Now therefore that I am come to speak of this thing unto my
lord the king
Of the case of Absalom, under a feigned one of hers:
[it is] because the people have made me afraid;
having heard of their whisperings, murmurings, and uneasiness among them, because Absalom was not sent for home, fearing there would be an insurrection in the nation, or an invasion of it by Absalom at the request of his friends; in which he might be supported by the king of Geshur; or however that disputes would arise about the succession, at the death of David; on these accounts she determined to speak to the king, and him them to him in the manner she had done; though some understand this of the discouragement the people laid her under, telling her the king would not hear her; nevertheless she was resolved to make trial:
and thy handmaid said, I will now speak unto the king; it may be the
king will perform the request of his handmaid;
not only with respect to her own son, as feigned; but with respect to Absalom, the grand thing in view.