Joab said, Thou hast shamed this day the faces of all thy servants By disappointing their just hopes of praises and rewards, and requiting them with contempt and tacit rebukes; and thus making them hang down their heads, as if they had committed such a crime, that they were ashamed to look men in the face. Which this day have saved thy life, and the lives of thy sons, &c. Who, in all probability, would all have been slain, if Absalom had gained the victory. In that thou lovest thine enemies Thy rebellious son, and those associated with him, to effect thy destruction. And hatest thy friends Who have risked their lives in thy defence, but in whose preservation thou seemest to take no pleasure, only grieving for the death of a rebel. If Absalom had lived, and we had all died, then it would have pleased thee well Joab seems to speak this in reference to the exclamation of the king, Would God I had died for thee, O Absalom! for had this been the case, as the king wished, Joab and the rest of David's faithful commanders would in course have perished through the power of Absalom, who would then have had none to oppose him. Joab's words, however, are not to be understood as exactly true, but as spoken hyperbolically: but David's carriage gave too much colour to such a suggestion; and such sharpness of speech was in a manner necessary to awaken the king out of his lethargy, and to preserve him from the impendent mischiefs.
Related Commentaries of 2 Samuel 19:5
2 Samuel 19:5-6
5 And Joab came into the house to the king, and said, Thou hast shamed this day the faces of all thy servants, which this day have saved thy life, and the lives of thy sons and of thy daughters, and the lives of thy wives, and the lives of thy concubines;
6 In that thou lovest thine enemies, and hatest thy friends. For thou hast declared this day, that thou regardest neither princes nor servants: for this day I perceive, that if Absalom had lived, and all we had died this day, then it had pleased thee well.