Theological Commentary: Click Here
Today we see
the fruit of David’s wisdom about which I spoke yesterday. Today we get to see Absalom take over the
throne and seek for advice. Ahithophel
comes to Absalom and tells him to go and attack while David is unable to
prepare. Hushai tells Absalom to wait
until he can gather greater strength. David
hoped that Hushai would be able to sow disorder in the court of Absalom. It works.
Here’s the
thing, though. We don’t really know that
Hushai was giving bad advice. We don’t
know that Ahithophel’s advice was all that good. For all we know Absalom could have gone out
after David, an experienced general surrounded with strong experienced
fighters, and found himself outmatched.
We know that God foiled Ahithophel’s advice; we don’t really know that
Ahithophel’s advice would have worked had it been listened to.
What we do
know, though, is that Hushai is the good counsel. Hushai’s counsel gives David time to
organize. Hushai’s advice gives David’s
spies time to relay the plan to David so that he can make his own
strategy. David’s political and
organizational wisdom – no doubt aided by God’s infinite wisdom – is put on
display.
There’s one
other topic that needs to be discussed before we deal with Absalom
tomorrow. Ahithophel hangs himself when
he realizes that his wisdom isn’t going to be followed. On one hand, I get this. When a political advisor is ignored and a
second advisor is upheld, it is easy to see why Ahithophel feels little hope. However, I also find this a little rash. Just because you aren’t listened to once
doesn’t mean you give up. It doesn’t
mean that you run away and quit, much less hang yourself. Ahithophel gives up rather quickly rather
than working towards achieving his goals and finding his niche.
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