Rebellion of Absalom, David’s Son
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David Finally Aroused
Meanwhile the alarm was carried to Jerusalem. David was sud-
denly aroused to see rebellion breaking out close beside his throne.
His own son had been plotting to seize his crown and doubtless take
his life. In his great peril David shook off the depression that had
long rested upon him and prepared to meet this terrible emergency.
Absalom was only twenty miles away. The rebels would soon be at
the gates of Jerusalem.
David shuddered at the thought of exposing his capital to carnage
and devastation. Should he permit Jerusalem to be deluged with blood?
His decision was taken. He would leave Jerusalem, and then test his
people, giving them opportunity to rally to his support. It was his duty
to God and to his people to maintain the authority with which Heaven
had invested him.
In humility and sorrow, David passed out of the gate of Jerusalem.
The people followed in long, sad procession, like a funeral train.
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David’s bodyguard of Cherethites, Pelethites, and Gittites, under the
command of Ittai, accompanied the king. But David, with character-
istic unselfishness, could not consent that these strangers should be
involved in his calamity. Then said the king to Ittai, “Wherefore goest
thou also with us? ... Thou art a stranger, and also an exile. Whereas
thou camest but yesterday, should I this day make thee go up and down
with us? seeing I go whither I may, return thou, and take back thy
brethren: mercy and truth be with thee.”
Ittai answered, “As the Lord liveth, and as my lord the king liveth,
surely in what place my lord the king shall be, whether in death or life,
even there also will thy servant be.” These men had been converted
from paganism, and nobly they now proved their fidelity to God and
their king. David accepted their devotion to his apparently sinking
cause, and all passed over the brook Kidron, toward the wilderness.
Some Are Loyal to David in the Crisis
Again the procession halted. “And lo Zadok also, and all the
Levites were with him, bearing the ark of the covenant of God.” The
presence of that sacred symbol was to the followers of David a pledge