2 Samuel 15:17
Ver. 17. And the king went forth,.... From Jerusalem; which is repeated, that it might be observed in what a hurry and fright he was:and all the people after him; his family, court, and servants, and as many of the people of Jerusalem as chose to go with him:and tarried at a place that was afar off; when they had got at some distance from the city, they stopped and stayed a while; it could not be a great way from it, for they had not as yet passed over the brook Kidron, 2Sa 15:23. 2 Samuel 15:18Ver. 18. And all his servants passed on beside him,.... Or at his hand or side; his household servants walking perhaps some on one side of him, and some on the other, see 2Sa 16:6;and all the Cherethites, and all the Pelethites; which were his bodyguards, see 2Sa 8:18;and all the Gittites, six hundred men which came after him from Gath; which either came with him from Gath, when he conquered that city, and took it out of the hands of the Philistines, 2Sa 8:1; compared with1Ch 18:1; and who might become proselytes, and be incorporated into the commonwealth of Israel, and into David's army, a troop of men, of which Ittai, after mentioned, was captain, 2Sa 15:22; or else these were Israelites, so called, because with David they sojourned in Gath a while, when he fled from Saul; and so Josephus {l} says, they were companions of him in his first flight, when Saul was living; and this number is just the number of the men that were with him at Gath, 1Sa 27:2; and it may be David kept a troop of men always of the same number, to whom he gave this name in memory of them, having been a set of trusty and faithful men to him: these, with the Cherethites and Pelethites,passed on before the king: in this form and manner David and his men marched in their flight.{l} Ut supra, (Antiqu. l. 7. c. 9.) sect. 2. 2 Samuel 15:19Ver. 19. Then said the king to Ittai the Gittite,.... Who was over the band of Gittites, the six hundred men, 2Sa 15:22;wherefore goest thou also with us? one should think the king should not have discouraged any from joining and following him, when his numbers were not very large, and the in such fear on account of Absalom:return to this place; to Jerusalem, where his station was:and abide with the king; with Absalom, who set himself up for king, and whom the people perhaps had proclaimed as such in Hebron, where the conspiracy began:for thou [art] a stranger, and also an exile; not a native of Israel, but of another nation, and at a distance from it, and therefore not altogether under the same obligations to attend David in his troubles as others were; and by this it seems that he was a Gittite by nation, whatever the six hundred men were, and rather favours the first sense given of them in 2Sa 15:18. 2 Samuel 15:20Ver. 20. Whereas thou camest [but] yesterday,.... From Gath, or from an expedition he and his men had been on:should I this day make thee, go up and down with us? wander up and down from place to place with David, when he was but just come off a journey, weary and fatigued:seeing I go whither I may; where it will be most safe for me, I know not where; may be obliged to flee here and there, which would be very inconvenient to Ittai in his circumstances:return thou, and take back thy brethren; the six hundred men under him, and whom David could ill spare at this time, and yet, consulting their ease, advises to return to Jerusalem with them:mercy and truth [be] with thee; the Lord show mercy and kindness to thee, in that thou hast shown favour and respect to me, and make good all his promises to thee, who hast been true and faithful to me. 2 Samuel 15:21Ver. 21. And Ittai answered the king, and said,.... With an oath, as follows:[as] the Lord liveth, and [as] my lord the king liveth; which he took to confirm what he after says, and to put an end to the debate between them:surely, in what place my lord the king shall be, whether in death or life, even there also will thy servant be; signifying that he would attend him wherever he went, hazard his life in his cause, and live and die with him. 2 Samuel 15:22Ver. 22. And David said unto Ittai, go, and pass over,.... It being his resolution to abide with him, he urged him no more to depart, but bid him pass over the brook Kidron before him:and Ittai the Gittite passed over, and all his men; the six hundred Gittites that were under his command:and all the little ones that [were] with him; that belonged to him and his men, and no doubt their wives also. 2 Samuel 15:23Ver. 23. And all the country wept with a loud voice,.... The people that came out of the country villages round about, upon the report of the king's leaving Jerusalem, because of his son's conspiracy against him; these wept when they saw him in the circumstances in which he was, obliged to fly from a rebellious son:and all the people passed over; the people that were with David passed over Kidron, and so the Cherethites, and Pelethites:the king also himself passed over the brook Kidron; this explains what place it was they passed over, which is not before mentioned, but is particularly named in the account of the king's passing over it; over which same brook the Messiah, his antitype, passed a little before his sufferings and death; of which brook, See Gill on "Joh 18:1". It is often by Josephus {m} called a valley, sometimes a brook, it having little water, except in winter; Mr. Maundrell {n} says, it ran along the bottom of the valley of Jehoshaphat, a brook in the wintertime; but without the least drop of water in it all the time, says he, we were in Jerusalem; and so Reland {o}, that in summertime it ceases to be a river, and has the name of a valley; and Le Bruyn says {p}, it is at present dried up; it runs along the valley of Jehoshaphat, and is not above three paces broad; it has no other but rain water, which flows from the adjacent hills:and all the people passed over to the way of the wilderness; which lay between Jerusalem and Jericho.{m} Antiqu. l. 8. c. 1. sect. 5. & l. 9. c. 7. sect. 3. De Bello Jud. l. 5. c. 2. sect. 3. c. 4. sect. 2. c. 6. sect. 1. {n} Journey from Aleppo, &c. p. 102. {o} Palestin. Illustrat. tom. 1. p. 294, 351. {p} Voyage to the Levant, ch. 48. p. 188. 2 Samuel 15:24Ver. 24. And, lo, Zadok also,.... The priest, as he is called, 2Sa 15:27;and all the Levites [were] with him: with Zadok, or with David, and indeed with both; but the former is rather meant here, being the immediate antecedent:bearing the ark of the covenant of God: these were the Kohathite Levites, whose business it was to bear the ark when carried from place to place, Nu 3:31; called the ark of the covenant, because the law which was the covenant between God and the people, was put into it:and they set down the ark of God: from off their shoulders, on which they carried it:and Abiathar went up; who was the high priest, and whose business it was to attend the ark, and inquire before it, as occasion required; he went up very probably to the mount of Olives, later mentioned, 2Sa 15:30:until all the people had done passing out of the city; for from the top of that mountain he could see the city of Jerusalem, and the people as they passed out of it, and observe when they were all come out, or however ceased coming, and so knew when it was a proper time to march forward. 2 Samuel 15:25Ver. 25. And the king said unto Zadok, carry back the ark of God into the city,.... The reason of which is not easy to account for, since being carried back it would fall into the hands of the conspirators; and now the priests were with it to take care of it, and there might be occasion to inquire at it before the Lord; but David thought it being a sacred thing would not be violated by Absalom and his men, and that it would be safest in its own habitation or tabernacle, which David had built for it; for, that the reason of it should be, what Procopius Gazaeus suggests, cannot be given into, that he could not bear to carry about him the law, which accused of adulteries and murders:if I shall find favour in the eyes of the Lord: if he will appear for me, be on my side, and deliver me from those who have risen up against me:he will bring me again: to Jerusalem, and to his palace there:and show me [both] it and his habitation; the ark, and the tabernacle he had erected for it, 2Sa 6:17. 2 Samuel 15:26Ver. 26. But if he thus say, I have no delight in thee,.... As a king, or in his temporal prosperity, though he might and had delight in him as a chosen vessel of salvation, as a saint and child of God, and in his spiritual and everlasting welfare:behold, [here am] I; his humble servant, ready to be, and do and suffer whatever is his pleasure:let him do to me as seemeth good unto him; strip me of all the ensigns of royalty, dispossess me of my crown and kingdom, and dispose of me as seems good in his sight; who is a sovereign Being, and has a right to do with his creatures what he pleases. 2 Samuel 15:27Ver. 27. And the king said unto Zadok the priest, [art not] thou a seer?.... A prophet, as well as a priest; see 1Sa 9:9; or a seeing, knowing, man; one that can penetrate into men and things, and so might be of more service to David at Jerusalem than with him: wherefore he said to him,return into the city in peace; to the city of Jerusalem with peace, quietness, and satisfaction of mind; where he doubted not, at least hoped and wished, he would be in safety and prosperity, being one of the Lord's priests:and your two sons with you, Ahimaaz thy son, and Jonathan the son of Abiathar; the one was of the line of Eleazar, and the other of the line of Ithamar. 2 Samuel 15:28Ver. 28. See, I will tarry in the plain of the wilderness,.... Towards the way of which David and the people went when they came over Kidron, 2Sa 15:23;until there come word from you to certify me; of the truth of the conspiracy, of the number of the conspirators, and who they are, what progress they have made, whether come to Jerusalem, and how they behave there, if come; or of anything relative hereunto he could get intelligence of. 2 Samuel 15:29Ver. 29. Zadok therefore and Abiathar carried the ark of God again to Jerusalem,.... That is, ordered it to be carried, and took care that it was carried, by the Kohathite Levites, and they themselves attended it:and they tarried there; at Jerusalem; though their two sons that went with them entered not into the city, but stayed at a place called Enrogel, at some little distance from it, 2Sa 17:17. 2 Samuel 15:30Ver. 30. And David went up by the ascent of [Mount] Olivet,.... So called from the olive trees that grew upon it, which is often mentioned in the New Testament, and where our Lord Jesus Christ, the antitype of David, often was, in his state of humiliation, Mt 26:30, and from whence he ascended to heaven after his resurrection, Ac 1:12; it was about a mile from Jerusalem, to the east of it:and wept as he went up; thinking perhaps of the wickedness and rebellion of his son, of his own hard case, to be obliged to quit his metropolis and palace, and make his flight afoot; and perhaps also of his own sins, which were the cause of his calamities:and had his head covered; with his mantle, with which he enwraped himself as a mourner, 2Sa 19:4; so the Egyptians used to cover their heads in mourning, and the Romans in later times {q}; so Megara in sorrowful circumstances is represented as having her head covered with a garment {r}:and he went barefoot; in token of mourning also, and like one forlorn, and going into captivity, see Isa 20:2;and all the people that [was] with him covered every man his head; as David did, and in imitation of him, and sympathizing with him; and which was sometimes done when men were ashamed and confounded, Jer 14:3;and they went up, weeping as they went up; the mount of Olivet, grieved for their king, and the distresses and calamities that were coming upon them.{q} Vid. Solerium de Pileo, sect. 2. p. 14, 19. {r} Senec. Hercul. furens, act. 2. 2 Samuel 15:31Ver. 31. And [one] told David,.... That came either from Hebron or from Jerusalem:Ahithophel [is] among the conspirators with Absalom; Absalom sent for him, and it seems he came to him, and continued with him, see2Sa 15:12;and David said, O Lord, I pray thee, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness; either suffer him to give foolish counsel, or confound the schemes projected by him, and let them not be carried into execution; for God can, and sometimes does, disappoint crafty counsellors, that they cannot perform what they devise, but they are taken in their own craftiness, and their counsel is carried headlong, Job 5:12; this prayer was answered, 2Sa 17:14. 2 Samuel 15:32Ver. 32. And it came to pass, that [when] David was come to the top [of the mount],.... Of the mount of Olives:where he worshipped God; by prayer and praise; here very probably he composed and sung the third psalm Ps 3:1, which, as the title shows, was made when he fled from Absalom:behold, Hushai the Archite came to meet him, with his coat rent, and earth upon his head; in token of mourning, and as a bringer of bad tidings, see 2Sa 1:2; perhaps he was an inhabitant of Archi, at least originally, which lay on the borders of the tribe of Ephraim, Jos 16:2; from whence he had his name. 2 Samuel 15:33Ver. 33. Unto whom David said,.... After he had heard what he had to say, and what tidings he brought:and if thou passest on with me; in his march and flight:then thou shalt be a burden to me; being to be maintained by him; and David having but scanty provisions, and so could not receive useless persons, as Hushai might be, perhaps an old man, that could be of no service to him, and unfit for travelling, and so would rather be an hinderance than an help unto him. 2 Samuel 15:34Ver. 34. But if thou return to the city,.... To the city of Jerusalem, from whence it seems he came:and say unto Absalom, I will be thy servant, O king; as he was by usurpation, and by the proclamation of the people with him. David directs him to address him thus, that he might have no suspicion of him, having been an old friend of his:[as] I [have been] thy father's servant hitherto; perhaps in the character of a counsellor, as it should seem, since as such he was afterwards employed by Absalom:so [will] I now also [be] thy servant; in whatsoever thou shall please to employ me under thee:then mayest thou for me defeat the counsel of Ahithophel; for being taken into Absalom's service, and made one of his counsellors, he would be privy to the advice of Ahithophel, and so be able to work against him. 2 Samuel 15:35Ver. 35. And [hast thou] not there with thee Zadok and Abiathar the priests?.... To assist in forming schemes directly opposite to Ahithophel's, or to whom he could communicate the secrets of Absalom's court:therefore it shall be [that] what thing soever thou shalt hear out of the king's house; Absalom's, who had now, at possession of the house and palace of David:thou shalt tell [it] to Zadok and Abiathar the priests; to whom he might have recourse without suspicion, pretending he had business with them as priests, on religious accounts, to offer sacrifices for him, &c. 2 Samuel 15:36Ver. 36. Behold, [they have] there with them two sons, Ahimaaz, Zadok's [son], and Jonathan, Abiathar's [son],.... As in 2Sa 15:27; not that they were in the city with them, but they were near it, 2Sa 17:17; with whom they had a communication:and by whom ye shall send unto me everything that ye can hear; that is, by the sons of the priests; he telling the priests how things were at court, and they sending their sons with messages to David; which was a good scheme to get intelligence, and easy to be put into execution. 2 Samuel 15:37Ver. 37. So Hushai David's friend came into the city,.... The city of Jerusalem, by the direction and persuasion of David, and in obedience to him, in order to serve him to the uttermost:and Absalom came into Jerusalem: just at the same time; so that he knew not that Hushai had been out of it, and been with David, and which also appears from what he said to him, 2Sa 16:17.
John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.