#459 Confounded

Moreover Ahithophel said unto Absalom, Let me now choose out twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David this night:

2 And I will come upon him while he is weary and weak handed, and will make him afraid: and all the people that are with him shall flee; and I will smite the king only:

3 And I will bring back all the people unto thee: the man whom thou seekest is as if all returned: so all the people shall be in peace.

4 And the saying pleased Absalom well, and all the elders of Israel.

5 Then said Absalom, Call now Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear likewise what he saith.

6 And when Hushai was come to Absalom, Absalom spake unto him, saying, Ahithophel hath spoken after this manner: shall we do after his saying? if not; speak thou.

7 And Hushai said unto Absalom, The counsel that Ahithophel hath given is not good at this time.

8 For, said Hushai, thou knowest thy father and his men, that they be mighty men, and they be chafed in their minds, as a bear robbed of her whelps in the field: and thy father is a man of war, and will not lodge with the people.

9 Behold, he is hid now in some pit, or in some other place: and it will come to pass, when some of them be overthrown at the first, that whosoever heareth it will say, There is a slaughter among the people that follow Absalom.

10 And he also that is valiant, whose heart is as the heart of a lion, shall utterly melt: for all Israel knoweth that thy father is a mighty man, and they which be with him are valiant men.

11 Therefore I counsel that all Israel be generally gathered unto thee, from Dan even to Beersheba, as the sand that is by the sea for multitude; and that thou go to battle in thine own person.

12 So shall we come upon him in some place where he shall be found, and we will light upon him as the dew falleth on the ground: and of him and of all the men that are with him there shall not be left so much as one.

13 Moreover, if he be gotten into a city, then shall all Israel bring ropes to that city, and we will draw it into the river, until there be not one small stone found there.

14 And Absalom and all the men of Israel said, The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel. For the Lord had appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that the Lord might bring evil upon Absalom.

15 Then said Hushai unto Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, Thus and thus did Ahithophel counsel Absalom and the elders of Israel; and thus and thus have I counselled.

16 Now therefore send quickly, and tell David, saying, Lodge not this night in the plains of the wilderness, but speedily pass over; lest the king be swallowed up, and all the people that are with him.

17 Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz stayed by Enrogel; for they might not be seen to come into the city: and a wench went and told them; and they went and told king David.

18 Nevertheless a lad saw them, and told Absalom: but they went both of them away quickly, and came to a man's house in Bahurim, which had a well in his court; whither they went down.

19 And the woman took and spread a covering over the well's mouth, and spread ground corn thereon; and the thing was not known.

20 And when Absalom's servants came to the woman to the house, they said, Where is Ahimaaz and Jonathan? And the woman said unto them, They be gone over the brook of water. And when they had sought and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem.

21 And it came to pass, after they were departed, that they came up out of the well, and went and told king David, and said unto David, Arise, and pass quickly over the water: for thus hath Ahithophel counselled against you.

22 Then David arose, and all the people that were with him, and they passed over Jordan: by the morning light there lacked not one of them that was not gone over Jordan.

23 And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his ass, and arose, and gat him home to his house, to his city, and put his household in order, and hanged himself, and died, and was buried in the sepulchre of his father.

24 Then David came to Mahanaim. And Absalom passed over Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him.

25 And Absalom made Amasa captain of the host instead of Joab: which Amasa was a man's son, whose name was Ithra an Israelite, that went in to Abigail the daughter of Nahash, sister to Zeruiah Joab's mother.

26 So Israel and Absalom pitched in the land of Gilead.

27 And it came to pass, when David was come to Mahanaim, that Shobi the son of Nahash of Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and Machir the son of Ammiel of Lodebar, and Barzillai the Gileadite of Rogelim,

28 Brought beds, and basons, and earthen vessels, and wheat, and barley, and flour, and parched corn, and beans, and lentiles, and parched pulse,

29 And honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheese of kine, for David, and for the people that were with him, to eat: for they said, The people is hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness. 2 Samuel 17 KJV

This was actually a smart plan, show up with numbers, swarm upon those who were a mere handful in comparison. Attack before David can raise an army. Take 12000 against so few and focus on the king as the prize. This will cause them to lose heart that would normally fight beside him, and once the shepherd is dead then those with him will become sheep. Once the old lion is dead then the pride will bow; take his crown and there will be peace. This violence is key for it cuts off the people from the one that was God's choice, whom He disciplines even now, yet still loves. Without David there, they will be focused, they will see their king and he will rule unchallenged. David took the kingdom slowly and waited for Saul to be removed in God's time, but Absalom has put himself above God's choice. He has decided himself above God's law in taking his father's concubines, and though his father was satisfied with his exile and even missed his son, Absalom is thirsty for the blood of lions. He will not rest till he has killed him, and his adviser wants the same. If David is guilty of anything with his children it is giving them too much, and they are as the Bible speaks of such generations, ungrateful, unholy and truly without natural affection. Who has ever hated a kind father so much, desired the crown of the one who sired you, dishonored the husband of your mother, so much that you would usurp not his throne, but God's. Yes, for that is how David sees it as well, the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away, blessed be the name of the Lord.

David did pray that the counsel of Ahithophel would be broken, and so far that has played out, for that which God in His Sovereignty has predicted has come to pass. The advise that the people's oracle has given thus far has been against God, and now Absalom will ask the word of Hushai, who will counsel according to the strength of David. He will remind his son of the warrior that David was, the crouching lion of Judah, though long in the tooth, he will invoke the picture of the warrior in his prime. It is an awesome play to his own vanity as well, what a prize, the head of the king who brought down Moab, broke the Philistines, and invoked the songs of heroes. If he was revered so much in his time for killing the giant, then how much more myself for killing the giant slayer. A war with the great general, the young lion taking his father as a trophy. The insane can find glory in the strangest things. He sides with Hushai and Ahithophel is overcome with his own pride I think. He is a brilliant man, but again, what is the wisdom of this world in the face of God? What will happen when the mind that God made, that has become the victim of it's own pride, a fallen mind, dust, collides against the wisdom of God? Who will win that war? He is always thinking though, looks a few moves ahead, like a man playing chess, and sees his chance at revenge and glory fading. He has the mind to put his things in order and kills himself. He does not find his knees, but like Judas the betrayer of the Son of David, he sees no other way.

As the artificial light goes out, David finds the light and warmth of those reflecting the love of God towards him. He is being provided for even in his punishment, sustained in his banishment, like those who eat meat from ravens, there is no where God is not able to deliver.

“Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. 17For he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.” 18(Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness, and falling headlongd he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. 19And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their own language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) 20“For it is written in the Book of Psalms,

“‘May his camp become desolate,
and let there be no one to dwell in it’;

and

“‘Let another take his office.’ Acts 1: