And the men of Israel answered the men of Judah, “We have ten shares in the king, and in David also we have more than you. Why then did you despise us? Were we not the first to speak of bringing back our king?” But the words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel.
David came over Jordan attended and assisted only by the men of Judah; but when he had advanced as far as Gilgal, the first stage on this side Jordan, half the people of Israel (that is, of their elders and great men) had come to wait upon him, to kiss his hand, and congratulate him on his return, but found they came too late to...
Commenting on 2 Samuel 19:40-43
And the men of Israel answered the men of Judah, and said,.... They replied to them, as follows: we have ten parts in the king; being ten tribes, reckoning Simeon in the tribe of Judah, within which it lay, Jos 19:1, and we have, also more right in David than ye; being more numerous than they; or, according to the Targum, they had more affection...
THE ISRAELITES BRING THE KING BACK. (2Sa. 19:9-43) all the people were at strife throughout all the tribes of Israel--The kingdom was completely disorganized. The sentiments of three different parties are represented in Sa2 19:9-10 : the royalists, the adherents of Absalom who had been very numerous, and those who were indifferent to the Davidic dynasty.
Commenting on 2 Samuel 19:9-43