Generally God chooses to intervene for us and typically He chooses to not. However in each situations, He’s appearing on our behalf, for our good and His glory.
God selected to withhold His hand of safety in direction of David as a punishment for his sin. However He didn’t withdraw His safety fully or perpetually. He nonetheless had favor on David and took care of him till every part was restored again to him.
Absalom Takes the Throne – 2 Samuel 16:15-23
After David left Jerusalem, Absalom went there with Ahithophel and the remainder of his supporters. Hushai reached town on the similar time and hailed Absalom as king. Realizing he was David’s buddy, he requested Hushai why he wasn’t with David, stating he wasn’t a really loyal buddy. However Hushai defined that was as a result of his loyalty was to not David however to the king, the person chosen by God and the individuals. He was keen to serve Absalom simply as he’d served his father. This appeared to be an appropriate reply to Absalom, and he accepted Hushai into his counsel.
However Ahithophel’s counsel was so extremely esteemed that it was as if it had come straight from God, so Absalom requested him what his preliminary act must be as king. Ahithophel mentioned he ought to sleep with David’s concubines to show that he had totally damaged ties along with his father. This made sense to Absalom. So, he pitched a tent on the roof of David’s home and took the ladies in so all of the individuals might see that he was sleeping with them. By taking his ladies, Absalom was demonstrating that he had taken David’s kingdom.
This fulfilled one other one in all Nathan’s prophecies. He instructed David that as a result of he slept with Uriah’s spouse, different males would sleep along with his wives, and though David’s affair with Bathsheba was hidden, everybody would see when David’s wives have been taken from him (2 Samuel 12:10-12). Curiously, this was in all probability the identical roof the place David’s temptation to sin with Bathsheba started.
Though David’s punishment match the crime, and Absalom took Ahithophel’s recommendation as if it got here from God, it didn’t. The Lord expressly forbids a son to sleep with the identical lady as his father (Leviticus 18:8) and He by no means tells anybody to sin (James 1:13-15). So, what really occurred is that God prophesied what would occur to David when He eliminated His protecting hand and allowed Absalom to observe his personal sinful needs and the methods of this world. When a nation conquered one other in these instances, the lads would typically sleep with the ladies, particularly these of the king, to point out that that they had taken management of the nation. Absalom was doing what was regular in these days for somebody who had simply taken over a kingdom. So, as a substitute of defending David from his son’s rebellion or the taking of his concubines, God selected to not intervene due to David’s sin with Bathsheba.
The Battle Between Advisors – 2 Samuel 17:1-29
After this, Ahithophel instructed Absalom to let him lead a military of 12,000 males in opposition to his father. David can be weary from his travels, and discouraged usually, so it could be the right time to assault. Ahithophel mentioned he would scare everybody else away and solely kill David. He believed that the individuals would settle for Absalom as their new chief as soon as they noticed that their king was useless. Then, Ahithophel would be capable of convey them again to Jerusalem peacefully.
Once more, his recommendation appeared proper. However earlier than he acted on it, Absalom requested Hushai what he thought of Ahithophel’s plan. Hushai disagreed. First, he reminded Absalom that his father was a talented warrior and his males have been, too. That they had been combating for David for years and have been way more skilled than the lads who can be combating for Absalom. Additionally, David was too good to spend the night time along with his military or to maintain all his males collectively in a single place. As a matter of truth, Hushai assumed that David was already hidden away in a secure place. Additionally, the lads who adopted David weren’t simply combating for him, they have been combating for what they too had misplaced. By being compelled to flee Jerusalem, town they known as “town of David,” they in all probability felt about like a mama bear who’d been robbed of her cubs. These males have been combating mad and wouldn’t run away scared as Ahithophel had mentioned. If anybody was killed, it could solely make them extra aggressive of their protection and even Absalom’s bravest troopers can be afraid.
Twelve thousand males wouldn’t be sufficient. Hushai suggested Absalom as a substitute to assemble males from each tribe and assault David with as many troopers as attainable. He additionally thought that Absalom ought to lead the battle himself and kill everybody, not simply David. Since his males would definitely stand and combat, Absalom would haven’t any selection however to combat again. As soon as the killing started, it could be unwise to go away any of them alive to stand up in opposition to him later. This plan sounded higher to Absalom and his males than Ahithophel’s, so he started to assemble his military. God turned Ahithophel’s recommendation to foolishness to foil his plan in opposition to David and switch it round on Absalom, simply as David requested Him to do.
In the meantime, Hushai instructed the monks the plan and mentioned they need to ship a feminine servant to the properly at En-rogel with a message for his or her sons to present to David. Hopefully this wouldn’t increase suspicions, since she would seem like she was simply going there to get water as a substitute of relaying a message to David that he wanted to cross the Jordan shortly so he and his males wouldn’t be pinned between Absalom’s forthcoming military and the river. However a boy noticed the lads, realized what was taking place, and instructed Absalom. However the males ran shortly and hid in an empty cistern that belonged to a person in Bahurim. This was the identical Benjamite metropolis the place Shemei cursed David and threw stones. However apparently all of the Benjamites didn’t hate David as a result of a girl there unfold grain over the cistern’s opening to cover the lads, and when Absalom’s servants got here searching for them, she mentioned that they had already crossed over the brook. So, Absalom’s servants seemed for the monks’ sons. However after they couldn’t discover Ahimaaz and Jonathan they went again to Jerusalem and the monks’ sons went to search out David. By morning, David and his males have been all on the jap facet of the river as that they had been instructed.
