Immerse: Kingdoms Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 178
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IMMERSE
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KINGDOMS
2S
| 19:29–20:1
“You’ve said enough,” David replied. “I’ve decided that you and Ziba
will divide your land equally between you.”
“Give him all of it,” Mephibosheth said. “I am content just to have you
safely back again, my lord the king!”
Barzillai of Gilead had come down from Rogelim to escort the king across
the Jordan. He was very old—eighty years of age—and very wealthy. He
was the one who had provided food for the king during his stay in Maha
naim. “Come across with me and live in Jerusalem,” the king said to Bar
zillai. “I will take care of you there.”
“No,” he replied, “I am far too old to go with the king to Jerusalem. I am
eighty years old today, and I can no longer enjoy anything. Food and wine
are no longer tasty, and I cannot hear the singers as they sing. I would only
be a burden to my lord the king. Just to go across the Jordan River with
the king is all the honor I need! Then let me return again to die in my own
town, where my father and mother are buried. But here is your servant,
my son Kimham. Let him go with my lord the king and receive whatever
you want to give him.”
“Good,” the king agreed. “Kimham will go with me, and I will help him
in any way you would like. And I will do for you anything you want.” So
all the people crossed the Jordan with the king. After David had blessed
Barzillai and kissed him, Barzillai returned to his own home.
The king then crossed over to Gilgal, taking Kimham with him. All the
troops of Judah and half the troops of Israel escorted the king on his way.
But all the men of Israel complained to the king, “The men of Judah stole
the king and didn’t give us the honor of helping take you, your household,
and all your men across the Jordan.”
The men of Judah replied, “The king is one of our own kinsmen. Why
should this make you angry? We haven’t eaten any of the king’s food or
received any special favors!”
“But there are ten tribes in Israel,” the others replied. “So we have ten
times as much right to the king as you do. What right do you have to treat
us with such contempt? Weren’t we the first to speak of bringing him back
to be our king again?” The argument continued back and forth, and the
men of Judah spoke even more harshly than the men of Israel.
There happened to be a troublemaker there named Sheba son of Bicri,
a man from the tribe of Benjamin. Sheba blew a ram’s horn and began to
chant:
“Down with the dynasty of David!
We have no interest in the son of Jesse.