2 Samuel 15 · WEB
Absalom Steals the Hearts of Israel; David Flees Jerusalem
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After this, Absalom prepared himself a chariot and horses, and fifty men to run before him.
2Absalom rose up early and stood beside the way of the gate. When any man had a lawsuit and came to the king for judgment, Absalom called to him and said, "What city are you from?" He said, "Your servant is from one of the tribes of Israel."
3Absalom said to him, "Behold, your matters are good and right; but there is no man deputized by the king to hear you."
4Absalom said moreover, "Oh that I were made judge in the land, that every man who has any suit or cause might come to me, and I would do him justice!"
5When any man came near to bow down to him, he put out his hand and took hold of him and kissed him.
6Absalom did this to all Israel who came to the king for judgment. So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.
7After forty years, Absalom said to the king, "Please let me go and pay my vow, which I have vowed to Yahweh, in Hebron.
8For your servant vowed a vow while I lived at Geshur in Syria, saying, 'If Yahweh shall indeed bring me again to Jerusalem, then I will serve Yahweh.'"
9The king said to him, "Go in peace." So he arose and went to Hebron.
10But Absalom sent spies throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, "As soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then you shall say, 'Absalom is king in Hebron!'"
11Two hundred men went with Absalom out of Jerusalem who were invited and went in their simplicity; and they didn't know anything.
12Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David's counselor, from his city, even from Giloh, while he offered the sacrifices. The conspiracy was strong; for the people increased continually with Absalom.
13A messenger came to David saying, "The hearts of the men of Israel are after Absalom."
14David said to all his servants who were with him at Jerusalem, "Arise and let us flee; for otherwise none of us will escape from Absalom. Hurry and go, lest he overtake us quickly and bring evil on us and strike the city with the edge of the sword."
15The king's servants said to the king, "Behold, your servants are ready to do whatever my lord the king chooses."
16The king went out, and all his household after him. The king left ten concubines to keep the house.
17The king went out, and all the people after him; and they stayed at the last house.
18All his servants passed on beside him; and all the Cherethites, and all the Pelethites, and all the six hundred Gittites who came after him from Gath passed on before the king.
19Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, "Why do you also go with us? Return and stay with the king; for you are a foreigner and an exile from your own place.
20You came yesterday; should I today make you go up and down with us, since I go where I may? Return and take back your brothers with you. Mercy and truth be with you."
21Ittai answered the king and said, "As Yahweh lives, and as my lord the king lives, in whatever place my lord the king shall be, whether in death or life, even there also will your servant be."
22David said to Ittai, "Go and pass over." Ittai the Gittite passed over, and all his men, and all the little ones who were with him.
23All the country wept with a loud voice, and all the people passed over. The king also passed over the brook Kidron, and all the people passed over toward the way of the wilderness.
24Behold, Zadok also came, and all the Levites with him, bearing the ark of the covenant of God; and they set down the ark of God, and Abiathar went up until all the people had finished passing out of the city.
25The king said to Zadok, "Carry the ark of God back into the city. If I find favor in the eyes of Yahweh, he will bring me back again and show me both it and his habitation.
26But if he says, 'I have no delight in you,' behold, here I am. Let him do to me as seems good to him."
27The king said also to Zadok the priest, "Aren't you a seer? Return into the city in peace, and your two sons with you, Ahimaaz your son and Jonathan the son of Abiathar.
28Behold, I will stay at the fords of the wilderness until word comes from you to inform me."
29Zadok therefore and Abiathar carried the ark of God again to Jerusalem; and they stayed there.
30David went up by the ascent of the Mount of Olives, and wept as he went up. He had his head covered and went barefoot; and all the people who were with him each covered his head and went up weeping as they went up.
31David was told, "Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom." David said, "Yahweh, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness."
32When David came to the top where God was worshiped, behold, Hushai the Archite came to meet him with his coat torn and earth on his head.
33David said to him, "If you pass on with me, then you will be a burden to me;
34but if you return to the city and say to Absalom, 'I will be your servant, O king; as I have been your father's servant in time past, so will I now be your servant,' then you will defeat the counsel of Ahithophel for me.
35Aren't Zadok and Abiathar the priests there with you? Therefore it shall be that whatever you hear out of the king's house, you shall tell it to Zadok and Abiathar the priests.
36Behold, they have with them their two sons, Ahimaaz, Zadok's son, and Jonathan, Abiathar's son; and by them you shall send to me everything that you hear."
37So Hushai, David's friend, came into the city; and Absalom came into Jerusalem.
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Summary
Absalom spends four years systematically undermining his father's authority, intercepting litigants at the city gate, promising better justice, and kissing those who approach him — a calculated populist campaign that wins him the hearts of Israel. When the moment is right, he launches his rebellion from Hebron, recruiting even David's top counselor Ahithophel. David, receiving word of the conspiracy, chooses flight over battle to spare Jerusalem, departing in grief over the Mount of Olives with his head covered and feet bare. In a remarkable act of faith, David sends the ark of God back to the city, trusting Yahweh to determine his fate, and strategically plants Hushai as a double agent in Absalom's court.
Themes
- Political manipulation and the seduction of populism
- David's humble submission to God's sovereign will in crisis
- Loyalty tested — who remains faithful when power shifts
- The consequences of unresolved sin within David's household (cf. 2 Sam 12:10-12)
Key verses
- 2 Sam 15:25-26 — “If I find favor in the eyes of Yahweh, he will bring me back again and show me both it and his habitation. But if he says, 'I have no delight in you,' behold, here I am. Let him do to me as seems good to him.”
- 2 Sam 15:30 — “David went up by the ascent of the Mount of Olives, and wept as he went up. He had his head covered and went barefoot.”
- 2 Sam 15:6 — “So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.”
Context & background
Hebron (modern Al-Khalil / Hebron, West Bank) was David's original capital and the city where he was anointed king over Judah — making it a symbolically powerful place to launch a coup. The Mount of Olives (modern East Jerusalem) rises directly east of the city across the Kidron Valley; David's weeping ascent up its slopes is one of the most poignant scenes in the Old Testament and was later echoed when Jesus wept over Jerusalem from the same ridge (Luke 19:41). The Kidron Brook (modern Wadi Kidron, Jerusalem) ran between the city and the Mount of Olives. Ahithophel was from Giloh, a village in the southern Judean hills (possibly modern Khirbet Jala, southwest of Bethlehem). His defection to Absalom was a devastating blow — 2 Sam 16:23 compares his counsel to an oracle from God.
Cross-references
- 2 Sam 12:11-12 — Nathan's prophecy that calamity would rise against David from his own house, fulfilled here
- 2 Sam 16:21-22 — Ahithophel advises Absalom to take David's concubines — fulfilling 12:11 publicly
- John 18:1 — Jesus crosses the Kidron Valley to Gethsemane — the same brook David crossed in flight
- Luke 19:41 — Jesus weeps over Jerusalem descending the Mount of Olives — echoing David's weeping ascent
- Psalm 3 — A psalm David wrote during Absalom's rebellion: "Yahweh, how my adversaries have increased!"