2 Samuel

Ahithophel Stood Before Jushai

Ahitophel told Absalom: “Let me choose twelve thousand men that I may set out and pursue David tonight.

I will attack him while he is tired and discouraged and throw him into a panic. All those with him will flee, so I will strike down only the king.

I will bring all the people back to you as a bride comes home to her husband. Seek the death of only one man, and then all the people will be unharmed.”

The advice pleased Absalom and all the elders of Israel.

Then Absalom said: “Call in Hushai the Archite to hear what he has to say.”

When Hushai came before Absalom, Absalom asked him: “Ahithophel has given this advice. Shall we follow it? If not, you speak.”

So Hushai told Absalom: “This time, Ahithophel’s advice is not good.

You know that your father and his men are warriors. When enraged, they are like a bear robbed of her cubs in the field. Besides, your father is expert enough in war not to spend the night with his men.

Right now; he is hiding in one of the pits or some other place. If some of your men fall in the first attack, whoever hears of it will say, ‘There has been a slaughter among the men who follow Absalom.’

Then even the valiant man whose heart is like that of a lion will utterly melt with fear, for all Israel knows that your father is a warrior, as are the men who are with him.

My advice is for you to gather all the Israelites from Dan to Beersheba, as many as the sands of the sea, and go to battle in person.

Then we shall find him wherever he is and fall on him as the dew falls on the ground. Neither he nor any of his men will be left alive.

If he withdraws into a city, all Israel will bring ropes and drag it into the valley until not even a pebble of it remains.”

Absalom and all the Israelites said: “The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than that of Ahithophel.” For the Lord had decreed that the good counsel of Ahithophel be defeated so that he might bring evil upon Absalom.

Then Hushai reported to the priests Zadok and Abiathar: “Ahithophel advised Absalom and the elders of Israel in this way, but I have advised them in this manner.

Therefore, send word to David quickly, ‘Do not lodge tonight at the desert fords. Go beyond them lest the king and all the men with him be trapped!”

David and Absalom in Transjordan

Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were waiting at En-Rogel, where a maidservant regularly went to report to them so they could go and tell King David, for they should not have been seen in the city.

Still, a lad saw them and reported to Absalom. The two hurriedly left the place and entered the house of a man from Bahurim who had a well in his courtyard, and they descended into it.

The woman spread a covering over the well’s mouth, then scattered grain over it without anyone noticing.

When Absalom’s servants came to the woman’s house, they asked: “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?” The woman answered them: “They left, following the brook.” They searched for them but were unable to find them, so they returned to Jerusalem.

After they had gone, the men came up out of the well and went to tell David:“Hurry and cross over the river, for this is what Ahithophel has counseled against you.”

So David and all those with him crossed over the Jordan, and by daybreak, not one was left who had not crossed the Jordan.

When Ahithophel saw that his advice was not followed, he saddled his ass and rode back home to his own city. After setting his house in order, he hanged himself and died. He was then buried in the tomb of his father.

David had already entered Mahanaim when Absalom crossed the Jordan with all the Israelites.

Absalom had put Amasa in charge of the army instead of Joab. Amasa was the son of Ithra, an Ishmaelite who had married Abigail, Isai’s daughter, Zeruiah’s sister, and Joab’s mother.

The Israelites and Absalom pitched camp in the land of Gilead.

When David arrived at Mahanaim, Shobi the son of Nahash from Rabbah of the Ammonites, Machir the son of Ammiel from Lodebar, and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim,

brought beds, basins, earthen vessels, wheat, barley, meal, roasted grain, beans and lentils, honey and curds, and sheep and cheese from the herd. All this was for David and the people with him to eat

for they said: “The people are hungry, weary, and thirsty in the desert.”