Chapter Seventeen
Ahithophel Advises Absalom to Pursue David Now
17:1 Moreover, Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me choose twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue David tonight. 2 I will come upon him while he is weary and discouraged and throw him into a panic, and all the people who are with him will flee. I will strike down only the king, 3 and I will bring all the people back to you as a bride comes home to her husband. You seek the life of only one man, and all the people will be at peace.” 4 And the advice seemed right in the eyes of Absalom and all the elders of Israel.
Ahithophel asks Absalom for permission to choose twelve thousand men and immediately pursue David so that they can go after them and approach them while they are still tired and dismayed. Ahithophel believes this will cause him to panic, and the people with him will all run, fleeing from David. He says he will only kill David, everyone else will be unharmed and the people of Israel will be at peace. Ahithophel’s advice “seemed right” by Absalom, and all the elders of Israel, but apparently Absalom was not fully convinced.
Hushai Advises Absalom to Wait
17:5 Then Absalom said, “Call Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear what he has to say.” 6 And when Hushai came to Absalom, Absalom said to him, “Thus has Ahithophel spoken; shall we do as he says? If not, you speak.”
Absalom now wishes to hear what Hushai has to say about Ahithophel’s plan. So he calls for him and is told all that Ahithophel advised and then is asked for his opinion.
17:7 Then Hushai said to Absalom, “This time the counsel that Ahithophel has given is not good.” 8 Hushai said, “You know that your father and his men are mighty men, and that they are enraged, like a bear robbed of her cubs in the field. Besides, your father is expert in war; he will not spend the night with the people. 9 Behold, even now he has hidden himself in one of the pits or in some other place. And as soon as some of the people fall at the first attack, whoever hears it will say, ‘There has been a slaughter among the people who follow Absalom.’ 10 Then even the valiant man, whose heart is like the heart of a lion, will utterly melt with fear, for all Israel knows that your father is a mighty man, and that those who are with him are valiant men.
Hushai first claims that Ahithophel’s advice was flawed and explains, he tells Absalom that he knows that his father and his men are skilled warriors and that when they are enraged they are like a bear robbed of her cubs, as they would be now. In addition, David is an expert war tactician, he wouldn’t spend the night with the people, he is likely hiding. So if they were to go now, they will likely get slaughtered and when the word gets out about the men who fell during the first attack, even his most valiant men will melt with fear. As everyone knows that David is a mighty man and so are all of his men.
17:11 But my counsel is that all Israel be gathered to you, from Dan to Beersheba, as the sand by the sea for multitude, and that you go to battle in person. 12 So we shall come upon him in some place where he is to be found, and we shall light upon him as the dew falls on the ground, and of him and all the men with him not one will be left. 13 If he withdraws into a city, then all Israel will bring ropes to that city, and we shall drag it into the valley, until not even a pebble is to be found there.”
So therefore he recommends that Absalom wait and gather all of Israel’s fighting force together from Dan to Beersheba, and that he (Absalom) personally lead the men into battle. Once they know where David is, they will attack and fall on him “as the dew falls on the ground,” eliminating him and his men, no one would remain. If David enters a city, they will bring ropes to that city and they will drag that city until they tear it completely down, where not even a pebble will be found there.
17:14 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 ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, so that the LORD might bring harm upon Absalom.
Absalom and the men of Israel compared attack plans of Ahithophel and Hushai, and thought that Hushai’s plan was the better one. The author tells us that YHWH caused Ahithophel’s plan to be defeated, so that YHWH would bring harm to Absalom. Ahithophel’s plan likely would have succeeded, but God made Hushai’s plan so appealing, possibly playing into Absalom’s pride (especially where he leads the troops into battle), that he and the men of Israel ultimately reject Ahithophel’s counsel.
Hushai Warns David to Escape
17:15 Then Hushai said to Zadok and Abiathar the priests, “Thus and so did Ahithophel counsel Absalom and the elders of Israel, and thus and so have I counseled. 16 Now therefore send quickly and tell David, ‘Do not stay tonight at the fords of the wilderness, but by all means pass over, lest the king and all the people who are with him be swallowed up.’ ”
Hushai then, as quickly as possible, told Zadok and Abiathar, who would then relay the information to David. Hushai warned that David was not to stay that night at the fords, but to pass over the Jordan River, otherwise he and everyone with him would be captured or killed.
17:17 Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were waiting at En-rogel. A female servant was to go and tell them, and they were to go and tell King David, for they were not to be seen entering the city.
The information was given to a female servant to pass on to Jonathan and Ahimaaz, the priest’s sons, who were waiting at En-rogel, a spring outside the city (used to identify the boundary between the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, see Joshua 15:7; 18:16) so they would not be seen coming or going from Jerusalem.
17:18 But a young man saw them and told Absalom. So both of them went away quickly and came to the house of a man at Bahurim, who had a well in his courtyard. And they went down into it. 19 And the woman took and spread a covering over the well’s mouth and scattered grain on it, and nothing was known of it. 20 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 gone over the brook of water.” And when they had sought and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem.
Apparently there was some concern that the priest’s sons would inform David, or perhaps that at this tumultuous time no one was allowed to leave the city, in either case, when the two men were spotted near En-rogel, a young man saw them and reported back to Absalom their location. Knowing that they were seen, the two men hurried to the house of a man living in Bahurim (two miles north of Jerusalem). There was a well in the courtyard and so they hid in it. The woman of the house spread a covering over the well head and scattered grain on it so that if someone came by they would not suspect that there was anyone hiding there. Absalom’s men did come looking for Ahimaaz and Jonathan, but the woman told them that they had already crossed over the brook. The men looked, but could not find them, so they went back to Jerusalem.
17:21 After they had gone, the men came up out of the well, and went and told King David. They said to David, “Arise, and go quickly over the water, for thus and so has Ahithophel counseled against you.” 22 Then David arose, and all the people who were with him, and they crossed the Jordan. By daybreak not one was left who had not crossed the Jordan.
Ahimaaz and Jonathan were able to proceed and did find David. They told him what he needed to know, and that Ahithophel had advised against him. David and all the people with him crossed the Jordan River and by daybreak everyone was gone.
17:23 When Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his donkey and went off home to his own city. He set his house in order and hanged himself, and he died and was buried in the tomb of his father.
The author reports that since Ahithophel’s advise was not accepted by Absalom and that he essentially “burned the bridge” of his relationship with David (no longer able to be called “the king’s advisor”), he went home, set his house in order, and hung himself. We are told that he was buried in the tomb of his father.
17:24 Then David came to Mahanaim. And Absalom crossed the Jordan with all the men of Israel. 25 Now Absalom had set Amasa over the army instead of Joab. Amasa was the son of a man named Ithra the Ishmaelite, who had married Abigal the daughter of Nahash, sister of Zeruiah, Joab’s mother. 26 And Israel and Absalom encamped in the land of Gilead.
David went north to Mahanaim while Absalom and all the men of Israel crossed the Jordan. We are told that Absalom had set Amasa over the army instead of Joab (who is still loyal to, and was currently with David). Amasa’s ancestry is somewhat obscure, he is reported here as being the son of Ithra the Ishmaelite (but the Hebrew word is, yiś·rᵉʾē·lî’, that being an Israelite), but in 1 Chronicles 2:17 Amasa’s father is referred to as Jether (considered an emphatic form of Ithra), an Ishmaelite. Many question why would the author call someone an Israelite if the linage was already assuming being from Israel. Plus, we read that several of the manuscripts of the Septuagint and other sources, refer to him as being an Ishmaelite (some actually refer to him being a Jezreelite). Which is why many Bible versions refer to him as an Ishmaelite (like the ESV here) instead of an Israelite. There have been a number of speculations as to why the differences. Since the Hebrew for “married” is unusual to describe a marriage in verse twenty-five, many believe that the author is portraying Amasa as an illegitimate son, which would make him an illegitimate cousin of Joab.
Abigal and Zeruiah appear to have been half-sisters to David, since their father is reported here as being Nahash and not Jesse. Some believe there are alternate ways to interpret.
Nahash may have been (1) another name for Jesse, (2) the first husband of Jesse’s wife, (3) David’s mother, or (4) a second wife of Jesse. Amasa was probably the Amasai who brought a powerful reinforcement to David while he was living at Ziklag (1 Chr 12:18). The ambition of supplanting Joab made him now forget David’s long friendship. The details of the family history are given to enable the reader to understand the animosity between Amasa and Joab as they commanded the opposing forces.[1]
17:27 When David came to Mahanaim, Shobi the son of Nahash from Rabbah of the Ammonites, and Machir the son of Ammiel from Lo-debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim, 28 brought beds, basins, and earthen vessels, wheat, barley, flour, parched grain, beans and lentils, 29 honey and curds and sheep and cheese from the herd, for David and the people with him to eat, for they said, “The people are hungry and weary and thirsty in the wilderness.”
After David arrived at Mahanaim, the former capital of Ish-bosheth, he was greeted by three men who provided him and his troops with much needed supplies and food. These men were: 1) Shobi, the son of the Ammonite king Nahash (not the same Nahash referred to in verse twenty-five) which would make him the brother of Hanun (see 2 Samuel 10:2–4) from Rabbah, an Ammonite city that David had conquered (see 2 Samuel 12:26–31); 2) Makir, a former supporter of Mephibosheth (see 2 Samuel 9:4–5); and 3) Barzillai, a wealthy man from the Gileadite city Rogelim. They came to David’s aid even before the outcome of the struggle between Absalom and David was finally determined. To do so involved a great deal of risk and courage on the part of these three individuals (see Judges 8:6, where, in a similar situation, assistance was refused until the outcome of a battle was clear).
⇐Previous (Introduction) Next⇒
[1] Smith, J. E. (2000). 1 & 2 Samuel (pp. 470–471). College Press Pub. Co.