Deal gently — If you conquer (which be presaged they would by God's gracious answer to his prayer for the turning of Ahithophel's counsel into foolishness,) take him prisoner, but do not kill him. Which desire proceeded, from his great indulgence towards his children: from his consciousness that he... [ Continue Reading ]
The wood — More people died in the wood, either through hunger, and thirst, and weariness: or, by the wild beasts, whereof great numbers were there, which, though they were driven away from the place of the main battle, yet might easily meet with them when they fled several ways: or, by falling into... [ Continue Reading ]
The servants of David — Who, according to David's command, spared him, and gave him an opportunity to escape. His head — In which probably he was entangled by the hair of the head, which being very long and thick, might easily catch hold of a bough, especially when the great God directed it. Either... [ Continue Reading ]
Slew him — The darts did not dispatch him, and therefore they smote him again, and killed him.... [ Continue Reading ]
A pillar — To preserve his name; whereas it had been more for his honour if his name had been buried in perpetual oblivion.... [ Continue Reading ]
Gates — For the gates of the cities then were, as now they are, large and thick; and for the greater security, had two gates, one more outward, the other inward. Here he sat, that he might hear tidings when any came into the city.... [ Continue Reading ]
Over the gate — Retiring himself from all men and business, that he might wholly give up himself to lamentation. My son — This he might speak from a deep sense of his eternal state, because he died in his sins, and because David himself had by his own sins been the occasion of his death. But it seem... [ Continue Reading ]