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."
But if he thus say, I have no delight in thee; behold, [here am] I, let him do to me as seemeth good to him.
David has fled Jerusalem during his own son's revolt. The priests follow him out of the city, carrying the ark — the chest that marked God's presence with Israel. He sends it back. This verse gives his reason. He will not bargain with God over the outcome. If God has no pleasure in him, David will take whatever God decides.
The rebellion did not simply happen. One writer traces it to God's own hand on a man He loved.
It is painful to see the conqueror of Goliath driven from his home and his throne by his beloved son. And this happened under God's hand. For if God had not allowed it, who could have driven the man God had chosen from the royal seat where the Lord had placed him?... But He disciplines those He loves. So all this shows the righteous rule of God. For David it is also a deep searching of heart, and it brings him to know God more truly and more closely.
One writer sets David's refusal beside an earlier scene, when Israel had treated the ark as a good-luck charm.
The people and priests panicked before the Philistines. They brought out the ark of God, hoping it might work as a charm against their enemies' swords. But here David refuses to use it for himself, without reverence, whatever his need and danger... Still, in this hour of his deepest need and greatest humiliation, he refuses to put the ark of God at risk. He will not let the smallest shadow fall on it for his own sake.
Another writer adds what David did not want the people to think.
He knew he was under the chastening hand of God, and he should bow to it. He would not give the people the impression that the ark should leave its proper place in Jerusalem just because David was in exile.
For another writer, the reason lies further back, in David's own sin.
It is sin that has found him out, and has brought him into remembrance before God, and it is not for such a man to keep a holy day. He must bow his head and accept his punishment... 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.
One writer says the ark's travelling days were over. He then reads David's words as submission and confidence at once.
David refuses the ark; he cannot accept such an honour. The ark has entered into its rest and cannot start the wilderness wanderings again with David... What perfect submission to God's will, in a man who knows he deserves judgment! What perfect confidence in God's goodness, which lasts forever, and in His care for His own, unworthy though they are! Everything that happens to him is righteous. But David counts on grace. He accepts this humiliation and leaves it to God to justify him.
The same writer asks whether the two priests were wrong to bring the ark out at all.
Zadok and Abiathar are not wrong to think that the ark ought to be with the king. They understand God's mind in general, 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 were to reject him completely, David submits, because all that God does is good.
One writer sets David's bowed head beside a deeper submission still.
He meekly bows his head to the dealing of God. He felt, no doubt, that he was only reaping the fruit of his sin, and he accepted it. He saw God in every circumstance... The Lord Jesus was living in the most profound subjection to the Father. "Shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?" This gave Him power over anything. He looked beyond the instrument to God — beyond the cup to the hand which had filled it.
- Cause. The revolt was God's discipline on a man He loved. David took it from God's hand, not just from Absalom's.
- Refusal. He sent the ark back. He would not use the sign of God's presence as his own protection, or let any shadow fall on it.
- Confession. A man whose sin had found him out would not claim the joy he was no longer entitled to.
- Confidence. He deserved judgment, yet he counted on grace. He left it to God to bring him back and to justify him.
- Consequence. David saw God in every circumstance and bowed. Christ showed this perfectly, looking past the cup to the hand that filled it.
And the king said to Zadok the priest, Thou art the seer return into the city in peace, and your two sons with you, Ahimaaz thy son, and Jonathan the son of Abiathar.
David is fleeing Jerusalem because his son Absalom has seized the throne. Priests carry the ark of God out after him, but David sends it back — and sends Zadok, the priest, back too, as his own man inside the city.
David had every reason to keep the ark near him. One writer weighs what his refusal shows.
Here David refuses to use the ark selfishly or without reverence, whatever his need and danger. If ever there was a man on earth in those days with living faith in God, it was David. He had real reverence for the sign of His presence in Israel. 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 trouble and greatest humiliation he refuses to put the ark of God at risk. He will not let the smallest shadow fall on it for his own sake.
Behind the refusal is how David reads his own situation. God is disciplining him.
He does not want the ark to be associated with his failure and the resulting discipline (v. 25). At the same time, he shows his confidence in God. He bows under His hand: "If I find favor in the eyes of the LORD, He will bring me back and let me see both it and His dwelling place."
David does not address Zadok only as a priest. The title he uses points to a second role in the same man. (The older translation quoted below reads it as a statement, not a question.)
Another detail comes in the same verse: "You are the seer." Zadok was not only priest but also prophet. He approached God in priestly service. He also stood before God to receive His word, as a prophet. David relied on him to send a signal when, in good time, he would be able to return to Jerusalem.
One writer explains the difference between the two words.
The title "Prophet" referred to the same person as "Seer," and it replaced the older word. The seer is one who sees or discerns. The prophet is one who communicates what he discerned as from God.
Zadok does not walk out with the king. He walks back into the city with a job to do.
During the time of David's exile, at his request, Zadok remains in Jerusalem to act as the king's confidant (v. 27). This shows the confidence David had in him.
This plan unfolds two chapters later. It nearly failed.
When Absalom revolted, David had to flee from Jerusalem. Zadok stayed true to David and returned to the city. Ahimaaz and Jonathan son of Abiathar remained at En-rogel. Zadok sent word to them by a servant girl about the advice of Ahithophel and of Hushai, and they hurried to David with the news. But a boy saw what happened, and pursuers went after them. The spies reached a house in Bahurim, where they hid in a well with grain spread over the cover.
One writer separates the return of the ark from the spy network that follows.
So the ark returns, with the priests who serve it. David gains a lookout post in the city he has left. In this there was nothing but what agreed with truth and righteousness. The priests of the Most High owed no loyalty to the usurper who was willing to murder his own father. They did owe loyalty to the king God had set apart. But of the counterplots that follow, one must judge very differently.
The objection is to the reasoning David adopts once the reports start flowing back.
So David thinks conspiracy can justify conspiracy. In the war that has begun, he thinks deceit may rightly work against deceit. Evil with a good end will then become good — or at least we may do it so that good may come. David had acted on this principle himself, in the old days when he took refuge with the Philistines. Such things, if not judged, can easily revive after lying dormant.
Zadok's choice here was not a one-off. Later, at the end of David's life, another son grabbed at the throne, and the other priest backed him.
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 should be faithful in every crisis, yes, at all times and in all things.
- Ark — David sends it back. The sign of God's presence must not share the shame of his discipline.
- Seer — Zadok is more than a priest. He receives God's word, so David can trust him to send a signal.
- Confidant — being sent back is a mark of trust. Zadok becomes the king's man inside Absalom's Jerusalem.
- Sons — Ahimaaz and Jonathan carry the news out. They escape capture by hiding in a well at Bahurim.
- Endurance — Zadok stood firm under Absalom, and again when Adonijah grabbed the throne. Faithfulness in one crisis is not enough.
See, I will stop in the plains of the desert, until there come word from you to inform me.
David speaks these words just after sending the ark back to Jerusalem. He will wait, and leave his future to God. But he also sets up a line of information through the priests and their sons. Commentators read that arrangement in very different ways.
Zadok and Abiathar had carried the ark out of the city with the fleeing king. David would not take it with him.
By bringing the ark out to David, Zadok showed full allegiance to God's anointed. He wanted God's nearness and blessing to be with the king. But David refuses the offer. He does not want the ark linked with his failure and the discipline that followed (v. 25). At the same time, he expresses his trust in God and his submission under His hand. He says: "If I find favor in the eyes of the LORD, He will bring me back and let me see both it and His dwelling place."
Another writer walks through what David told the priests to do.
David knew he was under the chastening hand of God, and he should bow to it. He would not give the people the impression that the ark should leave its proper place in Jerusalem just because David was in exile. So he tells Zadok and Abiathar to return with the ark. God could restore David to Jerusalem if it was His will. If He did not, His will was still to be accepted. He also told them to keep their two sons with them and use them to send David any useful information (vv. 27–28).
Zadok did not go into exile with the king. He stayed in Jerusalem, and one writer explains why.
During the time of David's exile, at his request, Zadok remains in Jerusalem to act as the king's confidant (v. 27). This shows the confidence David had in him.
Commentators differ here. One writer draws a sharp line between the priests' return and what David does next.
So the ark returns, and the priests go back with it. David gains a lookout post in the city he has left. In this there was, of course, nothing but what was according to truth and righteousness. The priests of the Most High owed no allegiance to the usurper, a man willing to murder his own father. They did owe allegiance to the king God had set apart. But of the counterplots that follow one must judge very differently.
Another writer goes further. He asks whether David needed the spy at all.
But would David have been lost if Hushai had not acted as his spy? The Lord would not have forsaken the king, and though He used Hushai's counsel, yet David was the loser after all. He lost the opportunity of seeing the Lord's power and intervention on his behalf. And how much we also lose by want of faith in Him, with whom nothing is too hard.
Those two sons appear again in later years. One writer follows Jonathan through both his errands.
Once before (2 Sam. 17:17) Jonathan had left En-rogel with Ahimaaz, Zadok's son. He went at the risk of his life to warn David of what was happening against him… His service may be to David in the time of his rejection, or to the world in the day when the son of David triumphs. Jonathan remains the same faithful messenger.
One writer looks at the heart behind David's answer.
The ark has entered into its rest. It cannot begin the wilderness wanderings again with David. Here David once more takes the role of the repentant, suffering remnant… What an admirable result of God's Spirit working in a heart that discipline has shaped! What perfect submission to God's will, knowing that one deserves judgment! And what perfect confidence in His goodness, which lasts for ever!
- Discipline. David knows the revolt is God's chastening hand on him, so he bows to it instead of resisting it.
- Surrender. He sends the ark back instead of dragging God's dwelling place into exile. He leaves his return to God.
- Waiting. David stops at the fords. He waits there for word from the city.
- Word. Zadok stays in the city as David's trusted man. The two priests' sons carry news out to the waiting king.
- Question. Commentators differ about that link. Some say sending the priests back was plainly right. Others judge the counterplots that followed more harshly, and say David lost the chance to see God act for him.
And Zadok and Abiathar carried the ark of God again to Jerusalem; and they abode there.
The priests do what the king told them. The ark goes back up to Jerusalem, and David keeps walking into exile. The verse is short, but it settles two questions. Should God's presence leave the city with a king under discipline? And what should the men carrying the ark do now?
Zadok's instinct was loyal. David still turned him back — because of what the ark would then be linked to.
By bringing the ark out to David, Zadok showed full allegiance to God's anointed. He wanted God's nearness and blessing to be with the king. But David refuses the offer. He does not want the ark to be associated with his failure and the resulting discipline (v. 25).
David had once stayed home in Jerusalem while the ark went out to war. Now the pattern is reversed, and one writer reads that reversal as proof of a mended heart.
David is under the government of God, and no doubt he also knows His mercy. His chastened spirit shows itself in his attitude toward the ark. Whatever might happen to him, he would not let anything go wrong with the ark of God. So he instructs Zadok and Abiathar to take it back to the city. He had been willing before to let the ark go into the battlefield while he stayed in Jerusalem. Now God's governing hand is upon him, and he will not put the ark at risk. This shows how fully David's heart had been restored. David had failed in the matter of Uriah because he was not found with the ark of God. Even so, there is no doubt the ark had a very real place in his heart.
Israel had once dragged the ark onto a battlefield hoping the object itself would save them. David, in his own hour of danger, does the opposite.
How beautiful the contrast with an earlier scene, all too familiar! The people and priests, in their panic before the Philistines, brought out the ark of God in case it might work as a charm against their enemies' swords. But here David refuses to use it in a selfish, irreverent way, whatever his need and danger. He was a man with living faith in God and real reverence for the sign of His presence in Israel. 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 trouble and greatest humiliation, he will not let the smallest shadow fall on the ark for his own sake. He tells Zadok's sons and the Levites to carry it back to the city, where it is destined to rest for ever, once the Lord Jesus establishes it.
The ark's journey through the wilderness was over. David would not restart it, and he leaves his own return to God.
The ark has entered into its rest and cannot begin the wilderness wanderings again with David… With such feelings David says to the priest: "If I find favor in the eyes of the LORD, he will bring me back and let me see both it and his dwelling place. But if he says, 'I have no pleasure in you,' behold, here I am, let him do to me what seems good to him." 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!
A right instinct can still miss what God is doing at the moment.
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 take less account of His ways with David. David himself teaches them this by sending them back.
Staying in the city was not retirement. It gave David a trusted man inside the city.
During David's exile, at his request, Zadok remains in Jerusalem to act as the king's confidant (v. 27). This shows the confidence David had in him.
That turns the whole episode into a lesson about who assigns a servant's post.
The king had sent Zadok, Abiathar, and Hushai back to Jerusalem to use them in his service. Shows of devotion are not enough, however dear they may be to the master's heart. They are only the prelude to service. So it is for us Christians. Like Hushai and the priests, we do not choose the place or the manner of our service to the Lord. He will decide this.
- Ark in its place. Its wandering days were over. David would not restart them, and he would not drag God's testimony into his own discipline.
- Symbol without a charm. No one valued the ark more than David — which is exactly why he would not use it as protection in his hour of danger.
- King in his place. Under God's hand he asks for nothing. If God favors him, He will bring him back; if not, let God do as He pleases.
- Priests in their place. The king's word corrected their loyal instinct. They knew God's mind in general, but not His present ways with David.
- Devotion becomes duty. Going back was not a demotion but an assignment; the servant does not pick the post, the master does.
But David went up by the ascent of the Olives, 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.
David is fleeing Jerusalem, driven out by his own son Absalom. The road out of the city climbs the Mount of Olives, and the king climbs it in tears. Two questions follow: what do the bare feet and the covered head mean, and whose sorrow does this walk point to?
One writer reads David's appearance as a statement about his heart, not about the fight ahead.
In all of this David was no doubt showing a proper spirit of submission and faith. Verse 30 tells us that he showed signs of penitence: his head covered in humiliation and his feet bare. This was an admission of weakness and dependence before God, not preparation for battle.
Why this climb at all? One writer traces it back to David's own sin, and draws a line between God forgiving a man and God governing him.
David does not argue with the hand that is on him. William Kelly notes that the shame belonged not only to the rebel son and the fickle people, but to the king himself:
But for David it was a day of shame, not only for the people and his guilty son, but not without reason for himself personally; it was a day when he could not deny the righteous hand of God stretched out over him and his seed in correction of faults that were neither few nor light.
Measured by circumstances this is the saddest hour of David's life. Measured another way, one writer says, it is his highest.
What a sight! And yet, morally considered, David was now in the place of exaltation. He had humbled himself under the mighty hand of God. So whatever painful experiences he might still have to meet, God was sure to lift him up in due time. It is a blessed thing for all of us when we are in the lowest place before God, if we are in the confidence of His grace.
The people climbed weeping with him. What held them to a king with no throne?
A loving band of followers crowds round the weeping, barefooted David. This touches our hearts far more deeply than seeing them crowd round his throne. We are far more sure that his person, and not his office, was the centre of attraction. David had nothing to offer his followers now except fellowship in his rejection. Yet for those who knew him there was a charm about him that bound them to him at all times. They could weep with him as well as conquer with him.
A rejected king climbs the Mount of Olives in tears. One writer sees the same humiliation in a greater King on that same ground.
Christ endured and bore this humiliation towards the end of His course, in sympathy for His loved people... Here at Gethsemane the man who had eaten with Him lifted up his heel against Him, as Absalom had done, and betrayed Him with a kiss. Here too, in the anguish of His soul, He shed more than David's tears, and His sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground.
Commentators differ over how close the parallel runs. Kelly marks a limit:
It may remind us of a greater than he; but the One greater than David, though He knew tears as none ever did, did not then go up weeping.
David's covered head is not the last word. The prayer of Psalm 3 is tied to this flight, and the taunt he answers is that God has finally dropped him.
- Sown — the climb is the harvest of David's own sin. God forgives, and God still governs. Pardon does not cancel consequences.
- Shown — bare feet and a covered head are the signs of penitence. They admit weakness and dependence before God, not readiness for battle.
- Bowed — David humbles himself under the hand that is on him. The lowest place before God is the place of exaltation.
- Shared — with throne and city gone, his followers stay; they loved the man, not the office, so they weep with him as well as win with him.
- Lifted — David calls God the lifter of his head. On that same hill a greater King wept, and His sweat became like drops of blood.
And one told David saying, Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom. Then said David, Jehovah, I pray thee, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.
David has fled Jerusalem, and on the road he learns that his most trusted adviser has joined Absalom's rebellion. He answers with no plan at all — only one sentence of prayer.
The news mattered because of the man's reputation. Ahithophel was not one voice among many. He was the sharpest mind in the kingdom.
A Gilonite, grandfather of Bathsheba, and a very wise counsellor of David. People said of him that all his counsel was "as if a man had inquired at the oracle of God." He joined in the rebellion of Absalom and advised him, among other things, to attack David at once. Absalom did not follow that advice. He preferred the advice of Hushai, who was acting for David. So Ahithophel returned to his house, set his household in order, and hanged himself. Writers have generally taken him as a picture of Judas in the New Testament: compare Psalm 41:9; Psalm 55:12.
This looks like the lowest moment of David's life. One writer reads it as his highest.
It is, perhaps, the saddest scene in all the king's eventful life. David went up the slope of the Mount of Olives weeping, with his head covered and his feet bare, and all the people with him covered their heads and wept as they climbed. What a spectacle! And yet, in moral terms, David was now in the place of exaltation. He had humbled himself under the mighty hand of God. So whatever painful experiences he still had to face, God would surely lift him up at the right time. It is a blessed thing for all of us to be brought as low as possible before God, as long as we rest in the confidence of His grace.
The report itself became the trigger for confidence rather than despair.
David turns to God. He knew how serious the news was. But this very thing reminded him of the source of his confidence, just as surely as he saw the hand of Satan in it. A father's love might hold back from pleading against Absalom; but David could now unburden his heart to God.
Notice what David does not pray against. He stays silent when a man named Shimei curses him. Ahithophel is a different case.
Though he was silent toward Shimei, David judges in his spirit that he is free to plead against Ahithophel. So he says, "O LORD, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness." And the Lord allows this desire, for He answers it by quickly overthrowing that evil counsellor.
David does not have to wait long for an answer.
God gives an immediate answer to His servant's prayer. Hushai, the king's intimate friend, rejoins him. David, filled with spiritual discernment, sends him back. He knows that God has destined Hushai to "defeat the counsel of Ahithophel."
Rossier reads the sending of Hushai as discernment. Others read it as David reaching for his own scheme instead of leaving the matter with God.
However, instead of leaving this matter entirely with God, David saw a chance when Hushai came to him. He could plant his own secret agent in Absalom's court... This was not faith on David's part, for he told Hushai to lie to Absalom in declaring that he would be Absalom's servant just as he had been David's servant. The matter did work out as David hoped. But if he had simply trusted God, he might have seen Him work in a more miraculous way.
David did not ask God to remove Ahithophel. He asked God to make his advice fall flat. But God has more than one way of defeating a plan.
He proves to us that He is able to make even the wrath of man (and we may say the wit and power of Satan) praise Him. David prayed, "O LORD, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness." God answered that prayer by making Absalom listen to someone else's advice. But God allowed man's wicked plan to get rid of Christ to be carried out in full, and it defeated itself... What a comfort for believers to realise that God is greater than any group of men that can stand against Him. That stays true even when the cunning and power of Satan himself lies behind them all.
- Betrayal. David's most trusted counsellor joined the rebellion. People treated his advice like an answer from God — and writers have long compared him with Judas.
- Lowest. David prays as a barefoot, weeping fugitive. Humbled under God's hand, he stands in the place of exaltation, not defeat.
- Turn. The bad news itself drives him to God. A father's love held him back from pleading against Absalom, but he could plead against Ahithophel.
- Answer. Hushai arrives at once. Commentators differ on whether sending him back showed discernment or David scheming for himself.
- Foolishness. God did not remove the clever enemy. He made Absalom listen to someone else. With the plot against Christ He did the opposite: He let the plan run in full, and it defeated itself.
And it came to pass, when David had come to the summit, where he worshipped God, that behold, Hushai the Archite came to meet him with his coat rent, and earth upon his head.
David has just climbed the Mount of Olives barefoot and weeping, and at the top a friend meets him dressed for mourning. He had prayed moments before against the counsel of Ahithophel, so commentators ask one question: is Hushai's arrival God's answer, or David's own move?
When David learned that his most trusted adviser had joined the rebellion, nothing human was left to him. One writer sets the king's situation plainly:
At this moment the poor king is overwhelmed by all. He learns of Ahithophel's betrayal. Every resource fails him except one, but that one is completely enough: David bows before the Lord.
The report about Ahithophel did more than alarm David. It pushed him back to the source of his confidence:
David turns to God. He knew how serious the news was. But this very thing brought the source of his confidence before him, just as surely as he saw the hand of Satan in it. A father's love might hold back from pleading against Absalom. But David could now pour out his heart to God. So he says, "O LORD, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness." And the LORD heard, and answered.
The hilltop was a place of worship, and the man worshipping there had lost his city, his throne and his son. One writer sees this scene as the turning point of David's whole story:
What a sight! And yet, morally speaking, David was now in the place of exaltation. He had humbled himself under the mighty hand of God. So whatever painful experiences he might still have to face, God was sure to lift him up in due time. It is a blessed thing for all of us when we are in the lowest place before God, if we are in the confidence of His grace.
Hushai arrives dressed for mourning. Rossier sets him beside Ittai, who would not be parted from David:
Hushai is David's close friend. A great love unites them, and they have no secrets from one another. Yet Hushai, unlike Ittai, agrees to be parted from his friend for a time. This is painful for a man who had come to David to express his sympathy, but he chooses the best way to serve him and returns to Jerusalem. With his deep, calm love for his friend, Hushai has an understanding that not even the high priests had. … It is in closeness with Christ that we receive His thoughts.
Commentators differ on what David does next. Some tie Hushai's arrival straight back to the prayer David had just made:
God gives an immediate answer to his servant's prayer. Hushai, the king's intimate friend, rejoins him. David, full of spiritual discernment, sends him back, knowing that God has destined him to "defeat the counsel of Ahithophel."
Others say David prayed and then took the matter back into his own hands:
Instead of leaving this matter entirely with God, David saw an opportunity when Hushai came to him: he could plant his own secret agent in Absalom's court. … This was not faith, for David told Hushai to lie to Absalom and say he would be Absalom's servant, just as he had been David's servant. The matter did work out as David hoped. But he might have seen God work in a more miraculous way if he had simply trusted Him.
The hill David climbed in tears appears again in the life of Jesus, and will appear once more:
In the time of his rejection, David climbed the Mount of Olives weeping (2 Sam. 15:30). This sad and solemn event foretold the rejection of the Lord Jesus. He sang a hymn with His disciples and then "went out to the Mount of Olives" (Matt. 26:30). Gethsemane was there, and as He faced all that lay ahead of Him, the Son of God prayed that the cup might pass from Him, if it was the Father's will. It was from the Mount of Olives that Jesus ascended to heaven (Acts 1:12), and when He returns He will stand with His feet on that same mountain (Zech. 14:4).
- Stripped — Betrayal took away David's last human support, and left him with the one resource that never fails.
- Bowed — He prayed as he climbed, and worshipped at the top. His lowest hour was, morally, his highest.
- Answered — Kelly notes that the LORD heard and answered. Rossier sees Hushai's arrival as that answer, given at once.
- Sent — Hushai came to weep with the king. David sent him back, and he took the harder service instead of the nearer comfort.
- Debated — Commentators differ. Was sending Hushai back spiritual discernment, or a step back from the faith David had just shown?
And David said to him, If thou passest on with me, thou wilt be a burden to me;
David is fleeing Jerusalem, driven out by his own son Absalom, and his trusted adviser Ahithophel has joined the revolt. On the road his friend Hushai comes to share the exile — and David turns him back.
The words are not a rebuff but a calculation. David is on the run with a small band, and every extra man is weight it must carry.
Hushai the Archite comes to meet him with the usual signs of distress. But David points out to him that he will only be an extra burden on the fugitive band. If instead he joins Absalom and professes to serve him, he might defeat Ahithophel's counsel for David. Hushai will find a way of sending messages through the sons of the priests.
David had just been praying. One writer sees God's answer arriving in the person of Hushai — and David recognising it at once.
God gives an immediate answer to His servant's prayer. Hushai, the king's close friend, rejoins him. David, filled with spiritual discernment, sends him back, knowing that God has destined him to "defeat the counsel of Ahithophel."
Commentators differ here. The plan required Hushai to lie to Absalom, and for one writer that makes it scheming, not faith.
Instead of leaving this matter entirely with God, David saw an opportunity when Hushai came to him. He could plant his own secret agent in Absalom's court… This was not faith on David's part, for he told Hushai to lie to Absalom. Hushai was to declare that he would be Absalom's servant, just as he had been David's servant. The matter did work out as David hoped. But if he had simply trusted Him, he might have seen God work in a more miraculous way.
Hushai came offering himself. David gives him a job instead — and not the job he would have chosen.
Displays of devotion are not enough, however dear they may be to the master's heart. They are only the first step toward service. So it is for us Christians. Like Hushai and the priests, we do not get to choose the place or the way in which we serve the Lord. He will decide this.
The job is a hard one. Hushai must go back to Absalom's court and work against Ahithophel there.
Hushai's was a difficult task. It is the same today for those who struggle against Christ's enemies. Like Ahithophel, they pretend to be prophets, but in the end they are false prophets. They know the Lord's thoughts and use their knowledge to deny His authority. But if the Lord sends us into the middle of enemies, let us go without fear.
Hushai is David's close friend, and friendship is how he learns what the king wants. Another follower, Ittai, stayed with David; Hushai was sent away.
Hushai is David's intimate friend. A great love unites them and they have no secrets from one another. Yet Hushai, unlike Ittai, agrees to be parted from his friend for a time… With his deep, calm love for his friend, Hushai has an understanding that not even the high priests had. David himself gives him this understanding: you shall "defeat the counsel of Ahithophel." It is in intimacy with Christ that we receive the communication of His thoughts.
Hushai's mission worked. One writer says the credit belongs elsewhere.
It was not Hushai who defeated the counsel of Ahithophel, but the Lord. "For the LORD had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, so that the LORD might bring harm upon Absalom."… Hushai's work as a spy had saved the king. But would the king have been lost if Hushai had not acted the spy? The Lord would not have forsaken the king, and though He used Hushai's counsel, David was the loser after all. He lost the chance of seeing the Lord's power step in on his behalf. And how much we also lose through lack of faith in Him, with whom nothing is too hard.
- Burden — David turns his friend back for strategy, not coldness. At his side Hushai is extra weight; in Jerusalem he is a weapon.
- Prayer — Hushai arrives just after David has prayed. One writer sees God's answer walking up the hill, and David acting on it at once.
- Placement — offered devotion is only the start. The king assigns the post, and Hushai's post meant leaving the friend he loved.
- Courage — the post was Absalom's own court. When the Lord sends us among enemies, we can go without fear.
- Power — Scripture credits the outcome to the Lord, not to Hushai. A clever plan can cost us the sight of God acting for us.
but if thou return to the city, and say to Absalom, I will be thy servant, O king; as I have been thy father's servant hitherto, so now will I be thy servant; then mayest thou for me defeat the counsel of Ahithophel.
David is climbing the Mount of Olives, fleeing from his own son. He has just heard that his sharpest adviser has joined the rebellion. He answers that news with a prayer, and then with a plan. Commentators disagree about whether the plan was faith or a failure of faith.
Just before this, David prayed against Ahithophel's advice. One writer reads Hushai's arrival as the reply:
God answers His servant's prayer at once. Hushai, the king's close friend, rejoins him. David, full of spiritual discernment, sends him back. He knows God has destined Hushai to "defeat the counsel of Ahithophel."
Hushai had come out to share David's exile. David sends him back instead. The same writer sets him beside Ittai, who insisted on staying:
Hushai is David's close friend. A great love unites them, and they have no secrets from one another. But Hushai, unlike Ittai, agrees to be parted from his friend for a time. This is painful for a man who had come to David to show his sympathy. Still, he chooses the best way to serve him and returns to Jerusalem. With his deep, calm love for his friend, Hushai has an understanding that not even the high priests had. David himself gave him that understanding: you shall "defeat the counsel of Ahithophel." We receive Christ's thoughts when we are close to Him.
Commentators differ sharply here. The words David puts in Hushai's mouth — a pledge of service to Absalom — are not true, and that troubles some readers:
David did not leave this matter entirely with God. When Hushai came to him, he saw a chance to plant his own secret agent in Absalom's court. Hushai was also a counsellor. He was willing to suffer rejection along with David, but David told him he had no need of him. This was not faith on David's part. He told Hushai to lie to Absalom, declaring that he would be Absalom's servant just as he had been David's servant. The matter did work out as David hoped, but he might have seen God work in a more miraculous way if he had simply trusted Him.
Another writer asks what Ahithophel's advice was aiming at, and what David lost by outwitting it himself:
Ahithophel's advice aimed at David alone. He wanted him killed, so that by the death of one man he could bring all Israel back. But Ahithophel had not reckoned with David's Lord, who loved him and was still his Lord and his Keeper through all the discipline he had to pass through. It was not Hushai who defeated the counsel of Ahithophel, but the Lord... But would David have been lost if Hushai had not been acting as a spy? The Lord would not have forsaken the king, and although He used Hushai's counsel, David was the loser after all. He lost the opportunity of seeing the Lord's power and intervention on his behalf. And how much we also lose through lack of faith in Him, with whom nothing is too hard.
One writer asks why Absalom's council went the way it did:
How is it that after hearing Hushai, Absalom and all the men of Israel say, "The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel"? It is because God directs everything — the circumstances, men's decisions, their opinions — as He wills, to carry out His purposes. On the surface it would seem that God does not care what is happening. Evil is winning, evil is reigning, men are going beyond what their hearts imagined. But God is hidden behind the scenes. Nothing can resist God: even Satan serves as His instrument.
Hushai had to walk back into the city that had just rejected his king. There he would stand before the man leading the revolt. One writer reads that as a pattern for service on hostile ground:
Hushai's task was hard. It is hard today too for those who struggle against Christ's enemies. Like Ahithophel, those enemies pretend to be prophets. But in the end they are false prophets: they know the Lord's thoughts and use that knowledge to deny His authority. But if the Lord sends us among enemies, let us go without fear. Isn't defeating Ahithophel's counsel really giving our David back the place that belongs to Him?
- The plot. Ahithophel's advice aimed at David's life: kill one man, and all Israel comes back.
- The prayer. David prayed, and Hushai reached him at once. One writer calls that arrival God's answer.
- The cost. Hushai loved David enough to be parted from him. Walking back into the rejected king's city was the harder loyalty.
- The hand. Commentators differ on whether David's plan showed discernment or a lapse from faith. They agree on this: the Lord, not Hushai, undid Ahithophel. A simpler trust would have let David watch Him do it.
- The aim. Working against the enemy's advice, then and now, is really giving the true King back His place.
And hast thou not there with thee Zadok and Abiathar the priests? and it shall be, [that] whatsoever thing thou shalt hear out of the king's house, thou shalt tell it to Zadok and Abiathar the priests.
David is fleeing Jerusalem while Absalom seizes the throne. He has just sent the ark and its priests back into the city. So the two priests become his line of news from inside the palace. Commentators differ on what this plan was: the wisdom of faith, or a man arranging his own rescue.
Zadok and Abiathar were "there" because David had sent them there. They had carried the ark out to share his exile, and he sent them home with it.
Zadok and Abiathar the priests and all the Levites with them had also come, bearing the ark of God. But David realised that he had no right to have the ark go with him. He knew he was under the chastening hand of God, and he should bow to this. He would not give the people the impression that the ark should leave its proper place in Jerusalem just because David was in exile. He tells Zadok and Abiathar to return with the ark. God could restore David to Jerusalem if it was His will. If He did not do so, His will was still to be accepted. He also told them to keep their two sons with them and use them to send David any useful information.
David sends his news to a man who is more than a priest.
Zadok was not only priest but also prophet: "Are you not a seer?" He approached God in priestly service. He also stood before God to receive His word, as a prophet. David relied on him to send him a signal when, in good time, he would be able to return to Jerusalem.
David sends Hushai back into the city with a task the priests were not given. It costs him the king's company, unlike Ittai, who stays.
Hushai is David's close friend. A great love unites them and they have no secrets from one another. But Hushai, unlike Ittai, agrees to be parted from his friend for a time. This is painful for a man who had come to David to express his sympathy. But he chooses the best way to serve him and returns to Jerusalem. With his deep, calm love for his friend, Hushai has an understanding that not even the high priests had. David himself gave him this understanding: you shall "defeat the counsel of Ahithophel." We receive Christ's thoughts when we live close to Him.
David had just prayed. Some writers read Hushai's arrival as the answer.
God gives an immediate answer to His servant's prayer. Hushai, the king's intimate friend, rejoins him. David is filled with spiritual discernment. He sends Hushai back, knowing that God has destined him to "defeat the counsel of Ahithophel."
Another writer sees David fighting a conspiracy with a conspiracy of his own.
So David thinks that conspiracy can justify conspiracy. In the war that has begun, deceit may rightly work against deceit. Evil with a good end will then become good. Or at least we may do evil so that good may come. The apostle says this conclusion brings just judgment on those who hold it. Yet it is still held under all the light of Christianity, and followed in practice by how many, in how many forms!
The plan worked. The account gives the credit elsewhere.
Ahithophel's counsel was aimed at the person of David only. He wanted David killed, so that by the death of one man he could bring all Israel back. But Ahithophel had not reckoned with David's Lord. He loved David, and through all the chastisement David had to pass through, He was still his Lord and his Keeper. It was not Hushai who defeated the counsel of Ahithophel, but the Lord. "For the LORD had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, so that the LORD might bring harm upon Absalom."... The Lord would not have forsaken the king, and though He used Hushai's counsel, yet David was the loser after all. He lost the opportunity of seeing the Lord's power and intervention on his behalf.
Hushai must now live among enemies, with two priests as his only link home.
A servant of Christ can always be there where the ark and the priesthood are found, for he finds Christ there... Hushai's was a difficult task. So it is today for those who struggle against Christ's enemies. Like Ahithophel, they pretend to have the character of prophets. But in the end they are false prophets, who know the Lord's thoughts and use their knowledge to deny His authority. But if the Lord sends us among enemies, let us go without fear.
- Sent back. David sent the ark and its priests back to Jerusalem. That is why Zadok and Abiathar are in the city in this verse.
- Trusted. Zadok was both priest and seer. He stood before God for His word, and David leaned on him for the signal to come home.
- Informed. David gave Hushai an understanding the priests did not have. Closeness to the king is what gave him the king's mind.
- Disputed. Commentators differ. One sees God's swift answer to David's prayer. Another sees conspiracy answered with conspiracy.
- Overruled. The Lord, not Hushai, defeated Ahithophel. David's scheming cost him the sight of God acting alone for him.
Behold, they have there with them their two sons, Ahimaaz Zadok's [son], and Jonathan Abiathar's son; and by them ye shall send to me everything that ye shall hear.
David's escape route was also a line of communication back into Jerusalem. He had sent the priests and the ark back to the city; now he names their two sons as his messengers. Should a king under God's discipline be laying plans at all?
Zadok and Abiathar had come out carrying the ark. David turned them back, and gave them a second task:
He tells Zadok and Abiathar to return with the ark. God could simply restore David to Jerusalem if that was His will. If He did not do so, David was still to accept His will. He also told them to keep their two sons with them and use them to send David any useful information.
David would not let the ark share his exile. His reason was not strategy but submission:
The ark has entered into its rest and cannot again begin the wanderings of the wilderness with David… With such feelings David says to the priest: "Carry the ark of God back into the city. If I find favor in the eyes of the Lord, He will bring me back and show me both it and its dwelling place. But if He says, 'I have no delight in you,' here I am, let Him do to me as seems good to Him." What an admirable result of God's Spirit at work in a heart trained by discipline… All that happens to him is righteous, but David counts on grace.
The plan worked, and it nearly cost the two young men their lives. They waited outside the city, at En-rogel:
When Absalom revolted and David had to flee from Jerusalem, Zadok stayed true to David and returned to the city. Ahimaaz, and Jonathan son of Abiathar, remained at En-rogel. Zadok sent word to them of the counsel of Ahithophel and of Hushai by a servant girl, and they hurried to David with the news. But a boy saw what happened, and messengers were sent after them. The spies, however, reached a house in Bahurim. They were hidden in a well, with grain spread over the covering.
The two sons are one link among several. One of them is a servant girl no one would notice:
Hushai, David's friend, is the first to face danger, but also the first instrument of victory. The priests are his first confidants. Their sons, Jonathan and Ahimaaz, carry the message that is to save David and his band. A simple obscure servant girl is used to forward it to them… In this scene there is an unbroken chain of service working together toward a common goal. Had one link been missing, David would have become Absalom's prey. The poor servant girl's devotion is just as valuable to the king as Hushai's lovely selflessness.
Commentators differ here. Some see faithful service. Others see David managing his own rescue:
Instead of leaving this matter entirely with God, David saw an opportunity when Hushai came to him. He could plant his own secret agent in Absalom's court… This was not faith on David's part. He told Hushai to lie to Absalom, saying he would be Absalom's servant just as he had been David's servant. The matter did work out as David hoped. But he might have seen God work in a more miraculous way if he had simply trusted Him.
Another writer draws a line between the priests' return and the plotting that comes after it:
So the ark returns, with the priests who serve it, and David gains a lookout post in the city he has left. In this there was, of course, nothing but what agreed with truth and righteousness… But one must judge the counterplots that follow very differently… David is thinking that conspiracy can justify conspiracy. He thinks that in the war that has begun, deceit may rightly counter deceit.
The messengers did their work. One writer asks who actually defeated Ahithophel's counsel:
It was not Hushai who defeated the counsel of Ahithophel, but the Lord… Hushai then sent word to Zadok and Abiathar as David had advised him… But would David have been lost if Hushai had not been acting the spy? The Lord would not have forsaken the king. He used Hushai's counsel, yet David was the loser after all. He lost the opportunity of seeing the Lord's power and intervention on his behalf.
Ahimaaz carried news of danger. Later he wanted to carry news of victory:
He had risked his life to warn David of coming danger. Now he does not want anyone else to have the privilege of announcing his triumph to the king… Whatever comes of it, he wants to be the first to bow before the king and acknowledge the dignity that is his again… May we run like Ahimaaz!
- Submission first. David sent the ark back rather than drag it into exile, leaving it to God whether he would ever see it again.
- Then a link. The priests stay where the ark is; their two sons become the line that carries word out to the rejected king.
- Then a chain. Hushai, the priests, the sons, a servant girl, a woman of Bahurim — remove one link and David is lost.
- A disputed plan. Commentators differ. Some call the network faithful service. Others call it David scheming, and point to the lie he asked Hushai to tell.
- The real victor. The Lord, not Hushai, overturned Ahithophel's counsel. By planning, David missed the sight of God acting for him.