UNROLL
Early morning outside Jerusalem’s plain stone gate: the dusty road climbs empty to the open wooden gate, a long stone bench stands against the wall beside it, a few sparrows in the dust, under a calm clear morning sky.

The Book of

2 Samuel 15

Every morning Absalom waits by the gate, kissing hands and stealing hearts. Then the horn sounds in Hebron.

37 verses≈ 8 min5 peopleBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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In this chapter

Where we are

  1. 1–4King in HebronThe house of Saul falls
  2. 5–6JerusalemThe ark comes home
  3. 7–10A house foreverGod's promise to David
  4. 11–12David's sinBathsheba and Nathan
  5. 13–20The swordAmnon, Absalom and ShebaChapter 15
  6. 21–24Last wordsSongs, heroes and an altar

Absalom’s Conspiracy

Some time later, Absalom provided for himself a chariot with horses and fifty men to run ahead of him.

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He would get up early and stand beside the road leading to the city gate.

Absalom

Whenever anyone had a grievance to bring before the king for a decision, Absalom would call out and ask, “What city are you from?”

A man at the gate

And if he replied, “Your servant is from one of the tribes of Israel,”

Absalom

Absalom would say, “Look, your claims are good and right, but the king has no deputy to hear you.”

And he would add, “If only someone would appoint me judge in the land, then everyone with a grievance or dispute could come to me, and I would give him justice.”

Morning in Jerusalem’s stone gateway: Absalom, with long heavy dark hair and a crimson fringed robe, catches a dusty farmer by the arms as he bows, raises him and kisses his cheek, while other petitioners watch from the stone benches.

Also, when anyone approached to bow down to him, Absalom would reach out his hand, take hold of him, and kiss him.

Absalom did this to all the Israelites who came to the king for justice. In this way he stole the hearts of the men of Israel.

2 Samuel 15:6

Absalom

After four years had passed, Absalom said to the king, “Please let me go to Hebron to fulfill a vow I have made to the LORD. For your servant made a vow while dwelling in Geshur of Aram, saying: ‘If indeed the LORD brings me back to Jerusalem, I will worship the LORD in Hebron.’”

David

“Go in peace,” said the king.

So Absalom got up and went to Hebron.

The hill country of Hebron at evening: a walled town on a high rounded hill above deep valleys of terraced vineyards and olive trees.

Then Absalom sent spies throughout the tribes of Israel with this message: “When you hear the sound of the horn, you are to say, ‘Absalom reigns in Hebron!’”

Two hundred men from Jerusalem accompanied Absalom. They had been invited as guests and they went along innocently, for they knew nothing about the matter. While Absalom was offering the sacrifices, he sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s counselor, to come from his hometown of Giloh. So the conspiracy gained strength, and Absalom’s following kept increasing.

Question

Quick question

Absalom asked his father’s leave to go and fulfill a vow.

Where did Absalom go to be proclaimed king?

David Flees Jerusalem

Wilderness of JudahJordan RiverJerusalemHebronGiloh (site uncertain)Bahurim (site uncertain)

Stylised map · locations approximate

On the map

Absalom’s revolt

Absalom was proclaimed king at Hebron, and Ahithophel came from Giloh in the hills nearby. David left Jerusalem on foot, crossed the Kidron Valley and climbed the Mount of Olives, then took the road east past Bahurim (16:5) through the Wilderness of Judah toward “the fords of the wilderness” on the Jordan. The sites of Giloh and Bahurim are uncertain.

A messenger

Then a messenger came to David and reported, “The hearts of the men of Israel are with Absalom.”

David

And David said to all the servants with him in Jerusalem, “Arise and let us flee, or we will not escape from Absalom! We must leave quickly, or he will soon overtake us, heap disaster on us, and put the city to the sword.”

The king’s servants

The king’s servants replied, “Whatever our lord the king decides, we are your servants.”

Then the king set out, and his entire household followed him. But he left behind ten concubines to take care of the palace.

Morning at the last house on the edge of Jerusalem: David, about sixty and gray-bearded, stands by its doorway as his men, the foreign guard in feathered headdresses and the bareheaded soldiers of Gath march past, with women and children of his household walking among them.

So the king set out with all the people following him. He stopped at the last house, and all his servants marched past him—all the Cherethites and Pelethites, and six hundred Gittites who had followed him from Gath.

David

Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, “Why should you also go with us? Go back and stay with the new king, since you are both a foreigner and an exile from your homeland. In fact, you arrived only yesterday; should I make you wander around with us today while I do not know where I am going? Go back and take your brothers with you. May the LORD show you loving devotion and faithfulness.”

Ittai the Gittite

But Ittai answered 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!”

David

“March on then,” said David to Ittai.

So Ittai the Gittite marched past with all his men and all the little ones who were with him.

wherever my lord the king may be, whether it means life or death, there will your servant be!

2 Samuel 15:21

Everyone in the countryside was weeping loudly as all the people passed by. And as the king crossed the Kidron Valley, all the people also passed toward the way of the wilderness.

If I find favor in the eyes of the LORD, He will bring me back and let me see both it and His dwelling place again. But if He should say, ‘I do not delight in you,’ then here I am; let Him do to me whatever seems good to Him.”

2 Samuel 15:25–26

The king also said to Zadok the priest, “Are you not a seer? Return to the city in peace—you with your son Ahimaaz, and Abiathar with his son Jonathan. See, I will wait at the fords of the wilderness until word comes from you to inform me.”

So Zadok and Abiathar returned the ark of God to Jerusalem and stayed there.

Pray

“Whatever seems good to Him”

David sent the ark back and left his throne with God: “let Him do to me whatever seems good to Him.” Pray for trust like David’s when what you hold is taken from you, for loyalty like Ittai’s to the true King, and for anyone you know who has been betrayed by someone close to them.

David Weeps at the Mount of Olives

Early morning on the footpath up the Mount of Olives among old olive trees: David, barefoot, his head covered with a fold of his dark cloak, climbs weeping, his people climbing behind him with heads covered, and Jerusalem small and plain across the valley.

But David continued up the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went up. His head was covered, and he was walking barefoot. And all the people with him covered their heads and went up, weeping as they went.

0:11

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Now someone told David: “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.” So David pleaded, “O LORD, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness!”

The bare summit of the Mount of Olives in morning light: an old white-bearded counselor with his blue-gray robe torn at the neck and dust on his head waits beside a weathered olive tree as the barefoot David reaches him.

When David came to the summit, where he used to worship God, Hushai the Archite was there to meet him with his robe torn and dust on his head.

David said to him, “If you go on with me, you will be a burden to me. But you can thwart the counsel of Ahithophel for me if you return to the city and say to Absalom: ‘I will be your servant, my king; in the past I was your father’s servant, but now I will be your servant.’

Will not Zadok and Abiathar the priests be there with you? Report to them everything you hear from the king’s palace. Indeed, their two sons, Ahimaaz son of Zadok and Jonathan son of Abiathar, are there with them. Send them to me with everything you hear.”

So David’s friend Hushai arrived in Jerusalem just as Absalom was entering the city.

2 Samuel 15:37

Reflect

Barefoot up the hill

David left his city weeping, sent the ark back, and prayed one sentence: “O LORD, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness!” At the top of the hill the answer was already waiting for him. What is the one-sentence prayer you need to pray today? Write it down, and then write how you might leave the outcome with God.

You’ve experienced

2 Samuel 15

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A verse to carry with you

If I find favor in the eyes of the LORD, He will bring me back and let me see both it and His dwelling place again. But if He should say, ‘I do not delight in you,’ then here I am; let Him do to me whatever seems good to Him.

2 Samuel 15:25–26

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