2 Samuel 15:19

19 And the king said to Ittai of Gath, Why comest thou with us? Turn thou again, and dwell with the (new) king, for thou art a pilgrim, and wentest out from thy place.

2 Samuel 15:19 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 15:19

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, whatever the six hundred men were, and rather favours the first sense given of them in ( 2 Samuel 15:18 ) .

2 Samuel 15:19 In-Context

17 And (so) the king went out, and all Israel, upon their feet, and the king stood far from the house (and they stopped far away from the palace).

18 And all his servants went beside him, and the legions of Cherethites and of Pelethites, and all the strong fighting men of Gath, six hundred men, that followed him from Gath, went on foot before the king.

19 And the king said to Ittai of Gath, Why comest thou with us? Turn thou again, and dwell with the (new) king, for thou art a pilgrim, and wentest out from thy place.

20 Thou camest yesterday, and today thou art compelled to go out with us. Soothly I shall go, whither I shall go; (but thou) turn again, and lead again thy brethren with thee, and the Lord do mercy and truth with thee, for thou hast showed to me grace and faith. (Thou camest but yesterday, and so today, art thou compelled to go out with us? Nay! Truly I shall go, wherever I shall go; but thou return, and take thy kinsmen with thee, and may the Lord show kindness and truth to thee, for thou hast shown favour and faith to me.)

21 And Ittai answered to the king, and said, (As) The Lord liveth, and (as) my lord the king liveth, for in whatever place thou shalt be, my lord the king, either in death either in life, there thy servant shall be.