Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Samuel 16:21
And Ahithophel said unto Absalom, Go in unto thy father’s concubines, which he hath left to keep the house; and all Israel shall hear that thou art abhorred of thy father: then shall the hands of all that [are] with thee be strong.
Taking possession of the harem was the most decided act of sovereignty (see 1Ki 2:22). It was also the greatest offence and insult that could be offered. Such an act on Absaloms part made reconciliation impossible. A further motive has been found in this advice, namely, the desire on the part of Ahithophel to make David taste the bitterness of that cup which he had caused others (Uriah and all Bath-shebas family) to drink, and receive the measure which he had meted withal.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 21. Go in unto thy father’s concubines] It may be remembered that David left ten of them behind to take care of the house, see 2Sa 15:16. Ahithophel advised this infernal measure, in order to prevent the possibility of a reconciliation between David and his son; thus was the prophecy to Nathan fulfilled, 2Sa 12:11. And this was probably transacted in the very same place where David’s eye took the adulterous view of Bath-sheba; see 2Sa 11:2.
The wives of the conquered king were always the property of the conqueror; and in possessing these, he appeared to possess the right to the kingdom. Herodotus informs us that Smerdis, having seized on the Persian throne after the death of Cambyses, espoused all the wives of his predecessor, lib. iii., c. 68. But for a son to take his father’s wives was the sum of abomination, and was death by the law of God, Le 20:11. This was a sin rarely found, even among the Gentiles.
Every part of the conduct of Absalom shows him to have been a most profligate young man; he was proud, vindictive, adulterous, incestuous, a parricide, and, in fine, reprobate to every good word and work. We still however recollect that David had grievously sinned, and we should also recollect that he suffered grievously for it; and that his humiliation, repentance, and amendment, were most decisive and exemplary. Reader, God is as just as he is merciful.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
This counsel he gave, partly to revenge the injury done to Bath-sheba, who was the daughter of Eliam, 2Sa 11:3 who was
the son of Ahithophel, 2Sa 23:34; and principally for his own and the peoples safety, that the breach between David and Absalom might be made wide and irreparable by so vile an action which must needs provoke David in the highest degree, both for the sin and shame of it; as the like action had done Jacob, Gen 49:3,4; and cut off all hopes of reconciliation, which otherwise might have been expected by some treaty between Absalom and his tender-hearted father; in which case his followers, and especially Ahithophel himself, had been left to Davids mercy.
Israel shall hear that thou art abhorred of thy father; and therefore obliged by thy own interest to prosecute the war with all possible rigour, and to abandon all thoughts of peace; as knowing that his father, though he might dissemble, yet would never forgive so foul and scandalous a crime.
Then shall the hands of all that are with thee be strong; they will fight with greater courage and resolution when they are freed from the fear of thy reconciliation, which otherwise would make their hearts faint and hands slack in thy cause. But by this we may see the character of Absaloms party, and how abominably wicked they were, whom such a loathsome and scandalous action tied the faster to him, whom for that very reason they should have deserted and abhorred. And we may further learn how corrupt and filthy the body of the people was, and how ripe for that severe judgment which is now hastening to them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
21. Ahithophel said untoAbsalomThis councillor saw that now the die was cast; halfmeasures would be inexpedient. To cut off all possibility ofreconciliation between the king and his rebellious son, he gave thisatrocious advice regarding the treatment of the royal women who hadbeen left in charge of the palace. Women, being held sacred, aregenerally left inviolate in the casualties of war. The history of theEast affords only one parallel to this infamous outrage of Absalom.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And Ahithophel said unto Absalom,…. Either immediately of himself, without consulting with others; or after a consultation had been held between them, he as the president of it, and their mouth, gave the following advice; though the former seems most correct:
go in unto thy father’s concubines, which he hath left, to keep the house; and lie with them; there were ten of them, 2Sa 15:16;
and all Israel shall hear that thou art abhorred of thy father; this fact will be so abominable to him, and he will so highly resent it, as never to forgive thee, and be reconciled unto thee:
then shall the hands of all that [are] with thee be strong; he intimates that they were now weak, and did not act with spirit; they were fearful that David and Absalom would be reconciled, and then they should be reckoned traitors, and fall a sacrifice to David’s vengeance, for their treason against him: but by Absalom’s taking such a step as this, which would make him for ever the object of his father’s hatred, their hands and hearts would be strengthened, and their fears removed, and they would not have the least jealousy of a reconciliation between them, and of their being left to the resentment of David. Some think this was not his only reason for giving this counsel, but also to revenge David’s abuse of Bathsheba, his son’s daughter, as she is supposed to be, [See comments on 2Sa 15:12]; however, it was so ordered in Providence, that this advice should be given and taken, to fulfil the prophecy of the Lord to Nathan, 2Sa 12:11.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Ahithophel gave the following counsel: “Go to thy father’s concubines, whom he hath left behind to keep the house (i.e., lie with them: for , compare 2Sa 3:7, etc.); so will all Israel hear that thou hast made thyself stinking with thy father, and the hands of all those who are with thee will strengthen themselves.” This advice was sagacious enough. Lying with the king’s concubines was an appropriation of the royal harem, and, as such, a complete usurpation of the throne (see at 2Sa 3:7), which would render any reconciliation between Absalom and his father utterly impossible, and therefore would of necessity instigate the followers of Absalom to maintain his cause with all the greater firmness. This was what Ahithophel hoped to attain through his advice. For unless the breach was too great to be healed, with the affection of David towards his sons, which might in reality be called weakness, it was always a possible thing that he should forgive Absalom; and in that case Ahithophel would be the one to suffer. But under the superintendence of God this advice of Ahithophel was to effect the fulfilment, without any such intention on his part, of the threat held over David in 2Sa 12:8.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(21) And Ahithophel said.The counsel of Ahithophel was in effect that Absalom should make the breach between him and his father absolute and irreconcilable. His followers would thus be assured of the impossibility of his securing a pardon for himself while they were left to their fate. After adopting this course, he must necessarily persist to the end. The taking of the harem of his predecessor by the incoming monarch was an Oriental custom, to the enormity of which the mind was blunted by the practice of polygamy.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
AHITHOPHEL’S IMPIOUS COUNSEL, 2Sa 16:20-23.
21. Go in unto thy father’s concubines This would be a most bold and irrevocable assumption of all the royal rights, and render the breach between Absalom and his father utterly irreconcilable.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2Sa 16:21. Ahithophel saidGo in unto thy father’s concubines Ahithophel advised this action, because it would prove his enmity to his father to be irreconcileable, and consequently attach firmly to his interest all those who were disaffected to David, when they once saw that they were out of all danger of being sacrificed to any possible reconciliation between the father and son: an advice for the present, and in appearance, wise, but in reality pernicious. Could not this long-headed, sagacious statesman forsee, that this action (for which some men would now become more attached to Absalom) must one day make him detestable in their eyes, when they reflected upon the horror of it: a guilt made mortal by the law of God, Lev 20:11 and not named even among the Gentiles; a guilt, for which they must one day judge him more worthy to lose his crown, than Reuben his birth-right. 1Ch 5:1. However, this hellish advice was immediately adopted; for Ahithophel’s advice was then deemed as unerring as if the oracle of God had dictated it: 2Sa 16:23. Thus was David’s adultery (planned, and, it may be, perpetrated in the same place) judicially chastized, and God’s vengeance denounced upon him by his prophet signally executed. See ch. 2Sa 12:11.
Reflections respecting David’s conduct under the curse of Shemi.
They who have with very signal patience behaved themselves well under a great persecution, and undergone adversity with proper courage, have not found so great difficulty in any part of it, as when they have met with the contempt of proud standers-by; when they, who have no hand in bringing their afflictions upon them, have, out of the haughtiness of their natures, derided them for being in affliction, and insulted their misfortunes, only because they were unfortunate. We have never more need of the immediate influence of God’s Spirit, than in such assaults; when those who oppress us add contempt and scorn to their injustice, and when the spectators of our miseries take occasion from thence to deride and despise our persons: nor can any thing preserve us in those cases from some unwarrantable conduct, but the casting up our eyes to the hand whence the strokes come, and concluding, that as the weight of the affliction comes from God upon us, so every circumstance that accompanies it, whether in the proud and disdainful smiles of men, or in the louder reproaches of those who are delighted in what we suffer, is sent likewise by him to increase our mortification, and to try whether we can master those lesser unwary passions, as well as conform ourselves in the more weighty and deliberate temptations. Because the Lord hath said unto him, Curse David; who then shall say, Wherefore hast thou done so? was the recollection of that devout prince, and strong enough to restrain the son of Zeruiah from taking vengeance upon Shimei, in the moment of his insolently cursing the king. If in the scoffs and derision of our enemies, who make themselves sport at our calamities, we did but consider, that every insolence of theirs, every unsavoury jest that they break upon us to render us more contemptible to those who behold us, are so many emissaries permitted of God to be sent to visit us, and to manifest how we behave ourselves in those provocations; we should be better prepared for their reception, and drive away all their pride and insolence with a contempt which would both disappoint and incense them, turn the edge and rancour of their own weapons upon themselves, and make them penetrate their own souls because they could not pierce ours. It is for want only of this recollection, of this diligent attention and submission to the hand of Divine Providence, that our passions too often prevail over us; and, when the power and menaces of our superiors have not been able to terrify us from doing our duty, the scurrilous jests and impudent revilings of our equals or inferiors have made us to be less in love with our innocence, and even to sacrifice that to indecent murmur, or to avowed anger and revenge.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
2Sa 16:21 And Ahithophel said unto Absalom, Go in unto thy father’s concubines, which he hath left to keep the house; and all Israel shall hear that thou art abhorred of thy father: then shall the hands of all that [are] with thee be strong.
Ver. 21. Go in unto thy father’s concubines.] O tongue worthy to have been cut out, shred in gobbets and driven down the throat of him that thus misused him, to the engaging of Absalom in such an unpardonable villainy, beside hazard of his immortal soul!
That thou art abhorred of thy father.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
said. Instigated by feelings of private revenge against David for his sin with Bath-sheba; she being the daughter of his son,
Eliam. See 2Sa 23:34. Compare 2Sa 11:3. Foretold by Nathan (2Sa 12:11, 2Sa 12:12).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Go in: Gen 6:4, Gen 38:16
unto thy: 2Sa 12:11, 2Sa 15:16, 2Sa 20:3, Gen 35:22, Lev 18:8, Lev 20:11, 1Ki 2:17, 1Ki 2:22, 1Co 5:1
abhorred: Gen 34:30, 1Sa 13:4
thy father: Gen 49:3, Gen 49:4
then shall: 1Sa 27:12
the hands: 2Sa 2:7, Zec 8:13
Reciprocal: 2Sa 3:7 – gone in 2Sa 13:5 – Lay thee 1Ki 2:21 – Let Abishag 1Ki 11:25 – abhorred Est 2:4 – the thing Est 5:14 – the thing Psa 55:10 – mischief Psa 71:4 – out of the Pro 6:29 – he that Jer 4:22 – they are wise Eze 22:10 – discovered Mic 7:6 – son
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2Sa 16:21. Go in unto thy fathers concubines This counsel he gave, partly to revenge the injury done to Bath-sheba, the daughter of Eliam, chap. 2Sa 11:3; the son of Ahithophel, 2Sa 23:34; and principally for his own and the peoples safety, that the breach between David and Absalom might be irreparable. For this, he foresaw, would provoke David in the highest degree, and cut off all hope of reconciliation, which otherwise might have been expected to take place, by some treaty between Absalom and his tender-hearted father. But in that case his followers, and especially Ahithophel, would have been left to Davids mercy. That thou art abhorred of thy father And, therefore, art obliged to prosecute the war with all vigour, and to abandon all thoughts of peace; as knowing that thy father, though he may dissemble, yet will never forgive such an act. Then shall the hands of all that are with thee be strong They will fight with greater courage and resolution when they are freed from the fear of thy being ever reconciled to thy father, and see they are out of all danger of being sacrificed to any future treaty of peace or agreement between you. An advice, says Delaney, for the present, and in appearance, wise; but in reality pernicious. Could not this long-headed, sagacious statesman foresee, that this action, for which some men would now become more attached to Absalom, must one day make him detestable in their eyes, when they reflected upon the horror of it? a guilt made mortal by the law of God, Lev 20:11, and not named even among the Gentiles; a guilt for which they must one day judge him more worthy to lose his crown than Reuben his birth-right. However, this hellish advice was immediately embraced.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
16:21 And {k} Ahithophel said unto Absalom, Go in unto thy father’s concubines, which he hath left to keep the house; and all Israel shall hear that thou art abhorred of thy father: then shall the hands of all that [are] with thee be strong.
(k) Suspecting the change of the kingdom, and so his own overthrow, he gives such counsel as might most hinder his father’s reconciliation: and also declare to the people that Absalom was in highest authority.