A sad sight confronts us as we see David leaving the city of Jerusalem with tears running down his face. We meet those who broke his heart and caused his sorrow:
Absalom, ‘who stole the hearts of the men of Israel’, v. 6. David had allowed him back to the kingdom and paid the price for this indiscretion. It was David alone who deserved the loyalty of the people and we do well to remember that the Lord Jesus deserves and demands the total affection of our hearts.
Ahithophel, could have been described by David as, ‘… mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me’, Ps. 41. 9. As David’s counsellor, Ahithophel had been as close to him as he could have been and yet Absalom was able to enlist his support. It is also distressing to observe that he was drawn away while he was offering sacrifices! He serves as a warning to us that, in any adverse circumstances that might occur in our lives, we need to be on our guard against the subtle activities of those who seek to ‘steal our hearts’ away from the Lord.
Two hundred men, who were living in close proximity to the king in Jerusalem, were attracted to Absalom. He called them (addressed them by name) and they went in ignorance, i.e. they could not have told you why they were there! He knew the people who were so unstable and gullible that they could easily be persuaded to follow him.
Absalom had no difficulty in gaining support for his rebellion. We are told that ‘the conspiracy (unlawful alliance) was strong; for the people increased continually with Absalom’, v. 12. As we watch David crossing the brook Kidron, we are reminded that the Lord Jesus crossed the same brook, entered the garden of Gethsemane and was betrayed by His ‘own familiar friend’, Judas Iscariot, John 18. 1-2. Soon after, His own disciples forsook Him and Peter denied knowing Him. The words of the Lord, spoken to His disciples on another occasion, come as a challenge to us, ‘Will ye also go away?’ May our response be, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life’, John 6. 67-68.
