2 Samuel 17:1-2

Moreover Ahithophel said unto Absalom, Let me now choose out twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David this night:

Moreover Ahithophel said unto Absalom. The success of the measure was certain, and the many evils of a civil war entirely avoided.

Let me now choose out twelve thousand men ... His proposal was to take, out of the vast multitude who had joined the standard of the insurgents, 12,000 picked men; and if the command of this select cerium were entrusted to him, he would undertake to pursue the royalist party, to attack that small handful, aiming only at the life of the king, and thus, by his fall, complete a sudden revolution, through which Absalom would succeed to the vacant throne. The recommendation to take prompt and decisive measures before the royalist forces could be collected and arranged evinced the deep political sagacity of this councillor.