And Joab said unto the man that told him, And, behold, thou sawest him, and why didst thou not smite him there to the ground? and I would have given thee ten shekels of silver, and a girdle.
Joab said to the man who told him this, 'Wait, you saw him there? Why didn't you strike him down to the ground right then? I would have given you ten pieces of silver and a warrior's belt.'
Joab is frustrated that a soldier didn't kill Absalom when he had the chance, and offers a reward he would have given for doing it.
📚 Historical Context
In the book of 2 Samuel, King David is facing a rebellion led by his son Absalom, who had turned against him and gathered forces to overthrow the throne. During the ensuing battle in the forest of Ephraim, a soldier spotted Absalom hanging from a tree by his hair but did not kill him, likely out of obedience to David's explicit orders to spare his son. Joab, as David's loyal commander, is rebuking this soldier for failing to act, offering a reward as an incentive for what he sees as a missed opportunity to end the threat.
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