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.
2 Samuel 18:27-29
27 And the watchman said, Me thinketh the running of the foremost is like the running of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok. And the king said, He is a good man, and cometh with good tidings.
28 And Ahimaaz called, and said unto the king, All is well. And he fell down to the earth upon his face before the king, and said, Blessed be the LORD thy God, which hath delivered up the men that lifted up their hand against my lord the king.
29 And the king said, Is the young man Absalom safe? And Ahimaaz answered, When Joab sent the king's servant, and me thy servant, I saw a great tumult, but I knew not what it was.