Bible Verses About Council

Achitofel said to Avshalom, "Let me now choose 12,000 men, and I will pursue David tonight.

I'll fall on him unexpectedly when he's tired and powerless. I'll frighten him, all the people with him will flee, and I'll attack only the king.

Then I will bring back to you all the people; and when they have all returned, except the one you are seeking, all the people will be at peace."

What he said pleased Avshalom and all the leaders of Isra'el.

Then Avshalom said, "Now call also Hushai the Arki, and let's give equal hearing to what he has to say."

When Hushai appeared before Avshalom, Avshalom said to him, "Achitofel has said such-and-such. Should we do what he says? If not, you tell us."

Hushai said to Avshalom, "The advice Achitofel has given this time is not good.

You know," continued Hushai, "that your father and his men are powerful men, and that they are as bitter as a bear deprived of her cubs in the wild. Moreover, your father is a military man, and he won't camp with the rest of the people -

right now he's hidden in a pit or somewhere. So what will happen is this: when they begin their attack, and whoever hears about it says, 'A slaughter is taking place among Avshalom's followers,'

then even the strongest among them, someone whose courage is that of a lion, will completely collapse! For all Isra'el knows that your father is a powerful man, and those with him are powerful men.

Rather, I advise that you summon all Isra'el to come to you, from Dan to Be'er-Sheva, numbering as many as sand grains on the seashore; and then you go to battle, yourself.

In this way we'll come upon him wherever he is, and we'll fall on him as the dew falls on the ground; of him and all the men with him we won't leave even one alive.

If he withdraws into a city, then all Isra'el will bring up ropes to that city, and we will drag it into the riverbed until not even a pebble is left."

Avshalom and all the men of Isra'el said, "The advice of Hushai the Arki is better than the advice of Achitofel"- for ADONAI had determined to frustrate the good advice of Achitofel, so that ADONAI could bring disaster on Avshalom.

Then Hushai said to Tzadok and Evyatar the cohanim, "Achitofel gave such-and-such advice to Avshalom and the leaders of Isra'el, but I advised so and so.

But some men came down from Y’hudah to Antioch and began teaching the brothers, “You can’t be saved unless you undergo b’rit-milah in the manner prescribed by Moshe.”

This brought them into no small measure of discord and dispute with Sha’ul and Bar-Nabba. So the congregation assigned Sha’ul, Bar-Nabba and some of themselves to go and put this sh’eilah before the emissaries and the elders up in Yerushalayim.

After being sent off by the congregation, they made their way through Phoenicia and Shomron, recounting in detail how the Gentiles had turned to God; and this news brought great joy to all the brothers.

On arrival in Yerushalayim, they were welcomed by the Messianic community, including the emissaries and the elders; and they reported what God had done through them.

But some of those who had come to trust were from the party of the P’rushim; and they stood up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and direct them to observe the Torah of Moshe.”

The emissaries and the elders met to look into this matter.

After lengthy debate, Kefa got up and said to them, “Brothers, you yourselves know that a good while back, God chose me from among you to be the one by whose mouth the Goyim should hear the message of the Good News and come to trust.

And God, who knows the heart, bore them witness by giving the Ruach HaKodesh to them, just as he did to us;

that is, he made no distinction between us and them, but cleansed their heart by trust.

So why are you putting God to the test now by placing a yoke on the neck of the talmidim which neither our fathers nor we have had the strength to bear?