II Samuel 17:1-29 – Wandering Again
The Living Word With Chuck Davis
II Samuel 17:1-29 – Wandering Again
"Welcome to the Living Word with Chuck Davis." 2 Samuel 17, 1-29, wandering again. Moreover, I hear Thofel said to Absalom, "Let me choose twelve thousand men and I will arise and pursue David tonight. I will come upon him while he is weary and discouraged and throw him into a panic and all the people are with him more flee. I will strike down only the King 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." And the advice seemed bright in the eyes of Absalom and all the elders of Israel. Then Absalom said, "Call Hushai the Archite also and let us hear what he has to say." And then Hushai came to Absalom. And Absalom said to him, "Thus has a Hifoshal spoken. Shall we do as he says? If not, you speak." And Hushai said to Absalom, "This time the counsel that Hifthofel has given you is not good." Hushai said, "You know that your father and his men are mighty men and that they are enraged. Like a bare robbed of her cubs in the field, besides your father is expert in war, he will not spend the night with people. 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 slaughter among the people who follow Absalom. 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. My counsels that all Israel be gathered to you from Dan to Bathsheba as the sand of the sea for a multitude and that you go to battle in person. 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. 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 was to be found there. And Absalom and all the men of Israel said the counsel of Hushai the archive is better than the counsel of a Hithofel. For the Lord had ordained to defeat the good counsel of a Hithofel so that the Lord might bring harm upon Absalom. Then Hushai said to Zadok and Abathar the priest, thus and so Abathal counsel Absalom and the elders of Israel and thus and so have I counseled. 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. Now Jonathan and him as was waiting for him at En Rogel, a female servant was to go and tell him and they were to go and tell King David for they were not to be seen entering the city. But a young man saw them and told Absalom so both of them went away quickly and came to the house of a man of Baharim who had a well in his courtyard and they went down into it and the woman took and spread a covering over the well's mouth and scattered grain on it and nothing was known of it. When Absalom's servants came to the woman at the house they said where are Ahimaz 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. 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 a Hithofel counseled against you. Then David arose and all the people were with him and they crossed the Jordan by daybreak not one was left who had not crossed the Jordan. When a Hithofel 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. Then David came to Mahanam and Absalom crossed the Jordan with all the men of Israel now Absalom had set Amasa over the army instead of Joab. Amasa was the son of a man named Isra the Ishmaelite who had married Abigail the daughter of Nahash, sister of Jairiah, Joab's mother and Israel and Absalom and camped in the land of Gilead. When David came to Mahanam she'll be the son of Nash from Raba of the Ammonites and Macar the son of Amil from Lo De Bar and Barzile the Gileite from Rogalim brought beds, basins and earthen vessels, wheat, barley, flour, parched grain, beans and lentils, honey and curds and sheep and cheese from the herd for David and the people with him to eat. For they said the people are hungry and weary and thirsty in the wilderness. There's this interesting turn with Absalom and his counselors. We see this multi-layered process and dispute, there's trouble in the camp. You see anarchy leads to anarchy and Absalom has been leading with anarchy. I hit the wall foul, hangs himself, he's the one who began this plot to begin with and now it turns back upon him. There's reminiscence of Judas in this story of what is going before him ends up turning out against him. And so what of this is a reminder that often it gets worse before it gets better. Sometimes we're in situations that it seems like it's so destructive that it gets to a point where God says okay now it's ready for me to step in. Though now what is a reminder not to give up? To allow God's work to take its time, trust him, be fully dependent upon him. So Lord here we are today, we trust you, again we press back into this tension of when do we wait and when do we act, we want to be like David, inquiring of you and knowing the best times. We pray this in Jesus name, amen.