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2 Samuel 15 of 24

2 Samuel 15

The king who took a city goes out through its gate barefoot, weeping, as his own son enters it behind him.

Summary

After this Absalom provides himself a chariot and horses and fifty men to run before him. He rises early each morning and stands by the gate, and when any man comes with a suit to bring to the king Absalom calls to him and asks about his city and tribe. He tells each man his cause is good and just, but the king has no deputy to hear it; if only he were made judge in the land, then would every man who had a suit come to him and he would do him justice. To any man who comes near to do obeisance, Absalom puts forth his hand and takes hold of him and kisses him. So Absalom steals the hearts of the men of Israel. After forty years — perhaps four, the number is disputed — Absalom says to the king he must go to Hebron to pay a vow made in Geshur. David says go in peace. Absalom sends spies throughout all the tribes of Israel saying: when you hear the sound of the trumpet, say Absalom reigneth in Hebron. Two hundred men from Jerusalem go with him, invited guests who know nothing of the conspiracy. Ahithophel the Gilonite, David's counsellor, is called from his city and comes. The conspiracy is strong.

A messenger comes to David: the hearts of the men of Israel are after Absalom. David says to all his servants: arise, let us flee, or Absalom will overtake us quickly and bring evil upon us. His servants answer: the king's servants are ready; as my lord the king shall appoint. The king goes out with all his household on foot. Ten concubines are left to keep the house. The king and all his people go on foot and halt at a distance. All his servants pass beside him; all the Cherethites and Pelethites and Gittites — six hundred men — pass before the king. Ittai the Gittite, whom David tries to send back, insists on staying. Zadok the priest and the Levites carrying the ark of God come and set down the ark until all the people pass. David sends the ark back: if I find favour in the eyes of the Lord, he will bring me again and show me both it and his habitation. David goes up the Mount of Olives weeping, with his head covered and barefoot, and all the people with him weeping. Hushai the Archite comes with his coat rent and earth on his head; David sends him back to Jerusalem to frustrate Ahithophel's counsel and to report back through Zadok and Abiathar.

Appears
David Absalom Joab
Themes
Rebellion Exile and Flight Loyalty Tested
All 24 chapters — click to jump
  1. 2 Samuel 1Chapter 1 is the hinge between 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel.
  2. 2 Samuel 2Chapter 2 opens the period of civil war that will occupy much of the first half of the book.
  3. 2 Samuel 3Chapter 3 is one of the most politically complex chapters in the book.
  4. 2 Samuel 4Chapter 4 closes the civil war with a brief, ugly episode.
  5. 2 Samuel 5Chapter 5 is the pivotal chapter of the book's first half.
  6. 2 Samuel 6Chapter 6 is one of the most dramatically charged chapters in 2 Samuel, covering two episodes that frame the ark's arrival in Jerusalem.
  7. 2 Samuel 7Chapter 7 is the theological centre of the entire David narrative and one of the most consequential passages in the Hebrew Bible for later Jewish and Christian thought.
  8. 2 Samuel 8Chapter 8 reads differently from everything around it.
  9. 2 Samuel 9Chapter 9 is the chapter the Court History uses to establish one key dimension of David's character before the crisis arrives.
  10. 2 Samuel 10Chapter 10 establishes the military context of the Bathsheba episode.
  11. 2 Samuel 11Chapter 11 is the turning point of 2 Samuel and one of the most consequential chapters in biblical narrative.
  12. 2 Samuel 12Chapter 12 contains the most famous confrontation in the book.
  13. 2 Samuel 13Chapter 13 is the first fulfilment of Nathan's sentence in chapter 12.
  14. 2 Samuel 14Chapter 14 covers the three years in which David longs for Absalom but will not recall him, and Joab's intervention to change that.
  15. 2 Samuel 15Chapter 15 is the emotional nadir of the first movement of the Absalom crisis.
  16. 2 Samuel 16Chapter 16 covers three encounters as David makes his way out of Jerusalem.
  17. 2 Samuel 17Chapter 17 is the intelligence chapter of the Absalom revolt and turns on a moment of competitive counsel.
  18. 2 Samuel 18Chapter 18 is the emotional climax of 2 Samuel.
  19. 2 Samuel 19Chapter 19 covers David's return to Jerusalem and the political settlements it requires.
  20. 2 Samuel 20Chapter 20 is the coda to the Absalom crisis.
  21. 2 Samuel 21Chapter 21 opens the appendix section of 2 Samuel — chapters 21-24 are not chronological narrative but supplementary materials: two episodes of famine and plague bracketing two poems and two hero lists.
  22. 2 Samuel 22Chapter 22 is an extended psalm, found also as Psalm 18 in the Psalter, which the editors of 2 Samuel have placed near the end of the book as David's retrospective meditation on his life.
  23. 2 Samuel 23Chapter 23 contains two distinct sections.
  24. 2 Samuel 24Chapter 24 is the second appendix episode bracketing the poems of chapters 22-23, and it closes the book on an unexpected note.
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2 Samuel 14
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2 Samuel 16
The book itself
Summary & story
What 2 Samuel is, why it matters.
Analysis
Themes
Power, consequence, grief, the dynastic promise, and the realism of the prose.
Who's who
David's court
The household of a king who has everything and gives most of it away.

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