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One-sentence summary: David is brought back to Jerusalem, the people are fickle, and a rebel is killed.
Joab is told David is weeping for Absolom, so the victory is turned into mourning for all the people, and it says the people steal back into the city the way people do when they steal away when they flee battle. David covers his face and cries out in a loud voice, "My son! Absolom! My son!" Then, Joab comes to the king's house and tells David he has disgraced his servants who has saved his life and the life of his household, since he "loves [his] enemies and hates [his] friends." He says if Absolom had lived and they had died, it probably would have pleased David. He tells him to go out and speak comfort to his servants, and that if he doesn't, no one will stay with him, which will be the worst thing that has ever happened to him. So David arises and sits at the gate, and the people come before him, since they had fled to their tents. All the people were in a dispute saying that David saved them from the Philistines but fled from Absolom, but now Absolom is dead. David sends to the priests and tells them to speak to the elders of Judah and ask why they are the last to bring the king back to his house since he is their brethren. He tells one of them that he will make him commander in place of Joab. So he sways their hearts "as one man," and they ask him to return. So he comes back to the Jordan, and Judah comes to Gilgal to meet and escort him and also some from the house of Saul. A ferryboat carries over his household. A man from the house of Joseph falls before David and begs for mercy and repents before him for his disloyalty. But one of David's men answers that he should be put to death for cursing the Lord's anointed. David says no one should be put to death that day in Israel, so he tells the man he will not die. Mephibosheth comes down to meet the king, and it says that he had not cared for his feet or trimmed his mustache or washed his clothes since David left. When he comes to Jerusalem to meet David, David asks him why he did not go with him, and Mephibosheth says he has been slandered to David, but he says David is like an angel to him and that he is forever grateful to him. David answers that he has given the land to him. David is escorted across the Jordan by an elderly man who had given him supplies, so David tells him he will take care of him in Jerusalem, but the man says he will probably not live much longer, as he is 80 years old, that his senses are dull and he can't enjoy much, and that he shouldn't be a burden to him and wants to die in his own city. He suggests another servant go instead, and David says he will do whatever he asks and kisses and blesses him, and the man returns to his own place. David goes to Gilgal with the people of Judah and half of Israel escorting him. The men of Israel come to him and ask why Judah has brought him back, and Judah answers it is because he is a close relative of theirs. But they say they have more rights as they have 10 shares in the kingdom and that they wanted to bring him back first. But it says "the words of Judah [are] fiercer than the words of Israel."
There is a rebel, a Benjamite, who blows a trumpet and says he has no inheritance in David, and he tells Israel to go back to their tents, and they desert David and follow the rebel. Only Judah remains loyal to him. David returns to his house in Jerusalem, and he takes his ten concubines and puts them in seclusion and supports them but sleeps with them no longer. It says they are shut up, living in widowhood, until they die. The king commands that Judah be assembled within three days, but his new commander is late in returning, so David fears he is disloyal, so Joab's men and all the mighty men pursue the rebel instead. At a large stone, he finds the commander. Joab is in battle armor with a belt, and it falls out, and he says to the man "Are you in health, my brother?" And he takes him by the beard to kiss him, but the man doesn't notice the sword in his hand, and he kills the man by putting his sword in his stomach. Then, Joab and his brothers continue their pursuit. While the man is lying in blood in the middle of the highway, one of Joab's men stands near him and says, "Whoever is for Joab and David, follow Joab!" When he sees the people not moving, he puts the man's body in a field, and the people then follow Joab through all the tribes of Israel. They lay siege to a city where the rebel is, and a wise woman cries out from the city to tell Joab to come near so she may speak. She asks if he is Joab, and she asks him to listen to her. She says she is among the peaceable and faithful in Israel and that he is destroying a city and mother in Israel and "swallowing up the inheritance of the Lord." He says, "Far be it from me..." He tells her he is pursuing a man who has raised his hand against the king, and he asks her to deliver the man and says that he will depart. The woman assures him the man's head will be thrown over the wall. She tells the people, and they cut off the man's head and throw it to Joab. He blows a trumpet, and Israel withdraws from the city to their tents. He returns to Jerusalem and is put over all the armies of Israel.
There is a famine for three years, and David inquires of the Lord, and He tells him it is because of Saul and his bloodthirsty house because he killed the Gibeonites. They are of the remnant of the Ammonites, and Israel had sworn protection for them, but Saul sought to kill them "in his zeal for Israel and Judah." David calls them and asks how he can make atonement for them. They say let seven of Saul's descendants be delivered to them so they can hang them in Gibeah. David spares Mephibosheth because of his oath with him and Jonathan. Five of the seven are Micah's sons, the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for another woman; he delivers them, and they are hung on a hill before the Lord. It says the mother of the other two puts on sackcloth and mourns. David is told, and he takes Saul and Jonathan's bones from Jabesth Gilead along with the bones of those who are hanged, and he buries Saul and Jonathan in the country of Benjamin in the tomb of his father. Then, God heeds the prayer for the land. When the Philistines war again against Israel, David and his servants fight, and David grows faint. One of the sons of the giants tries to kill him, but he is killed by one of David's men instead. Then, his men swear that David will go no more with them to battle, lest he "quench the lamp of Israel." There are more battles to follow, and it is recorded that a few giants are slain, including the brother of Goliath.
Thoughts/discussion questions:
David refuses to fight against suffering that he feels the Lord has inflicted as a result of his sin.
People are fickle!