2 Samuel 17:4 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

The saying pleased Absalom well, and all the elders of Israel That such a wretch as Absalom should aim at his father's throat is not strange. But that the body of the people, to whom David had been so great a blessing, should join with him in it, is amazing. But the finger of God was in it. Let not the best of parents, or the best of princes, think it strange if they are injured by those who should be their support and joy, when they (like David) have provoked God to turn against them.