And the woman took and spread a covering over the well's mouth,.... This woman, very probably, was the man's wife of the house, as Abarbinel notes; who took a cloth, and spread it over the well's mouth, that it could not be seen or known that there was a well there: and spread ground corn thereon: just taken out of the mill, before it was sifted,...
And when Absalom's servants came to the woman to the house,.... Who were sent after then, had intelligence which way they took, and into what house they turned: they said, where [are] Ahimaaz and Jonathan? calling them by their names, being persons well known, and as to them, so to the woman of the house, as they supposed: and the woman said unto...
And it came to pass after they were departed,.... The servants of Absalom: that they came up out of the well; the sons of the priests, being informed by the woman that they were gone; Josephus (s) says they were drawn up by the woman with a rope: and went and told King David; who was now in the plain of the wilderness, perhaps near Jericho, and...
Then David arose, and all the people that [were] with him, and passed over Jordan,.... Taking the advice of Hushai: by the morning light there lacked not one of them that was not gone over Jordan; they travelled all night, and before it was morning they had all passed the river in boats, or through the fords, and not one was lost in the passage,...
And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed,.... But that of Hushai: he saddled [his] ass; or ordered it to be saddled: and arose, and gat him home to his house, to his city; which was Giloh in the tribe of Judah, 2 Samuel 15:12; and put his household in order; made his will, and disposed of his estates, see Isaiah 38:1; or...
Then David came to Mahanaim,.... A city on the other side Jordan in the tribe of Gad, Joshua 13:26, famous for its being the place where the angels of God met Jacob, Genesis 32:1; and was for some time the seat of Ishbosheth the son of Saul, 2 Samuel 2:8; and Absalom passed over Jordan, he, and all the men of Israel with him; not directly after...
And Absalom made Amasa captain of the host instead of Joab,.... Who was along with David: which Amasa [was] a man's son whose name [was] Ithra, an Israelite; he is called Jether the Ishmaelite, 1 Chronicles 2:17; either because he was an Ishmaelite by birth, and being proselyted to the Jewish religion, was called an Israelite; or rather he was an...
So Israel and Absalom pitched in the land of Gilead. Which belonged to the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh; here the Israelites that were with Absalom encamped, in order to give battle to David and his men.
And it came to pass, when David was come to Mahanaim,.... When he first came thither, 2 Samuel 17:24; that Shobi the son of Nahash of Rabbah of the children of Ammon: who was either the son, or rather the brother of Hanun king of the Ammonites, that used David's ambassadors in so shameful a manner, whom David overcame and deposed, and set up this...
Brought beds,.... For David and his men, who, fleeing from Jerusalem in haste, could bring none with them, and therefore were ill provided while in the plains of the wilderness; the Septuagint version says there were ten of them, and that they were of tapestry, wrought on both sides, and such the ancients used (z), see Proverbs 7:16; and so ten...
And honey and butter,.... Honey was much in use with the ancients; Homer (b) speaks of it as a part of the provisions at a feast, and as food with which persons were nourished and brought up; and the ancient Scythians lived on milk and honey (c); and this and butter were pretty much the food of the people in Judea; see Isaiah 7:15; and sheep; with...