Quotes About Loyalty

So the king asked, “Is the hand of Joab behind all this?” The woman answered, “As surely as you live, my lord the king, no one can turn to the right or to the left from anything that my lord the king says. Yes, your servant Joab is the one who gave me orders; he told your maidservant exactly what to say.

Joab fell facedown in homage and blessed the king. “Today,” said Joab, “your servant knows that he has found favor with you, my lord the king, because the king has granted his request.”

Then he sent for Joab to send him to the king, but Joab refused to come to him. So Absalom sent a second time, but Joab still would not come.

Two hundred men from Jerusalem accompanied Absalom. They had been invited as guests and they went along innocently, for they knew nothing about the matter.

Then a messenger came to David and reported, “The hearts of the men of Israel are with Absalom.”

The kingís servants replied, “Whatever our lord the king decides, we are your servants.”

Then the king set out, and his entire household followed him. But he left behind ten concubines to take care of the palace.

and all his servants marched past him—all the Cherethites and Pelethites, and six hundred Gittites who had followed him from Gath.

Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, “Why should you also go with us? Go back and stay with the new king, since you are both a foreigner and an exile from your homeland.

But Ittai answered the king, “As surely as the LORD lives, and as my lord the king lives, wherever my lord the king may be, whether it means life or death, there will your servant be!”

“March on then,” said David to Ittai. So Ittai the Gittite marched past with all his men and all the little ones who were with him.

When David came to the summit, where he used to worship God, Hushai the Archite was there to meet him with his robe torn and dust on his head.

David said to him, “If you go on with me, you will be a burden to me.

But you can thwart the counsel of Ahithophel for me if you return to the city and say to Absalom: ëI will be your servant, my king; in the past I was your fatherís servant, but now I will be your servant.í

Will not Zadok and Abiathar the priests be there with you? Report to them everything you hear from the kingís palace.

Indeed, their two sons, Ahimaaz son of Zadok and Jonathan son of Abiathar, are there with them. Send them to me with everything you hear.”

So Davidís friend Hushai arrived in Jerusalem just as Absalom was entering the city.

So the king said to Ziba, “All that belongs to Mephibosheth is now yours!” “I humbly bow before you,” said Ziba. “May I find favor in your eyes, my lord the king!”

Then Abishai son of Zeruiah said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over and cut off his head!”

Then Absalom and all the men of Israel came to Jerusalem, and Ahithophel was with him.

And Davidís friend Hushai the Archite went to Absalom and said to him, “Long live the king! Long live the king!”

“Is this the loyalty you show your friend?” Absalom replied. “Why did you not go with your friend?”

“Not at all,” Hushai answered. “For the one chosen by the LORD, by the people, and by all the men of Israel—his I will be, and with him I will remain.

Furthermore, whom should I serve if not the son? As I served in your fatherís presence, so also I will serve in yours.”