Absalom’s Conspiracy 15 In the course of time, Absalom provided himself with a chariot and horses and with fifty men to run ahead of him. 2 He would get up early and stand by the side of the road leading to the city gate. Whenever anyone came with a complaint to be placed before the king for a decision, Absalom would call out to him, “What town are you from?” He would answer, “Your servant is from one of the tribes of Israel.” 3 Then Absalom would say to him, “Look, your claims are valid and proper, but there is no representative of the king to hear you.” 4 And Absalom would add, “If only I were appointed judge in the land! Then everyone who has a complaint or case could come to me and I would see that they receive justice.”
5 Also, whenever anyone approached him to bow down before him, Absalom would reach out his hand, take hold of him and kiss him. 6 Absalom behaved in this way toward all the Israelites who came to the king asking for justice, and so he stole the hearts of the people of Israel.
7 At the end of four years, Absalom said to the king, “Let me go to Hebron and fulfill a vow I made to the Lord. 8 While your servant was living at Geshur in Aram, I made this vow: ‘If the Lord takes me back to Jerusalem, I will worship the Lord in Hebron.’”
9 The king said to him, “Go in peace.” So he went to Hebron.
10 Then Absalom sent secret messengers throughout the tribes of Israel to say, “As soon as you hear the sound of the trumpets, then say, ‘Absalom is king in Hebron.’” 11 Two hundred men from Jerusalem had accompanied Absalom. They had been invited as guests and went quite innocently, knowing nothing about the matter. 12 While Absalom was offering sacrifices, he also sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s counselor, to come from Giloh, his hometown. And so the conspiracy gained strength, and Absalom’s following kept on increasing.
David Flees 13 A messenger came and told David, “The hearts of the people of Israel are with Absalom.”
14 Then David said to all his officials who were with him in Jerusalem, “Come! We must flee, or none of us will escape from Absalom. We must leave immediately, or he will move quickly to overtake us and bring ruin on us and put the city to the sword.”
15 The king’s officials answered him, “Your servants are ready to do whatever our lord the king chooses.”
16 The king set out, with his entire household following him; but he left ten concubines to take care of the palace. 17 So the king set out, with all the people following him, and they halted at the edge of the city. 18 All his men marched past him, along with all the Kerethites and Pelethites; and all the six hundred Gittites who had accompanied him from Gath marched before the king.
19 The king said to Ittai the Gittite, “Why should you come along with us? Go back and stay with King Absalom. You are a foreigner, an exile from your homeland. 20 You came only yesterday. And today shall I make you wander about with us, when I do not know where I am going? Go back, and take your people with you. May the Lord show you kindness and faithfulness.”
21 But Ittai replied to the king, “As surely as the Lord lives, and as my lord the king lives, wherever my lord the king may be, whether it means life or death, there will your servant be.”
22 David said to Ittai, “Go ahead, march on.” So Ittai the Gittite marched on with all his men and the families that were with him.
23 The whole countryside wept aloud as all the people passed by. The king also crossed the Kidron Valley, and all the people moved on toward the wilderness.
24 Zadok was there, too, and all the Levites who were with him were carrying the ark of the covenant of God. They set down the ark of God, and Abiathar offered sacrifices until all the people had finished leaving the city.
25 Then the king said to Zadok, “Take the ark of God back into the city. If I find favor in the Lord’s eyes, he will bring me back and let me see it and his dwelling place again. 26 But if he says, ‘I am not pleased with you,’ then I am ready; let him do to me whatever seems good to him.”
27 The king also said to Zadok the priest, “Do you understand? Go back to the city with my blessing. Take your son Ahimaaz with you, and also Abiathar’s son Jonathan. You and Abiathar return with your two sons. 28 I will wait at the fords in the wilderness until word comes from you to inform me.” 29 So Zadok and Abiathar took the ark of God back to Jerusalem and stayed there.
30 But David continued up the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went; his head was covered and he was barefoot. All the people with him covered their heads too and were weeping as they went up. 31 Now David had been told, “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.” So David prayed, “Lord, turn Ahithophel’s counsel into foolishness.”
32 When David arrived at the summit, where people used to worship God, Hushai the Arkite was there to meet him, his robe torn and dust on his head. 33 David said to him, “If you go with me, you will be a burden to me. 34 But if you return to the city and say to Absalom, ‘Your Majesty, I will be your servant; I was your father’s servant in the past, but now I will be your servant,’ then you can help me by frustrating Ahithophel’s advice. 35 Won’t the priests Zadok and Abiathar be there with you? Tell them anything you hear in the king’s palace. 36 Their two sons, Ahimaaz son of Zadok and Jonathan son of Abiathar, are there with them. Send them to me with anything you hear.”
37 So Hushai, David’s confidant, arrived at Jerusalem as Absalom was entering the city.
After a time of relative lull, Absalom appears at the gates of Jerusalem with chariots and horses and 50 men running ahead of him. He gets up early and stays at the gates and as people come to plead their various cases to the king, he tells them there is no representative of the king here to hear their case. But, he says, your case is valid and if only I were appointed judge in the land. Then I could give you justice. He kisses the people and ingratiates himself to them and Israel’s heart begins to turn toward the young king. Absalom has a plan. First, he asks David if he can go to Hebron and fulfil a promise he had vowed to when he was in Gesur. David allows him, but Absalom has no intention of fulfilling a vow. Instead, he is enacting his plan to subvert the kingship from David. He sends secret messengers to all of the tribes of Israel that say “when you hear the trumpet blow, the Absalom is King in Hebron.” (2 Sam 15:10). To further to ruse, Absalom invites 200 men from Jerusalem to come along, although they have no knowledge of the plan. David understands what has happened and quite suddenly decides to flee Jerusalem. He knows Absalom is capable of such treachery (2 Sam 13:30-31). He gathers his house and flees the city, leaving behind ten concubines to take care of the house. There is great sorrow as David leaves the land. The ark goes with him, but David stops this and send the ark back to Jerusalem. He knows that, if God allows him, he can once again see it. He sends Zadok and Abiathar with it, but enlists them as spies, so that they can report back to David. David climbs up to the Mount of Olives and worships there. There he meets up with Hushai, who is one of his advisors. He also enlists Hushai to go back to Jerusalem and meet up with Absalom, so he can become part of the king’s counsel in order to thwart Ahitophel, David’s former advisor, who has conspired with Absalom.
When we look at this section of the story, it is important to know the backstory. Absalom, who has killed his brother Amnon and fled to a different land, is finally called back by his father (after Joab’s proxy) and is set up in Jerusalem. However, David does not meet with Absalom for three years, thus creating a further division between father and son. Absalom, bitter and feeling like an outsider, builds up a lot of rage over the years. Now remember, Absalom killed his brother Amnon for the rape of Absalom’s true sister. Absalom had to feel somewhat justified in what he did, but by the same token he knew that he was in big trouble both culturally (blood vengeance) and with Dad. He fled for two years then was invited back and in all of that time David did not see him. It isn’t until Absalom gets his attention by burning down Joab’s fields that David considers seeing him. And what does David do? He forgives him. Now that may sound very gracious, and it is, but look at it on a parenting level. When your child messes up, you will take him back. But consequences must also be administered. This is the lesson David learned back when he diddled with Bathsheba. He was forgiven (2Sam 12:13), but the consequences had to be paid. Absalom hasn’t paid for anything. So Absalom- brash, good-looking, and ruthless- sets out to steal David’s kingdom. He starts by going to the gates of Jerusalem and hijacking the people coming to David with cases. The king, in those times, also acted as Judge, like the Supreme Court- and people commonly came before him to voice concerns. Absalom pilfers them away and begins to sow the seeds of discontent about David’s kingdom. You also need to look at the juxtaposition of the two. Absalom is young and handsome (2 Sam 14:25-26) and David is much older now. Like a sneaky politician he doesn’t exactly call David out as ineffectual, but shows the people that he can be more effective. In that he wins the hearts of Israel with pomp and eye candy (remember, he has a chariot and fifty men running ahead of it), and we know Israel often falls for the surface and ignores the substance. Absalom has it all worked out. He sends secret messengers to all of the tribes announcing that when the trumpet blows, Absalom is King. Think about this for a moment. There are no cellphones, CNN or instagram. The messengers invade the land with misinformation and subvert the kingdom out from under David. He even gets innocent men involved, which inflate his numbers and bring legitimacy to the movement. In short, the conspiracy works and suddenly there is a movement toward Absalom and against David. David hears of this and decides to flee the city. He does this for two reasons: he knows how bloodthirsty Absalom is and does not want the city to become a battlefield. So he takes his household and leaves, as the countryside weeps. A few interesting things happen here, though. First, we learn that David is mainly accompanied by foreigners (2 Sam15:18). This says something about the fickle nature of Israel. We also learn of the fierce loyalty of the Philistines (Hitites) who are with him (2 Sam15:21). Israel, however, has in a large part abandoned David. David takes the ark from Jerusalem, but in a moment of true faith returns it. Unlike the Israelites who led with the ark into battle against the Philistines (1Sam 4), David realizes the ark holds no special power of protection. It’s true home is Jerusalem, and perhaps he remembers the promise God made that his son would one day build a temple for the ark (2 Sam 7:13). Regardless, he sends the ark back with the Levite priests, Zadok and Abiathar, who agree to spy in Absalom’s court and report back. In the midst of this, David goes to the Mount of Olives and worships. It is an indicator that David, once again, has returned to the proper path with God. In that he meets up with Hushai, one of his advisors, who agrees to thwart the counsel of Ahitophel. Ahitophel, who was one of the most cherished counselors of the time (2Sam 16:23), had sided with Absalom. David, although dealing with the fallout of his sin and own shortcomings, is still after God in a big way. As we all do, David gets off course and flails around on his own power until he realizes he can’t do it without God.