2 Samuel 17:9
Behold, he is hid now in some pit, or in some other place: and it will come to pass, when some of them be overthrown at the first, that whosoever heareth it will say, There is a slaughter among the people that follow Absalom. Behold, he is hid now in some pit, or in some other place: and it will come to pass, when some of them be overthrown at the first, that whosoever heareth it will say, There is a slaughter among the people that follow Absalom.
The words are Hushai's warning to Absalom that David is a man of war who will not lodge for the night with the troops but is already hidden in some pit or some other place, so a hasty pursuit by night will fail to seize him. David and his men are mighty and valiant fighters, enraged and chafed in mind like a bear robbed of her whelps. If Absalom's forces are overthrown even at the first encounter, the report going out that there is a slaughter among the people that follow Absalom will dishearten all Israel and do great harm to his cause.
The warning was urged to defeat Ahithophel's counsel for immediate action that very night with twelve thousand men while David was weary and weak-handed. That plan would certainly have succeeded in slaying David alone and bringing back all the people to Absalom unless God had directly interposed to prevent it. God overruled events through Hushai to defeat the sound counsel of Ahithophel in order to bring calamity upon Absalom. In its place Hushai flatteringly urged delay to gather all Israel from Dan to Beersheba and for Absalom to go to battle in his own person, to fall upon David as completely as dew covers the ground and leave none of them remaining alive.