Matthew Henry on 2 Samuel 18:19–end
Absalom's business is done; and we are now told,
I. How David was informed of it. He staid behind at the city of Mahanaim, some miles from the wood where the battle was, and in the utmost border of the land. Absalom's scattered forces all made homeward toward Jordan, which was the contrary way from Mahanaim, so that his watchmen could not perceive how the battle went, till an express came on purpose to bring advice of the issue, which the king sat in the gate expecting to hear, Sa2 18:24.
1. Cushi was the man Joab ordered to carry the tidings (Sa2 18:21), an Ethiopian, so his name signifies, and some think that he was so by birth, a black that waited on Joab, probably one of the ten that had…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on 2 Samuel 18:24
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 ej…
Read the whole note in the consoleAdam Clarke on 2 Samuel 18:30
Stand here - He intended to confront two messengers, and compare their accounts.
John Gill on 2 Samuel 18:30
And the king said unto him, turn aside, and stand here,.... On the side of him, not far from him, until the other messenger came, that he might learn from them both the true state of the case:
and he turned aside, and stood still; saying nothing more to the king, nor he to him.
