Venture into the world of Biblical intrigue as political tension mounts after Absalom’s coup against King David. With the fate of a kingdom hanging in the balance, advisors like Hushai and Ahithophel maneuver through moral and tactical complexities. In this episode, uncover the tragic human elements behind the rebellion’s strategic plans and the profound emotional impact it had on King David, whose heartache resonates through time.
The CEM Network is pleased to present Ronald L. Dart and Born to Win.
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When a palace coup takes place, any influential person is going to have to walk very carefully. It may, in fact, be impossible to sit this one out. You may wish you could retreat into the wilderness and come back when the battle is over, but everyone knows who you are, everyone knows what your loyalties have been, and you’re forced to choose sides no matter how much you would rather not. Sometimes the side is chosen for you in spite of all your protestations to the contrary. You know, things like this can happen even in large church organizations. but they don’t usually kill you over it. When Absalom engineered a palace coup and ousted his father David, It threw all kinds of people into crisis. Some went with David, some with Absalom, and some ended up being spies in the enemy camp, and nearly everybody had his life on the line. Such a man was Hushai the Archite, a man whose name is likely not familiar even to a lot of Bible readers. He started to go with David into the desert when the rebellion took place, but David said, No, I want you to go back. I want you to go back because I want you to defeat the counsel of another important player, one who had stayed with Absalom, was loyal to Absalom, and he figured, of course, the guy who stayed with Absalom did, that he was backing a winner. His name was Ahithophel, and you probably have not heard of him either. But he had been a very key advisor to David. He was now key to Absalom. He was a man of singular wisdom and insight. And when David heard that he was with Absalom, it was worrisome. So he sent back Hushai, the archite, with instructions to see what he could do about defeating the council, the advice of one Ahithophel. The counsel of Ahithophel, which he counseled in those days, the Bible says, was if a man had inquired at the oracle of God. So was all the advice of Ahithophel, both with David and with Absalom. So when the coup had apparently succeeded, and everybody was standing there wondering what to do next, Ahithophel realized there was a very important piece of unfinished business going He said to Absalom, let me choose out now 12,000 men, big army. I will arise and pursue after David this very night. We’ll let no grass grow under our feet. We’ve got to go after him now. This is in 2 Samuel chapter 17. He said, I will come upon him while he is weary and weak-handed, worn out. I will make him afraid, and all the people that are with him shall run, and I will smite the king only. We won’t have to have a lot of bloodshed. We’ll frighten all of these people. I’ll kill the king, and I’ll bring all the people back to you. The man whom you seek is as if all returned, so all the people will be in peace. Now, the object of Ahithophel… was to remove David from the picture and reunite the kingdom under Absalom. And it might well have worked, in history but indifferently, if the plan had been followed. But David had prayed that God would defeat the counsel of Ahithophel. He feared the wisdom of that man in the wrong place, giving the right advice to the wrong person. Well, the saying, whatever Ahithophel said they wanted to do, pleased Absalom well, and all the elders as well. Then said Absalom, Call now Hushai the Archite also, and let’s get another point of view. Let’s hear what he has to say. Well, now, when Hushai came to Absalom, he said to him, Ahithophel has spoken after this manner. What shall we do after his saying? If not, you speak. And Hushai said to Absalom, The counsel that Ahithophel has given is not good at this time. Hushai has the art of temporizing down. He said, you know your father and his men, that they are mighty men. They are chafed in their minds, and as a bear robbed of her whelps in the field, these people are ticked off. Your father is a man of war. He won’t sleep with the people. He won’t lodge among the little people. And this is entirely true. And not a few heads around the room are beginning to nod at this time. Yes, that’s correct. They are irritated. They are angry. They are like a bear robbed with whelps in the field. And David is a fighter. And he won’t be lodging with the ordinary people. They all knew this. Then Hushai went on to say, look, he is now in some pit, some cave, or in some place. And what’s going to happen when some of them are overthrown at the first? In other words, we send our armies in there and we start getting some people killed. The word’s going to go around saying there’s a slaughter among the people that are following Absalom. And you know how public opinion is. It sways back and forth with the wind. If we go out there, we’re going to take some casualties and still not get David, and we’re going to have a major public relations problem, is what Hushai is saying. Also, he also that is valiant, whose heart is as the heart of a lion, shall utterly melt if this happens. For all Israel knows that your father is a mighty man. They know that those men who are with him are valiant. So I counsel that all Israel be generally gathered unto you from Dan to Beersheba like the sand by the sea for the multitude. We don’t just want 12,000 men. We want everybody. And that you go to battle in your own person. Now, it’s important to know that the plan of Ahithophel had been for him to take a fast, striking force that night and cut straight through to David. Now there is a delay while everyone gets organized. The problem with this is it gives David also time to organize. It gives David’s people time to rest. It gives them time to sort things out, to divide their armies up, and to set up their structure. Most important of all, Absalom will be in command. This was shrewd on Hushai’s part to realize this, that he could tap into that young man’s vanity. And if you’ve read the story in the Bible up to this point, you will know that of all men, Absalom was among the most vain. So when Hushai said, and you yourself will be in command, well, he probably swelled up a little bit and said, I really like that. But Absalom had not been a warrior as his father had been. He was a beautiful man. He was a fancy man. He was not a fighting man. But all this appealed to his vanity. Anyway, Hushai goes on to say, We’ll come upon him in some place where he shall be found, and we will light upon him like the dew falls on the ground. We’ll cover them all. And of him and all the men that are with him, there shall not be left so much as one. We’ll just wipe them out. If he’s gotten into a city, then all his roving ropes to that city will drag that city into the river until there’s not one small stone found there. We can just overwhelm these people out there. And Absalom and all the men of Israel said, The counsel of Hushai is better than the counsel of Ahithophel. That all sounded really good to them. On the other hand, Ahithophel had the right idea. You don’t go with a whole bunch of people. You put together the small, fast, mobile striking force, and you strike before your enemy has a chance to organize himself. But they listened to Hushai instead of Ahithophel. For, the scripture tells us, the Lord had appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel to the intent that the Lord might bring evil upon Absalom. And you know, the best advice in the world is worthless if God has decided to defeat you. Then said Hushai to Zadok and Abiath of the priests. So he slipped out and went to these two men who were priests, who most people would have thought were above any type of suspicion. And he said, Here is what Ahithophel counseled Absalom and the elders of Israel, and this is what I have counseled. Gave them the whole story. Now therefore, he said, send quickly and tell David, saying, Don’t lodge this night in the plains of the wilderness. Get on over. Lest the king be swallowed up and all the people that are with him. What Hushai had done was to buy David some time. He got word to David through the intelligence network David had left behind. Jonathan and Ahimaaz, who stayed by in Rogel, they were out there. They didn’t want to be seen to come into the city. So they sent a wench out to tell them, and then they went to tell King David. However, there was a hitch. A lad saw them and told Absalom. And they both of them fled away quickly and came to a man’s house that had a well in his court. And they went down the well. The woman took a spread, covered over the well’s mouth, and spread ground corn on top of it. And nothing was not known. When Absalom’s servants came to the woman and said, Where are these two? Where is Ahimehaz? Where is Jonathan? Have you seen them? The woman said, Oh, they went over the brook of water. And when they had looked for them and couldn’t find them, they returned to Jerusalem. It came to pass, after Absalom’s men had left, they came up out of the well and went and told King David. They said to David, Get up now. Get quickly over the water. And they’re talking about the Jordan River. Thus has Ahithophel counseled against you. So David arose and all the people with him, and they passed over Jordan. By the morning light, there lacked not one of them that had not gone over Jordan. This is one of the really great river crossings in all military history, right along with George Washington, you know, and his crossing of the Delaware. These people had to get over there. They got over it by night and by morning. They were all of them gone. If indeed Ahithophel had gone after them, they would have caught them before they got to Jordan and maybe even in the process of crossing Jordan. A very small delay had allowed David and his men to get clean away. Kind of underlines the importance of intelligence, doesn’t it? Stay with me.
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There’s much more to this story. If you would like to be on our mailing list to receive a free newsletter, Living to Win, as well as information regarding free offers of CDs and literature, plus opinions and essays by Ronald Dart, write to Born to Win, Post Office Box 560, White House, Texas 75791. Or call toll free 1-888-BIBLE44.
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When Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saw the way things were going, he saddled his animal, he got up, went home to his house, to his city, put his household in order, and hanged himself, and died, and was buried in the grave of his father. I really don’t think this is just vanity or wounded pride on the part of this man. He knew that the jig was up. He knew he had backed the wrong man. He knew that Absalom was going to lose this battle. He also knew that when David returned, his life would be worthless. He had backed the wrong horse. That’s what I meant when I said when the palace coup comes, all influential men are thrown immediately into crisis. Then David came to Mahanaim, and Absalom passed over Jordan, all the men of Israel with him, chasing him. Absalom made Amasa the captain of the host instead of Joab. Amasa was a man’s son, whose man’s name was Etherah. the one that went into Abigail, the daughter of Nahash, sister to Zeruiah, Joab’s mother. So this complicated little thing says that this man is Joab’s nephew. And trust me, he is no Joab. Joab was one of a kind, a fighting man of fighting men. So Israel and Absalom pitched in the plain of Gilead. And it came to pass that when David came to Mahanaim, Shobi, son of Nahash of Rabbah, of the children of Ammon, of all people. Machir, son of Amiel of Lodabar. Barzillai, the Gileadite of Rogalim. All these people brought beds and basins and earthen vessels, wheat, barley, flour, parched corn, beans, lentil, parched pulse. They brought honey and butter. They brought sheep and cheese for David and for the people that were with him to eat. For they said, These people are hungry and tired and thirsty in the wilderness. Now what’s interesting about this is, the Ammonites were a people David had earlier conquered. And here they are helping him. It suggests a fairly enlightened administration by David for these people to offer him aid when he is running for his life. But this is exactly what they did. They came out and completely supplied David, his army, and his people. 2 Samuel 18. David numbers the people who are with him and sets captains of thousands and captains of hundreds over them. He sent forth a third of the people under the hand of Joab. Another third under the hand of Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother. And you didn’t take a very large step down in fighting quality from Joab to Abishai. He put the third group under the hand of Ittai the Gittite. Now this is a really tough set of fighting men. And the king said, now I’m going to go out with you. But the people answered and said, no, no, we don’t want you to go out there. If we flee away, they won’t care about us. If half of us die, will they care for us? But now you are worth 10,000 of us. So it’s better that you help us out of the city. Now, I don’t know what’s going on here. David is getting older. He may have lost a step by this time. It was better, they thought, that he maintain a command center in the city. His men were well led in the field. And you have an interesting difference here. You have Absalom who has to be in charge. You have David who’s willing to stay behind and let his men do what they had to do. He said, What seems to you best I will do. And he stood by the gateside, and all the people came out by hundreds and by thousands. What an army they were putting out. And the king commanded Joab and Abishai and Ittai and said this, For my sake, deal gently with the young man, even with Absalom. And all the people heard when the king gave his captain’s charge concerning Absalom. There is no accounting for the love of a man for his son, even when the son is a bounder like Absalom. I can only imagine the rolling of eyes, the casting of eyes up to heaven when David says, Oh, oh, by the way, deal gently with Absalom, my son, please. So the people went out into the field against Israel, and the battle was in the wood of Ephraim. where the people of Israel were slain before the servants of David. I mean, right off the bat, David’s men start cutting them right and left. There was a great slaughter that day of 20,000 men. Now, I know these numbers seem high, but you have to realize that when you put people in hand-to-hand combat, the number of deaths far exceeds the kind of combat that we have in the modern world at a distance. The battle was scattered all over the face of the country at that time. And the wood devoured more people than the sword devoured. In the wilderness, the forest killed a lot of people. They just got lost out there and died. Absalom encountered the servants of David. Absalom himself. Now, David is back in the city where his men thought he should be. Absalom is out in the field on an animal. And his animal fled under thick boughs of a great oak. And Absalom’s head caught hold of the oak, and he was grabbed up between heaven and earth, hanging there. And the mule that was under him went carrying. He just charged on and off into the forest. And here hangs Absalom by his long mane of hair. One of the reasons, I suppose, why a man going into combat ought to get a haircut. It is a point of vulnerability, and it sure was for Absalom. It cost him his life. A certain man saw him hanging there and told Joab, I saw Absalom. He was hanged in an oak. And Joab said, What? You saw him? Why didn’t you kill him right there? I would have given you ten shekels of silver and a girdle. And the man said to Joab, Though I should receive a thousand shekels of silver in my hand, I would not put forth my hand against the king’s son. We heard the king charge you in Abishai, saying, Beware that none of you touch the young man Absalom. Otherwise I would have wrought falsehood against my own life. There is no matter hid from the king. We couldn’t have covered that up. You yourself would have turned me in. Then said Joab, I’m not going to stand here talking with you about this. He took three javelins in his hand and thrust them through the heart of Absalom while he was still alive in the midst of the oak. And ten young men who bore Joab’s armor compassed about and smote Absalom and killed him. And Joab blew the trumpet, and the people returned from pursuing after Israel, for Joab held them back, or the loss of life would have been even greater. And in this case, the difference really seems to have been organization and leadership. They took Absalom and cast him into a great pit in the wood and laid a very great heap of stones upon him. And all Israel fled. Every man ran for his tent. Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself a pillar, which is in the king’s dale. He said, I have no son to keep my name in remembrance. It’s odd in a way that Absalom had no son. He was a good looking man. There’s no particular reason why he wouldn’t have, but he didn’t. He called the pillar after his own name. It is called to this day Absalom’s Place. Then said Ahimaaz, the son of Zadok, Let me run now and bear the king tidings how the Lord has avenged him of his enemies. Okay, here comes a guy up. He’s a fast runner. He says to Joab, Oh, hey, let me run and bring the king tidings. And Joab said to him, You shall not bear tidings this day. You’ll have to do this another day. This day you shall bear no tidings because the king’s son is dead. Then said Joab to Cushai, Go tell the king what you have seen. And Cushai bowed himself unto Joab and ran. Then said Ahimaaz, the son of Zadok, again to Joab, Oh, please, let me also run after Cushai. And he said, What do you want to run for, my son? You don’t have any tidings ready. However, he said, Let me run. And he said, Okay, run. Ahimaaz ran by the way of the plain and actually outpaced Cushai and got there first. David sat between the two gates, and the watchman went up to the roof over the gate of the wall. He lifted up his eyes, and he looked and saw a man running alone. And the watchman cried and told the king, and the king said, If he’s alone, there’s tidings in his mouth. And he came apace, and he drew near. The watchman saw another man running, and the watchman called unto the porter and said, Behold, here’s another man running alone. And the king said, Oh, he also brings tidings. These are men. It was just, you know, the custom of the time. They knew how this was done. The watchman said, Methinks the running of the foremost is like the running of Ahimaaz, the son of Zadok. The king said, Oh, he is a good man, and he comes with good tidings. I guess they expected the nature of the man to match the message, and maybe if you were a king sending messengers to someone else, you’d do that. Ahimaaz called and said unto the Lord the king, All is well. And he fell down to the earth on his face before the king and said, Blessed be the Lord thy God, which has delivered up the men that lifted up their hand against my Lord the king. And the king said, Is the young man Absalom safe? Now, I don’t know whether Ahima has really understood this or not, or whether he lied. I just know he didn’t want to tell David this. He said, Well, when Joab sent me, I saw a great tumult. I didn’t know what it was. And the king said to him, Well, you stand here. And he turned aside and stood still. Here comes Cushai. We’ll look at what Cushai had to say when we come back after this important message.
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For a man like David to have to wait in the city and find out secondhand what was actually happening in the field must have been terribly difficult. Now the second messenger comes breathing through the gate as fast as he can, panting and says, Tidings, my lord, the king, the lord has avenged you this day of all those that rose up against you. A very eloquent way of saying, we won. And the king said to Cushai, Is the young man Absalom safe? You know, it seems as though that meant more to him than winning the battle. And Cushai answered, The enemies of my lord the king and all those that rise to do you hurt, be as that young man is. Just a nice way of saying, he’s dead. And the king was much moved and went up to the chamber over the gate privately and wept. And as he went, thus he said, Oh, my son Absalom, my son Absalom. My son Absalom, would God I had died for you. Oh Absalom, my son, my son. It is so hard to understand. There was a marvelous short piece done by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir years ago on one of their recordings. I haven’t seen it since. It was a piece of these very words of David’s lament over the death of Absalom. And it would just break your heart to listen to that song. Oh, Absalom, my son, my son. Hard to understand David’s emotions in this case. And yet, David is so often a type of Christ in the Bible. And Paul says, while we were yet sinners, while we were enemies of God, Christ died for the ungodly. And this would God I had died for you, for this lout, this vain little man who was constantly scheming and plotting and an enemy of his own father. His willingness to die for that man is in itself fascinating. Well, they told Joab, the king is weeping and mourning for Absalom. And the victory of that day was turned into mourning to all the people. Because they heard say that day how the king was grieved for his son. A tremendous victory. And everybody was sorry. The people got them by stealth that day into the city. They were like people being ashamed, stealing away when they flee in battle. The king covered his face and he cried with a loud voice. They could hear him all over the place. Oh, my son, Absalom. Oh, Absalom, my son, my son. And Joab came into the house to the king and said, You have shamed this day the faces of all your servants. who this day have saved your life, the lives of your sons and of your daughters, the lives of your wives and the lives of your concubines. You have shamed us all in that you love your enemies and hate your friends. For you have declared this day that you regard neither princes nor servants. For this day I perceive that if Absalom had lived and all we had died this day, It would have pleased you well.
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