The Ark and the Will of God Text: 2 Samuel 15:24-29
Introduction: The King in Flight
We come now to one of the lowest points in the life of David. His own son, Absalom, a man of vanity and murderous ambition, has stolen the hearts of the people. The conspiracy has ripened, the trumpets have sounded, and David, the anointed king of Israel, is forced to flee his own capital city. He is a king in exile, betrayed by his child, abandoned by his subjects, and walking barefoot up the Mount of Olives, weeping as he goes. This is not just a political coup; it is a profound spiritual crisis. It is the bitter fruit of David's own sin with Bathsheba and his subsequent failure to discipline his household. The sword that Nathan prophesied would never depart from his house is now being wielded by his favorite son.
In the midst of this chaos, this utter humiliation, we are given a window into the heart of a man who, for all his grievous faults, truly is a man after God's own heart. The events of our text revolve around a crucial decision. As David flees, his loyal priests, Zadok and Abiathar, bring the Ark of the Covenant out of the city to accompany him. This was the visible symbol of God's presence, His throne on earth. To have it with him would be a powerful statement of legitimacy, a tangible comfort, a divine talisman in the wilderness. But David's response is startling. He tells them to take it back. In this moment of crisis, David reveals where his ultimate trust lies. It is not in the symbols of God's presence, but in the sovereign God Himself.
This passage is a master class in submission to the absolute sovereignty of God. It teaches us the difference between true faith and religious superstition. It shows us a man who has learned, through bitter experience, that God cannot be manipulated. You cannot put God in a box, not even a gold-plated one, and carry Him around for your own convenience. David's actions here are a profound rebuke to our modern therapeutic age, which seeks a God who serves our agenda, who validates our feelings, and who can be summoned to fix our problems. David shows us a better way: a faith that bows before the inscrutable wisdom of God and says, "Let Him do to me as seems good in His sight."
The Text
Now behold, Zadok also came, and all the Levites with him carrying the ark of the covenant of God. And they set down the ark of God, and Abiathar came up until all the people had finished passing from the city. Then the king said to Zadok, “Return the ark of God to the city. If I find favor in the sight of Yahweh, then He will cause me to return and show me both it and His habitation. But if He should say thus, ‘I have no delight in you,’ behold, here I am, let Him do to me as seems good in His sight.” The king said also to Zadok the priest, “Are you not a seer? Return to the city in peace and your two sons with you, your son Ahimaaz and Jonathan the son of Abiathar. See, I am going to 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 remained there.
(2 Samuel 15:24-29 LSB)
Misplaced Loyalty, Right Intention (v. 24)
We begin with the action of the priests:
"Now behold, Zadok also came, and all the Levites with him carrying the ark of the covenant of God. And they set down the ark of God, and Abiathar came up until all the people had finished passing from the city." (2 Samuel 15:24)
The priests' loyalty to David is commendable. Zadok and Abiathar, the two chief priests, recognize David as the legitimate, anointed king. They see Absalom's rebellion for what it is: a wicked usurpation. And so, in a great act of solidarity, they bring the most sacred object in all of Israel, the Ark of the Covenant, to join David in his flight. Their logic is understandable. The Ark represents the presence and blessing of Yahweh. Where the king is, the Ark should be. They are essentially saying, "God is with you, David, not with that vain usurper back in the city."
This was not a light decision. The Ark was housed in the tabernacle David had pitched for it in Jerusalem. To remove it was a major undertaking, a public declaration. They set it down, and Abiathar, it seems, offers sacrifices, sanctifying the departure of the people. They are treating this exodus like a holy procession, with God leading His people into the wilderness, just as He did centuries before. Their hearts are in the right place. They love their king, and they want to honor God.
But their theology is slightly off. They are dangerously close to treating the Ark as a magical object, a good-luck charm. They have forgotten the lesson from the days of Eli's sons, Hophni and Phinehas. When the Israelites were losing a battle against the Philistines, they had the bright idea to bring the Ark into the camp, thinking it would guarantee victory. But God is not a mascot. He will not be used. The result was a catastrophic defeat, the capture of the Ark, and the death of the priests (1 Samuel 4). The Ark's presence does not automatically equal God's blessing if the hearts of the people are not right. Blessing flows from covenant faithfulness, not from proximity to religious artifacts.
The Sovereignty of God Over the Symbols of God (v. 25-26)
David's response corrects their theological error with profound spiritual maturity.
"Then the king said to Zadok, 'Return the ark of God to the city. If I find favor in the sight of Yahweh, then He will cause me to return and show me both it and His habitation. But if He should say thus, ‘I have no delight in you,’ behold, here I am, let Him do to me as seems good in His sight.'" (2 Samuel 15:25-26)
This is the heart of the passage. David refuses to instrumentalize God. He understands that the Ark belongs in Jerusalem, in the "habitation" God has chosen. To drag it into the wilderness as part of his fugitive entourage would be to subordinate God's honor to his own political survival. David's first concern is not for his throne, but for the proper reverence due to God.
And here we see his magnificent submission. He frames the entire crisis in terms of God's sovereign pleasure. "If I find favor..." David knows this rebellion did not catch God by surprise. He knows it is, in some sense, God's chastening hand for his own sin. Therefore, the outcome is not in the hands of Absalom or the armies of Israel, but entirely in the hands of Yahweh. If God is pleased to restore him, He will do so. And if God is not pleased to restore him, David is ready to accept that verdict. "Behold, here I am, let Him do to me as seems good in His sight."
This is the language of true faith. It is the opposite of the modern demand for self-fulfillment. It is the death of entitlement. David is not saying, "I'm the anointed king, God owes me this throne." He is saying, "I am a sinner, and whatever God decides to do with me is just." This is the posture of Job, who said, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him" (Job 13:15). It is the posture of the three Hebrew children before the furnace, who said, "Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us... But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods" (Daniel 3:17-18). And ultimately, it is the posture of the Lord Jesus in Gethsemane: "Not my will, but Yours, be done" (Luke 22:42).
This is the bedrock of Christian piety. God is God, and we are not. His plans are perfect, His wisdom is infinite, and His goodness is unassailable, even when His providence feels like a hammer. To rest in this sovereignty is the only true source of peace in a world of chaos. David is not panicking. He is not scheming. He is resting in the character of his God. He would rather be in the wilderness with God's favor than on the throne with God's displeasure.
Prudence and Providence (v. 27-29)
But David's submission to God's sovereignty does not lead to passive resignation. He is not fatalistic. He immediately turns to wise and prudent action.
"The king said also to Zadok the priest, “Are you not a seer? Return to the city in peace and your two sons with you, your son Ahimaaz and Jonathan the son of Abiathar. See, I am going to 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 remained there." (2 Samuel 15:27-29)
David recognizes the strategic value of having loyal men in the capital. He calls Zadok a "seer," which likely means a man of spiritual insight and wisdom. He trusts him. He instructs the priests to return to the city and to act as an intelligence network. Their sons, Ahimaaz and Jonathan, are to be the messengers. This is not a contradiction of his trust in God; it is the outworking of it. True faith does not sit on its hands and wait for a miracle. True faith prays as if everything depends on God and works as if everything depends on us.
We are to use the means God has given us. We are to be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves. David is trusting God for the ultimate outcome, but he is also taking responsibility for the immediate future. He is setting up a communication line, gathering information, and preparing for what is to come. This is the biblical balance. We do not choose between divine sovereignty and human responsibility. We embrace both. God has ordained not only the ends but also the means to those ends. David's planning is one of the means by which God will work to eventually restore him to the throne.
So the priests obey. They take the Ark back to its proper place, and they remain in Jerusalem, loyal to their king and ready to serve. Their initial impulse to carry the Ark out was born of a good loyalty, but David's correction redirected that loyalty into a more effective and God-honoring course of action. They submitted to the wisdom of their king, who was submitting to the wisdom of his God.
Conclusion: The True Ark
This entire episode is a profound picture of how a believer should face affliction. David's world is collapsing. His family, his kingdom, his reputation, all are in ruins. And yet, in this moment, his faith is purified. He is stripped of everything but his trust in the bare sovereignty of God. And that is enough.
He learns that his security is not in the Ark, the symbol of God's presence, but in God Himself. This points us forward to a greater reality. We Christians no longer have a golden box. The true Ark, the true meeting place between God and man, is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one in whom the fullness of deity dwells bodily (Colossians 2:9). He is our mercy seat. He is the embodiment of God's presence with us.
And like the priests of old, we are often tempted to treat Him as a talisman. We are tempted to think that just because we have the name "Christian," just because we have our religious rituals and artifacts, that we are automatically entitled to God's blessing. But David's example rebukes us. Our faith must not be in the symbols of our religion, but in the sovereign Lord of that religion. Our trust must be in Christ Himself, and in the sovereign will of His Father.
This means that in our own afflictions, when our own little kingdoms are threatened, when we are betrayed, when we are forced to walk our own path up the Mount of Olives, we must come to the same place David did. We must be able to say, "If the Lord is pleased to deliver me, He will. But if not, if He says 'I have no delight in you,' then here I am. Let Him do to me what seems good to Him." This is not despair; it is the highest form of faith. It is the faith that knows that even the harshest providences of God are filtered through His fatherly love for us in Christ Jesus. It is the faith that knows that whatever He does is good, even when it does not feel good. And it is the faith that, having surrendered the outcome to Him, gets up and prudently does the next right thing, trusting that He will work all things together for the good of those who love Him, and who are called according to His purpose.