2 Samuel 17:13
Moreover, if he be gotten into a city, then shall all Israel bring ropes to that city, and we will draw it into the river, until there be not one small stone found there. Moreover, if he be gotten into a city, then shall all Israel bring ropes to that city, and we will draw it into the river, until there be not one small stone found there.
This saying is the climax of Hushai's advice to Absalom, deliberately shaped to appeal to a vain and selfish character that loved a display of power. Hushai urged that all Israel be gathered from Dan to Beersheba, as numerous as the sand by the sea, with Absalom himself going into battle in his own person. He urged falling upon David wherever he should be found, as dew settles on the ground, so that not one of his force would be left.
If David withdrew into a city, then all Israel was to bring ropes to that city and drag it into the river until not even one small stone remained. Hushai offered this boastful plan because he saw that Ahithophel's plan for twelve thousand men to pursue the weary David that very night would have surely killed David. To discredit immediate action he argued that David was a man of war surrounded by mighty and valiant men enraged like a bear robbed of her young, that he would hide in a pit, and that any early reverse would dishearten Absalom's cause. Events were directed by a wisdom higher than the renowned Ahithophel, for the Lord had appointed to defeat Ahithophel's good counsel in order to bring calamity upon Absalom.