2 Samuel 17:2,3 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

I will come upon him while he is weary Before he has had time to breathe from the fatigues he has just gone through; and weak- handed Before he has collected more forces. I will make him afraid Strike a terror into him by this sudden attack, made in the night, when he is ill-provided. I will smite the king only And proclaim pardon to all the rest. And I will bring back all the people By this means I shall easily bring over their allegiance to thee. The man whom thou seekest is as if they all returned The killing of David will effectually end the contest, and the whole nation will come in to thee, there being no other to whom they will submit, he being dead. So all the people shall be in peace The single circumstance of taking and killing him will restore peace, and preserve both the people who are with thee, and those that are with David. They shall all be saved, and he alone destroyed. “The attentive reader will easily perceive that this advice well justifies the character given of Ahithophel in the Scripture; it was, in its several parts, admirably fitted both to the inclinations and interests of his pupil; he consigned him to his pleasures, and took all the danger to himself; and at the same time he relieved his little remains of humanity (if he had any) from the necessity of imbruing his hands in his father's blood. His incest was, for the present, personal guilt enough; that act of outrage would make Abslom's reconciliation with his father desperate; and while he indulged his evil appetite, Ahithophel, with a chosen band, would pursue and surprise David. Nothing could be more worldly wise, or more hellishly wicked; it was indeed, as the advice of an oracle, but very different from that dictated by the Spirit of God; and yet, horrid as it was, it pleased that vile son and his associates.” Delaney.