2 Samuel 17
Today's Passage: 2 Samuel 17
Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ Thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house. And I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun.’” (2 Samuel 12:10–12)
As Nathan the prophet spoke these words to King David, I think it would have been hard to fully understand their meaning. By the end of chapter 16, all these dreadful consequences had come to pass. Yet, more grief was still to come.
As David fled, Ahithophel counseled Absalom to immediately pursue David and attack. Ahithophel’s wisdom was so respected that it was “as if one consulted the word of God” (2 Sam 16:23). However, in this instance, Absalom sought a second opinion from Hushai. Verse 14 gives insight into God’s mind on these events, “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.”
Unbeknownst to Absalom, Hushai was loyal to David and sought to buy him time with his counsel. Hushai sent messengers to David, but these messengers were spotted, and word got back to Absalom. An unnamed woman hid them and sent the searchers away.
David and those with him made it to Mahanaim. They were replenished through the loyalty of Shobi and Machir. In addition to food and rest, Mahanaim provided a fortified position from which they could defend themselves. Hushai bought David the time he and his men needed through the Lord’s sovereign hand.
Tucked into the middle of this story, we read that “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 shares Ahithophel’s fate, yet, notice how calculated this was from Israel’s wisest man. His wisdom was spurned, he traveled home, he spent the necessary time to order his home, then ended his life.
One commentator provides a worthy warning:
“The detailed description of Ahithophel’s death, preceded as it is by the emphasis on his precocious wisdom (cf. 15:31; 16:23), does enhance the writer’s critique of human wisdom. Earlier, the counsel of the wise man Shimeah (cf. 13:3–5) was shown to bring humiliation to the royal family and death to an heir of the king; here an even wiser man’s wisdom had led to an inglorious and premature death that deprived one of Israel’s best families of its most honored member. Without descending to the level of the explicit, the writer conveys the truth that human wisdom untempered by divine revelation produces results that are neither desirable nor productive.”
In a story like this, we’re reading what happened (descriptive) rather than being told something to do (prescriptive). However, we are challenged to consider the failings of human wisdom, while also witnessing how severe the consequences of sin may be.
Reflection:
Is there anything in your life not surrendered to the Lord?
Where do you go when you seek wisdom?
Are you leaning on your own wisdom or the counsel of others over what God has revealed through Scripture?
Written By: Tyler Short
Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ Thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house. And I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun.’” (2 Samuel 12:10–12)
As Nathan the prophet spoke these words to King David, I think it would have been hard to fully understand their meaning. By the end of chapter 16, all these dreadful consequences had come to pass. Yet, more grief was still to come.
As David fled, Ahithophel counseled Absalom to immediately pursue David and attack. Ahithophel’s wisdom was so respected that it was “as if one consulted the word of God” (2 Sam 16:23). However, in this instance, Absalom sought a second opinion from Hushai. Verse 14 gives insight into God’s mind on these events, “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.”
Unbeknownst to Absalom, Hushai was loyal to David and sought to buy him time with his counsel. Hushai sent messengers to David, but these messengers were spotted, and word got back to Absalom. An unnamed woman hid them and sent the searchers away.
David and those with him made it to Mahanaim. They were replenished through the loyalty of Shobi and Machir. In addition to food and rest, Mahanaim provided a fortified position from which they could defend themselves. Hushai bought David the time he and his men needed through the Lord’s sovereign hand.
Tucked into the middle of this story, we read that “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 shares Ahithophel’s fate, yet, notice how calculated this was from Israel’s wisest man. His wisdom was spurned, he traveled home, he spent the necessary time to order his home, then ended his life.
One commentator provides a worthy warning:
“The detailed description of Ahithophel’s death, preceded as it is by the emphasis on his precocious wisdom (cf. 15:31; 16:23), does enhance the writer’s critique of human wisdom. Earlier, the counsel of the wise man Shimeah (cf. 13:3–5) was shown to bring humiliation to the royal family and death to an heir of the king; here an even wiser man’s wisdom had led to an inglorious and premature death that deprived one of Israel’s best families of its most honored member. Without descending to the level of the explicit, the writer conveys the truth that human wisdom untempered by divine revelation produces results that are neither desirable nor productive.”
In a story like this, we’re reading what happened (descriptive) rather than being told something to do (prescriptive). However, we are challenged to consider the failings of human wisdom, while also witnessing how severe the consequences of sin may be.
Reflection:
Is there anything in your life not surrendered to the Lord?
Where do you go when you seek wisdom?
Are you leaning on your own wisdom or the counsel of others over what God has revealed through Scripture?
Written By: Tyler Short
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