Joab Reproves David
Then it was reported to Joab, “The king is weeping and mourning over Absalom.” 2Sa 18:142Sa 18:52Sa 18:122Sa 18:202Sa 18:33Pro 17:25 And that day’s victory was turned into mourning for all the people, because on that day they were told, “The king is grieving over his son.” Pro 16:15Pro 19:12
So they returned to the city quietly that day, as people steal away in humiliation after fleeing a battle. 2Sa 17:242Sa 19:32Gen 31:27 But the king covered his face and cried out at the top of his voice, “O my son Absalom! O Absalom, my son, my son!” 2Sa 15:302Sa 18:33
Then Joab went into the house and said to the king, “Today you have disgraced all your servants who have saved your life and the lives of your sons and daughters, of your wives, and of your concubines. Neh 9:27Psa 18:47-48Psa 3:8 You love those who hate you and hate those who love you! For you have made it clear today that the commanders and soldiers mean nothing to you. I know today that if Absalom were alive and all of us were dead, it would have pleased you! 2Sa 3:24-25Act 23:5Job 34:18Pro 19:9-10
Now therefore get up! Go out and speak comfort to your servants, for I swear by the LORD that if you do not go out, not a man will remain with you tonight. This will be worse for you than all the adversity that has befallen you from your youth until now!” Pro 14:28Gen 34:3Hos 2:14Isa 40:1Pro 19:15Psa 129:1-2Psa 71:18-20Psa 71:4-6
David Restored as King
So the king got up and sat in the gate, and all the people were told: “Behold, the king is sitting in the gate.” So they all came before the king. 2Sa 18:242Sa 18:41Ki 22:362Ki 14:122Sa 15:22Sa 18:172Sa 18:6-82Sa 19:3
Meanwhile, the Israelites had fled, each man to his home. And all the people throughout the tribes of Israel were arguing, “The king rescued us from the hand of our enemies and delivered us from the hand of the Philistines, but now he has fled the land because of Absalom. 2Sa 15:142Sa 8:1-14Gen 3:12-131Sa 17:501Sa 18:251Sa 18:5-71Sa 19:52Sa 5:20 But Absalom, the man we anointed over us, has died in battle. So why do you say nothing about restoring the king?” 2Sa 15:12-132Sa 18:14Hos 8:4Jdg 18:9
Then King David sent this message to Zadok and Abiathar, the priests: “Say to the elders of Judah, ‘Why should you be the last to restore the king to his palace, since the talk of all Israel has reached the king at his quarters? 2Sa 15:291Ki 2:25-261Ki 2:352Co 5:202Sa 15:35-362Th 3:9Mat 5:16 You are my brothers, my own flesh and blood. So why should you be the last to restore the king?’ 2Sa 5:1Eph 5:30Gen 2:23Jdg 9:2 And say to Amasa, ‘Aren’t you my flesh and blood? May God punish me, and ever so severely, if from this time you are not the commander of my army in place of Joab!’” 2Sa 17:251Ki 19:22Sa 8:16Rut 1:172Sa 19:5-72Sa 3:29-301Ch 12:181Ch 2:16-17
So he swayed the hearts of all the men of Judah as though they were one man, and they sent word to the king: “Return, you and all your servants.” Jdg 20:1Act 4:32Psa 110:2-3
So the king returned, and when he arrived at the Jordan, the men of Judah came to Gilgal to meet him and escort him across the Jordan. Jos 5:91Sa 11:14-15
Shimei Pardoned
Then Shimei son of Gera, a Benjamite from Bahurim, hurried down with the men of Judah to meet King David, 1Ki 2:82Sa 16:5-131Ki 2:36-46Job 2:4Mat 5:25Pro 6:4-5 along with a thousand men of Benjamin, as well as Ziba the steward of the house of Saul and his fifteen sons and twenty servants. 2Sa 16:1-42Sa 9:22Sa 19:26-272Sa 9:10
They rushed down to the Jordan before the king and crossed at the ford to carry over the king’s household and to do what was good in his sight. Psa 66:3Psa 81:15Rev 3:9
When Shimei son of Gera crossed the Jordan, he fell down before the king and said, “My lord, do not hold me guilty, and do not remember your servant’s wrongdoing on the day my lord the king left Jerusalem. May the king not take it to heart. 1Sa 22:151Sa 25:251Sa 26:212Co 5:192Sa 13:202Sa 13:332Sa 16:5-14Ecc 10:4 For your servant knows that I have sinned, so here I am today as the first of all the house of Joseph to come down to meet my lord the king.” 1Ki 12:201Ki 12:252Sa 16:52Sa 19:9Gen 48:14Gen 48:20Hos 4:15-17Hos 5:15
But Abishai son of Zeruiah said, “Shouldn’t Shimei be put to death for this, because he cursed the LORD’s anointed?” Exo 22:281Sa 26:91Ki 21:10-111Sa 24:62Sa 16:132Sa 16:52Sa 16:7-8
And David replied, “Sons of Zeruiah, what have I to do with you, that you should be my adversaries today? Should any man be put to death in Israel today? Am I not indeed aware that today I am king over Israel?” 1Sa 11:132Sa 16:102Sa 3:391Sa 26:8Isa 16:5Luk 9:54-56Mat 8:29
So the king said to Shimei, “You shall not die.” And the king swore an oath to him. 1Ki 2:461Ki 2:8-91Ki 2:371Sa 28:101Sa 30:15Heb 6:16
Mephibosheth Excused
Then Mephibosheth, Saul’s grandson, went down to meet the king. He had not cared for his feet or trimmed his mustache or washed his clothes from the day the king had left until the day he returned safely. 2Sa 15:302Sa 16:32Sa 9:6-10Heb 13:3Isa 15:2Jer 41:5Mat 6:16Rom 12:15 And he came from Jerusalem to meet the king, who asked him, “Mephibosheth, why did you not go with me?” 2Sa 16:17
“My lord the king,” he replied, “because I am lame, I said, ‘I will have my donkey saddled 1so that I may ride on it and go with the king.’ But my servant Ziba deceived me, 2Sa 16:2-32Sa 4:42Sa 9:3 and he has slandered your servant to my lord the king. 2Sa 14:172Sa 14:201Sa 29:92Sa 16:3Jer 9:4Exo 20:16Psa 101:5Psa 15:3
Yet my lord the king is like the angel 2of God, so do what is good in your eyes. For all the house of my grandfather deserves death from my lord the king, yet you have set your servant among those who eat at your table. What further right, then, do I have to keep appealing to the king?” 2Sa 9:132Sa 9:101Sa 26:162Ki 8:32Sa 21:6-92Sa 9:7-8Gen 32:10
The king replied, “Why say any more? I hereby declare that you and Ziba are to divide the land.” Act 18:15Deu 19:17-19Job 19:16-17Pro 18:13Psa 101:5Psa 82:2
And Mephibosheth said to the king, “Instead, since my lord the king has safely come to his own house, let Ziba take it all!” 2Sa 1:26Act 20:24Php 1:20
David’s Kindness to Barzillai
Now Barzillai the Gileadite had come down from Rogelim to cross the Jordan with the king and send him on his way from there. 1Ki 2:72Sa 17:27-29Ezr 2:61Neh 7:63 Barzillai was quite old, eighty years of age, and since he was a very wealthy man, he had provided for the king while he stayed in Mahanaim. 1Sa 25:2Deu 34:7Job 1:3Pro 16:31Gen 25:7Gen 47:28Gen 5:27Gen 9:29
The king said to Barzillai, “Cross over with me, and I will provide for you at my side in Jerusalem.” 2Sa 9:112Th 1:7Luk 22:28-30Mat 25:34-40
But Barzillai replied, “How many years of my life remain, that I should go up to Jerusalem with the king? 1Co 7:29Jas 4:14Gen 47:8-9Job 14:14Psa 39:5-6 I am now eighty years old. Can I discern what is good and what is not? Can your servant taste what he eats or drinks? Can I still hear the voice of singing men and women? Why should your servant be an added burden to my lord the king? 2Sa 15:33Ezr 2:65Psa 90:101Pe 2:32Sa 13:25Ecc 12:1-5Ecc 2:8Exo 12:4
Your servant could go with the king only a short distance past the Jordan; why should the king repay me with such a reward? Luk 6:38 Please let your servant return, that I may die in my own city near the tomb of my father and mother. But here is your servant Chimham. Let him cross over with my lord the king, and do for him what is good in your sight.” 1Ki 2:7Jer 41:172Sa 19:401Ki 13:222Pe 1:142Ti 4:6Gen 47:30Gen 48:21
The king replied, “Chimham will cross over with me, and I will do for him what seems good in your sight, and I will do for you whatever you desire of me.”
So all the people crossed the Jordan, and then the king crossed over. The king kissed Barzillai and blessed him, and Barzillai returned home. Gen 31:55Rut 1:14Gen 47:71Ki 19:201Sa 24:221Th 5:262Sa 13:252Sa 14:33
Then the king went on to Gilgal, and Chimham crossed over with him. All the troops of Judah and half the troops of Israel escorted the king. 2Sa 19:11-15Gen 49:10Mat 21:9
Contention over the King
Soon all the men of Israel came to the king and asked, “Why did our brothers, the men of Judah, take you away secretly and bring the king and his household across the Jordan, together with all of David’s men?” Jdg 12:1Jdg 8:12Sa 19:3Gen 31:26-27Jhn 7:5-6
And all the men of Judah replied to the men of Israel, “We did this because the king is our relative. Why does this anger you? Have we ever eaten at the king’s expense or received anything for ourselves?” 2Sa 19:121Ch 2:3-172Sa 5:1
“We have ten shares in the king,” answered the men of Israel, “so we have more claim to David than you. Why then do you despise us? Were we not the first to speak of restoring our king?” Gal 5:202Sa 5:11Ki 11:30-31Jas 3:14-16Jas 4:1-51Ki 12:162Sa 19:142Sa 19:9
But the men of Judah pressed even harder than the men of Israel.