In the previous chapter, we saw that David was happy to see his son Absalom again and whilst he kissed him, 2 Samuel 14:33, he was oblivious to what Absalom was planning to do. In this chapter, and the next five chapters, we see that David’s troubles and the trouble for his household are being lived out as Nathan the prophet told him earlier, 2 Samuel 12:10.
Over a period of time Absalom provided himself with a chariot and horses, and fifty men, 2 Samuel 15:1, which should have sent alarm bells to David as to his intentions. This is exactly what Samuel warned Israel would happen when they chose a king, 1 Samuel 9:11.
He would get up early and stand by the side of the road leading to the city gate and whenever anyone came with a complaint to be placed before the king for a decision, Absalom would call out to him, what town are you from? And they would answer, from one of the tribes of Israel, 2 Samuel 15:2 / Ruth 4:1. Then Absalom would your claims are valid and proper, but there is no representative of the king to hear you, 2 Samuel 15:3.
Absalom’s intentions are absolutely clear here, he didn’t want to wait until his father died to become king, he wants to take over David’s reign as king right now. Notice Absalom says, ‘if only I were appointed judge in the land’, 2 Samuel 15:4. His words tell us how arrogant this man really is and his words are ironic because he himself should have been judged to death for murdering Ammon, 2 Samuel 13:28-29. He says if he was judged then everyone would come to him for justice, 2 Samuel 15:4. His words again are the words of a man who is delusional, especially when we think about how he dealt with Joab, 2 Samuel 14:28-33.
Absalom’s dealings with people led them to be deceived into following him, 2 Samuel 15:5, the text says that ‘he stole the hearts of the men,’ 2 Samuel 15:6 / Genesis 31:20 / Genesis 31:26. His intentions are crystal clear, he wants to take over as king of Israel. He started his political campaign solely to win people over, especially the leaders whilst at the same time lifting himself up as the leader.
The one person he didn’t think about during his whole campaign was God, he refuses to accept that God was the One who anointed David as king over Israel in the first place, 1 Samuel 16:13 / 2 Samuel 2:4 / 2 Samuel 5:3. He’s more concerned about winning people over for him to be king than he is about God’s will for David to be king over Israel.
Notice the text says, ‘at the end of four years’, 2 Samuel 15:7. The K.J.V. and other ancient versions have ‘forty years’ instead of ‘four years’ but the N.I.V. and other translations are correct, it was ‘four years’. This tells us that it took Absalom four years from the time he was reconciled with David to launch his political campaign against David. Absalom asks David to allow him to Hebron and fulfil a vow he made to the LORD, 2 Samuel 15:7. He says while he was living at Geshur in Aram, he made a vow saying if the LORD takes him back to Jerusalem, he will worship the LORD in Hebron and so, David tells him to go in peace, 2 Samuel 15:8-9.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following, concerning Absalom’ words.
‘Here he pretended to be a strict follower of Jehovah, even while he was in a heathen country and now he desires liberty to go and perform a vow at Hebron, which he pretends to have made while he was resident at Geshur. And all this was the more perfectly to organize his system of rebellion against his venerable father.’
Absalom’s rebellion against David began in Hebron, and it was from here that he told messengers to tell the leaders of Israel that he is now reigning as king, 2 Samuel 15:10. He obviously thought that Hebron would be the best place to begin his reign, because this is where David began his reign as king of Israel, 2 Samuel 2:4 / 2 Samuel 5:3.
It’s also important to note that Hebron was in the central region of the land of Judah, it appears that Absalom knew that he needs the allegiance of Judah before he could begin to reign over all of Israel. Although we’re not told why it appears that Absalom’s conspiracy against David gained strength and he managed to get a large following, 2 Samuel 15:11-12.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following, concerning Ahithophel, 2 Samuel 15:12.
‘It has been with great probability supposed that Ahithophel was estranged from David by personal resentment for his conduct in the matter of Bath-Sheba and Uriah, 2 Samuel 11:3.’
We can only imagine that those who were following Absalom wanted the next king of Israel to be like him and not like David. We can imagine they chose to follow him because he would give the people what the people desired and not what God desired of them.
When David got news about how Israel was now going to follow Absalom, 2 Samuel 15:13, he once again goes on the run as a fugitive, 2 Samuel 15:14. Although we’re not told why he ran away, it’s possible that he was simply submitting to God’s earlier judgment upon him, 2 Samuel 12:10-12.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following.
‘David’s kind nature induced him to spare Jerusalem the horrors of a siege, and the risk of being taken by assault. He had no standing army with which to resist this sudden attack from so unexpected a quarter. Possibly too he remembered Nathan’s prophecy, 2 Samuel 12:10-12.’
David’s officials tell him they are ready to do whatever David says, and so David set out, with his entire household following him but he left ten concubines to take care of the palace, 2 Samuel 15:15-16. David set out, with all the people following him, and they halted at the edge of the city, 2 Samuel 15:17. The Kerethites, the Pelethites and the Gittites, 2 Samuel 15:18, were David’s brave men of war who had been with him in his former days as a fugitive from Saul, 2 Samuel 16:6, and they were loyal to David, 2 Samuel 20:7 / 2 Samuel 23:8.
Ittai the Gittite was loyal to David and it appears that David didn’t want them to go on the run with him, 2 Samuel 15:19-20, but Ittai, the leader of David’s six-hundred soldiers, 2 Samuel 15:18, pledged his life in allegiance to David, 2 Samuel 15:21. David tells him to go ahead and march on, 2 Samuel 15:22. Ittai’s group also included women, children, and his family, it included some powerful soldiers, 2 Samuel 15:22.
It’s clear that Ittai himself was a very powerful and skilled commander because later we see David placing him in command of a third of the army that defeated Absalom and his army, 2 Samuel 18:2. The whole countryside wept aloud as all the people passed by and we are told that David also crossed the Kidron Valley, John 18:1, and all the people moved on toward the wilderness, 2 Samuel 15:23.
Zadok along with all the Levites also went with David carrying the ark of the covenant, 2 Samuel 15:24. They set down the ark of God, and Abiathar offered sacrifices until all the people had finished leaving the city, 2 Samuel 15:24.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Abiathar was high priest, 1 Kings 2:35. Perhaps Zadok is addressed by David, 2 Samuel 15:25, as the chief of those who were actually bearing the ark.’
The Levites are mentioned in both 1 Samuel, and 2 Samuel. Parallel accounts are also found in Kings and Chronicles and they indicate that the Levites during the reign of David fulfilled their usual purpose regarding the ark of the covenant. Although the ark was present, it’s possible that it was just being used as a ‘lucky charm’ for protection as it did earlier, 1 Samuel 14:18.
David said that the ark belonged in the tabernacle in Jerusalem, 2 Samuel 15:25, and he reassures Zadok and Abiathar that if God’s favour was for him, he would again see the ark, 2 Samuel 15:25. However, if God says He isn’t pleased with David, then he is ready, let God do to him whatever seems good to him, 2 Samuel 15:26. David is clearly more concerned that the will of God be done in his life than for any reassurance that would come from having possession of the ark.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘David shows here great confidence in God, and great humility. The ark was too precious to be exposed to the dangers of his migrations, he knew that God would restore him if he delighted in him, and he was not willing to carry off from the city of God that without which the public worship could not be carried on. He felt, therefore, more for this public worship and the honour of God, than he did for his own personal safety.’
David also asks Zadok if he understands, he is to go back to the city with David’s blessing, 2 Samuel 15:27. He is to take his son Ahimaaz with him, and also Abiathar’s son Jonathan, 2 Samuel 15:27. David says he will wait at the fords in the wilderness until word comes from Zadok to inform him, 2 Samuel 15:28. So Zadok and Abiathar took the ark of God back to Jerusalem and stayed there, 2 Samuel 15:29.
The mount of Olives is east of the city of Jerusalem, across the Kidron valley, and it’s here that David and his men make their way across the Kidron to the Mount of Olives, 2 Samuel 15:30 / Matthew 24:3 / John 18:1. Notice they everyone was weeping as they went and everyone’s head was covered including David’s head was covered, Jeremiah 14:3-4 / Ezekiel 24:17, and he was barefoot, 2 Samuel 15:30.
David’s prayer that Ahithophel’s advice is turned into foolishness was eventually fulfilled, 2 Samuel 15:31. Ahithophel committed treason but Hushai came with great mourning concerning the conspiracy, 2 Samuel 15:32, and so, David appointed him as a spy in the presence of those who would stand before Absalom, 2 Samuel 15:33-36. So Hushai, David’s confidant, arrived at Jerusalem as Absalom was entering the city, 2 Samuel 15:37.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘It appears that Hushai was not a warrior, but was a wise, prudent, and discreet man, who could well serve David by gaining him intelligence of Absalom’s conspiracy; and he directs him to form a strict confederacy with the priests Zadok and Abiathar, and to make use of their sons as couriers between Jerusalem and David’s place of retreat.’
The rebellion of Absalom and the humiliating flight of David lets us see the best part of David’s character. He truly was a man after God’s own heart, 1 Samuel 13:14 / Acts 13:22. If we want to know how David felt about Ahithophel’s actions, we simply have to read Psalm 41.
If we want to know how David felt when he fled from Absalom, we simply have to read Psalm 3 / Psalm 4. In Psalm 27, we read about the contrast between God’s abiding goodness and the inconstancy of man. Psalm 61, and Psalm 62, were probably written at Mahanaim when David’s anguish of mind had been appeased.