Over the brook of water, i.e. over Jordan. This was a manifest lie; but because it was spoken for no hurt, but good only, many persons in those times conceived such lies to be lawful. Compare Exodus 1:19 Joshua 2:4,5. But although God was pleased to overlook and pardon the sin, and graciously to reward the good intention which accompanied them; yet it is certain that all kinds of lies are moral evils, and condemned by plain scriptures, and that we must not do evil that good may come, nor tell a lie for God's glory, Romans 3:7,8.
Related Commentaries of 2 Samuel 17:20
2 Samuel 17:20
20 And when Absalom's servants came to the woman to the house, they said, Where is Ahimaaz and Jonathan? And the woman said unto them, They be gone over the brook of water. And when they had sought and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem.