And behold, Zadok also, and all the Levites 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 passed completely out of the city.
David is fleeing his own capital, and the crowd streams out toward the wilderness. The priests and Levites follow with the ark of the covenant, the sign of God's presence in Israel — and David sends it straight back.
Absalom's conspiracy had swept the nation, and most of Israel went with him. Against that tide, Zadok and the Levites carried the ark out of the city after the rejected king.
David learns that Absalom has won over most of the people: "The hearts of the men of Israel have gone after Absalom" (2 Sam. 15:13). The king and his faithful followers left Jerusalem and crossed the brook Kidron "toward the wilderness" (v. 23). It was a time of decision. The current of the day was in Absalom's favour — but Zadok was one of those who swam against the current.
David would not take the ark into exile with him. He saw the blow as God's own discipline, and he would not move the ark out of Jerusalem to suit his need.
Zadok and Abiathar the priests and all the Levites with them had also come, bearing the ark of God. But David realized that he had no right to have the ark accompany him. He knew he was under the chastening hand of God, and he should bow to it. He should not give the people the impression that the ark must leave its proper place in Jerusalem just because David was in exile. He tells Zadok and Abiathar to go back with the ark, and to keep their two sons with them, to send David any useful news.
Israel had once handled the ark very differently. David, at the lowest point of his life, would not use it to save himself.
In their panic before the Philistines, the people and priests brought out the ark of God. They hoped it might work as a charm against their enemies' swords. But here David refuses to use it selfishly and without reverence, whatever his need and danger. He was a man of living faith in God, and of real reverence for the sign of His presence in Israel, if ever there was one. No one ever valued the ark of God as king David did, and he valued it in faith. Yet in this supreme hour of his deepest extremity and greatest humiliation he refuses to put the ark of God at risk. He will not allow the smallest shadow to fall on it for his own sake. David tells the sons of Zadok and the Levites to carry it back to the city, where it is destined to rest for ever, once the Lord Jesus establishes it.
Commentators read the priests' act in different ways. One writer calls their thought right in itself, but short of God's present dealings with David.
Zadok and Abiathar are not wrong in thinking that the ark ought to be with the king. They have a general understanding of God's mind, but they take less account of His ways with David. David himself teaches them this by sending them back. He must count on God alone to bring him back, for he has deserved this discipline. Even if God rejected him completely, David submits, for all that God does is good.
Zadok and Abiathar stand side by side in this verse, both carrying the ark, both loyal. Years later one of them backed a second rebel son, Adonijah.
Zadok carried the ark before David together with Abiathar, and like Abiathar he was faithful to David in Absalom's uprising. He stayed with David and with Solomon, and he was established in the priesthood. Abiathar should have known that, if it was wrong to follow Absalom, it was also wrong to follow his brother Adonijah. It is not enough for us to be faithful in one crisis: we ought to be faithful in every crisis — yes, at all times and in all things.
- Decision — The nation's heart had gone after Absalom. Zadok carried the ark out with the rejected king and swam against the current of the day.
- Restraint — David refused what loyalty offered him. He knew the blow was chastening from God's hand, and he bowed to it instead of escaping it.
- Reverence — A panicking crowd once dragged the ark into battle as a charm. The man who valued it most would not risk it for his own advantage.
- Correction — The priests' thought was not wrong in general. They knew God's mind, but took less account of His ways with David, and the king taught them by sending them back.
- Endurance — Both priests passed this test; only one passed the next. Faithfulness in a single crisis is not the measure — faithfulness at all times is.
And the king said to Zadok, Carry back the ark of God into the city. If I shall find favour in the eyes of Jehovah, he will bring me again, and shew me it, and its habitation.
Absalom has seized the throne, and David has fled Jerusalem with the ark of God carried out behind him. The king sends it back — why refuse the sign of God's presence when you need it most?
David knows why this is happening. The rebellion is God's hand on him, and he will not pretend otherwise.
David realised that he had no right to have the ark accompany him. He knew he was under the chastening hand of God. He should bow to this. He should not give the people the impression that the ark had to leave its proper place in Jerusalem just because David was in exile.
The same writer notes that David still acted wisely. He told the priests to keep their two sons with them and send him any useful news (verses 27–28).
One commentator sets David's choice beside an earlier moment in Israel's history.
The people and priests panicked before the Philistines. They brought out the ark of God, hoping it might serve as a charm against the swords of their enemies. But here David refuses to use it selfishly and irreverently, whatever his need and danger... In this supreme hour of his deepest extremity and greatest humiliation he refuses to put the ark of God at risk. For his own sake, he will not let the smallest shadow fall on it.
One writer adds that David would not let any harm come to the ark. He sees in this "how completely the heart of David had been restored" (An Outline of Sound Words).
Sending the ark away cost David something. One commentator explains the reasoning of a man whose own conscience is against him.
In the same spirit he sends back the ark and its priests, as having a joy for him that it was not fitting for him now to taste. The ark, the presence of God, was David's best joy; but he was not entitled to have it now, and so he sends it home.
The same writer notes why David sent his friend Ittai away too. David alone, he says, "had sinned and drawn out the hand of the Lord."
David's sentence has two halves that most of us keep apart. He deserves what is happening, and he still expects mercy.
What an admirable result of the work of God's Spirit on a heart exercised by discipline. What perfect submission to God's will, knowing that one deserves judgment! What perfect confidence in His goodness that endures forever, and in His interest in His own even though they are unworthy of it! Everything that happens to him is righteous. But David counts on grace. He accepts this humiliation and leaves it to God to justify him.
Another writer names the claim David refuses to make. He would not "claim the token of a favour which had in fact departed" (F. W. Grant).
Owning the right object is not the same as being right with God.
David recognised God's discipline — discipline only for good. He knew that merely possessing a symbol would not improve matters. What concerned him was his moral condition under God's eye. And he showed he had this by placing himself unreservedly in God's hands.
Yet David's hope reaches past the ark itself. He asks to see God's dwelling place again. One commentator notes that the city is where the ark is "destined to rest forever, once the Lord Jesus establishes it" (William Kelly).
- Chastening — David saw Absalom's revolt as God's hand on him for his own sin, and bowed to it instead of trying to escape it.
- Restraint — others once carried the ark into battle as a charm. David would not use the sign of God's presence to shield himself.
- Cost — the ark was his greatest joy. Real repentance gave up the comfort he had forfeited.
- Confidence — "If I find favor" is not despair. He admits he deserves judgment, yet counts on grace and leaves God to justify him.
- Reality — he did not want the symbol in his camp. He wanted God's house back, and asked to see "both it and His dwelling place."