David Finally Aroused

Meanwhile the alarm was carried to Jerusalem. David was suddenly aroused to see rebellion breaking out close beside his throne. His own son had been plotting to seize his crown and doubtless take his life. In his great peril David shook off the depression that had long rested upon him and prepared to meet this terrible emergency. Absalom was only twenty miles away. The rebels would soon be at the gates of Jerusalem.EP 531.3

David shuddered at the thought of exposing his capital to carnage and devastation. Should he permit Jerusalem to be deluged with blood? His decision was taken. He would leave Jerusalem, and then test his people, giving them opportunity to rally to his support. It was his duty to God and to his people to maintain the authority with which Heaven had invested him.EP 531.4

In humility and sorrow, David passed out of the gate of Jerusalem. The people followed in long, sad procession, like a funeral train. David's bodyguard of Cherethites, Pelethites, and Gittites, under the command of Ittai, accompanied the king. But David, with characteristic unselfishness, could not consent that these strangers should be involved in his calamity. Then said the king to Ittai, “Wherefore goest thou also with us? ... Thou art a stranger, and also an exile. Whereas thou camest but yesterday, should I this day make thee go up and down with us? seeing I go whither I may, return thou, and take back thy brethren: mercy and truth be with thee.”EP 531.5

Ittai answered, “As the Lord liveth, and as my lord the king liveth, surely in what place my lord the king shall be, whether in death or life, even there also will thy servant be.” These men had been converted from paganism, and nobly they now proved their fidelity to God and their king. David accepted their devotion to his apparently sinking cause, and all passed over the brook Kidron, toward the wilderness.EP 532.1