Bird's-eye view
This passage marks a sorrowful and pivotal moment in the life of King David. Having been undermined by the patient, populist cunning of his son Absalom, David receives the grim news that the conspiracy has reached critical mass. The hearts of Israel have been stolen. In response, David, the once-invincible warrior, makes the stunning decision to flee his own capital city, Jerusalem. This is not a rash, cowardly act, but a calculated, sacrificial one. He flees to spare the city from a bloody civil war, a consequence of the judgment God had promised would rise from his own house. As he departs, we see a portrait of a king in exile, stripped of his glory but not of his loyal followers. The muster roll of those who leave with him, particularly the surprising loyalty of foreign mercenaries, stands in stark contrast to the widespread disloyalty of his own people. This is the beginning of David's bitter cup, a direct result of his sin with Bathsheba, and yet, even in this humiliation, we see the seeds of a future restoration and a foreshadowing of the greater Son of David who would also be rejected by His own.
The scene is heavy with pathos. The king, whose rise was marked by victory after victory, is now on the run. His household is in disarray, and he is forced to abandon his own home. Yet, amidst the chaos and betrayal, glimmers of true covenant loyalty shine through. The readiness of his servants and the steadfastness of his personal bodyguard reveal that while political winds may shift, true allegiance, the kind that binds men together in the face of death, is a powerful and beautiful thing. This moment of crisis reveals the true character of everyone in David's circle, separating the wheat from the chaff, the loyal from the treacherous.
Outline
- 1. The King's Humiliation and Flight (2 Sam 15:13-18)
- a. The Devastating Report (2 Sam 15:13)
- b. The King's Sacrificial Decision (2 Sam 15:14)
- c. The Servants' Loyal Response (2 Sam 15:15)
- d. The Sorrowful Departure (2 Sam 15:16-17)
- e. The Unlikely Honor Guard (2 Sam 15:18)
Context In 2 Samuel
This passage is the direct fulfillment of the prophecy Nathan delivered to David after his sin with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah. God forgave David, but He also promised that the sword would never depart from his house and that calamity would be raised up against him from within his own household (2 Sam 12:10-11). The preceding chapters have detailed the sordid fulfillment of this prophecy: Amnon's rape of Tamar, Absalom's murder of Amnon, and Absalom's subsequent exile and manipulative return. Chapter 15 opens with Absalom's four-year campaign to "steal the hearts of the men of Israel" (2 Sam 15:6) through flattery and false promises of justice. Our passage begins at the moment this conspiracy comes to a head. Absalom has been declared king in Hebron, the very place where David's reign began. David's flight from Jerusalem is therefore not an isolated political event; it is a key moment in the unfolding of God's righteous judgment upon David's house. It is the king reaping the bitter harvest of his own sin, a public humiliation that mirrors the private nature of his transgression.
Key Issues
- The Fulfillment of Prophecy
- The Nature of True and False Loyalty
- David's Motives for Fleeing
- The Role of Foreigners in David's Kingdom
- The Sovereignty of God in Political Upheaval
- David as a Type of Christ in Rejection
The King in Exile
There is a profound theological principle at work here. David, the Lord's anointed, is being driven from the holy city, the place of God's dwelling. This is a picture of covenantal judgment. The consequences of his sin have caught up to him in a dramatic and public way. And yet, David's response is not one of panic or despair. He is chastened, humbled. His decision to flee is not primarily about self-preservation, but about preserving the city of God from the ravages of war. He would rather suffer personal exile than see Jerusalem destroyed. In this, he is a faint shadow of his greater Son, who would leave the glories of the heavenly Jerusalem to suffer exile in a world of sin, ultimately taking the sword of God's wrath upon Himself to spare His people. David's flight is a result of his sin; Christ's was a result of ours. But both paths lead through rejection and humiliation on the way to ultimate vindication and glory.
Verse by Verse Commentary
13 Then an informant came to David, saying, “The hearts of the men of Israel have followed Absalom.”
The blow falls swiftly. An unnamed messenger arrives with the news. The language is potent: the hearts of the men of Israel are now with Absalom. This was not a military defeat; it was a catastrophic loss of affection and allegiance. Absalom's patient sedition had worked. He had stolen their hearts with handshakes, kisses, and promises of a better government. This highlights the fickleness of popular support. The same nation that had celebrated David's victories now turns its heart over to a usurper. It is a reminder that the heart of man is easily swayed by appearances and flattery, and true loyalty is a rare commodity.
14 So David said to all his servants who were with him at Jerusalem, “Arise and let us flee, for otherwise there will be no escape for us from Absalom. Go in haste, lest he overtake us hastily and drive calamity on us and strike the city with the edge of the sword.”
David's response is immediate and decisive. He does not rally the troops for a last stand in the citadel. He calls for a full retreat. His reasoning is twofold. First, it is tactical: if they remain, there will be no escape. Absalom has the momentum and the numbers. A siege would be a death trap. But the second reason reveals David's heart as a true shepherd-king. He fears that Absalom will strike the city with the edge of the sword. He would rather abandon his throne and his home than be responsible for a bloodbath in Jerusalem. This is the heart of a man who, despite his grievous sin, still loves his people and fears God. He accepts the personal humiliation to preserve the city of God. This is a kingly, sacrificial decision.
15 Then the king’s servants said to the king, “Behold, your servants are ready to do whatever my lord the king chooses.”
In the face of national betrayal, the loyalty of David's immediate household shines brightly. Their response is one of total submission and readiness. They do not question the king's command or debate the strategy. Their words are simple and profound: whatever my lord the king chooses. This is the essence of true covenantal loyalty. It is not conditional on success or popularity. It is a bond of allegiance to the person of the king, the Lord's anointed. In a moment when the whole nation's heart has turned, this small band of servants demonstrates what true faithfulness looks like. Their loyalty is a rebuke to the rest of Israel and a comfort to the fleeing king.
16 So the king went out and all his household with him. But the king left ten concubines to keep the house.
The departure begins. David and his entire household, meaning his family and immediate staff, follow him into exile. The detail about the ten concubines is ominous. His stated reason is practical: someone must keep the house, to maintain the royal property. However, this decision will have tragic consequences. It unwittingly sets the stage for Absalom to publicly humiliate his father by lying with his concubines on the palace roof, a graphic and defiant act of usurpation that also fulfills another specific part of Nathan's curse (2 Sam 12:11). Even in his wise and sacrificial decisions, David cannot outrun the consequences God has ordained.
17 And the king went out and all the people with him, and they stopped at the last house.
The procession moves out of the city proper. The phrase "all the people with him" likely refers to his loyal servants and their families, not the general population of Jerusalem. They pause at "the last house," a location on the outskirts of the city, likely to muster and organize the fleeing party before heading into the wilderness. It is a poignant moment, a final look back at the city he conquered, established, and now must abandon. This is the king at his lowest point, standing at the edge of his own kingdom, a refugee from his own son.
18 Now all his servants passed on beside him, all the Cherethites, all the Pelethites and all the Gittites, six hundred men who had come with him from Gath, passed on before the king.
Here we see the core of David's remaining military strength. It is a striking list. The Cherethites and Pelethites were elite foreign mercenaries who formed the king's royal bodyguard. They were professional soldiers whose loyalty was to David personally, not to the nation of Israel. Most remarkably, they are joined by six hundred Gittites, men from the Philistine city of Gath, the hometown of Goliath. These are men who had followed David since his own time in exile from Saul. Think of the irony: the hearts of Israel have followed Absalom, but the hearts of these Philistine warriors remain with David. They are a living testament to the fact that God can raise up loyalty from the most unlikely of places. Their faithfulness is a glaring indictment of Israel's faithlessness. As they pass in review before their exiled king, they are a small but formidable picture of true allegiance in a world of treason.
Application
This passage forces us to examine the nature of our own loyalties. It is easy to follow a king when he is popular and victorious. It is easy to be a Christian when the cultural winds are at our back. But what happens when the tide turns? Absalom represents the allure of the new, the popular, the easy. He offered a religion of style over substance, of flattery over truth. David, in this moment, represents the rejected king. To follow him meant leaving the comfort of the city for the uncertainty of the wilderness. It meant choosing the man over the movement.
Our loyalty is to be to King Jesus. And there are times when following Him will put us at odds with the spirit of the age. The world, and sometimes even the visible church, will have its heart stolen by various Absaloms, charismatic leaders who offer a more palatable, less demanding version of the faith. In those moments, we are called to be like David's servants, like the Cherethites and Pelethites and Gittites. Our response should be, "Behold, your servants are ready to do whatever my Lord the King chooses." Our loyalty must be to the person of Christ, not to the perks of the kingdom. It is a loyalty that is willing to go into exile with Him, confident that the rejected king is the true king, and that His path, though it may lead through Jerusalem's gates and into the wilderness, is the only path that leads to ultimate victory and a crown that will never fade.