2 Samuel 16:2
And the king said unto Ziba, What meanest thou by these? And Ziba said, The asses be for the king’s household to ride on; and the bread and summer fruit for the young men to eat; and the wine, that such as be faint in the wilderness may drink.
The verse belongs to the history of Absalom's rebellion, when David fled from Jerusalem, made war against Absalom, gained victory over him, and returned to Jerusalem. Within that history it falls in 2 Samuel 16-17, grouped as 2 Samuel 16-18, covering the events leading up to Absalom's defeat and death. Those events occurred about three months before the battle in which Absalom died at the hand of Joab. The interval of delay was caused by Hushai's counsel defeating Ahithophel's counsel in answer to David's prayer, during which David numbered his adherents and organized his army while Absalom rallied the people to his standard.
That delay and its outcome show that superiority of numbers and flattering prospects count for nothing without God. The setting is one of the sorrows and judgments that came upon David, especially within his own family, as retribution for his wicked treatment of Uriah. This subsequent history in 2 Samuel 11-24 and 1 Kings 1-2 shows the complete fulfillment of the prophet Nathan's denunciation after David's great wickedness in the case of Uriah, by which he gave great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme. That transgression is not covered up or excused, and for it David left a most humble confession for all future time.
The whole history from the long war between the house of Saul and the house of David through Abner's revolt, Joab's murder of Abner, the murder of Ishbosheth, the capture of Zion, the defeat of the Philistines, the bringing up of the ark and the slaying of Uzzah, the plan to build a temple with prayer and thanksgiving, victories over various kingdoms, kindness to Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, war with Ammon and Syria, sin against Uriah, and disgrace and sorrow through Amnon and Absalom teaches the awful evil of a multiplicity of wives, to which David's miseries are largely traced. In the order of Old Testament readings, 2 Samuel 16-18 stands as the morning portion for April 23 within 2 Samuel 3-20 for the week ending April 24, 1909.