Moreover Ahithophel said unto Absalom, Let me now choose out twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David this night: Ver. 1. _Moreover, Ahithophel said unto Absalom._] This was a second politic indeed, but pestilent counsel, given by Ahithophel to Absalom, stirring him up to parric... [ Continue Reading ]
And I will come upon him while he [is] weary and weak handed, and will make him afraid: and all the people that [are] with him shall flee; and I will smite the king only: Ver. 2. _And I will come upon him while he is weary and weak-handed._] That indeed had been the ready way to win. Hannibal when... [ Continue Reading ]
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. Ver. 3. _The man whom thou seekest._] Ah, lewd lowly! could Absalom hear his dear father's death thus contrived and endeavoured, and approve of the plot? _Certe... [ Continue Reading ]
And the saying pleased Absalom well, and all the elders of Israel. Ver. 4. _And the saying pleased Absalom well._] Heb., Was right in the eyes of Absalom, &c. _Nam quae recta sunt placent._ _a_ Man is a rational creature: and everywise man will be _mancipium rationis,_ ruled by reason, in matters o... [ Continue Reading ]
Then said Absalom, Call now Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear likewise what he saith. Ver. 5. _Call now Hushai the Archite also._] God had said that David should not die; but Absalom was doomed to death by God's determined counsel. If Ahithophel's counsel had been followed, how could David h... [ Continue Reading ]
And when Hushai was come to Absalom, Absalom spake unto him, saying, Ahithophel hath spoken after this manner: shall we do [after] his saying? if not; speak thou. Ver. 6. _If not, speak thou._] Thou hast free liberty of counsel given thee, make use of it. And so he did to the hazard of his life, bu... [ Continue Reading ]
And Hushai said unto Absalom, The counsel that Ahithophel hath given [is] not good at this time. Ver. 7. _Is not good at this time._] This was a bold speech, and such as if he had not made good by alleging to Absalom _verisimilia, et ingenio illius superbo accommodata,_ arguments probable, and suit... [ Continue Reading ]
For, said Hushai, thou knowest thy father and his men, that they [be] mighty men, and they [be] chafed in their minds, as a bear robbed of her whelps in the field: and thy father [is] a man of war, and will not lodge with the people. Ver. 8. _They be mighty men._] Mighty indeed they were, whereas s... [ Continue Reading ]
Behold, he is hid now in some pit, or in some [other] place: and it will come to pass, when some of them be overthrown at the first, that whosoever heareth it will say, There is a slaughter among the people that follow Absalom. Ver. 9. _Behold, he is hid now in some pit._] Either to secure himself,... [ Continue Reading ]
And he also [that is] valiant, whose heart [is] as the heart of a lion, shall utterly melt: for all Israel knoweth that thy father [is] a mighty man, and [they] which [be] with him [are] valiant men. Ver. 10. _Whose heart is as the heart of a lion, shall utterly melt._] Falling asunder in his bosom... [ Continue Reading ]
Therefore I counsel that all Israel be generally gathered unto thee, from Dan even to Beersheba, as the sand that [is] by the sea for multitude; and that thou go to battle in thine own person. Ver. 11. _Therefore I counsel that all Israel, &c._] This was crafty counsel, well fitted to Absalom's amb... [ Continue Reading ]
So shall we come upon him in some place where he shall be found, and we will light upon him as the dew falleth on the ground: and of him and of all the men that [are] with him there shall not be left so much as one. Ver. 12. _So shall we come upon him._] We: _q.d., _ I also will be one of the first... [ Continue Reading ]
Moreover, if he be gotten into a city, then shall all Israel bring ropes to that city, and we will draw it into the river, until there be not one small stone found there. Ver. 13. _Then shall all Israel bring ropes,_] _i.e., _ With warlike engines we will as easily demolish it, as we would draw a g... [ Continue Reading ]
And Absalom and all the men of Israel said, The counsel of Hushai the Archite [is] better than the counsel of Ahithophel. For the LORD had appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that the LORD might bring evil upon Absalom. Ver. 14. _For the Lord had appointed._] Heb., He... [ Continue Reading ]
Then said Hushai unto Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, Thus and thus did Ahithophel counsel Absalom and the elders of Israel; and thus and thus have I counselled. Ver. 15. _Thus and thus did Ahithophel counsel Absalom._] Hushai might in this case safely discover Absalom's counsels, for the glory... [ Continue Reading ]
Now therefore send quickly, and tell David, saying, Lodge not this night in the plains of the wilderness, but speedily pass over; lest the king be swallowed up, and all the people that [are] with him. Ver. 16. _Lest the king be swallowed up._] For Hushai observing Absalom's and his followers fickle... [ Continue Reading ]
Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz stayed by Enrogel; for they might not be seen to come into the city: and a wench went and told them; and they went and told king David. Ver. 17. _And a wench went._] She went to Enrogel, that is, the Fuller's fountain, - where those two were by their parents' appointment, u... [ Continue Reading ]
Nevertheless a lad saw them, and told Absalom: but they went both of them away quickly, and came to a man's house in Bahurim, which had a well in his court; whither they went down. Ver. 18. _Nevertheless a lad saw them._] As the devil never wanteth instruments in such cases to work mischief. Who th... [ Continue Reading ]
And the woman took and spread a covering over the well's mouth, and spread ground corn thereon; and the thing was not known. Ver. 19. _And spread ground corn thereon._] _Grana tusa et commolita; _ meal grist, under pretence it needed drying, being moist; or airing, being musty.... [ Continue Reading ]
And when Absalom's servants came to the woman to the house, they said, Where [is] Ahimaaz and Jonathan? And the woman said unto them, They be gone over the brook of water. And when they had sought and could not find [them], they returned to Jerusalem. Ver. 20. _They be gone over the brook of water.... [ Continue Reading ]
And it came to pass, after they were departed, that they came up out of the well, and went and told king David, and said unto David, Arise, and pass quickly over the water: for thus hath Ahithophel counselled against you. Ver. 21. _For thus hath Ahithophel counselled against you._] And who can yet... [ Continue Reading ]
Then David arose, and all the people that [were] with him, and they passed over Jordan: by the morning light there lacked not one of them that was not gone over Jordan. Ver. 22. _Then David arose, and all the people that were with him._] This was a hard task to those that had tired themselves all d... [ Continue Reading ]
And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled [his] ass, and arose, and gat him home to his house, to his city, and put his household in order, and hanged himself, and died, and was buried in the sepulchre of his father. Ver. 23. _And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was... [ Continue Reading ]
Then David came to Mahanaim. And Absalom passed over Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him. Ver. 24. _Then David came to Mahanaim._] Where Jacob sometime had met with a double camp of angels, that made a lane for him, as it were. Gen 32:2 The remembrance of this was some relief doubtless to... [ Continue Reading ]
And Absalom made Amasa captain of the host instead of Joab: which Amasa [was] a man's son, whose name [was] Ithra an Israelite, that went in to Abigail the daughter of Nahash, sister to Zeruiah Joab's mother. Ver. 25. _Ithra an Israelite,_] _sc,_ For his faith and religion, as by nature he was an I... [ Continue Reading ]
So Israel and Absalom pitched in the land of Gilead. Ver. 26. _Pitched in the land of Gilead._] Near Mahanaim, that they might keep in and contrain David, or draw him out to fight them.... [ Continue Reading ]
And it came to pass, when David was come to Mahanaim, that Shobi the son of Nahash of Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and Machir the son of Ammiel of Lodebar, and Barzillai the Gileadite of Rogelim, Ver. 27. _Shobi, the son of Nahash._] Second brother, likely, to that unworthy Hanun, 2Sa 10:2 who... [ Continue Reading ]
Brought beds, and basons, and earthen vessels, and wheat, and barley, and flour, and parched [corn], and beans, and lentiles, and parched [pulse], Ver. 28. _Brought beds, &c._] Strangers relieve David, whom his own son persecuteth. While the divine bounty serveth us in good meat, though not in our... [ Continue Reading ]