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The word soon went forth that the king, instead of rejoicing over the victory, was weeping over his son. The soldiers came stealing back to the city, not as conquerors, but as if they had been defeated. Every one felt sorry for the king, who sat in the room over the gate, with his face covered, and crying out, "O Absalom, my son! my son, my son Absalom!"
But Joab saw that such great sorrow as the king showed was not good for his cause. He came to David, and said to him, "You have put to shame this day all those who have fought for you and saved your life. You have shown that you love those who hate you, and that you hate those who love you. You have said by your actions that your princes and your servants, who have been true to you, are nothing to you; and that if Absalom had lived and we had all died, you would have been better pleased. Now rise up, and act like a man, and show regard for those who have fought for you. I swear to you in the name of the Lord, that unless you do this, not a man will stay on your side, and that will be worse for you than all the harm that has ever come upon you in all your life before this day!"
Then David rose up, and washed away his tears, and put on his robes, and took his seat in the gate as a king. After this he came from Mahanaim to the river Jordan, and there all the people met him, to bring him back to his throne in Jerusalem.
Among the first to come was Shimei, the man who had cursed David and thrown stones at him as he was flying from Absalom. He fell on his face, and confessed his crime, and begged for mercy. Abishai, Joab's brother, said, "Shall not Shimei be put to death, because he cursed the king, the Lord's anointed?"
But David said, "Not a man shall be put to death this day in Israel, for to-day I am king once more over Israel. You shall not be slain, Shimei; I pledge you the word of a king."
And Ziba, the servant of Mephibosheth, was there with his sons and his followers; and Mephibosheth was there also to meet the king. And Mephibosheth had not dressed his lame feet, nor trimmed his beard, nor washed his clothes, from the day when David had left Jerusalem until the day when he returned in peace. And David said to him, "Mephibosheth, why did you not offer to go with me?"
"My lord, O king," said Mephibosheth, "my servant deceived me. He said, 'You are lame, and cannot go; but I will go in your name with the king, and will help him.' And he has done me wrong with the king; but what matters it all, now that the king has come again?"
David said, "You and Ziba may divide the land and the property."
And Mephibosheth said, "Let him have it all, now that the king has come in peace to his own house!"
The army of Absalom had melted away, and was scattered throughout all Israel. David was still displeased with Joab, the chief of his army, because he had slain Absalom, contrary to David's orders. He sent a message to Amasa, who had been the commander of Absalom's army, and who was, like Joab and Abishai, David's own nephew. He said to Amasa, "You are of my own family, of my bone and my flesh, and you shall be the general in place of Joab."
Joab and his brother were strong men, not willing to submit to David's rule; and David thought that he would be safer on his throne if they did not hold so much power. Also, David thought that to make Amasa general would please not only those who had been friends to Absalom, but many more of the people, for many feared and hated Joab.
At the river Jordan almost the whole tribe of Judah were gathered to bring the king back to Jerusalem. But this did not please the men of the other tribes. They said to the men of Judah, "You act as though you were the only friends of the king in all the land! We, too, have some right to David."
The men of Judah said, "The king is of our own tribe, and is one of us. We come to meet him because we love him."
But the people of the other tribes were still offended, and many of them went to their homes in anger. The tribe of Ephraim, in the middle of the land, was very jealous of the tribe of Judah, and unwilling to come again under David's rule. One man in Ephraim, Sheba, the son of Bichri, began a new rebellion against David, which for a time threatened again to overthrow David's power.
Amasa, the new commander of the army, called out his men to put down Sheba's rebellion. But he was slow in gathering his army, and Joab, the old general, went forth with a band of his own followers. Joab met Amasa, pretending to be his friend, and killed him, and then took the command. He shut up Sheba in a city far in the north, and finally caused him to be slain. So at last every enemy was put down; and David sat again in peace upon his throne. But Joab, whom David feared and hated because of many evil deeds that he had done, was, as before, the commander of the army and in great power. Joab was faithful to David, and was a strong helper to David's throne. Without Joab's courage and skill in David's cause David might have failed in some of his wars, and especially in the war against Absalom's followers. But Joab was cruel and wicked; and he was so strong that David could not control him. David felt that he was not fully the king while Joab lived.
But few people knew how David felt toward Joab; and in appearance the throne of David was now as strong as it had ever been; and David's last years were years of peace and of power.