David prophesies the punishment that will fall upon him, stating "the sword shall never depart from your house." When David acknowledges that he has sinned, Nathan advises him that his sin is forgiven and he will not die, but the child will. In fulfillment of Nathan's words, David's son Absalom, fueled by vengeance and lust for power, rebels. Absalom's forces are routed at the battle of the Wood of Ephraim, and he is caught by his long hair in the branches of a tree where, contrary to David's order, he is killed by Joab, the commander of David's army. David laments
Tree: A Life Story were well received by critics. While several reviewers found that the authors succeeded in using accessible language, others found it too technical. Inspiration for the book came from a Douglas-fir tree with a curve in its trunk. While sitting by the tree, at his home on Quadra Island, near Vancouver, David Suzuki realized that even though his family had played on it for years, he did not know how old it was or how its uncharacteristic curve had developed. Suzuki, a science writer and broadcaster, and former zoologist, speculated that the soil might have slid when the tree was young