Re:Verse passage – 2 Samuel 15 (day two)
But Ittai answered the king and said, “As the Lord lives, and as my lord the king lives, surely wherever my lord the king may be, whether for death or for life, there also your servant will be.” Vs. 21
Who was this Ittai character, and why didn’t David act more like him? Maybe you missed this verse. There are many names and places mentioned and many are not spoken of again. Friends of David turning to follow Absalom. Friends of David sent to spy on Absalom. Friends of Absalom giving really bad counsel. Then there is Ittai. While we may not know his back story, we can see he is a man of conviction. He recognizes David’s authority and shows great integrity by staying at his side.
This rift between David and Absalom had grown and simmered for many years, and from our text there seems to be no attempts at true reconciliation. Absalom deals with his anger by plotting for years to take the kingdom. David, the true king, flees. Is this the same David who killed his tens of thousands in battle with Saul? Where was the David we tell our kids about in Sunday school? Is this evidence of the guilt he still carried from his very public shame? We are not told. What we are told is the David ran rather than confront his own son. Is your conflict worth giving up the kingdom?
At our Monday school discussion, we at first felt the same way about David fleeing from Absalom‘s army. But then we talked about how David himself had once conquered Jerusalem…he knew it had vulnerabilities. In order to save his kingdom, he went out of the citadel. He put himself in the wilderness to enable better military strategy. And it would seem David always did better on the battlefield than in the palace. It made him more dependent on God!