(8.) The insurrection of Absalom sgaiast tfc Jj was the next important event, in the cooise ^^ there was shown the general tendency of two ^'^'^ favorably on young and untried princes rrther u^ on those whom they know for better and fer *J*^ B.C. 1028. Absalom erected his royal st«»d«V; Hebron first, and was f uUy prepared to slay bis w^ outright, which might probably have been doseiii*
DAVID
697
DAVID
rigetic adyice of Ahithopbel had been followed. ) TebolUon waa fostered apparently by tbe growing Lousy of the tribe of Judah at seeing their king ab- 3ed into the whole nation ; and if, as appears fh»n ani. xi, 8 ; xziii, 84, Ahithophel was the grandfici- r of Bathaheba, its main supporter was one whom vid had provoked by his own crimes, ^t was ai^Murently early on the morning of the day »r he had received the news of the rebdlion at He- n that the king left the city of Jerusalem on foot, was accompanied by a vast concourse, in the midst which he and his body-guard were conspicuous. ey started from a house on the outskirts of the city Skin. XV, 17, Sept), and every stage of the moum- procesaion was marked by some incident which led forth a proof of the deep and lasting affection lich the king's peculiar character had the power of ipiring in all who knew him. The first distinct halt « by a solitary olive-tree (2 Sam. xv, 18, Sept) that urked the road to the wilderness of the Jordan, nong his Ruard of Philistinea and Us faithful com- ny of 600 he observed Ittai of iGrath, and, with the le nobleness of his character, entreated the Philis- le chief not to peril his own or his countrymen's '68 in the service of a fallen and a stranger sever- ^. Bat Ittai declared his resolution (with a fervor bich almost inevitably recalls a like profession made most on the same spot to tbe great descendant of avid centuries afterwards) to follow him in life and death. They all passed over the ravine of thie Ke- "on ; and here, when it became apparent that the ing was really bent on departure, ** the whole land ept with a loud voice*' — the mountain and the valley tsounded with the wail of thd people. At this point key were overtaken by the two priests, Zadok and .biathar, bringing the ark from its place on the sa- red hill, to accompany David in his flight->Abiathar, le elder, going forward up the mountain, as the mul- Itude defiled past him. Again, with a spirit worthy f the king, who was prophet as well as priest, David omed them back. He had no superstitious belief in he ark as a charm ; he had too much reverence for it 0 risk it in his personal periL And now the whole xowd turned up the mountain pathway ; all wailing, Jl with their heads mu£9ed as they went ; tbe king >nly distinguished from the rest by his nnsandalled eet At the top of the mountain, consecrated by an dtar of worship, they were met by Hnshai the Arcbite, ^the friend,*' as he was officially called, of the king, rhe priestly garment, which he wore after the fashion, IS it would seem, of David's chief officers, was torn, md his head was smeared with dust, in tbe bitterness Df his grief. In him David saw his first gleam of bope. A moment before, the tidings had come of the treason of Ahithophel; and, to frustrate his designs, Hushai was sent back, just in time to meet Absalom arriving fi^m Hebron. It was noon when David passed over the mountain top, and now, as Jerusalem was left behind, and the new scene opened before him, two new characters appeared, both in connection with the hostile tribe of Benjamin, whose territory they were entering. One was Ziba, servant of Mephibo- sheth, taking advantage of the civil war to make his own fortunes. At Bahurim, also evidently on the downward pass, came forth one of its inhabitants, Shimei, in whose furious curses broke out the long- suppressed hatred of the fallen family of Saul, as well perhaps as the*popular feeling against the murderer of Uriah. With characteristic replies to both, the king descended to the Jordan valley (2 Sam. xvi, 14 ; and comp. xvii, 22; Joseph. Ant. vii, 9, 4), and there '««ted after the long and eventfrd day at the ford or bridge {Ahard) of ^e river. At midnight they were Moused by the arrival of the two sons of the high- priests, and by break of day they had reached the op- posite side in safety. To the dawn of that morning is to be ascribed Psa.
iii, and (according to Ewald, though this seems less certain) to the previous evening Psa. iv. Psa. cxliii, by its title in the Sept., "When his son was pursuing Jiim," belongs to this time. Also, by long popular belief, the Trans-Jordanic exile of Psa. zlii has been suppoeed to be David, and the complaints of Psa. Iv and Ixix to be levelled against Ahithophel (q. v.), who, on finding his advice disregarded, committed suicide in a fit of ofiended pride and despair (see Schwarz, De morte AckkophelU, Wittenb. 1704).