David Flees Jerusalem
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News of the rebellion reached David in Jerusalem.
As if awakening from a long sleep, David shook off his lethargy and regained his fighting spirit. The son he had trusted had plotted against him, and some of those he had relied on most had gone over to the enemy. David knew the public was not on his side in this struggle.
Looking out over his beloved Jerusalem, David trembled to think what would become of the beautiful city should war occur. David would leave the city rather than see it destroyed. From afar, he would seek to rally loyal followers.
He would trust in God, who had placed him on the throne in the first place. Absalom had issued a call for those supporting him to come to Hebron, which was only twenty miles from Jerusalem. David, who was not prepared to face this crisis, chose to retire and fight another day. This decision proved “to have been the correct course of action. Both Ahithophel ([2 Sam.] 17:1, 2) and Hushai (ch. 17:7–13) recognized that delay would be fatal, and that Absalom’s greatest hope for success would be to take immediate steps against David. By his flight David gave himself time to make ready a defense, and the people time to ponder their course. The horrors of a long civil war were thus averted.” “David was never more worthy of admiration than in his hour of adversity. Never was this cedar of God truly greater than when wrestling with the storm and tempest. He was a man of the keenest temperament, which might have been raised to the strongest feelings of resentment. . . . But there was nothing of this which would naturally be expected of a man with his stamp of character. With spirits broken and in tearful emotion, but without one expression of repining, he turns his back upon the scenes of his glory and also of his crime, and pursues his flight for his life.” The Christian life is a constant battle to shape a worthy character.
