2 Samuel 16:15-23--Absalom Enters Jerusalem

2 Samuel 16:15-23
English Standard Version
​
Absalom Enters Jerusalem
15 Now Absalom and all the people, the men of Israel, came to Jerusalem, and Ahithophel with him. 16 And when Hushai the Archite, David's friend, came to Absalom, Hushai said to Absalom, “Long live the king! Long live the king!” 17 And Absalom said to Hushai, “Is this your loyalty to your friend? Why did you not go with your friend?” 18 And Hushai said to Absalom, “No, for whom the LORD and this people and all the men of Israel have chosen, his I will be, and with him I will remain. 19 And again, whom should I serve? Should it not be his son? As I have served your father, so I will serve you.”

20 Then Absalom said to Ahithophel, “Give your counsel. What shall we do?” 21 Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Go in to your father's concubines, whom he has left to keep the house, and all Israel will hear that you have made yourself a stench to your father, and the hands of all who are with you will be strengthened.” 22 So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof. And Absalom went in to his father's concubines in the sight of all Israel. 23 Now in those days the counsel that Ahithophel gave was as if one consulted the word of God; so was all the counsel of Ahithophel esteemed, both by David and by Absalom.

---

We saw last time that Shemei, a descendant of Saul, though that it was the LORD's doing that David was losing the throne and that Absalom was taking over.  We now change scenes away from what is happening with David and look back to Jerusalem.  Absalom comes with all the men of Israel (the leaders that had gone down to Hebron with him and those that were gathered there already in support of him), and he brought with him Ahithophel who had been one of David's advisors.  This is the advisor that David did not bother to do anything to because he said that the advice he gave was foolish anyways and it would be of no help to Absalom.

Remember that David had left a few men behind in Jerusalem and they too will go to meet Absalom.  First is Hushai the Archite, the man that David met last before getting to the summit of the Mount of Olives who he told to go back to Jerusalem to be a spy and report everything to the priests.  Hushai gives the traditional greeting of "Long live the king!," but Absalom knows this man is a close friend of David's and questions Hushai as to why he did not go with David and those who left Jerusalem.  Hushai gives an ambiguous answer that is true by saying his loyalty is not to a man, but to the LORD.  Only because of this loyalty to the LORD is he then loyal to the one that the LORD has chosen to have seated on the throne.  (We know that Hushai believes that David is the one that the LORD has chosen here, but Absalom would interpret this to mean that Hushai thought that the LORD had chosen him to be king).  Hushai then swears that he would continue to serve the one whom the LORD had chosen which would make us further presume that he was speaking of him serving the new king as a servant or vassal of some sort (maybe even as an advisor).  Hushai then starts to lay it on pretty thick to butter up Absalom and get himself close to him (there is some definite deceit going on in this part).  He says that if David is not on the throne then why not one of his sons and that he would be as loyal to Absalom as he was to David and serve Absalom with as much loyalty as he had served David.

​Absalom seeks advice from Ahithophel on what they should do first, and we see exactly what kind of man Ahithophel is and why David wasn't afraid to leave him behind.  The first advice Ahithophel give Absalom is to go in to the ten concubines that David had left behind to take care of the house and to have sex with them to show that he had no loyalty to David and was trying to claim dominion over anything and anyone that had belonged to David.  Ahithophel said this would make Absalom a stench to David (it certainly would, as well as to any other people that feared the LORD and his commandments).  It is also ironic that this is the advice given to Absalom because all of this mess has revolved around sexual sin--first with David and then with Amnon and now that is how Ahithophel advises Absalom to start his reign.  That is terrible advice!

Remember the curse of the LORD spoken through the prophet Nathan in 2 Samuel 12:11-14, "11 Thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house. And I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. 12 For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun.’” 13 David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die. 14 Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord, the child who is born to you shall die.”  Verse 11 is about to be fulfilled, as Absalom is going to set up a tent on the roof of the palace, and openly have relations with David's ten concubines that he left behind out in the open in broad daylight for everyone in Jerusalem (and "all Israel" as the text says) to see.

Absalom sought the council of Ahithophel as if he was a prophet of the LORD (he was not).  So it was that Absalom would do all the foolish things that Ahithophel told him to do.  Even if this man had been a trusted advisor of David in the past and David had listened to him, Absalom should have known not to take advice of a counselor who told him his first act as king should be to defy the Law of the LORD and commit a high-handed sin of rebellion that was on par with the sin of his half-brother Amnon.  This would not only make him a stench in the nose of David, but of the LORD as well.  His reign would be short-lived for sure.