But in all Israel there was none to be so much praised as Absalom for his beauty: from the sole of his foot even to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him.
Ver. 25. There was none to be so much praised as Absalom for his beauty.] This was no great commendation, that he was pulcherrimus corpore, aterrimus mente, fair without, and foul within; like an Egyptian temple: or as Alcibiades, comely but turbulent: or as Aurelia Orestilla, cuius praeter formam nihil unquam bonus laudavit, a commendable only for her beauty; which is only then praise worthy, when it is the flower of virtue. Otherwise it is but as the goodly oak, which beareth no fruit but for swine; whereas the weak and deformed vine yieldeth sweet grapes: or, as the peacock, which hath gay feathers, but maketh the ground barren whereon it sitteth; whenas the poor homely bee yieldeth honey, &c. In Saul and Absalom, saith an interpreter b here, two men of goodly stature, but of bad conditions, we have the right description of hypocrites, who bear a fair show outwardly, but within are corrupt. The more to blame were this people for doting so much upon these two whited sepulchres; as therefore worthy to reign, because comely and sightly.
There was no blemish in him.] But nature had spent all her strength, saith one, c in trimming his body; his soul she had left altogether untrimmed, as appeareth by his ambition.
a Sallust.
b Borrh.
c A Lap.