2 Samuel 15:26

_AND THE KING SAID UNTO ZADOK, CARRY BACK THE ARK OF GOD INTO THE CITY: IF I SHALL FIND FAVOUR IN THE EYES OF THE LORD, HE WILL BRING ME AGAIN, AND SHEW ME BOTH IT, AND HIS HABITATION:_ No JFB commentary on these verses....

24-30 David is very careful for the safety of the ark. It is right to be more concerned for the church's prosperity than our own; to prefer the success of the gospel above our own wealth, credit, ease, and safety. Observe with what satisfaction and submission David speaks of the Divine disposal. It is our interest, as well as our duty, cheerfully to acquiesce in the will of God, whatever befalls us. Let us see God's hand in all events; and that we may not be afraid of what shall be, let us see all events in God's hand. David's sin was ever before him, Psalms 51:3; but never so plain, nor ever appearing so black as now. He never wept thus when Saul hunted him, but a wounded conscience makes troubles lie heavy, Psalms 38:4....

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....

BUT IF HE THUS SAY, I HAVE NO DELIGHT IN THEE,.... As a king, or in his temporal prosperity, though he might and had delight in him as a chosen vessel of salvation, as a saint and child of God, and in his spiritual and everlasting welfare: BEHOLD, [HERE AM] I; his humble servant, ready to be, and do and suffer whatever is his pleasure: LET HIM DO TO ME AS SEEMETH GOOD UNTO HIM; strip me of all the ensigns of royalty, dispossess me of my crown and kingdom, and dispose of me as seems good in his sight; who is a sovereign Being, and has a right to do with his creatures what he pleases....

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....

AS. according as....

The Ark sent back to Jerusalem 24. _and Abiathar went up_ The Ark halted, to allow the people who were still coming out of the city time to overtake the procession. Meanwhile Abiathar went on up the Mount of Olives, for some purpose which is not stated, possibly to watch the stream of people coming out of the city. He then returned to carry the Ark back. It seems best to suppose that the narrative goes back here, and that the Ark was not taken across the Kidron. Certainly it does not seem to have been carried up the Mount of Olives....

DISCOURSE: 319 DAVID DRIVEN FROM HIS THRONE BY ABSALOM 2 Samuel 15:25. _And the king said unto Zadok, Carry back the ark of God into the city; if I shall find favour in the eyes of the Lord, he will bring me again, and shew me both it, and his habitation: but if he thus say, I have no delight in thee; behold, here am I, let him do to me as seemeth good unto him_. SIN, though forgiven, rarely passes unpunished in this present world: on the contrary, God marks his indignation against it here, in order to embitter it the more to the offender who has committed it, and to endear to him the more that mercy which has been exercised towards him. At the very time that he forgave the sin of David, he declared to the pardoned penitent, that the sword should never pass from his house, even to the latest hour. Accordingly we find, that David was afflicted in no common degree in

THE KING SAID,—CARRY BACK THE ARK OF GOD— David sent back the high-priests, as knowing that their character was too sacred to suffer any violence from the usurper, though he knew their fidelity to himself; and for the rest, he wholly submitted himself to the divine disposal. He besought God, as Alexander Severus told his soldiers a generous and a wise man should, praying for the best things, and bearing what should befal. David saw plainly that God had raised this war against him in punishment of his guilt; that God had _raised up this evil to him out of his own house:_ find I imagine that I now hear him taking up the same lamentation which Alphonsus the wise, king of Arragon, afterwards did upon a like occasion: "I wonder not so much at my people's ingratitude to _me,_ as at my own to GOD." In this spirit of humiliation, David would not presume to have the ark, the symbol of the divine...