Ahithophel – The Wise Man David Feared Most

Introduction

If I were to ask you to write an essay, as short or long as you want on the Bible character Ahithophel, how long would it take you? For most of us, we’d turn in a blank piece of paper with our name in the top right hand corner. Ahithophel is not very well known by most of us. And that’s kind of sad because I think he offers us some really important lessons to learn. He is, for me, one of the more fascinating characters in all the Old Testament. But I will tell you up front, my standards for what makes fascinating may not be the same as yours. I went to Walt Disney World years ago, and at Walt Disney World inside Cinderella’s Castle is a machine that you can go up to and answer a series of questions, after which it will congratulate you and tell you which Disney character you are most like.

So I answered the questions.

And I finished, and it said, Congratulations, you are Jafar.

And in history, that’s true. There’s much written about the bad people of history, and it’s because we want to know how it is they operate, not because we want to be like them, but just to understand what caused them to do what they did. I want to tell you about one of those characters this morning, and his name is Ahithophel. I want to begin with the end of his life. I want you to know how it ended, and then we want to back up and talk about who he is and what he did, and then we’ll make some application lessons this morning. So I am in 2 Samuel chapter 17. Rustle up some pages. 2 Samuel chapter 17. This series is all about people in the life of David, and today’s is no exception.

This is a very important person in the life of David, and it ties in a little bit with what we talked about yesterday morning in our lesson on Itai the Gittite. This is the period of David’s life in which he is being challenged on his occupation of the throne by his son Absalom. And here is how the text reads about Ahithophel. Verse 23 of 2 Samuel 17. Now when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his donkey and arose and went to his home, to his city, and set his house in order, and strangled himself. And thus he died and was buried in the grave of his father.

Here is a man who left Jerusalem, saddled his donkey, rode to his hometown. It says, set his house in order. He went through the house. He put everything where it needed to be. He made sure his papers were there. Perhaps his memoirs, perhaps his will and testimony of what he wanted done with all of his possessions, and very deliberately, very hopelessly, and very quietly hung himself. His strangling, it seems to me, could have only been achieved by hanging. You can’t tie something around your neck and keep tension on that because when you faint from lack of oxygen, your hands loosen as would the knot. But hanging would have done that to him.

Put his house in order, and killed himself. How many of us have not had counsel listened to? And every one of us that’s married said amen. But even beyond that, all of us at some time or another have suggested something or said we think something ought to be done and not been listened to. What was it that caused Ahithophel to react so strongly to the reaction to his counsel? Well, let’s look at what he was, because it’s not just that he offered one piece of counsel. Ahithophel was a counselor. And for most of us, counselors are people who suggest life paths. There are people who tell us, well, you have a strength in this area, and so you ought to pursue this career, or a marriage counselor, or a grief counselor, or a personal trainer who is a counselor.

So what was it that Ahithophel did? Well, 2 Samuel chapter 15 and verse 12. And I’m not going to apologize for this, but I’m going to tell you, we’re going to be jumping back and forth, and it’s going to seem at first, perhaps that we’re a little disjointed. How come we don’t just stay in the story? It is because Ahithophel appears, and then he’s not in it, and then he jumps back in, and then he’s not in it, and then he’s in at the end of his life. So we have to kind of jump around a little bit and pick up the pieces, and then it will all, I believe, make sense to you. In 2 Samuel chapter 15 and verse 12, when Absalom declares himself to be the king and steals away the hearts of the men of Israel, as verse 6 says, it says, remember, we read this yesterday in verse 11.

200 men went with Absalom from Jerusalem who were invited, and they went innocently, and they did not know anything. And it says, and Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilanite, David’s counselor, from his city Gelo, while he was offering the sacrifices. And the conspiracy was strong, for the people increased continually with Absalom. So remember, Absalom tells David, he’s got it in for David now. He doesn’t believe David should be king, he believes he should be. The beautiful one is there. The man with the great hair, the man with the great skills in talking to people, the man who knows how to go out in public, with his fifty men running in front of his chargers and him on his chariot with those flowing locks behind him, that man says, I will be king.

And he leads a rebellion against David, and he sends for Ahithophel, David’s counselor. He sends for the man who gives wisdom to David. Now there are a couple of things about him sending for him to think about. First of all, if he can take the wisdom of David’s counselor, then he not only deprives David of it, but he also gets an insight into how David thinks and what he’s about, because Ahithophel knows David. But he obviously needs something Ahithophel has in his incredible wisdom that he will not have without it. And the text is very clear that when he sends for him, it says, and the conspiracy was strong. Ahithophel brings something to the table that makes Absalom all the more dangerous to David. In chapter 16, verse 15, when Absalom comes into the city.

Remember yesterday? Humor me here. If you were here yesterday, even if you don’t remember, just nod your heads that you did. Remember when we talked about David going out of the city and Absalom coming in the other end of the city? Look at verse 15 and the way it’s worded. Then Absalom and all the people, the men of Israel, entered Jerusalem. And what? And Ahithophel with him. You’ve got to know that the writer of this text is telling us something very important has happened here by the way he conveys that. Absalom entered the city. I’ve already told you, Absalom’s incredible. You know, when this is all over, I want some of you young ladies, young ladies, if you’re under 30 and above the age of 12, I want you to just whisper to me this morning who is the most handsome person you know of in all the world today.

For my generation, I’ll have to tell you, it’s got to be Brad Pitt. I mean, and I know, I know the younger ones go, he’s so old. I realize that. But for my generation, that guy was incredibly handsome. He is incredibly handsome in his youth. But I don’t know who the young person is that would be the same for you. So tell me who that is so when I preach on this, I can mention him. Because every time I say Brad Pitt, all you young ladies go, but Absalom was the equivalent of whoever that handsome person is. And it says he came into Jerusalem, and all the people, the men of Israel are with him. And you’d think that ought to be enough. I mean, that ought to hold everybody’s attention.

But then it says this, and Ahithophel with him. So as the people are watching Absalom come in, and some of them are wringing their hands because, oh no, this is going to be bad. We’ve been Davidites. We always voted for David. I know you don’t vote for kings, but we love David as king. And we don’t know what Absalom’s going to do to us. Others are saying, oh man, the great one is here. Absalom. And when he comes into the city, they’re excited about that. And the people are with him. Here come the 200 and the other people that are with Absalom. We’re on his side. We’re his guys. They got a big ticker tape parade going in Jerusalem. But what really drew the attention was, are you kidding?

Ahithophel is there. Ahithophel is with Absalom. That’s the way the text reads. He’s the key figure here. Why? Why? Chapter 16, verse 20. Absalom said to Ahithophel, give your advice. What shall we do? When he comes into the city, the first thing Absalom says is, okay, we’re here. Bring me Ahithophel. What do we do? He is that powerful. He is that important. He is that much to be believed. And if you think I’m making too much of that, go three verses down. Look at verse 23. The advice of Ahithophel, which he gave in those days, was as if one inquired of the word of God. So was all the advice of Ahithophel regarded by both David and Absalom. You know, in our political situation, presidents have secretaries of state, and they’ve got counsel.

And if the president is a person you like, you say of his counselors, they’re brilliant. But if you don’t like the president, you say they’re stupid. I mean you’re idiots. What is he? Surrounded himself by clowns. Here you’ve got both David and Absalom, who are now enemies, sworn enemies. Absalom wants David dead. And David will have Absalom killed. These two men who are so different and divergent in what they want to accomplish, both consider the advice of Ahithophel to be as if one is speaking to God. It is that weighty. They are that powerfully taken by Ahithophel. And I want to tell you something. When Absalom comes into the city, and David is leaving, again, I know we’re back in chapter 15. I want you to look at this.

David in verse 30 is going up the ascent of the Mount of Olives. And he wept as he went. And his head was covered, and he walked barefoot, and all the people who were with him each covered his head and went up weeping as they went. So here’s David leaving. You know that story we gave yesterday. David is out of the city. Now look at the next verse. Someone told David, saying, Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom. Now, with all that David’s got going on, you know, with all that he’s got going on, I want you to think how trite this would seem to most of us. David’s leaving the city. He’s left behind ten concubines. He is fleeing with nothing else. He is on foot, he is barefoot.

That’s not in mourning. That’s all that’s that’s as quick as he could get away. He is fleeing the city. Now imagine somebody coming up to him saying, Oh, by the way, David, did you remember to lock the front door of the palace? I think David had said, aren’t you kidding? Do you think that’s important? Did you did you dampen the fires that were in the fireplaces before you left? That’s not important. But when somebody came to him and said, Ahithophel has joined the conspiracy with Absalom. I want you to notice it says, David said, Oh, Lord, I pray, make the counsel of Ahithophel, foolishness. Are you getting a sense of how important and powerful this man is? David didn’t pray, Lord, thwart Absalom. He didn’t say, Lord, thwart the hundreds of people who have gone after him.

But when David got the word whispered in his ear, Ahithophel has joined the revolution. David prays, Oh Lord, please, not that. Not that. That’s the worst news he could have heard. Ahithophel has joined the conspiracy. And then you go down in chapter 15, and it says in verse 32, when David was coming to the summit where God was worshipped, Hushai the Architect met him with his coat torn and dust on his head. Hushai runs to meet him.

As he’s fleeing the city.

But if you return to the city and say to Absalom, I’ll be your servant, O king, as I have been your father’s servant in time past, so now I will be your servant. Listen to this. David tells one of his most loyal subjects, go back. Don’t go with me. You can do more to help me by going back and tell Absalom, I’m your guy. I was David’s, but I’m your guy. Who else has done that? Ahithophel. I was David’s counselor. I’m now with you. But listen why David wants Hushai the Architect to go back. He says, then you can thwart the counsel of Ahithophel for me. He doesn’t say, go back there and kill Absalom. Get him off to the side, knife him. He doesn’t say, see if you can talk to the military leaders and remind them they owe me something.

There is only one purpose for sending Hushai the Archite back to Jerusalem. You have got to thwart the counsel of Ahithophel. Do you see how important this man is? How frightened David is of Ahithophel. He is terrified of what this man might do. And what do we know about him? Well, we do know just a little about Ahithophel. First of all, he has a son whose name is Eliam. And Eliam is one of David’s mighty men, mentioned in chapter 23 and verse 34. So not only does Ahithophel have some political tendencies and leanings of his own, but he has a son who’s in David’s military, one of David’s prime military people. So he has a sense of how the military goes. That gives him some great wisdom.

And Ahithophel offers some counsel to Absalom that is both revolting to us, but in the political realm, very understandable. David left behind ten concubines to manage his palace as he flees the city. And I read that just a moment ago. Absalom calls in Ahithophel as soon as he’s there, and he says, okay, what do we do? Give your advice. And here’s what Ahithophel says. Verse 21, chapter 16. Go in to your father’s concubines, whom he has left to keep the house. And then all Israel will hear that you have made yourself odious to your father. The hands of all who are with you will also be strengthened. So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof. And Absalom went into his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel.

Let me tell you. Absalom could not have done anything that showed more disrespect to his father than what he did. I’m not going into detail about that, but what he does is not done in private in terms of people knowing what he’s doing. There’s a tent. He’s not doing this out in public. But he takes those concubines and he marches them out of the palace, all ten of them, and into a tent. And the people see those women, march across to a tent set up on the palace roof, and then Absalom goes into that tent. He takes his father’s women for himself. But not only does that show his disdain for his father, it shows his power over his father. What man would let that happen to his women?

He is saying, David is powerless. I am the man. I do what I want with whatever belonged to my father. It was his palace, it’s mine. It was his women, they are mine. Why did he do that? Ahithophel told him to do that. Absalom didn’t think of that. Absalom didn’t say, hey, those women are good looking. I think I’m going to them. I think I’ll take them for my own. He didn’t think of that. Ahithophel thought of that. But what does it do? Well, first of all, it just destroys the hearts of any of David’s loyal people. I mean, there’s no doubt he is he is incapable of doing anything about this. And it says of Absalom, this guy’s not to be toyed with. He is one bad guy.

I mean, he takes what he wants with impunity. And nobody does anything about that. So why did Ahithophel do that? He is bent on crushing David’s kingship. He knows that if Absalom is going to succeed, he can’t become David’s son. He has got to be his own man. And he’s got to show I don’t have anything to do with my father? I’m the guy. And why? Because Ahithophel demanded it. But this is more than that. This is humiliating. This isn’t just take your father’s throne away from him and sit on it. This isn’t change your father’s laws. This isn’t destroy your father’s palace and build yours in place. This is intentional humiliation of David. Why? And look, if David considered the counsel of Ahithophel to be as the word of God, if he thought that, and that’s what the text says, if he regarded Ahithophel so highly, if he had that kind of regard for his wisdom, that when he learned that Ahithophel is with Absalom, he’s praise, God, please thwart the counsel of Ahithophel.

And further, I’m sending Hushai, my dear friend, back there in the hopes that he can turn Absalom away from Ahithophel. If David had that kind of regard for him, why did Ahithophel go with Absalom? Why would he have turned on the king who had that kind of regard for his wisdom and his counsel? Are you wondering that at all? Anybody? No? Okay, let me start back over at the beginning. I’m glad you’re here this morning. We got a lot of time. Let me see some head nodding. Are there any of you wondering about that at all? Well, if David had that kind of regard for him, why does Ahithophel do what he does? Why does he betray his king? It isn’t because David didn’t pay him enough.

And David certainly didn’t disregard him. David had the highest regard for his counsel. He regarded it as the wisdom of God.

Well, I’m going to tell you. Do you remember David’s sin with Bathsheba? In chapter eleven, David saw this woman bathing on a roof. Samuel chapter eleven. And he sent for her, and he took her. And he abused his place and his authority and his marriage to take a woman that didn’t belong to him. But do you know who she is? Verse 3. He sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? Now most of us read that, and we get right to Uriah the Hittite, but you just missed something important. She is the daughter of Eliam. And you say, Eliam, so what? Did you not remember a few moments ago? Eliam is the son in law of Ahithophel.

David has taken the granddaughter of Ahithophel and gotten her pregnant and tried to kill his son-in-law, his grandson-in-law. And then, because of David’s sin with Bathsheba, the baby she is pregnant with dies. Ahithophel has lost because of David’s sexual sin. He has lost a great-grandson, a grandson-in-law, and his granddaughter becomes a disgrace in Israel because of her relationship with the king. Ahithophel has nourished and nurtured his bitterness toward this king quietly until the conspiracy of Absalom. And so his end, how did we get to that beginning point? When his counsel was not heard. You see, after he told Absalom, go up on the roof, take the women of David, show that your father is disgraced and you are in charge of all things. And Absalom did that.

He called Ahithophel in again. I’m going to rush the story here. He calls Ahithophel in again and says, now what do we do? And Ahithophel says, You got to go after David and hit him while he’s on the run. You got to get him before he can go to ground. He’ll get in those caves and he’ll hole up in those, and you won’t be able to get him out. He knows how to fight guerrilla warfare. He did it against Saul. But if you can get him while he’s fleeing and you can take him out, and I want you to notice something. I want you to notice in chapter 17. Verse 1, Ahithophel said to Absalom, Please let me choose 12,000 men that I may arise and pursue David tonight.

I will come upon him while he is weary and terrify him. Then I will strike down the king alone. You hear what he’s saying? Give me a chance to get even with David.

You and I know what he’s done. He cost him the life of his son and grandson in law. He cost him the reputation of his granddaughter, and he cost him the life of his great grandson. And Ahithophel says, You give me 12,000 men, I’ll go after David. He’s not a warrior, but he’s willing to go on this one. This grandfather and great grandfather is ready to take David out, and he says, I will kill him personally. I will personally. This is personal for Ahithophel.

And that actually was good advice. And Absalom hears that, and then he says, call in Hushai the Architect. Let’s see what he has to say. He’s been one of David’s guys. He knows what David’s like. Let’s find out what he has to say. And he gives the exact opposite counsel. He says, No, you don’t want to do that. David’s like a fox. He’ll turn on you. He’ll not be where you think he is, and you’ll go after him there, and he’ll rush on you, and then your army will be decimated. And then they’re going to say, Oh, Absalom can’t keep control here. He says, No. Bring all the armies to you. Get one big army together. And then you go out at the head of that force and you will take David.

And what that buys David is time. And the scripture says in verse 14, the Lord had ordained to thwart, look, the good counsel of Ahithophel, so that the Lord might bring calamity on Absalom. And when he says good, he doesn’t mean good in terms of morally good. He means good in terms of that’s wise counsel. So Absalom says, I like what Hushai said. I don’t know if Absalom’s kind of motivated by his own pride. I don’t want Ahithophel to take dad out. I want to be the one to do it. Or it’ll be really cool to have a big army and go out in front of him. I don’t know. But he took the advice of Hushai. And as a result, we end up full circle where we began this morning.

1. The Extremes and Consequences of Revenge

So Ahithophel saddled his donkey and went to his home, to his city, and set his house in order and strangled himself. Knowing all is lost. My counsel has not been heeded. Absalom’s doomed. There’s no way he can survive this. And that’s exactly what happens. He does not survive the conspiracy. Ahithophel sees the writing on the wall, I failed. I didn’t accomplish what I wanted to accomplish. David lives. I must die. So let me give you, let me give you just three quick lessons, three lessons very quickly, and we’re done. Number one, Ahithophel models the extremes and consequences of what revenge will do.

This is not something he decides on the moment. Can you imagine every day after David and Bathsheba committed their sin and that son dies of Bathsheba’s nine months later? Every day Ahithophel goes in. David doesn’t know. He knows who Ahithophel is, but oh, he’s been forgiven. Ahithophel’s still with him. Hey, what are we going to do today? Give me some good advice. And Ahithophel is seething with that. Buddy Hackett one time was asked the question You seem to be able to cope with all the people who criticize you and dislike you. How do you not carry a grudge? He said, I’ve learned that while you’re carrying a grudge, the people who caused it are out dancing. You know, sometimes it just eats us up. It eats us up.

It doesn’t do anything to the other people. Ahithophel’s bitterness toward David. And I’m not saying some of it’s not justified. No, that’s not my point. I’ll get to that in a moment. But he’s carrying this, and it is eating him up. He’s not a happy man. You got revenge like that in your heart? You got people you work with that you can’t stand. You just can’t stand them. You go into work and they speak to you. You don’t even want to speak to them. It can be a good day until you see them. Lunch is good. You’re sitting there and they come and say, Can I sit across from you? And you don’t like lunch anymore. You’re at school and there’s somebody that every day can make your life miserable.

They may tease you, they may torment you, they may ignore you. It might be they’re just ignoring you. They may not even know you exist, but the very fact that they’re there makes your life worse. Are you that kind of person? Listen, you need to heed the life of Ahithophel and the words of the Apostle Paul. In Romans chapter 12, he says, in verse 19, Romans chapter 12, verse 19. Never take your own revenge, beloved. Leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. Verse 21 says, Do not be overcome by evil. Be careful about taking your own revenge. Be careful about doing that. I know of a man just recently who thought he was being cut off by a car.

2. David Models the Extremes and Consequences of Sin

And he got angry about that, and he swept out around the car and then cut in real tight and tapped his brakes just to let the guy know what he did. And he tapped his brakes right in front of an unmarked police car. Policeman pulled him over, and then he found out his insurance is out of date. And the man went to jail overnight. Oh, leave room for the vengeance of God. Careful about taking it yourself. Now I believe Ahithophel could have possibly prayed to God, you notice he offers sacrifices. Now I’ve often wondered what those sacrifices were that he was offering when Absalom came for him. But you be careful about taking your own revenge. And then let me tell you something. David’s not free of guilt in all of this.

David models to me the extremes and consequences of sin. Sin is never small in the eyes of God. Never. And this David that goes out of Jerusalem barefooted, weeping, he brought that on himself. This David who is deposed, and these concubines who are weeping because they have been violated by a man who does not love them but only use them to show his power. Those concubines are hurt because of what David did. Had he thought about that night, he was on the wall and he saw that woman bathing, had he thought, if I do this, I’m going to lose one of my mighty men. I’m going to lose the respect of the people. I’m going to lose the respect of this woman, and I’m going to violate her and cause her to be lost in the eyes of my people.

And her child will die, and my children will fight among themselves, and I’ll lose my oldest son to my next oldest son, because he will violate his sister. And I’ll be unable to say anything about it because I did the same thing with Bathsheba. And then my counselor will turn on me, and my son will take my kingdom, and I will be out there in the caves where I was before. If he had thought about all that, do you think he would have said, Yeah, I think it’s worth it? Not a chance. But we do that all the time. We lie and don’t think about the consequences of our lives. We gossip and don’t think about how that hurts the person we gossiped about. We fail to serve God and pursue our own things and don’t think about how that affects our God and his heart, how he weeps for us when we are not his people that we claim to be, how it hurts other Christians when they see we are not loyal to the God we claimed loyalty to.

3. God Masterminds All Things to His Purposes

I could go on and on and on. But David exemplifies the consequences and the extremes of what sin does. But the third point is very simple. God masterminds all things to his purposes. It is not about the counsel of Ahithophel. That is thwarted by God. And I think there’s good reason. I’ll have to tell you this. I’ve thought a lot about this. I’ve wondered what would it have been like if Ahithophel had lived? And I’ll tell you what might have happened. If he had been forgiven and brought back, if he had lived and he had stayed in David’s counsel, I want you to imagine what a danger he would have been to the throne of Solomon if he had offered the kind of counsel with the weight and the respect that David and Absalom have both given to him.

Conclusion

And how would Solomon have done on the throne if Absalom were still alive? Because all of that happens. Ahithophel’s death and Absalom’s death are a result of Ahithophel throwing his lot in with Absalom in the conspiracy. And who knows what wise as a serpent counsel Ahithophel might have given had he been allowed to live longer on the earth. God always masterminds his purposes. And you know, the best thing I can do is not to fight against that and not even to assume I know it, because I don’t, but to trust it. He is God. He does all things well. I believe that, and that’s why I’ve given my life to him, and I think you do too. But if you haven’t done that, I want you to think about what revenge does to us, what sin does to us, and come this morning to the purposes of God.

If we can help you do that, you come while we stand and sing this song.