Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, “Why should you also go with us? Go back and stay with the new king, since you are both a foreigner and an exile from your homeland.
Here is, I. The notice brought to David of Absalom's rebellion, Sa2 15:13. The matter was bad enough, and yet it seems to have been made worse to him (as such things commonly are) than really it was; for he was told that the hearts of the men of Israel (that is, the generality of them, at least the leading men) were after Absalom.
Commenting on 2 Samuel 15:13-23
Then said the king to Ittai the Gittite,.... Who was over the band of Gittites, the six hundred men, Sa2 15:22, wherefore goest thou also with us? one should think the king should not have discouraged any from joining and following him, when his numbers were not very large, and the in such fear on account of Absalom: return to this place; to Jerusalem, where...
Then said the king to Ittai the Gittite, Wherefore goest thou also with us? return to thy place, and abide with the king: for thou [art] a stranger, and also an exile. (l) Who as some write was the king's son of Gath.