Come over with me, and I will provide for you with me in Jerusalem. (2 Samuel 19:33)
David arrived at one of the final low points of his life. The beloved king had not outgrown sorrow — nor escaped the consequences of his sin. The child of his adultery had died. And God had promised, “The sword shall never depart from your house” (2 Samuel 12:10). Because he had killed Uriah with the enemy’s blade, the sword of his own son now thirsted for his blood.
David gave up the throne without resistance. He fled to diminish bloodshed. Faithful men, men born for these very dark days, packed up and left with the dethroned king, risking their lives.
The soundtrack to his departure was unfriendly. As his company hurried into the wilderness, a man of Saul’s household hurled stones and curses down upon David. The weary king let the music play, though his men offered to silence the singer. He bore the dishonor, wondering if his Lord was making him reap the fruit of his former lusts (2 Samuel 16:5–13).
But another song greeted his exile. Three men drew near. Among them, an elderly man David would never forget — Barzillai. A wealthy man living on the other side of the Jordan, he rode to meet the king as he slunk away from his kingdom, his throne, his wealth, his glory. This feeble man rode to bless the crownless king at his lowest, most vulnerable, most mortal. Chancing the enemy’s wrath, he came to care for David in his distress. Barzillai and those with him brought beds and basins, honey, cheese, and sheep, saying, “The people are hungry and weary and thirsty in the wilderness” (2 Samuel 17:27–29).
Barzillai was no fair-weather fan. His hands reached to lift the king when he hit bottom. They offered pieces of bread to his hungry entourage, a cup to his fainting followers. How precious. How unforgettable. Many had surrounded David’s table. Many had smiled across it over his many years of triumph. But hardship sifts the false, distances the half-hearted, and reveals the true. Have you found it so?
Few men touched David’s heart with friendship as deeply as Barzillai did then. David would soon put down the rebellion. David would again rise; his rebel son would fall. David would return to his own beds and herds and palace — but the remembrance of Barzillai’s compassion remained.
As David prepared to cross the Jordan and reenter the gates of his kingdom in glory, whom did he want beside him? Barzillai. Whom did he want at his table? Barzillai. To whom did he extend the invite, “Come over with me, and I will provide for you with me in Jerusalem” (2 Samuel 19:33)? To Barzillai. And on his deathbed, when the hands of time threatened precious memories, who was on his mind as he gave Solomon his dying instructions? Barzillai.
Deal loyally with the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be among those who eat at your table, for with such loyalty they met me when I fled from Absalom your brother. (1 Kings 2:7)
How Will You Meet Him?
I love this scene with the feeble follower and the deposed king. What a touching moment for David, and a beautiful invitation to Barzillai. It reminds me that I serve the greater King David, and stirs in me the desire to “appear with him in glory” as he rides across the Jordan (Colossians 3:4). Does it do the same for you? I want us to imitate this elderly saint by meeting the King in the wilderness and serving him until our dying day.
Let us meet the King in the wilderness.
Because Barzillai owned the persecuted monarch, he was invited to ride back with him across the Jordan into his triumph. “Come over with me, and I will provide for you with me in Jerusalem.”
What a privilege to serve King Jesus while the clouds still hide his majesty. Like David, he has put down the usurper — decisively but not entirely. He sits enthroned, but “at present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him” (Hebrews 2:8). All ears have not heard that world-ending trumpet; all eyes have not seen him chariot clouds. At his command, the mouths of the graves have not yet spit up their dead, and the knees of all the earth have not yet bowed in homage.
Christ reigns, even if few acknowledge him. To them, he is a footnote — no king at all. But we see a King in the wilderness. He needs nothing from us, yet he welcomes our offerings. Will you go to him now? Live for him now? Defy the wrath of the flesh, the world, and the devil?
Let us meet him until our dying day.
Barzillai was not strong enough to keep pace beside David all the way to Jerusalem, so “the king kissed Barzillai and blessed him, and [Barzillai] returned to his own home” (2 Samuel 19:39). Barzillai was too old to enjoy the spoils of their triumph, but not too old to play his part to serve his king.
Are you in your final season? Look at this eighty-year-old man bobbing up and down on horseback, riding out to greet the king with supplies. On the precipice of eternity, he was busy serving the Lord’s Anointed. Are you? You are never too old to serve David’s son, Jesus. And he too will never forget your trembling hand offering him your morsels of bread. “If there is a day left on earth,” Walter Chantry comments, “it may be used to lay up treasure in heaven” (David, 260).
To all who would own him in the wilderness, our King cries, “Come over with me, and I will provide for you with me in the New Jerusalem.” He is not ashamed for you to ride beside him into glory. Stay true to him. “Here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come” (Hebrews 13:14). Barzillais, press on, for he will not forget you.
Desiring God