WAnd  there  came  a  messenger  to
David,  saying.  The  hearts  of  the  men  of
Israel  are  after  Absalom.  <^^)  And  David
said  unto  all  his  servants  that  were  with


heen  need  by  the  deiiuu[ogne  in  all  ages.  He  does  not
accuse  the  king  himseS  of  wrons^,  but  insinuates  that
the  system  of  govemment  is  defective,  and  expresses
his  own  earnest  wish  to  set  things  right.
(7)  After  forty  years.— The  reamng  is  certainly  in-
•correct.  Absalom  was  bom  after  David  began  his  reign
in  Hebron,  and  his  whole  reign  was  only  f  ortv  years.
Absalom  therefore  was  not  yet  forty  at  his  deatn.  The
reading  found  in  the  Svriac  and  most  MSS.  of  the
Yulgate,  and  adopted  by  Josephus,  fowr  years,  is
probablv^  correct.  It  remains  uncertain  from  what
point  this  four  years  is  to  be  reckoned ;  probably
it  is  from  Absalom's  return  to  Jerusalem.
Pay  my  vow  ...  in  Hebron.— We  have  no
means  of  blowing  whether  this  vow  was  real  or  ficti-
tious ;  certainly  Absalom  now  uses  it  as  a  pretext,  and
yet  there  is  notning  improbable  in  his  havmg  actually
made  such  a  tow  durm^  his  exile.  Hebron  was  the
place  of  his  birth  and  chudhood,  as  well  as  a  holy  city
from  veiy  ancient  times,  and  was  thus  a  suitable  place
for  the  performance  of  his  vow;  it  was  also  at  a  con-
venient distance  from  Jerusalem,  and  had  been  the  royal
city  of  David  for  the  first  seven  years  of  his  reign.
