2 Samuel 17:20

20 Shortly, Absalom's servants came to the woman's house and asked her, "Have you seen Ahimaaz and Jonathan?" The woman said, "They were headed toward the river." They looked but didn't find them, and then went back to Jerusalem.

2 Samuel 17:20 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 17:20

And when Absalom's servants came to the woman to the house,
&c.] 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 them, they be gone over the brook of water;
the river Jordan; so the Targum,

``they have already passed over Jordan;''

this was a lie she told them, which is not to be justified; the Vulgate Latin version,

``they passed over hastily, having drank a little water;''

and so Josephus ^F18 in some copies:

and when they had sought and could not find [them];
not only searched that house, but very probably others in Bahurim:

they returned to Jerusalem;
to give an account what success they had.

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FOOTNOTES:

F18 Antiqu. l. 7. c. 9. sect. 7. Hudson. not. in ib.

2 Samuel 17:20 In-Context

18 But a soldier spotted them and told Absalom, so the two of them got out of there fast and went to a man's house in Bahurim. He had a well in his yard and they climbed into it.

19 The wife took a rug and covered the well, then spread grain on it so no one would notice anything out of the ordinary.

20 Shortly, Absalom's servants came to the woman's house and asked her, "Have you seen Ahimaaz and Jonathan?" The woman said, "They were headed toward the river." They looked but didn't find them, and then went back to Jerusalem.

21 When the coast was clear, Ahimaaz and Jonathan climbed out of the well and went on to make their report to King David, "Get up and cross the river quickly; Ahithophel has given counsel against you!"

22 David and his whole army were soon up and moving and crossed the Jordan. As morning broke there was not a single person who had not made it across the Jordan.