| II Samuel 16:21
| And Achitophel said to Absalom: Go in to the concubines of thy father, whom he hath left to keep the house: that when all Israel shall hear that thou hast disgraced thy father, their hands may be strengthened with thee.
| Their hands may be strengthened, etc. The people might apprehend lest Absalom should be reconciled to his father; and therefore they followed him with some fear of being left in the lurch, till they saw such a crime committed, as seemed to make a reconciliation impossible. (Challoner) --- This was the most heinous outrage that a son could offer to his father. Jacob resented it to the last, Genesis 49:4. Amyntor devoted his son Phoenix to all the furies, for a similar offence. (Homer, Iliad ix.) Armais treated the wives of his brother Sesostris in this manner, when he had resolved to rebel. (Josephus, contra Apion i.)
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