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2 Samuel 17 - Counsel Overturned and Bread in the Wilderness

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Chapter 16 ended with Ahithophel’s reputation for counsel held almost as God’s word; chapter 17 shows that even his strongest strategy cannot rule the future. His plan is to strike a weary David at once. Hushai wins time, hidden servants carry the warning, and the fugitive household reaches the Jordan safely. The answer to David’s prayer includes a woman at a well and food brought to hungry people.

Previous: 2 Samuel 16 - Gifts, Curses, and the Shame on the Roof · Next: 2 Samuel 18 - Absalom’s Death and the Father’s Lament

Counsel chosen under the Lord’s judgment (2 Samuel 17:1-14)

This study follows NKJV references. The reading is Brenton’s English Septuagint, with its printed verse labels retained.

Brenton source: 2 Samuel 17:1-14.

1 And Achitophel said to Abessalom, Let me now choose out for myself twelve thousand men, and I will arise and follow after David this night: 2 and I will come upon him when he is weary and weak-handed, and I will strike him with terror; and all the people with him shall flee, and I will smite the king only of all. 3 And I will bring back all the people to thee, as a bride returns to her husband: only thou seekest the life of one man, and all the people shall have peace. 4 And the saying was right in the eyes of Abessalom, and in the eyes of all the elders of Israel. 5 And Abessalom said, Call now also Chusi the Arachite, and let us hear what is in his mouth, even in his also. 6 And Chusi went in to Abessalom, and Abessalom spoke to him, saying, After this manner spoke Achitophel: shall we do according to his word? but if not, do thou speak. 7 And Chusi said to Abessalom, This counsel which Achitophel has counselled this one time is not good. 8 And Chusi said, Thou knowest thy father and his men, that they are very mighty, and bitter in their spirit, as a bereaved bear in the field, [and as a wild boar in the plain]: and thy father is a man of war, and will not give the people rest. 9 For, behold, he is now hidden in one of the hills or in some other place: and it shall come to pass when he falls upon them at the beginning, that some one will certainly hear, and say, There has been a slaughter among the people that follow after Abessalom. 10 Then even he that is strong, whose heart is as the heart of a lion,—it shall utterly melt: for all Israel knows that thy father is mighty, and they that are with him are mighty men. 11 For thus I have surely given counsel, that all Israel be generally gathered to thee from Dan even to Bersabee, as the sand that is upon the sea-shore for multitude: and that thy presence go in the midst of them. 12 And we will come upon him in one of the places where we shall find him, and we will encamp against him, as the dew falls upon the earth; and we will not leave of him and of his men so much as one. 13 And if he shall have taken refuge with his army in a city, then shall all Israel take ropes to that city, and we will draw it even into the river, that there may not be left there even a stone. 14 And Abessalom, and all the men of Israel said, The counsel of Chusi the Arachite is better than the counsel of Achitophel. For the Lord ordained to disconcert the good counsel of Achitophel, that the Lord might bring all evil upon Abessalom.

Commentary

Ahithophel sees the decisive advantage: David is tired, exposed, and moving through the night. He proposes a limited strike at the king that will break the resistance without a long war. Absalom and the elders approve. Hushai answers with pictures of David’s ferocity and an overwhelming host, with Absalom himself at its centre. His speech gives the prince a grander image of victory while delaying the pursuit.

The narrator distinguishes strategy from holiness by calling Ahithophel’s advice “good.” It was good for accomplishing the rebellion’s purpose, not good before God. Verse 14 then names the Lord’s judgment: He ordained to disconcert that counsel. This is the explicit answer to David’s prayer in 15:31. Proverbs 21:30 and Psalm 33:10 (LXX 32:10) place human counsel beneath God’s governance; 1 Corinthians 1:19 announces the humbling of wisdom that boasts in itself.

God’s providence is not an endorsement of everything His servants do. Hushai speaks strategically to a violent conspirator, and the civil war still brings deaths and grief. The text assures us that brilliance cannot secure evil against God. It does not promise that faithful people will be spared every wound. Acts 2:23-24 gives the Christian a greater example: wicked human counsel meets God’s purpose in Christ’s death and Resurrection. That comparison is this study’s reading, while Acts itself plainly proclaims God’s victory over death.

Gems from the Fathers 💎

St. Ambrose supplies a thematic test for the apparent usefulness of Ahithophel’s counsel. In his discussion of virtue and advantage, he refuses to define success by gain alone: “For I said that nothing can be virtuous but what is useful, and nothing can be useful but what is virtuous.”1 Ambrose is not commenting directly on this council. His distinction helps us hear the narrator’s strategic use of “good” without mistaking effective treachery for true wisdom. What brings a desired outcome through cruelty fails the test of Christian usefulness.

Messengers hidden and the Jordan crossed (2 Samuel 17:15-22)

This study follows NKJV references. The reading is Brenton’s English Septuagint, with its printed verse labels retained.

Brenton source: 2 Samuel 17:15-22.

15 And Chusi the Arachite said to Sadoc and Abiathar the priests, Thus and thus Achitophel counselled Abessalom and the elders of Israel; and thus and thus have I counselled. 16 And now send quickly and report to David, saying, Lodge not this night in Araboth of the wilderness: even go and make haste, lest one swallow up the king, and all the people with him. 17 And Jonathan and Achimaas stood by the well of Rogel, and a maid-servant went and reported to them, and they go and tell king David; for they might not be seen to enter into the city. 18 But a young man saw them and told Abessalom: and the two went quickly, and entered into the house of a man in Baurim; and he had a well in his court, and they went down into it. 19 And a woman took a covering, and spread it over the mouth of the well, and spread out ground corn upon it to dry, and the thing was not known. 20 And the servants of Abessalom came to the woman into the house, and said, Where are Achimaas and Jonathan? and the woman said to them, They are gone a little way beyond the water. And they sought and found them not, and returned to Jerusalem. 21 And it came to pass after they were gone, that they came up out of the pit, and went on their way; and reported to king David, and said to David, Arise ye and go quickly over the water, for thus has Achitophel counselled concerning you. 22 And David rose up and all the people with him, and they passed over Jordan till the morning light; there was not one missing who did not pass over Jordan.

Commentary

Hushai’s victory in the council does not allow the messengers to relax. He tells Zadok and Abiathar to warn David immediately. A maidservant carries the report, Jonathan and Ahimaaz remain outside the city, and a young observer exposes them. In Bahurim a woman covers the well where they hide and places grain over it. The life of the household now depends on people whose names the story does not preserve.

Bahurim was the place of Shimei’s curse in 16:5. The same neighbourhood now shelters David’s messengers. Places cannot be reduced to the worst thing that happened in them. The concealment recalls Rahab sheltering the scouts in Joshua 2:4-6, a comparison of courageous protection in danger rather than a blanket permission for deceit. The warning reaches David, and by morning everyone has crossed: verse 22 deliberately says that not one was missing.

Hidden faithfulness is not lesser faithfulness. The council receives the public speeches, but the well and the river carry the rescue. Matthew 25:35-40 gives feeding, welcome, and care their place before Christ. This study hears that teaching beside the servants’ work here. The Lord knows the lives preserved by a warning, an open door, and a risk that earns no public credit.

Ahithophel’s death and the armies’ advance (2 Samuel 17:23-26)

This study follows NKJV references. The reading is Brenton’s English Septuagint, with its printed verse labels retained.

Brenton source: 2 Samuel 17:23-26.

23 And Achitophel saw that his counsel was not followed, and he saddled his ass, and rose and departed to his house into his city; and he gave orders to his household, and hanged himself, and died, and was buried in the sepulchre of his father. 24 And David passed over to Manaim: and Abessalom crossed over Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him. 25 And Abessalom appointed Amessai in the room of Joab over the host. And Amessai was the son of a man whose name was Jether of Jezrael: he went in to Abigaia the daughter of Naas, the sister of Saruia the mother of Joab. 26 And all Israel and Abessalom encamped in the land of Galaad.

Commentary

Ahithophel sees that his counsel has been rejected and goes home. The narrative reports his death with dreadful brevity. Matthew 27:3-5 later records Judas’s remorse and death. Their intimate betrayal and similar endings support this study’s comparison, but Scripture does not explicitly identify Ahithophel as Judas’s type. Neither account invites contempt or fascination with the manner of death.

The verse does not give us access to every thought in Ahithophel’s mind. It is therefore unsafe to reduce his death to a tidy lesson about pride or to treat suicide as a simple measure of another person’s faith. Despair is a terrible darkness. The Christian response is mercy, prayer, companionship, and urgent care. Someone who fears they may harm themselves needs immediate help from emergency services or a crisis service and a trusted person who can stay with them; pastoral support belongs alongside professional care.

Meanwhile David reaches Mahanaim, Absalom crosses the Jordan, and Amasa replaces Joab as commander. The family ties in verse 25 make the coming battle more grievous: this is war within a related household as well as between political factions. God has preserved David through the night, but the preservation has not undone the injuries that brought Israel here.

Friends feed the weary household (2 Samuel 17:27-29)

This study follows NKJV references. The reading is Brenton’s English Septuagint, with its printed verse labels retained.

Brenton source: 2 Samuel 17:27-29.

27 And it came to pass when David came to Manaim, that Uesbi the son of Naas of Rabbath of the sons of Ammon, and Machir son of Amiel of Lodabar, and Berzelli the Galaadite of Rogellim, 28 brought ten embroidered beds, (with double coverings,) and ten caldrons, and earthenware, and wheat, and barley, and flour, and meal, and beans, and pulse, 29 and honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheeses of kine: and they brought them to David and to his people with him to eat; for one said, The people is faint and hungry and thirsty in the wilderness.

Commentary

Shobi, Machir, and Barzillai meet David’s need before asking what place they will hold after his return. Beds and cooking vessels appear alongside grain, beans, honey, butter, sheep, and cheese. The last explanation is bodily and merciful: the people are faint, hungry, and thirsty in the wilderness. Hidden faithfulness now becomes a table.

Shobi is named as a son of Nahash from Rabbah, connecting him with the Ammonite house whose Hanun rejected David’s kindness in chapter 10. He and Hanun are both called sons of Nahash; their brotherhood is a reasonable inference from that shared parentage, not a relationship stated here in a separate sentence. Machir had sheltered Mephibosheth in 9:4. Mercy once extended to vulnerable and foreign households is now met by mercy in David’s own vulnerability, though the narrator does not say the men acted to repay a debt.

Psalm 23:5 (LXX 22:5) places a table amid enemies. This study reads that image beside the meal at Mahanaim: danger remains, yet nourishment is given within it. Christ’s command in Matthew 25:35-40 prevents the spiritual reading from becoming abstract. Weariness has a body, and love can arrive with something to eat.

The Church’s Voice in Worship

The First Hour of Good Friday includes Matthew 27:1-14, including Judas’s death. The Church remembers betrayal within Christ’s Passion; the comparison with Ahithophel is the study’s own reading and must not become speculation about either man’s final judgment.2

Iconography Connection

The Gospel’s depiction of Christ feeding and receiving the needy offers a sober counterpart to the provisions at Mahanaim. Here nourishment comes through named friends; in Matthew 25:35-40 the Lord receives mercy shown to those in need as mercy shown to Himself. The useful visual subject is the gift that sustains life, not the spectacle of Ahithophel’s death.

Spiritual Fruit 🍇

Ahithophel’s strong plan searches the advice we admire. A proposal can be efficient while using another person’s weakness as an opportunity. Before recommending it, the Christian can name whom it will harm and whether the desired result can be sought truthfully. Skill becomes service when it accepts correction and the judgment of God.

The unnamed woman and the three benefactors give another measure of usefulness. A warning delivered discreetly, safe shelter arranged, or food brought without demanding gratitude can preserve a life. Someone overwhelmed by shame needs that kind of faithful presence. Hope may begin with staying beside them and helping them reach care, rather than explaining their suffering.

Lord Jesus Christ, overturn counsel that serves cruelty. Give us courage for hidden mercy, humility when our judgment is corrected, and tenderness toward those who are hungry, frightened, or in despair. Amen.

Summary Table

PassageWhat the text reveals
2 Samuel 17:1-14Effective counsel remains subject to judgment.
2 Samuel 17:15-22Hidden servants preserve the household.
2 Samuel 17:23-26Despair calls for mercy and urgent care.
2 Samuel 17:27-29Love reaches hungry people with food.

Closing Meditation

The household is across the Jordan by morning. Behind them lies the night of danger; ahead lies a battle they cannot avoid. At Mahanaim friends set down the food and vessels they have brought. Providence reaches tired hands in ordinary things. The Lord who hears a king’s prayer also sees the people faint with thirst.

Footnotes

  1. St. Ambrose, On the Duties of the Clergy, III.2.9, NPNF Second Series, vol. 10, translation credited to H. de Romestin, E. de Romestin, and H. T. F. Duckworth. Text. ↩

  2. Coptic Reader, Special / Pascha / Friday / 1st Hour. Reader. The application to this chapter is the study’s reading; this does not appoint the whole chapter. ↩

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