32. That I may send. Absalom treated Joab as his servant, giving to him his orders and expecting them to be carried out. His conduct reveals how far he had already gone in his course of rebellion and his determination to secure a redress of his supposed grievances and a restoration to privileges he believed to be rightfully his. No attempt was made to explain his arson. He acted as if he were fully within his rights in taking the measures he did to bring Joab to him, and as if Joab were under obligation to carry out his wishes.
See the king’s face. Absalom had been allowed to come home, but the king still refused to see him. Such treatment was to Absalom more galling than his exile. In the popular estimation David was unduly harsh in his treatment of his son, and the people were gradually drawn toward Absalom.
If there be any iniquity. Absalom knew that David was in no position to carry out justice. The king himself had been guilty of murder in the death of Uriah, and in the endeavor to mete out justice to Absalom he would only involve himself. The attitude of the people would probably not have supported David in such a course. Their hearts were with Absalom, and David knew it.