Burning Bush Blogs
Equipping Men with Biblical Knowledge and Leadership Skills
Category: Personal Study
Thread: Game of Thrones
Post Topic: King David Flees the Revolt
Post in Thread: #17
Previous: Absalom Conspires to Take Down the King
Next: Bad Advice for a Wanna-Be King
Scripture: 2 Samuel 15:13-37
Key Verses:
2 Samuel 15:30-31
30 But David continued up the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went; his head was covered and he was barefoot. All the people with him covered their heads too and were weeping as they went up. 31 Now David had been told, “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.” So David prayed, “Lord, turn Ahithophel’s counsel into foolishness.”
Observations
Context
- King David and his son Absalom had a falling-out that festered over years.
- As David became more reclusive, Absalom immersed himself with the people, winning many to his side.
- Under the guise of sacrificing to the Lord, Absalom traveled to Hebron, David’s former capital city.
- Here, he organized his revolt.
David Flees Jerusalem
- David escapes Jerusalem after hearing that Absalom has won the people’s hearts and is returning from Hebron
- He reasons that he doesn’t want the city put to the sword by Absalom.
- He leaves behind his 10 concubines, to “take care of the palace.”
- Is he just handing them over to Abasalom? As David took Michel from Ish-Bosheth as a sign of power transfer? Or maybe it was a calculated feint on David’s part?
- David’s family, loyal men, and even a loyal group of 600 Philistine warriors accompany him out of the city.
- The priest Zadok had brought the ark out, but David sends him and his sons back to the city.
- David crosses the Kidron valley and climbs to the top of the Mount of Olives, weeping (same place where Jesus wept on his way into Jerusalem).
- David sends Hushai, another attendant, to go back to Jerusalem and pretend to have shifted loyalties to Absalom.
This map illustrates the falling out between David and Absalom and the subsequent insurrection. The same map will be used for numerous posts in the Game of Thrones series.
- This post describes David fleeing Jerusalem after learning of Absalom’s approach from Hebron.
- David has a long trip ahead of him.
- Future posts will describe David’s escape across the Jordan, and the subsequent battle near Mahanaim.
Interpretation
Setting
Jebus/Jerusalem was of strategic importance because it was the highest and safest point around. With its natural springs, a protracted siege would be difficult. If David felt confident that his supporters in the city would remain loyal for him, he wouldn’t have had much to fear from an insurrection.
Genre
Narrative description.
Author
The author is unknown, but they had access to the records of the kings and possessed a thorough knowledge of the life and times of Samuel and the events surrounding the first kings of Israel.
Takeaways
- David seemed to relinquish Jerusalem quite easily.
- It was a fortified city; extremely defensible.
- Perhaps he feared attack from the inside.
- David’s confidence that he had maintained the support of his people must have waned considerably.
- He must have been shaken by several factors:
- His own son led the rebellion.
- His primary advisor, Ahithopel, had changed sides.
- Many trusted men had gone with Absalom to Hebron, and it seemed that many of them had also changed loyalties.
- David’s guilt continued to plague him.
- Maybe he believed this was part of God’s plan to punish him for his prior sins; evidence of this can be found in the Shimei story in the next chapter (see the correlation section).
- In spite of all this, David hadn’t given up hope that God would restore him to the throne.
- He had tested, fighting men retreating with him.
- He sent back a loyal spy to be a double-agent.
- He sent the priests back to Jerusalem with the ark to keep it where it belonged.
- He was bolstered by many supporters along the way.
Imagine
David’s failures as a parent were massive. There is an advanced Dig Deeper exercise on the previous post in this series that dives into that topic. We’ve all experienced guilt, but probably not to the extent that David did. If you were in his position, would you have simply ceded the city to your son the way he did?
Correlation
2 Samuel 16:5-14 – Already on a walk of shame, David is cursed out and harassed by a man named Shimei. One of David’s generals, Abishai, seething in anger, asks to go over and slice off Shimei’s head. David tells Abishai to do nothing, saying:
- My own flesh and blood is trying to kill me.
- How much more reasonable is it for this Benjamite, from the house of Saul, to wish me harm?
- Maybe the Lord has told him to do this to add to my shame.
- Perhaps if I’m miserable enough, the Lord will see fit to restore me.
As we read this story of David’s humiliation, his guilt over past sins is evident. This gives us some insight as to why he appeared to run away with his tail between his legs.
Application
Generic Applications
- Admirable of David not to want to submit Jerusalem and its people to a drawn-out siege; but it might have been strategic thinking that the inhabitants would be even more inclined to turn on him if he did.
- It’s notable that some of the most loyal men to David in this time of distress turned out to be Philistines. There’s a historical novel about these Philistines by Barbara Britton entitled Defending David. Warning for men – it is a bit heavy on the romance side. But an interesting read.
- What did David do in his time of trouble?
- He wept on the Mount of Olives, and others joined in his weeping.
- He confessed his sins.
- He prayed for deliverance, even asking God with a simple prayer to disallow Ahithopel’s counsel from being effective.
- He took action.
- David didn’t simply wait on God to fix everything. He sent back a spy, Hushai.
- Hushai had appeared to David at his lowest moment.
- David was weeping and praying on the Mount of Olives.
- Did God orchestrate that timing?
- David went further, instructing Hushai to connect with the priest Zadok and Zadok’s sons to form a network of spies.
Personalize it
- In a time of trouble, which of David’s responses do I fail to do?
- Weep with others.
- Confess my sins.
- Pray for deliverance.
- Take action.
- David seemed to think that his misery was justified because of his past sins. Yet he held out hope that God would restore him. When I feel chastised by God, do I continue to believe that he can and will restore me? (hint – He can and He will).
Bible study methodology adapted from Searching the Scriptures with permission from Tyndale House:
Swindoll, Charles, Searching the Scriptures. Tyndale House Publishers, 2016.
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