2 Samuel 19:31

BARZILLAI ACCOMPANIED DAVID TO THE JORDAN RIVER

"Now Barzillai the Gileadite had come down from Rogelim; and he went on with the king to the Jordan, to escort him over the Jordan. Barzillai was a very aged man, eighty years old; and he had provided the king with food while he had stayed at Mahanaim; for he was a very wealthy man. And the king said to Barzillai, "Come over with me, and I will provide for you in Jerusalem." But Barzillai said to the king, "How many years have I still to live, that I should go up with the king to Jerusalem? I am this day eighty years old; can I discern what is pleasant and what is not? Can your servant taste what he eats or what he drinks? Can I still listen to the voice of singing men and singing women ? Why then should your servant be an added burden to my lord the king? Your servant will go a little way over the Jordan with the king. Why should the king recompense me with such a reward? Pray let your servant return, that I may die in my own city, near the grave of my father and my mother. But here is your servant Chimham; let him go over with my lord the king; and do for him whatever seems good to you." And the king answered, "Chimham shall go over with me, and I will do for him whatever seems good to you; and all that you desire of me I will do for you." Then all the people went over the Jordan, and the king went over; and the king kissed Barzillai and blessed him, and he returned to his own home. The king went on to Gilgal, and Chimham went on with him; all the people of Judah, and also half the people of Israel, brought the king on his way."

"This invitation of David for Barzillai to spend the rest of his life at David's court in Jerusalem naturally included his family, so that David's offer was far greater than appears at first sight."[22] This was appropriate on David's part, because, without the support of a very wealthy person in Mahanaim, David and his followers would have been greatly handicapped and hindered.

Barzillai's declining to accept David's offer was due to his age, which Barzillai emphasized with a series of questions, each of which implied a negative. To summarize their meaning: Barzillai, at age eighty, was practically at the end of his life; the infirmities of age such as loss or impairment of hearing, eyesight, the sense of taste, etc., made it impossible for him really to enjoy all of the joys and pleasures that would have been available to him in the house of the king. For those reasons, Barzillai requested that the king would allow him to return to his own city where he anticipated that he would soon be buried by the side of his father and mother.

"But here is your servant Chimham; let him go over with my lord the king; and do for him whatever seems good to you" (2 Samuel 19:37). Josephus tells us that Chimham was Barzillai's son,[23] which is supported by the inference in 1 Kings 2:7. David not only honored this request but he told Barzillai that he would do for Chimham. "Whatever seems good to you (Barzaillai), and also that anything Barzillai might desire, David would do for him (2 Samuel 19:38).

After this, David kissed Barzillai and blessed him, and Barzillai returned.

"All the people of Judah, and also half the people of Israel" (2 Samuel 19:40). These are ominous words, indicating the fundamental separation of the two Israels, Judah and Joseph. It did not begin here. It existed in the times of Joshua, during the times of the Judges, and was prominent in the period of David's rise to the throne. It reached all the way back to the rivalry between Leah and Rachel, the wives of Jacob, and to the partiality of Jacob toward Joseph. The seat of their mutual hatred lay in the polygamous marriages of Jacob and in his unwise partiality to the children of Rachel. The sinful idolatry of Laban, Jacob's father-in-law, was also a contributing factor.