2 Samuel 17:1-14

2 Samuel chapter 17. I want to read the first 14 verses. Moreover, Ahithra fell, said unto Absalom, let me now choose out 12,000 men. And I will arise and pursue after David this night, and I will come upon him while he is weary and weak-handed. And will make him afraid. All the people that are with him shall flee, and I will smite the king only, and I will bring back all the people unto thee. The man whom thou seekest is as if all return. So all the people shall be in peace. And the saying pleased Absalom well, and all the elders of Israel. Then said Absalom, call now Hushai, the archite also. Let us hear likewise what he said. And when Hushai was come to Absalom, Absalom spake unto him, saying, Ahitha fell hath spoken after this manner, shall we do after his saying? If not speak thou. Hushai said unto Absalom, the counsel that Ahitha fell hath given is not good at this time. For, said Hushai, thou knowest thy father and his men, they be mighty men, and they be chafed in their minds. minds is a bear robbed of her whelps in the field. And thy father is a man of war and will not lodge with the people. Behold, he is hid now in some pit or in some other place. And it will come to pass when some of them be overthrown at the first, that whoever, or whosoever heareth it, will say, there’s a slaughter among the people that follow Absalom. He also, that is valiant, whose heart is as the heart of a lion, shall utterly melt. For all Israel knoweth that thy father is a mighty man, and they which be with him are valiant men. Therefore, I counsel that all Israel be generally gathered unto thee, from Dan even unto Beersheba, as the sand that is by the sea from multitude. Thou go to battle in thine own person. So shall we come upon him in some place where he shall be found, we will light upon him as the dew falleth on the ground. And of him and all the men that are with him, there shall not be left so much as one. Moreover, if he be gotten into a city, then shall all Israel bring ropes to that city, and we will draw it into the river, till there be not one stone found there. And Absalon and all the men of Israel said, the council of Hushai, the archite, is better than the council of Ahethel. for the Lord had appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithafel to the intent that the Lord might bring evil upon Absalom. May God bless to us the reading of His sacred and holy word this evening. The famous Baptist minister, C.H. Spurgeon was once driving through the bustling streets of London on a particular day in a four-wheeled chase that was being driven by his friend. The streets were narrow and they were congested, and his friend was weaving in and out of the traffic, and there were a couple of near misses, and Spurgeon was getting more nervous by the minute as the man was driving. He became frightened because he never slowed the chase’s pace, and it seemed like they would be crushed by one of the vans of the omnibus. for sure. He shrank back in fear and expressed his alarm so freely that his friend pulled the chase to the side of the road, put the reins in Spurgeon’s hands and said, well, if you don’t want me to drive, why don’t you drive? You can drive it. To which Spurgeon said, no, I have no intention of driving. I don’t want to be the charioteer. I have no intentions to doing that. and so he assured his friend that he might drive as he liked that he would sit there quietly and not say another word. You know, God is the driver of human history, and there are times when you might be alarmed that the way God is driving. And you’re in the chase, and it seems like, you know, there are some near misses. It seems like there are some times when we just avert disaster. and it seems like we’re going to get crushed. But do you want God to put the reins in your lap? Do you want to negotiate your own way in this life without the Lord’s help and direction? Our text here is a case in point because David averts a near disaster by a very narrow margin. It was a close shave. as we’ll see. Nothing and no one can overthrow or terminate God’s plan for his kingdom. David is the rightful king, not Absalom. But there are times, from a human perspective, when we look at things that we think there’s going to be a total disaster when it comes to the kingdom of God. And it looks, you know, very iffy, so to speak. But God knows exactly what he’s doing. as he directs and drives through this life. I want to talk about defeating the counsel of the wicked from our text tonight. Now, let me begin by saying this. You can expect ungodly counsel from the wicked, verses 1 to 4. You see here the evil counsel of the Hithefel. It is true, and we know this from several passages of Scripture in both 1st and 2nd Samuel, that David is God’s God. choice to be king. To kill David, the man after God’s own heart, God’s anointed, represents the evil that seeks to overthrow God’s will and rule. As God says in 1st Chronicle 1622, touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm. David was not only anointed king, but he was also a person. prophet in the Psalms. So Hithelphel’s counsel, while politically expedient here, is very evil. There’s no question about this. He is going to reach out his hand and touch the Lord’s anointed. Hithelphel here proposes a very swift sort of search and destroy mission, sort of like sending in Seal Team 6, if you would, just go in, kill the enemy and get out. In this case, the plan is. just to kill David. If we can just kill David, then the rest of the people, what are they going to do? Who’s the heir to the throne? Well, Absalon will claim that he’s the heir to the throne as the next in line, and they’ll be saying long live the king before you know it. Hithephel thinks, and peace will reign in Israel. So Absalom here must strike why the iron is hot. Well, David is in a position of weakness. and weariness, now’s the time to do it. So just give me 12,000 men, let me, I’ll go out and take care of it for you. Nothing short of shedding David’s blood’s going to do. It wouldn’t help to drive him in exile. We’ve got to kill him. We’ve got to end his life. So you see the evil counsel here of Ahitha fell. Now you learn that the wicked believe that the removal of the righteous will bring peace to the land. This is not This is not something that is just for ancient times. Even today, if we could just get rid of those Christians, there’s such a problem for the nation. You know, the nation would be a lot better off and we didn’t have Christians in it. Smite the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered and be easy, pray for the wolf, just murder David, and all will be well. The wicked seem to circulate this lie that all the troubles of a nation, oh, you can track them all back to those religious people, those people who are the righteous in our midst. And so there’s always this promise of, oh, everything will be just fine and dandy if we just get rid of the Christians. Pharaoh, who knew not Joseph, coming to power, concluded that the problem was those Israelites, they’re a problem. We’ve got to reduce their number. We’ve got to eliminate all the males and throw them into the sea. When Elijah confronted King Ahab about the murdering of Naboth and stealing his vineyard, the wicked ruler calls the prophet, he calls him the troubler of Israel. You’re the problem. Yeah, it’s not me. It’s you. You’re the one that’s always causing trouble for the nation. Even in the New Testament, when the high priest of Israel spoke about Christ, he says it’s expedient that one man die for the nation so that the whole nation is not destroyed. And so his thinking is, it’s better to sacrifice Christ, get rid of him, that the nation may be spared. So this notion of the people who got into the problem is really a satanic lie, but it’s all. often repeated, and you find it common. How can mistreatment of the people whom God loves and watches over as the apple of his eye end up providing peace? There is no peace for the wicked. And so this is not going to benefit anyone. And yet it seems like in every generation, Satan resurrects this lie and the world swallows it. let’s do evil that good may come. So you learn that the wicked believe the removal of the righteous will bring peace to the lien. You learn the evil treatment of parents has bound to shorten your life from this passage of scripture as well. As you watch Absalom, it’s shocking to see that he so readily is willing to kill his father. I mean, he’s lied to his father and he’s deceived. his father and he’s actually stolen the kingdom from the father. But now he’s going to shed his blood. Can it go well with such an individual? Can someone violate the law of God so flagrantly and be successful? In the book of Ephesians chapter 6, it talks about honoring your father and mother, that it may go well with you in this life and that you may you may live long on the land. That means to reverence and respect your parents. The scripture says, Cursed it is he that saideth light by father and mother. Or by father or mother. It means obedience. To obey your parents, to do what you’re commanded because a rebellious son, according to the law, was to be put to death. It speaks of love. Love and cherish your parents. Appreciate what they’ve done for you. And it speaks of caring for your parents. For Jesus talked about honoring your father and mother is to provide for them in their old age. And then the promise is that it may be well with you, that you may find happiness, peace, prosperity, and health with regard to the way you’ve treated your parents. So the promise that you may live long on the earth is the general principle. Now, let’s reverse. that a minute. If you dishonor your parents, what does that mean? Isn’t the implication is you will not live long on the earth and that God’s judgment and curse will rest upon you? In fact, if you read the book of Proverbs chapter 30 and chapter 20 also, verse 20, there is there goes a curse upon the son or daughter who is disobedient to parents and mocks them and so forth. Look at Absalon’s life. Consider all the turmoil and the misery of his life. Consider how his life is cut short in the prime years of his life as he’s put to death shortly in a short period of time here. Cut off. He doesn’t have a long, peaceful life. He dies young. Let this be a lesson. You mistreat, you disrespect, you despise your parents, and it may indeed be the cutting short of your life. That’s the general rule of Scripture, it seems. And yet he’s not fearful of doing it. Evil treatment of parents is bound to shorten your life. Notice it’s sad for a nation when all its leadership is pleased to follow a sinful plan of action. In verse 4, it’s shocking to see here that this idea of killing David pleased Absalom well and all the elders of Israel. They all think it’s great. No one was, you know, shocked. No, there was no abhorrence here of this. No one objects to the plan. There’s no hesitation. The murderous plan of Hithafeld pleases well. Absalom and the elders of Israel. The end justifies the means, even if it’s a ruthless means that you’re using. Leadership of Israel, was eager to pursue the plan. You know, as a rock, as it rolls down the hill, it picks up speed. And we find it picks up its velocity. And so it is with those who have sold themselves to do evil. It snowballs. It gets bigger and bigger, and they’ll be willing to do even more evil. Satan is controlling them, and he, like Pharaoh of old, demands his quota of bricks and increases the quota of sin demanded. When a nation’s leadership thinks nothing of violating God’s law, and indeed it pleases them well, ruin is inevitable. I think our own nation needs to give that some serious thought. The rulers need to have their actions tempered by God’s law here. Every night for many years, Willie Annan, of La Sene, Switzerland, worked as the watchman of the city. And he would call out the hours from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. And he was up in the wind-swept belfry of the city’s ancient cathedral there. And he would cry out, this is the watchman. It struck 12. But Anan confessed that he used an alarm clock to wake him up five minutes before the time for each hour. So he waited until the six-ton bronze bell told the hour and then through cone-shaped hands, he would call out the time. Then he went back to sleep for 55 minutes. He wasn’t much of a watchman, was he? The political leaders are called the servants of God, and they are, according to Romans 13, to be those who are the punishers of evil doers. When they’re not doing their duty, then they are poor watchman for the nation. This spells danger for the nation. Evil thrives when it’s not restrained. And inevitably, God’s judgment to follow. So you can expect ungodly counsel from the wicked. And we see that here in this case. Secondly, you find God undermining the ungodly counsel of the wicked in verses 5 to 14. You find God often moves people to do what ends up undermining their own purposes. Versus five and six, we have an interesting situation here. Then said Absalom, call now Hushai the Ark Guide, let us hear likewise what he said. When Hishai was come to Absalom, Absalom, Absalom spake on him, saying, Oitha fell hath spoken after this manner. Shall we do after his saying? If not, speak thou. Absalom stands here. at the threshold of complete success. All he has to do was implement Ahithel’s plan, put it right into action. Just like he did with the concubine wives of David, how he put the ten up and went in and raped them, basically, had sexual intercourse with him in the site of all Israel. If he had just followed a Hithafel’s advice, it looked like everything was going to fall right into place. He quickly implemented the first advice of Ahithelphel, but now he makes a decision that turns the whole rebellion into ashes. He seeks a second opinion. He seeks it from Hushai, who is his enemy, actually, but he doesn’t know that. You notice Hushai doesn’t even push himself forward. He doesn’t say, let me give you my opinion. No, he actually calls for Hushai and says, hey, what do you think about this? And now the door is. open to undermine the plot. We’re not told why Absalom did this, but he unwittingly gave David’s spy an opportunity to harm him. Consequently, he failed the first step in leadership, and that is he hesitated. Since Absalom was well pleased with the Hitha Fels’ advice, it’s hard to understand this foolish misstep. Perhaps Absalom doesn’t even know why. he does so, but we know why he does so. Because verse 14 tells us why. It was God’s purpose to defeat the council of the Hitha Phel. The scripture indicates to us that a man’s heart devises his way, but the Lord directs his steps in Proverbs 169. Aftelam thought he was acting prudently. He thought he was acting in an uninfluenced way. when, in fact, God was secretly directing every step that he takes here, and this is a fatal step. Now, this is far more than ancient history, because it provides an example of how God regulates the affairs of nations today. At times, ruthless, godless, unscrupulous people get the reins of the reins of the powers of the powers of nations today. At times, ruthless, godless, unscrupulous people of government. And they get into high places, and they may have to, you know, lie or cheat, or, you know, buy votes, or rigging election, whatever it takes, they get into power. No, there’s no regard in their heart for God’s laws or God’s ways whatsoever. So they delight in promoting their agenda and using every dirty trick in the book to accomplish their end. So they plot. and they scheme and they make backroom deals and they deceive the people about their real agenda. And it appears on the surface that they’re going to be unstoppable, who can stop them? And yet somehow, unexpectedly, they stumble in some way. And their plans go up and smoke. Now, as a believer, whenever we see this happen, we should look at this and say, That is God’s hand. That is God governing the world and the decisions that are being made by our presidents or congressmen or judges. God somehow or other controls their selfish plans and even overrules all the schemes that they have. God seteth up over the kingdom of men the basis. of men, the Bible says in the book of Daniel, chapter 4 and verse 17. Sometimes the lowest kind of men get in the great power. They defy God, they threaten his people, and yet the most high is totally in control of the situation. God is at work, even in the dark places of the earth, like the conference chamber chambers of politicians and international diplomats. Now, it’s interesting, you see sort of this kind of thing in the book of Esther. When the wicked Haman plots to destroy all the people of God throughout the vast kingdom of the Medes and the Persians, he persuades King of Hazawares to go along with his plan to destroy the Jews, and even the king agrees to pay for the cost of doing this, and he allows Haman basically. the right to decree any way he wants to as far as the killing of the Jews. You say, well, why doesn’t Haman jump on this right away? Why doesn’t he immediately go out and strike down all the Jews? What does he decide to do? Being superstitious, he says, you know, I need to cast the lot and find out what the best month is for the most success. And he cast the lot, and what does the lot? Come up. Comes up in the very last month, the 12th month. So he waits just about a whole year before he’s going to implement his plan. Why does he do such a thing? Because God’s providence is in control. The lot is cast in the lap at the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. So God gives time to Esther, to intervene. and to change things around so that the tables are turned, and in the end, it’s Mordecai that ends, or it’s, it’s Haman that ends up getting destroyed. And not Mordecai and Esther and her people. He’s superstitious. He had to, he just had to do the lot. He just had to get the right, you know, month, his lucky month, I guess. And look how it works out. This delay caused by. God ends up circumventing his plot and assures his downfall. We should see that God often moves people to do things that ends up undermining their own purposes. You find that God uses the flawed efforts of people to undermine his enemies. Versus 7 to 13 here, and here is Hushai’s thinking on the matter. Now, Hushai knew well that it was Hithrafel’s strategy was bound to succeed if he promptly executed. In fact, if you look carefully at this, we know that in verse 14, the Lord had appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahitha Fahel. Now, it’s not good in the moral sense, but in the sense of what he had counseled as far as, humanly speaking, this was the good plan. This was the best plan. Speed was of the effort. essence. Therefore, Hushai’s idea was what? Let me buy time. Let me figure out a way to slow things down, give David a chance to regroup so that he can fight against Absalom. So he boldly contradicts Ahithrafel in verse 7. This man is mistaken despite his expertise and his good counsel in the past. Nobody’s always right. This time he’s right. He’s wrong. He exaggerates the strength of the opposition in verses 8 to 10. Why, the legendary David here is like, you know, a guerrilla fighter. He’s brilliant. He’s got his mighty men with him. He’s, he’s dangerous. You, you come out there and attack him, and if he ambushes you and some of your men get slaughtered, they’re going to say absalom men are been slaughtered and the whole thing’s going to fall apart, and the whole thing’s going to fall apart unravel and the rebellion will fail. You don’t want to get caught in that situation. He promises certain victory in 11th and 13 here. He gives out, he holds out the lure here of a sure thing. Now, if you do it my way, it guarantees victory. Gather the nation as a whole. Get all the people you can get. And then even if he’s hiding in some fortified city somewhere, we’ll tear it down, brick by brick, if we have to. Well, nothing will stop us from getting David. And lastly, it appeals to Absalon’s vanity in verse 11, that he should personally get the credit for the victory. He should lead the army against David. Now, if the Hitha fell led the 12,000 men, he would get the credit. So Hush, I really, uh, this is angling at the vantage. here of Absalom. Don’t you want the credit? You should, you’ll gather all the people, go out there, you’ll get the credit as a great warrior and you beat in defeating your dad. So this clinched things for Absalom, and the counsel of Ahithrafal was cast aside as inferior. Hushai cunningly deceived Absalom and the Israelite leaders. And he is used by God to bring down Absalom. Now, Hushai here is not a person that we should emulate. He’s a deceiver. I don’t think these, you know, means that he used for the right kind of means that should be used. But God often uses flawed human agents to accomplish his purposes. God uses earthen vessels. They’re not perfect vessels. We’re not the flawless vessels. We’re plain ordinary vessels that are flawed. of all kinds of faults and flaws. God never had but one perfect servant on earth, and that was, of course, the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Everybody else has flaws. Even the best of men in Scripture, you find their faults are recorded. So don’t stumble at the manifest faults of God’s instruments. Realize that God uses whatever means he deems suitable to accomplish. his purposes. Rebecca may deceive her husband in her plot to ensure that Jacob obtains the birthright. Dresses him up with Esau’s clothes and puts the skins on him and so forth. But she knew that God had promised that Jacob was going to get the birthright and he would be first. And Esau would not. God uses this sinful means. She shouldn’t have done what she did, but God used it to accomplish his purpose in this situation. So God uses the flawed efforts of people to undermine his enemies. Not that we should do evil that good may come. Notice this also. You find God often causes folly to prevail over wisdom in the political realm to punish his enemies. Verse 14 is very clear here. But the Lord had appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithel to the intent that the Lord might bring evil upon Absalom. Strange, isn’t it? You hear modern evangelism, they would tell you something completely different, but we see that God doesn’t love Absalom, nor does he have a wonderful plan for his life. He intends to bring evil upon Absalom. He purposes calamity, disaster, ruin. to come upon it. God’s sovereignty in blinding the wicked to what is best for them might raise some philosophical questions and problems for you, but it is the truth that God does this. People reject wise counsel and embrace folly in the White House and the halls of Congress because their sinful sinful ways called down God’s judgment upon them. This is a why at times some, you know, prating fanatics plan is embraced while a wise plan from another leader is ignored. We see how God controls the thoughts of men, and it’s impossible for Absalom to think and do otherwise, but to buy into this deception. Hold your place here, but look at First Kings with me in chapter 22, It’s an interesting account here with regard to Ahab. God sends a lying spirit to persuade Ahab to do battle at Ramoth Gilead. Verse 22 of chapter 22 of the book of 1st Kings. I’m excuse me, First Kings Chapter 22. I’ll begin reading in verse 19. And he said, Here thou there for the word of the Lord, I saw the Lord the Lord sitting on his throne and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left. And the Lord said, who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramah Gilead? And one said on this manner and another said on that manner, there came forth a spirit and stood before the Lord and said, I will persuade him. And the Lord said unto him, wherewith? And he said, I will go forth and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. and he said, thou shall persuade him and prevail also go forth and do so. Now therefore, behold, the Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these prophets, and the Lord has spoken evil concerning thee. All the prophets say go up and be successful at Ramaph Gilead. But here is the truth behind their prophecy. Ahab could not possibly have had decided it otherwise than to attack Reh Mathgilea because God had him persuaded to follow the wrong course of action. God ordained that Satan by these false prophets should deceive Ahab and bring about his destruction. You know when God lets Satan get at someone, they are easily deceived. In the book of Revelation chapter 20, when Satan is loosed and his agents, demons, they deceive men, but it sets up their ruin, as the book of Revelation chapter 20 indicates. Job 12, 16 says, with him, the Lord is strength and wisdom. The deceived and the deceiver are his. We may not understand God’s ways. But when you get a verse like verse 14, it’s meant to it’s meant to comfort you. We should never think that God’s not at work when the wicked are in power. He is at work, and he is actually using their own wickedness to bring them down. Their own pride, their own deceitfulness, to bring about their collapse. Well, C.H. Spurgeon’s friend frightened him by the way he was darting in and out of traffic on the streets of London. And when his friend handed Spurgeon the reins to drive the chase, Spursion wanted nothing to do with that. He didn’t want to be in charge. Sometimes we may question God’s driving and why he does what he does in the world in which we live, and it seems like there are near disasters that almost occur. Sometimes you may question God’s driving in that case. But can’t we not trust God? We don’t want to manage things ourselves. We’re not wise enough to do that. But we should comfort ourselves. that God is in control. He knows exactly what he’s doing. And this is especially true when the wicked gain power and they rule. You can expect the ungodly counsel to come from the wicked, but you can also expect God to undermine the ungodly counsel of the wicked as well. Let us close with the word of prayer tonight.