. No, it wasn’t some palace official who saw them. Neither did the noble chiefs have their time. But when Ahi and Jona hit the road this time, it was a boy like them who caught on. And he ran up the stairs to report them straightaway. The boy had noticed the nephews going in and out of the palace. Running as though they were being chased by their fathers. But when he found no one chasing them and saw them again running, ...