2 Samuel 17:3

And I will bring back all the people unto thee: the man whom thou seekest is as if all returned: so all the people shall be in peace.

I will bring back all the people ... the man whom thou seekest is as if all returned. [The Septuagint, apparently reading lª'iyshaah (H582), for haa'iysh (H376), renders the latter words as: hon tropon epistrefei hee numfee pros ton andra autees, as the spouse returns to her husband.] The adoption of his advice would have extinguished the cause of David; and it affords a dreadful proof of the extremities to which the heartless prince was, to secure his ambitious objects, prepared to go, that the parricidal counsel "pleased Absalom well, and all the elders of Israel." It was happily overruled, however, by the address of Hushai, who saw the imminent danger to which it would expose the king and the royal cause. He dwelt upon the warlike character and military experience of the old king-represented him and his adherents as mighty men, who would right with desperation, and who, most probably secured in some stronghold, would be beyond reach, while the smallest loss of Absalom's men at the outset might be fatal to the success of the conspiracy. But his dexterity was chiefly displayed in that part of his counsel which recommended a general levy throughout the country, and that Absalom should take command of it in person-thereby flattering at once the pride and ambition of the usurper. The bait was caught by the vain-glorious and wicked prince.