Absalom prepared him chariots and horses, and fifty men to run before him. 2 Samuel 15 Absalom; or, the fast young man A. H. Charlton. The Bible resembles a portrait gallery adorned with the faces of remarkable historic men, where every variety of feature and every type of character may be found. An imaginative person, visiting such a gallery, and gazing at the silent faces which look down upon him from the walls, until lost in the thoughts and reflections awakened by them, may fancy at length that they are alive. As we study the characters of the people there portrayed, we recognise in them permanent, types of different classes. As such they live again to us. We have known such persons; they have lived in our time; they have acted anew the parts, and displayed the qualities which of old distinguished or disgraced them. They reappear in every age. It is this typical character of the Bible that gives such value to this ancient book. In reading it, we forget that it. is an old book. It seems a new book, from exhibiting the latest phases of human conduct, from setting before us moral qualities and actions which we recognise as familiar, and, connecting with them timely lessons for our instruction and warning. Such reflections are awakened by the perusal of the story of Absalom. It is a typical story, and he was a typical character and representative of what is called the fast young man. I. IT TEACHES THE VANITY OF PERSONAL BEAUTY AND OUTWARD SHOW APART FROM MORAL WORTH. In the pictures of Hogarth, and other painters of society, we find that such superior beauty is the common heritage of the fast young man. It has been called a "fatal dower." It is so regarded because it is apt to make the possessor the petted darling of parents and friends, and liable to be spoiled by the thoughtless admiration and flattery lavished upon him. Thus an exaggerated estimate is placed upon mere physical charms. Beauty of face and form is set above the higher excellence of character, whereby vanity and frivolity of mind are engendered, and amiability of disposition and goodness of heart sacrificed. But there is truth in the homely adage that "Handsome is who handsome does," and all beauty which is not united with fair doing is only a poor sham. II. The story of Absalom reveals THE TYPE OF CHARACTER THAT IS MOST DANGEROUS AND DREADFUL. His was not an impulsive nature, hurried away by gusts of passion into sin. There is much allowance to be made for such hot-tempered spirits. The misdemeanours of which they are guilty are not, as a rule. so reprehensible as those which are perpetrated by their authors in cold blood. They are more likely than the latter to be only escapades from virtue — exceptions to a course that is ordinarily straightforward and well-meaning. Absalom's wickedness was deliberate and studied. His character is evinced in the way he avenged the outrage done by Amnon to his sister. III. This fast young man, of desperate type, becomes AN INTRIGUING POLITICIAN. Absalom is the earliest specimen on record, we believe, of a finished demagogue. As we consider the subtle arts by which he courted popularity and wound himself into the favour of men — his attendance at the gate, where the king's judgment seat was, his affability and condescension towards the people who brought causes for adjudication, and his pretended sympathy for their grievances on account of the delay of justice, we seem to have come upon the original model after which the modern opposition candidate has shaped himself It agrees with the character to be forever arraigning those in power for neglect of duty and malfeasance in office, and to promise a complete reformation in case the party of the critic is entrusted with the conduct of affairs. When the outs are in, and the ins are out, all wrong shall be righted, and the millennium will come. So Absalom laboured to make the flattered people believe. IV. Another aspect in which Absalom appears is that of A WAYWARD, UNDUTIFUL SON. The fast young man causes agonising heartache to his aged father or distressed mother. In the eyes of the Jews, with their traditions of the patriarchal period and its form of government, where the father was both priest and ruler of his household, such a child was a monster of depravity, worthy only of death. Hence the emphasis put upon the fifth commandment, "the first commandment with promise;" hence the sternness of their legislation with respect to unfilial conduct, and the fearful denunciation their proverbs utter against it. "The eye that mocketh at his father," says Agur, "and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it." V. The story of Absalom contains another lesson, without which it would be incomplete, namely, the lesson of SIN'S RETRIBUTION. It is a striking example of the declaration: "As righteousness tendeth to life, so he that pursueth evil, pursueth it to his own death." The last act of the tragedy is short and impressive. David and his adherents stayed not in their flight until they found shelter behind the walls of Mahanaim, in the land of Gilead. There opportunity was given to recover from panic, and organise their strength; and thither Absalom and his forces leisurely pursued them. ( A. H. Charlton. ) David and Absalom G. J. Coster. I. IN HOW MANY WAYS MEN SERVE THEMSELVES IN SERVING OTHERS. 1. We may serve ourselves, strengthen our position, advance our temporal interests, when we are truly serving others, But when we are doing them disservice, encouraging them, helping them, to evil, we are our own enemies as well as theirs. We have something higher than temporal interests to think of. Gold is far from everything. In the protest of conscience how the fine gold becomes dim! And when conscience is seared, and the heat dead to all sensibility, at what a cost has anything, how-ever desired by men, been secured. 2. We truly befriend ourselves by unselfishly serving others. And this we can do as we make everything a Divine service. Sometimes we may seem on the vanquished side, like true-hearted Ittai, staunch to David in his flight, but the end will justify us. To be on the side of honesty, truth, purity, is ever at the last to be on the side that wins. So he who forgets himself in doing the things right in the sight of God will be vindicated in the sight of the world as "good and faithful servant," as having "well done" for himself as well as others. II. IN ABSALOM WE SEE HOW THE MOTIVE DETERMINES THE VALUE OF CONDUCT. This appears in his bearing towards Amnon. Similarly with Absalom's conduct when seeking to ingratiate himself with the people. The animating motive of what we do should be tested by us. Could we read others as God reads us, could we "look at the heart" as He does, with what rejection would we meet much that is now welcomed by us! But if we cannot appraise the lives of others by their motives, and if they cannot thus appraise ours, there is One ever thus testing us. There is One who pierces every mask of hypocrisy. There is One who looks through our outward appearance of truth, purity, devotion, and sees whether there is a corresponding inward reality. With Him the motive makes the act. III. IN ABSALOM WE SEE TO WHAT CRUEL LENGTHS UNCHECKED AMBITION WILL LEAD A MAN. That was his ruling passion; the explanation, I think, of his long-delayed stroke at Amnon. Ambition goaded Absalom from crime to crime till lie had wrapped the land in the horrors of civil war — of all wars the most prolific in misery — and nerved him to assail a father's life that he might, over his dead body, step up into the throne. It win not do for us to say that in all this there is no beacon to us. There are many thrones. Some of us, it may be, eager to get into one — to be over others; kings and queens of influence in our little kingdom. There can be ambition in a cottage as well as in a court. There may be wretched envy, the evil eyeing of an imagined rival, the wicked gladness that hears, and that with pretended reluctance retails the disparaging slander; the sty persistence that insinuates itself, or the rough resolution that tramples its way into the petty throne. God save us from such ambition! In His kingdom the thrones are for the lowly. IV. IN DAVID WE SEE THE THREATENED PUNISHMENT FOR HIS SIN. Penitent for his great wickedness in the matter of Uriah, his life had been spared, but the sword was not to depart from his house. Sin has broken him, even forgiven sin. A thing to be remembered. He may never have been wisely firm enough in the training of his children. But that feel transgression of his loosened the filial bond that bound his children to obedience, and encouraged them to crimes that laid his kingly head in the dust. Sin finds men out, even godly men. "Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap." He who sows to the flesh, though he be a David, shall of the flesh reap corruption. Well, then, for us to "stand in awe and sin not." V. IN THE DARKNESS OF CALAMITY THE BETTER DAVID SHINES TO US. In the bowed, barefooted man weeping his way across the Kedron, and up Olivet, it is a king we see. It is David again. A Divine permission he recognises in all that is befalling him. He has no superstitious trust in the ark — let Zadok and Abiathar carry it back to Jerusalem. In God was his trust. "Let Him do to me as seemeth good unto Him." So on — one of the most pathetic figures of all history — goes weeping David-on towards the plains of the wilderness. And as he passes out of our sight do you not hear such words as these? Sorrow by sin! Peace by pardon! Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven! "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted." ( G. J. Coster. ) Absalom: a study S. Cox, D. D. Untrained, except in self-admiration and self-indulgence, imperious, ambitious, quick to take offence and slow to forgive, hot with the riot of youthful blood, the young man — so fathered, so mothered, so brought up — is suddenly flung upon the world, and exposed to the temptations of a court in which the Uriah and Bathsheba scandal is being discussed in all its forms and incidents. And the first grave adventure he meets in it is the intolerable wrong and shame inflicted on his beautiful sister by the heir to the throne! Will not the king avenge so dreadful a crime? No; David is very wroth with Amnon, but does not care "to vex his spirit, because he is his first-born." By all Eastern as well as by Hebrew law, then, public justice having failed, Absalom is the goel, the avenger of his sister; it is no crime, bug a duty, to wipe out her shame with blood. But as David will not "vex the spirit of Amnon, his son" — and there is a world of weak unfatherliness in that fatherly phrase — so neither will he suffer it to be vexed. Hence Absalom is left to brood over the wrong in silence for a couple of years, till, by a treacherous ruse, he makes way for his revenge, and Amnon is stabbed as he sits at his brother's table and drinks his brother's wine. We blame the deed, and, above all, the manner of the deed: but can we very severely blame the man? Not if we remember what the wrong was which he avenged, and how the world has always allowed a certain latitude to the avenger of such wrongs. Not if we remember that the justice, which the king ought to have been forward to execute, had been deliberately refused, and how imperative were the duties imposed on the goel both by Eastern custom and Hebrew law. Amnon was his half-brother, indeed — a thought which might well have given him pause; but have we yet to learn that brothers born in the harem are born enemies, rivals from the first to the last? And it was not Absalom's fault that harem manners and jealousies had been introduced into Israel. If "beauty is a gift," "beauty is also a snare." To few has the gift been so largely accorded as to Absalom; to few has it proved a snare so deadly. In him the personal comeliness and vigour of Jesse's line seems to have culminated. Of Absalom we are told simply that his beauty was without blemish and beyond compare; but it seems probable that it may have been of that rare type in the Hebrew race which stirs even them to an unwonted admiration. It may have been because of his rare and superb beauty that, while still a child, he was celled Absalom, "father of peace," though he proved to be a "father of strife" rather than of peace; for it may not unnaturally have been thought that a child so exceptionally lovely would kindle smiles and win a kindly welcome wherever he went. It adds the last touch to our conception of his beauty if we note that it sprang from the most vigorous physical health, as his magnificent fell of hair indicates. For, then, we can only think of him as quick with life and energy, and accomplished in all the exercises of peace and of war. Now if we think of this young prince with his hereditary bias, his defective training, never taught to rule or deny himself, coming out into a lax world — tall, graceful, strong, his blue eyes swimming in light, his fair locks failing thickly on his broad shoulders — we shall understand that his very beauty may have been a fatal gift to him. Met with smiles, welcome, and an easy compliance with his whims and desires, on every hand, hardly any one saying "No" to him, he never saying "No" to himself, what wonder if he became wilful, bold, insolent? What wonder if, his will once thwarted, he should kindle into a blaze; or, If he hid his fire, he should nurse and feed it till it found vent, and swept him beyond all bounds of law and duty? Is it not plain that position, training, temperament, habits, gifts, even the gift of beauty, all worked together to make him self-willed, capricious, restless, imperious, and, if crossed, violent and revengeful? Even in the brief space he occupies in the Sacred Record, we have many proofs that there was something reckless and desperate in the man, that he was apt to throw the reins on the neck of his lusts, and let. them carry him where they would. That David and his men had some such suspicion of him, that they held him to be at least capable of an excessive and criminal violence in order to serve his ends, is proved by the fact that whoa an exaggerated report, of Amnon's assassination reached them, when they were told, "Absalom hath slain all the king's sons, there is not one of them left," they found nothing incredible in the horrible rumour, but rent their clothes and cast themselves on the earth, and wept for the goodly young men cut off in their prime ( 2 Samuel 13:30, 31 .) If the tale were not true, it was only too likely to have been true. A touch of the same recklessness and desperation comes out in the manner in which he jogged the drowsy memory of Joab ( 2 Samuel 14:23 .) It was by the intervention of Joab that Absalom was called back to Jerusalem from his three years' banishment in Syria. It was on Joab's intercession that he relied for an entire reconciliation with the king, who for two years after his return, refused to see his face. Joab may have been doing his best, or he may not. In any case he did not move fast enough for the imperious prince. He sends for Joab, therefore; but, Joab having no good tidings to give him, will not come. He sends a second time, and still Joab will not come. Whereupon he sends servants into Joab's farm to fire his standing barley, and so compels the old warrior to wait upon him, and to listen to his complaint that he would rather die than continue to live such a life as his. But, of course, it, was in his long-planned and artfully prepared rebellion against his father and king that all that was vehement, self-willed, unrestrained in the man found full vent. With Absalom's tragic end the bolt of retribution flew right home. And yet the pity of it! For, had Absalom been reared as hardily and piously as David was, in the home and on the hills of Bethlehem; had he been snubbed, laughed at, kept down, as David was, by a band of tall, stalwart brothers; had he, like David, been tried by stroke on stroke of adversity and undeserved reproach through all the opening years of manhood, there seems little reason to doubt that he might have been no worse a man morally than his father was; or, at least, no room to doubt that, by such a severe and pious training in duty and obedience, he might have been saved from the crimes by which his life was stained, and from the shame by which his memory is oppressed. In him, too, the spiritual man might have conquered the natural man at the last, and stilled and controlled the fever of his blood. As it is, we can but use his name "to point a moral," for we can hardly add "and to adorn a tale." And that moral is, of course, the immense danger of suffering the animal man in us to overget the spiritual man. The bias of our blood and temperament may not jump with his; our training may have been better than his; our faults, our passions, our gifts, may not resemble his; and certainly we arc not, most of us. tempted to an indolent self-indulgence and self-will by a splendour of personal beauty and charm which makes it hard for any one to resist us. And yet .no one who knows himself will doubt that the brute is strong in him; that he, too, has inherited cravings, passions, lusts, which must be subdued if he is to be saved from sins as fatal, if not as flagrant, as those of Absalom. And the flesh is not to be subdued and starved in any of us save as we feed and cherish the spirit. We can only overcome evil as we follow after that which is good. But if we seek to subdue the flesh by nourishing the spirit, whether in ourselves or in our children, He who makes large allowance for us all will largely and effectively help us all. ( S. Cox, D. D. ) Absalom's rebellion Monday, Club Sermons. The monument to Absalom in the valley of the Kidron is buried deep in stones, cast against it by the Jews, as through generations they have passed, in token of their execration of this unatural prince — the counterpart, in the Old Testament, of Judas in the New. These stones are the true monument of Absalom. Let us add our tribute to make it a prominent and permanent landmark in religious history. This instructive example is held up before us in great detail. It is a warning, especially to young men. The methods by which it was secured are carefully stated. The instance is particular; but the application is as general as mankind. I. ABSALOM PERVERTED HIS NATURAL ADVANTAGES. He was a gifted and handsome young man; he came of a well-favoured stock, and he was its flower. He had a fine head of hair; he paid strict attention to it. It became a matter of national interest when Absalom cut his hair. He had a sheep-farm. We do not know the particulars of his clip of wool; but the weight of his annual poll of hair is carefully noted as two hundred shekels, or more than three pounds. The hair of Absalom represents all natural advantages. For personal gifts play an important part in securing success in this world. II. ABSALOM HAD A PERVERSE ENERGY OF CHARACTER. He had persistency of purpose in a high degree — a masterful trait. He was calculating and deep. He was a tenacious man. Many men of fine powers fail through want of tenacity. The good man in the famous ode of Horace was tenacious of his purpose. So our bad man, Absalom, did not fail here. When Amnon wronged his sister Tamar he concealed his resentment for two years. He bided his time. When he determined to undermine David's throne he showed a like steadfastness of resolution. He rose promptly in the morning. David rose early to pray; Absalom rose early to plot. This course of patient, insidious plotting Absalom continued for months, perhaps for years, until he was known throughout the kingdom as the poor man's friend. III. ABSALOM PERVERTED THE STUDY OF HUMAN NATURE. He studied the weaknesses of men. This is called by men of his base aims the study of men. The vices and the foibles are noted; the theory being that for one who would play effectively on this fine instrument what is especially necessary is a Wagnerian mastery of discords. The adventurer, the opposition politician, the quack doctor, the fortune-seeker, give themselves to men have succeeded as Absalom succeeded — in politics, in professional life, in Absalom's study of human weakness. Upon this knowledge their success depends. IV. ABSALOM HAD UNLIMITED AND PERVERTED SELF-ASSURANCE. With all his shrewdness in measuring others, he had no proper sense of his own weaknesses. To scrutinise the weaknesses of others he closed, so to speak, one eye — that one whose outlook was upon his own heart. Exaggerated self-confidence is typical of this class of men. To the ordinary man with his misgiving and fear of himself it is surprising, dazzling. His own modesty prepares him to yield to the most audacious and preposterous claims of another. Perhaps the wonderful physician can work a cure of the incurable. He says he can. And what hair he hast Perhaps the politician can redress the evils of society which have baffled the wisest statesmen. He says he can. He is a remarkable-looking man. Perhaps one can be safely given a place of trust, though it would seem as if he can have had no experience to fit him for its delicate duties. He says he is competent. There is a degree, and, it is an amazing degree oftentimes, to which men will give confidence to bare pretension. Absalom's pretension was most shrewdly calculated. V. ABSALOM PERVERTED THE CHOICE OF COUNSELLORS. He chose sagacious, but evil advisers; masterly, but unprincipled. Ahithophel was the oddest statesman in the nation. Absalom improved the opportunity. He sent for Ahithophel. The bad old man came to him — a man after his own heart. We must recognise the dangerous wisdom of the councils of this world. This wisdom is necessary to worldly success. If one heeds it, he greatly increases his prospects of accomplishing all worldly aims. VI. ABSALOM PERVERTED THE USE OF RELIGION. It has been suggested here that when David rose early to pray he and Absalom may have met. It may be that the crafty prince first shared his father's devotions on the way to the gate. He saw the hold which religion had upon David and upon the nation. It would not answer for him to have the reputation of being irreligious; he must guard his religious standing. He made a religious excuse for visiting Hebron. It was a natural one. He had made a vow, he explained, while he was in Geshur in exile for the murder of Amnon. It was a nicely-calculated excuse. David believed in vows. He would look upon the handsome prince with heightened tenderness, touched by his manifest sensibility. Religion, in all times, is one of the readiest and most serviceable of cloaks. It especially serves the purposes of one who would win success in a religious community. Thus Satan comes among us disguised as an angel of light. VII. ABSALOM STUDIOUSLY SECURED THE SUPPORT OF GOOD MEN, WITH THE SAME STEADY PERSEVERANCE. He valued them. They could help him. He wanted the approval of such men at large in the nation. He despised them. He wanted them only as tools. But he knew the value to his cause of having men of character associated with his followers. The rebellion triumphed without a blow. It war one of the best considered and most brilliant enterprises in history. Absalom seemed to be repaid for all his self-denial, his unsavoury wiles, his clever hypocrisy, his long patience. He had reached his goal. He was king. Many society. You may be tempted to cherish the low aim. But look at Absalom at the goal of his hopes, in the full flush of success! Even then who would take his place? What had he accomplished but the fatal perversion of a life capable of greatest things. Look into his heart, and try to conceive the thoughts which must have been there in the very exaltation of his triumph. Then look again upon that sombre background, the forest of Ephraim, the figure of a man dripping with blood from many wounds, hanging and swaying in the awful twilight in the terebinth tree, suspended by his beautiful hair. Ah! this, then, is a part of what Absalom was planning — that part of which he was all unconscious, but the inevitable end! Learn from this history how the noblest gifts may be perverted, industriously, painfully, fatally, to secure the false success. How are you using your life? your fine natural advantages? How are you treating the privileges of religion? Who are your chosen counsellors? For what aim of life are you fostering deep, tenacious, self-sacrificing purposes? What a man Absalom might have been with a right aim I What a man you may become if you set your heart on the one end worthy of a Son of God — to be a prince of the kingdom of tight; in love and loyalty and honour, to be one of the pillars of His temple. ( Monday, Club Sermons. ) The rebellion of Absalom C. S. Robinson, D. D. I. ABSALOM'S CONDUCT BEGAN IN THE EXERCISE OF THE BASEST INGRATITUDE. He assassinated Amnon at a banquet, and then fled to his grandfather's city Geshur for a refuge. There he remained for some years; the popular soldier Joab caused the woman of Tekoa to go to David with a parable and an entreaty; and the king reluctantly permitted his son to return to Jerusalem, but he would not meet him in the palace. That gave Absalom a chance again. And now we have two lessons to learn at once. 1. One is this: what a man sows he must also reap. David's boys divided up David's crimes between them, and repeated his guilt there under his own roof. That was an instance of sowing the wind and reaping the whirlwind. It is wise to remember that harvests are greater than seed. 2. The second lesson is, there is no. gain in discipline unless it leaves behind it a better heart. "Even after a shipwreck," the old philosopher Seneca remarks, "there are hosts who still wilt seek the sea." It is not for any man to say that affliction sanctifies; of itself it sours a heart which is not sanctified beforehand. And he has lost much who has lost a discipline at God's hand; he has had all the weary pain of it without any of the good; he has had the roughness of the ploughing without any of the fruit from the furrows. II. THIS REBELLION DISCLOSED ITSELF IN THE MERE SHOW OF PERSONAL VANITY. That is the only significance of such gorgeousness of equipage, and a half a hundred men to run before this conceited creature Absalom's chariot. There is not a sign of patriotism in his course. So here we have another lesson to learn: all true leadership is taught by the discipline of endurance under fierce distress. It was with David as with Jesus Christ; he that is to be a Captain of salvation unto God's people must consent, as our Divine Saviour consented, to be made "perfect through suffering." III. THIS OUTBREAK OF ABSALOM WAS CONDUCTED WITH THE HYPOCRISIES OF MALICIOUS DECEIT. How plausibly the man talked; how venomous were his insinuations; how false were his kisses; yet thus it was that he won the people's hearts and undermined his father's throne. The lesson that comes to us just here is: there can be no dependence on mere personal advantages unless they are put to a serviceable use. The record which is familiar to us all reminds us of the old commendations of Saul in the day when he came out before the people a head and shoulders above any one of those who cried "God save the king!" We have a kindling picture of Absalom's attractions of person and form. The old honest historian of the Greeks says with a creditable frankness that Themistocles was able to make his insipid son, Cleophantes, a good horseman, but he failed in every particular when he endeavoured to make him a good man. And that same failure has been reached a great many times since. IV. THAT THIS INSURRECTION WAS RELENTLESSLY CONTINUED THROUGH A LONG PERIOD OF TIME. Not "forty years," surely, as one of the verses seem to say; such a chapter can be found neither in David's nor in Absalom's biography. It is impossible to put the reckoning anywhere. Josephus states the time, with the authority of the Syriac and the Arabic version behind him, as being four years instead of forty. And that is long enough certainly for an ungrateful son to continue mischievously to plot against his father is so villianous a way. There can be no value in a noble lineage unless the position is employed nobly. Absalom had nothing to do with the item of his birth; it would be a credit to him or a shame according to what he should do with it. Honour and wealth from no condition rise. The Bible makes short work with primogeniture; in almost every instance the chieftainship goes away from the sons earliest born. Later history is suggestive. Cleanthes lived by watering gardens; Pythagoras was the child of a silversmith; Euripides was brought up to help his brothers till the fields; Demosthenes was the son of a cutler; Virgil's father was a potter. There is no pretension more impertinent than that which is forcing itself forward on the merits of mere parentage and position: V. THAT THIS WILD REBELLION IS CONSUMMATED AT LAST WITH A LIE IN THE NAME OF RELIGION. This was at once the meanest and the shrewdest of all Absalom's subterfuges. In order to cover his absence from suspicion, and put David off his guard in Jerusalem, he trumped up this pretext of an old vow. God sometimes leaves wicked people to the retribution of apparent success. Absalom comes to Jerusalem, is actually crowned as king, has a few military victories; then his downfall is swift and heavy; the triumph of traitors is short. In a part of one year is dissipated all the fortune of the four years the treacherous son had plotted against his father. Ahithophel closes his career with a suicide, and ere long the rebellion is ended; David sits in his throne and sings brighter songs even while he mourns in his heart. VI. We mention A FEW REFLECTIONS CONCERNING THE DEATH WHICH THIS REBEL PRINCE DIED. 1. There is a limit beyond which patience, both human and Divine, cannot be expected to go. When the heart of this royal ingrate became fixed in his wickedness, the Lord simply withdrew from all interposition; so he was left to his fate; he died the rebel he had lived. Here is an inspired warning: "Some men's sins are Open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some men they follow after." 2. When a false leader falls, he drags down his favourites in the failure. The most interesting feature of this story has always been the immediateness with which the rebellion subsided when those darts went through Absalom's heart: What ultimately became of those who had perilled all their fortunes upon his success we are not informed. Their hopes failed; they had attributed many excellences to that young and beautiful prince; possibly they had not studied the future carefully, into the abysses of which they land now plunged. Hereafter they were outlaws and wanderers. 3. There can be no advantage in having "a fair chance" in life unless one hastens to improve it for the good of others. The fact is, we instinctively hold this man Absalom responsible all the more sternly because he had opportunities so fair and abused them so basely. His sin was the more heinous on account of his conspicuous position. 4. The hour of retribution is likely to be an hour of melancholy review. Confidence in the successful issue of evil purposes only deepens the humiliation of defeat. There is even to this day pointed out in the valley close by Jerusalem a lofty structure of stone called "Absalom's Tomb." The Scripture has given us a hint concerning its true origin, but not of its date: "Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself a pillar, which is in the king's dale: for he said, I have no son to keep my name in remembrance: and he called the pillar after his own name: and it is called unto this day, Absalom's place." That particular structure is perhaps replaced by this: tradition says it is not a sepulchre, but a monument; and Josephus goes so far as to insist that it was called Absalom's Hand," and bore at its summit a hand as the symbol of power and victory. ( C. S. Robinson, D. D. ) Absalom's rebellion J. Hall, D. D. After domestic broils and the violent death of Amnon in circumstances full of horror and disgrace, and after Absalom's banishment and return, this adroit and unscrupulous man, impelled by his own ambition, and having no idea of co-operation with Deity in the punishment of evil, sets about dethroning his own father and, if possible, possessing himself of the crown. When one thing is radically wrong, other Wrong things follow in the train of it. Like woes, sins cluster. The city-gate was the place f

Benson Commentary 2 Samuel 15:1 And it came to pass after this, that Absalom prepared him chariots and horses, and fifty men to run before him. 2 Samuel 15:1 . Absalom prepared him chariots, &c. — When he thought he had established himself in his father’s good affection, he began to take great state upon him, set up, as we now speak, a splendid equipage, and was royally attended, as being the king’s eldest son, (now Amnon was dead,) and next heir to the crown. For it seems Chileab, who was elder than he, 2 Samuel 3:3 , was either dead also, or, through some cause, was incapable of the government. Absalom undoubtedly designed, by taking this course, to draw the eyes of the people to himself, who, as they were much in love with his beauty, so were doubtless mightily taken with this fine sight of chariots and horses, especially as it was unusual, not being allowed by the law. David was, however, so indulgent that, it seems, he took no notice of it. And fifty men to run before him — An honour this such as his royal father had neither had, nor thought of. These, though attendants in appearance, were, in effect, guards. 2 Samuel 15:2 And Absalom rose up early, and stood beside the way of the gate: and it was so , that when any man that had a controversy came to the king for judgment, then Absalom called unto him, and said, Of what city art thou? And he said, Thy servant is of one of the tribes of Israel. 2 Samuel 15:2 . Absalom rose up early — He accustomed himself to rise betimes in the morning, that he might make a show of solicitude for the good of the public, and of every private person. When any man came to the king for judgment — The king, it appears, reserved all weighty causes for his own hearing; and appeals were made to him from the other courts. Absalom called to him — Preventing him with the offers of his assistance. And, as if he were ready to make particular inquiry into the state of his cause, and intended, to take peculiar care of his interest, kindly inquired concerning his city, family, situation in life, and the place of his abode. 2 Samuel 15:3 And Absalom said unto him, See, thy matters are good and right; but there is no man deputed of the king to hear thee. 2 Samuel 15:3 . Absalom said, See, thy matters are good and right — Upon some very slight hearing of any man’s cause he approved of it, that he might oblige him; flattering all that they had right on their side, so that, if their causes should go against them, they might conclude, if Absalom had been judge, it would have been otherwise. There is no man deputed of the king to hear thee — None that will do thee justice. The other sons and relations of the king, and the rest of the judges and rulers under him and them, are wholly corrupt; or, at least, not careful and diligent as they should be, and my father, being grown in years, is negligent of public affairs. So Absalom said, or insinuated. And it is always the way of turbulent, aspiring men, to reproach the government they are under. Even David, we see, one of the best of kings, could not escape the worst of censures, and that even from his own son; for what could be worse than that which is here thrown out against him, that he neglected to administer true and impartial justice and judgment to his people? It is marvellous that David did not observe and nip this growing insurrection in its bud. But Delaney is of opinion that he was dangerously ill at this time, and that therefore Absalom seized this as a fit opportunity to take the steps here mentioned to increase his popularity, and draw the people after him. 2 Samuel 15:4 Absalom said moreover, Oh that I were made judge in the land, that every man which hath any suit or cause might come unto me, and I would do him justice! 2 Samuel 15:4-6 . Absalom said, O that I were made judge in the land! — Though he was admitted to come to court, and see the king, he had no office there, as, it seems, the rest of the king’s sons had. This he took ill, and endeavoured to bring the people to do so too, by persuading them that, if he were in authority, he would take speedy care to do them justice. When any man came nigh to do him obeisance — To fall prostrate before him as the king’s son. He put forth his hand and took him — That is, prevented him from prostrating himself, and condescended even to salute him with a kiss. In this manner did Absalom to all Israel — Robbed his father of the affections of the people, and possessed himself of them; some admiring his beauty and gallantry; others his courtesy and civility; and others being taken with his magnificent promises of the noble things he would do if he were their king. 2 Samuel 15:5 And it was so , that when any man came nigh to him to do him obeisance, he put forth his hand, and took him, and kissed him. 2 Samuel 15:6 And on this manner did Absalom to all Israel that came to the king for judgment: so Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel. 2 Samuel 15:7 And it came to pass after forty years, that Absalom said unto the king, I pray thee, let me go and pay my vow, which I have vowed unto the LORD, in Hebron. 2 Samuel 15:7 . After forty years — That is, as some say, from the change of the government into a monarchy, which change took place about ten years before David began to reign. So that this fell out about the thirtieth year of his reign. But the Syriac and Arabic, whom Houbigant follows, read, After four years; that is, from the time of his father’s reconciliation with him. Josephus, Theodoret, the manuscripts mentioned in the Benedictine edition of Jerome’s version, the canon of the Hebrew verity, (supposed to be made about the ninth century, and altered by some correcting hand,) the reading of the famous Latin Bible of Sextus, the Latin manuscript in Exeter college library, marked C. 2. 13., and the ancient Latin manuscript written in Gothic characters, the variations of which are published in Blanchini’s Vindiciæ, all have it, four; so that Grotius, and, after him, Patrick, were well supported in having pronounced so decisively, that it would admit of no doubt that an error had crept into the text, and that instead of ?????? , arbagnim, forty, should be read ???? , arbang, four. See Kennicott’s Dissert., vol. 2. p. 358, and Houbigant’s note. Let me go and pay my vow which I have vowed to the Lord in Hebron — To wit, to perform there by some solemn sacrifice. As Delaney is of opinion that a very grievous sickness of David gave Absalom occasion to take the forementioned steps, so he thinks that his father’s unexpected recovery, perhaps through God’s extraordinary influence, broke Absalom’s measures for some time, and made him postpone his wicked purpose. In the mean time, his popularity had all the field he could wish. As all the people of Israel resorted to Jerusalem thrice in every year, on the three solemn festivals, he had so often an opportunity of paying his court, and insinuating his poison, till the infection spread through the whole body of the realm, and wanted nothing but a fair occasion to display itself in all its malignity, which Absalom sought by going to Hebron. 2 Samuel 15:8 For thy servant vowed a vow while I abode at Geshur in Syria, saying, If the LORD shall bring me again indeed to Jerusalem, then I will serve the LORD. 2 Samuel 15:8-9 . If the Lord shall bring me again to Jerusalem, &c. — This vow, we see, of Absalom is conceived exactly in the style of the patriarchal piety; and plainly implies, that however he was tempted by his grandfather to serve the gods of Geshur, yet he continued steady to the true religion, and determined against idolatry. This, we may be sure, David was highly delighted to hear, and therefore gave a ready consent to the performance of his vow, saying, Go in peace. So he arose and went to Hebron — This place he chose as being an eminent city, and next to Jerusalem, the chief city of the tribe of Judah. It was also the place of his birth, the place where his father had begun his kingdom, which he took for a good omen, and where the seat of government had been several years. Here, likewise, they were wont to sacrifice till the temple was built. It was at a convenient distance from Jerusalem, and, no doubt, he had here secured many friends. He therefore thought it the most commodious place for his purpose, next to Jerusalem. 2 Samuel 15:9 And the king said unto him, Go in peace. So he arose, and went to Hebron. 2 Samuel 15:10 But Absalom sent spies throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, As soon as ye hear the sound of the trumpet, then ye shall say, Absalom reigneth in Hebron. 2 Samuel 15:10 . Absalom sent spies throughout all the tribes — Before he left Jerusalem he took care to send his emissaries into all parts; doubtless under colour of inviting persons of distinction to the sacrifice; but in reality to carry the watchword and signal, before agreed on between them. As soon as ye shall hear the sound of the trumpet, &c. — This was the signal which was to be given for the people’s taking up arms, their hearing the sound of the trumpet, which Absalom took care should be blown in all the tribes at the same time, by persons purposely placed in the towns and villages, at such a distance from one another as that each trumpet could be heard by the person appointed to blow the next. The spies, or emissaries, immediately upon hearing the sound of it, were to proclaim that Absalom was crowned king in Hebron. Upon this being done, all his partisans, it is likely, shouted, God save King Absalom. 2 Samuel 15:11 And with Absalom went two hundred men out of Jerusalem, that were called; and they went in their simplicity, and they knew not any thing. 2 Samuel 15:11 . With Absalom went two hundred men that were called — That is, that were invited by him to feast with him on his sacrifice, and were such as he had picked out as fit for his purpose; principal persons of the city, no doubt, and of some reputation with the king and people. These he took with him that they might give a countenance to his undertaking, and cause the people at first to think that he was acting in all this by his father’s consent and approbation, as being now aged and infirm, and willing to resign the kingdom to his son. They went in their simplicity, and knew not anything — Of his design, but only went to attend him, and pay him respect as the king’s son, who did them the honour to invite them to a holy feast. It is no new thing for good men to be made use of by designing men, to put a colour on ill practices. 2 Samuel 15:12 And Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David's counseller, from his city, even from Giloh, while he offered sacrifices. And the conspiracy was strong; for the people increased continually with Absalom. 2 Samuel 15:12 . Absalom sent for Ahithophel, David’s counsellor — None are more capable of doing mischief to kings than those who have been of their privy council, and know their secrets. It is supposed by the Jews that Ahithophel was incensed against David for his conduct to Bath-sheba, who they think, was his grand-daughter, being the daughter of Eliam, 2 Samuel 11:3 , and Eliam the son of Ahithophel, 2 Samuel 23:34 . It doubtless must have been matter of great surprise and inexpressible affliction to David, to find the two men, whom of all others he seems to have most loved and confided in, combining against him, and compassing his death, Absalom and Ahithophel, his son and his counsellor. While he offered sacrifices — Or, rather, after he had offered sacrifices: for it seems he sent for him while he sat at dinner. And the conspiracy was strong — Ahithophel was too cunning to discover himself till he saw all things favourable and prosperous on the part of Absalom: and they both very well judged that his accession to the conspiracy, in those circumstances, was the likeliest means to ensure its success. For the people increased continually — Most of whom, it is probable, intended no harm at first, perhaps not even to divest David of his crown and dignity, much less to take away his life; but only to substitute Absalom as a coadjutor to him, for the executing of the royal authority during David’s life, and to be his successor after his death. However, it is evident they did proceed so far, at last, as to design to kill David for their own greater security. For so Ahithophel advised, and they all consented to it, 2 Samuel 17:2 ; 2 Samuel 17:4 ; which shows how dangerous it is to go out of the right way; for we do not know down what horrid precipices we may fall afterward. And it may serve as a warning to us never to begin any thing that is wrong, which may lead us to commit that in the issue which we abhorred at the first, when we find we cannot be safe in one wickedness, unless we commit a greater. 2 Samuel 15:13 And there came a messenger to David, saying, The hearts of the men of Israel are after Absalom. 2 Samuel 15:13 . There came a messenger to David — It is probable some of the two hundred men who went innocently with Absalom from Jerusalem sent this messenger, who, however, did not go immediately on the first appearance of the conspiracy, but after it became manifest, through a great concourse of people openly thronging to him. 2 Samuel 15:14 And David said unto all his servants that were with him at Jerusalem, Arise, and let us flee; for we shall not else escape from Absalom: make speed to depart, lest he overtake us suddenly, and bring evil upon us, and smite the city with the edge of the sword. 2 Samuel 15:14 . David said, Arise, and let us flee — As soon as he had received information of what had passed, he saw the danger was instant, and took his measures accordingly. He knew Absalom would lose no time to accomplish his design, and that the nature of it required him to strike home at once. David therefore orders his servants, soldiery, and friends, to depart from Jerusalem immediately. For, though the fort of Zion was strong, and he might have defended himself there for some time, yet he had not laid in provisions for a long siege; and, if he had been once besieged there, Absalom would have got speedy possession of his whole kingdom, whereas, if he marched abroad, he might raise a considerable army for his defence. Besides, the greatest part of Jerusalem could not be well defended against an enemy. And if it could, “he did not care to expose a favourite city, built by himself, and the residence of the tabernacle of God, to all the evils incident to sieges, and almost inseparable from them. Nor, perhaps, did he incline to trust the inhabitants of a place so long exposed to the taint of Absalom’s temptations.” This, some think, appears from the 55th Psalm, which, they suppose, was meditated and poured out in prayer to God upon the discovery of Absalom’s conspiracy. And from thence it is evident that he had discerned the seeds and workings of a conspiracy in the city, and that Ahithophel was at the bottom of it: and not only so, but that David foresaw his sudden and sad end. — Delaney. For we shall not else escape from Absalom — He was well acquainted with the young man’s impetuosity, and the madness of the people, and therefore judged that the only method to be pursued, in order to safety, was to give way to the fury of the flood, and not attempt to stem it in the fulness of its overflowing. 2 Samuel 15:15 And the king's servants said unto the king, Behold, thy servants are ready to do whatsoever my lord the king shall appoint. 2 Samuel 15:16 And the king went forth, and all his household after him. And the king left ten women, which were concubines, to keep the house. 2 Samuel 15:16 . The king went forth, and all his household after him — Or, as the Hebrew, ?????? , berag-laiv, rather means, on foot: which the king probably chose to do, that he might humble himself under the hand of God; might encourage his adherents in this hard and comfortless march; and might move compassion in his people toward him. The king left ten women — Supposing that their sex and quality, and especially their relation to him, being his concubines, would be a sufficient protection to them, and gain them some respect, or, at least, safety from his son. What became of his wives is not here related; but it is probable they went along with him, to take care of him; as the other women were left to take care of the house. 2 Samuel 15:17-18 , The king went forth, and all the people after him — That is, all those of Jerusalem who were well affected to him. And tarried in a place that was far off — At a good distance from the city, where, it is likely, he put the people, that had come out in a confused state, into good order, and waited to see what other friends would join him. And all his servants passed on beside him — His household servants, or body-guards, marched probably on both hands of him. And all the Gittites, six hundred men — These marched in the front of his little army; but who they were it is hard to say; for we read nothing of them before. Some take them to have been proselytes, born in Gath of the Philistines, and think they came with Ittai to David, being attracted by the fame of his piety and happy success. Others take them to have been Jews, who had fled to David in his exile, when he was at Gath, and accompanied him ever after, not only in the time of Saul’s persecution, but after he came to the crown of Israel and Judah. 2 Samuel 15:17 And the king went forth, and all the people after him, and tarried in a place that was far off. 2 Samuel 15:18 And all his servants passed on beside him; and all the Cherethites, and all the Pelethites, and all the Gittites, six hundred men which came after him from Gath, passed on before the king. 2 Samuel 15:19 Then said the king to Ittai the Gittite, Wherefore goest thou also with us? return to thy place, and abide with the king: for thou art a stranger, and also an exile. 2 Samuel 15:19-20 . Then said the king to Ittai the Gittite, &c. — He seems to have been the commander of those six hundred men before mentioned. And the Jews make him the son of Achish, king of Gath, who, they say, out of religion and friendship came to David. Return to thy place — To Jerusalem, where thy place of residence is. And abide with the king — With Absalom, king by usurpation. For thou art a stranger and an exile — Not much concerned in our affairs, and therefore thou oughtest not to be involved in our troubles. And, as a stranger, thou mayest hope to be civilly treated by Absalom. Whereas thou camest but yesterday — That is, very lately; should I this day make thee go up and down with us? — Should I unsettle thee again so soon? Seeing I go whither I may — Or, I know not whither, having now no certain dwelling-place. Take back thy brethren — Thy countrymen the Gittites. Mercy and truth be with thee — Since I am now unable to recompense thy kindness and fidelity to me, my hearty prayer to God is, that he would show to thee his mercy, in blessing thee with all sorts of blessings, and his faithfulness in making good all these promises which he hath made, not to Israelites only, but to all true-hearted proselytes, such as thou art. 2 Samuel 15:20 Whereas thou camest but yesterday, should I this day make thee go up and down with us? seeing I go whither I may, return thou, and take back thy brethren: mercy and truth be with thee. 2 Samuel 15:21 And Ittai answered the king, and said, As the LORD liveth, and as my lord the king liveth, surely in what place my lord the king shall be, whether in death or life, even there also will thy servant be. 2 Samuel 15:21 . Ittai answered, Surely in what place, &c. — Admirable and noble fidelity this in a stranger, when a son was a rebel against the father! He is a friend indeed, who loves at all times, and will cleave to us in adversity. Thus should we cleave to the Son of David, so that neither life nor death may separate us from him. Reader, is this the resolution of thy heart? Dost thou belong to Christ, and is it thy disposition never to leave him? 2 Samuel 15:22 And David said to Ittai, Go and pass over. And Ittai the Gittite passed over, and all his men, and all the little ones that were with him. 2 Samuel 15:22 . Ittai the Gittite passed over — The brook Kidron, as it follows in the next verse. And all the little ones that were with him — This shows that his whole family were come to sojourn in Judea. And being so deeply engaged for David, he durst not leave his little ones to Absalom’s mercy. 2 Samuel 15:23 And all the country wept with a loud voice, and all the people passed over: the king also himself passed over the brook Kidron, and all the people passed over, toward the way of the wilderness. 2 Samuel 15:23 . All the country wept — All about Jerusalem, and the generality of the people by whom they passed, being extremely afflicted to see their king, under whom they had lived in great peace and prosperity, reduced to such extremities. It must be considered, that Absalom’s friends and partisans were gone to him to Hebron, and the rest of the people thereabouts were either well-wishers to David, or at least moved with compassion at the sad and sudden change of so great and good a king, which was sufficient to affect a heart of stone. All the people passed over — All that continued faithful to David in those parts. The king also passed over the brook Kidron — Or Cedron, which was near Jerusalem. The very same brook which Christ passed over, when he entered upon his sufferings, John 18:1 . Toward the way of the wilderness — Which lay between Jerusalem and Jericho. 2 Samuel 15:24 And lo Zadok also, and all the Levites were with him, bearing the ark of the covenant of God: and they set down the ark of God; and Abiathar went up, until all the people had done passing out of the city. 2 Samuel 15:24 . Zadok also, and all the Levites were with him — They knew David’s great regard for them and their office, notwithstanding his failings; and the arts which Absalom had used to gain the people’s affections had made no impression upon them. They saw that he had little religion in him, and therefore they steadily adhered to David. Bearing the ark of the covenant of God — As a pledge of God’s presence and assistance. And they set down the ark of God — Either in expectation of drawing forth more people to David’s party, if not from their loyalty to their lawful king, yet from their piety and reverence to the ark; or, that all the people might pass along, and the ark might come in the rear of them, for their safeguard and encouragement. Abiathar went up — From the ark to the city, which was on higher ground; that so he, being high-priest, might use his authority with the people, to persuade them to do their duty; and there he stayed until all those whom he could persuade were gone forth. 2 Samuel 15:25 And the king said unto Zadok, Carry back the ark of God into the city: if I shall find favour in the eyes of the LORD, he will bring me again, and shew me both it, and his habitation: 2 Samuel 15:25-26 . The king said unto Zadok, Carry back the ark — This he ordered, 1st, Through his care of and reverence for the ark, which, though it might be carried out to a certain place, yet, he might justly think, ought not to be taken about from place to place, he knew not whither. And, 2d, Lest, if he had carried it about with him everywhere, he should seem to trust in that which was but the token of God’s presence, more than he did in God himself, who had preserved him in the persecution of Saul, when he had not the ark with him. But was he not exposing the priests to the violence of the usurper, by thus sending them back to Jerusalem; especially as they had just given such evidence of their fidelity to their king? To this it may be answered, that David hoped the sacredness of their character would be a security to them against all violence. If I find favour in the eyes of the Lord, &c. — If he shall be pleased to pardon the sins for which he is now justly, although so severely, chastising me. He will bring me again, and show me both it and his habitation — Will restore me to the enjoyment of the privileges of his house, and the ordinances of his worship, which I shall consider one of the greatest evidences of the return of his favour, and one of the greatest blessings his goodness can confer upon me, even greater than the being restored to my palace and throne. But if he say, I have no delight in thee — I will not receive thee into my favour, nor restore thee to thy throne and city, and to the enjoyment of my ordinances. Here I am — Ready to obey him, and to submit to his will and pleasure concerning me. David saw plainly that God, according to his threatening, had raised up this evil to him out of his own house, and was punishing him for his sins, and he receives the chastisement with resignation. “I imagine,” says Dr. Delaney, “I now hear him taking up the same lamentation which Alphonsus the Wise, king of Arragon, afterward did upon a like occasion: ‘I wonder not so much at my people’s ingratitude to me, as at my own to God.’ Hence, in this spirit of humiliation, David would not presume to have the ark, the symbol of the divine presence borne before him in that war: that was an honour of which he deemed himself utterly unworthy. And, therefore, referring himself and his affairs to the disposal of the Divine Providence, he remanded Zadok and Abiathar back to the city with the ark.” Let him do with me as seemeth him good — I have nothing to object; it is all well that God doth. Thus ought we cheerfully to acquiesce in the will of God, whatever befalls us. And that we may not complain of what is, let us see God’s hand in all events. And that we may not be afraid of what shall be, let us see all events in God’s hand. 2 Samuel 15:26 But if he thus say, I have no delight in thee; behold, here am I, let him do to me as seemeth good unto him. 2 Samuel 15:27 The king said also unto Zadok the priest, Art not thou a seer? return into the city in peace, and your two sons with you, Ahimaaz thy son, and Jonathan the son of Abiathar. 2 Samuel 15:27 . Art thou not a seer? Return into the city in peace — “It should seem from hence,” says Delaney, “that Zadok was a prophet: however, as a priest, he was a teacher; and as such, bound to stay with his people in the greatest exigencies, and instruct them in their duty: besides that, by staying to do his duty to his people, he might also do good offices to his prince.” Indeed, the word ??? , roeh, here rendered seer, means also a seeing, discerning and observing man: an interpretation which suits well with the present state of David’s mind and affairs. As if he had said, Thou art a wise man, fit to make observations on what is passing in Jerusalem, and to give me information thereof. Accordingly David concerted a plan, both with Zadok and Abiathar, of corresponding with him, and sending him intelligence of all his enemies’ measures by their sons, Ahimaaz and Jonathan. 2 Samuel 15:28 See, I will tarry in the plain of the wilderness, until there come word from you to certify me. 2 Samuel 15:29 Zadok therefore and Abiathar carried the ark of God again to Jerusalem: and they tarried there. 2 Samuel 15:30 And David went up by the ascent of mount Olivet, and wept as he went up, and had his head covered, and he went barefoot: and all the people that was with him covered every man his head, and they went up, weeping as they went up. 2 Samuel 15:30 . David went up by the ascent of mount Olivet, and wept as he went up — To think that one who was the offspring of his own body should thus lift up the heel against him, and reflecting on his own conduct in the matter of Uriah, as the cause of this calamity. And had his head covered — Through shame and confusion. And he went up barefoot — In testimony of his deep sorrow and humiliation for the sins whereby he had procured this evil to himself; for these were the habits of mourners; and to take a holy revenge upon himself for his former delicacy and luxury. “A more memorable event, surely, was never recorded in history, nor a more moving spectacle exhibited to mortal eyes! A king, venerable for his years and victories; sacred in the characters, both of his piety and prophecy; renowned for prowess, and revered for wisdom, reduced to the condition of a fugitive! to a sudden and extreme necessity of fleeing for his life, from the presence of his own son, his darling and delight; and a whole country loudly lamenting his fate! In this condition, David went up the mount, and when he reached the summit of it, fell down prostrate before God. Josephus tells us, that when David reached the top of the mountain, he took a view of the city, and prayed to God with abundance of tears. The reader will perhaps think it worth his notice, that Josephus should tell us, that David wept and viewed the city in the same spot from which, the evangelist informs us, our blessed Saviour wept over it.” — Delaney. And is this the glorious king of Israel, the beloved of God, the wise, the victorious David, who slew his ten thousands? Strange change indeed! What has produced this sad reverse? Sin alone has wrought all this! These are its baneful effects: he forgot the commandment of the Lord his God, and from hence has flowed all this evil! You that plead an excuse for sin, because David, the man after God’s own heart, fell into it; remember, likewise, what bitter and grievous punishments he underwent for it. Are you willing to pay such a price for sin? And yet, be assured, the inviolable laws of God require you to pay it in one way or other. 2 Samuel 15:31 And one told David, saying, Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom. And David said, O LORD, I pray thee, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness. 2 Samuel 15:31 . One told David — Or, David told; that is, being informed that Ahithophel was among the conspirators, he mentioned it to his friends, to excite them to join with him in the following prayer against him. Turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness. Either infatuate him, that he may give foolish counsel; or let his counsel be contemned and rejected as foolish; or let it miscarry in the execution. Thus David’s constant recourse, in all his dangers and difficulties, was unto God by prayer. 2 Samuel 15:32 And it came to pass, that when David was come to the top of the mount , where he worshipped God, behold, Hushai the Archite came to meet him with his coat rent, and earth upon his head: 2 Samuel 15:32 . The top of the mount, where he worshipped — Looking, doubtless, toward Jerusalem, where the ark and tabernacle, which he had made for it, were. Hushai, the Archite came to meet him — Probably he was from Archi, a city in the tribe of Ephraim, (see Joshua 16:2 ,) and coming to Jerusalem, was made one of David’s privy council because of his wisdom; otherwise, it is not likely that Absalom would so readily have entertained him, and admitted him to his secrets. The coming of Hushai just at this time seems to have been ordered by God’s peculiar providence, in answer to David’s prayer mentioned in the preceding verse. With his coat rent, and earth upon his head — In token of his great sorrow on David’s account. 2 Samuel 15:33 Unto whom David said, If thou passest on with me, then thou shalt be a burden unto me: 2 Samuel 15:33 . If thou passest on with me, thou shalt be a burden, &c. — For he was not provided, it seems, with sufficient support for his own family; and Hushai, though famous as a counsellor in the cabinet, being unpractised in the camp, and no soldier, could not be so useful to him in the army as he might be at court. David therefore, conceives the idea of employing him in endeavouring to defeat or render abortive the counsel of Ahithophel. 2 Samuel 15:34 But if thou return to the city, and say unto Absalom, I will be thy servant, O king; as I have been thy father's servant hitherto, so will I now also be thy servant: then mayest thou for me defeat the counsel of Ahithophel. 2 Samuel 15:34 . Say unto Absalom, I will be thy servant, O king, &c. — This crafty counsel of David to Hushai, advising him to use such great dissimulation, cannot be justified. It must, of necessity, be reckoned among his sins, as being a plain violation of the law of truth, and only intended to deceive. Nevertheless, as this was with David the hour of temptation, and this evil advice was suggested by his present and pressing straits, God was mercifully pleased to pardon and direct it to a good end. Thou mayest for me defeat, &c. — That is, by advising different measures, which, considering the great reputation that Hushai had for wisdom, David judged Absalom would be inclined to hearken to, rather tha

Expositor's Bible Commentary 2 Samuel 15:1 And it came to pass after this, that Absalom prepared him chariots and horses, and fifty men to run before him. CHAPTER XIX. ABSALOM'S REVOLT 2 Samuel 15:1-12 . WHEN Absalom obtained from his father the position he had so eagerly desired at Jerusalem, he did not allow the grass to grow under his feet. The terms on which he was now with the king evidently gave him a command of money to a very ample degree. By this means he was able to set up an equipage such as had not previously been seen at Jerusalem. "He prepared him a chariot and horses, and fifty men to run before him." To multiply horses to himself was one of the things forbidden by the law of Moses to the king that should be chosen ( Deuteronomy 15:16 ), mainly, we suppose, because it was a prominent feature of the royal state of the kings of Egypt, and because it would have indicated a tendency to place the glory of the kingdom in magnificent surroundings rather than in the protection and blessing of the heavenly King. The style of David's living appears to have been quiet and unpretending, notwithstanding the vast treasures he had amassed; for the love of pomp or display was none of his failings. Anything in the shape of elaborate arrangement that he devised seems to have been in connection with the public service of God - for instance, his choir of singers and players ( 1 Chronicles 23:5 ); his own personal tastes appear to have been simple and inexpensive. And this style undoubtedly befitted a royalty which rested on a basis so peculiar as that of the nation of Israel, when the king, though he used that title, was only the viceroy of the true King of the nation, an i where it was the will of God that a different spirit should prevail from that prevalent among the surrounding nations. A modest establishment was evidently suited to one who recognized his true position as a subordinate lieutenant, not an absolute ruler. But Absalom's tastes were widely different, and he was not the man to be restrained from gratifying them by any considerations of that sort. The moment he had the power, though he was not even king, he set up his imposing equipage, and became the observed of all observers in Jerusalem. And no doubt there were many of the people who sympathized with him, and regarded it as right and proper that, now that Israel was so renowned and prosperous a kingdom, its court should shine forth in corresponding splendour. The plain equipage of David would seem to them paltry and unimposing, in no way fitted to gratify the pride or elevate the dignity of the kingdom. Absalom's, on the other hand, would seem to supply all that David's wanted. The prancing steeds, with their gay caparisons, the troop of out-runners in glittering uniform, the handsome face and figure of the prince, would create a sensation wherever he went; There, men would say emphatically, is the proper state and bearing of a king; had we such a monarch as that, surrounding nations would everywhere acknowledge our superiority, and feel that we were entitled to the first place among the kingdoms of the East. But Absalom was far too shrewd a man to base his popularity merely on outward show. For the daring game which he was about to play it was necessary to have much firmer support than that. He understood the remarkable power of personal interest and sympathy in winning the hearts of men, and drawing them to one's side. He rose up early, and stood beside the way of the gate, where in Eastern cities judgment was usually administered, but where, for some unknown reason, little seems to have been done by the king or the king's servants at that time. To all who came to the gate he addressed himself with winsome affability, and to those who had "a suit that should come to the king for judgment" (R.V.) he was especially encouraging. Well did he know that when a man has a lawsuit it usually engrosses his whole attention, and that he is very impatient of delays and hindrances in the way of his case. Very adroitly did he take advantage of this feeling, - sympathizing with the litigant, agreeing with him of course that he had right on his side, but much concerned that there was no one appointed of the king to attend to his business, and devoutly and fervently wishing that he were made judge in the land, that every one that had any suit or cause might come to him, and he would do him justice. And with regard to others, when they came to do him homage he seemed unwilling to recognize this token of superiority, but, as if they were just brothers, he put forth his hand, took hold of them, and kissed them. If it were not for what we know now of the hollowness of it, this would be a pretty picture - an ear so ready to listen to the tale of wrong, a heart so full of sympathy, an active temperament that in the early hours of the morning sent him forth to meet the people and exchange kindly greetings with them; a form and figure that graced the finest procession; a manner that could be alike dignified when dignity was becoming, and humility itself when it was right to be humble. But alas for the hollow-heartedness of the picture! It is like the fabled apples of Sodom, outside all fair and attractive, but dust within. But hollow though it was, the policy succeeded - he became exceedingly popular; he secured the affections of the people. It is a remarkable expression that is used to denote this result - "He stole the hearts of the men of Israel." It was not an honest transaction. It was swindling in high life. He was appropriating valuable property on false pretences. To constitute a man a thief or a swindler it is not necessary that he forge a rich man's name, or that he put his hand into the pocket of his neighbour. To gain a heart by hypocritical means, to secure the confidence of another by lying promises, is equally low and wicked; nay, in God's sight is a greater crime. It may be that man's law has difficulty in reaching it, and in many cases cannot reach it at all. But it cannot be supposed that those who are guilty of it will in the end escape God's righteous judgment. And if the punishments of the future life are fitted to indicate the due character of the sins for which they are sent, we can think of nothing more appropriate than that those who have stolen hearts in this way, high in this world's rank though they have often been, should be made to rank with the thieves and thimble-riggers and other knaves who are the habitués of our prisons, and are scorned universally as the meanest of mankind. With all his fine face and figure and manner, his chariot and horses, his out-runners and other attendants, Absalom after all was but a black-hearted thief. All this crooked and cunning policy of his Absalom carried on with, unwearied vigour till his plot was ripe. There is reason to apprehend an error of some kind in the text when it is said ( 2 Samuel 15:7 ) that it was "at the end of forty years" that Absalom struck the final blow. The reading of some manuscripts is more likely to be correct, - "at the end of four years," that is, four years after he was allowed to assume the position of prince. During that space of time much might be quietly done by one who had such an advantage of manner, and was so resolutely devoted to his work. For he seems to have laboured at his task without interruption all that time. The dissembling which he had to practice, to impress the people with the idea of his kindly interest in them, must have required a very considerable strain. But he was sustained in it by the belief that in the end he would succeed, and success was worth an infinity of labour. What a power of persistence is often shown by the children of this world, and how much wiser are they in their generation than the children of light as to the means that will achieve their ends! With what wonderful application and perseverance do many men labour to build up a business, to accumulate a fortune, to gain a distinction! I have heard of a young man who, being informed that an advertisement had appeared in a newspaper to the effect that if his family would apply to someone they would hear of something to their advantage, set himself to discover that advertisement, went over the advertisements for several years, column by column, first of one paper, then of another and another, till he became so absorbed in the task that he lost first his reason and then his life. Thank God, there are instances not a few of very noble application and perseverance in the spiritual field; but is it not true that the mass even of good men are sadly remiss in the efforts they make for spiritual ends? Does not the energy of the racer who ran for the corruptible crown often put to shame the languor of those who seek for an incorruptible? And does not the manifold secular activity of which we see so much in the world around us sound a loud summons in the ears of all who are at ease in Zion - "Now it is high time to awake out of sleep"? The copestone which Absalom put on his plot when all was ripe for execution was of a piece with the whole undertaking. It was an act of religious hypocrisy amounting to profanity. It shows how well he must have succeeded in deceiving his father when he could venture on such a finishing stroke. Hypocrite though he was himself, he well knew the depth and sincerity of his father's religion. He knew too that nothing could gratify him more than to find in his son the evidence of a similar state of heart. It is difficult to comprehend the villainy that could frame such a statement as this: - "I pray thee, let me go and pay my vow, which I have vowed unto the Lord, in Hebron. For thy servant vowed a vow, while I abode at Geshur in Syria, saying. If the Lord shall indeed bring me again to Jerusalem, then I will serve" (marg. R.V., worship) "the Lord." We have already remarked that it is not very clear from this whether up to this time Absalom had been a worshipper of the God of Israel. The purport of his pretended vow (that is, what he wished his father to believe) must have been either that, renouncing the idolatry of Geshur, he would now become a worshipper of Israel's God, or (what seems more likely) that in token of his purpose for the future he would present a special offering to the God of Israel. This vow he now wished to redeem by making his offerings to the Lord, and for this purpose he desired to go to Hebron. But why go to Hebron? Might he not have redeemed it at Jerusalem? It was the custom, however, when a vow was taken, to specify the place where it was to be fulfilled, and in this instance Hebron was alleged to be the place. But what are we to think of the effrontery and wickedness of this pretence? To drag sacred things into a scheme of villainy, to pretend to have a desire to do honour to God simply for the purpose of carrying out deception and gaining a worldly end, is a frightful prostitution of all that ought to be held most sacred. It seems to indicate one who had no belief in God or in anything holy, to whom truth and falsehood, right and wrong, honour and shame, were all essentially alike, although, when it suited him, he might pretend to have a profound regard to the honour of God and a cordial purpose to render that honour. We are reminded of Charles II. taking the Covenant to please the Scots, and get their help towards obtaining the crown. But indeed the same great sin is involved in every act of religious hypocrisy, in every instance in which pretended reverence is paid to God in order to secure a selfish end. The place was cunningly selected. It enjoyed a sanctity which had been gathering round it for centuries; whereas Jerusalem, as the capital of the nation, was but of yesterday. Hebron was the place where David himself had begun his reign, and while it was far enough from Jerusalem to allow Absalom to work unobserved by David, it was near enough to allow him to carry out the schemes which had been set on foot there. So little suspicion had the old king of what was brewing that, when Absalom asked leave to go to Hebron, he dismissed him with a blessing - "Go in peace." What Joab was thinking of all this we have no means of knowing. That a man who looked after his own interests so well as Joab did, should have stuck to David when his fortunes appeared to be desperate, is somewhat surprising. But the truth seems to be that Absalom never felt very cordial towards Joab after his refusal to meet him on his return from Geshur. It does not appear that Joab was much impressed by regard to God's will in the matter of the succession; his being engaged afterwards in the insurrection in favour of Adonijah when Solomon was divinely marked out for the succession shows that he was not. His adherence to David on this occasion was probably the result of necessity rather than choice. But what are we to say of his want of vigilance in allowing Absalom's conspiracy to advance as it did either without suspecting its existence, or at least without making provision for defending the king's cause? Either he was very blind or he was very careless. As for the king himself, we have seen what cause he had, after his great trespass, for courting solitude and avoiding contact with the people. That he should be ignorant of all that was going on need not surprise us. And moreover, from allusions in some of the Psalms (38, 39, 41) to a loathsome and all but fatal illness of David's, and to treachery practiced on him when ill, some have supposed that this was the time chosen by Absalom for consummating his plot. When Absalom said to the men applying for justice, whom he met at the gate of the city, "There is no man deputed of the king to hear thee," his words implied that there was something hindering the king from being there in person, and for some reason he had not appointed a deputy. A protracted illness, unfitting David for his personal duties and for super- intending the machinery of government, might have furnished Absalom with the pretext for his lamentation over this want. It gives us a harder impression of his villainy and hardness of heart if he chose a time when his father was enfeebled by disease to inflict a crushing blow on his government and a crowning humiliation on himself. Three other steps were taken by Absalom before bringing the revolt to a crisis. First, he sent spies or secret emissaries to all the tribes, calling them, on hearing the sound of a trumpet, to acknowledge him as king at Hebron. Evidently he had all the talent for administration that was so conspicuous in his nation and in his house, - if only it had been put to a better use. Secondly, he took with him to Hebron a band of two hundred men, of whom it is said "they went in their simplicity, and they knew not anything" - so admirably was the secret kept. Thirdly, Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David's counsellor, from his city, having reason to believe that Ahithophel was on his side, and knowing that his counsel would be valuable to him in the present emergency. And every arrangement seemed to succeed admirably. The tide ran strongly in his favour - "the conspiracy was strong, for the people increased continually with Absalom." Everything seemed to fall out precisely as he wished; it looked as if the revolt would not only succeed, but that it would succeed without serious opposition. Absalom must have been full of expectation that in a few days or weeks he would be reigning unopposed at Jerusalem. This extraordinary success is difficult to understand. For what could have made David so unpopular? In his earliest years he had been singularly popular; his victories brought him unbounded éclat ; and when Ishbosheth died it was the remembrance of these early services that disposed the people to call him to the throne. Since that time he had increased his services in an eminent degree. He had freed his country from all the surrounding tribes that were constantly attacking it; he had conquered those distant but powerful enemies the Syrians; and he had brought to the country a great accumulation of wealth. Add to this that he was fond of music and a poet, and had written many of the very finest of their sacred songs. Why should not such a king be popular? The answer to this question will embrace a variety of reasons. In the first place, a generation was growing up who had not been alive at the time of his early services, and on whom therefore they would make a very slender impression. For service done to the public is very soon forgotten unless it be constantly repeated in other forms, unless, in fact, there be a perpetual round of it. So it is found by many a minister of the gospel. Though he may have built up his congregation from the very beginning, ministered among them with unceasing assiduity, and taken the lead in many important and permanent undertakings, yet in a few years after he goes away all is forgotten, and his very name comes to be unknown to many. In the second place, David was turning old, and old men are prone to adhere to their old ways; his government had become old-fashioned, and he showed no longer the life and vigour of former days. A new, fresh, lively administration was eagerly desired by the younger spirits of the nation. Further, there can be no doubt that David's fervent piety was disliked by many, and his puritan methods of governing the kingdom. The spirit of the world is sure to be found in every community, and it is always offended by the government of holy men. Finally, his fall in the matter of Uriah had greatly impaired the respect and affection even of the better part of the community. If to all this there was added a period of feeble health, during which many departments of government were neglected, we shall have, beyond doubt, the principal grounds of the king's unpopularity. The ardent lovers of godliness were no doubt a minority, and thus even David, who had done so much for Israel, was ready to be sacrificed in the time of old age. But had he not something better to fall back on? Was he not promised the protection and the aid of the Most High? Might he not cast himself on Him who had been his refuge and his strength in every time of need, and of whom he had sung so serenely that He is near to them that call on Him in sincerity and in truth? Undoubtedly he might, and undoubtedly he did. And the final result of Absalom's rebellion, the wonderful way in which its back was broken and David rescued and restored, showed that though cast down he was not forsaken. But now, we must remember, the second element of the chastisement of which Nathan testified, had come upon him. "Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house." That chastisement was now falling, and while it lasted the joy and comfort of God's gracious presence must have been interrupted. But all the same God was Still with him, even though He was carrying him through the valley of the shadow of death. Like the Apostle Peter, he was brought to the very verge of destruction; but at the critical moment an unseen hand was stretched out to save him, and in after-years he was able to sing, "He brought me up also out of a fearful pit, and out of the miry clay; and He set my feet upon a rock and established my goings; and He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God; many shall see it and shall fear, and shall trust in the Lord." 2 Samuel 15:13 And there came a messenger to David, saying, The hearts of the men of Israel are after Absalom. CHAPTER XX. DAVID’S FLIGHT FROM JERUSALEM. 2 Samuel 15:13 . THE trumpet which was to be the signal that Absalom reigned in Hebron had been sounded, the flow of people in response to it had begun, when "a messenger came to David saying, The hearts of the men of Israel are after Absalom." The narrative is so concise that we can hardly tell whether or not this was the first announcement to David of the real intentions of Absalom. But it is very certain that the king was utterly unprepared to meet the sudden revolt. The first news of it all but overwhelmed him. And little wonder. There came on him three calamities in one. First, there was the calamity that the great bulk of the people had revolted against him, and were now hastening to drive him from the throne, and very probably to put him to death. Second, there was the appalling discovery of the villainy, hypocrisy, and heartless cruelty of his favourite and popular son, - the most crushing thing that can be thought of to a tender heart. And third, there was the discovery that the hearts of the people were with Absalom; David had lost what he most prized and desired to possess; the intense affection he had for his people now met with no response; their love and confidence were given to a usurper. Fancy an old man, perhaps in infirm health, suddenly confronted with this threefold calamity; who can wonder for the time that he is paralyzed, and bends before the storm? Flight from Jerusalem seemed the only feasible course. Both policy and humanity seemed to dictate it. He considered himself unable to defend the city with any hope of success against an attack by such a force as Absalom could muster, and he was unwilling to expose the people to be smitten with the sword. Whether he was really as helpless as he thought we can hardly say. We should be disposed to think that his first duty was to stay where he was, and defend his capital. He was there as God's viceroy, and would not God be with him, defending the place where He had set His name, and the tabernacle in which He was pleased to dwell? It is not possible for us, ignorant as we are of the circumstances, to decide whether the flight from Jerusalem was the enlightened result of an overwhelming necessity, or the fruit of sudden panic, of a heart so paralyzed that it could not gird itself for action. His servants had no other advice to offer. Any course that recommended itself to him they were ready to take. If this did not help to throw light on his difficulties, it must at least have soothed his heart. His friends were not all forsaking him. Amid the faithless a few were found faithful. Friends in such need were friends indeed. And the sight of their honest though perplexed countenances, and the sound of their friendly though trembling voices, would be most soothing to his feelings, and serve to rally the energy that had almost left him. When the world forsakes us, the few friends that remain are of priceless value. On leaving Jerusalem David at once turned eastward, into the wilderness region between Jerusalem and Jericho, with the view, if possible, of crossing the Jordan, so as to have that river, with its deep valley, between him and the rebels. The first halt, or rather the rendezvous for his followers, though called in the A.V. "a place that was far off," is more suitably rendered in the R.V. Bethmerhak, and the margin "the far house." Probably it was the last house on this side the brook Kidron. Here, outside the walls of the city, some hasty arrangements were made before the flight was begun in earnest. First, we read that he was accompanied by all his household, with the exception of ten concubines who were left to keep the house. Fain would we have avoided contact at such a moment with that feature of his house from which so much mischief had come; but to the end of the day David never deviated in that respect from the barbarous policy of all Eastern kings. The mention of his household shows how embarrassed he must have been with so many helpless appendages, and how slow his flight. And his household were not the only women and children of the company; the "little ones" of the Gittites are mentioned in 2 Samuel 15:22 ; we may conceive how the unconcealed terror and excitement of these helpless beings must have distressed him, as their feeble powers of walking must have held back the fighting part of his attendants. When one thinks of this, one sees more clearly the excellence of the advice afterwards given by Ahithophel to pursue him without loss of time with twelve thousand men, to destroy his person at once; in that case, Absalom must have overtaken him long before he reached the Jordan, and found him quite unable to withstand his ardent troops. Next, we find mention of the forces that remained faithful to the king in the crisis of his misfortunes. The Pelethites, the Cherethites, and the Gittites were the chief of these. The Pelethites and the Cherethites are supposed to have been the representatives of the band of followers that David commanded when hiding from Saul in the wilderness; the Gittites appear to have been a body of refugees from Gath, driven away by the tyranny of the Philistines, who had thrown themselves on the protection of David and had been well treated by him. The interview between David and Ittai was most creditable to the feelings of the fugitive king. Ittai was a stranger who had but lately come to Jerusalem, and as he was not attached to David personally, it would be safer for him to return to the city and offer to the reigning king the services which David could no longer reward. But the generous proposal of David was rejected with equal nobility on the part of Ittai. He had probably been received with kindness by David when he first came to Jerusalem, the king remembering well when he himself was in the like predicament, and thinking, like the African princess to Æneas, "Haud ignara mali miseris succurrere disco" - "Having had experience of adversity myself, I know how to succour the miserable." Ittai's heart was won to David then; and he had made up his mind, like Ruth the Moabitess with reference to Naomi, that wherever David was, in life or in death, there also he should be. How affecting must it have been to David to receive such an assurance from a stranger! His own son, whom he had loaded with undeserved kindness, was conspiring against him, while this stranger, who owed him nothing in comparison, was risking everything in his cause. "There is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother." Next in David's train presented themselves Zadok and Abiathar, the priests, carrying the ark of God. The presence of this sacred symbol would have invested the cause of David with a manifestly sacred character in the eyes of all good men; its absence from Absalom would have equally suggested the absence of Israel's God. But David probably remembered how ill it had fared with Israel in the days of Eli and his sons, when the ark was carried into battle. Moreover, when the ark had been placed on Mount Zion, God had said, "This is My rest; here will I dwell;" and even in this extraordinary emergency, David would not disturb that arrangement. He said to Zadok, "Carry back the ark of God into the city: if I shall find favour in the eyes of the Lord, He shall bring me again, and show me both it and His habitation: but if He thus say, I have no delight in thee, behold, here am I; let Him do to me what seemeth good unto Him." These words show how much God was in David's mind in connection with the events of that humiliating day. They show, too, that he did not regard his case as desperate. But everything turned on the will of God. It might be that, in His great mercy, He would bring him back to Jerusalem. His former promises led him to think of this as a possible, perhaps probable, termination of the insurrection. But it might also be that the Lord had no more delight in him. The chastening with which He was now visiting him for his sin might involve the success of Absalom. In that case, all that David would say was that he was at God's disposal, and would offer no resistance to His holy will. If he was to be restored, he would be restored without the aid of the ark; if he was to be destroyed, the ark could not save him. Zadok and his Levites must carry it back into the city. The distance was a very short one, and they would be able to have everything placed in order before Absalom could be there. Another thought occurred to David, who was now evidently recovering his calmness and power of making arrangements. Zadok was a seer, and able to use that method of obtaining light from God which in great emergencies God was pleased to give when the ruler of the nation required it. But the marginal reading of the R.V., "Seest thou?" instead of "Thou art a seer," makes it doubtful whether David referred to this mystic privilege, which Zadok does not appear to have used; the meaning may be simply, that as he was an observant man, he could be of use to David in the city, by noticing how things were going and sending him word. In this way he could be of more use to him in Jerusalem than in the field. Considering how he was embarrassed with the women and children, it was better for David not to be encumbered with another defenseless body like the Levites. The sons of the priests, Ahimaaz and Jonathan, would be of great service in bringing him information. Even if he succeeded in reaching the plains (or fords, marg . R.V.) of the wilderness, they could easily overtake him, and tell him what plan of operations it would be wisest for him to follow. These hasty arrangements being made, and the company placed in some sort of order, the march towards the wilderness now began. The first thing was to cross the brook Kidron. From its bed, the road led up the slope of Mount Olivet. To the spectators the sight was one of overwhelming sadness. "All the country wept with a loud voice, and all the people passed over; the king also himself passed over the brook Kidron, and all the people passed over toward the way of the wilderness." After all, there was a large number who sympathized with the king, and to whom it was most affecting to see one who was now "old and grey-headed" driven from his throne and from his home by an unprincipled son, aided and abetted by a graceless generation who had no consideration for the countless benefits which David had conferred on the nation. It is when we find "all the country" expressing their sympathy that we cannot but doubt whether it was really necessary for David to fly. Perhaps "the country" here may be used in contrast to the city. Country people are less accessible to secret conspiracies, and besides are less disposed to change their allegiance. The event showed that in the more remote country districts David had still a numerous following. Time to gather these friends together was his great need. If he had been fallen on that night, weary and desolate and almost friendless, as was proposed by Ahithophel, there can be no rational doubt what the issue would have been. And the king himself gave way to distress, like the people, though for different reasons. "David went up by the ascent of Mount Olivet, and wept as he went up, and had his head covered; and he went barefoot; and all the people that was with him covered every man his head, and they went up, weeping as they went up." The covered head and bare feet were tokens of humiliation. They were a humble confession on the king's part that the affliction which had befallen him was well deserved by him. The whole attitude and bearing of David is that of one "stricken, smitten, and afflicted." Lofty looks and a proud bearing had never been among his weaknesses; but on this occasion, he is so meek and lowly that the poorest person in his kingdom could not have assumed a more humble bearing. It is the feeling that had so wrung his heart in the fifty-first Psalm come back on him again. It is the feeling, Oh, what a sinner I have been! how forgetful of God I have often proved, and how unworthily I have acted toward man I No wonder that God rebukes me and visits me with these troubles! And not me only, but my people too. These are my children, for whom I should have provided a peaceful home, driven into the shelterless wilderness with me! These kind people who are compassionating me have been brought by me into this trouble, which peradventure will cost them their lives. "Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy loving-kindness; according unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions!" It was at this time that someone brought word to David that Ahithophel the Gilonite was among the conspirators. He seems to have been greatly distressed at the news. For "the counsel of Ahithophel, which he counselled in those days, was as if a man had inquired of the oracle of God" ( 2 Samuel 16:23 ). An ingenious writer has found a reason for this step. By comparing 2 Samuel 11:3 with 2 Samuel 23:34 , in the former of which Bathsheba is called the daughter of Eliam, and in the latter Eliam is called the son of Ahithophel, it would appear - if it be the same Eliam in both