Now therefore send quickly, and tell David, saying, Lodge not this night in the plains of the wilderness, but speedily pass over; lest the king be swallowed up, and all the people that are with him.
All Commentaries on 2 Samuel 17:16 Go To 2 Samuel 17
Basil the Great
AD 379
For in the history, Hushai is mentioned as the chief companion of David and the son of Arachi, but in the psalm, Hushai is the son of Jemini. Neither he nor any other of those appearing in the history was the son of Jemini. Perhaps he was called the son of Jemini for this reason, because he displayed great valor and strength through a mere pretense of friendship, going over, as he pretended, to Absalom, but in reality thwarting the plans of Ahithophel, a very skilled man, well trained in military affairs, who was giving his counsel. “The son of Jemini” is interpreted “the son of the right hand.” By his proposals he prevented the acceptance of the plan of Ahithophel—that no time should intervene in the affairs but that an attack should be made immediately on the father while he was unprepared—“in order that,” as Scripture says, “the Lord might bring all evils upon Absalom.” At all events, he seemed to them to introduce more plausible reasons for postponement and delay, while his real purpose was to give time to David to gather his forces. Because of Hushai’s counsel he was acceptable to Absalom, who said, “The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel.”
However, Hushai informed David through the priests Zadok and Abiathar of the decision and bade him not to camp in Araboth in the desert but urged him to cross it. Since, then, he was on the right hand of David through his good advice, he obtained the name from his brave deed. Surely it is because of this that he is called “son of Jemini,” that is, “son of the right hand.” It is a custom of Scripture not only to give those who are more wicked a name from their sin rather than from their fathers but also to call the better sons from the virtue characterizing them.
