The Failure of Absalom and Ahithophel

15Then Hushai said to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, “Ahithophel counseled Absalom and the elders of Israel that way; and I have counseled this way. 16Now therefore send quickly, and tell David, saying, ‘Don’t lodge tonight at the fords of the wilderness, but by all means pass over; lest the king be swallowed up, and all the people who are with him.’” 17Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying by En Rogel; and a female servant used to go and tell them; and they went and told king David. For they might not be seen to come into the city. 18But a boy saw them, and told Absalom. Then they both went away quickly, and came to the house of a man in Bahurim, who had a well in his court; and they went down there. 19The woman took and spread the covering over the well’s mouth, and spread out bruised grain on it; and nothing was known. 20Absalom’s servants came to the woman to the house; and they said, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?” The woman said to them, “They have gone over the brook of water.” When they had sought and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem. 21After they had departed, they came up out of the well, and went and told king David; and they said to David, “Arise and pass quickly over the water; for thus has Ahithophel counseled against you.” 22Then David arose, and all the people who were with him, and they passed over the Jordan. By the morning light there lacked not one of them who had not gone over the Jordan. 23When Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his donkey, arose, and went home, to his city, and set his house in order, and hanged himself; and he died, and was buried in the tomb of his father.

I once read an abridged edition of a book called The People Who Made Yi Sun-sin. All I had known was that Admiral Yi Sun-sin drove off foreign invaders with his turtle ships, but this book taught me in detail how many wise people had helped him by building the turtle ships and making the guns, the ammunition, and the maps.

Like Admiral Yi, David had many co-workers at his side. Whoever undertakes something great, we find, always has helpers nearby. David won because there were good people like Hushai, who entered the palace to overturn Ahithophel’s counsel, Zadok, who guarded the ark, and Ittai. When Ahithophel’s first plan succeeded and Absalom lay with David’s concubines, Absalom’s counselor next laid a second plan, to kill David. Knowing David’s condition all too well, Ahithophel planned to take twelve thousand soldiers and attack him. Had this plan been carried out, it was bound to succeed, and David’s future would hardly have been secure. From this it seems that those who betray are the ones closest to us, like Ahithophel, who knew David best, or Judas Iscariot, who was at Jesus’ side. Those who do not know Jesus or David well cannot attack them, because they do not know their situation and circumstances. Those who take the love they have received from Jesus or David for granted can attack all the more viciously for their own ends.

Absalom, who had so far succeeded in his rebellion by following Ahithophel’s plans, suddenly wanted to hear what Hushai thought. That Absalom had this thought at all shows that God had set in motion his plan for David. Hearing Ahithophel’s strategy from Absalom, Hushai began to oppose it firmly and argue against it. As the king surely knew, Hushai said, they were all mighty men. Right now they were enraged, like a bear robbed of her cubs. What is more, being a man of war who knew how victory is won, David was probably preparing a surprise attack. If they attacked David as Ahithophel advised, Hushai insisted, Absalom’s army would surely be ambushed and defeated. Absalom began to think Hushai was right. After all, King Saul had hunted his father relentlessly and never managed to kill him, because David was skilled in war. The warriors who had gone with his father were all men practiced in battle, and an anxious thought arose in Absalom that his own army might be defeated.

Hushai was opposing Ahithophel’s counsel, but how he must have trembled! If he failed to persuade, he himself, David, and the people were as good as dead. Now, depending on Absalom’s decision, David stood at a grave crossroads between life and death. When Absalom seemed to waver, Hushai made a tempting proposal. A small force could not defeat David, he said, so the king should gather all Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, and go out to battle himself. If he went out with the soldiers of Israel, Hushai urged, they would fall on David as the dew falls on the ground, and not one of David and his people would be left alive. As Hushai kept tempting him with pleasing words, Absalom leaned toward thinking Hushai’s strategy far better than Ahithophel’s. Only because Absalom was taken in by Hushai’s words did he change his mind; Ahithophel’s strategy was far superior. David had few soldiers, and he had many wives and vulnerable people with him, so the twelve thousand men Ahithophel proposed would have been enough. Delighted at the thought of leading Israel into battle himself, Absalom ignored Ahithophel, however hard Ahithophel pleaded that this was the wrong course. A person who wants to hear only what pleases them is a fool. Had Absalom carried out Ahithophel’s counsel, David would have been in grave danger; but God reversed the course of events. God does not keep the wicked from making plans in the first place; he works so that their plans are never carried out, and in this way the righteous are protected.

Friends, as you go through life, you may well meet wicked people and suffer at their hands. But if you hold a steadfast faith that relies on God, God will protect you so that even the plans of the wicked pass you by without your knowing.

Absalom listened to Hushai because God, to save David, had stopped his ears so that the good counsel of Ahithophel would fail.

In any life, only when God blocks what must be blocked and establishes what must be established can we live in peace and rest. If we knew how many of Satan’s attacks have passed us by unnoticed in our lifetime, we would not live as we please, the way we do now. We think we live in peace because we have weighed everything wisely. But because Satan is far wiser than we are, he does not fear human wisdom or give up his plans of his own accord.

God loves those whose faith is as small as a mustard seed, and he works to bring Satan’s plans to nothing; that is why we are living in safety now.

Had Satan’s attacks struck us in full, we would be living as if in hell, worn down by constant resentment and complaint. Whether we give thanks from the heart or complain because we do not see his love, God goes on giving love and grace with an unchanging heart. When we keep recognizing that grace and give thanks, we can come to a mature faith like David’s.

When God protected David, every plan to kill him came to nothing. May you, too, receive from God a love as complete as the love David received.

2 Samuel 17:23

23When Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his donkey, arose, and went home, to his city, and set his house in order, and hanged himself; and he died, and was buried in the tomb of his father.

Watching Hushai raise objections and tear down his counsel, Ahithophel saw through his intent, and from that he sensed that David would win. Having won Absalom’s heart, Hushai at once called Zadok and Abiathar. He explained the whole situation to them and told them to send word to David quickly: David must not spend the night at the fords of the wilderness but must cross the Jordan. Zadok called Jonathan and Ahimaaz and passed on the message. As they were on their way to David, they were spotted by one of Absalom’s men who happened to see them. He reported at once to Absalom, and Absalom’s servants began searching for Jonathan and Ahimaaz to seize them. But hidden in a well through the wisdom of a woman, the two escaped the soldiers’ notice and ran to David with Hushai’s message. Had Absalom heard that two priests had slipped away from his soldiers, he should at least have grown suspicious; but intoxicated by his triumph, he brushed it aside. Nothing is as foolish as a person trusting in themselves like this. We too, when the affairs of the world seem to resolve themselves without trouble, will grow drunk with victory and live as we please, never knowing that Satan is secretly at work on something else. But because the things of the world are at work in darkness, we must always respond with spiritual alertness if we are not to fail.

Absalom had once laid meticulous plans for his rebellion. Recognizing Ahithophel’s wisdom, he had followed his advice faithfully. By approaching the people carefully and listening to them, he had managed to win their hearts. But once he succeeded in driving David from the palace, he grew drunk with victory and could no longer think clearly. This complacency kept him from seeing through Hushai’s scheme and brought on the misfortune that toppled everything in a moment.

As Hushai had urged, David crossed the Jordan with the people through the night. Ahithophel was bitterly disappointed: had Absalom carried out his counsel, he could have caught David, Uriah’s enemy, but instead he had been outdone by Hushai’s keen strategy and had failed badly. Being a man of foresight, Ahithophel saw Absalom listening to Hushai and knew that he himself no longer had a future.

What is so sad is this: when Absalom disappointed him, had Ahithophel repented instead of taking his own life, God would have led him into a new life.

People do not repent and simply carry on with their lives as they are, because they do not know how terrible hell is. If you truly believe there is a heaven, you work at living out your faith more fully. To repent quickly and turn back is the wisest course, and it is the mark of a precious believer who has received God’s wisdom.

Though he had a wise counselor in Ahithophel, Absalom fell into eternal death. With David as his father, he had been given the privilege of coming easily to know God. More than that, he enjoyed David’s special love; yet bound by vengeance and greed, Absalom became a wretched man who ended up forsaken by God. Ahithophel went back to his hometown, set his house in order, and chose to end his own life.

As a pastor, I feel a heavy responsibility when I see how lightly life is held in our society today. To prevent such tragedies, God has entrusted his word to his people. Do not hesitate to evangelize; you must proclaim the gospel boldly, because to be ashamed of sharing the gospel is to be ashamed of God. If you have faith that you live with Christ, you must speak of the eternal world, and your life must change as well. If you hope only for heaven while living as though faith had nothing to do with it, you cannot enter. If you truly hope for heaven, you must live well by faith on this earth.

Hell was not prepared for people. God made it to judge Satan, who rebelled against him; people go to hell with Satan because they reject Christ. Satan knows this, yet he brainwashes people into thinking there is no God and works to convince them how worthless human beings are. Deceived by his words, people lose their discernment and give in to Satan. But I hope you will hold fast to your faith so that you can fulfill your spiritual calling.

Ahithophel now knew that Absalom had no future. He concluded that he himself had been utterly defeated by Hushai and that Absalom’s plan to attack David would also fail. Though his thinking had reached this far, he did not turn back, because his self-righteousness was strong and his desire for revenge great. Had he known that God helps people of faith, turning back quickly would have been his way to forgiveness; but because his heart had already grown dark, he ran toward death. Ahithophel’s hatred of David kept him from seeing God. He had tried to use Absalom, who had betrayed God and his father, as an instrument of evil, but now, unable to use a man deceived by Hushai, he shook with bitter emptiness. Even as he looked at Hushai, who had brought his counsel to nothing, he did not repent of his sin, and so he ended his own life.

Friends, may you take the long view of life. When we look only at what is in front of us, we easily lose our bearings, as if that were everything. When we are bound by our own thoughts, we can lose God, people, and life itself. Had Ahithophel thought of the God who had given him wisdom all his life, he would not have met such a tragic end.

If, when he suffered that bitter wrong, he had thought even once that he must return to God, his life could have been different.

God gives wisdom and grace to his people when they live by faith. Anyone who strives to live by faith can receive grace. Those who know that the grace they have received from God belongs to God can be protected in any situation, and they do not betray God.

There is something you need to know: God does not take back the wisdom and gifts he has given, even if a believer’s faith goes astray or they betray him. If he took them back, the person could not use them and would not sin more greatly; but because he does not, they turn that wisdom and those gifts to evil and so sin all the more. In other words, it is not the wisdom and gifts that have gone bad; people use them wickedly, and that is how they commit the sin of leading precious lives to hell. That is why those who have received God’s wisdom and gifts must be careful. Because they do not use their gifts with the word at the center, they preach their own ideas as though they were the word of God and use their gifts to exalt themselves above God.

I once heard someone say that such people act this way because they received gifts from Satan. But I see it a little differently. Of course there are people who never receive Christ and live wicked lives. Believers, however, first received wisdom and gifts from God. Over time, though, they lost their first love for God and used those precious gifts and that wisdom as their own, and in this way, it seems, their faith went astray.

Gifts are not only tongues or prophecy. Believing that God lives, hoping for heaven, preaching the word, serving, and giving ourselves to God: all of these are gifts. The fool is the one who turns that grace into glory for themselves. They use God’s word and gifts to exalt themselves because they do not know how great a sin that is.

2 Samuel 17:27

27When David had come to Mahanaim, 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,

As Hushai had advised, Absalom led the people across the Jordan. Ahithophel, who had helped Absalom wholeheartedly, had gone home, and with only those who were helping David now around him, Absalom could not but lose this war.

Unable to tell who was truly helping him and failing to see clearly, Absalom brought misfortune on himself. Worse, he attacked David, who was under God’s protection, and met a miserable end. But David, who had left the palace of his own accord to protect the lives of Absalom and the people, found helpers waiting for him wherever he went. This shows plainly how different the lives of Absalom and David had been. When David came to Mahanaim, there waiting for him were Shobi, the brother of Hanun, who had once humiliated David’s servants; Machir, who had sheltered Mephibosheth; and Barzillai, who honored David. They brought plenty of food and refreshed David and the people, worn out in body and mind. They helped him without conditions, even knowing that David had no strength. Knowing that he had no hope of returning to the palace and no means of repaying their kindness, they gave of themselves without expecting anything in return.

They could give of themselves like this because they believed in God rather than in David. Depending on the faith we live by, we may live like Absalom or Ahithophel, or like David and his companions. God will ask us whether, even if we suffer the hardship of being hunted by Absalom, we will live as David did. And he is asking whether we will help David, the man of God, or work for Absalom for our own immediate gain. By showing us their lives through Scripture, God wants to tell us whom he is helping now and what choices and deeds are right. God always gives us the right answer, but because we do not give up our own righteousness, we fail to see what is right and live as we please, like the people of the world.

Absalom and Ahithophel could attack David because they did not fear God; Hushai and Zadok could help David because they feared God.

Friends, I hope you will look not at people but at the God who helps them. Through Jesus a narrow way has already been opened in the world, and whether you walk that way or take the broad one is up to you. Everywhere in the world there are signposts showing the way to heaven, guides who lead people to the narrow way, and the Bible, which tells what heaven is like. Through Scripture God has even given us a greatly enlarged map of heaven, but leaving the narrow way for the broad one is entirely a human decision.

What choice will you make? Will you follow Absalom, who forsook God and his father and wanted to be a king of this world, or David, who endured and strove to live according to God’s will? I leave that decision with you. I ask this of you with all my heart: that at every turn of your life you will discern and decide wisely, staying faithful so as to reveal God’s will.

For those decisions are what settle heaven or hell.

It is natural for anyone’s heart to waver in hardship or under strong temptation, but if you weigh things well by faith, you should be able to decide wisely. May you take the long view of life, put away worldly greed and lust, and fulfill your calling with God’s gifts and wisdom.