Behold, he is hid now in some pit, or in some [other] place: and it will come to pass, when some of them be overthrown at the first, that whosoever heareth it will say, There is a slaughter among the people that follow Absalom.
Ver. 9. Behold, he is hid now in some pit.] Either to secure himself, or from thence to rush suddenly upon our forces as they march by him, and to give them a defeat, and that would be of very ill consequence: Nam prima pugna, qualiscunque fuerit, totius belli praeiudicium esse videtur; for the first conflict is much looked upon as a foretoken of the success of those that shall follow: therefore Ahithophel's counsel hac vice is not good.
“ Quandoque bonus dormitat Homerus. ”