2 Samuel 14:13

Wherefore then, &c. David's resolution to keep Absalom in exile was an injury to the people of God, for he was the heir to the throne.

for the king, &c. Better, and by the king's speaking this word he is as one guilty. The promise of protection to her son was a condemnation of his own conduct towards Absalom. He had acknowledged the possibility of an exception to the general rule of punishment for murder, but he had not extended this exception to his own son, in spite of the strongest reasons for so doing.