2 Samuel 19:8b-15--David Returns to Jerusalem

2 Samuel 19:8b-15​
English Standard Version

David Returns to Jerusalem​
Now Israel had fled every man to his own home. 9 And all the people were arguing throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, “The king delivered us from the hand of our enemies and saved us from the hand of the Philistines, and now he has fled out of the land from Absalom. 10 But Absalom, whom we anointed over us, is dead in battle. Now therefore why do you say nothing about bringing the king back?”

11 And King David sent this message to Zadok and Abiathar the priests: “Say to the elders of Judah, ‘Why should you be the last to bring the king back to his house, when the word of all Israel has come to the king? 12 You are my brothers; you are my bone and my flesh. Why then should you be the last to bring back the king?’ 13 And say to Amasa, ‘Are you not my bone and my flesh? God do so to me and more also, if you are not commander of my army from now on in place of Joab.’” 14 And he swayed the heart of all the men of Judah as one man, so that they sent word to the king, “Return, both you and all your servants.” 15 So the king came back to the Jordan, and Judah came to Gilgal to meet the king and to bring the king over the Jordan.

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As mentioned last time, we're going to pick up in the middle of verse 8.  Last time we saw a discussion between Joab and David about how David needed to set aside his mourning for the sake of the people who needed to be able to celebrate this victory and because David wouldn't want to accidently send the message that the death of one man (Absalom) meant more to him than the lives of all the other Israelites, especially his soldiers who were under his command.

With David no longer in a time of grieving and fully in command of his kingdom again, all the rest of Israel stands down and the rebellious people that had joined up with Absalom see that they they have lost and that it is time to return home.  The people reason together that David has always been good to them and now that Absalom is dead, they need to let David know that they welcome him as their king again and that he should take his rightful place back on the throne in Jerusalem.

David sends word to the priests who were still in Jerusalem for them to speak to the tribe of Judah who seemed to be the last holdout in giving their support back to David.  Why would his own family do such a thing to him?  David wants to know the answer to that question as well, and sends Zadok and Abiathar to ask on his behalf.

David also has to make a hard choice about Joab because this is the second time that Joab has used his position as a military commander to murder someone.  David decides to kill two birds with one stone and to appoint Amasa of the tribe of Judah to be the commander of the army of Israel in the place of Joab both to deal with Joab and to appease the tribe of Judah.  This act swayed the hearts of Judah so that they were of one accord when they sent word back to the king, "Return, both you and all your servants."

So David came back to the Jordan River (remember, he had been taking refuge in the Trans-Jordan region of Israel), and Judah met him at Gilgal to escort him back to Jerusalem.  When David gets there, he will have some hard decisions about what to do with all those who have rebelled against him, and that's what the next section will be able.  Will David punish the rebellious, especially those from the house of Saul who thought this was their opportunity to take the throne from him?  What about those who cursed David during his time of trouble?  What should happen to those who used the very name of the LORD to curse David?  Has the LORD not spoken now and made his verdict known to all the people that David was in the right and Absalom and the house of Saul were in the wrong?  What then should David do to them?  That's exactly the decision that David is going to have to make next time.