The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Samuel — Section 379

Vers. 19-22.-(BETH-BAMMEBHAK.) The devotedness of Ittai. "As Jehovah liveth," etc. (ver. 21). In his flight from Jerusalem: 1. David experienced much alleviation ,,j his trovbk; as in his flight from the court of Saul (nearly forty years before). He . was not left alone (1 Sam. xxii. 1, 2). His "servants" gathered round him, and pro- fessed their readiness to follow him (ver. 15). Halting with his household at " the Far House," he found himself accompanied by his hody-gue.rd, the Cretans and l'hilist.ines (nnder Bene.iah, eh. viii. 18); his six hundred veterans (under Abishai, eh. xxiii. 17-39) who had been with him in his earlv wanderings and followed him from ~th onward (Gittites, equivalent to "Gibborim," 1 Sam. xxiii. 13; xxvii. 2; xxx. 9; eh. ii. 3 ; v. 6) ; and a part at least of the regular soldiery-the host (under J oab, eh. viii. 16; xviiL 1, 2). His attention was arrested by the presence of Ittai the Gittite (who, from some unknown cause, had recently come from ~th) with his brethren (kinsfolk) and children. " The Lord has the hearts of all men in his hand·s, and if he ·be our friend, we shall not want friends" (Guild). " Our foremost friends are sometimes raised up among persons from whom we had the least expectations" (Scott), 2. He e:r;hibi.ted '11,0ble generosity vn his conduct. "Wherefore goest thou with i1s?" etc. (vers. 19-21). "This unexpected meeting with lttai appeared to the royal fugitive almost like & friendly greeting of his God, and dropped the first soothing balsam-drops int.o the painful wounds of his deeply la.cerated heart" (Krummacher). But David, now himself a wanderer, had no desire to make the condition of this " stranger and exile" more homeless and distressing by dragging him into his own misfortunes ; released him from whatever obligations of service he may have incurred; advised him to offer his services to the new king; and expressed the wish, "Mercy and truth [from GodJ be with thee " ( eh. ii 6). "' I e.m a poor fallen man, unworthy now To be thy lord and master; seek the king .•• Neglect him not; make use now, and provide For thine own future safety." (' King Henry Vill.') 3. He exerted a powerftil attractwn on hu followers ; as aforetime. ·His Ian guage was really a pathetic appeal; not unlike that of Jesus, " Wil I ye also go a.way ? " etc; (John vi. 6~9). "ltt&i declared his resolution (with a fervour which almost inevitably recalls a like profession made almost on the same spot to the great Descend- ant of David, Matt. xxvi. 35, centuries afterwards) to follow him in life and death" (Smoley). It was "a beautiful insto.nce of loyal c~nstancy_and faithful devo~ion in a Philistine soldier at a time of apostasy and defection. His truth a.nd fidelity aro brought ont in a strouger and clearer light by the contrast with the t.reachery of Abse.lom, Ahithophel, and eventually of Joab a.nd Abiathar" (Wordsworth). He ma.y be regarded, in his devotion to David, as a pattern of devotion to Christ. It was- L SEV)!:BELY TEBTEJ>. Like him, the follower of Christ is often tried and proved, by : CH. XV, 1-37.] THE SECOND BOOK OF SAMUEL. 385