2 Samuel 19:8-43

David Restored as King

8 So the king arose and sat in the gate. When they told all the people, saying, "Behold, the king is ¹sitting in the gate," then all the people came before the king. Now ²Israel had fled, each to his tent.

9 All the people were quarreling throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, "³The king delivered us from the hand of our enemies and ⁴saved us from the hand of the Philistines, but now ⁵he has fled out of the land from Absalom.

10 "However, Absalom, whom we anointed over us, has died in battle. Now then, why are you silent about bringing the king back?"

11 Then King David sent to ⁶Zadok and Abiathar the priests, saying, "Speak to the elders of Judah, saying, 'Why are you the last to bring the king back to his house, since the word of all Israel has come to the king, even to his house?

12 'You are my brothers; ⁷you are my bone and my flesh. Why then should you be the last to bring back the king?'

13 "Say to ⁸Amasa, 'Are you not my bone and my flesh? ⁹May God do so to me, and more also, if you will not be ¹⁰commander of the army before me continually * ¹¹in place of Joab.' "

14 Thus he turned the hearts of all the men of Judah ¹²as one man, so that they sent word to the king, saying, "Return, you and all your servants."

15 The king then returned and came as far as the Jordan. And Judah came to ¹³Gilgal in order to go to meet the king, to bring the king across the Jordan.

16 Then ¹⁴Shimei the son of Gera, the Benjamite who was from Bahurim, hurried and came down with the men of Judah to meet King David.

17 There were a thousand men of Benjamin with him, with ¹⁵Ziba the servant of the house of Saul, and his fifteen * sons and his twenty servants with him; and they rushed to the Jordan before the king.

18 Then they kept crossing the ford to bring over the king's household, and to do what was good in his sight. And Shimei the son of Gera fell down before the king as he was about to cross the Jordan.

19 So he said to the king, "¹⁶Let not my lord consider me guilty, nor remember what your servant did wrong on the day when my lord the king came out from Jerusalem, so that the king would take it to heart.

20 "For your servant knows that I have sinned; therefore behold, I have come today, ¹⁷the first of all the house of Joseph to go down to meet my lord the king."

21 But Abishai the son of Zeruiah said, "¹⁸Should not Shimei be put to death for this, ¹⁹because he cursed the LORD'S anointed?"

22 David then said, "²⁰What have I to do with you, O sons of Zeruiah, that you should this day be an adversary to me? ²¹Should any man be put to death in Israel today? For do I not know that I am king over Israel today?"

23 The king said to Shimei, "²²You shall not die." Thus the king swore to him.

24 Then ²³Mephibosheth the son of Saul came down to meet the king; and ²⁴he had neither cared for his feet, nor trimmed his mustache, nor ²⁵washed his clothes, from the day the king departed until the day he came home in peace.

25 It was when he came from Jerusalem to meet the king, that the king said to him, "²⁶Why did you not go with me, Mephibosheth?"

26 So he answered, "O my lord, the king, my servant deceived me; for your servant said, 'I will saddle a donkey for myself that I may ride on it and go with the king,' ²⁷because your servant is lame.

27 "Moreover, ²⁸he has slandered your servant to my lord the king; but my lord the king is ²⁹like the angel of God, therefore do what is good in your sight.

28 "For ³⁰all my father's household was nothing but dead men before my lord the king; ³¹yet you set your servant among those who ate at your own table. What right do I have yet that I should complain anymore to the king?"

29 So the king said to him, "Why do you still speak of your affairs? I have decided, 'You and Ziba shall divide the land.' "

30 Mephibosheth said to the king, "Let him even take it all, since * my lord the king has come safely to his own house."

31 Now ³²Barzillai the Gileadite had come down from Rogelim; and he went on to the Jordan with the king to escort him over the Jordan.

32 Now Barzillai was very old, being eighty years old; and he had ³³sustained the king while he stayed at Mahanaim, for he was a very great man.

33 The king said to Barzillai, "You cross over with me and I will sustain you in Jerusalem with me."

34 But Barzillai said to the king, "³⁴How long have I yet to live, that I should go up with the king to Jerusalem?

35 "I am now ³⁵eighty years old. Can I distinguish between good and bad? Or can your servant taste what I eat or what I drink? Or can I hear anymore ³⁶the voice of singing men and women? ³⁷Why then should your servant be an added burden to my lord the king?

36 "Your servant would merely cross over the Jordan with the king. Why should the king compensate me with this reward?

37 "Please let your servant return, that I may die in my own city near the grave of my father and my mother. However, here is your servant ³⁸Chimham, let him cross over with my lord the king, and do for him what is good in your sight."

38 The king answered, "Chimham shall cross over with me, and I will do for him what is good in your sight; and whatever * you require of me, I will do for you."

39 All the people crossed over the Jordan and the king crossed too. The king then ³⁹kissed Barzillai and blessed him, and he returned to his place.

40 Now the king went on to Gilgal, and Chimham went on with him; and all the people of Judah and also ⁴⁰half the people of Israel accompanied the king.

41 And behold, all the men of Israel came to the king and said to the king, "⁴¹Why had our brothers ⁴²the men of Judah stolen you away, and brought the king and his household and all David's men with him over the Jordan?"

42 Then all the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, "Because ⁴³the king is a close relative to us. Why then are you angry about this matter? Have we eaten at all at the king's expense, or has anything been taken for us?"

43 But the men of Israel answered the men of Judah and said, "⁴⁴We have ten parts in the king, therefore we also have more claim on David than you. Why then did you treat us with contempt? Was it not our advice first to bring back our king?" Yet the words of the men of Judah were harsher than the words of the men of Israel.

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2 Samuel 19:8-43 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO SECOND SAMUEL 19

David indulging to too much grief for the death of his son, is rebuked by Joab, and threatened with a revolt of the people from him, if he did not change his conduct, which be accordingly did, 2Sa 19:1-8; upon which the men of Israel were the first that moved for the bringing him back to Jerusalem, and the men of Judah were solicited to join with them in it, which was effected, 2Sa 19:9-15; and at Jordan, Shimei, that had cursed him, met him, and asked his pardon, and was forgiven, 2Sa 19:16-23; and when come to Jerusalem, Mephibosheth excused so well his not going out with him, that he had half his land restored to him, which had been given to his servant, 2Sa 19:24-30; and Barzillai, who had very liberally supplied the king, was allowed to return to his own city, and Chimham his son was taken to court, 2Sa 19:31-40; and a contention arose between the men of Israel and of Judah about the restoration of the king, which issued in an insurrection, as the next chapter shows, 2Sa 19:41-43.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 44

1. 2 Samuel 15:2; 2 Samuel 18:24
2. 2 Samuel 18:17
3. 2 Samuel 8:1-14
4. 2 Samuel 5:20; 2 Samuel 8:1
5. 2 Samuel 15:14
6. 2 Samuel 15:29
7. 2 Samuel 5:1
8. 2 Samuel 17:25
9. 1 Kings 19:2
10. 2 Samuel 8:16
11. 2 Samuel 3:27-39; 2 Samuel 19:5-7
12. Judges 20:1
13. Joshua 5:9; 1 Samuel 11:14, 15
14. 2 Samuel 16:5-13; 1 Kings 2:8
15. 2 Samuel 16:1-4; 2 Samuel 19:26, 27
16. 1 Samuel 22:15; 2 Samuel 16:6-8
17. 2 Samuel 16:5
18. 2 Samuel 16:7, 8
19. Exodus 22:28
20. 2 Samuel 3:39; 2 Samuel 16:9, 10
21. 1 Samuel 11:13
22. 1 Kings 2:8
23. 2 Samuel 9:6-10
24. 2 Samuel 12:20
25. Exodus 19:10
26. 2 Samuel 16:17
27. 2 Samuel 9:3
28. 2 Samuel 16:3, 4
29. 2 Samuel 14:17, 20
30. 2 Samuel 21:6-9
31. 2 Sam 9:7, 10, 13
32. 2 Samuel 17:27-29; 1 Kings 2:7
33. 2 Samuel 17:27-29
34. Genesis 47:8
35. Psalms 90:10
36. Ecclesiastes 2:8; Isaiah 5:11, 12
37. 2 Samuel 15:33
38. 2 Samuel 19:40; 1 Kings 2:7; Jeremiah 41:17
39. Genesis 31:55; Ruth 1:14; 2 Samuel 14:33
40. 2 Samuel 19:9, 10
41. Judges 8:1; Judges 12:1
42. 2 Samuel 19:11, 12
43. 2 Samuel 19:12
44. 2 Samuel 5:1; 1 Kings 11:30, 31

Footnotes 22

[a]. Lit "palm"
[b]. Lit "palm"
[c]. Lit "set"
[d]. I.e. grandson
[e]. Lit "done"
[f]. Lit "done"
[g]. Lit "cry out"
[h]. Lit "said"
[i]. Lit "send"
[j]. Or "provided food for"
[k]. Or "provide food for"
[l]. Lit "are the days of the years of my life"
[m]. Lit "today"
[n]. Lit "choose"
[o]. Lit "crossed over with"
[p]. Lit "me"
[q]. Lit "is it hot to you"
[r]. Or "a gift"
[s]. Singular in Heb
[t]. Singular in Heb
[u]. Singular in Heb
[v]. Singular in Heb