Unlike the “obscure” people we have considered so far, Ahithophel was not a prophet. He was an advisor for King David, at least for a while. As 1 Chron. 27:34 says, he was followed by the great Jehoiada the son of Benaiah (okay, you might think he was also obscure but he was a great man), who was followed by Abiathar.
Back to Ahithophel. He was an amazing advisor for David. As 2 Sam. 16:23 says, “the advice of
Ahithophel, which he gave in those days, was as if one had inquired of the
oracle of God. So was all the advice of
Ahithophel both with David and with Absalom.”
Wait a minute! You mean he was
also an advisor for Absalom? Yes,! And if you read 2 Sam. 15-17, you see it was
at the time Absalom rebelled against the rule of his father and took over the
kingdom for a short time.
To finish that part of the story, Ahithophel’s
advice was good. One of Absalom’s early
moves was to send for Ahithophel to become part of his conspiracy (2 Sam.
15:12). As David fled Jerusalem he heard
Ahithophel had betrayed him and knew it would be problematic. So he prayed, “O LORD, I pray, turn the
counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness!” (15:31). After initially following Ahithophel’s advice,
Absalom then rejected it (17:1-14).
Ahithophel, knowing that this would result in the failure of the
rebellion, took his own life (17:23).
Why did Ahithophel
defect? Why so bitter against David? In
Ahithophel’s plan he would be the one to kill David when the time came
(17:2). It appears to me that it was
because of “family” connections.
·
2 Sam. 23:34: Ahithophel had a son named Eliam.
·
2 Sam. 11:3: Eliam had a daughter named Bathsheba.
As
far as I can figure it out, it had been about 12 years plus since David had
been immoral with Ahithophel’s granddaughter.
From the time of David’s sin …
·
2 Sam. 12:18: The baby died after a week. So that’s 9 months.
·
13:1-22: Shortly after, David’s son Amnon raped
Absalom’s sister Tamar.
·
13:23: Two years later, Absalom killed Amnon.
·
13:38: Absalom fled and spent 3 years in Geshur.
· 14:28: Absalom returned to Jerusalem for 2 years without seeing his father.
· 15:7: After 4 years of recruiting, Absalom attempted the coup d’état.
Ahithophel undoubtedly believed he was taking
a just action in all this. And
certainly, all that happened was part of God’s chastening of David (2 Sam. 12:11-12). But God had also forgiven David, an act of
great mercy by the LORD. Further, David
was still king, and Ahithophel still his advisor. David himself had embodied this attitude in
the way he treated King Saul (cf. 1 Sam. 24:5-7).
We don’t need to
criticize Ahithophel. But we do need to “criticize”
ourselves, so to speak. We need to look
for the “root of bitterness” that might be tucked away in our hearts, a
bitterness that will be the ruin of us at a future time. My “go to” passage on the subject is Rom.
12:17-21, the gist of which is, “overcome evil with good.” We must remember:
·
Bitterness is a right that is not ours.
· Bitterness forgets that we have been forgiven by God.
· Bitterness is overcome by kindness, by love in action.
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