CHAPTER 19
And that
day’s
victory
was turned
into mourning
for all
the people,
because
on that
day
they
were told,
“The king
is grieving
over
his son.”
So they
returned
to the city
quietly
that
day,
as
people
steal away
in humiliation
after fleeing
a battle.
But the king
covered
his face
and cried out
at the top
of his voice,
“O my son
Absalom!
O Absalom,
my son,
my son!”
Then Joab
went
into
the house
and said
to the king,
“Today
you have disgraced
all
your servants
who have saved
your life
and the lives
of your sons
and daughters,
of your wives,
and of your concubines.
You love
those who hate you
and hate
those who love you!
For you have made it clear
today
that
the commanders
and soldiers
mean nothing
to you.
I know
today
that
if
Absalom
were alive
and all
of us were dead,
it would have pleased you!
Now therefore
get up!
Go out
and speak
comfort to
your servants,
for
I swear
by the LORD
that if
you do not
go out,
not
a man
will remain
with you
tonight.
This
will be worse
for you
than all
the adversity
that
has befallen
you
from your youth
until
now!"
So the king
got up
and sat
in the gate,
and all
the people
were told:
“Behold,
the king
is sitting
in the gate.”
So they
all
came
before
the king.
Meanwhile, the Israelites
had fled,
each man
to his home.
And all
the people
throughout
the tribes
of Israel
were arguing,
“The king
delivered us
from the hand
of our enemies
and
rescued us
from the hand
of the Philistines,
but now
he has fled
the land
because
of Absalom.
But Absalom,
the man
we anointed
over us,
has died
in battle.
So
why
do you
say nothing
about restoring
the king?”
Then King
David
sent this message
to
Zadok
and Abiathar,
the priests:
“Say
to
the elders
of Judah,
‘Why
should you be
the last
to restore
the king
to
his palace,
since the talk
of all
Israel
has reached
the king
at
his quarters?
And say
to Amasa,
‘Aren’t
you
my flesh
and blood?
May God
punish
me,
and ever so
severely,
if
from this time
you are
not
the commander
of my
army
in place
of Joab!’”
So Amasa swayed
the hearts
of all
the men
of Judah
as though they were one
man,
and they sent
word to
the king:
“Return,
you
and all
your servants.”
So the king
returned,
and when he arrived
at
the Jordan,
the men of Judah
came
to Gilgal
to
meet
him
and escort him
across
the Jordan.
Then Shimei
son
of Gera,
a Benjamite
from Bahurim,
hurried
down with
the men
of Judah
to meet
King
David,
along with a thousand
men
of Benjamin
and Ziba,
the steward
of the house
of Saul,
and his fifteen
sons
and twenty
servants.
They rushed down
to the Jordan
before
the king
and crossed
at the ford
to carry over
the king’s
household
and to do
what was good
in his sight.
When Shimei
son
of Gera
crossed
the Jordan,
he fell down
before
the king
and said,
“My lord,
do not
hold
me guilty,
and do not
remember
your servant’s
wrongdoing
on the day
my lord
the king
left
Jerusalem.
May the king
not take
it to
heart.
For
your servant
knows
that
I
have sinned,
so here I am
today
as the first
of all
the house
of Joseph
to come down
to meet
my lord
the king.”
But Abishai
son
of Zeruiah
said,
“Shouldn’t
Shimei
be put to death
for
this,
because
he cursed
the LORD’s
anointed?”
And David
replied,
“Sons
of Zeruiah,
what
have I to do
with you,
that you should be
my
adversaries
today?
Should any man
be put to death
in Israel
today?
Am I not
indeed
aware
that
today
I am
king
over
Israel?"
Then Mephibosheth,
Saul’s
grandson,
went down
to meet
the king.
He had not
cared
for his feet
or
trimmed
his mustache
or
washed
his clothes
from
the day
the king
had left
until
the day
he returned
safely.
And
he came
from Jerusalem
to meet
the king,
who
asked
him,
“Mephibosheth,
why
did you not
go
with me?”
“My lord
the king,”
he replied,
“because
I
am lame,
I
said,
‘I will have my donkey
saddled
so that I may ride
on it
and go
with
the king.’
But my servant Ziba
deceived me,
and he has slandered
your servant
to
my lord
the king.
Yet my lord
the king is
like the Angel
of God,
so do
what is good
in your eyes.
For
all
the house
of my grandfather
deserves death
from my lord
the king,
yet you have set
your servant
among those who eat
at your table.
What
further
right, then,
do I have
to keep
appealing
to
the king?”
And Mephibosheth
said
to
the king,
“Instead,
since
my lord
the king
has safely
come
to
his own house,
let Ziba take
it all!”
Now Barzillai
the Gileadite
had come down
from Rogelim
to cross
the Jordan
with
the king
and send him on his way
from there.
Barzillai
was quite
old,
eighty
years
of age,
and since
he was a very
wealthy
man,
he
had provided
for the king
while he stayed
in Mahanaim.
The king
said
to
Barzillai,
“Cross over
with me,
and I will provide
for you
at my side
in Jerusalem.”
But Barzillai
replied,
“How many
years
of my life remain,
that
I should go up
to Jerusalem
with
the king?
I am
now
eighty
years old.
Can I discern
what is good
and what is not?
Can your servant
taste
what
he eats
or drinks?
Can I still
hear
the voice
of singing men
and women?
Why
should your servant
be
an added
burden
to
my lord
the king?
Your servant
could go with
the king
only a short distance
past
the Jordan;
why
should the king
repay
me with such
a reward?
Please
let your servant
return,
that I may die
in my own city
near
the tomb
of my father
and mother.
But here
is your servant
Chimham.
Let him cross over
with
my lord
the king,
and do
for him
what
is good
in your sight."
The king
replied,
“Chimham
will cross over
with me,
and I
will do
for him
what seems good
in your sight,
and I will do
for you
whatever
you desire
of me.”
So all
the people
crossed
the Jordan,
and then the king
crossed over.
The king
kissed
Barzillai
and blessed him,
and Barzillai returned
home.
Then the king
went on
to Gilgal,
and Chimham
crossed over
with him.
All
the troops
of Judah
and
half
the troops
of Israel
escorted the king.
Soon
all
the men
of Israel
came
to
the king
and asked,
“Why
did our brothers,
the men
of Judah,
take you away secretly
and bring the king
and his household
across
the Jordan,
together with
all
of David’s
men?"
And all
the men
of Judah
replied
to
the men
of Israel,
“We did this because
the king
is our
relative.
Why
does this
anger you?
Have we ever eaten
at
the king's expense
or
received
anything
for ourselves?”
“We have ten
shares
in the king,”
answered
the men
of Israel,
“so we have more claim
to David
than you.
Why
then do you despise us?
Were we not
the first
to speak
of restoring
our king?”
But the men
of Judah
pressed even harder
than
the men
of Israel.