2 Samuel 16

Egypt on the south, to the Euphrates River on the north, and on the east he conquered Edom, Moab, and Ammon, and on the north defeated the Arameans and the Syrians, including Hamath. Because of God’s gifts and help, David undoubtedly became Israel’s greatest king and greatest military genius. He was blessed with courageous men like Joab and Abishai, plus his “mighty men” (2 Sam. 23; 1 Chron. 11:10–47).

It’s one thing to experience God’s power when you’re facing giants or fighting armies, and quite something else when you’re watching people tear your world apart. God was chastening David, but David knew that God’s power could help him in the hour of pain as well as in the hour of conquest. He wrote in one of his exile psalms, “Many are they who say of me, ‘There is no help for him in God.’ But You, O Lord, are a shield for me, my glory and the One who lifts up my head” (Ps. 3:2–3 nkjv). David recognized that God’s loving hand of discipline was upon him, and he admitted that he deserved every blow. But he also believed that God’s gracious hand of power was still at work in his life, that the Lord hadn’t forsaken him as He forsook Saul. The Lord was still working out His perfect will, and never did David rise to greater heights of faith and submission than when he was forced to leave Jerusalem and hide in the wilderness.

The passage introduces us to three kings.

When you read David’s exile psalms, you can’t help but see his trust in God and his conviction that no matter how disordered and disturbed everything was, the Lord was still on His throne. No matter how David felt, he knew that the Lord would always keep His covenant and fulfill His promises. Psalm 4 might well have been the song David sang to God that first evening away from home, and Psalm 3 what he prayed the next morning. In Psalms 41 and 55, he poured out his heart to the Lord, and the Lord heard him and answered in His time. Psalms 61, 62, and 63 allow us to look into David’s troubled heart as he asks God for guidance and strength. Note that each of these three psalms ends with a strong affirmation of faith in the Lord. We today can have courage and assurance in our own times of difficulty as we see how the Lord responded to David and his great needs.

The Lord acknowledges David’s faith (15:24–29). Zadok and Abiathar shared the high priestly duties and had helped to bring the ark to Jerusalem (1 Chron. 15:11ff.), so they thought it wise to take the ark to David. Absalom had usurped his father’s throne, but the priests would not allow him to have the throne of God. They joined David’s camp and brought many of the Levites with them, and Abiathar offered sacrifices (v. 24 niv) and no doubt called upon God to guide and protect the king.

But David told them to take the ark back to Jerusalem! He didn’t want the throne of God treated like a good-luck charm as in the days of Eli when the glory departed from Israel (1 Sam. 4). Absalom and his men were trying to turn David’s glory into shame (Ps. 4:2), but God’s favor was upon the king and He would restore him to his throne. David had seen God’s power and glory in His sanctuary (Ps. 63:2), and he would see it by faith there in the wilderness. But even if God rejected David, the king was prepared to accept Jehovah’s sovereign will (v. 26). Eli had made a similar statement (1 Sam. 3:18), but it was resignation, not dedication. In David’s case, the king was totally yielding to the Lord and saying, “Not my will but your will be done.”

Faith without works is dead, so David assigned the two priests to be his eyes and ears in Jerusalem and to send him all the information that would help him plan his strategy. Zadok’s son Ahimaaz and Jonathan the son of Abiathar would be the messengers and bring the information to him. David was a gifted tactician, and when you read 1 Samuel 19—28, you discover that he had an effective spy system that kept him informed of Saul’s every move. David would have agreed with the counsel attributed to Oliver Cromwell, “Put your trust in God, my boys, and keep your powder dry.” Whatever Absalom might do to the king’s officials, he wasn’t likely to lay hands on the Lord’s priests and Levites, and they could go about their work almost unnoticed. When the two priests and their sons returned to Jerusalem with the ark, Absalom’s followers must have interpreted their action as four votes for the new king.

The Lord sees David’s tears (15:30). “The Bible was written in tears, and to tears it will yield its best treasures,” said A. W. Tozer. David was a strong and courageous man, but he wasn’t afraid to weep openly. (Real men do weep, including Jesus and Paul.) We read about David’s tears in Psalm 6, which might well have been an exile psalm (vv. 6–8), as well as in Psalms 30:5, 39:12, and 56:8. “Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity; for the Lord has heard the voice of my weeping” (Ps. 6: nkjv). “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart—these, O God, You will not despise” (Ps. 51: nkjv).

David certainly had much to weep over, for his sins had brought sorrow and death to his family. Amnon had been murdered and Tamar violated, and now Absalom—the king’s own son—was in the process of usurping the throne of Israel and heading for certain death. David’s friend and counselor Ahithophel had turned against him, and the people for whom David had often risked his life were abandoning him to follow an egotistical rebel who was never chosen by God. If ever a man had a right to weep, it was David. Like disobedient children being spanked, it’s easy for people to weep when they’re being chastened for their sins, and then forget about the pain when the spanking is over. But David’s tears went much deeper. He was not only concerned for the welfare of his rebellious son but also for the safety of the nation and the future of Israel’s God-given ministry to the world. God’s covenant with David (2 Sam. 7) assured him that his throne would last forever, and this is fulfilled in Christ, but the promise also implied that Israel would not be destroyed or the lamp of David permanently extinguished (1 Kings 11:36; 15:4; 2 Kings 8:19; 21:7; Ps. 132:17). God would be faithful to keep His covenant, and David knew that his throne was safe in the hands of the Lord.

The Lord answers David’s prayer (15:31–37). Another messenger arrived in David’s camp and informed the king that Ahithophel had deserted him for Absalom (see v. 12). “Even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted up his heel against me” (Ps. 41: nkjv). “For it is not an enemy who reproaches me; then I could bear it.… But it was you, a man my equal, my companion and my acquaintance” (Ps. 55:11–14). What do you do when one of your closest confidants betrays you? You do what David did—you pray and you worship. “O Lord, I pray thee, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness. And it came to pass, that when David was come to the top of the mount … he worshipped” (v. 31).

And then David saw Hushai, who was the answer to his prayer! Hushai is called “David’s friend” (v. 37; 1 Chron. 27:33), which implies he was a friend at court and a special counselor to the king. He was an Arkite, which means he came from a group of people who descended from Canaan and thus were Gentiles (Gen. 10:17; 1 Chron. 1:15). The town of Arka was located in Syria, about two hundred miles north of Damascus and five miles east of the sea. David’s conquests had reached that far north, and some of the people had begun to worship the true God of Israel and to serve the king.

As he had done with Zadok and Abiathar and their two sons, so David did with Hushai: he sent him back to Jerusalem to “serve” Absalom. All five men were taking risks for the sake of the Lord and the kingdom, but they considered it an honor to serve their king and help restore him to the throne. All of the people to whom David gave special assignments could say, “We are your servants, ready to do whatever my lord the king commands” (v. 15 nkjv). This would be a fine statement for believers to adopt today as an expression of their devotion to Christ.

Hushai came to Jerusalem just as Absalom arrived, and the people’s excitement at greeting the new king probably enabled Hushai to enter the city without being noticed, or perhaps he strengthened his position by joining the crowd. Of course, later Hushai would greet the king and go to work doing all he could to obstruct his plans and keep David informed. If there’s one thing better than getting an answer to prayer it’s being an answer to prayer, and Hushai was the answer to David’s prayer. Humanly speaking, were it not for Hushai’s counsel to Absalom, David might have been slain in the wilderness.

The Lord meets David’s needs (16:1–4). When David met Hushai, it was an answer to prayer, but when he met Ziba, the encounter met an immediate need but created a problem that wasn’t settled until David returned to the throne. Ziba had been one of Saul’s land managers as well as a custodian of Jonathan’s crippled son, Mephibosheth (chap. 9). Knowing that Ziba was an opportunist with evil motives, David was suspicious about Ziba’s presence, his gifts, and the absence of Mephibosheth, who had been cared for by David. Ziba had brought a string of donkeys (niv) for David and his family to use, as well as generous amounts of bread, wine, and fruit. The gifts were needed and appreciated, but David was concerned about the motive behind them.

Ziba lied to the king and did his best to discredit his young master, Mephibosheth. David was weary and deeply wounded within, and it wasn’t the best time for him to be making character decisions. He accepted Ziba’s story—which was later discredited (19:26–27)—and made a rash judgment that gave Ziba the property that rightfully belonged to Mephibosheth. “He who answers a matter before he hears it, it is folly and shame to him” (Prov. 18:13). God’s leaders must constantly be on guard lest they make unwise decisions on the basis of incomplete information.

God honors David’s submission (16:5–14). Through Ziba’s lies, Satan attacked David as a serpent who deceives (2 Cor. 11:3; Gen. 3:1–7), and then through Shimei’s words and stones, Satan came as a lion who devours (1 Peter 5:8). Ziba told lies and Shimei threw stones, and both were making it hard for David. The king was now near Bahurim in the tribe of Benjamin, where the pro-Saul forces were still strong. Shimei was on the hillside opposite David and above him, and it was easy for him to throw stones and clumps of dirt at David and his people. David was exhausted and discouraged, and yet he never rose to greater heights than when he allowed Shimei to go on attacking him. Abishai was only too willing to cross over and kill the man who was attacking the king, but David wouldn’t allow it. Abishai had also wanted to kill Saul in the camp of Israel (1 Sam. 26:6–8), and he assisted his brother Joab in murdering Abner (2 Sam. 3:30), so David knew that his words were not to be treated lightly.

“Get out, get out, you man of blood, you scoundrel!” shouted Shimei, but David didn’t retaliate. Shimei was blaming David for the death of Saul and his sons, for after all, David was officially in the Philistine army when they died. The fact that David was miles away from the battlefield when their deaths occurred didn’t seem to matter to Shimei. This loyal Benjamite probably blamed David for the death of Saul’s son Ish-Bosheth, who inherited Saul’s throne, and also Abner, Saul’s loyal commander; and, of course, Uriah the Hittite as well. “You have come to ruin because you are a man of blood!” (v. 8). Shimei was breaking the law while giving vent to his hatred of David, for Exodus 22: says, “You shall not revile God, nor curse a ruler of your people” (nkjv).

David’s attitude was one of submission because he accepted Shimei’s abuse as from the hand of God. David had already announced that he would accept anything the Lord sent to him (15:26), and now he proved it. When David considered that he was an adulterer and a murderer who deserved to die, yet God let him live, why should he complain about some stones and dirt? And if Absalom, David’s own son, was out to kill him, why should a total stranger be punished for slandering the king and throwing things at him? David had faith that God would one day balance the books and take care of people like Absalom and Shimei. Perhaps David was thinking of Deuteronomy 32:35: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay” (niv; see Rom. 14:17–21). When David regained the throne, he pardoned Shimei (19:16–23), and later Solomon restricted him to Jerusalem where he could be watched. When Shimei arrogantly overstepped his bounds, he was arrested and executed (1 Kings 2:36–46).

David and the people went beyond Behurim some twenty miles to the ford of the Jordan River, possibly near Gilgal or Jericho, and there they rested. Very early the next morning they crossed the river and proceeded to Mahanaim (17:22, 24), where Jacob had prepared to meet his brother Esau and had wrestled with God (Gen. 32). Perhaps David remembered that event and gained courage as he thought of the army of angels that God sent to protect Jacob.

What did all this suffering accomplish for David? It made him more like Jesus Christ! He was rejected by his own people and betrayed by his own familiar friend. He gave up everything for the sake of the people and would have surrendered his own life to save his rebellious son who deserved to die. Like Jesus, David crossed the Kidron and went up Mount Olivet. He was falsely accused and shamefully treated, and yet he submitted to the sovereign will of God. “[W]ho, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously” (1 Peter 2: nkjv).

David had lost his throne, but Jehovah God was still on the throne and would keep His promises with His servant. Faithful to His covenant, the Lord remembered David and all the hardships that he endured (Ps. 132:1), and He remembers us today.

When General Douglas MacArthur spoke before the United States Congress on April 19, 1951, he made the famous statement, “In war there is no substitute for victory.” But more than one military expert has maintained that armed forces can only win battles and that in the long run, nobody really wins a war. Why? Because the price is too high. For every word in Hitler’s book Mein Kampf, 125 people died in World War II. In view of modern atomic weapons, nobody would “win” World War III.

David’s army and Absalom’s army were about to engage in battle in a civil war that neither father nor son could “win,” but both sides could lose. If David won, it meant death for his son Absalom and his friend Ahithophel; if Absalom won, it could mean death for David and other members of his family. In modern terms, it was a “catch-22” situation; in ancient terms, it would be a “pyrrhic victory.”

Absalom was trusting his charm, his popularity, his army, and the wisdom of Ahithophel, but David was trusting the Lord. “Hear my cry, O God; attend to my prayer. From the end of the earth I will cry to You, when my heart is overwhelmed; lead me to the rock that is higher than I” (Ps. 61:1–2 nkjv).

What did David experience during those difficult days?

This paragraph picks up the narrative that was interrupted at 15: so we could learn about David’s escape and his encounters with Ziba and Shimei. Thanks to David’s speedy departure, Absalom’s rebellion was a bloodless coup and he took Jerusalem unopposed, which was just what David wanted (15:14). Unlike Absalom, David was a man with a shepherd’s heart who thought first about the welfare of his people (24:17; Ps. 78:70–72).

Hushai won Absalom’s confidence (vv. 16–19). As soon as possible, Hushai entered the king’s audience chamber and officially presented himself to the new king. He didn’t want Absalom to think he was a spy, although that’s exactly what he was. He was God’s man in Jerusalem to frustrate the counsel of Ahithophel. Absalom was no doubt surprised to see his father’s counselor in Jerusalem, but his sarcastic greeting didn’t upset Hushai, who spoke respectfully to him. Hushai’s words to Absalom must be read very carefully or they will be misunderstood.

Hushai gave the usual respectful greeting “God save the king,” but he didn’t say “King Absalom.” In his heart, he was referring to King David, but the new king didn’t understand what Hushai was saying. In his pride, Absalom thought Hushai was calling him the king. Again, note that Hushai doesn’t mention Absalom’s name or say that he will serve the new king. In verse 18, Hushai is speaking about David, for the Lord had never chosen Absalom to be Israel’s king; and Hushai didn’t promise to serve Absalom but to serve “in the presence” of David’s son. In other words, Hushai would be in the presence of Absalom, but he would be serving the Lord and David. A proud man, Absalom interpreted Hushai’s words to apply to himself, and he accepted Hushai as another counselor. This decision was of the Lord and prepared the way for Absalom’s defeat.

Absalom followed Ahithophel’s counsel (vv. 20–23). Absalom had two important tasks to perform before he could rule the kingdom of Israel. The first was that he had to seize his father’s throne and let it be known that he was officially the king. Unlike his father David, who sought the mind of the Lord through the Urim and Thummim or from a prophet, Absalom looked to human experience and wisdom—and from a human point of view, Ahithophel was among the very best. However, Ahithophel didn’t seek the mind of the Lord nor did he want the will of the Lord. His primary goal was to avenge himself against David for the sin he had committed against his granddaughter Bathsheba and her husband, Uriah the Hittite.

It was customary for a new king to inherit the previous king’s wives and harem, so when Absalom followed Ahithophel’s counsel, he was declaring that he was now king of Israel (see 3:7, 12: and 1 Kings 2:22). By taking his father’s concubines, Absalom was making himself totally abhorrent to his father and breaking down every possible bridge for reconciliation. The new king was telling his followers that there was no turning back and the revolution would continue. But unwittingly, he was doing even more: he was fulfilling Nathan’s prophecy that David’s wives would be violated in public (12:11–12). David had been on the roof of his house when he lusted after Bathsheba (11:2–4), and that’s where David’s wives would be violated.