Then said Absalom to Ahithophel, Give counsel among you what we shall do.
Absalom had seized Jerusalem in revolt against his father David and called on Ahithophel with his assembled counselors to decide their next move. The revolt was the punishment coming upon David for taking Bath-sheba and having Uriah the Hittite killed, carrying out what Nathan had pronounced against him. The counsel sought here led Ahithophel to urge Absalom to take David's wives openly before all Israel, fulfilling God's word that evil would rise from David's own house and his wives would be taken in the sight of the sun. It shows that sin brings back its own kind upon the sinner, even within his family, and that though David confessed and was pardoned from death, his pardoned sin brought only loss. Ahithophel's advice was prized as if inquiring of God, yet he was wise only in head knowledge without moral feeling, proving that numbers and brilliance count for nothing when God is not in the movement.
Context in David's Troubles
Absalom had occupied Jerusalem in rebellion against David when he turned to Ahithophel and his assembled counselors to ask what they should do.
The request belongs to the account of David fleeing Jerusalem and at war with Absalom. It stands amid Shimei's cursing of David during his adversity, with the fear and flight of the king and his pathetic journey that touched the hearts of old friends. Those circumstances prompted David's psalm during his flight. The same history moves toward the defeat and death of Absalom, David's sorrow over his wicked son's fate, his victory and return to Jerusalem, and his continued kindness to the house of Saul.
It stands in the family troubles of 2 Samuel 13-20, following disgrace and sorrow on account of Amnon and Absalom. That misery grew largely out of the evil of multiplying wives into a large family of children by different wives, where idleness, luxury, and jealousy developed unenviable characters. It centers on Absalom the beautiful, the shrewd and handsome prince whose ambitions were roused by fulsome flattery, and displays his base conduct and Ahithophel's treachery.
About three months passed between Absalom's occupation of Jerusalem and his tragic death at the hand of Joab. During that interval David numbered his adherents and thoroughly organized his army while Absalom rallied the people to his standard. The delay that gave David time came through the counsel of Hushai, David's friend, in answer to David's prayer in 2 Samuel 15:31, so that Ahithophel's counsel was brought to naught.
Judgment for David's Sin
The rebellion to which this asking for counsel belongs is part of the retribution David suffered for his wicked conduct toward Uriah in taking Bath-sheba and killing Uriah the Hittite, in which the judgments pronounced by Nathan were carried out. It belongs to the history and record of Absalom's rebellion and to the sorrows that followed David, especially within his own family, showing Absalom seeking counsel about what to do during the rebellion. Wrongdoing brings consequences of its own kind, including sorrow within one's family.
The asking opened the way for Ahithophel to advise taking David's concubines publicly, which both committed Absalom to rebellion and made David suffer a fitting public dishonor like the one he had inflicted, as detailed in verses 21-22. That act, in which the usurper polluted David's wives in the sight of Israel, fulfilled God's word spoken by Nathan that because David despised the commandment in taking Bath-sheba and killing Uriah the Hittite, evil would be raised up out of his own house, the sword would never depart from his house, and his wives would be taken and given to his neighbor to lie with in the sight of the sun before all Israel. The events that follow in verses 21-22 fulfill the warning that David's own household would become the means of punishment for his sin, and his wrongdoing would be exposed before all Israel.
David reaped bitterly what he had sown, and Absalom also reaped the consequences of his wickedness. No one can walk contrary to God's laws and not suffer, for though God may not openly reprove and may seem to wink at blindness, in every transgression of divine law there lies the inherent curse. Though David confessed and was pardoned so he would not die, the rebellion of Absalom that drove him from his own house, with the curses of Shimei and the death of the child of his sin, proves that pardoned sin brings no profit but great loss.
Counsel and Its Lessons
Absalom's request for counsel was directed to Ahithophel and the other counselors assembled with him to decide their course. Ahithophel's counsel was so accurate and decisive that it was likened to an answer sought from God, both when he counseled David and when he counseled Absalom. He was nevertheless David's false friend, devoid of moral feeling and wise only in mere head knowledge, yet his advice was regarded as an oracle of God. The verse thus stands for intellect without Godward training of the moral sentiments, where head knowledge is not made subordinate to moral feeling and the heart does not rule. This is the opposite of true education of body, mind, and soul for divine service, for God wants young men whose goodness is their greatness.
Though Absalom held superiority of numbers against David's trained heroes under experienced generals, numbers counted for nothing because God was not with him. His defeat and death show that majorities are not necessarily divine agencies. However loud the profession, however large the following, and however flattering the prospects, ultimate failure is certain if God is not in the movement.
Absalom had seized Jerusalem in revolt against his father David and called on Ahithophel with his assembled counselors to decide their next move. The revolt was the punishment coming upon David for taking Bath-sheba and having Uriah the Hittite killed, carrying out what Nathan had pronounced against him. The counsel sought here led Ahithophel to urge Absalom to take David's wives openly before all Israel, fulfilling God's word that evil would rise from David's own house and his wives would be taken in the sight of the sun. It shows that sin brings back its own kind upon the sinner, even within his family, and that though David confessed and was pardoned from death, his pardoned sin brought only loss. Ahithophel's advice was prized as if inquiring of God, yet he was wise only in head knowledge without moral feeling, proving that numbers and brilliance count for nothing when God is not in the movement.
Context in David's Troubles
Absalom had occupied Jerusalem in rebellion against David when he turned to Ahithophel and his assembled counselors to ask what they should do.
The request belongs to the account of David fleeing Jerusalem and at war with Absalom. It stands amid Shimei's cursing of David during his adversity, with the fear and flight of the king and his pathetic journey that touched the hearts of old friends. Those circumstances prompted David's psalm during his flight. The same history moves toward the defeat and death of Absalom, David's sorrow over his wicked son's fate, his victory and return to Jerusalem, and his continued kindness to the house of Saul.
It stands in the family troubles of 2 Samuel 13-20, following disgrace and sorrow on account of Amnon and Absalom. That misery grew largely out of the evil of multiplying wives into a large family of children by different wives, where idleness, luxury, and jealousy developed unenviable characters. It centers on Absalom the beautiful, the shrewd and handsome prince whose ambitions were roused by fulsome flattery, and displays his base conduct and Ahithophel's treachery.
About three months passed between Absalom's occupation of Jerusalem and his tragic death at the hand of Joab. During that interval David numbered his adherents and thoroughly organized his army while Absalom rallied the people to his standard. The delay that gave David time came through the counsel of Hushai, David's friend, in answer to David's prayer in 2 Samuel 15:31, so that Ahithophel's counsel was brought to naught.
Judgment for David's Sin
The rebellion to which this asking for counsel belongs is part of the retribution David suffered for his wicked conduct toward Uriah in taking Bath-sheba and killing Uriah the Hittite, in which the judgments pronounced by Nathan were carried out. It belongs to the history and record of Absalom's rebellion and to the sorrows that followed David, especially within his own family, showing Absalom seeking counsel about what to do during the rebellion. Wrongdoing brings consequences of its own kind, including sorrow within one's family.
The asking opened the way for Ahithophel to advise taking David's concubines publicly, which both committed Absalom to rebellion and made David suffer a fitting public dishonor like the one he had inflicted, as detailed in verses 21-22. That act, in which the usurper polluted David's wives in the sight of Israel, fulfilled God's word spoken by Nathan that because David despised the commandment in taking Bath-sheba and killing Uriah the Hittite, evil would be raised up out of his own house, the sword would never depart from his house, and his wives would be taken and given to his neighbor to lie with in the sight of the sun before all Israel. The events that follow in verses 21-22 fulfill the warning that David's own household would become the means of punishment for his sin, and his wrongdoing would be exposed before all Israel.
David reaped bitterly what he had sown, and Absalom also reaped the consequences of his wickedness. No one can walk contrary to God's laws and not suffer, for though God may not openly reprove and may seem to wink at blindness, in every transgression of divine law there lies the inherent curse. Though David confessed and was pardoned so he would not die, the rebellion of Absalom that drove him from his own house, with the curses of Shimei and the death of the child of his sin, proves that pardoned sin brings no profit but great loss.
Counsel and Its Lessons
Absalom's request for counsel was directed to Ahithophel and the other counselors assembled with him to decide their course. Ahithophel's counsel was so accurate and decisive that it was likened to an answer sought from God, both when he counseled David and when he counseled Absalom. He was nevertheless David's false friend, devoid of moral feeling and wise only in mere head knowledge, yet his advice was regarded as an oracle of God. The verse thus stands for intellect without Godward training of the moral sentiments, where head knowledge is not made subordinate to moral feeling and the heart does not rule. This is the opposite of true education of body, mind, and soul for divine service, for God wants young men whose goodness is their greatness.
Though Absalom held superiority of numbers against David's trained heroes under experienced generals, numbers counted for nothing because God was not with him. His defeat and death show that majorities are not necessarily divine agencies. However loud the profession, however large the following, and however flattering the prospects, ultimate failure is certain if God is not in the movement.