The Politics of Treachery and the Wisdom of Fools Text: 2 Samuel 16:15-23
Introduction: The Theater of Rebellion
We come now to a scene of high political theater. The usurper Absalom, handsome, popular, and treacherous, has taken Jerusalem. The legitimate king, David, is in full retreat, a fugitive from his own son. And as with all political turmoil, the rats and the opportunists begin to crawl out of the woodwork, while the loyal are forced into impossible positions. What we are reading is not simply an ancient palace soap opera. It is a master class in the nature of power, the character of loyalty, the emptiness of godless wisdom, and the absolute, meticulous sovereignty of God over the whole sordid affair.
Our modern world thinks of politics as a secular business, a sterile negotiation of interests managed by technocrats in suits. The Bible knows better. Politics is downstream from worship. It is a clash of loyalties, a battle of gods, a spiritual war fought with spies, counsel, and public gestures. Every political act is a liturgical act. Every piece of advice is a sermon. And every rebellion against a lawful authority is ultimately a rebellion against the God who established that authority.
In this passage, we see three key players take the stage in Jerusalem: Absalom, the vain usurper; Hushai, the loyal spy; and Ahithophel, the wise traitor. Each man is playing a part, speaking lines he believes will secure his future. But behind the scenes, there is only one Director, and He is working all of it, the loyalty and the treachery, the wisdom and the folly, to accomplish His own righteous purposes. This is a story about how God uses the wicked counsel of a brilliant man to fulfill His own prophetic judgment, and how He uses the shrewd deception of a loyal man to save His anointed king. Pay close attention. The principles at work here are the same principles at work in our own collapsing republic.
The Text
Now Absalom and all the people, the men of Israel, had entered Jerusalem, and Ahithophel with him. And it happened that when Hushai the Archite, David’s friend, came to Absalom, that Hushai said to Absalom, “Long live the king! Long live the king!” And Absalom said to Hushai, “Is this your lovingkindness to your friend? Why did you not go with your friend?” Then Hushai said to Absalom, “No! For whom Yahweh, this people, and all the men of Israel have chosen, his I will be, and with him I will remain. Besides, whom should I serve? Should I not serve in the presence of his son? As I have served in your father’s presence, so I will be in your presence.”
Then Absalom said to Ahithophel, “Give your advice. What shall we do?” And Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Go in to your father’s concubines, whom he has left to keep the house; then all Israel will hear that you have made yourself odious to your father. The hands of all who are with you will also be strengthened.” So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, and Absalom went in to his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel. Now the counsel of Ahithophel, which he counseled in those days, was as if one asked of the word of God; so was all the counsel of Ahithophel regarded by both David and Absalom.
(2 Samuel 16:15-23 LSB)
The Shrewdness of a Friend (vv. 15-19)
We begin with the arrival of the key players in Jerusalem, and a tense job interview.
"Now Absalom and all the people, the men of Israel, had entered Jerusalem, and Ahithophel with him. And it happened that when Hushai the Archite, David’s friend, came to Absalom, that Hushai said to Absalom, 'Long live the king! Long live the king!'" (2 Samuel 16:15-16)
Absalom enters the capital not as a conqueror in battle, but as the popular choice. The people are with him. And crucially, Ahithophel is with him. We will get to him in a moment. But first, another man appears, Hushai the Archite, who is identified pointedly as "David's friend." On David's instruction, Hushai is here to play the part of a defector. He is a spy, a counter-intelligence agent, sent to disrupt the counsel of Ahithophel (2 Sam. 15:34). His greeting is exactly what a new king wants to hear: "Long live the king! Long live the king!"
Absalom, for all his vanity, is not a complete fool. He is immediately suspicious. He knows about loyalty, or at least what it's supposed to look like.
"And Absalom said to Hushai, 'Is this your lovingkindness to your friend? Why did you not go with your friend?'" (2 Samuel 16:17)
Absalom uses the covenant word for loyalty, hesed, or lovingkindness. "Is this your famous loyalty to your friend David?" It's a sharp, probing question. And Hushai's answer is a masterwork of political doublespeak. It is technically true, from a certain point of view, and yet it is entirely deceptive. This is what you call casuistry in the service of the king.
"Then Hushai said to Absalom, 'No! For whom Yahweh, this people, and all the men of Israel have chosen, his I will be, and with him I will remain... As I have served in your father’s presence, so I will be in your presence.'" (2 Samuel 16:18-19)
Look at how brilliantly he frames this. He doesn't say, "I have chosen you." He says he will be with the one whom "Yahweh, this people, and all the men of Israel have chosen." Who is that, ultimately? It is David, God's anointed. But Absalom, in his pride, hears this and assumes it applies to him. He has the people, so he assumes he has Yahweh. This is the constant delusion of populists. Hushai is telling the truth, but he is allowing Absalom to deceive himself. He pledges to serve Absalom as he served David, which is to say, loyally to David's true interests. It is a lie in its intent, but it is constructed out of truths. This is wartime ethics. Hushai is not in a parlor discussion; he is in enemy territory, and his righteous king has commanded him to engage in this deception to save the kingdom. Christians must not be simpletons. We are to be innocent as doves, yes, but also shrewd as serpents.
The Counsel of a Grandfather (vv. 20-22)
Absalom, apparently satisfied, now turns to his chief strategist, Ahithophel, for the first order of business.
"Then Absalom said to Ahithophel, 'Give your advice. What shall we do?' And Ahithophel said to Absalom, 'Go in to your father’s concubines, whom he has left to keep the house; then all Israel will hear that you have made yourself odious to your father. The hands of all who are with you will also be strengthened.'" (2 Samuel 16:20-21)
This is brutal, pragmatic, and wicked counsel. From a purely secular, political standpoint, it is brilliant. Taking the king's harem was the ancient equivalent of planting your flag on the conquered palace. It was an unmistakable statement that the old regime was over and a new one had begun. Ahithophel's logic is sound: this act will make the breach between Absalom and David permanent and unforgivable. It will make Absalom "odious" to his father. This is the political point of no return. For all the men who have thrown their lot in with Absalom, this act is their insurance policy. It tells them that Absalom cannot turn back, and so they will fight all the harder for him.
But there is something far deeper going on here. First, we must remember who Ahithophel was. He was the grandfather of Bathsheba (2 Sam. 11:3, 23:34). His counsel here is not just cold political calculation; it is almost certainly fueled by a cold, simmering bitterness. David took his granddaughter and had her husband killed. Now Ahithophel advises David's son to take David's women. It is a personal, vindictive, and symmetrical revenge.
Second, and most importantly, this wicked act is the direct, prophetic fulfillment of God's judgment on David for his sin with Bathsheba. The prophet Nathan had told David, "Thus says Yahweh, 'Behold, I will raise up evil against you from your own household; and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your companion, and he will lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. For you did it in secret, but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun'" (2 Sam. 12:11-12). And so it happens, precisely as God decreed.
"So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, and Absalom went in to his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel." (2 Samuel 16:22)
Notice the location. On the roof. This is the very same roof where David's sin began, when he looked down and lusted after Bathsheba (2 Sam. 11:2). The place of his private sin now becomes the stage for his public humiliation. God is a meticulous bookkeeper. The consequences of our sin are not random; they are often tailored to the sin itself. David's secret sin with one woman is now answered by his son's public sin with ten women. God's justice is poetic, and it is terrifying.
Wisdom Without God (v. 23)
The chapter concludes with a chilling commentary on the nature of Ahithophel's wisdom.
"Now the counsel of Ahithophel, which he counseled in those days, was as if one asked of the word of God; so was all the counsel of Ahithophel regarded by both David and Absalom." (2 Samuel 16:23)
This is a crucial verse. Ahithophel was not a fool. He was brilliant. His advice was so consistently accurate, so strategically flawless, that it was considered tantamount to a divine oracle. He was the ultimate political consultant, the wisest of the wise guys. Both David and Absalom recognized his immense talent. But here is the lesson for us: wisdom, talent, and strategic brilliance, when divorced from the fear of the Lord, are nothing more than high-grade, polished wickedness. Ahithophel's wisdom was entirely of this world. It was shrewd, it was effective, and it was godless.
This is the kind of wisdom our world celebrates. The wisdom of Machiavelli. The wisdom of the shrewd CEO, the cunning lawyer, the pragmatic politician. It is a wisdom that can analyze every angle, predict every outcome, and manipulate every variable, but it leaves God entirely out of the equation. And because it leaves God out, it is ultimately foolishness. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Which means the rejection of the Lord is the beginning of high-sounding, impressive, and damnable folly. Ahithophel's counsel was as good as the word of God, but it was not the Word of God. And that is an infinite difference. He could see all the political angles, but he was blind to the Lord who had already ordained to defeat his good counsel in order to bring disaster on Absalom (2 Sam. 17:14).
Conclusion: God's Sovereignty and Our Sin
So what do we take from this dark chapter of betrayal and public disgrace? Three things.
First, God's judgments are sure, and they are fitting. David was a forgiven man. God had put away his sin; he would not die for it (2 Sam. 12:13). But forgiveness does not always remove earthly consequences. The sword would not depart from his house. David sowed the wind in secret, and he reaped the whirlwind in public. Let this be a severe warning to us. Do not trifle with sin, especially secret sin. God is not mocked. What you do in the dark, He will bring into the light, and He may well use the roof of your own house to do it.
Second, there is a profound difference between worldly cleverness and godly wisdom. Ahithophel had the former in spades. He was the smartest man in the room. And his wisdom led him to treachery, to vengeance, and ultimately to a noose of his own making (2 Sam. 17:23). His counsel was brilliant, but it was in the service of an evil cause, and therefore it was folly. We live in an age that worships at the altar of expertise and technique. But unless our plans and strategies are submitted to the Word of God and begin with the fear of God, they are just elaborate ways of going to Hell.
Finally, we see the absolute sovereignty of God over the most tangled and sinful human affairs. God is not the author of sin. Ahithophel was responsible for his bitter counsel. Absalom was responsible for his vile actions. But God, in His inscrutable wisdom, ordained and directed their sinful choices to fulfill His own righteous decree. He used Ahithophel's sin to judge David, and He would soon use Hushai's deception to save David and judge Absalom. God is not wringing His hands in heaven over the political chaos in our day. He is ruling it. He is steering it. He uses the pride of wicked rulers, the treachery of advisors, and the loyalty of His people to accomplish His good pleasure. Our job is not to despair at the headlines, but to be faithful. To be loyal to the true King, to be shrewd in our dealings with a hostile world, and to trust that even the most wicked counsel of men will, in the end, only serve to fulfill the perfect Word of God.