3 And the people say, 'Thou dost not go out, for if we utterly flee, they do not set 'their' heart upon us; and if half of us die, they do not set 'their' heart unto us—for now like us 'are' ten thousand; and now, better that thou be to us from the city for an helper.'
Matthew Henry's Commentary on 2 Samuel 18:3
Commentary on 2 Samuel 18:1-8
(Read 2 Samuel 18:1-8)
How does David render good for evil! Absalom would have only David smitten; David would have only Absalom spared. This seems to be a resemblance of man's wickedness towards God, and God's mercy to man, of which it is hard to say which is most amazing. Now the Israelites see what it is to take counsel against the Lord and his anointed.