And Hushai said unto Absalom, The counsel that Ahithophel hath given is not good at this time.
The declaration that Ahithophel's advice was not good at this time came from Hushai the Archite, who had not been called to the council and would not intrude unasked until Absalom himself laid Ahithophel's plan before him out of high regard for his father's counselor. The plan he rejected called for immediate action that very night with twelve thousand men to fall upon the weary David and strike the king alone. Had that plan been followed, David would have been lost and would surely have been slain unless the Lord directly interposed. Yet a higher wisdom was directing events, for the Lord had appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel in order to bring evil upon Absalom.
To turn Absalom aside, Hushai argued that David and his men were mighty and enraged in mind like a bear robbed of her young, a fact all Israel knew, that David was mighty and his men valiant. He argued that David as a man of war would not lodge with the people but was hidden in some pit or other place, so the pursuing force would not capture him. He warned that any reverse would dishearten Absalom's untrained force and harm his cause. To gain delay and to appeal to a vain nature fond of a show of power, he then counseled gathering all Israel from Dan to Beersheba as numerous as sand by the sea with Absalom going to battle in person, to fall on David until none remained and to drag any city sheltering him with ropes into the river until not one small stone remained.
The declaration that Ahithophel's advice was not good at this time came from Hushai the Archite, who had not been called to the council and would not intrude unasked until Absalom himself laid Ahithophel's plan before him out of high regard for his father's counselor. The plan he rejected called for immediate action that very night with twelve thousand men to fall upon the weary David and strike the king alone. Had that plan been followed, David would have been lost and would surely have been slain unless the Lord directly interposed. Yet a higher wisdom was directing events, for the Lord had appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel in order to bring evil upon Absalom.
To turn Absalom aside, Hushai argued that David and his men were mighty and enraged in mind like a bear robbed of her young, a fact all Israel knew, that David was mighty and his men valiant. He argued that David as a man of war would not lodge with the people but was hidden in some pit or other place, so the pursuing force would not capture him. He warned that any reverse would dishearten Absalom's untrained force and harm his cause. To gain delay and to appeal to a vain nature fond of a show of power, he then counseled gathering all Israel from Dan to Beersheba as numerous as sand by the sea with Absalom going to battle in person, to fall on David until none remained and to drag any city sheltering him with ropes into the river until not one small stone remained.