1Moreover Ahithophel said to Absalom, Now let me choose twelve thousand men, and I shall arise and pursue David tonight. 2I will come upon him while he is weary and weak handed, and make him afraid. And all the people who are with him will flee, and I will strike only the king. 3Then I shall bring back all the people to you. When all return, except the man whom you seek, all the people shall be at peace. 4And the words were agreeable to the eyes of Absalom and all the elders of Israel. 5And Absalom said, Now call Hushai the Archite also, and we shall hear from his mouth. 6And when Hushai came to Absalom, Absalom spoke to him, saying, Ahithophel has spoken according to these words. Shall we do as he says? If not, speak up. 7And Hushai said to Absalom: The counsel that Ahithophel has given is not good at this time. 8For, said Hushai, you know your father and his men, that they are mighty men, and they are bitter of soul, like a bear robbed of her cubs in the field; and your father is a man of war, and will not lodge with the people. 9Behold now, he is hidden in some pit, or in some other place. And it will be, when some of them fall at first, that whoever hears it will say, There is a slaughter among the people who follow Absalom. 10And even he who is valiant, whose heart is like the heart of a lion, will faint and melt away. For all Israel knows that your father is a mighty man, and those who are with him are valiant men. 11Therefore I counsel that all Israel be assembled and gathered to you, from Dan to Beer-sheba, like the sand that is by the sea for multitude, and that you go to battle in person. 12Thus we shall come upon him in some place where he may be found, and we shall fall upon him as the dew falls on the ground. And of him and all the men who are with him there shall not be left so much as one. 13Moreover, if he has withdrawn into a city, then all Israel shall bring ropes to that city; and we shall pull it into the river, until there is not one pebble found there. 14So Absalom and all the men of Israel said, The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel. For Jehovah had purposed to frustrate the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that Jehovah might bring calamity upon Absalom. 15And Hushai said to Zadok and Abiathar the priests, Thus and so has Ahithophel counseled Absalom and the elders of Israel, and thus and so I have counseled. 16Now therefore, send quickly and report to David, saying, Do not spend the night by the fords of the plains of the wilderness, but quickly cross over, that the king and all the people with him not be swallowed up. 17Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz stayed at En Rogel, for they dared not be seen coming into the city; so a slave girl came and reported to them, and they went and reported to King David. 18Nevertheless a lad saw them, and reported to Absalom. But both of them went away quickly and came to a man's house in Bahurim, who had a well in his court; and they went down into it. 19And the woman took and spread a covering over the well's mouth, and spread ground grain on it; and the thing was not discovered. 20And when Absalom's servants came to the woman at the house, they said, Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan? And the woman said to them, They have crossed over the water brook. And when they had searched and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem. 21Now it came to pass, after they had departed, that they came up out of the well and went and reported to King David, and said to David, Arise and cross over the water quickly; for thus has Ahithophel counseled against you. 22So David and all the people with him arose and crossed over the Jordan. By morning light not one of them was left who had not crossed over the Jordan. 23And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not carried out, he saddled a donkey, and arose and went home to his house, to his city, put his house in order, and hanged himself, and died; and he was buried in his father's tomb. 24Then David went to Mahanaim. And Absalom crossed over the Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him. 25And Absalom set Amasa over the army instead of Joab. This Amasa was the son of a man whose name was Jithra, an Israelite, who had gone in to Abigail the daughter of Nahash, sister of Zeruiah, Joab's mother. 26So Israel and Absalom encamped in the land of Gilead. 27And it happened, when David had come to Mahanaim, that Shobi the son of Nahash from Rabbah of the children of Ammon, Machir the son of Ammiel from Lo Debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim, 28brought beds and basins, earthen vessels and wheat, barley and flour, roasted grain and beans, lentils and roasted seeds, 29honey and curds, sheep and cheese of the herd, for David and the people who were with him to eat. For they said, The people are hungry and weary and thirsty in the wilderness.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 AHITHOPHEL'S COUNSEL OVERTHROWN BY HUSHAI. (
2Sam 17:1-14)
Moreover Ahithophel said unto Absalom--The recommendation to take prompt and decisive measures before the royalist forces could be collected and arranged, evinced the deep political sagacity of this councillor. The adoption of his advice would have extinguished the cause of David; and it affords a dreadful proof of the extremities to which the heartless prince was, to secure his ambitious objects, prepared to go, that the parricidal counsel "pleased Absalom well, and all the elders of Israel." It was happily overruled, however, by the address of Hushai, who saw the imminent danger to which it would expose the king and the royal cause. He dwelt upon the warlike character and military experience of the old king--represented him and his adherents as mighty men, who would fight with desperation; and who, most probably, secure in some stronghold, would be beyond reach, while the smallest loss of Absalom's men at the outset might be fatal to the success of the conspiracy. But his dexterity was chiefly displayed in that part of his counsel which recommended a general levy throughout the country; and that Absalom should take command of it in person--thereby flattering at once the pride and ambition of the usurper. The bait was caught by the vainglorious and wicked prince.
12 we will light upon him as the dew falleth on the ground--No image could have symbolized the sudden onset of an enemy so graphically to an Oriental mind as the silent, irresistible, and rapid descent of this natural moisture on every field and blade of grass.
13 all Israel shall bring ropes to that city--In besieging a town, hooks or cranes were often thrown upon the walls or turrets, by which, with ropes attached to them, the besiegers, uniting all their force, pulled down the fortifications in a mass of ruins.
14 The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel--The reasons specified being extremely plausible, and expressed in the strong hyperbolical language suited to dazzle an Oriental imagination, the council declared in favor of Hushai's advice; and their resolution was the immediate cause of the discomfiture of the rebellion, although the council itself was only a link in the chain of causation held by the controlling hand of the Lord.
16 SECRET INTELLIGENCE SENT TO DAVID. (
2Sam 17:15-22)
send quickly, and tell David--Apparently doubting that his advice would be followed, Hushai ordered secret intelligence to be conveyed to David of all that transpired, with an urgent recommendation to cross the Jordan without a moment's delay, lest Ahithophel's address and influence might produce a change on the prince's mind, and an immediate pursuit be determined on.
17 by En-rogel--the fuller's well in the neighborhood of Jerusalem, below the junction of the valley of Hinnom with that of Jehoshaphat.
18 and came to a man's house in Bahurim, which had a well in his court--The court was that of the house, and the well an empty cistern. All the houses of the better class are furnished with such reservoirs. Nothing could more easily happen than that one of these wells, in consequence of a deficiency of water, should become dry and it would then answer as a place of retreat, such as David's friends found in the man's house at Bahurim. The spreading of a covering over the well's mouth for the drying of corn is a common practice.
23 AHITHOPHEL HANGS HIMSELF. (
2Sam 17:23-29)
when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed--His vanity was wounded, his pride mortified on finding that his ascendency was gone; but that chagrin was aggravated by other feelings--a painful conviction that through the delay which had been resolved on, the cause of Absalom was lost. Hastening home, therefore, he arranged his private affairs, and knowing that the storm of retributive vengeance would fall chiefly upon him as the instigator and prop of the rebellion, he hanged himself. It may be remarked that the Israelites did not, at that time, refuse the rites of sepulture even to those who died by their own hands. He had an imitator in Judas, who resembled him in his treason, as well as in his infamous end.
24 Then David came to Mahanaim--in the high eastern country of Gilead, the seat of Ish-bosheth's government.
Absalom passed over Jordan--It is not said how long an interval elapsed, but there must have been sufficient time to make the intended levy throughout the kingdom.
25 Amasa--By the genealogy it appears that this captain stood in the same relation to David as Joab, both being his nephews. Of course, Amasa was Absalom's cousin, and though himself an Israelite, his father was an Ishmaelite (
1Chr 2:17).
Nahash--is thought by some to be another name of Jesse, or according to others, the name of Jesse's wife.
27 when David was come to Mahanaim--The necessities of the king and his followers were hospitably ministered to by three chiefs, whose generous loyalty is recorded with honor in the sacred narrative.
Shobi--must have been a brother of Hanun. Disapproving, probably, of that young king's outrage upon the Israelite ambassadors, he had been made governor of Ammon by David on the conquest of that country.
Machir--(See
2Sam 9:4). Supposed by some to have been a brother of Bath-sheba, and
Barzillai--a wealthy old grandee, whose great age and infirmities made his loyal devotion to the distressed monarch peculiarly affecting. The supplies they brought, which (besides beds for the weary) consisted of the staple produce of their rich lands and pastures, may be classified as follows: eatables--wheat, barley, flour, beans, lentils, sheep, and cheese; drinkables--"honey and butter" or cream, which, being mixed together, form a thin, diluted beverage, light, cool, and refreshing. Being considered a luxurious refreshment (
Song 4:11), the supply of it shows the high respect that was paid to David by his loyal and faithful subjects at Mahanaim.
29 in the wilderness--spread out beyond the cultivated tablelands into the steppes of Hauran.