Psalms 55:12-14 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

It was not an enemy Not an open and professed enemy, or, not an old and inveterate enemy, (as appears from the following description to be his meaning,) that reproached me That misrepresented me, and my government, as if I either abused my power, or neglected the proper use of it, and who industriously spread other similar accusations to incense the people against me; then I could have borne it With more patience, because I could have expected nothing better from such persons. Neither was it he that hated me With a manifest or old hatred; then I would have hid myself from him I would have stood upon my guard against him; would have concealed my counsels from him, and have prevented or avoided the effects of his hatred. But it was thou mine equal Not in power and dignity, which could not be; but in reputation for deep wisdom, and thy great influence upon me, and upon all my people; my guide Whose counsel I highly prized, and constantly followed. The Chaldee paraphrase names Ahithophel as the person here meant, and certainly the description agrees perfectly well to him, whom David had used as his counsellor and friend, and to whom he had committed his most important secrets; and certainly nothing in the plot of the rebels seems to have discouraged David so much as to hear that Ahithophel was among the conspirators with Absalom. We took sweet counsel together I imparted my secret counsels and designs to him with great delight and satisfaction. And we walked unto the house of God We agreed no less in exercises of piety than in matters of state and policy; in company Hebrew, ברגשׁ, beragesh, in, or with, the numerous congregation. The Seventy, however, render it, εν ομονοια, in concord, consort, or union, or with consent, as the ancients in general interpret the word.