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2 Samuel 17

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Ahithophel Counsels Immediate Pursuit 1–4

1
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. ​

Hushai's Counter-Counsel 5–14

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 this time is not good.
8
Hushai said moreover, Thou knowest thy father and his men, that they are mighty men, and they are 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 are fallen at the first, that whosoever heareth it will say, There is a slaughter among the people that follow Absalom.
10
And even he that is valiant, whose heart is as the heart of a lion, will utterly melt; for all Israel knoweth that thy father is a mighty man, and they that are with him are valiant men.
11
But I counsel that all Israel be gathered together unto thee, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, 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 we will not leave 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 Jehovah had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that Jehovah might bring evil upon Absalom. ​

The Warning is Delivered to David 15–22

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 at the fords of the wilderness, but by all means pass over; lest the king be swallowed up, and all the people that are with him.
17
Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying by En-rogel; and a maid-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. ​
18
But a lad saw them, and told Absalom: and they went both of them away quickly, and came to the house of a man in Bahurim, who had a well in his court; and they went down thither.
19
And the woman took and spread the covering over the well’s mouth, and strewed bruised grain thereon; and nothing was known.
20
And Absalom’s servants came to the woman to the house; and they said, Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan? And the woman said unto them, They are 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 they said unto David, Arise ye, 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 the Jordan: by the morning light there lacked not one of them that was not gone over the Jordan.

The Fallout of Ahithophel 23

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

David Finds Refuge East of Jordan 24–29

24
Then David came to Mahanaim. And Absalom passed over the Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him. ​
25
And Absalom set Amasa over the host instead of Joab. Now Amasa was the son of a man, whose name was Ithra the Israelite, that went in to Abigal the daughter of Nahash, sister to Zeruiah, Joab’s mother. ​
26
And Israel and Absalom encamped 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 Lo-debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite of Rogelim, ​
28
brought beds, and basins, and earthen vessels, and wheat, and barley, and meal, and parched grain, and beans, and lentils, and parched pulse,
29
and honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheese of the herd, for David, and for the people that were with him, to eat: for they said, The people are hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for 2 Samuel 17

Verse 1

twelve thousand men — Ahithophel would 'choose out' (bachar) twelve thousand and 'pursue' (radaph) David 'this night'. His counsel 'was as if a man had enquired at the oracle of God' (2 Sam 16:23), and David had prayed against it in 15:31.

Verse 2

weary and weak handed — David and his people 'came weary' to their halt (2 Sam 16:14). Ahithophel would 'make him afraid' (charad, to tremble), so that the people flee and 'the king only' is smitten, and then, as v.3 says, 'bring back all the people', so that 'all the people shall be in peace'.

Verse 4

pleased Absalom well — The saying was literally right (yashar) 'in the eyes' of Absalom and the elders, a phrase of approval like Esth 1:21, 'the saying pleased the king and the princes'. Yet Absalom adds in v.5 'Call now Hushai', and v.14 gives the reason the better plan did not stand.

Verse 5

Call now Hushai the Archite — The man David sent back to the city (2 Sam 15:34) is called in by Absalom himself 'to hear likewise what he saith', literally what is in his mouth (peh). Hushai had met David 'with his coat rent, and earth upon his head' (2 Sam 15:32) before he returned.

Verse 8

a bear robbed of her whelps — 'Chafed in their minds' is literally bitter of soul (mar nephesh). The bear robbed of her whelps is a figure of fury in Prov 17:12 and Hos 13:8. David a 'man of war' is a description given him when he was first brought to Saul: 'a mighty valiant man, and a man of war' (1 Sam 16:18).

Verse 11

from Dan even to Beersheba — The span for all Israel, as in Judg 20:1. 'As the sand that is by the sea for multitude' is the figure of Gen 22:17, spoken of Abraham's seed; Hushai uses it for a muster that would take time. 'In thine own person' is literally 'thy face' (panim), putting Absalom at the head.

Verse 14

the LORD had appointed to defeat — Tsavah, to command: the LORD gave the order. This answers David's prayer in 2 Sam 15:31 about the 'counsel' (etsah) of Ahithophel, and the verb of 15:34, 'defeat' (parar). Ahithophel's counsel is called 'good' (tov); it fell through Absalom's own choice of Hushai's.

Verse 15

Zadok and … Abiathar — The report goes to the two priests as David arranged: 'what thing soever thou shalt hear out of the king's house, thou shalt tell it to Zadok and Abiathar the priests' (2 Sam 15:35). 'Counsel' (yaats) is the verb for both men: Ahithophel 'counsel', Hushai 'have I counselled'.

Verse 17

Enrogel — A boundary point on the border of Judah (Josh 15:7) and of Benjamin (Josh 18:16), where Adonijah later held his feast (1 Kings 1:9). Jonathan and Ahimaaz, the priests' sons of 2 Sam 15:36, 'might not be seen to come into the city', so a maidservant (shiphchah) carries the news out.

Verse 21

thus hath Ahithophel counselled against you — The messengers tell David Ahithophel's plan, since Hushai's word in v.16 had been 'Lodge not this night in the plains of the wilderness, but speedily pass over'. They came up from the well at Bahurim, covered by the woman in v.19. 'The water' is the Jordan (v.22).

Verse 23

put his household in order — Tsavah, to command, the same verb as the LORD's 'appointed' in v.14. Ahithophel commands his household as the LORD had commanded the defeat of his counsel. He returns 'to his city' (Giloh, 2 Sam 15:12) and is buried 'in the sepulchre of his father'.

Verse 24

Mahanaim — The place Jacob named when he saw 'God's host' (Gen 32:2), and where Abner brought Ishbosheth after Saul's death (2 Sam 2:8). David reaches it as the king in flight, and Absalom 'passed over Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him'.

Verse 25

Amasa captain of the host instead of Joab — Amasa's mother Abigail was 'sister to Zeruiah Joab's mother', so he and Joab were cousins, and 1 Chr 2:16 names Zeruiah and Abigail as sisters in David's family. David later asks the men of Judah to say to Amasa, 'Art thou not of my bone, and of my flesh?' (2 Sam 19:13).

Verse 27

Shobi … Machir … Barzillai — Three men east of Jordan meet David at Mahanaim. Shobi is of Rabbah of Ammon, the city of 2 Sam 12:26. Machir is the man in whose house Mephibosheth had lived at Lodebar (2 Sam 9:4). Barzillai 'had provided the king of sustenance while he lay at Mahanaim' (2 Sam 19:32), and David charged Solomon to show kindness to his sons (1 Kings 2:7).

Verse 29

hungry, and weary, and thirsty — Verse 28 lists beds, basins, earthen vessels, wheat, barley, flour, parched corn, beans, lentiles and parched pulse; v.29 adds honey, butter, sheep and cheese of kine. They give 'for they said, The people is hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness', and the supplies Ziba had brought earlier were bread, raisins, summer fruit and wine (2 Sam 16:1).