2 Samuel 13:24

And Absalom came to the king, and said, Behold now, thy servant hath sheepshearers; let the king, I beseech thee, and his servants go with thy servant.

Ver. 24. Behold now thy servant hath sheepshearers.] Absalom, though the king's son, was a sheep-master, - such was the simplicity of former times, - which now-a-days would be accounted terminus diminuens, a disparagement. That was a tart but true answer of the Lord Spencer - in the Parliament held A.D. 1621 - to the Earl of Arundel, who hit him in the teeth with his ancestors, that they were sheepkeepers; Spencer instantly replied, When my ancestors - as you say - were keeping sheep, your ancestors were plotting treason. a

Let the king, I beseech thee.] Absalom was so enraged against his king-father for his remissness, that in his presence he would have slain Amnon, could he have got him along.

a Life and Reign of King James, by Arthur Wilson.