He was a good-looking man, the
best-looking man in all of Israel, and he was a flatterer. He flattered
these people continually. Look in chapter 15, verse 2,
And Absalom rose up early, and stood beside the way of the gate.
And it was so that when any man that had a controversy came to
the king for judgment, Then Absalom calleth unto him, and said, O
what city art thou? And he said, Thy servant is one
of the tribes of Israel. And Absalom said unto him, See,
thy matters are good and right, but there's no man deputed of
the king to hear thee. Now see, he's telling everybody
just what they want to hear. Your matters are good and right.
Everything's fine. So he was really winning the
people over. Verse 14. And David said unto
all his servants that were with him at Jerusalem, arise and let
us flee for we shall not else escape from Absalom. Make speed
to depart lest he overtake us suddenly and bring evil upon
us and smite the city with the edge of the sword. And the king's
servants said unto the king, behold, thy servants are ready
to do whatsoever my lord the king shall appoint. And the king
went forth, and all his household after him. And the king left
ten concubines, ten women, which were concubines, to keep the
house. And the king went forth, and all the people after him,
and tarried in a place that was far off. And all his servants
passed on beside him, and all the Cherethites, and all the
Pelethites, and all the Gittites, six hundred men which came after
him from Gath, passed on before the king. Now this is interesting.
We don't read of any Israelites going with him. only these men
of Philistia, the Philistines, who he had come to know when
he was fleeing from Saul, and he went to the land of the Philistines,
and these men joined themselves with him. Verse 19, and then said the king to Attei,
the Gittite, wherefore goest thou also with us? Return to
thy place and abide with the king, even cause I have some
king at this time. For thou art a stranger also
in an exile, whereas thou camest not but yesterday. Should I this
day make thee go up and down with us, seeing I go, whether
I may return now and take back thy brethren? Mercy and truth
be with thee. I don't want you coming with
me and going through all the trouble that I'm going to go
through. And today I answered the king and said, As the Lord
liveth, and as my Lord the King liveth, surely in what place
my Lord the King shall be, whether in death or life, even there
also will thy servant be. And David said to Attai, go and
pass over, and Attai the Gittite, passed over and all his men and
all the little ones that were with him. Let's pray together. Lord, we come into your presence
in the name of thy son. And Lord, we ask in his name
that you would be pleased to meet with us. to speak in power
to our hearts from your word. Lord, penetrate our hearts by
your spirit and give us the grace to sit at the feet of thy son
and hear his word. Lord, we ask that we might hear
thy word. We don't want to hear the words
of a man. Lord, give us thy word for Christ's
sake. Lord, we confess our sins. Lord,
they're ever before us and we pray for forgiveness. We pray
for cleansing and Lord, how we thank you for the freeness of
your grace. How we thank you for the precious
blood of your son that cleanses us from all sin. Lord, we pray
for our nation at this time. We pray that, as we know it will
be done, that your will would be done. But Lord, we desire
to live a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.
And we ask that your will would be done at this time in our country,
that you'd give our leaders wisdom, cause them to, well, Lord, we're
glad their heart is in your hand. And as the rivers of water, you
turn them with us, whoever they will. Lord, bless all your people
wherever they meet together. Give us the spirit of worship.
Give us the spirit of faith. Give us the spirit of love, more
love to you and more love to one another. Give us the spirit
of a servant. Lord, enable us to be like this
man you've provided us to see in your word, Etei. Cause us
to be loyal to thy son, to the core. Lord, we know we will not
and cannot be apart from your grace, but we ask that you would
do this for us and it is for Christ's sake. In his name we
pray, amen. Now this is a light shining in
a dark place. David had so many ups and downs
in his life. When he killed Goliath, he was
the toast of Israel. They sang, David, has killed
10,000 and Saul's only killed thousands. And then he spent
some six years fleeing from Saul at such a dark time in his life. He went to the Philistines and
stayed there, the enemies of the Lord. And then all of a sudden,
the Lord brings him out and he becomes the most powerful man
in all the world. The scripture says, the fear
of David fell on every nation. I mean, things were great. And
then they went all the way to the bottom again. The hearts
of the men of Israel turn after Absalom. And you can see this,
Absalom, the best looking man in all of Israel. And what a
flatterer. He told everybody exactly what
they wanted to hear. And this is the way somebody's
gonna get on in this life. And he turned all the hearts
of the men of Israel toward himself and away from David. And he's
going to take over. And I suppose he's gonna kill
David. That's what his purpose is because
he wants to be king. He declared he's king in Hebron. And look in verse 13. And there
came a messenger to David saying, the hearts of the men of Israel
are all after Absalom. Now, David feels a great deal
of grief at this time. If you read the Psalms that he
composed during this time, he speaks a whole lot of having
a disease. He was very ill. Now, what does that do to somebody?
If you've ever been sick, you know, it affects you. He was
very ill. And David knew that it was his
sin that brought on all this. I mean, he's just thinking, well,
here it goes. Here's what the Lord said would
happen. He knew that it was his sin that brought on all of this. He feels guilty. The Lord told
him this was gonna happen. Look at his attitude in verse
25 of this chapter. And the king said unto Zadok,
carry back the ark of God into the city, if I shall find favor
in the eyes of the Lord. And that word favor is grace,
grace. Same word that's used with regard
to Noah. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. Now he understood something about
grace. Oh, don't you know he loved the grace of God? He understood
something about grace. And he says, if I shall find
favor in the eyes of the Lord, he will bring me again and show
me both it, the ark, and his habitation, his dwelling place,
his presence. But if he does say, I have no
delight in thee, behold, here am I. Let him do to me as seemeth
good unto him. What an attitude. Somebody says,
well, that's unbelief. Well, I understand him feeling
that way, don't you? If he has no delight in me, here
I am. Whatever he does is right. I'm
in his hands. And that was David's attitude
at this time when he hears that Absalom is leading this revolt.
He, well, I got it coming. I'm getting what I deserve. That
was his attitude. Back to verse 14. And David said unto all his servants
that were with him at Jerusalem, arise and let us flee. He didn't try to put up a fight
against Absalom. He knew Absalom and knew that
he would probably be very violent in Jerusalem and smite the city
with the edge of the sword, as it says. And he thought, we ought
to just leave to save all the people, all this trouble that
I have brought on. And David said unto all the servants
that were with him in Jerusalem, arise and let us flee, for we
shall not else escape from Absalom. Make speed to depart, lest he
overtake us suddenly and bring evil upon us and smite the city
with the edge of the sword. And the king's servants, these
men from Gath, look what they said. Behold, thy servants are
ready to do whatsoever my Lord the king shall appoint. I love
what the Lord's mother said to the servants when he was making
water into wine. He said, whatsoever he saith
to you, do it. Isn't that a good rule of conduct?
And that's what these servants say. They say, we're ready to
do whatever you say to do. Verse 16, And the king went forth,
and all his household after him. And the king left ten women,
which were concubines, to keep the house. Now Absalom will later
rape these in front of all of Israel in answer to what the
Lord said would happen. I'm going to give your wives
into the hands of thy neighbor. And he's going to do this in
front of all the son. As a matter of fact, look in first, I mean,
second Samuel 16 verse 21. And Ahithophel, we remember him
from last week. He was the betrayer. He was Bathsheba's
grandfather. And we can understand why he
became so upset with David. How would you feel if David did
your grandfather the way he did Bathsheba? And I'm sure that
I understand. I understand. And he just couldn't
forgive David. And you understand his bitterness
and his resentment toward David. And Ahithophel said unto Absalom,
Go in unto thy father's concubines, which he hath left to keep the
house, and all Israel shall hear that thou art abhorred of thy
father. Then shall the hands of all that are with thee be
strong. So they spread Absalom a tent upon the top of the house,
And Absalom went in unto his father's concubines in the sight
of all of Israel, just like God said would take place. Now somebody
says, is it okay for David to have concubines? No, it's not.
It was forbidden in the scripture. The king was not to multiply
wives to himself. The Bible said that, but David
did it anyway. How could he do that? Ask yourself the same question. How can you do the things you
do? How can I do the things I do? I mean, there's no excuse for
it. It's wrong and it got David into trouble. But here he leaves
these concubines and they're gonna end up paying the price,
but he leaves these concubines to watch over his house while
he flees. Verse 17. And the king went forth, and
all the people after him, and tarried in a place that was far
off. And all his servants passed on
beside him, and all the Cherethites, and all the Pelethites, and all
the Gittites, six hundred men which came after him from Gath."
Now, where's Gath? Remember Goliath of Gath? It's
the land of the Philistines. And when he had fled from Saul
and stayed in the land of the Philistines, there were a bunch
of men from Philistia who joined themselves with him, and they
would stay loyal to him throughout his life. Turn back to 1 Samuel
22. Here's where the first 400 of
them came, and the other 200 from Matthei the Gittite at a
later date. But look at these people. Verse 1 of chapter 22, David's
still in Philistia. The king of Gath, he'd act like
a madman in front of Achish, the king of Gath. And so Achish
says, what do I need with this man? Get him out of here. And
so what did he do? David therefore departed thence
and escaped to the cave of Adullam. And when his brethren in all
his father's house heard, they went down thither to him. And
everyone that was in distress, And everyone that was in debt,
and everyone that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him. And he became a captain over
them, and there were with him about 400 men. Now what a description
of the people who come to Christ. Distressed. Distressed over their
sin. In debt. A debt they cannot pay
and they know it. And they're discontent. They're
not satisfied with their religion. They're not satisfied with their
righteousness. They're not satisfied with anything
about them. They're distressed in debt and
discontent. And these people come to David,
the greater David. And he became captain over them. And these men, as a matter of
fact, the 600 men at Etai joined later. And that was the bunch
that saved, in 1 Samuel chapter 30, when the 600 men went after
the Amalekites who had raided Ziklag and taken all of David's
and all of these men's goods. And they came and raided them
and restored it all. These are the 600 men who remained
loyal to David. Now, think of this. At this point,
not one Israelite stayed with David. Not one. Just these 600 men who were distressed,
in debt, and discontent. Now that's the type of person
who is going to remain loyal to Christ. Someone who has seen
their utter need of Him. Because they're distressed. They're in debt. It's a debt
they can't pay. They're unsatisfied with everything about themselves.
Now that's the person who's going to come to Christ. And that's
the person who's going to remain loyal to the Lord Jesus Christ.
These 600 men. Verse 19. Now, there'll be some other Israelites
later on that'll go with him, a few. But right now, all there
is are these Philistines. Then said the king to Attei the
Gittite, wherefore goest thou also with us? You don't want
to go with us and bring your family and these people into
all this trouble. Return to thy place and abide
with the king. He even calls Absalom the king.
He's... bowing to what it seems like
the Lord in his providence is doing. And he just bows to it. He said, go, go back with him.
For thou art a stranger also and an exile. Wherefore thou
camest but yesterday. You've not been here very long.
Should I this day make thee go up and down with us, it's going
to be nothing but trouble. Seeing I go, whether I may return
now and take back thy brethren, mercy and truth be with thee. Now he loved this man. And here
was his desire, I don't want you to come with me where I'm
going to just bring you into trouble. All you're going to
have is trouble in being with me. Here's what I want for you,
mercy and truth. I preached a couple of weeks
ago on mercy rejoices against judgment. And Claire Sharon and
I were talking about that. He said, I want to be a merciful
person. I want that more than anything else. There's only one
thing I want more. I want to be shown mercy. I want to be shown mercy. Now,
that's what he desires for Atai. Mercy and truth. The mercy of
God, the truth of the gospel be with thee. Now, Atai's name means And we're going to see why as
we read this response of Attei to David saying, go ahead, you're
free to leave. You'll be a lot better off leaving. You don't want to be around me.
Verse 21, and Attei answered the king. You know, I love the
way in this passage of scripture, David is always referred to as
the king. Not David, but the king. Absalom said, I'm going
to be king. No, David's still king. Even
though things look so bad right now, and this is such a dark
time, David's still king. And God the Holy Spirit inspires
them to refer to David as the king. You know, the Lord Jesus
Christ is always the king, no matter what things look like.
He's still always the King. Always in control. Always doing
His will. We might not understand what's
going on, but He does. And we rejoice in that. David's
the King. And to say, I answered the King
and said, as the Lord liveth and as my Lord the King liveth,
surely in what place my Lord the King shall be, whether in
death or life, Even there also will thy servant be. Isn't that
beautiful? Turn with me for a moment to
Ruth chapter one. I'm sure you know what passage
I'm going to refer to. Very much like what Ruth said
to Naomi. Verse 15. And she said, behold,
thy sister-in-law has gone back unto her people, unto her gods.
Return thou after thy sister-in-law. And Ruth said, entreat me not
to leave thee, or to return from following after thee. For whether
thou goest, I will go. And where thou lodgest, I will
lodge. Thy people shall be my people,
and thy God my God. Where thou diest, will I die. and there will I be buried. The
Lord do so to me and more also if all but death part thee and
me. Now, Attei says in no uncertain
terms, the only place I want to be is with you. The only place I want to be is
with you. The one place I want to be is
with Christ. Seated together with Him. He said, Father, I will that
they whom you've given me be with me where I am that they
may behold my glory. And that's what every believer
wants. Wherever he is, that's where I want to be. Romans 8, 32 says, He that spared
not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not with him freely give us all things? Now you see why I
want to be with Christ? There's a couple of reasons.
One, because this is the only place salvation is. I want to be with Him. Because
that's where God freely gives us all things. God can freely
give me all things through Christ. And I want to behold His beauty. And I want to behold His glory. Heaven will be beholding His
face. David said, one thing have I
desired of the Lord, and that will I seek after, that I may
dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold
the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple. Now, I tell you, we learn something
about loyalty here. Now, there's two things involved
in somebody being loyal. First, the object of their loyalty
has shown them that he's more interested in their interests
than his own. Now, what do I mean by that?
David said, you'll be better off being away
from me. And that created in Attei's heart this loyalty. He really is seeking my best.
And he was loyal to him. But secondly, you're going to
have to have the person who is loyal in the first place. That's
by grace in their character. They're going to be loyal to
someone who deserves loyalty. David earned this man's loyalty. And this man freely gave David
his loyalty. So different from Ahithophel. Now, Etai did this at a time
when it could have cost him his life and he knew it. He knew
where David was at this time and he demonstrated his loyalty
when David was down. A friend, the scripture says,
is born for what? Adversity. And there is a friend
that sticks closer than a brother. He pledged his loyalty at a time
when nobody else was standing with David. None of the Israelites
were, but he was. And Tehi did this decisively. There's no doubt what was in
his heart. He was loyal to David. And he did this voluntarily. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. The only way you can be loyal
to somebody is because that's what you want. That's what you
desire. He did this willingly. And to tell you, I did this publicly.
He identified with David at this time. And he wanted everybody
to see he was identified with David. And if David goes down,
I'm going down with him. Now, here's the main point that
I'd like to make. Itai, or however you say his
name, I'm always, it's a hard name to pronounce. Itai understood
completely that what happened to him personally was totally
dependent on what happened to David. Now there we see faith. I understand
that whatever happens to me is completely dependent on what
Christ does. If He died, I died with Him. If He paid for my sins, they're
paid for. If He was raised and I'm in Him,
I was raised in Him. Did you notice how He said, whether
in death or whether in life, so shall thy servant be. Whatever happens to me, if I
live, if I die, whatever happens to me is completely 100% dependent
upon what you do. Is that not faith in Christ? We know, if we're believers,
we know that our eternal destiny is completely dependent upon
Him. What I thought of was David and
Goliath. If David wins, who else wins? All of Israel. If David loses,
who else loses? All of Israel. My eternal destiny
determined by one man. So then David says in verse 22,
And David said to Ittai, Go and pass over. You're going
to be with me. Go pass over with everybody else.
You're going to be with me. What an honor. What an honor.
Could there be a greater honor? And to Taii the Gittite passed
over, and all his men and all the little ones that were with
him. And all the country wept with a loud voice. And all the
people passed over, these 600 men. The king also himself passed
over the book of Chidron. And all the people passed over
towards the way of the wilderness. Now, one thing that's significant
about that, and that's the next thing we'll consider out of this,
who else passed over the brook Chodron? John 18, 1, after the
Lord had been betrayed. The scripture says he passed
over the brook Chodron, just like David did. So David is such
a type of Christ in all this. We'll consider that next time,
but may God give us grace to be just like Ettehiah the Gittite.