Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Go in to your father’s concubines that he has left to keep the house. Then all Israel will hear that you are abhorred by your father. Then the hands of all who are with you will be strong.”
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 21. Their hands may be strengthened, and so forth The people might apprehend lest Absalom should be reconciled to his father; and therefore they followed him with some fear of being left in the lurch, till they saw such a crime committed, as seemed to make a reconciliation impossible. Challoner.—This was the most heinous outrage that a son could offer to his father. Jacob resented it to the last. Genesis 49:4. Amyntor devoted his son Phœnix to all the furies, for a similar offence. Iliad ix. Armais treated the wives of his brother Sesostris in this manner, when he had resolved to rebel. Joseph. c. Ap. i.