This document is about Ittai (Gathite_person). For other homonyms, please refer to the Ittai document.
Ittai was a man from Gath and a loyal servant of David.
When Absalom rebelled, Ittai also followed David with 600 men from Gath who were with him. Gath was a Philistine region, and these men are presumed to be Philistines. It must have been a burden for them, as foreigners, to follow David. David therefore urged Ittai to surrender to Absalom, but Ittai followed David to the very end.
2 Sam 15:19Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, “Why do you also go with us? Go back and stay with the king, for you are a foreigner and also an exile from your home.2 Sam 15:20You came only yesterday, and shall I today make you wander about with us, since I go wherever I can? Go back and take your brothers with you. May mercy and truth be with you.”2 Sam 15:21But Ittai answered the king, “As the Lord lives, and as my lord the king lives, wherever my lord the king shall be, whether for death or for life, there also will your servant be.”2 Sam 15:22And David said to Ittai, “Go, pass on.” So Ittai the Gittite passed on with all his men and all the little ones who were with him.
Afterward, when confronting Absalom, he commanded one of David's divisions in battle.
2 Sam 18:2And David sent out the army, one third under the command of Joab, one third under the command of Abishai the son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother, and one third under the command of Ittai the Gittite. And the king said to the people, “I myself will surely go out with you.”
2 Sam 18:5And the king ordered Joab and Abishai and Ittai, “Deal gently for my sake with the young man Absalom.” And all the people heard when the king gave orders to all the commanders concerning Absalom.
2 Sam 18:12And the man said to Joab, “Even if I felt in my hand a thousand shekels of silver,
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