2 Samuel 15:13-37--David Flees Jerusalem

2 Samuel 15:13-37
English Standard Version

David Flees Jerusalem
13 And a messenger came to David, saying, “The hearts of the men of Israel have gone after Absalom.” 14 Then David said to all his servants who were with him at Jerusalem, “Arise, and let us flee, or else there will be no escape for us from Absalom. Go quickly, lest he overtake us quickly and bring down ruin on us and strike the city with the edge of the sword.” 15 And the king's servants said to the king, “Behold, your servants are ready to do whatever my lord the king decides.” 16 So the king went out, and all his household after him. And the king left ten concubines to keep the house. 17 And the king went out, and all the people after him. And they halted at the last house.

18 And all his servants passed by him, and all the Cherethites, and all the Pelethites, and all the six hundred Gittites who had followed him from Gath, passed on before the king. 19 Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, “Why do you also go with us? Go back and stay with the king, for you are a foreigner and also an exile from your home. 20 You came only yesterday, and shall I today make you wander about with us, since I go I know not where? Go back and take your brothers with you, and may the LORD show steadfast love and faithfulness to you.” 21 But Ittai answered the king, “As the LORD lives, and as my lord the king lives, wherever my lord the king shall be, whether for death or for life, there also will your servant be.” 22 And David said to Ittai, “Go then, pass on.” So Ittai the Gittite passed on with all his men and all the little ones who were with him. 23 And all the land wept aloud as all the people passed by, and the king crossed the brook Kidron, and all the people passed on toward the wilderness.

​24 And Abiathar came up, and behold, Zadok came also with all the Levites, bearing the ark of the covenant of God. And they set down the ark of God until the people had all passed out of the city. 25 Then the king said to Zadok, “Carry the ark of God back into the city. If I find favor in the eyes of the LORD, he will bring me back and let me see both it and his dwelling place. 26 But if he says, ‘I have no pleasure in you,’ behold, here I am, let him do to me what seems good to him.” 27 The king also said to Zadok the priest, “Are you not a seer? Go back to the city in peace, with your two sons, Ahimaaz your son, and Jonathan the son of Abiathar. 28 See, I will wait at the fords of the wilderness until word comes from you to inform me.” 29 So Zadok and Abiathar carried the ark of God back to Jerusalem, and they remained there.

30 But David went up the ascent of the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went, barefoot and with his head covered. And all the people who were with him covered their heads, and they went up, weeping as they went. 31 And it was told David, “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.” And David said, “O LORD, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.”

32 While David was coming to the summit, where God was worshiped, behold, Hushai the Archite came to meet him with his coat torn and dirt on his head. 33 David said to him, “If you go on with me, 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; as I have been your father's servant in time past, so now I will be your servant,’ then you will defeat for me the counsel of Ahithophel. 35 Are not Zadok and Abiathar the priests with you there? So whatever you hear from the king's house, tell it to Zadok and Abiathar the priests. 36 Behold, their two sons are with them there, Ahimaaz, Zadok's son, and Jonathan, Abiathar's son, and by them you shall send to me everything you hear.” 37 So Hushai, David's friend, came into the city, just as Absalom was entering Jerusalem.

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The animosity between Absalom and David has come to a head and Absalom's efforts to win the people over to himself and now lead to him setting himself up over king of Israel in Hebron (the provincial head of the tribe of Judah, the city that Caleb claimed as his inheritance because it was in that hill country where there were giants that still needed to be hunted down.)  So, a messenger came to King David in Jerusalem with the message, "The hearts of the men of Israel have gone after Absalom."  David had two choices, fight or flight, and he chooses flight rather than to fight and kill his own son--in fact, we rarely see David willing to wage war against his own people like how Saul did.  David might have even imagined this was part of the punishment for his sin that t he LORD had promised to him, so he does not resist it.

David's servants say they are willing to do whatever he deems as right and will follow him wherever he goes, so David leaves Jerusalem leaving only ten concubines to keep the house, and all the people of Jerusalem followed after the king because they knew David was the rightful king and that wherever he was, the LORD was with him.  If David thought it was best to abandon Jerusalem to save the city from war and destruction, then he was willing to once again live in the caves and strongholds like he had done for the first years of his kingship when Saul refused to give up his throne and chased after him for so many years.

As all of David's servants passed by him as well as all the Cherethites, the Pelethites and the six hundred Gittites (all Gentile peoples who were loyal to King David and served him as if they were Israelites), the king questioned them, specifically Ittai the Gittite, to ask, "Why do you also go with us?"  He said to them, "Go back and stay with the king, for you are a foreigner and also an exile from your home."  (Absalom probably wouldn't have attacked any of the foreigners living in Jerusalem if they had fled and went to their home lands to avoid the war, but if they stayed and chose sides by either remaining in Jerusalem or staying with David, then they were going to get involved in a war that wasn't theirs to fight).

Ittai the Gittite answered David and said, "As the LORD lives, and as my lord the king lives, wherever my lord the king shall be, whether for death or for life, there also will your servant be."  This sounds a lot like the words that Ruth spoke to Naomi when Naomi tried to persuade Ruth to go back to the land of Moab.  Maybe Ittai even knew the story of David's great-grandmother and was saying these words intentionally to bring that story to his mind and to encourage him.  In fact, let me quote that passage here.


Ruth 1:8-18
English Standard Version
8 But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each of you to her mother's house. May the LORD deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. 9 The LORD grant that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband!” Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept. 10 And they said to her, “No, we will return with you to your people.” 11 But Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters; why will you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb that they may become your husbands? 12 Turn back, my daughters; go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, even if I should have a husband this night and should bear sons, 13 would you therefore wait till they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, for it is exceedingly bitter to me for your sake that the hand of the LORD has gone out against me.” 14 Then they lifted up their voices and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.

15 And she said, “See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.” 16 But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the LORD do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.” 18 And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more.
How encouraging these words must have been to David in one of his darkest hours!  David's only words then were "Go then, pass on."  (telling them to proceed just like all of his other servants had and be just like one of the Israelites that was with David).  All those in the Land that were loyal to David wept aloud as the king and the people went by to flee for their lives.  The King crossed over the book Kidron and he again went into the wilderness where he would take refuge in the caves and strongholds there.

Abiathar and Zadok came up with all the Levites, bearing the Ark of the Covenant with them, and they set down the Ark of God until all the people had passed out of the city.  Once all the people were safe, David commanded them to carry the Ark of God back into the city because, if David found favor in the eyes of the LORD, then the LORD would bring him back to not just his palace, but to the Tabernacle that contained the Ark of God.  It was not for David to keep the Ark from all the people.

David also said to Zadok, "Are you not a seer? Go back to the city in peace with your two sons, Ahimaaz your son, and Jonathan the son of Abiathar.  See, I will wait at the fords of the wilderness until word comes from you to inform me."  A seer is an older term for a prophet that the LORD gave visions to so that they might tell those visions to the king or the people.  David thinks the best place for the LORD's messengers to be are where Absalom can hear them, David thinks that Absalom wouldn't lay a hand on them because they are prophets of the LORD, and this means they would be there to let David know when it is safe for him to return.  So, Zadok and Abiathar carried the Ark of God back to Jerusalem and they remained there along with their sons Ahimaaz and Jonathan respectively as David had said.

David ascended the Mount of Olives (the place from which we see Jesus descend on Palm Sunday), and David's head was covered to show that he was mourning, but it was likely also to hide his identity.  Everyone with him did the same and also covered their heads as they went up weeping so that it should have been difficult to know one man from another.  It is then that David received word that one of his counselors named Ahithophel has switched sides and now a counselor for Absalom.  David knows that Ahithophel will not give Absalom wise counsel and tells people to let it be, for Absalom will gain no advantage by hearing the follishness of Ahithophel.

When David reached the summit of the Mount of Olives--a place where the LORD was worshiped.  It was there that Hushai the Archite came to meet David.  It was obvious this man had been in mourning for his coat was torn and he had dirt on his head (both outwardly visible signs of how the person's heart felt).  Apparently something about this man joining David's group would have been burdensome, though I'm not sure what it was (maybe he was older and slower or in some other way not able to keep up?).  David thinks it would be safer for him to return t to Jerusalem and to get himself close to Absalom so that he can hear everything that the king says and report it to David through Ahimaaz, the son of Zadok the priest, and Jonathan, the son of Abiathar the priest.  So then, these five men, the two priests, their two sons, and this man who somehow would be burdensome on David's journey formed David's intelligence network on the inside of Jerusalem.  Hushai made it back to Jerusalem just as Absalom is arriving in Jerusalem.

We'll pick up there next time with David is at the summit of the Mount of Olives and he is met by someone unexpected bearing some unexpected gifts for him and his companions.