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Patriarchs and Prophets
of the land. As the trumpet of revolt was sounded, the prince’s spies
throughout the country spread the tidings that Absalom was king, and
many of the people gathered to him.
Meanwhile the alarm was carried to Jerusalem, to the king. David
was suddenly aroused, to see rebellion breaking out close beside his
throne. His own son—the son whom he had loved and trusted—had
been planning to seize his crown and doubtless to take his life. In
his great peril David shook off the depression that had so long rested
upon him, and with the spirit of his earlier years he prepared to meet
this terrible emergency. Absalom was mustering his forces at Hebron,
only twenty miles away. The rebels would soon be at the gates of
Jerusalem.
From his palace David looked out upon his capital—“beautiful for
situation, the joy of the whole earth, ... the city of the great King.”
Psalm 48:2
. He shuddered at the thought of exposing it to carnage
and devastation. Should he call to his help the subjects still loyal to
his throne, and make a stand to hold his capital? Should he permit
Jerusalem to be deluged with blood? His decision was taken. The
horrors of war should not fall upon the chosen city. He would leave
Jerusalem, and then test the fidelity of his people, giving them an
opportunity to rally to his support. In this great crisis it was his duty
to God and to his people to maintain the authority with which Heaven
had invested him. The issue of the conflict he would trust with God.
In humility and sorrow David passed out of the gate of Jerusalem—
driven from his throne, from his palace, from the ark of God, by the
insurrection of his cherished son. The people followed in long, sad
procession, like a funeral train. David’s bodyguard of Cherethites,
Pelethites, and six hundred Gittites from Gath, under the command
of Ittai, accompanied the king. But David, with characteristic un-
selfishness, could not consent that these strangers who had sought his
protection should be involved in his calamity. He expressed surprise
that they should be ready to make this sacrifice for him. Then said the
king to Ittai the Gittite, “Wherefore goest thou also with us? return to
thy place, and abide with the king: for thou art a stranger, and also an
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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.”