2 Samuel 15

Egypt on the south, to the Euphrates River on the north, and on the east he conquered Edom, Moab, and Ammon, and on the north defeated the Arameans and the Syrians, including Hamath. Because of God’s gifts and help, David undoubtedly became Israel’s greatest king and greatest military genius. He was blessed with courageous men like Joab and Abishai, plus his “mighty men” (2 Sam. 23; 1 Chron. 11:10–47).

It’s one thing to experience God’s power when you’re facing giants or fighting armies, and quite something else when you’re watching people tear your world apart. God was chastening David, but David knew that God’s power could help him in the hour of pain as well as in the hour of conquest. He wrote in one of his exile psalms, “Many are they who say of me, ‘There is no help for him in God.’ But You, O Lord, are a shield for me, my glory and the One who lifts up my head” (Ps. 3:2–3 nkjv). David recognized that God’s loving hand of discipline was upon him, and he admitted that he deserved every blow. But he also believed that God’s gracious hand of power was still at work in his life, that the Lord hadn’t forsaken him as He forsook Saul. The Lord was still working out His perfect will, and never did David rise to greater heights of faith and submission than when he was forced to leave Jerusalem and hide in the wilderness.

The passage introduces us to three kings.

If ever a man was equipped to be a demagogue and lead people astray, that man was Absalom. He was a handsome man whose charm was difficult to resist (14:25–26), and he had royal blood in his veins from both his father and his mother. The fact that he had no character wasn’t important to most of the people who, like sheep, would follow anybody who told them what they wanted to hear and gave them what they wanted to have. Newspaper editor H. L. Mencken’s definition of a demagogue is rather extreme, but he gets the point across: “One who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots.” Novelist James Fenimore Cooper expressed it accurately: “One who advances his own interests by affecting a deep devotion to the interests of the people.”

Absalom was not only a consummate liar, but he was a patient man who was able to discern just the right hour to act. He waited two years before having Amnon murdered (13:23), and now he waited four years before openly rebelling against his father and seizing the throne (v. 7). When you read the “exile psalms” of David, you get the impression that at this time King David was ill and didn’t have his hands on the affairs of the kingdom, thus giving Absalom opportunity to move in and take over. With great skill, the egotistical prince used every device at his disposal to mesmerize the people and win their support. David had won the hearts of the people through sacrifice and service, but Absalom did it the easy way—and the modern way—by manufacturing an image of himself that the people couldn’t resist. David was a hero; Absalom was only a celebrity. Alas, many of the people had gotten accustomed to their king and now took him for granted.

Absalom’s campaign must have begun shortly after his reconciliation with his father, for now he was free to go wherever he pleased. His first move was to begin riding in a chariot pulled by horses and accompanied by fifty men who were his bodyguard and who announced his presence. The prophet Samuel had predicted this kind of behavior by Israel’s kings (1 Sam. 8:11), and Moses had warned against the acquisition of horses (Deut. 17:16). David wrote in Psalm 20: (nkjv), “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will remember the name of the Lord our God.”

Since David wasn’t available to the people, Absalom met them personally on the road to the city gate when they came early each morning to have their grievances examined and their cases tried. The city gate was the “city hall” of the ancient cities (Ruth 4:1ff.; Gen. 23:10; Deut. 22:15; 25:7), and he knew there would be many disgruntled people there wondering why the court system wasn’t functioning efficiently. (See 2 Sam. 19:1–8.) Absalom would greet these visitors like old friends and find out where they came from and what their problems were. He agreed with all of them their complaints were right and should be settled in their favor by the king’s court. It was gross flattery of the most despicable kind, but the people loved it. Absalom boasted that he would handle kingdom matters better if only he were a judge (v. 4), which was a subtle way of criticizing his father. When people started to bow to him because he was the crown prince, he reached out his hand and stopped them, pulled them to himself and kissed them (v. 5). This reminds us of the hypocritical kisses of Judas when he greeted Jesus in the garden (Matt. 26:47–50; Mark 14:45).

It took only four years for Absalom’s magnetism to draw together a large number of devoted followers throughout the whole land. The people Absalom met returned home and told their friends and neighbors that they had spoken personally to the crown prince, and over the four-year period, this kind of endorsement won Absalom many friends. His rapid success at influencing the minds and hearts of a nation warns us that one day a leader will arise who will control the minds of people around the world (Rev. 13:3; 2 Thess. 2). Even the people of Israel will be deceived and sign a covenant with this ruler, and then he will turn on them and seek to destroy them (Dan. 9:26–27). Jesus told the Jewish leaders of His day, “I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive” (John 5: nkjv).

Absalom had been deceiving his siblings and the Jewish nation for years, and when the right time came, he took a bold step and lied to his father (vv. 7–9). The prince was no longer under house arrest, so there was no need to get permission to leave Jerusalem, but in so doing he achieved several purposes. First, he could tell anybody who asked that he had his father’s permission to go to Hebron to fulfill the vow he had made while exiled in Geshur. Second, it allayed any fears that might arise because of Absalom’s former feast at which Amnon was killed. Third, it gave credence to his invitation to two hundred key people in David’s administration who willingly attended the feast. When the guests saw these two hundred important people in Hebron, they must have been impressed. The fact that this was a feast connected with the fulfilling of a vow gave it the aura of a religious assembly (Deut. 23:21–23), for sacrifices were offered to the Lord. What could go wrong at a feast dedicated to the Lord? Absalom was now using the name of the Lord to hide his sins.

Absalom’s masterstroke was to win the support of Ahithophel, David’s smartest counselor, and when the guests saw him at the feast, they felt confident that all was well. But Ahithophel did more than attend the celebration; he also joined Absalom in revolting against King David. It was probably Ahithophel who masterminded the entire operation. After all, David had violated Ahithophel’s granddaughter Bathsheba and ordered her husband killed. (See 23:34; 1 Chron. 3:5.) This was Ahithophel’s great opportunity to avenge himself on David. However, in supporting Absalom, Ahithophel was rejecting Bathsheba’s son Solomon, whom God would choose to be the next ruler of Israel. At the same time, Ahithophel was taking steps toward his own death for, like Judas, he rejected the true king and went out and committed suicide. (See 17:23; Ps. 41:9; 55:12–14; Matt. 26:21–25; John 13:18; Acts 1:16.) Ahithophel had deceived David his king and sinned against the Lord, who had chosen David.

Why did Absalom decide to start his insurrection in Hebron? For one thing, it was the former capital of Judah, and perhaps there were people there who resented David’s moving the capital to Jerusalem. Absalom was born in Hebron and could claim special kinship with the residents. Hebron was a sacred city to the Jews because it was assigned to the priests and had a connection with Caleb (Josh. 21:8–16). Located about twenty miles southwest of Jerusalem, Hebron was a walled city and the ideal city from which to invade Jerusalem and seize the throne. With two hundred of David’s officials “imprisoned” behind Hebron’s walls, it would be simple for Absalom to take over the kingdom.

Absalom and Ahithophel had their trumpeters and messengers ready to act, and at the signal, the word quickly spread throughout the land: “Absalom is king! He reigns from Hebron!” The anonymous messenger who informed David actually helped to save the king’s life. However lethargic David may have been before now, he immediately moved into action, because David always did his best during a crisis.

David takes charge (vv. 13–16). His first official order was for his family, officials and special bodyguard to leave Jerusalem immediately. If Absalom had the whole nation following him, it would be easy for armies from Judah and the northern tribes to surround Jerusalem and leave no way of escape. David knew that the same Absalom who killed Amnon would also kill his brothers and possibly even his father, so it was imperative that everybody flee. Furthermore, if Absalom had to attack Jerusalem, he would slaughter the inhabitants, and there was no reason for hundreds of innocent people to die. It was just like David to risk his own life and abandon his own throne in order to protect others. The servants pledged their loyalty to the king (v. 16) and so did his bodyguard (vv. 18–22). The ten concubines David left behind to manage the household would be violated by Absalom (16:20–23), an act that declared he had taken over his father’s kingdom.

David mobilizes the forces (vv. 17–22). David and the people with him escaped to the northeast, moving from Jerusalem opposite the direction of Hebron. When they came to the last house in the suburbs of Jerusalem, they rested and David reviewed his troops. These included David’s personal bodyguard (the Cherethites and the Pelethites, 8:18; 23:22–23) as well as six hundred Philistines who had followed David from Gath and were under the command of Ittai (1 Sam. 27:3). Ittai assured David that they were completely loyal to the king. This Gentile’s testimony of fidelity to David (v. 21) is one of the great confessions of faith and faithfulness found in Scripture and ranks with that of Ruth (1:16) and the Roman centurion (Matt. 8:5–13).

David weeps (v. 23). The key word in this section is “passed over” or “crossed over,” used nine times. David and his people crossed the Kidron (v. 23), which in winter flowed powerfully on the east side of Jerusalem and had to be crossed to reach the Mount of Olives. The scene reminds us of our Lord’s experience when He went to the garden (John 18:1). At that very hour, Judas, one of His own disciples, was betraying Him and arranging for His arrest. The people wept as they quickly moved along and their king wept with them, though perhaps for a different reason (vv. 23, 30). His own son had betrayed him, along with his friend and confidential adviser, and the foolish people for whom the king had done so much were ignorant of what was going on. David might have prayed as Jesus did on the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).

Was David feeling the weight of guilt as once again Absalom, his beloved son, defied God’s will and broke his father’s heart? He and his son had been reconciled, but the young man had shown no contrition for his sins nor had he asked forgiveness from his father or from the Lord. “The sword shall not depart from your household” had been the ominous sentence from the mouth of God’s prophet, and it was being fulfilled. Bathsheba’s baby had died and Amnon had been murdered. David didn’t want Absalom to die (18:5), but the young man would be slain by Joab, the third “installment” in David’s painful payment (12:6). Adonijah would also die in an aborted attempt to become king (1 Kings 1), and then the debt would be paid.

For the second time in his life, David is forced to flee into the wilderness to save his life. As a young man, he fled the jealous rage of King Saul, and now he was seeking refuge from the hypocritical deceptions of his son Absalom and his former counselor, Ahithophel. By leaving Jerusalem, David had spared the city a bloodbath, but now he and his family were in danger, and what was the future of the kingdom and God’s covenant with David?

When you read David’s exile psalms, you can’t help but see his trust in God and his conviction that no matter how disordered and disturbed everything was, the Lord was still on His throne. No matter how David felt, he knew that the Lord would always keep His covenant and fulfill His promises. Psalm 4 might well have been the song David sang to God that first evening away from home, and Psalm 3 what he prayed the next morning. In Psalms 41 and 55, he poured out his heart to the Lord, and the Lord heard him and answered in His time. Psalms 61, 62, and 63 allow us to look into David’s troubled heart as he asks God for guidance and strength. Note that each of these three psalms ends with a strong affirmation of faith in the Lord. We today can have courage and assurance in our own times of difficulty as we see how the Lord responded to David and his great needs.

The Lord acknowledges David’s faith (15:24–29). Zadok and Abiathar shared the high priestly duties and had helped to bring the ark to Jerusalem (1 Chron. 15:11ff.), so they thought it wise to take the ark to David. Absalom had usurped his father’s throne, but the priests would not allow him to have the throne of God. They joined David’s camp and brought many of the Levites with them, and Abiathar offered sacrifices (v. 24 niv) and no doubt called upon God to guide and protect the king.

But David told them to take the ark back to Jerusalem! He didn’t want the throne of God treated like a good-luck charm as in the days of Eli when the glory departed from Israel (1 Sam. 4). Absalom and his men were trying to turn David’s glory into shame (Ps. 4:2), but God’s favor was upon the king and He would restore him to his throne. David had seen God’s power and glory in His sanctuary (Ps. 63:2), and he would see it by faith there in the wilderness. But even if God rejected David, the king was prepared to accept Jehovah’s sovereign will (v. 26). Eli had made a similar statement (1 Sam. 3:18), but it was resignation, not dedication. In David’s case, the king was totally yielding to the Lord and saying, “Not my will but your will be done.”

Faith without works is dead, so David assigned the two priests to be his eyes and ears in Jerusalem and to send him all the information that would help him plan his strategy. Zadok’s son Ahimaaz and Jonathan the son of Abiathar would be the messengers and bring the information to him. David was a gifted tactician, and when you read 1 Samuel 19—28, you discover that he had an effective spy system that kept him informed of Saul’s every move. David would have agreed with the counsel attributed to Oliver Cromwell, “Put your trust in God, my boys, and keep your powder dry.” Whatever Absalom might do to the king’s officials, he wasn’t likely to lay hands on the Lord’s priests and Levites, and they could go about their work almost unnoticed. When the two priests and their sons returned to Jerusalem with the ark, Absalom’s followers must have interpreted their action as four votes for the new king.

The Lord sees David’s tears (15:30). “The Bible was written in tears, and to tears it will yield its best treasures,” said A. W. Tozer. David was a strong and courageous man, but he wasn’t afraid to weep openly. (Real men do weep, including Jesus and Paul.) We read about David’s tears in Psalm 6, which might well have been an exile psalm (vv. 6–8), as well as in Psalms 30:5, 39:12, and 56:8. “Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity; for the Lord has heard the voice of my weeping” (Ps. 6: nkjv). “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart—these, O God, You will not despise” (Ps. 51: nkjv).

David certainly had much to weep over, for his sins had brought sorrow and death to his family. Amnon had been murdered and Tamar violated, and now Absalom—the king’s own son—was in the process of usurping the throne of Israel and heading for certain death. David’s friend and counselor Ahithophel had turned against him, and the people for whom David had often risked his life were abandoning him to follow an egotistical rebel who was never chosen by God. If ever a man had a right to weep, it was David. Like disobedient children being spanked, it’s easy for people to weep when they’re being chastened for their sins, and then forget about the pain when the spanking is over. But David’s tears went much deeper. He was not only concerned for the welfare of his rebellious son but also for the safety of the nation and the future of Israel’s God-given ministry to the world. God’s covenant with David (2 Sam. 7) assured him that his throne would last forever, and this is fulfilled in Christ, but the promise also implied that Israel would not be destroyed or the lamp of David permanently extinguished (1 Kings 11:36; 15:4; 2 Kings 8:19; 21:7; Ps. 132:17). God would be faithful to keep His covenant, and David knew that his throne was safe in the hands of the Lord.

The Lord answers David’s prayer (15:31–37). Another messenger arrived in David’s camp and informed the king that Ahithophel had deserted him for Absalom (see v. 12). “Even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted up his heel against me” (Ps. 41: nkjv). “For it is not an enemy who reproaches me; then I could bear it.… But it was you, a man my equal, my companion and my acquaintance” (Ps. 55:11–14). What do you do when one of your closest confidants betrays you? You do what David did—you pray and you worship. “O Lord, I pray thee, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness. And it came to pass, that when David was come to the top of the mount … he worshipped” (v. 31).

And then David saw Hushai, who was the answer to his prayer! Hushai is called “David’s friend” (v. 37; 1 Chron. 27:33), which implies he was a friend at court and a special counselor to the king. He was an Arkite, which means he came from a group of people who descended from Canaan and thus were Gentiles (Gen. 10:17; 1 Chron. 1:15). The town of Arka was located in Syria, about two hundred miles north of Damascus and five miles east of the sea. David’s conquests had reached that far north, and some of the people had begun to worship the true God of Israel and to serve the king.

As he had done with Zadok and Abiathar and their two sons, so David did with Hushai: he sent him back to Jerusalem to “serve” Absalom. All five men were taking risks for the sake of the Lord and the kingdom, but they considered it an honor to serve their king and help restore him to the throne. All of the people to whom David gave special assignments could say, “We are your servants, ready to do whatever my lord the king commands” (v. 15 nkjv). This would be a fine statement for believers to adopt today as an expression of their devotion to Christ.

Hushai came to Jerusalem just as Absalom arrived, and the people’s excitement at greeting the new king probably enabled Hushai to enter the city without being noticed, or perhaps he strengthened his position by joining the crowd. Of course, later Hushai would greet the king and go to work doing all he could to obstruct his plans and keep David informed. If there’s one thing better than getting an answer to prayer it’s being an answer to prayer, and Hushai was the answer to David’s prayer. Humanly speaking, were it not for Hushai’s counsel to Absalom, David might have been slain in the wilderness.

The Lord meets David’s needs (16:1–4). When David met Hushai, it was an answer to prayer, but when he met Ziba, the encounter met an immediate need but created a problem that wasn’t settled until David returned to the throne. Ziba had been one of Saul’s land managers as well as a custodian of Jonathan’s crippled son, Mephibosheth (chap. 9). Knowing that Ziba was an opportunist with evil motives, David was suspicious about Ziba’s presence, his gifts, and the absence of Mephibosheth, who had been cared for by David. Ziba had brought a string of donkeys (niv) for David and his family to use, as well as generous amounts of bread, wine, and fruit. The gifts were needed and appreciated, but David was concerned about the motive behind them.

Ziba lied to the king and did his best to discredit his young master, Mephibosheth. David was weary and deeply wounded within, and it wasn’t the best time for him to be making character decisions. He accepted Ziba’s story—which was later discredited (19:26–27)—and made a rash judgment that gave Ziba the property that rightfully belonged to Mephibosheth. “He who answers a matter before he hears it, it is folly and shame to him” (Prov. 18:13). God’s leaders must constantly be on guard lest they make unwise decisions on the basis of incomplete information.

God honors David’s submission (16:5–14). Through Ziba’s lies, Satan attacked David as a serpent who deceives (2 Cor. 11:3; Gen. 3:1–7), and then through Shimei’s words and stones, Satan came as a lion who devours (1 Peter 5:8). Ziba told lies and Shimei threw stones, and both were making it hard for David. The king was now near Bahurim in the tribe of Benjamin, where the pro-Saul forces were still strong. Shimei was on the hillside opposite David and above him, and it was easy for him to throw stones and clumps of dirt at David and his people. David was exhausted and discouraged, and yet he never rose to greater heights than when he allowed Shimei to go on attacking him. Abishai was only too willing to cross over and kill the man who was attacking the king, but David wouldn’t allow it. Abishai had also wanted to kill Saul in the camp of Israel (1 Sam. 26:6–8), and he assisted his brother Joab in murdering Abner (2 Sam. 3:30), so David knew that his words were not to be treated lightly.

“Get out, get out, you man of blood, you scoundrel!” shouted Shimei, but David didn’t retaliate. Shimei was blaming David for the death of Saul and his sons, for after all, David was officially in the Philistine army when they died. The fact that David was miles away from the battlefield when their deaths occurred didn’t seem to matter to Shimei. This loyal Benjamite probably blamed David for the death of Saul’s son Ish-Bosheth, who inherited Saul’s throne, and also Abner, Saul’s loyal commander; and, of course, Uriah the Hittite as well. “You have come to ruin because you are a man of blood!” (v. 8). Shimei was breaking the law while giving vent to his hatred of David, for Exodus 22: says, “You shall not revile God, nor curse a ruler of your people” (nkjv).

David’s attitude was one of submission because he accepted Shimei’s abuse as from the hand of God. David had already announced that he would accept anything the Lord sent to him (15:26), and now he proved it. When David considered that he was an adulterer and a murderer who deserved to die, yet God let him live, why should he complain about some stones and dirt? And if Absalom, David’s own son, was out to kill him, why should a total stranger be punished for slandering the king and throwing things at him? David had faith that God would one day balance the books and take care of people like Absalom and Shimei. Perhaps David was thinking of Deuteronomy 32:35: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay” (niv; see Rom. 14:17–21). When David regained the throne, he pardoned Shimei (19:16–23), and later Solomon restricted him to Jerusalem where he could be watched. When Shimei arrogantly overstepped his bounds, he was arrested and executed (1 Kings 2:36–46).

David and the people went beyond Behurim some twenty miles to the ford of the Jordan River, possibly near Gilgal or Jericho, and there they rested. Very early the next morning they crossed the river and proceeded to Mahanaim (17:22, 24), where Jacob had prepared to meet his brother Esau and had wrestled with God (Gen. 32). Perhaps David remembered that event and gained courage as he thought of the army of angels that God sent to protect Jacob.

What did all this suffering accomplish for David? It made him more like Jesus Christ! He was rejected by his own people and betrayed by his own familiar friend. He gave up everything for the sake of the people and would have surrendered his own life to save his rebellious son who deserved to die. Like Jesus, David crossed the Kidron and went up Mount Olivet. He was falsely accused and shamefully treated, and yet he submitted to the sovereign will of God. “[W]ho, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously” (1 Peter 2: nkjv).

David had lost his throne, but Jehovah God was still on the throne and would keep His promises with His servant. Faithful to His covenant, the Lord remembered David and all the hardships that he endured (Ps. 132:1), and He remembers us today.