2 Samuel 15:4

4 And he would add, "How I wish I were a judge! Then anyone who had a dispute or a claim could come to me, and I would give him justice."

2 Samuel 15:4 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 15:4

Absalom said, moreover
To the same persons, at the same time:

oh that I were made judge in the land;
by which it appears that he had no office under the king; partly either because of his crime, and so not thought fit, and partly because he appeared to be an ambitious aspiring man, and so it was thought not safe to put him into any office:

that every man that hath any suit or cause might come unto me, and I
would do him justice;
at once, without any further trouble, or coming often, and in vain, and to no purpose.

2 Samuel 15:4 In-Context

2 He would get up early and go and stand by the road at the city gate. Whenever someone came there with a dispute that he wanted the king to settle, Absalom would call him over and ask him where he was from. And after the man had told him what tribe he was from,

3 Absalom would say, "Look, the law is on your side, but there is no representative of the king to hear your case."

4 And he would add, "How I wish I were a judge! Then anyone who had a dispute or a claim could come to me, and I would give him justice."

5 When the man would approach Absalom to bow down before him, Absalom would reach out, take hold of him, and kiss him.

6 Absalom did this with every Israelite who came to the king for judgment, and so he won their loyalty.