II SAMUEL 16-17, 19

David Hides from Absalom (II Sam. 13-20)

1. Disorder in David’s family (13:1-33)

2. Absalom flees (13:34-14:33)

a. David longs to see him

b. wise woman and Joab reunite them

3. Absalom rebels against David (15:1-16)

a. Absalom steals hearts of the men of Israel

b. David flees, leaving concubines behind

4. The people follow David out of the city (15:17-37)

5. Mephibosheth and his servant (16:1-4)

6. Shimei spared (16:5-14)

7. Absalom given counsel (16:15-17:14)

8. Messenger to David (17:15-22)

9. Ahithopel hangs himself (17:23)

10. Judah and Israel prepare

                                                                                                                    for battle (17:24-18:4)

11. David’s orders to spare Absalom (18:5)

10'. Judah and Israel battle (18:6-8)

9'. Absalom killed while hanging (18:9-18)

8'. Messenger to David (18:19-33)

7'. David given counsel (19:1-15)

6'. Shimei spared (19:16-23)

5'. Mephibosheth and his servant (19:24-30)

4'. The people greet David on his return (19:31-43)

3'. Sheba rebels against David (20:1-3)

a. the men of Israel follow Sheba

b. David has his concubines shut up in his house

2'. Sheba flees (20:4-22)

a. David asks men to capture him

b. wise woman and Joab have Sheba killed

1'. Order in David’s kingdom (20:23-26)

In studying the historical books of the Bible for applications you can either look at God's actions to derive theology or look at people's actions to determine how we should live our lives. There is little to no theology in today's lesson so we need to concentrate on the actions of the main characters. The problem is that they may have been given to us as bad examples, not examples to follow. Paul says this concerning the Jews in the wilderness: “Now these things occurred as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil as they did.” (I Corinthians 10:11)

You can see from the above diagram that chapters 16-17 are parallel to chapter 19. So I would like to discuss both of these passages today and give you two lessons for the price of one.

In these two passages in 2 Samuel we meet three counselors: two of them are rather unscrupulous characters, but they happen to give very good practical advice, while the third one is a good man who gives very bad advice.

2 Samuel 16:15-17:14

In the previous chapter we saw David slinking out of town after sending back the high priest to spy on Absalom and his activities. After that happened, one of his trusted advisers named Hushai wanted to also follow David, but David also sent him back to see if he could worm his way into Absalom's good graces and purposely give Absalom bad advice. Absalom's other adviser was the very shrewd and opportunistic Ahithophel, who had deserted David to follow Absalom.

In verse 17, Absalom alludes to Hushai's title “friend of the king” to challenge his sincerity. There is an interesting parallel in the NT in John's account of Jesus' arrest and trial. When Jesus' accusers see that Pontius Pilate is wavering on whether to convict Jesus, they challenge him by saying, “If you release this man, you are no friend of the emperor.”

In Hushai's reply in the following verse, he is actually vague on whom he is following as king. He says it is the one God has chosen, which of course was David, not Absalom.

16:20-23 Ahithophel may not have been particularly moral, but he was shrewd. One of the acts of a conquering ruler was to take the previous ruler's wives as his own to demonstrate the complete overthrow of the previous reign. There is a little poetic justice here since Absalom took David's concubines on the roof of the house from which David first saw Bathsheba. This event had also been prophesied by Nathan as part of the punishment for David's sin.

Now, there may be something more involved in Ahithophel's advice to Absalom. Ahithophel knew that after Absalom openly took his father's concubines, Absalom and David could never be reconciled again. And that was exactly what Ahithophel wanted, because if the two of them ever were reunited, his own position as a traitor to David would become extremely precarious.

Bringing it a little more up to date, it was widely felt that when George W. Bush was president, it was Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld who were really the powers behind the presidency. In 2015, the elder George Bush broke his long silence on the subject and was quoted as saying that the advice of those two men damaged the reputation of the United States and that his son had been ill-served by his aides. And both Cheney and Rumsfeld had possible ulterior motives for their advice to the president. So the lesson is, when seeking wise counsel for some issue, make sure that your counselor has nothing to gain by your decision either way.

II Samuel 17:1-4 Again, this happens to be very good advice: strike while the iron is hot and David has yet to organize his troops. Also, just kill David and then all his followers will have no choice but to join up with us. But this time, Absalom decides to get a second opinion, which is generally a good practice. Unfortunately for him, he gets his advice from Hushai, who is in David's pay.

17:7-14 Hushai's advice is given in these verses.

Look at the techniques Hushai uses to persuade Absalom: employing eloquent and poetic language he first scares Absalom half to death with the danger his troops will be facing and the high chance of failure, then he points out the glory Absalom will get if he does things on a grander scale. He additionally appeals to Absalom's vanity by suggesting that he lead the army rather than Ahithophel so that he can get personal credit for victory instead. All of these techniques should have been tip-offs that Hushai had some ulterior motives in his advice, and some things we should be on the lookout for ourselves. Instead, Absalom falls for it hook, line and sinker. When Ahithophel hears that his counsel has been rejected, he knows that David will ultimately win the war so he goes home and commits suicide. Meanwhile, David has been given plenty of time to escape and organize his own army.

To summarize the next few chapters briefly, the two armies go into battle, and one of Absalom's commanders, Joab (who will be the third counselor we meet) is given specific orders by David: “Deal gently with my boy Absalom, for my sake.” Dale Davis says, “These orders would make sense if Absalom was about to enter therapy rather than war.” Instead Joab kills Absalom after he is captured. Davis: “David would treat cancer with candy. Joab knew it required surgery – and he nominated himself as surgeon.” So although Joab may lack subordination, he doesn't lack sense.” Joab, a political pragmatist – do what is necessary. Our lesson resumes in ch. 19, but first look back at the diagram for how these events between chapters 16 and 19 mirror one another.

After the battle has been won for David, the soldiers return.

Chapter 19

Verses 1-4 I see a close parallel between this event and the return of Vietnam vets, another unpopular war. Remember that there hadn't even been any spoils of war for David's troops, and they were engaged in battle with their own people, and now even their commander-in-chief wouldn't greet their return, but instead he was mourning for the enemy they had defeated.

“David appears as a man for whom private concern was more important than national emergency.” In the past David had been realistic about his infant son's death and even surprised his servants with his seeming lack of concern. Now he swings to the opposite extreme in this case.

Verses 5-8 So this is Joab's good advice which restores morale. As Joab told him in no uncertain terms, David needed to put all personal feelings aside and be a true leader to his people.

I experienced something similar when the research group I was supervising got sold to another company. The challenge was to keep morale and productivity up while I was going through a time of personal insecurity at the same time. I was given some rather blunt advice from my boss that certainly motivated me to resume being a leader to the group.

I would like to close with some concepts and quotes from a very helpful book, Garry Friesen's Decision Making and the Will of God. He says that if you go to someone you trust for his or her advice, don't just ask for their opinion, but also the reasons behind the viewpoint expressed. Thus, the inquirer is better able to judge the merits of the advice. In particular, there are two good questions that could be put to a godly adviser: “Do you know of any scriptural or biblical principles that apply to the decision I am making? Have you gained practical insight through your experience in making a similar decision that would be of value to me?” Friesen also advises, “When looking for guidance in making a decision, you should seek for wisdom from all the channels God has provided: prayer, Bible study, research, counselors, past experience, and personal reflection...Counselors are viewed as only one source of wisdom. They can supply facts and insight not otherwise available to the decision maker. But they are not viewed as omniscient or even determinative.” Remember that they aren't infallible.