2 Samuel 15 is the fifteenth chapter of the Second Book of Samuel in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible or the second part of Books of Samuel in the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish tradition the book was attributed to the prophet Samuel, with additions by the prophets Gad and Nathan, but modern scholars view it as a composition of a number of independent texts of various ages from c. 630–540 BCE. This chapter contains the account of David's reign in Jerusalem. This is within a section comprising 2 Samuel 9–20 and continued to 1 Kings 1–2 which deal with the power struggles among David's sons to succeed David's throne until 'the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon' (1 Kings 2:46).
Text
This chapter was originally written in the Hebrew language. It is divided into 37 verses.
Textual witnesses
Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text tradition, which includes the Codex Cairensis (895), Aleppo Codex (10th century), and Codex Leningradensis (1008). Fragments containing parts of this chapter in Hebrew were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls including 4Q51 (4QSam; 100–50 BCE) with extant verses 1–7, 20–21, 23, 26–31, 37 and 4Q53 (4QSam; 100–75 BCE) with extant verses 1–6, 8–15.
Extant ancient manuscripts of a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint (originally was made in the last few centuries BCE) include Codex Vaticanus (B; B; 4th century) and Codex Alexandrinus (A; A; 5th century).
Old Testament references
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Analysis
This chapter consists of two stages of Absalom's plan to take over the throne from David: Absalom's conspiracy (verses 1–12) Absalom's rebellion (verses 13–37, continuing to 2 Samuel 20:3).
The conspiracy part consists of 3 phases: Absalom at the gate of Jerusalem appeasing the people from all tribes of Israel (verses 1–6) Absalom asks permission from David to gp to Hebron (verses 7–9) Absalom in Hebron to start his rebellion (verses 10–12)
The story of Absalom's rebellion can be observed as five consecutive episodes: A. David's flight from Jerusalem (15:13–16:14) B. The victorious Absalom and his counselors (16:15–17:14) C. David reaches Mahanaim (17:15–29) B'. The rebellion is crushed and Absalom is executed (18:1–19:8abc) A'. David's reentry into Jerusalem (19:8d–20:3)
God's role seems to be understated in the whole events, but is disclosed by a seemingly insignificant detail: 'the crossing of the Jordan river'. The Hebrew root word' 'br, "to cross" (in various nominal and verbal forms) is used more than 30 times in these chapters (compared to 20 times in the rest of 2 Samuel) to report David's flight from Jerusalem, his crossing of the Jordan river, and his reentry into Jerusalem. In 2 Samuel 17:16, stating that David should cross the Jordan (17:16), the verb 'br is even reinforced by a 'Hebrew infinitive absolute' to mark this critical moment: "king David is about to cross out of the land of Israel." David's future was in doubt until it was stated that God had rendered foolish Ahithophel's good counsel to Absalom (2 Samuel 17:14), thus granting David's prayer (15:31), and saving David from Absalom's further actions. Once Absalom was defeated, David's crossing back over the Jordan echoes the Israelites' first crossing over the Jordan under Joshua's leadership (Joshua 1–4): Both David and Joshua crossed the Jordan and came to Gilgal (Joshua 4:19; 2 Samuel 19:40). Both were assisted by women who hid the good spies to save the mission: Rahab in Joshua 2:1–21 and the woman of Bahurim in 2 Samuel 17:20. Both episodes include the Ark of the Covenant, although David prevented the ark from crossing out of the land of Israel (15:25; referring to areas west of Jordan river).
Here God's role is not as explicit as during Joshua's crossing, but the signs are clear that God was with David, just as with Joshua.