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2 Samuel 15:13-17:29

Barefoot over the Brook Kidron

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Barefoot over the Brook Kidron

2 Samuel 15:13-17:29

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Barefoot over the Brook Kidron

2 Samuel 15:13-17:29

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About this song

This song belongs to the 2 Samuel collection. One recording is available to play here, with the complete lyrics below.

Bible book
2 Samuel
Collection
2 Samuel
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[Verse 1] A messenger warns David that the hearts of Israel follow Absalom. The household departs while ten concubines remain to keep the palace. David urges Ittai to return, but the Gittite pledges life and death with him. Zadok and Abiathar bring the ark, but David sends it back to Jerusalem. [Pre-Chorus] The road bent farther than the eye could know, Yet every camp was marked before they had to go. [Chorus] Barefoot over the Brook Kidron, keep moving on the road, Through the wilderness beneath the heavy load. The hand of God marked every place and mile, And promise kept the weary rank and file. [Verse 2] Ziba brings animals and food while accusing Mephibosheth of seeking Saul's throne. Shimei curses David and throws stones as the king passes Bahurim. Abishai asks to kill Shimei, but David accepts the humiliation under God's hand. Ahithophel advises Absalom to take David's concubines publicly. [Bridge] Hushai counsels delay, describing David's men as enraged and dangerous. God causes Absalom and Israel to prefer Hushai's counsel. Messengers escape discovery in a well and warn David to cross Jordan. Ahithophel dies by suicide, while David reaches Mahanaim and receives generous provisions. [Final Chorus] Barefoot over the Brook Kidron, keep moving on the road, Through the wilderness beneath the heavy load. The hand of God marked every place and mile, And promise kept the weary through every trial. [Outro] Another camp, another stretch of land. The road moved on beneath the guiding hand.

Named in this songDavidAbsalomJerusalemJordan

About the passage

2 Samuel 15: Hearts won at the gate, a king driven toward the wilderness

Absalom does not seize Jerusalem first; he works on Israel's imagination at the gate. He gives every petitioner the same flattering verdict, laments the justice they supposedly cannot reach, and turns personal warmth into political capital until the book says he has "stole the hearts" of Israel. David answers the resulting revolt by leaving Jerusalem rather than making the city absorb the first blow. The flight strips kingship down to loyalties that cannot be staged. Ittai, the recent foreign arrival, refuses permission to leave. David sends the ark back instead of carrying it as proof that God must restore him. He then prays that Ahithophel's counsel be defeated, and Hushai appears at the summit as a practical answer taking human form. By the time Absalom enters Jerusalem, David's crown is absent from the city, but his network of faithfulness is already inside it.

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2 Samuel 16: Gifts, curses, and counsel on a conquered roof

David's road out of Jerusalem is crowded with claims he cannot immediately verify. Ziba arrives with food, transport, and an accusation against the absent Mephibosheth, and David transfers the estate before hearing the other side. Shimei then pelts the king with stones and supplies his own theology of the crisis, calling it repayment for Saul's blood. David does not certify that explanation, but neither does he let Abishai answer the insult with a severed head. Inside Jerusalem, Hushai survives Absalom's suspicion by speaking in language that can be heard more than one way. Then Ahithophel gives counsel designed to make reconciliation publicly impossible: Absalom takes David's concubines on the palace roof. The act fulfills the shape of Nathan's earlier warning without becoming morally approved by it. The occupied palace now displays both political calculation and the human cost imposed on women who are treated as instruments of power.

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2 Samuel 17: The dangerous counsel loses, and the fugitives cross

Ahithophel understands David's weakest moment with frightening clarity: strike tonight, while the fugitives are exhausted, scatter the company, and kill the king. Hushai cannot merely offer a different tactic. He must make delay sound more impressive than urgency, so he fills Absalom's imagination with enraged warriors, all Israel gathered like sand, and a campaign led personally by the new claimant. The Book of 2 Samuel states why the persuasion succeeds: the LORD has appointed the defeat of Ahithophel's effective counsel. Yet divine purpose moves through a very human chain. Priests relay the plan, a young woman carries word, messengers hide in a well, and a household conceals them long enough for David's people to cross Jordan before dawn. Ahithophel dies after his counsel is rejected. At Mahanaim, the chapter ends not with grand strategy but with beds, grain, beans, honey, butter, sheep, and cheese for people who are hungry, weary, and thirsty.

Study 2 Samuel 17 in depth