2 Samuel 16:18

WEB

Hushai said to Absalom, "No; but whomever the Lord, and this people, and all the men of Israel have chosen, his will I be, and with him I will stay.

KJV

And Hushai said unto Absalom, Nay; but whom the LORD, and this people, and all the men of Israel, choose, his will I be, and with him will I abide.

Commentary

And Hushai said to Absalom,.... In answer to his questions: nay, but whom the Lord, and his people, and all the men of Israel choose: here again he speaks very ambiguously; for this circumlocution, or descriptive character of the king of Israel, better agrees with Dav id, whom he might bear in mind, than with Absalom; for the Lord had chosen David, and he was anointed by his order, and all the people of Israel had chosen and anointed him likewise; but as for Absalom, it was only a part of them that had declared for him, nor was there any evidence of the Lord's choosing him; though Hushai undoubtedly would be under stood of him, and as interpreting the voice of the people to be the voice of God: his will I be, and with him will I abide; though he designed no such thing, which was a great piece of dissimulation and hypocrisy; and if he meant David, it was a piece of deceit and equivocation: there is a various reading in the first clause; we follow the marginal reading, "to him" or "his", but the textual reading is "not": and both may be taken in by rendering the words by an interrogation, "shall I, or should I not be his" (d)? I will; that is, be his servant, faithfully obey his commands, be closely attached to him, and continue with him as a loyal subject. (d) "non ero", Montanus; "non essem ejus?" Junius & Tremellius.