2 Samuel 19:1-43
1 And it was told Joab, Behold, the king weepeth and mourneth for Absalom.
2 And the victorya that day was turned into mourning unto all the people: for the people heard say that day how the king was grieved for his son.
3 And the people gat them by stealth that day into the city, as people being ashamed steal away when they flee in battle.
4 But the king covered his face, and the king cried with a loud voice, O my son Absalom, O Absalom, my son, my son!
5 And Joab came into the house to the king, and said, Thou hast shamed this day the faces of all thy servants, which this day have saved thy life, and the lives of thy sons and of thy daughters, and the lives of thy wives, and the lives of thy concubines;
6 In that thou lovest thine enemies, and hatest thy friends. For thou hast declared this day, that thou regardest neither princes nor servants: for this day I perceive, that if Absalom had lived, and all we had died this day, then it had pleased thee well.
7 Now therefore arise, go forth, and speak comfortablyb unto thy servants: for I swear by the LORD, if thou go not forth, there will not tarry one with thee this night: and that will be worse unto thee than all the evil that befell thee from thy youth until now.
8 Then the king arose, and sat in the gate. And they told unto all the people, saying, Behold, the king doth sit in the gate. And all the people came before the king: for Israel had fled every man to his tent.
9 And all the people were at strife throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, The king saved us out of the hand of our enemies, and he delivered us out of the hand of the Philistines; and now he is fled out of the land for Absalom.
10 And Absalom, whom we anointed over us, is dead in battle. Now therefore why speakc ye not a word of bringing the king back?
11 And king David sent to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, saying, Speak unto the elders of Judah, saying, Why are ye the last to bring the king back to his house? seeing the speech of all Israel is come to the king, even to his house.
12 Ye are my brethren, ye are my bones and my flesh: wherefore then are ye the last to bring back the king?
13 And say ye to Amasa, Art thou not of my bone, and of my flesh? God do so to me, and more also, if thou be not captain of the host before me continually in the room of Joab.
14 And he bowed the heart of all the men of Judah, even as the heart of one man; so that they sent this word unto the king, Return thou, and all thy servants.
15 So the king returned, and came to Jordan. And Judah came to Gilgal, to go to meet the king, to conduct the king over Jordan.
16 And Shimei the son of Gera, a Benjamite, which was of Bahurim, hasted and came down with the men of Judah to meet king David.
17 And there were a thousand men of Benjamin with him, and Ziba the servant of the house of Saul, and his fifteen sons and his twenty servants with him; and they went over Jordan before the king.
18 And there went over a ferry boat to carry over the king's household, and to do what he thought good. And Shimei the son of Gera fell down before the king, as he was come over Jordan;
19 And said unto the king, Let not my lord impute iniquity unto me, neither do thou remember that which thy servant did perversely the day that my lord the king went out of Jerusalem, that the king should take it to his heart.
20 For thy servant doth know that I have sinned: therefore, behold, I am come the first this day of all the house of Joseph to go down to meet my lord the king.
21 But Abishai the son of Zeruiah answered and said, Shall not Shimei be put to death for this, because he cursed the LORD'S anointed?
22 And David said, What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah, that ye should this day be adversaries unto me? shall there any man be put to death this day in Israel? for do not I know that I am this day king over Israel?
23 Therefore the king said unto Shimei, Thou shalt not die. And the king sware unto him.
24 And Mephibosheth the son of Saul came down to meet the king, and had neither dressed his feet, nor trimmed his beard, nor washed his clothes, from the day the king departed until the day he came again in peace.
25 And it came to pass, when he was come to Jerusalem to meet the king, that the king said unto him, Wherefore wentest not thou with me, Mephibosheth?
26 And he answered, My lord, O king, my servant deceived me: for thy servant said, I will saddle me an ass, that I may ride thereon, and go to the king; because thy servant is lame.
27 And he hath slandered thy servant unto my lord the king; but my lord the king is as an angel of God: do therefore what is good in thine eyes.
28 For all of my father's house were but deadd men before my lord the king: yet didst thou set thy servant among them that did eat at thine own table. What right therefore have I yet to cry any more unto the king?
29 And the king said unto him, Why speakest thou any more of thy matters? I have said, Thou and Ziba divide the land.
30 And Mephibosheth said unto the king, Yea, let him take all, forasmuch as my lord the king is come again in peace unto his own house.
31 And Barzillai the Gileadite came down from Rogelim, and went over Jordan with the king, to conduct him over Jordan.
32 Now Barzillai was a very aged man, even fourscore years old: and he had provided the king of sustenance while he lay at Mahanaim; for he was a very great man.
33 And the king said unto Barzillai, Come thou over with me, and I will feed thee with me in Jerusalem.
34 And Barzillai said unto the king, How long have I to live, that I should go up with the king unto Jerusalem?
35 I am this day fourscore years old: and can I discern between good and evil? can thy servant taste what I eat or what I drink? can I hear any more the voice of singing men and singing women? wherefore then should thy servant be yet a burden unto my lord the king?
36 Thy servant will go a little way over Jordan with the king: and why should the king recompense it me with such a reward?
37 Let thy servant, I pray thee, turn back again, that I may die in mine own city, and be buried by the grave of my father and of my mother. But behold thy servant Chimham; let him go over with my lord the king; and do to him what shall seem good unto thee.
38 And the king answered, Chimham shall go over with me, and I will do to him that which shall seem good unto thee: and whatsoever thou shalt requiree of me, that will I do for thee.
39 And all the people went over Jordan. And when the king was come over, the king kissed Barzillai, and blessed him; and he returned unto his own place.
40 Then the king went on to Gilgal, and Chimhamf went on with him: and all the people of Judah conducted the king, and also half the people of Israel.
41 And, behold, all the men of Israel came to the king, and said unto the king, Why have our brethren the men of Judah stolen thee away, and have brought the king, and his household, and all David's men with him, over Jordan?
42 And all the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, Because the king is near of kin to us: wherefore then be ye angry for this matter? have we eaten at all of the king's cost? or hath he given us any gift?
43 And the men of Israel answered the men of Judah, and said, We have ten parts in the king, and we have also more right in David than ye: why then did ye despiseg us, that our advice should not be first had in bringing back our king? And the words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel.
David's grief for his son Absalom. David was there in his chamber wailing over Absalom.
So they told Joab, David's really wailing over Absalom's death. And Joab came unto David and he said, All right now David let's cut this out. He said, These men have gone out and hazard their lives for you. And they've brought you victory over your enemies. But now they are sneaking back into town like they were criminals because of your great grief for Absalom, you're actually making them ashamed of what they have done. And if you don't change your behavior in a hurry, they're all gonna turn against you none of them will ever go out and hazard their lives for you again. So you get out there among them. Dry your tears, and go out and congratulate them on the battle or else you're gonna really lose out completely now, because these men that have been so loyal to you will surely turn against you. [This was actually good advice on Joab's part.] And so David went out among the men there in the gate. And greeted them and so forth, and did really the right thing for these men who had hazard their lives for David (2 Samuel 19:1-8).
Now there began then a movement of bringing their king back. Actually they had more or less turned from David, Israel had turned, Jerusalem had turned, and now they have started a movement to bring David back.
And so David came back to the Jordan River, as he was returning to Jerusalem, and the first one to meet him at the Jordan River was this guy Shimei who was throwing rocks and cursing him on his way out. And now that David is coming back, Shimei is down there to visit him, and to greet him, and to welcome him back.
And he fell down before the king [verse eighteen] even as he came to the Jordan river. And he said to David, Let not my lord impute iniquity unto me, neither do thou remember that which thy servant did perversely the day that my lord the king went out of Jerusalem, that the king should take it to his heart. For thy servant doth know that I have sinned: therefore, I am come this first day, and all of the house of Joseph to meet my lord the king. And Abishai [who wanted to take off his head earlier] said to David, Shall not Shimei be put to death for this, because he cursed the Lord's anointed? And David said, What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah, that you should this day be adversaries unto me? shall there be any man put to death this day in Israel? for do not I know that I am this day king over Israel? Therefore David said to Shimei, Thou shalt not die. And the king sware unto him (2 Samuel 19:18-23).
The next one to meet him was Mephibosheth who was the son of Jonathan. They had told David a lie, the servants of Mephibosheth had told David a lie saying that Mephibosheth had pledged allegiance to Abashi, or was trying to take over the kingdom himself after David fled.
So Mephibosheth came to David, and David said, Well how come you turned against me? And Mephibosheth said, That was a lie. I didn't turn against you David, I'm crippled, and he said, I needed a donkey to ride on, and they deceived me [and they didn't bring me a donkey, and therefore I was stuck.] (2 Samuel 19:24-27):
So David forgave him when he found out that it was all just a lie that had been told to him about Mephibosheth. So they bring back David the king, and this man that had met him and offered him all of these foods, and dainties and all, David sought to bring back, and to be with David in Jerusalem.
The guy said, "Hey man, I'm eighty years old. I'm happy here, and I'm too old to enjoy the dancing girls and all at this point. Why should I go back to Jerusalem? I just as soon die here where I am." So David thanked him for all of his goodness, and left him.
Now there had been a continual sort of division between the northern tribes of Israel and the southern tribe of Judah. This division of course was manifested in the beginning of David's reign. David reigned for seven years over Judah before he reigned over all of Israel. Now that there has been this division in the kingdom, this old rivalry rises again. There is this fellow in the northern kingdom, of course later on under David's grandson Rehoboam there came the complete break, and Jeroboam became king of Israel, and Rehoboam the king of Judah, from that time on there were actually two nations. They never were united again, except in a few battles. The kings would get together in battles but quite often, and more often than not, they were fighting against each other rather than fighting with each other. It became a definite divided kingdom.
Interestingly enough, in the prophecy of Ezekiel where God promises to restore the nation, God promises in the restoration of the nation, that they would be one nation, not two when they were restored. Of course since 1948, in the restoration of the nation Israel, you don't have the northern tribes versus the southern tribes. But there is a definite unity of all of the nation of Israel. The scriptures have been totally fulfilled, as they are unified as a nation, one ruler over them, and a unified nation, just as was predicted by Ezekiel so many years ago. "