What equipage had Absalom, and what was undoubtedly his design in keeping up such a pompous establishment?
Did David do right in allowing such ostentation? Was this extravagance among the grievances of royalty foretold by Samuel? 1 Samuel 8.11.
By what artful policy did Absalom ingratiate himself into the favor of the people?
Were not his insinuations a gross libel on his father's government? ch.8. 15.
Are these the usual arts of demagogues?
What request did Absalom make of his father near the close of his reign, and was it granted? N.B. Some of the ablest critics have attempted to prove that the phrase "after forty years" may properly be rendered "about the end of forty years"-—i. e. the forty years of David's reign; and as it appears that Absalom's conspiracy occurred within the three or four last years of that period, the rendering appears very probable, as otherwise it is wholly uncertain from what time the forty years are to be dated.
Did he thus cloak the design of treason and rebellion under the shew of religion?
What steps did he then take in the prosecution of his scheme? v. 10—12.
What Psalm appears to have special reference to Ahithopel's conduct in this rebellion? Ps. 109. Has this Psalm moreover a prophetic allusion? Acts 1.20.
What news was soon brought to David, what measure did he propose, and how was it received?
What part of his household did he take with him, and what did he leave behind?
What other retinue went with him, and what conversation had David with Ittai the Gittite or Gathite?
What brook did they pass over on the way and how were the people of the adjacent country affected?
In what way did this stream subsequently become distinguished? John 18.1.
What persons of the sacred order were with him, and what directions did he give them with which they complied? v. 24—28.
Does the meek submissive spirit of David appear to great advantage on this occasion?
In what humble and mournful style did the procession pass up the hill of Olivet?
What said David when informed that Ahithopel was among the conspirators?
What did he do when he came to the top of the hill, and who met him there?
What Psalm was written on this occasion, and what is the general strain of it? Ps.3.
Is the proposing of such gross dissimulation as that here suggested by David to be altogether justified?
Was Absalom's unnatural conduct towards his father, calculated to teach David the vileness of his own deportment towards his heavenly Father?
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