Matthew Henry on 2 Samuel 17:22–end
Here is, I. The transporting of David and his forces over Jordan, pursuant to the advice he had received from his friends at Jerusalem, Sa2 17:22. He, and all that were with him, went over in the night, whether in ferryboats, which probably always plied there, or through the fords, does not appear. But special notice is taken of this, that there lacked not one of them: none deserted him, though his distress was great, none staid behind sick or weary, nor were any lost or cast away in passing the river. Herein some make him a type of the Messiah, who said, in a difficult day, Of all that thou hast given me have I lost none. Having got over Jordan, he marched many miles forward to Mahanaim, a…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on 2 Samuel 17:24
Then David came to Mahanaim--in the high eastern country of Gilead, the seat of Ish-bosheth's government.
Absalom passed over Jordan--It is not said how long an interval elapsed, but there must have been sufficient time to make the intended levy throughout the kingdom.
Adam Clarke on 2 Samuel 17:23
Put his household in order - This self-murder could not be called lunacy, as every step to it was deliberate. He foresaw Absalom's ruin; and he did not choose to witness it, and share in the disgrace: and he could expect no mercy at the hands of David. He was a very bad man, and died an unprepared and accursed death.
John Gill on 2 Samuel 17:24
Then David came to Mahanaim,.... A city on the other side Jordan in the tribe of Gad, Joshua 13:26, famous for its being the place where the angels of God met Jacob, Genesis 32:1; and was for some time the seat of Ishbosheth the son of Saul, 2 Samuel 2:8;
and Absalom passed over Jordan, he, and all the men of Israel with him; not directly after David, but some time after, when, according to the counsel of Hushai, he had gathered all the warlike men of Israel to him that he could, and with this army pursued his father; not content to drive him to the other side Jordan, sought to seize his person, and take away his life, and so secure the crown and kingdom to him, of which he made no doubt, h…
