The Dilemma of Victory and Mourning - 2 Samuel 19

By -
2 Samuel 19:1 And it was told Joab, Behold, the king weepeth  and mourneth for Absalom. 

2 Samuel 19:2 And the victory that day  was turned into mourning unto all the people: for the  people heard say that day how the king was grieved for his  son. 

2 Samuel 19:3 And the people gat them by stealth that day into  the city, as people being ashamed steal away when they flee  in battle. 

2 Samuel 19:4 But the king covered his face, and the king  cried with a loud voice, O my son Absalom, O Absalom,  my son, my son! 

2 Samuel 19:5 And Joab came into the house to  the king, and said, Thou hast shamed this day the faces of  all thy servants, which this day have saved thy life, and the  lives of thy sons and of thy daughters, and the lives of thy  wives, and the lives of thy concubines; 

2 Samuel 19:6 In that thou  lovest thine enemies, and hatest thy friends. For thou hast  declared this day, that thou regardest neither princes nor  servants: for this day I perceive, that if Absalom had lived,  and all we had died this day, then it had pleased thee well.  

2 Samuel 19:7 Now therefore arise, go forth, and speak  comfortably unto thy servants: for I swear by the LORD, if  thou go not forth, there will not tarry one with thee this  night: and that will be worse unto thee than all the evil that  befell thee from thy youth until now. 

2 Samuel 19:8 Then the king  arose, and sat in the gate. And they told unto all the people,  saying, Behold, the king doth sit in the gate. And all the  people came before the king: for Israel had fled every man  to his tent.  

2 Samuel 19:9 And all the people were at strife throughout all the  tribes of Israel, saying, The king saved us out of the hand of  our enemies, and he delivered us out of the hand of the  Philistines; and now he is fled out of the land for Absalom.   

City

2 Samuel 19:10 And Absalom, whom we anointed over us, is dead  in battle. Now therefore why speak ye not a word of  bringing the king back?  

2 Samuel 19:11 And king David sent to Zadok and to Abiathar  the priests, saying, Speak unto the elders of Judah, saying,  Why are ye the last to bring the king back to his house?  seeing the speech of all Israel is come to the king, even to  his house. 

2 Samuel 19:12 Ye are my brethren, ye are my bones  and my flesh: wherefore then are ye the last to bring back  the king? 

2 Samuel 19:13 And say ye to Amasa, Art thou not of  my bone, and of my flesh? God do so to me, and more also,  if thou be not captain of the host before me continually in  the room of Joab. 

2 Samuel 19:14 And he bowed the heart of all the  men of Judah, even as the heart of one man; so that they  sent this word unto the king, Return thou, and all thy  servants. 

2 Samuel 19:15 So the king returned, and came to Jordan.  And Judah came to Gilgal, to go to meet the king, to  conduct the king over Jordan.  

2 Samuel 19:16 And Shimei the son of Gera, a Benjamite, which  was of Bahurim, hasted and came down with the men of  Judah to meet king David. 

2 Samuel 19:17 And there were a  thousand men of Benjamin with him, and Ziba the servant  of the house of Saul, and his fifteen sons and his twenty  servants with him; and they went over Jordan before the  king. 

2 Samuel 19:18 And there went over a ferry boat to carry over  the king’s household, and to do what he thought good. And  Shimei the son of Gera fell down before the king, as he was  come over Jordan; 

2 Samuel 19:19 And said unto the king, Let not  my lord impute iniquity unto me, neither do thou remember  that which thy servant did perversely the day that my lord  the king went out of Jerusalem, that the king should take it  to his heart. 

2 Samuel 19:20 For thy servant doth know that I have  sinned: therefore, behold, I am come the first this day of all  the house of Joseph to go down to meet my lord the king.  

2 Samuel 19:21 But Abishai the son of Zeruiah answered and said,  Shall not Shimei be put to death for this, because he cursed  the LORD’S anointed? 

2 Samuel 19:22 And David said, What have  I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah, that ye should this day  be adversaries unto me? shall there any man be put to death  this day in Israel? for do not I know that I am this day king  over Israel? 

2 Samuel 19:23 Therefore the king said unto Shimei,  Thou shalt not die. And the king sware unto him.  

2 Samuel 19:24 And Mephibosheth the son of Saul came down to  meet the king, and had neither dressed his feet, nor trimmed  his beard, nor washed his clothes, from the day the king  departed until the day he came again in peace. 

2 Samuel 19:25  And it came to pass, when he was come to Jerusalem to  meet the king, that the king said unto him, Wherefore  wentest not thou with me, Mephibosheth? 

2 Samuel 19:26 And he  answered, My lord, O king, my servant deceived me: for thy  servant said, I will saddle me an ass, that I may ride thereon,  and go to the king; because thy servant is lame. 

2 Samuel 19:27  And he hath slandered thy servant unto my lord the king;  but my lord the king is as an angel of God: do therefore  what is good in thine eyes. 

2 Samuel 19:28 For all of my  father’s house were but dead men before my lord the king:  yet didst thou set thy servant among them that did eat at  thine own table. What right therefore have I yet to cry any  more unto the king? 

2 Samuel 19:29 And the king said unto him,  Why speakest thou any more of thy matters? I have said,  Thou and Ziba divide the land. 

2 Samuel 19:30 And Mephibosheth  said unto the king, Yea, let him take all, forasmuch as my  lord the king is come again in peace unto his own house.    

2 Samuel 19:31 And Barzillai the Gileadite came down from  Rogelim, and went over Jordan with the king, to conduct  him over Jordan. 

2 Samuel 19:32 Now Barzillai was a very aged  man, even fourscore years old: and he had provided the  king of sustenance while he lay at Mahanaim; for he was a  very great man. 

2 Samuel 19:33 And the king said unto Barzillai,  Come thou over with me, and I will feed thee with me in  Jerusalem. 

2 Samuel 19:34 And Barzillai said unto the king, How  long have I to live, that I should go up with the king unto  Jerusalem? 

2 Samuel 19:35 I am this day fourscore years old:  and can I discern between good and evil? can thy servant  taste what I eat or what I drink? can I hear any more the  voice of singing men and singing women? wherefore then  should thy servant be yet a burden unto my lord the king?  

2 Samuel 19:36 Thy servant will go a little way over Jordan with  the king: and why should the king recompense it me with  such a reward? 

2 Samuel 19:37 Let thy servant, I pray thee, turn  back again, that I may die in mine own city, and be buried  by the grave of my father and of my mother. But behold thy  servant Chimham; let him go over with my lord the king;  and do to him what shall seem good unto thee. 

2 Samuel 19:38 And  the king answered, Chimham shall go over with me, and I  will do to him that which shall seem good unto thee: and  whatsoever thou shalt require of me, that will I do for  thee. 

2 Samuel 19:39 And all the people went over Jordan. And  when the king was come over, the king kissed Barzillai, and  blessed him; and he returned unto his own place. 

2 Samuel 19:40  Then the king went on to Gilgal, and Chimham went on  with him: and all the people of Judah conducted the king,  and also half the people of Israel.  

2 Samuel 19:41 And, behold, all the men of Israel came to the  king, and said unto the king, Why have our brethren the  men of Judah stolen thee away, and have brought the king,  and his household, and all David’s men with him, over  Jordan? 

2 Samuel 19:42 And all the men of Judah answered the  men of Israel, Because the king is near of kin to us:  wherefore then be ye angry for this matter? have we eaten at  all of the king’s cost? or hath he given us any gift?  

2 Samuel 19:43 And the men of Israel answered the men of Judah,  and said, We have ten parts in the king, and we have also  more right in David than ye: why then did ye despise us,  that our advice should not be first had in bringing back our  king? And the words of the men of Judah were fiercer than  the words of the men of Israel.  KJV

Comments

Post a Comment