(7) В¶ And it came to pass after forty years, that Absalom said unto the king, I pray thee, let me go and pay my vow, which I have vowed unto the LORD, in Hebron. (8) For thy servant vowed a vow while I abode at Geshur in Syria, saying, If the LORD shall bring me again indeed to Jerusalem, then I will serve the LORD. (9) And the king said unto him, Go in peace. So he arose, and went to Hebron.
It is not very easy to ascertain the time from whence we are to calculate these forty years. It cannot mean after forty years of David's reign; for his whole reign was no more than forty; and it should seem that this rebellion broke out at least ten years before the death of David. Some have thought that it means after forty years that Israel had been governed by a king. And if so, this makes the calculation to be just, as it happened in about the thirtieth year of David's reign. Here is another proof of the fallacy of the human heart, to make religion a covering for the basest designs. Was it not enough, Absalom, that you leveled a dagger at your too kind and indulgent father; but must God himself be impiously mocked in the attempt?