Bad Advice

2 Samuel 17:1-23

¹ Moreover, Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me choose twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue David tonight.

² I will come upon him while he is weary and discouraged and throw him into a panic, and all the people who are with him will flee. I will strike down only the king,

³ and I will bring all the people back to you as a bride comes home to her husband. You seek the life of only one man, and all the people will be at peace.”

⁴ And the advice seemed right in the eyes of Absalom and all the elders of Israel.

⁵ Then Absalom said, “Call Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear what he has to say.”

⁶ And when Hushai came to Absalom, Absalom said to him, “Thus has Ahithophel spoken; shall we do as he says? If not, you speak.”

⁷ Then Hushai said to Absalom, “This time the counsel that Ahithophel has given is not good.”

⁸ Hushai said, “You know that your father and his men are mighty men, and that they are enraged, like a bear robbed of her cubs in the field. Besides, your father is expert in war; he will not spend the night with the people.

⁹ Behold, even now he has hidden himself in one of the pits or in some other place. And as soon as some of the people fall at the first attack, whoever hears it will say, ‘There has been a slaughter among the people who follow Absalom.’

¹⁰ Then even the valiant man, whose heart is like the heart of a lion, will utterly melt with fear, for all Israel knows that your father is a mighty man, and that those who are with him are valiant men.

¹¹ But my counsel is that all Israel be gathered to you, from Dan to Beersheba, as the sand by the sea for multitude, and that you go to battle in person.

¹² So we shall come upon him in some place where he is to be found, and we shall light upon him as the dew falls on the ground, and of him and all the men with him not one will be left.

¹³ If he withdraws into a city, then all Israel will bring ropes to that city, and we shall drag it into the valley, until not even a pebble is to be found there.”

¹⁴ And Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel.” For the Lord had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, so that the Lord might bring harm upon Absalom.

¹⁵ Then Hushai said to Zadok and Abiathar the priests, “Thus and so did Ahithophel counsel Absalom and the elders of Israel, and thus and so have I counseled.

¹⁶ Now therefore send quickly and tell David, ‘Do not stay tonight at the fords of the wilderness, but by all means pass over, lest the king and all the people who are with him be swallowed up.’”

¹⁷ Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were waiting at En-rogel. A female servant was to go and tell them, and they were to go and tell King David, for they were not to be seen entering the city.

¹⁸ But a young man saw them and told Absalom. So both of them went away quickly and came to the house of a man at Bahurim, who had a well in his courtyard. And they went down into it.

¹⁹ And the woman took and spread a covering over the well’s mouth and scattered grain on it, and nothing was known of it.

²⁰ When Absalom’s servants came to the woman at the house, they said, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?” And the woman said to them, “They have gone over the brook of water.” And when they had sought and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem.

²¹ After they had gone, the men came up out of the well, and went and told King David. They said to David, “Arise, and go quickly over the water, for thus and so has Ahithophel counseled against you.”

²² Then David arose, and all the people who were with him, and they crossed the Jordan. By daybreak not one was left who had not crossed the Jordan.

²³ When Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his donkey and went off home to his own city. He set his house in order and hanged himself, and he died and was buried in the tomb of his father.

Today’s Bible story (and in fact the entirety of Absalom’s story) points with vivid accuracy to the truth that pride and an inflated ego will always lead to destruction. Solomon (David’s son, by the way) said it first and said it best: Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. (Proverbs 16:18) We have shortened it into the cliché “Pride goeth before the fall.” It is absolutely true. There are two men whose egos lead straight to their destructions. First we have Ahithophel who advises Absalom to attack David immediately. But the attack will be led by none other than Ahithophel himself. Notice in verses 1 and 2 the number of first person pronouns; “me” and “I” are predominate, mentioned no less than 5 times. Ahithophel is clearly setting himself up in the fledgling government as a leader and making a grab for power. Sadly for him, Absalom seeks further counsel and his advice is set aside. Ultimately, the rejection of his plan leads him to despair and then suicide.

Absalom is so certain that his attempt at over-throwing David will be successful that he makes moves that will lead to his downfall as well. In the next chapter he is killed as a result of his own pride. But I get ahead of myself. What we are seeing in both of these men is that decisions made from a false sense of being all-powerful will always end in destruction. We too can fall victim to this thinking as we pridefully make decisions based on our belief that we are impervious to mistakes or trouble. Absalom also makes the mistake of surrounding himself with “yes” men. They were so excited to be next to the guy with the power that they filled his head with positive strokes about his own abilities and power. He wanted to believe those things and they will lead him to trouble.

While it is important to edify one another and build up one another, it is also important to know when someone is merely agreeing with us because they want to puff us up and flatter us rather than tell us the truth. It is interesting to watch this story play out as David patiently waits in the hill country (which he knew like the back of his hand after spending over 10 years there hiding out from Saul) and Absalom maneuvers and schemes to gain the throne. David, who we know follows God, seems to be in a place of peace and acceptance. Is he simply rolling over? No. But he isn’t listening to flatterers or scrambling to make things work out to his advantage. Instead, he waits; that quietness of spirit is interesting and probably worthy of emulating.