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From Eternity Past
of deliverance and victory. Its absence from Jerusalem would bring
terror to the adherents of Absalom.
At sight of the ark, joy and hope for a brief moment thrilled the
heart of David. But soon other thoughts came. As the appointed ruler
of God’s heritage, the glory of God and the good of his people were
to be uppermost in his mind. God had said of Jerusalem, “This is my
rest” (
Psalm 132:14
), and neither priest nor king had a right to remove
therefrom the symbol of His presence. And David’s great sin was ever
before him. It was not for him to remove from the capital of the nation
the sacred statutes which embodied the will of their divine Sovereign,
the constitution of the realm and the foundation of its prosperity.
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He commanded Zadok, “Carry back the ark of God into the city:
if I shall find favor in the eyes of the Lord, He will bring me again,
and show me both it and His habitation: but if He thus say, I have no
delight in thee; behold, here am I, let Him do to me as seemeth good
unto Him.”
When All Looks Dark, David Prays
As the priests turned back toward Jerusalem, a deep shadow fell
upon the departing throng. Their king a fugitive, themselves outcasts,
forsaken even by the ark of God—the future was dark! “And David
went up by the ascent of Olivet, 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. And one told David, saying, Ahithophel is among the
conspirators with Absalom.” Again David was forced to recognize
the results of his own sin. The defection of Ahithophel, the ablest of
political leaders, was prompted by revenge for the wrong to Bathsheba,
his granddaughter.
“And David said, O Lord, I pray Thee, turn the counsel of
Ahithophel into foolishness.” Upon reaching the top of the mount,
the king bowed in prayer, casting upon God the burden of his soul and
humbly supplicating divine mercy.
Hushai the Archite, a wise and able counselor, a faithful friend
to David, now came to cast in his fortunes with the dethroned and
fugitive king. David saw, as by a divine enlightenment, that this man
was the one needed to serve the interests of the king in the councils at