Commentary - 2 Samuel 17:1-14

Bird's-eye view

This passage presents one of the most critical turning points in David's reign. We are shown two competing counsels offered to the usurper Absalom. The first, from Ahithophel, is shrewd, pragmatic, militarily brilliant, and would have certainly succeeded. It was the epitome of worldly wisdom. The second, from David's plant Hushai, is grandiose, flattering, logistically absurd, and strategically foolish. The central action of the text is Absalom's decision to reject the good counsel and accept the bad. But the central truth of the text is found in the final verse, where the narrator pulls back the curtain of history to reveal the hand of God. Yahweh Himself had ordained to thwart Ahithophel's good advice in order to bring about Absalom's ruin. This is a master class in divine providence, showing how God uses the sinful pride and vanity of men as the very means by which He accomplishes His righteous judgments and preserves His covenant people.

The entire scene is a contest, not just between two advisors, but between two kinds of wisdom. Ahithophel's wisdom is the kind that gets you ahead in the world; it is cunning and effective. Hushai's "wisdom" is a clever deception that works only because it appeals to the deep-seated corruption in the human heart, namely, the love of flattery and vainglory. Absalom's choice reveals his character and seals his fate. God, in His sovereignty, gives the rebel king exactly what his sinful heart wants, and it leads him to destruction.

Outline

Context In 2 Samuel

This chapter occurs at the absolute nadir of David's fortunes. His son Absalom has successfully stolen the hearts of the people and seized the throne in Jerusalem. David, along with his loyal followers, has just fled the city (2 Samuel 15), weeping as he went. His most trusted counselor, Ahithophel, has defected to Absalom's side, a blow so significant that David prayed specifically that God would turn Ahithophel's counsel into foolishness (2 Sam 15:31). Immediately after that prayer, David's loyal friend Hushai the Archite appeared, and David sent him back into Jerusalem to act as a double agent, precisely to frustrate Ahithophel's advice (2 Sam 15:32-37). Chapter 17 is the direct fulfillment of David's prayer and the execution of his desperate plan. It is the hinge on which the entire outcome of the rebellion turns. Had Ahithophel's counsel been followed, the story of David would have ended here.

Key Issues

God's Answer to Bad Prayer

When David fled Jerusalem, he was at his lowest point. Betrayed by his son and abandoned by his most brilliant advisor, Ahithophel, he offered up a short, desperate prayer: "O Yahweh, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness" (2 Sam. 15:31). What we see in our text is the astounding answer to that prayer. But notice how God answers it. He does not make Ahithophel give foolish advice. No, Ahithophel's advice remains as brilliant as ever. Instead, God works on the other end. He ordains that the recipients of this brilliant advice, Absalom and his men, would be foolish enough to reject it. God answers David's prayer not by making the wise man a fool, but by making the foolish man a bigger fool. He allows Absalom's vanity and pride to become the tool of his own undoing. This is a profound illustration of God's providence. He does not have to violate the nature of things to accomplish His will; He directs the nature of things, including the sinful inclinations of proud men, to serve His ultimate, righteous purposes.

Verse by Verse Commentary

1-3 Then Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Please let me choose 12,000 men that I may arise and pursue David tonight. And I will come upon him while he is weary with his hands falling limp and throw him into utter fright, so that all the people who are with him will flee. Then I will strike down the king alone, and I will cause all the people to return to you. The return of everyone depends on the man you seek; then all the people will be at peace.”

Ahithophel's counsel is a masterpiece of military strategy. It is specific (12,000 men), immediate (tonight), and targeted. He correctly diagnoses David's condition: he is weary and demoralized. The plan is to launch a surprise attack, a blitzkrieg, designed to create panic and scatter David's followers. The objective is surgical: strike down the king alone. Ahithophel understands the principle of decapitation. With David gone, the resistance collapses. His promise to Absalom is a quick, relatively bloodless end to the civil war, leading to peace. From a purely secular, political, and military standpoint, this advice is flawless. It is the kind of ruthless efficiency that the world admires and rewards.

4 And the word was right in the eyes of Absalom and all the elders of Israel.

And initially, everyone recognizes the brilliance of the plan. It seemed "right" to them. The Hebrew literally says it was "straight" or "upright" in their eyes. It made perfect sense. The logic was unassailable. At this moment, David's life hangs by a thread. The rebellion is poised for a swift and total victory. If the chapter ended here, the history of Israel would be entirely different.

5-6 Then Absalom said, “Call now Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear what is also in his mouth.” Then Hushai came to Absalom. And Absalom spoke to him, saying, “Ahithophel has spoken thus. Shall we carry out his word? If not, you speak.”

Here is the fatal mistake, the pivot upon which everything turns. Why, when you have been given a perfect plan that everyone agrees with, would you ask for a second opinion? The answer is pride. A wise leader might seek counsel from many, but Absalom is not a wise leader. He is a vain usurper. He wants to savor his moment of power. He wants to hear more people tell him how to be victorious. He is not seeking wisdom; he is seeking adulation. This delay, born of vanity, is the crack through which God's providence will break Ahithophel's plan.

7-8 And Hushai said to Absalom, “This time the counsel that Ahithophel has counseled is not good.” Then Hushai said, “You know your father and his men, that they are mighty men and they are bitter of soul, like a bear robbed of her cubs in the field. And your father is a man of war, and will not spend the night with the people.

Hushai begins with a bold, direct contradiction. This gets Absalom's attention. Then he immediately begins his master class in psychological manipulation. He starts by flattering Absalom ("You know your father...") and then proceeds to paint a terrifying picture. He reframes David's men not as weary fugitives but as desperate, cornered warriors, bitter of soul. The image of a mother bear robbed of her cubs is visceral; it evokes a primal, uncontrollable, and deadly fury. Then he attacks the central premise of Ahithophel's plan. He says David is too cunning a warrior to be caught so easily. He won't be sleeping with the main group; he'll be hidden somewhere, setting an ambush.

9-10 Behold, he has now hidden himself in one of the caves or in another place; and it will be when he falls on them at the first attack, that whoever hears it will say, ‘There has been a slaughter among the people who follow Absalom.’ And even the one who is a man of valor, whose heart is like the heart of a lion, will utterly melt; for all Israel knows that your father is a mighty man and those who are with him are men of valor.

Hushai now creates a scenario of catastrophic failure. The small strike force Ahithophel proposed will walk right into a trap. David will ambush them, and the news of this initial defeat will spread like wildfire, causing mass panic. Even the bravest of Absalom's soldiers, those with the heart of a lion, will utterly melt in fear. Notice what Hushai is doing. He is not arguing logistics or strategy. He is stoking fear and paranoia. He is using rhetoric to overpower reason.

11 But I counsel that all Israel be utterly gathered to you, from Dan even to Beersheba, as the sand that is by the sea in abundance, and that you personally go into battle.

Having dismantled Ahithophel's plan through fear, Hushai now presents his alternative. And it is an appeal directly to Absalom's monumental ego. Forget a small, secret strike force. Hushai proposes a grand national army, a glorious assembly of all Israel, from north to south, as numerous as the sand on the seashore. And who will lead this magnificent host? Not some general like Ahithophel. No, Absalom himself, you personally, will go into battle. Ahithophel offered Absalom a quiet victory; Hushai offers him a glorious spectacle with himself as the conquering hero at the center of it all.

12-13 So we shall come to him in one of the places where he can be found, and we will set down on him as the dew falls on the ground; and of him and of all the men who are with him, not even one will be left. If he withdraws into a city, then all Israel shall carry ropes to that city, and we will drag it into the valley until not even a small stone is found there.”

The imagery here is grandiose and absurd, but powerfully persuasive to a fool. The attack will be as inevitable and comprehensive as the morning dew. The victory will be total annihilation. And the hyperbole reaches its climax with the image of the entire army of Israel tying ropes to a walled city and dragging it into a ravine. This is militarily nonsensical, but as a piece of rhetoric, it is brilliant. It communicates such overwhelming, godlike power that victory seems absolutely certain. It is a plan fit for a megalomaniac, and Absalom is just the man for the job.

14 Then Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel.” For Yahweh had ordained to thwart the good counsel of Ahithophel, so that Yahweh might bring calamity on Absalom.

The verdict is in. The foolish, flattering, slow, and impractical plan is declared "better" than the wise, efficient, and practical one. Why? Because it sounded better. It felt better. It made Absalom feel more important. And then, the narrator gives us the divine commentary, the view from heaven. This was not an accident. This was not a mere political miscalculation. This was the sovereign decree of God. Yahweh had ordained it. The word for "ordained" here is a strong one; it means to command or appoint. God commanded this foolishness. He answered David's prayer by using Absalom's own sinful pride as the rope with which he would hang himself, both figuratively and, as it turns out, literally.

Application

The first and most obvious application is a warning against the siren song of flattery. We are all, like Absalom, susceptible to the counsel that strokes our ego. We prefer the advisor who tells us what we want to hear, who paints a grand picture of our own importance, over the one who gives us the hard, unvarnished, and sometimes humbling truth. In the church, this means we must be wary of leaders, books, and movements that appeal to our vanity, that promise a glorious spectacle, rather than calling us to the quiet, difficult, and often unseen work of faithful obedience. The counsel of Hushai is always more popular than the counsel of Ahithophel, because sin loves a parade.

Second, we see the absolute sovereignty of God over the affairs of men. There is no such thing as a political or historical event that is outside of God's control. He is not a nervous spectator, hoping things will turn out for the best. He ordains, He commands, He thwarts, and He brings about His purposes. He does this not by turning men into puppets, but by directing their own choices, even their sinful ones, to fulfill His plan. This should give the believer immense comfort. Even when it seems that evil is winning, that the Ahithophels of this world have the perfect plan, we can trust that God has a Hushai in the room, and that His ultimate purpose to preserve His anointed and His people will not be thwarted.

Finally, we see in David a type of Christ. The true anointed king is driven out, betrayed by his friends, and hunted by his enemies. The powers of the world gather together and take their shrewd counsel against the Lord and against His Anointed (Psalm 2). Their plans seem wise, their victory assured. But God in heaven laughs. He has ordained to thwart their good counsel, and He does so at the cross. The wisest plan of the devil, to kill the Son of God, becomes the very instrument of his own defeat. God turns the greatest evil into the greatest good, so that He might bring, not calamity, but salvation to His people.