2 Samuel 18:27

18:19-33 By directing David to give God thanks for his victory, Ahimaaz prepared him for the news of his son's death. The more our hearts are fixed and enlarged, in thanksgiving to God for our mercies, the better disposed we shall be to bear with patience the afflictions mixed with them. Some think David's wish arose from concern about Absalom's everlasting state; but he rather seems to have spoken without due thought. He is to be blamed for showing so great fondness for a graceless son. Also for quarrelling with Divine justice. And for opposing the justice of the nation, which, as king, he had to administer, and which ought to be preferred before natural affection. The best men are not always in a good frame; we are apt to over-grieve for what we over-loved. But while we learn from this example to watch and pray against sinful indulgence, or neglect of our children, may we not, in David, perceive a shadow of the Saviour's love, who wept over, prayed for, and even suffered death for mankind, though vile rebels and enemies.

And the watchman said, me thinketh,.... Or, "I see" (b); I perceive, so it appears to me: that the running of the foremost is like the running of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok; who it seems was well known, and famous for his manner of running and swiftness in it, having been employed in carrying expresses before from Jerusalem to David, and his army, wheresoever they were; and some of these persons thus employed were very swift; we read (c) of one that was a king's messenger, that went from Jerusalem to Tyre, on the first of Elul, or August, in a night and a day; which, according to Bunting (d) was an hundred miles: this watchman must be one of David's sentinels, who was well acquainted with the people about him: and the king said, he is a good man, and cometh with good tidings; he knew he was a man of courage, and therefore was not one that fled, but must be a messenger; and that he was well affected to him, and would never be the messenger of evil tidings to him. (b) , Sept. "ego videns", Montanus; "video", Tigurine version. (c) T. Hieros. Taanioth, fol. 68. 3.((d) Travels, p. 200.

2 Samuel 18:27-29 . He is a good man, and cometh with good tidings — He is true to my interest, and loves me well, and therefore would not afflict me with evil tidings. Blessed be the Lord thy God, which hath delivered. &c. — Like a truly religious man, he ascribes the victory which they had obtained unto the Lord; who still showed his mercy unto David, and continued to be his God and benefactor. Is the young man Absalom safe? — David is so much a father that he forgets he is a king; and therefore cannot rejoice in the news of victory till he knows whether his son be safe; for whom his heart trembled, almost as much as Eli’s, in a like case, for the ark of God. Ahimaaz answered, When Joab sent the king’s servant — That is, Cushi, who appears by this to have been one belonging to the court; I saw a great tumult, but I knew not what it was — He dissembled his knowledge of Absalom’s death; and perhaps in this said true, that he did not know the particular manner of it; though it appears plainly from 2 Samuel 18:20 , that he knew he was dead. The king, doubtless, apprehended the worst, and he was thus, in some degree, prepared for the afflictive information Cushi was to give him.

The plain - The floor of the valley through which the Jordan runs. The Cushite did not run by that road, but took the road over the hills, which may well have been the shorter but also the more difficult road. The two roads would probably meet a short distance from Mahanaim. These words, which have been thought to prove that the battle took place on the west of Jordan, are a clear proof that it took place on the east, because if the runners had had to cross the Jordan, they must both have come by the same road, which it is clear they did not.

Ahimaaz was a well-known runner 2 Samuel 18:27 . Speed was a heroic virtue in those simple times (compare 2 Samuel 2:18 ). In Hezekiah's reign 2 Chronicles 30:6 , 2 Chronicles 30:10 we find an establishment of running post-men; and the same name ("runners") is given Esther 3:13 to the Persian posts, though at that time they rode on mules and camels. Bear tidings - The original word is used almost exclusively of bearing good tidings, and hence, is rendered in the Septuagint (though not always) εὐαγγίζεσθαι euangelizesthai 2 Samuel 4:10; 1 Samuel 31:9. In 2 Samuel 18:21, it is not "carry the good tidings," but "tell," simply "announce."

24-32. David sat between the two gates—that is, in the tower-house on the wall that overhung the gate of Mahanaim. Near it was a watchtower, on which a sentinel was posted, as in times of war, to notify every occurrence. The delicacy of Ahimaaz' communication was made up by the unmistakable plainness of Cushi's. The death of Absalom was a heavy trial, and it is impossible not to sympathize with the outburst of feeling by which David showed that all thoughts of the victory he had won as a king were completely sunk in the painful loss he had sustained as a father. The extraordinary ardor and strength of his affection for this worthless son break out in the redundancy and vehemence of his mournful ejaculations.

When the watchman saw by the running of the first that it was Ahimaaz, recognising him probably by the swiftness of his running, and announced it to the king, he replied, "He is a good man, and cometh with good tidings," because Joab would not have selected him to bring any other than good news.