It All Hinges On...
Notes
Transcript
If you have your Bible (and I hope you do), please turn with me to 2 Samuel 17. You’re going to want to have a Bible open in front of you this morning. If you don’t have a Bible of your own, let me know and I’ll get you one. You can also use the red pew Bible in front of you. You’ll find 2 Samuel 17 on page 494.
This saga in 2 Samuel would make a pretty good movie, if you ask me. The continuing story we’ve been reading about in 2 Samuel has all the drama and intrigue you could want—and then some!
David, the king of Israel, is running from his son, Absalom. Absalom murdered his brother Amnon for what Amnon did to their sister, Tamar.
(The Amnon and Tamar part of the story would have to be censored before we could even think about showing this movie in church).
And now Absalom is poised to take his father’s place as king, but not by succession. He’s attempting to take the kingship by force. Absalom has schemed to oust his father, David, and is now looking for the best way to be rid of David once and for all. Absalom wants to defeat David and all the people with him. David’s death would solidify Absalom’s place as king.
There are four main players in the part of the story we’re reading today are: David & his son Absalom, and their counselors/advisors, Ahithophel and Hushai. Of course, there are other people involved and other names that will pop-up, but those four are the main people involved.
These are the main characters we see:
Absalom is after David.
Ahithophel and Hushai are giving advice to Absalom.
Some would read this story and decide the outcome all hinges on the advice of Absalom’s advisers, and which advice Absalom follows.
We should ask a question here: What does it all hinge on? The conflict is headed somewhere, and quickly.
It could be that
It All Hinges on Good Advice?
It All Hinges on Good Advice?
This could be. Remember what’s going on here. Absalom has swayed a large number of the people of Israel to his side.
We read in 2 Samuel 15:6 “Absalom…stole the hearts of the people of Israel.”
And David was warned in 2 Samuel 15:13 “The hearts of the people of Israel are with Absalom.”
Absalom is one very clever politician, getting the people to follow him.
One of the men who went with Absalom was David’s trusted and highly valued advisor, Ahithophel. No one gave advice like Ahithophel. He was the best at what he did.
He was the Michael Jordan of counselors. Or for the sake of Super Bowl Sunday, we could say Ahithophel was the Patrick Mahomes of advisors.
Absalom has Ahithophel—that’s no small advantage. Ahithophel’s advice was regarded as the pinnacle of counsel.
The last verse of 2 Samuel 16 says this:
2 Samuel 16:23 “Now in those days the advice Ahithophel gave was like that of one who inquires of God. That was how both David and Absalom regarded all of Ahithophel’s advice.”
Absalom has Ahithophel. Absalom also has Hushai.
Hushai has come to serve Absalom, you might remember, at David’s urging.
King David is out in the hill country and just reaches the summit of the Mount of Olives. There, David runs into Hushai who is a pal and a confidant (points to anyone who picked up on the Golden Girls reference).
David tells Hushai to hurry back to Jerusalem so that he can spy on Absalom and help David by frustrating Ahithophel’s advice (2 Samuel 15:34). And so he goes. And Absalom welcomes him. What’s better than one advisor? Two advisors. Maybe.
How the story is going to play-out seems to be dependent upon who Absalom is going to listen to.
It might all hinge on good advice…
1 Ahithophel said to Absalom, “I would choose twelve thousand men and set out tonight in pursuit of David. 2 I would attack him while he is weary and weak. I would strike him with terror, and then all the people with him will flee. I would strike down only the king 3 and bring all the people back to you. The death of the man you seek will mean the return of all; all the people will be unharmed.” 4 This plan seemed good to Absalom and to all the elders of Israel.
5 But Absalom said, “Summon also Hushai the Arkite, so we can hear what he has to say as well.” 6 When Hushai came to him, Absalom said, “Ahithophel has given this advice. Should we do what he says? If not, give us your opinion.”
7 Hushai replied to Absalom, “The advice Ahithophel has given is not good this time. 8 You know your father and his men; they are fighters, and as fierce as a wild bear robbed of her cubs. Besides, your father is an experienced fighter; he will not spend the night with the troops. 9 Even now, he is hidden in a cave or some other place. If he should attack your troops first, whoever hears about it will say, ‘There has been a slaughter among the troops who follow Absalom.’ 10 Then even the bravest soldier, whose heart is like the heart of a lion, will melt with fear, for all Israel knows that your father is a fighter and that those with him are brave.
11 “So I advise you: Let all Israel, from Dan to Beersheba—as numerous as the sand on the seashore—be gathered to you, with you yourself leading them into battle. 12 Then we will attack him wherever he may be found, and we will fall on him as dew settles on the ground. Neither he nor any of his men will be left alive. 13 If he withdraws into a city, then all Israel will bring ropes to that city, and we will drag it down to the valley until not so much as a pebble is left.”
14 Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The advice of Hushai the Arkite is better than that of Ahithophel.”
Ahithophel’s advice—which some considered to be almost divine—is critical for Absalom’s success. Ahithophel proposes a four-step plan.
Ahithophel will pick 12,000 men and head out immediately to pursue David.
Ahithophel will attack David while he’s weary and weak; all his people would flee.
Ahithophel will only kill David.
With David dead, the people who were with David would come back to Jerusalem, unharmed.
Easy-breezy, Mac & Cheesy. It’s short, simple, and a timely option. Absalom likes it. Seems good. What’s better than the plan of Ahithophel? He knows best. I mean, he’s Ahithophel after all.
It all hinges on Ahithophel’s advice…almost. Something inexplicable happens. It doesn’t make any sense. We have to wonder what Absalom is thinking.
MJ’s on the court in a crucial, game-deciding moment. You don’t bench him and sub-in some scrub.
Absalom heard Ahithophel’s advice, and now decides he wants to hear from Hushai as well. It boggles the mind. It all hinges on who Absalom listens to.
Absalom even tells Hushai what Ahithophel’s plan was, asks for his opinion, review, and comment.
Hushai has the audacity to say basically, “Eh, yeah, no. Ahithophel doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”
That’s like saying Maggie doesn’t know anything about the Chiefs, or that Monty doesn’t know anything about cars, or that Tom doesn’t know anything about painting,
Hushai needs to counter Ahithophel’s advice and he needs to do so deftly. So he appeals to logic.
He says that David’s a man of war. This is the guy who killed a giant with one smooth stone. People used to sing of him: (1 Samuel 18:7) “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands.”
David is a mighty warrior. You don’t want to mess with him any more than you want to pick a fight with a mamma bear. Bad chicken. Mess you up.
Beyond that, Hushai says there’s no way to just kill David. “You couldn’t even find the guy if you tried. David’s smarter than that, smarter than you.”
Hushai uses logic and caution.
What if, Hushai proposes, David attacks first? That’s a possibility. Your father is a fighter and those with him are brave. “You’re gonna want to really think about it or you could have a major disaster upon your hands.”
Logic, caution, and now: vanity.
This is Hushai’s most convincing argument yet. He says, emphatically, “You know your father and his men…”
He’s buttering Absalom up. “You” know better than Ahithophel. You’re not going to be duped, Absalom.
And then, he lays it on thick (v. 11): “Let all Israel be gathered to YOU, with YOU YOURSELF leading them into battle.”
Ahithophel’s proposal was all, “I, I, I, I.” Ahithophel was proposing that Ahithophel take care of it all.
Hushai proposed that Absalom take the starring role. Hushai made Absalom the center of everything, which is right up Absalom’s alley. Absalom was already the center of Absalom’s world, so it follows that Absalom would like a plan that propped-up Absalom.
Logic, caution, vanity, and finally, vengeance.
“Kill ‘em all,” is Hushai’s suggestion. “Why kill just David when you could take care of all of his men? Let’s go scorched earth!”
We have Ahithophel’s advice and Hushai’s advice. What happens next all hinges on who Absalom listens to. It all hinges on this, right?
We have Absalom’s decision in verse 14:
14 Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The advice of Hushai the Arkite is better than that of Ahithophel.”
This is a reversal of what they thought after hearing Ahithophel’s plan:
4 This plan seemed good to Absalom and to all the elders of Israel.
Maybe it all hinges on good advice.
Or maybe, just maybe, it depends on what the people involved do from here.
15 Hushai told Zadok and Abiathar, the priests, “Ahithophel has advised Absalom and the elders of Israel to do such and such, but I have advised them to do so and so. 16 Now send a message at once and tell David, ‘Do not spend the night at the fords in the wilderness; cross over without fail, or the king and all the people with him will be swallowed up.’ ”
17 Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying at En Rogel. A female servant was to go and inform them, and they were to go and tell King David, for they could not risk being seen entering the city. 18 But a young man saw them and told Absalom. So the two of them left at once and went to the house of a man in Bahurim. He had a well in his courtyard, and they climbed down into it. 19 His wife took a covering and spread it out over the opening of the well and scattered grain over it. No one knew anything about it.
20 When Absalom’s men came to the woman at the house, they asked, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?”
The woman answered them, “They crossed over the brook.” The men searched but found no one, so they returned to Jerusalem.
21 After they had gone, the two climbed out of the well and went to inform King David. They said to him, “Set out and cross the river at once; Ahithophel has advised such and such against you.” 22 So David and all the people with him set out and crossed the Jordan. By daybreak, no one was left who had not crossed the Jordan.
23 When Ahithophel saw that his advice had not been followed, he saddled his donkey and set out for his house in his hometown. He put his house in order and then hanged himself. So he died and was buried in his father’s tomb.
It All Hinges on What People Do?
It All Hinges on What People Do?
How is Hushai’s news about Absalom’s next steps going to reach David? And what is Absalom going to decide?
Hushai doesn’t know what he decided. Hushai simply has to relay both plans—Ahithophel’s and his—to David.
But how? Well, it all depends on the priests—Zadok and Abiathar—and their sons—Ahimaaz and Jonathan.
Hushai is to tell the priests who would tell their sons who would tell David. It’s like a game of telephone. This is what David instructed Hushai to do:
35 Won’t the priests Zadok and Abiathar be there with you? Tell them anything you hear in the king’s palace. 36 Their two sons, Ahimaaz son of Zadok and Jonathan son of Abiathar, are there with them. Send them to me with anything you hear.”
The two priests have the message, and now they have to get it to their sons. A female servant was tasked with taking the news from the priests to their sons. And it would have worked, too, but for some pesky young man who saw it and told Absalom.
So the priests’ sons run to a man’s house and hide in his well, carefully covered up by his wife. And then, the man’s wife covers for Ahimaaz and Jonathan, lying to Absalom’s cronies.
We could have a discussion here about ethics, but there’s no time. And that’s not the point. The author of 2 Samuel says nothing about what the lady’s deception.
The point is: it’s a close one. The priest’s sons almost get caught. But they don’t. And that’s good, because it all hinges on them, right?
Absalom’s men head back to Jerusalem. The priest’s sons run to David. And David and all the people with him cross the River Jordan. David is safe, and so is everyone with him.
It all worked out. David’s plan to have Zadok and Abiathar give word to Ahimaaz and Jonathan about everything said in the king’s palace and get word to him—it worked!
It was a narrow escape and word reached David just in time. It all hinged on what the people involved end up doing, right?
>The answer is “No”. It didn’t hinge on the action of those involved any more than it hinged on the advice of Hushai or Ahithophel.
You may have noticed in our reading of the chapter that I skipped over half of one verse.
That verse—the second half of verse 14—is the hinge of the whole story. In fact, some have verse 14 as the central feature of 2 Samuel 15-20.
For the Lord had determined to frustrate the good advice of Ahithophel in order to bring disaster on Absalom.
Without the second half of verse 14, it would all be up in the air. Maybe it would be dependent upon the advice of a couple people or the actions of a few.
There’s advice here from a couple of advisors and a lot of people doing a lot of things.
BUT THERE’S MORE GOING ON HERE THAN WE CAN SEE.
The LORD Yahweh is active and at work. He’s always working, even when we can’t see what He’s doing.
There is one mention of the LORD in this chapter. And it’s the hinge of the story.
Everything pivots on what the LORD is doing—even though it’s a secret to everyone involved.
As the readers, we’re let in on the secret of the LORD’s work in this particular situation; it all hinges on this: what the LORD does.
For the Lord had determined to frustrate the good advice of Ahithophel in order to bring disaster on Absalom.
Not good advice or what people do, rather,
It All Hinges on the LORD’s Determination
It All Hinges on the LORD’s Determination
Verse 14 is the explanation for the whole story. The LORD had ordained it. The LORD had appointed it this way. The LORD had purposed it to happen just like this.
This is the LORD’s sovereign determination.
Listen to Dale Ralph Davis:
The LORD’s sovereignty is not meant to give you philosophical problems, but spiritual comfort. And the primary characteristic of His sovereignty in this passage is its hiddenness.
There are no trumpets, no turmoil, no billboards or bumper stickers. No glitzy, frenetic commercials like car dealerships blast out on TV. Only this quiet text. This discreet aside. The plot against the LORD’s king (David) has gone to pot. Why? Because the LORD had ordained it.
More often than not, that is the manner of God’s work…His sovereignty is hidden behind the conversations and decisions and activities and crises of our lives.
We see only grocery lines and diaper changes and school assignments; but through and over and behind and under it all: the LORD Yahweh rules. He is never absent, but neither is He obvious.
For the LORD had determined / ordained / appointed to frustrate the good advice of Ahithophel in order to bring disaster on Absalom.
This was the LORD’s determined purpose, in order to establish David’s kingdom—what He had promised David years before this, the LORD would bring to pass.
No one, nothing, can overthrow or terminate the LORD’s kingdom-plan. Yet in the muck and goo of history, the stability of the LORD’s kingdom looks much ‘iffier’ than that, for there are men like Absalom and Ahithophel running loose ready to muscle through their own kingdom plans.
This is why, when Bible readers come to 2 Samuel 17, they have to keep their fingers (and minds and hearts) on the promises of God.
We have to remember that the LORD told Saul that the kingdom would be taken from him and given to David (1 Sam 28:17).
The LORD said to David, “You will shepherd my people Israel, and you will become their ruler.” (2 Samuel 5:2).
David was told that his house and his kingdom would endure forever, that his throne would be established forever (2 Samuel 7:16).
We MUST remember what God has said, over and over again, to His people and through His prophets.
44 …the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever.
The LORD is in control. We have to have that assurance, or we would simply falter. We would despair. It’d be too much to handle if we couldn’t believe the LORD is sovereign (in control).
There are times, like this here in 2 Samuel 17, that His sovereignty seems invisible.
But we can live with that, because we know He’s there and He’s always at work. Always.
The LORD isn’t about to let Absalom succeed here. The LORD’s chosen king is David, not Saul or Absalom.
What happens in this story all hinges on the LORD’s determination.
No matter what happened with Ahithophel’s advice or Hushai’s advice, regardless of any human action taken, it all hinges on the LORD’s determination.
The Bible affirms, over and over again, that the LORD will have His way.
10 The Lord foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples. 11 But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations.
It all hinges on the LORD’s determination.
This is true in the saga of David and Absalom. And it’s true in your life and mine—what the LORD has for us will be. Nothing can thwart His plan or purpose.
We know this because of what Jesus has accomplished for us.
The God of heaven has set up a kingdom, and it shall stand forever. When the angel announced Jesus’ birth to Mary, he said this:
31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
The LORD determined to crush His Son for us—for those who would believe in Him. This was God’s Sovereign plan.
23 This man (Jesus) was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. 24 But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.
By God’s sovereign plan and determination, Jesus would die to secure forgiveness from sin and eternal life for all who believe.
This doesn’t hinge on good advice or any human action, but upon the sovereign purpose and determination of God.
How surely we can rest our hopes on the LORD’s sovereign work—even when we cant see what He’s doing—since God has proved His saving will for us by sending His Son, Jesus, to die for us.
My life, your life, and the course of the world hinges on the LORD’s sovereign will and determination to work all things for our good and His glory.
When we don’t see what He’s doing, we can trust that He’s working toward that end.
>If someone asked you, “What is God doing right now?” what would you answer?
I am afraid many of us are confused when it comes to the present benefits and activity of Jesus.
We get that as believers, we have been forgiven and we understand that we have eternity with Him in our future, but we’re not sure what the agenda is here and now.
And because we don’t understand what God has committed Himself to in the present, we are tempted to question His wisdom and doubt His love.
Our problem is not that God is inactive or that He has abandoned us, but that we often have a different agenda than He does.
Our God is actively working, right here, right now.
He’s working on sin’s final defeat and our complete deliverance.
Paul writes this about the Risen Jesus:
25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
Jesus, the Risen Savior, is—at this very moment and forever—reigning. He is on the throne. This means our world is not out of control.
The bad guys are not going to win. Sin will not have final victory. Our world is not out of control; it’s under God’s careful redemptive control. There’s hope in that, even when it looks as if darkness is winning the day.
Jesus will crush enemy after enemy until the last enemy, death, is defeated.
He will not sit down, He will not rest, He will not relent until sin and death are completely defeated and we are finally and forever delivered.
Put your trust in Him.
Give Jesus your life.
Everything, everything, absolutely everything hinges on Him.
