II SAMUEL 15-17: THE SUPPORTING CAST

I have dealt elsewhere with the reasons David decided to flee Jerusalem when he learned of Absalom and his approaching army. Now I would like to concentrate on the other personages who figure into this story and some parallels today.

II Samuel 15:13 We first encounter an unnamed young man who learns of Absalom's plans and hurries to inform David of it. Others might have simply said, “It's no business of mine” and turned back to their own concerns, but this man took the chance opportunity that God had given him to do something that he knew was the right thing to do. We are no doubt given many opportunities to serve God and His kingdom every day if we only keep our eyes and ears open to His calling.

II Samuel 15:14-15 Note that the officials do not hesitate to follow David's commands even though it was obviously going to mean some personal sacrifices on their part and giving up all chance of getting a plum position in Absalom's new administration. One might be reminded of Zacchaeus the tax-collector or the Pharisee Nicodemus. The first one took a giant step down the economic ladder when he followed Jesus, and the second one went from being a timid believer to a bold one at the very time when even the apostles had deserted Jesus. Look at some politicians today who are instead more than willing to sacrifice their personal integrity in order to hold on to their prized positions in government. And unfortunately, some of them purport to be evangelical Christians.

II Samuel 15:16 The case of David's concubines is a sad one. They are seemingly given the easy chore of staying in the royal harem and taking care of it in David's absence. One might think of those of us who settle in to a comfortable role in church that we enjoy rather than going overseas as a missionary, serving meals and ministering to the homeless, or knocking on doors as part of an evangelistic campaign. But it turns out that even those women will have to suffer being humiliated when Absalom basically rapes them publicly, and they are later banished from David's presence. The lesson is that they were being faithful in following David's orders.

II Samuel 15:19-22 The example of Ittai the Gittite provides a wonderful testimonial to his devotion to David. David urges him to turn back since he has just been uprooted from his country once and has only recently joined David's men. But Ittai steadfastly refuses and states, in words that remind us of Ruth's proclamation to Naomi: “Wherever the king may be, for death or for life, there also will your servant be.” Sometimes it appears that the most recent converts to Christ, whether coming out of another religion or no belief whatsoever, are the ones most on fire for their new faith.

II Samuel 15:24-29 The priests Abiathar and Zadok start following David, bringing the ark with them. Rather than hold on to the ark and take it into battle with him, David tells them to return to Jerusalem and resume their priestly duties there. In addition, he gives them an important role as part of a spy network (see vv. 34-35). Some Christians desire to take on important tasks for God in terms of serving abroad as missionaries or becoming a pastor, but God may have other supporting roles in mind for them instead. We just need to discern His individual will for us as best we can.

II Samuel 15:31 Now we come to the sad story of Ahithophal, David's former adviser. Back in verse 12, we learned that Absalom had approached him. Now we find out why. He has sold out David and agreed to help Absalom instead. In its most drastic form, the best NT parallel to Ahithophal is Judas. Both thought they saw the handwriting on the wall and decided to abandon one leader who appeared to be on his way out in favor of the more likely winner and cash in at the same time. In its milder form today, that behavior might be exhibited by congregants who sense that their congregation is starting to lose members or is in between pastors, and so they switch immediately to a more up-and-coming church rather than help their congregation struggle through the lean times. Or perhaps they are fair weather Christians who just decide that it is a convenient time to abandon church attendance altogether.

II Samuel 15:32-34 In stark contrast to Ahithophal is David's loyal follower, Hushai. Even though he is somewhat aged, he still wants to join David. But there will be a much more important and dangerous role for him to play in David's plan. He is asked to go right back to Jerusalem and try to convince Absalom that he has abandoned David just as Ahithophal had. And then he is to purposely give bad advice to Absalom so that David can have time to regroup his forces.

There are those serving today in areas of the world closed to Christianity where their exposure would result in being jailed or even executed, and they are the closest parallel to Hushai that I can think of. They deserve all the support and prayers we can give them.

II Samuel 16:1-4 The next party that David meets on his way is Ziba the servant of Mephibosheth, the lame grandson of Saul whom David had taken under his wing. Ziba comes bearing gifts (from his master's estate) for David's army. When David asks him where his master is, Ziba lies and says that Mephibosheth has gone over to Absalom's side. David is understandably upset and rewards Ziba by giving him the whole estate. Later, David will find out that Ziba had betrayed his master, but David can't go back on his promise so he divides the land between the two of them.

Ziba is the prototype of the opportunist who uses the church and Christians for his own benefit. In the NT, one example of this behavior is found in Acts 8 where Simon the magician tries to buy the secret to imparting the the Holy Spirit by laying on of hands in order that he might add it to his bag of tricks.

Once when my wife and I were still newlyweds, a church elder made a call on us which I thought was a very good gesture from him. But almost immediately he then tried to sell us an insurance policy. Later, in another city, I found out from a long-time resident that it was not at all uncommon for independent businessmen such as insurance salesman, lawyers, or real estate agents to belong to one congregation until they had exhausted all the possible clients there. And then they switched to another congregation where they could start the process all over.

II Samuel 16:5-8 In these verses, David is accosted by a relative of Saul named Shimei who cusses him out and throws rocks at him. David shows admirable restraint and refuses to retaliate, but he will later get his revenge by leaving a deathbed request of Solomon not to allow Shimei to die a peaceful death.

Shimei is an example of an ardent enemy of the church who may bide his time and say nothing as long as the church is relatively healthy, but is just waiting to smear Christian beliefs when he thinks that the political and cultural time is more favorable to his cause.

II Samuel 16:9-10 At this point in the story, one of David's followers named Abishai is incensed by Shimei's actions and words and wants to kill him on the spot. Abishai is a precursor to believers such as Peter, who was always ready to take the offensive and charge off ahead of Jesus.

There are such zealous Christians today who unfortunately have totally forgotten Jesus' command to love our enemies and those who persecute us. When I lived in Austin years ago, we had the dubious distinction of having the most notorious atheist of the time, Madalyn Murray O'Hair, living in town. She used to love exhibiting examples of all the hate mail and death threats that she had received from Christians over the years. Even some of the recent violence we are seeing in America is prompted by misguided believers who feel they are somehow following a righteous path through their violent actions.

II Samuel 17:15-22 As a follow-up on the actions of some of those personages above, we are given insight into workings of the intricate and effective spy network that David set in place. Hushai has ensconced himself as Absalom's adviser and convinced him to hold off before pursuing David. Hushai relays this valuable information to the priests Abiathar and Zadok. They, in turn, use a servant girl to give this message to their sons Jonathan and Ahimaaz, who are hidden safely in Bahurim's house until they are able to give the message to David.

This is the sort of chain in which each of the participants must trust the others at the threat of their lives. I think of the underground railway in America or the partisan activities in Europe during World War II. But we must remember that a similar situation exists today in closed countries where small groups of Christians must meet in secrecy and use elaborate ruses to prevent exposure. A less extreme, but still important, situation obtains in every church today where each member has his or her part to play utilizing their God-given talents and gifts for the benefit of the whole in order that the work of Christ might continue unabated, as Paul explains in I Corinthians 12.