What warning does Joab give David after the king’s grief turns the victory into mourning?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

Joab swears by the Lord that if David does not go out and speak to satisfy his servants, not one will stay with him that night. David rises and sits in the gate, and the people come before him.

Chapter breakdown

Joab is told that the king weeps and mourns for his son. The victory that day becomes mourning for all the people because they hear that the king grieves for his son. They avoid entering the city that day, like people who have turned their backs and fled from battle. David covers his head and cries aloud, repeatedly calling Absalom his son.

Joab enters the house and tells David that he has shamed all the servants who saved his life and the lives of his sons, daughters, wives and concubines. He charges David with loving those who hate him and hating those who love him, and with showing no care for his nobles or servants. Joab says he perceives that David would have been pleased if Absalom had lived and all of them had died. He tells David to rise, go out and speak to satisfy his servants. Swearing by the Lord, he warns that if David does not go out, not one will remain with him that night; this will be worse than all the evils he has suffered from his youth until now. David rises and sits in the gate. When the people are told, they all come before him, while Israel flees to their own dwellings.

The people dispute throughout Israel’s tribes. They recall that David delivered them from their enemies and the Philistines but has now fled the land because of Absalom. Since Absalom, whom they anointed over them, has died in battle, they ask why the king has not been brought back. This talk reaches David in his house. He sends Sadoc and Abiathar the priests to ask Juda’s ancients why they are last to bring him home: they are his brethren, his bone and flesh. They are also to tell Amasa that he is David’s bone and flesh and give him David’s oath that he will always be chief captain before him in Joab’s place. David inclines the hearts of all Juda’s men as one man, and they invite him and all his servants to return. David comes as far as the Jordan; all Juda comes as far as Galgal to meet him and bring him across.

Semei, son of Gera, a son of Jemini from Bahurim, hurries down with Juda’s men to meet David, with a thousand men of Benjamin. Siba, servant of Saul’s house, is there with his fifteen sons and twenty servants. They cross the Jordan and pass the fords before the king to help his household across and obey his command. Semei falls before the king after crossing and asks him not to charge him with his iniquity, remember his injuries on the day David left Jerusalem, or keep them in his heart. He acknowledges his sin and says he has come first that day of all Joseph’s house to meet his lord. Abisai, son of Sarvia, asks whether Semei should escape death after cursing the Lord’s anointed. David asks what he has to do with the sons of Sarvia and why they are a satan to him this day. He asks whether anyone should be killed in Israel that day, when he knows he is made king over Israel. He tells Semei he will not die and swears to him.

Miphiboseth, described here as the son of Saul, comes down to meet David. From David’s departure until his peaceful return, he has not washed his feet, trimmed his beard or washed his clothes. Meeting him at Jerusalem, David asks why he did not come with him. Miphiboseth says his servant despised him: he asked for an ass to be saddled so that he could ride with the king, because he is lame. He says the servant also accused him before David, but calls David like an angel of God and tells him to do what pleases him. He says all his father’s house were no better than worthy of death before the king, yet David seated him among his table’s guests. He asks what just complaint or further right to appeal he has. David tells him to say no more: his determination is that Miphiboseth and Siba divide the possessions. Miphiboseth replies that Siba may take all, since his lord has returned peacefully to his house.

Berzellai the Galaadite comes down from Rogelim and brings David over the Jordan, ready to accompany him beyond the river. He is eighty years old and very rich; he supplied David while he stayed in the camp. David invites him to come and rest securely with him in Jerusalem. Berzellai asks how many years of life remain for him to go there. At eighty, he asks whether his senses can distinguish sweet from bitter, whether food or drink can delight him, or whether he can still hear singing men and women. Why should he burden the king? He will go only a little way from the Jordan and does not need this reward. He asks to return, die in his own city and be buried by his father’s and mother’s sepulchre. He points instead to the king’s servant Chamaam, asking David to take him and do what seems good for him.

David agrees to take Chamaam over with him and do for him whatever pleases Berzellai. He promises that Berzellai will obtain all he asks of him. After all the people and the king cross the Jordan, David kisses Berzellai and blesses him, and Berzellai returns to his own place. David goes on to Galgal with Chamaam. All Juda’s people have brought the king across, but only half Israel’s people are there.

Israel’s men come together to ask why their brethren of Juda have stolen David away and brought him, his household and all his men over the Jordan. Juda’s men answer that the king is nearer to them. They ask why Israel is angry and whether they have eaten anything of the king’s or received gifts. Israel’s men answer that they have ten parts in the king more than Juda and that David belongs to them more. They ask why Juda has wronged them and why they were not told first so they could bring back their king. Juda’s men answer more harshly than Israel’s.

The story inside

David’s return begins with a warning from Joab and ends with an argument between the people bringing him back. Joab says the king’s mourning has shamed those who saved his household and warns of abandonment if he does not come out. David sits in the gate. Israel discusses restoring him, and David sends a request through the priests to Juda, including an oath about Amasa’s command. At the return, he swears Semei will not die, hears Miphiboseth’s defense and orders a division of possessions. Berzellai declines the Jerusalem invitation and asks David to take Chamaam instead. The crossing succeeds, but Israel and Juda dispute who should have brought the king across and whose claim to him is greater.

Lessons worth keeping

1
Joab’s warning is a condition, not a completed desertion. He says no one will stay that night if David does not go out. David then sits in the gate and the people come before him. This sequence explains the change without claiming that Joab’s harsh account of David’s feelings is independently proved.
2
Miphiboseth’s defense and David’s ruling are different parts of the exchange. Miphiboseth says his servant frustrated his intended departure and accused him. David orders the possessions divided; Miphiboseth says Siba may take all because David has returned peacefully. The text does not explain the king’s private reasoning or announce a formal vindication.
3
Berzellai gives specific reasons for declining the invitation. He is eighty, questions what his senses can still enjoy, does not want to be a burden and wishes to die near his parents’ burial place. His request concerning Chamaam follows those reasons; the passage does not state their family relationship.

Test your recall

What does Joab say will happen if David stays inside, and what action does David take before the people come to him?

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 33728–33745
2 Kings Chapter 19 David, at the remonstrances of Joab, ceaseth his mourning. He is invited back and met by Semei and Miphiboseth: a strife between the men of Juda and the men of Israel. 19:1. And it was told Joab, that the king wept and mourned for his son: 19:2. And the victory that day was turned into mourning unto all the people: for the people heard say that day: The king grieveth for his son. 19:3. And the people shunned the going into the city that day as a people would do that hath turned their backs, and fled away from the battle. 19:4. And the king covered his head, and cried with a loud voice: O my son Absalom, O Absalom my son, O my son.
Lines 33747–33765
19:5. Then Joab going into the house to the king, said: Thou hast shamed this day the faces of all thy servants, that 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. 19:6. Thou lovest them that hate thee, and thou hatest them that love thee: and thou hast shewn this day that thou carest not for thy nobles, nor for thy servants: and I now plainly perceive that if Absalom had lived, and all we had been slain, then it would have pleased thee. 19:7. Now therefore arise, and go out, and speak to the satisfaction of thy servants: for I swear to thee by the Lord, that if thou wilt not go forth, there will not tarry with thee so much as one this night: and that will be worse to thee, than all the evils that have befallen thee from thy youth until now. 19:8. Then the king arose and sat in the gate: and it was told to all the people that the king sat in the gate: and all the people came before the king, but Israel fled to their own dwellings.
Lines 33767–33793
19:9. And all the people were at strife in all the tribes of Israel, saying: The king delivered us out of the hand of our enemies, and he saved us out of the hand of the Philistines: and now he is fled out of the land for Absalom. 19:10. But Absalom, whom we anointed over us, is dead in the battle: how long are you silent, and bring not back the king? 19:11. And king David sent to Sadoc, and Abiathar the priests, saying: Speak to the ancients of Juda, saying: Why are you the last to bring the king back to his house? (For the talk of all Israel was come to the king in his house.) 19:12. You are my brethren, you are my bone, and my flesh, why are you the last to bring back the king? 19:13. And say ye to Amasa: Art not thou my bone, and my flesh? So do God to me and add more, if thou be not the chief captain of the army before me always in the place of Joab. 19:14. And he inclined the heart of all the men of Juda, as it were of one man: and they sent to the king, saying: Return thou, and all thy servants. 19:15. And the king returned and came as far as the Jordan, and all Juda came as far as Galgal to meet the king, and to bring him over the Jordan.
Lines 33795–33823
19:16. And Semei the son of Gera the son of Jemini of Bahurim, made haste and went down with the men of Juda to meet king David, 19:17. With a thousand men of Benjamin, and Siba the servant of the house of Saul: and his fifteen sons, and twenty servants were with him: and going over the Jordan, 19:18.They passed the fords before the king, that they might help over the king’s household, and do according to his commandment. And Semei the son of Gera falling down before the king, when he was come over the Jordan, 19:19. Said to him: Impute not to me, my lord, the iniquity, nor remember the injuries of thy servant on the day that thou, my lord, the king, wentest out of Jerusalem, nor lay it up in thy heart, O king. 19:20. For I thy servant acknowledge my sin: and therefore I am come this day the first of all the house of Joseph, and am come down to meet my lord the king. 19:21. But Abisai the son of Sarvia answering, said: Shall Semei for these words not be put to death, because he cursed the Lord’s anointed? 19:22. And David said: What have I to do with you, ye sons of Sarvia? why are you a satan this day to me? shall there any man be killed this day in Israel? do not I know that this day I am made king over Israel? 19:23. And the king said to Semei: Thou shalt not die. And he swore unto him.
Lines 33825–33850
19:24. And Miphiboseth the son of Saul came down to meet the king, and he had neither washed his feet, nor trimmed his beard: nor washed his garments from the day that the king went out, until the day of his return in peace. 19:25. And when he met the king at Jerusalem, the king said to him: Why camest thou not with me, Miphiboseth? 19:26. And he answering, said: My lord, O king, my servant despised me: for I thy servant spoke to him to saddle me an ass, that I might get on and go with the king: for I thy servant am lame. 19:27. Moreover he hath also accused me thy servant to thee, my lord the king: but thou my lord the king art as an angel of God, do what pleaseth thee. 19:28. For all of my father’s house were no better than worthy of death before my lord the king; and thou hast set me thy servant among the guests of thy table: what just complaint therefore have I? or what right to cry any more to the king? 19:29. Then the king said to him: Why speakest thou any more? what I have said is determined: thou and Siba divide the possessions. 19:30. And Miphiboseth answered the king: Yea, let him take all, forasmuch as my lord the king is returned peaceably into his house.
Lines 33852–33877
19:31. Berzellai also the Galaadite coming down from Rogelim, brought the king over the Jordan, being ready also to wait on him beyond the river. 19:32. Now Berzellai the Galaadite was of a great age, that is to say, fourscore years old, and he provided the king with sustenance when he abode in the camp: for he was a man exceeding rich. 19:33. And the king said to Berzellai: Come with me that thou mayest rest secure with me in Jerusalem. 19:34. And Berzellai said to the king: How many are the days of the years of my life, that I should go up with the king to Jerusalem? 19:35. I am this day fourscore years old, are my senses quick to discern sweet and bitter? or can meat or drink delight thy servant? or can I hear any more the voice of singing men and singing women? why should thy servant be a burden to my lord, the king? 19:36. I thy servant will go on a little way from the Jordan with thee: I need not this recompense. 19:37. But I beseech thee let thy servant return, and die in my own city, and be buried by the sepulchre of my father, and of my mother. But there is thy servant Chamaam, let him go with thee, my lord, the king, and do to him whatsoever seemeth good to thee.
Lines 33879–33889
19:38. Then the king said to him: Let Chamaam go over with me, and I will do for him whatsoever shall please thee, and all that thou shalt ask of me, thou shalt obtain. 19:39. And when all the people and the king had passed over the Jordan, the king kissed Berzellai, and blessed him: and he returned to his own place. 19:40. So the king went on to Galgal, and Chamaam with him. Now all the people of Juda had brought the king over, and only half of the people of Israel were there.
Lines 33891–33904
19:41. Therefore all the men of Israel running together to the king, said to him: Why have our brethren the men of Juda stolen thee away, and have brought the king and his household over the Jordan, and all the men of David with him? 19:42. And all the men of Juda answered the men of Israel: Because the king is nearer to me: why art thou angry for this matter? have we eaten any thing of the king’s, or have any gifts been given us? 19:43. And the men of Israel answered the men of Juda, and said: I have ten parts in the king more than thou, and David belongeth to me more than to thee: why hast thou done me a wrong, and why was it not told me first, that I might bring back my king? And the men of Juda answered more harshly than the men of Israel.