What does David tell Sadoc to do with the ark as he leaves Jerusalem?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

He tells Sadoc to carry it back into the city. If David finds favour with the Lord, the Lord will bring him back to see it and the tabernacle; if not, David says he is ready for what is good before the Lord.

Chapter breakdown

After this, Absalom provides chariots, horsemen and fifty men to run before him. Rising early, he stands at the gate entrance and calls to those coming for the king’s judgment, asking their city. A man answers by naming his tribe of Israel. Absalom says the man’s words seem good and just, but the king has appointed no one to hear him. He wishes he were judge over the land so everyone with business could come to him and receive justice. When someone approaches to salute him, Absalom reaches out, takes him and kisses him. He does this to all Israel coming for the king’s judgment and entices the men’s hearts.

After forty years, as the passage states, Absalom asks David to let him go to Hebron to pay his vows to the Lord. He says that in Gessur of Syria he vowed to offer sacrifice if the Lord brought him back to Jerusalem. David tells him to go in peace, and he goes to Hebron. Absalom sends spies to all Israel’s tribes, ordering them to announce that he reigns in Hebron when they hear the trumpet. Two hundred invited men go with him from Jerusalem in simplicity of heart, knowing nothing of the design. Absalom sends for Achitophel the Gilonite, David’s counsellor, from Gilo. While he offers sacrifices, the conspiracy grows strong and more people gather to Absalom.

A messenger tells David that all Israel follows Absalom with their whole heart. David tells his servants in Jerusalem to rise and flee, since otherwise they will not escape Absalom. They must hurry lest he overtake them, ruin them and strike the city with the sword. The servants say they will willingly do whatever the king commands. David and all his household leave on foot. He leaves ten women, his concubines, to keep the house.

Challoner’s separate note explains concubines here as wives of an inferior degree.

David and all Israel go out on foot and stand far from the house. His servants pass by him, and the bands of Cerethi and Phelethi and six hundred Gethite warriors, who followed him from Geth on foot, go before him. David asks Ethai the Gethite why he comes with them, telling him to return and dwell with the king since he is a stranger from his own place. David says Ethai arrived yesterday and asks whether he must leave with them today. David will go where he is going; Ethai should return with his brethren, and the Lord will show him mercy and truth because he has shown grace and fidelity. Ethai swears by the living Lord and the living king that wherever David is, in death or life, his servant will be there. David tells him to come and cross over. Ethai, all his men and the rest of the people do so.

Everyone weeps aloud as the people pass over. David crosses the brook Cedron, and they march toward the desert way. Sadoc the priest comes with all the Levites carrying God’s covenant ark. They set it down, and Abiathar goes up until all who left the city have finished passing. David tells Sadoc to carry the ark back to the city. If he finds favour with the Lord, the Lord will bring him back and show him the ark and the tabernacle. If the Lord says David does not please him, David is ready for what is good before him. Addressing Sadoc as seer, David tells him to return in peace with his son Achimaas and Abiathar’s son Jonathan, their two sons. David will hide in the wilderness plains until they send word to inform him. Sadoc and Abiathar carry the ark back to Jerusalem and stay there.

David goes up Mount Olivet weeping, barefoot and with his head covered. Everyone with him goes up with covered heads, weeping.

Challoner’s separate note says David weeps here for his sins, which he knows to be the cause of all his sufferings.

David hears that Achitophel has joined Absalom’s conspiracy and asks the Lord to confound his counsel. At the mountaintop, where he is about to worship the Lord, Chusai the Arachite meets him with torn clothes and earth on his head. David says Chusai would burden him if he came along. But if he returns to the city and tells Absalom that he will serve him as he served his father, he will defeat Achitophel’s counsel. Chusai has Sadoc and Abiathar the priests with him, and must tell them anything he hears from the king’s house. Through their sons—Achimaas, Sadoc’s son, and Jonathan, Abiathar’s son—they are to send David everything they hear. Chusai, David’s friend, enters the city, and Absalom comes into Jerusalem.

The story inside

Absalom’s repeated gate conversations draw the hearts of those seeking judgment. He then obtains permission to go to Hebron for a stated vow, while sending instructions for a proclamation of his reign. The two hundred invited men do not know the design; the conspiracy grows as sacrifices are offered. A messenger’s report brings David’s decision to flee before Absalom can overtake him and attack the city. On the way David permits Ethai to return, but Ethai chooses to remain in life or death. David returns the ark with two explicit possible outcomes left to the Lord, and arranges to receive news from the priests. When he hears about Achitophel, he prays against that counsel and sends Chusai back with a specific speaking and reporting plan. The chapter ends at entry into Jerusalem, before that plan’s eventual result.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The two hundred men do not share the spies’ stated task. They go with simplicity of heart and know nothing of the design, while the spies receive the trumpet-and-proclamation command. Keeping the groups distinct prevents everyone present from being labelled a knowing conspirator.
2
David’s words about the ark include both possibilities. He may be brought back to see it and the tabernacle if he finds favour, or the Lord may say he does not please him. His readiness does not remove that condition or promise a return.
3
The reporting plan names each link. Chusai is to tell Sadoc and Abiathar what he hears from the king’s house; Achimaas and Jonathan are to carry word to David. The instructions explain the next steps without pretending the counsel has already been defeated.

Test your recall

How does David’s report plan connect Chusai, the two priests and their sons to his waiting place in the wilderness?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 33202–33224
2 Kings Chapter 15 Absalom’s policy and conspiracy. David is obliged to flee. 15:1. Now after these things Absalom made himself chariots, and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him. 15:2. And Absalom rising up early stood by the entrance of the gate, and when any man had business to come to the king’s judgment, Absalom called him to him, and said: Of what city art thou? He answered, and said: Thy servant is of such tribe of Israel. 15:3. And Absalom answered him: Thy words seem to me good and just. But there is no man appointed by the king to hear thee. And Absalom said: 15:4. O that they would make me judge over the land, that all that have business might come to me, that I might do them justice. 15:5. Moreover when any man came to him to salute him, he put forth his hand, and took him, and kissed him. 15:6. And this he did to all Israel that came for judgment, to be heard by the king, and he enticed the hearts of the men of Israel.
Lines 33226–33247
15:7. And after forty years, Absalom said to king David: Let me go, and pay my vows which I have vowed to the Lord in Hebron. 15:8. For thy servant made a vow, when he was in Gessur of Syria, saying: If the Lord shall bring me again into Jerusalem, I will offer sacrifice to the Lord. 15:9. And king David said to him: Go in peace. And he arose, and went to Hebron. 15:10. And Absalom sent spies into all the tribes of Israel, saying: As soon as you shall hear the sound of the trumpet, say ye: Absalom reigneth in Hebron. 15:11. Now there went with Absalom two hundred men out of Jerusalem that were called, going with simplicity of heart, and knowing nothing of the design. 15:12. Absalom also sent for Achitophel the Gilonite, David’s counsellor, from his city Gilo. And while he was offering sacrifices, there was a strong conspiracy, and the people running together increased with Absalom.
Lines 33249–33261
15:13. And there came a messenger to David, saying: All Israel with their whole heart followeth Absalom. 15:14. And David said to his servants, that were with him in Jerusalem: Arise and let us flee: for we shall not escape else from the face of Absalom: make haste to go out, lest he come and overtake us, and bring ruin upon us, and smite the city with the edge of the sword. 15:15. And the king’s servants said to him: Whatsoever our lord the king shall command, we thy servants will willingly execute. 15:16. And the king went forth, and all his household on foot: and the king left ten women his concubines to keep the house:
Lines 33263–33263
Concubines.... That is, wives of an inferior degree.
Lines 33265–33288
15:17. And the king going forth and all Israel on foot, stood afar off from the house: 15:18. And all his servants walked by him, and the bands of the Cerethi, and the Phelethi, and all the Gethites, valiant warriors, six hundred men who had followed him from Geth on foot, went before the king. 15:19. And the king said to Ethai the Gethite: Why comest thou with us: return and dwell with the king, for thou art a stranger, and art come out of thy own place. 15:20. Yesterday thou camest, and to day shalt thou be forced to go forth with us? but I shall go whither I am going: return thou, and take back thy brethren with thee, and the Lord will shew thee mercy, and truth, because thou hast shewn grace and fidelity. 15:21. And Ethai answered the king, saying: As the Lord liveth, and as my lord the king liveth: in what place soever thou shalt be, my lord, O king, either in death, or in life, there will thy servant be. 15:22. And David said to Ethai: Come, and pass over. And Ethai the Gethite passed, and all the men that were with him, and the rest of the people.
Lines 33290–33314
15:23. And they all wept with a loud voice, and all the people passed over: the king also himself went over the brook Cedron, and all the people marched towards the way that looketh to the desert. 15:24. And Sadoc the priest also came, and all the Levites with him carrying the ark of the covenant of God, and they set down the ark of God: and Abiathar went up, till all the people that was come out of the city had done passing. 15:25. And the king said to Sadoc: Carry back the ark of God into the city: if I shall find grace in the sight of the Lord, he will bring me again, and he will shew me it, and his tabernacle. 15:26. But if he shall say to me: Thou pleasest me not: I am ready, let him do that which is good before him. 15:27. And the king said to Sadoc the priest: O seer, return into the city in peace: and let Achimaas thy son, and Jonathan the son of Abiathar, your two sons, be with you. 15:28. Behold I will lie hid in the plains of the wilderness, till there come word from you to certify me. 15:29. So Sadoc and Abiathar carried back the ark of God into Jerusalem: and they tarried there.
Lines 33316–33318
15:30. But David went up by the ascent of mount Olivet, going up and weeping, walking barefoot, and with his head covered, and all the people that were with them, went up with their heads covered weeping.
Lines 33320–33321
Weeping, etc.... David on this occasion wept for his sins, which he knew were the cause of all his sufferings.
Lines 33323–33349
15:31. And it was told David that Achitophel also was in the conspiracy with Absalom, and David said: Infatuate, O Lord, I beseech thee, the counsel of Achitophel. 15:32. And when David was come to the top of the mountain, where he was about to adore the Lord, behold Chusai the Arachite, came to meet him with his garment rent and his head covered with earth. 15:33. And David said to him: If thou come with me, thou wilt be a burden to me: 15:34. But if thou return into the city, and wilt say to Absalom: I am thy servant, O king: as I have been thy father’s servant, so I will be thy servant: thou shalt defeat the counsel of Achitophel. 15:35. And thou hast with thee Sadoc, and Abiathar the priests: and what thing soever thou shalt hear out of the king’s house, thou shalt tell it to Sadoc and Abiathar the priests. 15:36. And there are with them their two sons Achimaas; the son of Sadoc, and Jonathan the son of Abiathar: and you shall send by them to me every thing that you shall hear. 15:37. Then Chusai the friend of David went into the city, and Absalom came into Jerusalem.