David Flees Jerusalem With Mourning Peopleby abairrn
15:292 Samuel 15:29
Zadok therefore and Abiathar carried the ark of God again to Jerusalem: and they tarried there.
Zadok and Abiathar carried the ark of God back into Jerusalem and remained there in obedience to David's command. The ark was the symbol of God's presence and Israel's strength, and keeping it with him could have rallied the people to David. David refused to use it to strengthen his claim to the throne or to protect himself, and reverence for sacred things kept him from endangering it in his flight or removing it without God's command.
David sent the ark back in submission to the Lord's judgment upon his humiliation, trusting that if he found favor with the Lord he would be brought back to see the ark and its dwelling, but otherwise yielding himself to whatever God chose. He reminded Zadok that as a seer appointed to instruct the people he should return to the city in peace with his son Ahimaaz and Jonathan the son of Abiathar, while David himself would wait in the plain of the wilderness until word came from them to inform him.
Zadok and Abiathar stayed in the city to do David good service by learning the movements and purposes of the rebels and secretly communicating them to the king through their sons. When the priests turned back toward Jerusalem, David's fleeing company felt forsaken even by the ark of God, and the future lay dark with terror and foreboding.
Zadok and Abiathar carried the ark of God back into Jerusalem and remained there in obedience to David's command. The ark was the symbol of God's presence and Israel's strength, and keeping it with him could have rallied the people to David. David refused to use it to strengthen his claim to the throne or to protect himself, and reverence for sacred things kept him from endangering it in his flight or removing it without God's command.
David sent the ark back in submission to the Lord's judgment upon his humiliation, trusting that if he found favor with the Lord he would be brought back to see the ark and its dwelling, but otherwise yielding himself to whatever God chose. He reminded Zadok that as a seer appointed to instruct the people he should return to the city in peace with his son Ahimaaz and Jonathan the son of Abiathar, while David himself would wait in the plain of the wilderness until word came from them to inform him.
Zadok and Abiathar stayed in the city to do David good service by learning the movements and purposes of the rebels and secretly communicating them to the king through their sons. When the priests turned back toward Jerusalem, David's fleeing company felt forsaken even by the ark of God, and the future lay dark with terror and foreboding.