1 It happened after this, that Absalom prepared him a chariot and horses, and fifty men to run before him. 2 Absalom rose up early, and stood beside the way of the gate. It was so, that when any man had a suit which should come to the king for judgment, then Absalom called to him, and said, "What city are you from?" He said, "Your servant is of one of the tribes of Israel." 3 Absalom said to him, "Behold, your matters are good and right; but there is no man deputized by the king to hear you." 4 Absalom said moreover, "Oh that I were made judge in the land, that every man who has any suit or cause might come to me, and I would do him justice!" 5 It was so, that when any man came near to do him obeisance, he put forth his hand, and took hold of him, and kissed him. 6 Absalom did this sort of thing to all Israel who came to the king for judgment. So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel. 7 It happened at the end of forty years, that Absalom said to the king, "Please let me go and pay my vow, which I have vowed to Yahweh, in Hebron. 8 For your servant vowed a vow while I stayed at Geshur in Syria, saying, 'If Yahweh shall indeed bring me again to Jerusalem, then I will serve Yahweh.'" 9 The king said to him, "Go in peace." So he arose, and went to Hebron. 10 But Absalom sent spies throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, "As soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then you shall say, 'Absalom is king in Hebron!'" 11 Two hundred men went with Absalom out of Jerusalem, who were invited, and went in their simplicity; and they didn't know anything. 12 Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David's counselor, from his city, even from Giloh, while he was offering the sacrifices. The conspiracy was strong; for the people increased continually with Absalom. 13 A messenger came to David, saying, "The hearts of the men of Israel are after Absalom." 14 David said to all his servants who were with him at Jerusalem, "Arise, and let us flee; for else none of us shall escape from Absalom. Make speed to depart, lest he overtake us quickly, and bring down evil on us, and strike the city with the edge of the sword." 15 The king's servants said to the king, "Behold, your servants are ready to do whatever my lord the king chooses." 16 The king went forth, and all his household after him. The king left ten women, who were concubines, to keep the house. 17 The king went forth, and all the people after him; and they stayed in Beth Merhak. 18 All his servants passed on beside him; and all the Cherethites, and all the Pelethites, and all the Gittites, six hundred men who came after him from Gath, passed on before the king. 19 Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, "Why do you also go with us? Return, and stay with the king; for you are a foreigner, and also an exile. Return to your own place. 20 Whereas you came but yesterday, should I this day make you go up and down with us, since I go where I may? Return, and take back your brothers. Mercy and truth be with you." 21 Ittai answered the king, and said, "As Yahweh lives, and as my lord the king lives, surely in what place my lord the king shall is, whether for death or for life, even there also will your servant be." 22 David said to Ittai, "Go and pass over." Ittai the Gittite passed over, and all his men, and all the little ones who were with him. 23 All the country wept with a loud voice, and all the people passed over: the king also himself passed over the brook Kidron, and all the people passed over, toward the way of the wilderness. 24 Behold, Zadok also came, and all the Levites with him, bearing the ark of the covenant of God; and they set down the ark of God; and Abiathar went up, until all the people finished passing out of the city. 25 The king said to Zadok, "Carry back the ark of God into the city. If I find favor in the eyes of Yahweh, he will bring me again, and show me both it, and his habitation; 26 but if he say thus, 'I have no delight in you;' behold, here am I. Let him do to me as seems good to him." 27 The king said also to Zadok the priest, "Aren't you a seer? Return into the city in peace, and your two sons with you, Ahimaaz your son, and Jonathan the son of Abiathar. 28 Behold, I will stay at the fords of the wilderness, until word comes from you to inform me." 29 Zadok therefore and Abiathar carried the ark of God again to Jerusalem; and they stayed there. 30 David went up by the ascent of the (Mount of) Olives, and wept as he went up; and he had his head covered, and went barefoot: and all the people who were with him covered every man his head, and they went up, weeping as they went up. 31 Someone told David, saying, "Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom." David said, "Yahweh, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness." 32 It happened that when David had come to the top (of the ascent), where God was worshiped, behold, Hushai the Archite came to meet him with his coat torn, and earth on his head. 33 David said to him, "If you pass on with me, then you will be a burden to me; 34 but if you return to the city, and tell Absalom, 'I will be your servant, O king. As I have been your father's servant in time past, so will I now be your servant; then will you defeat for me the counsel of Ahithophel.' 35 Don't you have Zadok and Abiathar the priests there with you? Therefore it shall be, that whatever thing you shall hear out of the king's house, you shall tell it to Zadok and Abiathar the priests. 36 Behold, they have there with them their two sons, Ahimaaz, Zadok's son, and Jonathan, Abiathar's son; and by them you shall send to me everything that you shall hear." 37 So Hushai, David's friend, came into the city; and Absalom came into Jerusalem.
Absalom conspires against his father, and uses various methods to seduce the people from their allegiance to their king, 2-Samuel 15:1-4. Under pretense of paying a vow at Hebron, he obtains leave from David to go thither; and, by emissaries sent through the land, prepares the people for revolt, 2-Samuel 15:7-11. He gains over Ahithophel, David's counsellor, 2-Samuel 15:12. David is informed of the general defection of the people; on which he, and his life-guards and friends, leave the city, and go towards the wilderness, 2-Samuel 15:13-18. The steadfast friendship of Ittai, the Gittite, 2-Samuel 15:19-22. David's affecting departure from the city, 2-Samuel 15:23. He sends Zadok and Abiathar with the ark back to Jerusalem, 2-Samuel 15:24-29. He goes up Mount Olivet; prays that the counsel of Ahithophel may be turned into foolishness, 2-Samuel 15:30-31. He desires Hushai to return to Jerusalem, and to send him word of all that occurs, 2-Samuel 15:32-37.
INTRODUCTION TO SECOND SAMUEL 15
This chapter relates how that Absalom by various artful methods stole away the hearts of the people of Israel, 2-Samuel 15:1; that pretending a vow he had made, he got leave of the king to go to Hebron to perform it, 2-Samuel 15:7; where he formed a considerable conspiracy, 2-Samuel 15:10; of which David having information, thought it advisable to depart from Jerusalem, both for his own safety, and the good of the city, which he did with his family, and guards, and much people, 2-Samuel 15:13; though he would have persuaded Ittai the Gittite to have returned, but could not prevail upon him, 2-Samuel 15:19; however, he sent back the priests and the Levites with the ark, lest any harm should come to that, 2-Samuel 15:24; and as he and the people went up the mount of Olives weeping, it was told him that Ahithophel was among the conspirators, on which he put up a prayer that his counsel might be infatuated, 2-Samuel 15:30; and Hushai the Archite coming to him at that juncture, he sent him back to Jerusalem to defeat the counsel of Ahithophel, and to send him word by the priests what he should hear there from time to time, 2-Samuel 15:32.
(2-Samuel 15:1-6) Absalom's ambition.
(2-Samuel 15:7-12) His conspiracy.
(2-Samuel 15:13-23) David leaves Jerusalem.
(2-Samuel 15:24-30) David sends back the ark.
(2-Samuel 15:31-37) He prays against Ahithophel's counsel.
Absalom's Rebellion and David's Flight - 2 Samuel 15-16:14
After this restoration to favour, Absalom soon began to aspire to the throne, setting up a princely court, and endeavouring to turn the hearts of the people towards himself, by addressing in a friendly manner any who came to seek redress from the king in matters in dispute, and by saying things adapted to throw suspicion upon his father's rule (2-Samuel 15:1-6). When he had succeeded in this, he asked permission from the king to take a journey to Hebron, under the pretence of wanting to fulfil a vow which he had made during his banishment; and when once there, he soon proceeded with his rebellious intentions (2-Samuel 15:7-12). As soon as David heard of it, he determined to fly from Jerusalem, and crossed the Kidron with his faithful adherents. Having sent the priests with the ark of the covenant back to the city, he went up to the Mount of Olives, amidst the loud lamentations of the people. Hushai, who came to meet him, he sent to the city, to frustrate the counsel of Ahithophel, who was one of the conspirators, and to send information to him of what was going forward (vv. 13-37). When he reached the top, Ziba, Mephibosheth's servant, came to meet him with provisions and succour (2-Samuel 16:1-4) whilst Shimei, a relation of the house of Saul, followed him with curses and stones (2-Samuel 16:5-14).
With this rebellion the calamities which Nathan had predicted to David on account of his sin with Bathsheba began to burst upon him in all their fulness. The success of the rebellion itself may be accounted for, from the fact that the consciousness of his own fault not only made David weak towards his sons, but produced a want of firmness in his resolutions; whilst the imperfections and defects in the internal administration of the kingdom, when the time of the brilliant victories was past, became more and more perceptible to the people, and furnished occasion for dissatisfaction with his government, which Absalom was skilful enough to bend to his own purposes. During the time that this rebellion was in progress, David poured out his lamentations to the Lord (in Psalm 41:1-13 and 55) as to the faithlessness of his most confidential councillors, and prayed for the judgment of retribution upon the conduct of this wicked band. After it had broken out, he uttered his longings to return to the sanctuary at Jerusalem, and his firm confidence that he should be delivered out of his distresses and reinstated in his kingdom, first of all in Psalm 3:1-8 and Psalm 63:1-11 during his flight in the desert of Judah, and in Psalm 61:1-8 and Psalm 62:1-12 during his stay in the land to the east of the Jordan.
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