Matthew Henry

And as he yelled curses, Shimei said, “Get out, get out, you worthless man of bloodshed!

“It is well for us that men are not to be our judges, but he whose judgment is according to truth. The blood of the house of Saul is here most unjustly charged upon David, [1.]”

Then Abishai son of Zeruiah said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over and cut off his head!”

“Shimei unjustly upbraided him with the blood of Saul: from that his conscience acquitted him, but, at the same time, it charged him with the blood of Uriah. "The reproach is too true" (thinks David), "though false as he means it."”

Then David said to Abishai and to all his servants, “Behold, my own son, my own flesh and blood, seeks my life. How much more, then, this Benjamite!

“As it was Shimei's sin, it was not from God, but from the devil and his own wicked heart, nor did God's hand in it excuse or extenuate it, much less justify it, any more than it did the sin of those who put Christ…”

So David and his men proceeded along the road as Shimei went along the ridge of the hill opposite him.

“If thou sinnest, what doest thou against him? It was an aggravation of his wickedness that David was attended with his mighty men on his right hand and on his left, so that he was not in so forlorn a condition as he thought (…”

And David’s friend Hushai the Archite went to Absalom and said to him, “Long live the king! Long live the king!”

“What arts of dissimulation are those tempted to use who govern themselves by fleshly wisdom! and how happy are those who have not known these depths of Satan, but have their conversation in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity!”

Furthermore, whom should I serve if not the son? As I served in your father’s presence, so also I will serve in yours.”

“Thus he pretended to give reasons for a resolution he abhorred the thought of. Ahithophel counselled him to do wickedly, and so did as effectually betray him as he did who was designedly false to him; for those that advise men to sin certainly advise…”

Ahithophel replied, “Sleep with your father’s concubines, whom he has left to keep the palace.

“The apostle speaks of it as a piece of villany not so much as named among the Gentiles, 1 Cor. v. 1 . Reuben lost his birthright for it.”

Now in those days the advice of Ahithophel was like the consultation of the word of God. Such was the regard that both David and Absalom had for Ahithophel’s advice.

“Let us observe from this account of Ahithophel's fame for policy, (1.) That many excel in worldly wisdom who are utterly destitute of heavenly grace, because those who set up for oracles themselves are apt to despise the oracles of God.”

Furthermore, Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me choose twelve thousand men and set out tonight in pursuit of David.

“Let that one man die for the people, John xi. Kill the heir, and the inheritance shall be ours, Matt. xxi. But the counsel of them both was turned into foolishness.”

Then even the most valiant soldier with the heart of a lion will melt with fear, because all Israel knows that your father is a mighty man who has valiant…

“One of them would chase a thousand. [3.] They were all exasperated against Absalom, who was the author of all this mischief, were chafed in their minds, and would fight with the utmost fury; so that, what with their courage, and what with their rage…”

Then we will attack David wherever we find him, and we will descend on him like dew on the ground.

“Perhaps Absalom was better pleased with the design of cutting off all the men that were with him, having a particular antipathy to some of David's friends, than with Ahithophel's project of smiting the king only.”

So Hushai told Zadok and Abiathar, the priests, “This is what Ahithophel has advised Absalom and the elders of Israel, and this is what I have advised.

“But, it should seem, he was not sure but that yet Ahithophel's counsel might be followed, and was therefore jealous lest, if he made not the best of his way, the king would be swallowed up, and all the people that were with him,”

Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying at En-rogel, where a servant girl would come and pass along information to them.

“The young priests that were to be the messengers were forced to retire secretly out of the city, by En-rogel, which signifies, as some say, the fountain of a spy.”

Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying at En-rogel, where a servant girl would come and pass along information to them.

“If she carried the message by word of mouth, there was danger of her making some mistake or blunder in it; but Providence can make an ignorant girl a trusty messenger, and serve its wise counsels by the foolish things of the world.”

But a young man did see them and told Absalom. So the two left quickly and came to the house of a man in Bahurim.

“They, being aware that they were discovered, sheltered themselves in a friend's house in Bahurim, where David had refreshed himself but just before, ch. xvi. There they were happily hidden in a well, which now, in summer time, perhaps was dry,”

But a young man did see them and told Absalom. So the two left quickly and came to the house of a man in Bahurim.

“The woman of the house very ingeniously covered the mouth of the well with a cloth, on which she spread corn to dry, so that the pursuers were not aware that there was a well; else they would have searched it,”

So David and all the people with him got up and crossed the Jordan. By daybreak, there was no one left who had not crossed the Jordan.

“But special notice is taken of this, that there lacked not one of them: none deserted him, though his distress was great, none staid behind sick or weary, nor were any lost or cast away in passing the river.”

When Ahithophel saw that his advice had not been followed, he saddled his donkey and set out for his house in his hometown.

“(2.) Honour done to the justice of God. When the wicked are thus snared in the work of their own hands, and sunk in a pit of their own digging, the Lord is known by the judgment which he executeth, and we must say, Higgaion…”

When Ahithophel saw that his advice had not been followed, he saddled his donkey and set out for his house in his hometown.

“It is well that that breath is stopped and that head laid from which nothing could be expected but mischief.”

Then David went to Mahanaim, and Absalom crossed the Jordan with all the men of Israel.

“Not content that he had driven his good father to the utmost corner of his kingdom, he resolved to chase him out of the world. He pitched in the land of Gilead with all his forces, ready to give David battle,”

Absalom had appointed Amasa over the army in place of Joab. Amasa was the son of a man named Ithra, the Ishmaelite who had married Abigail, the daughter of Nahash…

“It was not long since that Absalom himself fled for a crime, and David contented himself with his being an exile, though he deserved death, nay, he mourned and longed for him; but so perfectly void of all natural affection is this ungrateful Absalom that…”

When David came to Mahanaim, he was met by Shobi son of Nahash from Rabbah of the Ammonites, Machir son of Ammiel from Lo-debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim.

“Those that think their prosperity most confirmed know not but, some time or other, they may stand in need of the kindness of those that now lie at their mercy, and may be glad to be beholden to them, which is a reason why we…”

Now the king had commanded Joab, Abishai, and Ittai, “Treat the young man Absalom gently for my sake.”

“Must the cause of the quarrel be the motive of mercy? Even in the holiest parents, nature may be guilty of an injurious tenderness, of a bloody indulgence.”

There the people of Israel were defeated by David’s servants, and the slaughter was great that day—twenty thousand men.

“Now where are the rewards, the preferments, the golden days, they promised themselves from him? Now they see what it is to take counsel against the Lord and his anointed, and to think of breaking his bands asunder.”

Now Absalom was riding on his mule when he met the servants of David, and as the mule went under the thick branches of a large oak, Absalom’s head was…

“Thus he that fleeth from the fear shall fall into the pit, and he that getteth up out of the pit shall be taken in the snare, Jer. xlviii.”