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 parricide; and offering his best service as a captain and commander, which in counsellors and politicians is not ordinary. And pursue after David this night.] He knew well that celerity in war is a great matter. Witness Alexander the Great with his Μηδεν αναβαλλομενος, and Julius Caesar with his Veni, Vidi, Vici. Pompey lost the day at the Pharsalian field by delays. And Charles, king of Sicily and Jerusalem, was for his lingering called Cunctator, because he stayed till opportunity was lost.
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 he could have taken Rome, would not; when he would, could not. The Protestant princes of Germany lost a fair opportunity at Ingolstadt, August 13, 1546, which they never afterwards could recover. They were far stronger in horse than the emperor, whose forces were but slenderly fortified at that time, and might easily have been worsted; but the next night they so entrenched themselves, that they took better heart, and soon after got the day. This error of the Protestant princes—the elector of Saxony, the landgrave of Hesse, and the rest—was, saith mine author, the rise and cause of their calamity, but of Caesar’s victory, to the grief of all good people. Plut. Alsted., Chronol. 545.
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 tu non occidisti patrem, Certainly you did not kill your father, said Augustus to one that was brought before him for parricide. Lycurgus would make no law against it, as holding it impossible. But the devil had filled this man’s heart from corner to corner, as Acts 5:2, and torn out thence all childlike affection.
Ver. 4. And the saying pleased Absalom well.] Heb., Was right in the eyes of Absalom, &c. Nam quae recta sunt placent. Man is a rational creature: and everywise man will be mancipium rationis, ruled by reason, in matters of greatest consequence especially. Howbeit, all men are mutable, as appeareth in that this counsel, while so applauded, was so soon again misliked. Vat.
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 have escaped, or Absalom perished? Hushai, therefore, is consulted, and the whole scene altered. This came forth “from the Lord of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.” (Isaiah 28:29)
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, but with singular good success, showing himself to be vir bonus dicendi peritus, wise and well-spoken.
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 suitable to his ambitious disposition, there had been but one law for Hushai; not unlike that of the Locrians, who ordained that whoso would propose a new law, should come with a halter about his neck, that if it were not liked, he should be hanged. Here, then, he beginneth with his Errorem erravit non levem vir alioqui consultissimus Ahithophel. This most grave and wise counsellor is out in this particular; as well he may be, since “ Ουδεις ανθρωπων αυτος απαντα σοφος. ”
Ver. 8. They be mighty men.] Mighty indeed they were, whereas some one of them could lift up his hand against a hundred, two hundred, three hundred of the enemy. (2 Samuel 23:18-21) And David himself was of known valour. Our Richard II, when dethroned and committed to Pomfret Castle, was there assaulted by eight assassins, four of whom he valiantly killed. What would David have done then, think we? who as when he was young he fought with great Goliath and slew him, so, long after this rebellion of Absalom, and when he was well in years, he encountered Ishbibenob the giant, the weight of whose spear weighed three hundred shekels of brass in weight; (2 Samuel 21:16) surely he with his old soldiers would have made some work among Absalom’s raw men, fresh water soldiers. As a bear robbed.] So they, forced to leave all they have, will redouble their resolution to recover what they have lost: and who knoweth not that anger is the whetstone of valour? and that men enraged will venture their utmost? And thy father is a man of war.] A wary warrior, and expert in stratagems of all sorts: let him alone to look to one.
Ver. 9. Behold, he is hid now in some pit.] Either to secure himself, or from thence to rush suddenly upon our forces as they march by him, and to give them a defeat, and that would be of very ill consequence: Nam prima pugna, qualiscunque fuerit, totius belli praeiudicium esse videtur; for the first conflict is much looked upon as a foretoken of the success of those that shall follow: therefore Ahithophel’s counsel hac vice is not good. “ Quandoque bonus dormitat Homerus. ”