2 Samuel 17:1 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Moreover, Ahithophel said unto Absalom— Ahithophel, aware of the advantages of dispatch, advised an immediate pursuit of David, without suffering him to breathe from the fatigues that he had just gone through; and his advice well justifies the character given of him in the Scripture. It was in its several parts admirably fitted both to the inclinations and the interest of his pupil. He consigned him to his pleasures, ch. 2 Samuel 16:22 and took all the danger to himself; and at the same time he relieved his little remains of humanity from the necessity of imbruing his own hands in his father's blood. His incest was, for the present, personal guilt enough. That act of outrage would make Absalom's reconciliation with his father desperate; and whilst he indulged his evil appetite, Ahithophel, with a chosen band, would pursue and surprise David. Nothing could be more wordly-wise, or more hellishly wicked. It was indeed as the advice of an oracle, but very different from that dictated by the Spirit of God: and yet, horrid as it was, it pleased that vile son and his associates.