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2Sa_17:11 Therefore I counsel that all Israel be generally gathered unto thee, from Dan even to Beersheba, as the sand that [is] by the sea for multitude; and that thou go to battle in thine own person.
Ver. 11. Therefore I counsel that all Israel, &c.] This was crafty counsel, well fitted to Absalom’s ambitious humour: viz., that he should raise so great an army as was possible, and then have the heading and leading of them himself, that the honour of the victory might be ascribed to him, and not to any deputy. It is reported of Sigismund, the young king of Hungary, that beholding the greatness of his army, in his great jollity, hearing of the coming of the Turks, he should proudly say, What need we to fear the Turks, who need not at all to fear the falling of the heavens; which if they should fall, yet were we able with our spears and halberds to hold them up from failing upon us! But what was the issue? This vainglorious prince shortly after received a notable overthrow, many of his army being slain, and himself hardly escaping with his life in a little boat, like another Xerxes. {a} The young man Absalom, deceived by Hushai’s counsel, and brought into the sublime dotage of a fool’s paradise, sped not so well, but well enough for such a stigmatical Belialist.
{a} Turk. Hist., 206.