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2 Samuel 16:18

18 Hushai answered Absalom, "No, I want to be with the one whom the LORD, these people, and all Israel have chosen. I will be his [friend] and stay with him.

2 Samuel 16:18 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 16:18

And Hushai said to Absalom
In answer to his questions:

nay, but whom the Lord, and his people, and all the men of Israel
choose:
here again he speaks very ambiguously; for this circumlocution, or descriptive character of the king of Israel, better agrees with David, whom he might bear in mind, than with Absalom; for the Lord had chosen David, and he was anointed by his order, and all the people of Israel had chosen and anointed him likewise; but as for Absalom, it was only a part of them that had declared for him, nor was there any evidence of the Lord's choosing him; though Hushai undoubtedly would be under stood of him, and as interpreting the voice of the people to be the voice of God:

his will I be, and with him will I abide;
though he designed no such thing, which was a great piece of dissimulation and hypocrisy; and if he meant David, it was a piece of deceit and equivocation: there is a various reading in the first clause; we follow the marginal reading, (wl) , "to him" or "his", but the textual reading is (al) , "not": and both may be taken in by rendering the words by an interrogation, "shall I, or should I not be his" F4? I will; that is, be his servant, faithfully obey his commands, be closely attached to him, and continue with him as a loyal subject.


FOOTNOTES:

F4 (hyha al) "non ero", Montanus; "non essem ejus?" Junius & Tremellius.

2 Samuel 16:18 In-Context

16 When David's friend Hushai from Archi's family came to Absalom, he said, "Long live the king! Long live the king!"
17 "Is that how loyal you are to your friend?" Absalom asked Hushai. "Why didn't you go with him?"
18 Hushai answered Absalom, "No, I want to be with the one whom the LORD, these people, and all Israel have chosen. I will be his [friend] and stay with him.
19 And besides, whom should I serve? Shouldn't it be his son? As I served your father, so I'll serve you."
20 Then Absalom asked Ahithophel, "What's your advice? What should we do?"
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