Absalom’s plot against David
15
📚And it came about after this that Absalom prepared chariots and horses for himself, and fifty men to run before him.15:1 As far as the record goes, no leader in Israel had ever used a chariot before. Absalom was now trying to make something big of himself.⚜
2 📚And Absalom would rise early and stand beside the gate road, and it happened that when any man who had a controversy came to the king for judgment, then Absalom would call to him and say, “From which city are you?” And he would say, “Your servant is from one of the tribes of Israel”. 3 📚And Absalom would say to him, “See, your claims are good and right, but there is no representative of the king to listen to you”.
15:3 He was suggesting to the people that King David cared nothing for their troubles and complaints, but that he himself did.⚜
4 📚And Absalom would say, “Oh that I were made judge in the land, so that whoever has any suit or case might come to me, and I could administer justice for him!”
15:4 If Absalom aspired to be a judge he should first have judged himself for the murder of his brother Amnon (2 Sam 13:28). Often those who seek a high position are least fit to hold it. Actually, Absalom wanted a higher office than judge (v 10).⚜
5 📚And it happened that when any man came near him to bow down to him, he would put out his hand and take hold of him and kiss him. 6 📚And this is the way Absalom acted to every Israelite who came to the king for judgment. So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.
15:6 Compare Rom 16:18.⚜
7 📚And this took place after forty 📖 years: Absalom said to the king, “Please let me go and pay my vow in Hebron, which I have made to the LORD. 8 📚For your servant made a vow while I was staying at Geshur in Syria, saying, If the LORD indeed brings me back to Jerusalem, then I will serve the LORD”.
15:8 Often when men are bent on evil they make a show of piety and religion. Compare Isa 1:10-17. They want to think God is on their side. “In Hebron” is in the Septuagint, but not in the available Hebrew manuscripts.⚜
9 📖And 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 reigning in Hebron!’ ” 11 📚And two hundred men from Jerusalem, who were invited, went with Absalom, and they went in their innocence and knew nothing of the plot. 12 📚And Absalom sent for Ahithophel 📖 the Gilonite, David’s counsellor, from his city, from Giloh, when he was offering sacrifices. And the conspiracy was strong, for the number of people with Absalom increased continually.
13 📚And a messenger came to David, saying, “The hearts of the men of Israel are after Absalom”.
15:13 Verse 6.⚜
14 📚And David said to all his servants who were with him at Jerusalem, “Arise, and let us flee; for otherwise we will not escape from Absalom. Leave quickly, or he will come on us suddenly and bring disaster on us, and strike the city with the edge of the sword”.
15 📚And the king’s servants said to the king, “See, your servants are ready to do whatever my lord the king chooses”.
16 📚And the king went out, and all his household after him. And the king left ten women, who were concubines 📖, to keep the house. 17 📚And the king went out, and all the people after him, and stopped in a place that was at a distance. 18 📚And all his servants passed on beside him; and all the Kerethites and all the Pelethites 📖 and all the Gittites, six hundred men who followed him from Gath, passed on before the king.
19 📚Then the king said to Ittai 📖 the Gittite, “Why are you also going with us? Return to your place, and stay with the king; for you are a foreigner and also an exile. 20 📚You came only yesterday, and shall I today make you go up and down with us while I go where I am going? Return, and take back your brethren. May mercy and truth be with you”.
21 📚And Ittai answered the king and said, “As the LORD lives, and as my lord the king lives, wherever my lord the king may be, whether for death or life, surely there your servant will also be”.
22 And David said to Ittai, “Go and pass by”. And Ittai the Gittite and all his men, and all the little ones who were with him, passed by.
23 📚And the whole country wept with a loud voice. And all the people passed by, and the king himself crossed over the brook Kidron 📖, and all the people crossed over, on toward the wilderness.
24 📚And Zadok 📖 also appeared, and all the Levites were with him, carrying the ark of the covenant of God. And they set down the ark 📖 of God, and Abiathar went up until all the people had passed out of the city.
25 📚And the king said to Zadok, “Carry the ark of God back into the city. If I find favour in the eyes of the LORD, he will bring me again, and show both it and his dwelling place to me.
15:25 David knew that the ark was only a symbol of God’s presence and that God’s presence could go with him regardless of where the ark was. Compare this with Israel’s superstition in 1 Sam 4:3.⚜
26 📚But if he says, ‘I have no delight in you’, see, here I am. Let him do to me as seems good to him”.
15:26 David also knew that the only important factor was God’s favor, and that he was unworthy of that favor.⚜
27 📚The king also said to Zadok the priest, “Are you not a seer 📖? Return to the city in peace, and your two sons with you, your son Ahimaaz, and Abiathar’s son Jonathan. 28 📚See, I will wait in the plain of the wilderness, until word comes from you to inform me”. 29 Therefore Zadok and Abiathar carried the ark of God back to Jerusalem and waited there.
30 📚And David went up by the ascent of Mount Olivet, and wept as he went up; and he had his head covered, and went barefoot. And each man among all the people who were with him covered his head, and they went up, weeping as they went. 31 📚And someone told David, saying, “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom”.
And David said, “O LORD, I pray you, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness”.
32 📚And it came about that when David arrived at the top of the mountain, where God was worshipped, Hushai 📖 the Archite appeared, coming to meet him with his coat torn and dust on his head. 33 📚David said to him, “If you go on with me, then you will be a burden to me. 34 📚But if you return to the city, and say to Absalom, ‘I will be your servant, O king. Just as I have been your father’s servant before this, so now I will be your servant also’, then you can defeat the counsel of Ahithophel.
15:34 God would have answered David’s prayer without David urging Hushai to be deceitful to Absalom. See notes at Gen 12:13; 27:18-26; Josh 2:5; 1 Sam 27:10. God is always perfectly able to work His will among men altogether without man’s tricks.⚜
35 📚And have you not there with you Zadok and Abiathar the priests? Therefore let it be that whatever word you hear from the king’s house, tell it to Zadok and Abiathar the priests. 36 📚See, they have there with them their two sons, Zadok’s son Ahimaaz and Abiathar’s son Jonathan. And everything you hear you must send to me by them”.
37 📚So David’s friend Hushai came into the city as Absalom was arriving at Jerusalem.