18:3 You shall not go out. In response to David’s emphatic pronouncement in v. 2, the troops are adamant that he must not accompany them. Perhaps they fear that David’s feelings for Absalom (v. 5; 18:33–19:7) or simply his advancing age (21:15–17) might prove a liability in the campaign. They recognize, moreover, that the death of David would mean sure defeat, as Ahithophel had earlier pointed out to Absalom (17:2, 3).