information to him of what was going forward (vv. 13-37). When he reached the top, Ziba, Mephibosheth's servant, came to meet him with provisions and succour (2Sa 16:1-4) whilst Shimei, a relation of the house of Saul, followed him with curses and stones (2Sa 16:5-14).
With this rebellion the calamities which Nathan had predicted to David on account of his sin with Bathsheba began to burst upon him in all their fulness. The success of the rebellion itself may be accounted for, from the fact that the consciousness of his own fault not only made David weak towards his sons, but produced a want of firmness in his resolutions; whilst the imperfections and defects in the internal administration of the kingdom, when the time of the brilliant victories was past, became more and more perceptible to the people, and furnished occasion for dissatisfaction with his government, which Absalom was skilful enough to bend to his own purposes. During the time that this rebellion was in progress, David poured out his lamentations to the Lord (in Psa 41:1-13 and 55) as to the faithlessness of his most confidential councillors, and prayed for the judgment of retribution upon the conduct of this wicked band. After it had broken out, he uttered his longings to return to the sanctuary at Jerusalem, and his firm confidence that he should be delivered out of his distresses and reinstated in his kingdom, first of all in Psa 3:1-8 and Psa 63:1-11 during his flight in the desert of Judah, and in Psa 61:1-8 and Psa 62:1-12 during his stay in the land to the east of the Jordan.
Chap. 15
Verses 1-3
2Sa 15:1-3Absalom seeks to secure the people's favour. - 2Sa 15:1. Soon afterwards (this seems to be the meaning of כּן מאחרי as distinguished from כּן אהרי; cf. 2Sa 3:28) Absalom set up a carriage (i.e., a state-carriage; cf. 1Sa 8:11) and horses, and fifty men as runners before him, i.e., to run before him when he drove out, and attract the attention of the people by a display of princely pomp, as Adonijah afterwards did (1Ki 1:5). He then went early in the morning to the side of the road to the gate of the palace, and called out to every one who was about to go to the king “for judgment,” i.e., seek justice in connection with any matter in dispute, and asked him, “Of what city art thou?” and also, as we may see from the reply in 2Sa 15:3, inquired into his feelings towards the king, and then said, “Thy matters are good and right, but there is
