Study Desk

During his lifetime, Absalom had set up for himself a pillar in the King's Valley, for he had said, "I have no son to preserve the memory of my name." So he gave the pillar his name, and to this day it is called Absalom's Monument.

But Joab replied, "You are not the man to take good news today. You may do it another day, but you must not do so today, because the king's son is dead."

So Joab said to a Cushite, "Go, tell the king what you have seen." The Cushite bowed to Joab and took off running.

"No matter what, I want to run!" he replied. "Then run!" Joab told him. So Ahimaaz ran by way of the plain and outran the Cushite.

So he called out and told the king. "If he is alone," the king replied, "he bears good news." As the first runner drew near,

"Move aside," said the king, "and stand here." So he stepped aside.

So they returned to the city quietly that day, as people steal away in humiliation after fleeing a battle.

So the king got up and sat in the gate, and all the people were told: "Behold, the king is sitting in the gate." So they all came before the king. Meanwhile, the Israelites had fled, each man to his home.

But Absalom, the man we anointed over us, has died in battle. So why do you say nothing about restoring the king?"

You are my brothers, my own flesh and blood. So why should you be the last to restore the king?'

And say to Amasa, 'Aren't you my flesh and blood? May God punish me, and ever so severely, if from this time you are not the commander of my army in place of Joab!'"

So Amasa swayed the hearts of all the men of Judah as though they were one man, and they sent word to the king: "Return, you and all your servants."

So the king returned, and when he arrived at the Jordan, the men of Judah came to Gilgal to meet him and escort him across the Jordan.

For your servant knows that I have sinned, so here I am today as the first of all the house of Joseph to come down to meet my lord the king."

So the king said to Shimei, "You shall not die." Then the king swore an oath to him.

"My lord the king," he replied, "because I am lame, I said, 'I will have my donkey saddled so that I may ride on it and go with the king.' But my servant Ziba deceived me,

and he has slandered your servant to my lord the king. Yet my lord the king is like the Angel of God, so do what is good in your eyes.

So all the people crossed the Jordan, and then the king crossed over. The king kissed Barzillai and blessed him, and Barzillai returned home.

"We have ten shares in the king," answered the men of Israel, "so we have more claim to David than you. Why then do you despise us? Were we not the first to speak of restoring our king?" But the men of Judah pressed even harder than the men of Israel.

So all the men of Israel deserted David to follow Sheba son of Bichri. But the men of Judah stayed by their king all the way from the Jordan to Jerusalem.