Absalom Rejecting Good and Wise Council — Chuck Smith

Welcome to the Word for Today. The broadcast ministry of Pastor Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa, California. Pastor Chuck is currently leading us on a verse-by-verse venture through the entire Bible.

Absalom Rejects Wise Counsel

And on today's edition of the Word for Today, we find Absalom good and wise counsel, as we pick up in 2 Samuel 17, verse 1. And now with today's message, here's Pastor Chuck Smith.

David is just fleeing from Jerusalem. He has gotten out of the city just before the advancing armies of his son Absalom. David's close friend, one of his chief counselors Ahithophel, has defected, has joined the forces with Absalom.

But not only has he defected, but he has great bitterness in his heart towards David. And this is a little difficult to understand. Surely David did not understand the feelings that Ahithophel had. As David writes concerning Ahithophel, he said, we took sweet counsel together.

We went into the house of God together. You know, I can't understand it. You, my friend. If it were an enemy that would have reproached me, it would have been easier to take. But it was you. And yet it seems that within the heart of Ahithophel there was tremendous bitterness towards David, because as we look at the story, he really is wanting to kill David.

And promising that if Absalom would just give him some troops to pursue David immediately, he would destroy David and deliver the kingdom completely to Absalom. He had no intention of really destroying those that went with David, just David alone.

He said, as soon as David is dead, the rest of them will have nothing to fight for and they'll come and be your servants. So Ahithophel said to Absalom, let me now choose out twelve thousand men. And I will arise and pursue after David this night.

And I will come upon him while he is weary and weak handed. We will make him afraid. And all of the people that are with him will flee. And I will only smite the king. So here's Ahithophel. Once a close associate of David, I cannot say he was a friend.

Though David looked upon him as a friend, there was this, within his heart, this bitterness that breeded murder. And I will bring back all of the people unto thee. The man whom you seek is as if all returned, so the people shall be in peace.

So all we need to do is kill David and everything is going to be OK. And the saying pleased Absalom. Here's David's son. The fellow talked about killing his dad and it pleases him. It looks like good counsel.

Willing to destroy his own father for his own ambitions. And it pleased all of the elders of Israel. Sort of discouraging, I guess, for a person in the position of leadership. When a revolt takes place, you find that there are many who you trusted in, thought were your friends, who really were not your friends.

Hushai Counters Ahithophel's Plan

So Absalom said, call now Hushai, the archite also. Let us hear what he has to say. Now Hushai was the one, the older man, who came out after David. And David had said to him, look, you're too old to travel with us.

We're going to have to move fast. You go back and you pledge allegiance to Absalom. But may the Lord use you to bring to naught the counsel of Ahithophel. So Hushai went back and pledged his allegiance to Absalom.

However, he was a part of David's company. So Absalom called Hushai to get his counsel. And when Hushai was come to Absalom, he spoke to him and he said, Ahithophel has told us that this is what we should do.

What do you say? And Hushai said unto Absalom, the counsel that Ahithophel has given is not good at the present time. For Hushai said, you know your father and his men, that they are mighty men. And right now they're chaffing in their minds like a bear that's been robbed of her cubs in the field.

And your father is a man of war and he will not be lodging with the people. In other words, your father's been around too long and he knows what it is to be on the run. He won't stay with the general.

He'll be hiding someplace in a pit or he won't be with the people. So when you come upon the people, hey, you know Joab and Abishai and those guys that are David, they're really tough. And in the first assault, they're going to wipe out the first crew that come in.

And when word gets around that the first assault was defeated, then everybody's going to get afraid and they're going to flee. And man, you've blown the whole thing, Absalom. Now here's what you do. Wait just a little while and gather all of the people of Israel together unto you.

All of the tribes from Dan down to Beersheba. And then you personally lead the assault against your father. You go out and lead the army. So we will come upon him in some place where he will be found and we will light upon him like dew falls on the ground.

And of him and all of the men that are with him, we won't leave a single one. Moreover, if he's gotten into a city, then we will besiege that city and we'll draw it into the river with ropes until there's not one small stone left in that city.

And Absalom and all of the men of Israel said, the counsel of Hushai is better than the counsel of Ahithophel. So what Ahithophel said seemed to make sense. But then when Hushai gave his little speech, he persuaded the people that, hey, this sounds much better.

It, of course, appealed to the vanity of Absalom. Don't let Ahithophel go down and get all the glory. You go down yourself, leading all the people. For the Lord had appointed Hushai to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel to the intent that the Lord might bring evil upon Absalom.

Hushai Warns David Across the Jordan

Now, there are those who say that had Absalom followed the counsel of Ahithophel, that surely David would have been defeated and Absalom would have been established as king. I don't think so. For I believe that David continued to reign as the result of God's providence.

And I believe that God would have delivered David from Ahithophel and his men. But God allowed the counsel of Hushai to stand because God is wanting to get rid of Absalom. Notice, the Lord is seeking to bring a case against Absalom and God wants Absalom destroyed in this battle so that the revolt will be put away completely.

So when Hushai had thus counseled him, he got hold of Zadok and Abiathar, the priests. Now, these men were also in league with David. These three men were more or less CIA agents for David. They were spies in Absalom's camp.

And so he got hold of Zadok and Abiathar and he told them what Ahithophel had counseled and what he had counseled. And he said, now send quickly your sons down to David with a message and tell him, don't stay on this side of the Jordan River, but to make haste and get across the river.

Because it's quite possible that at this stage they'll change their mind and they will send out forces even tonight to get David. So warn David, tell him what was said, but tell him to get across on the other side of the river.

So Jonathan and Ahimaaz, they were staying outside of the city by the well of Rogel. And a young lady called a wench, but that word used to mean different than we think of it now. We think of it as, it's sort of a derogatory type of a word now, but when the King James was written, it was just a young lady, went out and told them.

Nevertheless, there was a young boy who was there and he saw these two fellas heading down for David and he came back and told Absalom. But they both of them ran quickly and they came to a man's house in Bahurim, which had a well, which was really a cistern in his courtyard, and they went down inside of the cistern.

And the woman took and spread a covering over the top of the cistern and then she poured parched corn over the top of the covering so that when the servants of Absalom came and said, Where are Jonathan and Abiathar?

She said, Oh, they've already taken off. They've gone over the river and gone. And the cistern, the top of it, the hole was covered. And when these fellas went out, they sought them, couldn't find them, and they came back and returned to Jerusalem.

So it came to pass after they were departed, these two fellas came up out of the well and they told King David. And they said to David, Arise and pass quickly over the water, for thus hath Ahithophel counseled against you.

Get in a place of safety. So David arose and all the people that were with him and they passed over Jordan by the morning light and there lacked not one of them that had not gone over Jordan. So they made a quick move across the Jordan River.

Ahithophel's Wisdom and Folly

And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, now this guy's a poor loser, he saddled his donkey, arose and got home to his house, to his own city, and he put his household in order and he hanged himself and died and was buried in the sepulcher of his father.

Wise man, gave wise counsel. His counsel was like a person inquiring from an oracle of God. It was extremely wise, like God was speaking almost, the wisdom that was expressed in the counsel of Hushai.

He shows great wisdom in setting his household in order, taking care of all the details, but then he shows great folly in killing himself. Suicide is never a solution because it creates such guilt feelings on all who are left.

I know of families that are almost destroyed because of suicides within the families. Everybody blames themselves for a suicide. Why didn't I do this? If I had only said that, maybe if I had done this and a person just beats themselves to death mentally because of a suicide of a friend or a member of the family, it is devastating.

It isn't an answer. It isn't a solution. It only compounds so many times the problems that you leave in the minds and hearts of those that are left. So wise men can do stupid things. Then David came to Mahanium.

Now Mahanium is the place where Jacob left his father Laban, the last place he saw him when he was returning home. It's over on the other side of the Jordan river. Absalom passed over Jordan and he and all the men of Israel with him.

God Provides for David in Exile

So Absalom is pursuing after David and Absalom made Amasa captain of the host instead of Joab. Now Joab was David's chief general. Amasa was a cousin to Joab and thus a cousin to David. Amasa's mother was Joab's father's sister.

Work on that one. So Israel and Absalom pitched in the land of Gilead and it came to pass when David was come to Mahanium that Shobi, the son of Nehash of Rabbah and of the children of Amman and Makir, the son of Amiel of Lodibar and Barzilai, the Gileadite of Rogilim brought beds and basins and earthen vessels and wheat and barley and flour and parched corn and beans and lentils and parched balts and honey and butter and sheep and cheese from the cows for David and for the people that were with him to eat.

For they said the people are hungry and weary and thirsty because of their wilderness journey. So these are the same people that showed kindness to Mephibosheth, the son of Saul, who you remember when David inquired, are there any descendants of Saul left?

And they said the son of Jonathan, Mephibosheth, is still alive. And so David, you remember, sent to Mephibosheth who had sought refuge in Mahanium and these people had sustained him and had taken care of him.

When David showed his kindness to Mephibosheth, they probably were enamored of David at that point. They loved Mephibosheth. They saw the kindness that David gave unto him. And so when David was in trouble, these are the men, wealthy men, who stepped in and brought an abundance of supplies in order to take care of David and those that were with him after their flight through the wilderness from Jerusalem.

So now we jump on over to chapter 20. For last week we had the battle against Absalom, Absalom's death, and David's great grief over it. And now they're bringing back the king. David has just crossed over the Jordan.

They're bringing their king back. And then there's this big squabble. The men of Israel gathered together. They said to the tribe of Judah, how come you guys didn't wait for us to get down here? We should all bring back the king, you know.

And they said, hey, he's from the tribe of Judah, you know, and we're, you know. And this big squabble between Judah and the other tribes as far as they're bringing David back. And the words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel.

It was a big yelling match. There happened to be there, at this time of dissension between Judah and the other tribes, a man of Belial, or a man of Satan, whose name was Sheba. He was the son of Bitri, a Benjamite.

And he blew a trumpet and said, we have no part in David, neither have we any inheritance in the son of Jesse, every man to his tent, O Israel. In other words, you know, let's forget David. We don't have any, you know, he's for the tribe of Judah to your tents, O Israel.

So every man of Israel went up from after David and followed Sheba, the son of Bitri. But the men of Judah clave unto their king from Jordan even to Jerusalem. There came then a division. This division was more or less healed under Solomon because of Solomon's great strength and wealth.

But at the death of Solomon, the division came up again. And of course, that's when the Israel was divided into the northern and the southern kingdoms. So this movement is going on even at the time of David.

David's Concubines Live as Widows

So David came to his house in Jerusalem, and the king took the ten women, his concubines, who he had left to keep the house. And he put them in a room, and he fed them, but he would not go into them. Because you remember, Absalom put the tent on the roof and went into David's ten concubines that he left to keep the palace.

And so David took care of them and all, but he would not go into them. So they were shut up under the day of their death, living.

As widows, really. We'll return with more of our verse-by-verse study through the book of 2 Samuel in our next lesson, as we follow the rebellion of Sheba. And we do hope you'll make plans to join us.

But right now, I'd like to remind you that if you missed any part of today's message, or perhaps you'd like to order a copy for that special friend or loved one, you can do so by simply contacting one of our customer service representatives, and they'd be more than happy to assist you with the ordering details.

Simply call 1 -800 -272-WORD, and phone orders can be taken Monday through Friday, 8 a .m. to 5 p .m. Pacific Time. Once again, our toll-free number is 1 -800 -272 -9673. And for your added convenience, you can order online, anytime, when you go to TheWordForToday .org.

And while you're there, be sure to browse through the additional resources that include Bible studies, commentaries, CDs, DVDs, and so much more. Once again, that's The Word for Today, online at TheWordForToday .org.

And for those of you who still prefer to write, you can use our mailing address, which is The Word for Today, P .O. Box 8000, Costa Mesa, California, 92628. And be sure to include the call letters of this station with your correspondence.

And now, on behalf of The Word for Today, we'd like to thank all of you who share in supporting this ministry with your prayers and financial support. And be sure to join us again next time as Pastor Chuck Smith continues his verse-by-verse study through the book of 2 Samuel.

That's right here on the next edition of The Word for Today. And now, once again, here's Pastor Chuck Smith.

Waiting for God's Timing and Grace

Again, let me encourage you to wait on the Lord. Be of good cheer. Though your path may have led you into the valley and you're going through deep water, and at the present time you may not yet see your way out, if you're a child of God, His hand will lead you.

He will sustain you. He will bring you forward with shouts of joy and victory as you see the full cycle of God's plan worked out in your life. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Don't lean to your own understanding.

It can lean you astray, you see, because you don't have sufficient data yet. There's more to the story. Don't close the book. Don't end the chapter and stop there. Wait for God to bring you into that next chapter where the solution to the puzzle lies and see the unfolding grace of God in your life and the goodness of God day after day until.

You say, oh, God is so good. When a family is torn apart because of drug or alcohol addictions or any.

Addiction, they need help to restore their loved one to a normal and functioning life. That hope is U-Turn for Christ. U-Turn for Christ is a residential drug and alcohol program specifically designed to help men and women overcome an addiction and live a productive life all through.

The power of Jesus Christ. Hi, this is Pastor Chuck. I'm well acquainted with Pastor Jerry and the ministry of U-Turn for Christ. It's my estimation that it is one of the most effective ministries I know to help people turn their lives around without reservation.

I recommend.

This ministry. For more information about a U-Turn for Christ location nearest you, visit us at our website at u-turnforchrist .com or call us at area code 951 -943 -7097.

This program has been sponsored by The Word for Today in Costa Mesa, California.