Commentators note the strategic ambiguity in the woman's words. When she says 'the people have made me afraid,' it's unclear if she means her family in her fictional story (as Albert Barnes suggests) or the entire nation restless over Absalom's exile (as John Gill suggests). Charles Ellicott proposes this ambiguity is intentional, allowing her to cleverly address the real issue of Absalom under the cover of her personal plea.