2 Samuel 17 · WEB
Hushai Defeats Ahithophel's Counsel; Ahithophel Hangs Himself; David Reaches Mahanaim
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Moreover Ahithophel said to Absalom, "Let me now choose twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David tonight.
2I will come on him while he is weary and weak-handed, and will make him afraid. All the people who are with him shall flee, and I will strike the king only;
3and I will bring back all the people to you. The man whom you seek is as if all had returned; all the people shall be in peace."
4The saying pleased Absalom and all the elders of Israel well.
5Then Absalom said, "Call now Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear likewise what he says."
6When Hushai had come to Absalom, Absalom said to him, "Ahithophel has spoken in this way. Shall we do what he says? If not, speak up."
7Hushai said to Absalom, "The counsel that Ahithophel has given this time is not good."
8Hushai said, "You know your father and his men, that they are mighty men, and they are fierce in their minds, as a bear robbed of her cubs in the field. Your father is a man of war and will not spend the night with the people.
9Behold, he has hidden himself now in some pit, or in some other place; and it will happen when he falls on them at the first that whoever hears it will say, 'There has been a slaughter among the people who follow Absalom!'
10Even he who is valiant, whose heart is as the heart of a lion, will utterly melt; for all Israel knows that your father is a mighty man, and those who are with him are valiant men.
11But I counsel that all Israel be gathered to you, from Dan even to Beersheba, as the sand that is by the sea for multitude; and that you go to battle in your own person.
12So shall we come upon him in some place where he shall be found, and we will light on him as the dew falls on the ground; and of him and of all the men who are with him not one shall be left.
13Moreover, if he withdraws into a city, then shall all Israel bring ropes to that city, and we will draw it into the river, until there isn't one small stone found there."
14Absalom and all the men of Israel said, "The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel." For Yahweh had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that Yahweh might bring evil on Absalom.
15Then Hushai said to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, "Ahithophel counseled Absalom and the elders of Israel in this way and in that way; and I have counseled in this way and in that way.
16Now therefore send quickly and tell David, saying, 'Don't stay tonight at the fords of the wilderness, but by all means pass over; lest the king be swallowed up, and all the people who are with him.'"
17Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying at En Rogel; and a female servant used to go and tell them, and they would go and tell king David; for they dared not be seen to come into the city.
18But a young man saw them and told Absalom; so they both went away quickly and came to the house of a man in Bahurim, who had a well in his court, and they went down into it.
19The woman took and spread the covering over the well's mouth, and put ground grain on it; and the thing was not known.
20Absalom's servants came to the woman at the house, and said, "Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?" The woman said to them, "They have gone over the brook of water." When they had sought and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem.
21After they had departed, they came up out of the well and went and told king David; and they said to David, "Arise and pass quickly over the water; for this is what Ahithophel has counseled against you."
22Then David arose, and all the people who were with him, and they passed over the Jordan. By the morning light there was not one of them left who had not gone over the Jordan.
23When Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his donkey and arose and went home to his city and set his house in order, and hanged himself; and he died and was buried in the tomb of his father.
24Then David came to Mahanaim. Absalom passed over the Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him.
25Absalom set Amasa over the army instead of Joab. Now Amasa was the son of a man whose name was Ithra the Israelite, who had married Abigail the daughter of Nahash, sister of Zeruiah, Joab's mother.
26Israel and Absalom encamped in the land of Gilead.
27When David had come to Mahanaim, Shobi the son of Nahash from Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and Machir the son of Ammiel from Lo Debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim,
28brought beds, basins, earthen vessels, wheat, barley, meal, parched grain, beans, lentils, and roasted grain,
29honey, curds, sheep, and cheese of the herd, for David and for the people who were with him, to eat; for they said, "The people are hungry, faint, and thirsty in the wilderness."
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Summary
Ahithophel advises Absalom to strike immediately with a small force — brilliant counsel that, if followed, would have likely killed David. But Absalom also consults Hushai, David's planted spy, whose more flattering and cautious plan wins the day — a delay that proves fatal to the rebellion. The narrator makes plain this was God's doing: Yahweh ordained that Ahithophel's good advice be rejected. Ahithophel, recognizing the strategic error and its inevitable outcome, returns home and hangs himself. David crosses the Jordan and reaches Mahanaim in Gilead, where loyal friends supply him with food and provisions for the coming battle.
Themes
- God's hidden sovereignty overruling human strategy
- Loyal friendship demonstrated in practical generosity during crisis
- The tragic end of a brilliant man who chose the wrong side
- The intelligence network of faith — unlikely people protecting God's anointed
Key verses
- 2 Sam 17:14 — “Yahweh had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that Yahweh might bring evil on Absalom.”
- 2 Sam 17:23 — “When Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his donkey and arose and went home to his city and set his house in order, and hanged himself.”
- 2 Sam 17:29 — “For they said, 'The people are hungry, faint, and thirsty in the wilderness.'”
Context & background
En Rogel (v. 17) was a spring just south of Jerusalem at the junction of the Kidron and Hinnom valleys (modern Bir Ayyub / Job's Well, just south of the Old City of Jerusalem). Bahurim (v. 18) was a village on the northeastern slope of the Mount of Olives (modern West Bank, near Jerusalem) — the same place where Shimei cursed David in chapter 16. The Jordan River crossing (v. 22) placed David in Transjordan (modern Jordan), moving toward Mahanaim — identified with modern Tell edh-Dhahab el-Gharbi in the Jabbok River valley in northern Jordan — the same city where Ish-bosheth had briefly ruled (2 Sam 2:8). Barzillai the Gileadite was from Rogelim in Gilead (northern Jordan), and his generosity here will be repaid by David in chapter 19.
Cross-references
- 2 Sam 15:31-34 — David's prayer that Ahithophel's counsel be turned to foolishness — answered here
- 2 Sam 19:31-39 — David honors Barzillai for his loyalty at Mahanaim
- Matthew 27:5 — Judas Iscariot hangs himself after betraying Jesus — a tragic parallel to Ahithophel
- Proverbs 19:21 — "There are many plans in a man's heart, but Yahweh's counsel will prevail."
- Psalm 33:10-11 — "Yahweh brings the counsel of the nations to nothing... The counsel of Yahweh stands forever."