2 Samuel 15:19

_THEN SAID THE KING TO ITTAI THE GITTITE, WHEREFORE GOEST THOU ALSO WITH US? RETURN TO THY PLACE, AND ABIDE WITH THE KING: FOR THOU ART A STRANGER, AND ALSO AN EXILE._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

13-23 David determined to quit Jerusalem. He took this resolve, as a penitent submitting to the rod. Before unrighteous Absalom he could justify himself, and stand out; but before the righteous God he must condemn himself, and yield to his judgments. Thus he accepts the punishment of his sin. And good men, when they themselves suffer, are anxious that others should not be led to suffer with them. He compelled none; those whose hearts were with Absalom, to Absalom let them go, and so shall their doom be. Thus Christ enlists none but willing followers. David cannot bear to think that Ittai, a stranger and an exile, a proselyte and a new convert, who ought to be encouraged and made easy, should meet with hard usage. But such value has Ittai for David's wisdom and goodness, that he will not leave him. He is a friend indeed, who loves at all times, and will adhere to us in adversity. Let us...

Verse 2 Samuel 15:19. _THOU_ ART _A STRANGER, AND ALSO AN EXILE._] Some suppose that Ittai was the son of Achish, king of Gath, who was very much attached to David, and banished from his father's court on that account. He and his _six hundred_ men are generally supposed to have been proselytes to the Jewish religion....

EXPOSITION 2 SAMUEL 15:1 AFTER THIS. The Hebrew is a more precise phrase than that on which we have commented on 2 Samuel 10:1 and 2 Samuel 13:1, and implies that Absalom began his devices soon after obtaining his liberty. CHARIOTS AND HORSES; Hebrew, _a chariot and horses; _that is, a chariot for state occasions, in which Absalom rode, while fifty footmen ran at his side. Probably his grandfather Talmai practised similar magnificence at Geshur. In India it is still common for men of rank to be attended by runners on foot, who will keep up with horses or elephants for an incredible distance....

THEN SAID THE KING TO ITTAI THE GITTITE,.... Who was over the band of Gittites, the six hundred men, 2 Samuel 15:22; WHEREFORE GOEST THOU ALSO WITH US? one should think the king should not have discouraged any from joining and following him, when his numbers were not very large, and the in such fear on account of Absalom: RETURN TO THIS PLACE; to Jerusalem, where his station was: AND ABIDE WITH THE KING; with Absalom, who set himself up for king, and whom the people perhaps had proclaimed as such in Hebron, where the conspiracy began: FOR THOU [ART] A STRANGER, AND ALSO AN EXILE; not a native of Israel, but of another nation, and at a distance from it, and therefore not altogether under the same obligations to attend David in his troubles as others were; and by this it seems that he was a Gittite by nation, w

5. ABSALOM'S CONSPIRACY AND DAVID'S FLIGHT CHAPTER 15 _ 1. Absalom steals the hearts of the men of Israel (2 Samuel 15:1)_ 2. His conspiracy (2 Samuel 15:7) 3. The flight of the king (2 Samuel 15:13) The beautiful prince gradually prepared for the great conspiracy of which we read now and which made of his own father the Lord's anointed, an exile. Chariots and horses with fifty men to run before him won no doubt the admiration of the people. His evident interest in their welfare, kissing those who sought his presence and advice, endeared him still more to the men of Israel. To this must be added his open words, which must have quickly circulated among the people, “Oh, that

2 Samuel 15:1 to 2 Samuel 16:14. REVOLT OF ABSALOM. FLIGHT OF DAVID (J). 2 Samuel 15:1. Absalom makes himself popular by professing an interest in the litigation of the people. 2 SAMUEL 15:7. After four years (so read with Syr. and some texts of LXX), having obtained the king's permission on a false pretext, Absalom goes to Hebron and organises revolt. 2 SAMUEL 15:12. GILOH: Joshua 15:51....

STRAINGER. foreigner....

Absalom's Rebellion For the Psalms illustrative of this period see Introd. ch. VIII. § 6, p. 48....

ITTAI THE GITTITE— The Jews say, that this Ittai was the son of king Achish, and that, being obliged to quit Gath on account of his attachment to David, he came to offer him his services at the head of the six hundred men mentioned in the foregoing verse, who, as well as himself, had embraced the Jewish religion; an opinion which seems as probable as any other. It is very certain, however, that they came but the day before, 2 Samuel 15:20.; and David, from a principle of generosity, knowing them fatigued with their journey, would have had them turned back, which Ittai gallantly refused to do, vowing that _wherever David was, in death or in life, there would he, his servant, be also;_ 2 Samuel 15:21....