The elders of his house; the chief officers of his kingdom and household who were there present. This excessive mourning did not proceed simply from the fear of the loss of the child; but from a deep sense of his sin, and from the Divine displeasure manifested herein; and particularly from a just apprehension of the injury which he had done to the child by his sin, which justice obliged him to do his utmost to repair by prayer or other means.
Related Commentaries of 2 Samuel 12:17
2 Samuel 12:17
17 And the elders of his house arose, and went to him, to raise him up from the earth: but he would not, neither did he eat bread with them.