But you can thwart the counsel of Ahithophel for me if you return to the city and say to Absalom: ‘I will be your servant, my king; in the past I was your father’s servant, but now I will be your servant.’
Nothing, it seems, appeared to David more threatening in Absalom's plot than that Ahithophel was in it; for one good head, in such a design, is worth a thousand good hands. Absalom was himself no politician, but he had got one entirely in his interest that was, and would be the more dangerous because he had been all along acquainted with David's counsels and affairs...
Commenting on 2 Samuel 15:31-37
But if thou return to the city,.... To the city of Jerusalem, from whence it seems he came: and say unto Absalom, I will be thy servant, O king; as he was by usurpation, and by the proclamation of the people with him.
But if thou return to the city, and say unto Absalom, I will be thy servant, O king; [as] I [have been] thy father's servant hitherto, so [will] I now also [be] thy servant: then mayest thou for me defeat the counsel of Ahithophel. (u) Though Hushai was deceitful here at the king's request, we may not use this example to excuse our deceit.