Joab was told, "The king is weeping and mourning for Absalom."
So the victory that day turned into mourning for the whole army. Word spread quickly through the ranks: the king was grieving for his son. The men returned to the city quietly, slipping in like those ashamed after fleeing from battle. David covered his face and cried out again and again, his voice breaking the silence.
"O my son Absalom! O Absalom, my son, my son!"
Then Joab went into the house to the king. He did not soften his words.
"Today," he said, "you have humiliated all your men—the very men who saved your life, and the lives of your sons and daughters, your wives and your concubines. You love those who hate you and hate those who love you. You have made it clear that your commanders and soldiers mean nothing to you. I can see it plainly: you would be pleased if Absalom were alive today and all of us were dead."
He stepped closer.
"Now go out and speak kindly to your men. I swear by the LORD, if you do not go out, not one man will remain with you by nightfall. That will be worse for you than every disaster you have suffered from your youth until now."
David listened. Then he rose and took his seat in the gateway.
When the men were told, "The king is sitting in the gateway," they all came before him. Meanwhile, the Israelites who had followed Absalom scattered, each returning to his own home.
Across the tribes of Israel, people argued among themselves.
"The king delivered us from our enemies," they said. "He rescued us from the Philistines. But now he has fled the land because of Absalom. And Absalom—the one we anointed to rule over us—has died in battle. Why then do we say nothing about bringing the king back?"
David heard what was being said. He sent word to Zadok and Abiathar the priests.
"Ask the elders of Judah," he said, "'Why should you be the last to bring the king back to his palace, when all Israel is already talking about it? You are my brothers, my own flesh and blood. Why should you be the last to bring back the king?'"
Then he added another message.
"Say to Amasa, 'Are you not my own flesh and blood? May God deal with me, ever so severely, if from now on you are not the commander of my army in place of Joab.'"
In this way, David won the hearts of all the men of Judah, as though they were one man. They sent word to him saying, "Return, you and all your men."
So the king began his journey back. He went as far as the Jordan, and the men of Judah came to Gilgal to meet him and bring him across the river.
Shimei son of Gera, the Benjamite from Bahurim, hurried down with them. With him were a thousand Benjamites, along with Ziba, the steward of Saul's household, his fifteen sons, and his twenty servants. They rushed to the Jordan to meet the king. As they crossed the ford to help the king's household over, Shimei fell facedown before David.
"My lord the king," he said, "do not hold me guilty. Do not remember the wrong your servant did on the day you left Jerusalem. May the king put it out of his mind. I know that I have sinned, and today I have come as the first of the whole house of Joseph to meet my lord the king."
Abishai son of Zeruiah spoke sharply.
"Shouldn't Shimei be put to death for this? He cursed the LORD's anointed."
David turned to him.
"What do you and I have in common, you sons of Zeruiah? Must you oppose me today? Should anyone be put to death in Israel today? Do I not know that today I am king over Israel?"
Then David said to Shimei, "You shall not die." And he swore it with an oath.
Mephibosheth, Saul's grandson, also came down to meet the king. From the day David fled Jerusalem until the day he returned safely, Mephibosheth had not cared for his feet, trimmed his mustache, or washed his clothes.
When he came to meet the king, David asked him, "Why didn't you go with me, Mephibosheth?"
He answered, "My lord the king, since I am lame, I said, 'I will have my donkey saddled so I can ride with the king.' But Ziba, my servant, betrayed me. He slandered your servant to my lord the king. Yet my lord the king is like an angel of God—do whatever seems good to you. All my grandfather's family deserved nothing but death from you, yet you gave me a place among those who eat at your table. What right do I have to say anything more to the king?"
David said to him, "Why say more? I order you and Ziba to divide the fields."
Mephibosheth replied, "Let him take everything, now that my lord the king has returned home safely."
Barzillai the Gileadite also came down from Rogelim to cross the Jordan with the king and send him on his way. He was very old—eighty years of age—and he had provided for David during his stay in Mahanaim, for he was a wealthy man.
David said to him, "Cross over with me and stay with me in Jerusalem, and I will provide for you."
But Barzillai shook his head.
"How many years do I have left," he asked, "that I should go up to Jerusalem with the king? I am eighty years old. Can I still tell what is pleasant and what is not? Can I taste what I eat and drink? Can I hear the voices of singers? Why should your servant be a burden to my lord the king? I will cross the Jordan with you for a short distance, but why should the king reward me in this way? Let me return home, that I may die in my own town near the tombs of my father and mother. But here is my servant Kimham. Let him cross over with my lord the king. Do for him whatever pleases you."
"The answer is yes," David said. "Kimham shall cross over with me, and I will do for him whatever pleases you. And anything you desire from me, I will do."
So all the people crossed the Jordan, and then the king crossed over. David kissed Barzillai and blessed him, and Barzillai returned to his home.
The king went on to Gilgal, with Kimham crossing alongside him. All the troops of Judah and half the troops of Israel accompanied the king.
Soon, the rest of the men of Israel came to David.
"Why did our brothers, the men of Judah, steal the king away?" they asked. "Why did they bring the king and his household across the Jordan with all his men?"
The men of Judah answered, "Because the king is closely related to us. Why does this make you angry? Have we eaten at the king's expense? Have we taken anything for ourselves?"
The men of Israel replied, "We have ten shares in the king, and besides, we have a greater claim on David than you. Why then do you treat us with contempt? Were we not the first to speak of bringing our king back?"
But the men of Judah answered even more harshly than the men of Israel.
And the tension between brothers lingered in the air, even as the king sat again on his throne.