2 Samuel 17:15-29

2 Samuel chapter 17 I’m going to read verse 15 through the end of the chapter then said Hushai unto Zadok and Abyothar the priest thus and thus did Ahithafel counsel Absalom and the elders of Israel and thus and thus have I counseled now therefore send quickly and tell David saying lodged not this night in the plains of the wilderness but speedily pass over lest the Lord be lest the king be swallowed up and all the people that are with him now Jonathan and a himehas stayed by enrogal for they might not for they might not be seen to come into the city and a wrench went and told them and they went and told King David. Nevertheless, a lad saw them and told Absalon, but they went both of them away quickly and came to a man’s house and Baroam, which had a well they went in this court, whether they went down. And the woman took and spread a covering over the well’s mouth and spread ground corn thereon and the thing was not known. when absalom’s servants came to the woman to the house they said where is him ahaz and jonathan the woman said unto them they be gone over the burq of water and when they had sought and could not find them they returned to Jerusalem came to pass after they were departed that they came up out of the well and went and told king david and said unto david arise pass quickly over the water but thus hithafel counseled against you then david arose and all the people that were with him and they passed over jordan by the morning light there was there lacked not one of them that was not gone over jordan and when hithafel saw that his counsel was not followed he saddled his ass and arose and got him home to his house to his city and to put his house household and order and hanged himself and died was buried in the sepulchre of his father. Then David came to Mahanaim and Absalon passed over Jordan. He and all the men of Israel with him. And Absalon made Amasa, captain of the host, instead of Joap, which Amasa with a man’s son whose name was Ithra, an Israelite. that went in to Abigail, the daughter of Nahash, sister to Zariah, Joab’s mother. So Israel and Absalon pitched in the land of Gilead. It came to pass when David was come to Mahanaiam that sowed by the son of Nahash of Rabah, of the children of Amun, and Makir, the son of Amiel of Lodabar, and Barzili, the Gileite of Rogelim, brought beds and basins and earthen vessels and wheat and barley and flour and parched corn and beans and lentils and parched pulse, and honey and butter and sheep and cheese of kind for David and for the people that were with him to eat. They said the people was hungry and weary and thirsty in the wilderness. May God bless to us the reading of His sacred and holy word this evening. Christians often fail to appreciate God’s special providence over them in this life. Sometimes it’s only as you look back over your life, you see how God’s hand of providence has been very carefully protecting and watching over you. John Bunyan, who certainly was a beloved Christian author and minister, when a boy was providentially protected by God. He was so full-hearted that when a deadly adder rose up against him, he took it in his hand and plucked out its fangs but was not harmed. Later, when serving in the military, when he was supposed to be doing, guard duty at the siege of Nottingham. As he went forth, another man offered to take his place, and he took him up on it, and of course, that man was shot and died, and he was in the place where Bunyan would have been, had it not been for God’s Providence, and he escaped harm. If God’s Providence had not been watching over Bunyan, there would never have been a Pilgrim’s progress ever written. It was comforting to know that. that God, and still is, that God is watching over his people. Our text, of course, is another case in point. For we see God’s good providence here in David’s life. And each incident in this chapter, this last section of the chapter, provides encouragement for David, because he sees that God’s providence is taking care of him. Absalon, you recall, has led a successful rebellion against David to steal the kingdom from his father, and David and his loyal followers are forced to flee Jerusalem to escape harm. Ahithel has given the best human counsel possible to Absalom in order to exploit his initial success and lead to the death of David. At the height of Absalom’s success, when all seems lost for David, all of a sudden, you find a series of events that take place that suddenly turn the tables. Change everything. Each small step of God’s providential care over David in the rest of this chapter that we’re looking at provides encouragement, because David is going to be victorious in the end. Now, as we look at this, the reason why this is written is for our learning, for our understanding. therefore we should realize in our own life this is how God works. His providence is always working for our good. Let me begin by saying this little tokens of God’s providential favor can greatly encourage you, verses 15 to 22. Now, you work in the dark as to what God is going to do. You’ll notice in verses 15 and 16 here. Hushai. mentions to the priest here, Zadok and Abelahar, who remember, we’re going to go leave with David. David sent him back. He said, you may do me more good if you just stay in the city. So he says, this is what I’ve counseled, this is what the Hithafel counsel. But whatever you do, get over the river Jordan. Get on the other side, protect yourself. And so that was the message, and they were supposed to send that message secretly to their two sons, who were then going to. going to go to David and give him the message because they couldn’t the priest couldn’t leave the city without giving themselves away. So that was the plan. But it’s obvious that you have to remember, of course, that you’ve been given the secret information in verse 14 that we read here in the second sentence there, for the Lord had appointed to defeat the good counsel. of the Hithafel to the intent that the Lord might bring evil upon Absalom. Now, that’s what God has revealed. What he has decreed was going to happen. And the writer of 2 Samuel here has told us, so we know, and of course the writer certainly knows at this point. Looking back, he is inspired to know what God’s purpose was. But verse 14 is sort of like an aside. to us. It’s like a little message to us who are reading. Because the people in the drama do not know this information. Hushai is not sure what’s going to happen. He relates both what he counseled, what Hithafel counseled. David doesn’t know. Hushai, for example, doesn’t, he’s not even sure of the decision of Absalom and the leadership regarding his own advice. he’s been dismissed before that decision has been reached before they concurred about what to do. Hushai could only tell David what he knows. This is what HithaFel said. This is what I said. David doesn’t know what Absalom is going to do. He has to prepare for the worst. He has to think, well, you know, he could follow Hithel’s advice. And if that’s the case, you know, we’re in serious trouble. things look kind of precarious because Hushai and David do not yet know the truth of that verse 14 that we know. Now you have to operate in the dark because you don’t know what God’s going to do. God’s sovereign purpose remains hidden. And that’s why verses 15 to 22 functions here as a sort of a subtle consolation for the people God. Because now as we look back on it, we say, oh, God had purpose to defeat the plan of Ahitha fell all along. This is what God had purpose to do. That’s why things fell out the way they did. But you don’t know that when things are falling out. You only can look back on that and realize that’s what the case wants. So you have to prepare for the worst. You have no idea how bad things may get. You have no idea what the enemy may do. This could be hidden from you. So you have to prepare for the worst. you work in the dark as to what God is going to do. Notice the little provinces provide consolation for you in times of trouble. In verses 17 to 22, we have the incident by which David is finally warned here. And how, you know, there were a couple near misses here. It was close. They almost got caught. several times here with regard to this situation. It looks like that maybe Jonathan and Himayas may get caught, may be captured. The message may not get to David. It’s a near-run thing, as they say. But because of God’s providence, things work out such that they are hidden and they escape detection. These verses contain sort of a little episode. of God’s favorable providence toward David, how God is working on his behalf. And though the scales are turning in David’s favor here, we’re not immediately aware of it. But as events take place, as we see verses 17 to 22, we get some hints of this. But there’s some nail-biting situations here. David needs to know how to prepare and what to do. But there’s some high attention in this account. The attention rises because a maid servant goes out to Anne Rogel here, which was a spring, a little south of Jerusalem, a short ways off, where Himas and Jonathan are waiting. It’s not unusual for a servant to go to a spring of water to get some water, but she happens to see the priest’s sons there. She smells a rat. She smells something’s up. She returns to Jerusalem and tells Absalon. So they’ve been detected. And it seems like the sons here of the priest are fully aware that they may be exposed. So they’re in danger. And so they know they’re going to be tracked, but they go to Barrum, verse, as we see these verses indicate to it. us. That’s just east of Jerusalem. They sneak into some friendly citizen’s property here. They’re looking for a place to hide, and they decide they’re going to get down into a well that’s on the property in the courtyard. The supporting wife here throws some type of cloth over top of the well, put some grain out to dry. Everything looks normal. No one is the wiser according to verses 18 to 19. So when Absalon’s posse arise and they’re searching for the two men, they do not pull the cover off the well and look down inside. So God allows these Ahimei as and Jonathan to escape. When they ask about this matter, the woman says, well, they’ve already gone on crossing a nearby stream. This was not true. but this account here does not talk about any of the moral aspects of what the woman says in this situation. It just gives us the facts. Absalon’s men continue in hot pursuit. They become frustrated and they cannot seem to find these two men, and so they turn back. The priest’s sons eventually climb out of the well, sneak over to David and give him the message. And David makes the most of the information he rushes everybody over the Jordan River. The Jordan River would provide a barrier. If you know anything about military operations, you know the river lines are always used as a defensive lines. It gives you a barrier to, you know, the army has to cross the river to get to you and so forth. So it gives you a little bit of more protection. Now, this close shave that David has, he realizes that God’s providence did get these men to him and get the message to him. And that was a source of encouragement. We should learn from this that little providences like this should be seized on. We see that there’s some hope in what happens that should give us encouragement. A sign that God’s still favoring us, still watching out for us. Charles Haddon Spurgeon once related an account of a godly minister that was running from his persecutors in England long ago. And in his flight, he came to a farm, and decided he would hide out in the hay loft. He plunged himself beneath the hay. Well, the pursuing soldiers were looking very thoroughly, and they took their swords and banats and so forth, and they stabbed in the hay for the scoundrel. Well, the poor minister felt the cold steel cut into his one foot, but he is. didn’t move and he didn’t cry out, and they didn’t find him, and they went on. And so he stayed under the hay, as afraid that his pursuers would eventually find him. But as he lay there and he wondered how he was going to provide it for, he said a hen would come by and lay an egg nearby him every day, and he was sustained by that. Not only did God’s providence protect him, but he provided some food for him to eat every day for several days until he could escape. and his hiding place and Lee that was told in his lectures to my students on God’s province. True faith grasp any little indication of God’s favor. You know, if the hen comes and lays an egg and it’s right there where you can eat it, you don’t have to get out from your cover. That’s a good sign. And he took it as a sign that God was taking care of us. Our heart should be strengthened by these things, and we need to learn to do that. So little tokens of it. God’s providential favor can greatly encourage you. Secondly, tonight, you should be encouraged when your enemy self-destruct. Now notice verse 23, and when Iithel fell saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his ass and arose and got him home to his house, to his city, and put his household in order, and hanged himself, and died, and was buried in the sepulchre. of his father. You know, there are not too many suicides that were told about in scripture. I think there are four of them. But here’s one of them that were told about here. You find Ahithrafel’s suicide. The account is sort of, matter of fact, sort of cold and dry, straightforward again, this is what he did. Depressed that his counsel had been rejected by Absalom and the other elders of Yves of Yves, Israel, he returns to his home at Gailo here, which is about 25 miles south or southwest, if you would, of Jerusalem. He sets all his affairs in order, make sure he’s got his will taken care of, I guess, and paid his debts and so forth. And then he goes out and he hangs himself. He prided himself in his wisdom, and he no doubt planned to be the power, you know, the mastermind behind, Absalom, or throne. He thought he would be the one that would be the great brain, if you would, behind Absalom. What a bitter disappointment that Absalom chose Hushai’s inferior counsel over his own. And now he’s wondering, you know, where’s my place? Am I going to be an also-ray-end, you know, the second banana? in the new regime. And that wasn’t bad enough. Ahitha fellow, bright as he was, could foresee the handwriting on the wall forfeethe on the wall for Absalant’s defeat. I think he realized that if he didn’t follow his advice and go after David that night, he was going to lose. David has cracked some crack troops with him. He has some men that have fought some wars, and all he needs is time to regroups. group, and you’ve just given him that time. And so I think he’s thinking, David’s going to win this thing, and then I’m going to be executed as a traitor. And so I think he thought, I’ll die on my own terms, rather than to be put to death in public shame. And so he hangs himself. He executes himself here. So the death of Ahithafel is really the final conclusion result of the overthrow of his counsel. Remember David’s prayer in verse 31. O Lord, turn Ah, Hithephael’s counsel into foolishness in chapter 15 of 2nd Samuel. Self-murder, as we find from Scripture, is a horrible sin. It’s still murder. It still violates the commandment of God. It speaks of despair. It really speaks of the hopelessness of your situation. And in this case, God is turning the counsel of Hithafel in the foolishness, and indeed, making himself a fool in this case. So you find Hithel suicide. Now, you find your enemies often self-destruct. We touched on this last week. Sometimes the power of wicked men appears unassailable. It seems like they’re unstoppable. You can easily rush into irrational fears that all is lost. that the kingdom of God is going to come to nothing, that the church is going to be destroyed from the face of the earth. It seems that the enemies of the people of God will succeed in swallowing them up. And yet, if you read any history at all, read the church history or the history books at all, you will find that these anti-God conspiracies never last very long. Somehow or other, they always come to their demise. They always fall apart. They self-destruct. Despite the fact that they have all the advantages, and as we talked about all the brain power, it seems, is on their side. And yet somehow, their grand schemes unravel. They are miraculously thwarted. And of course, we as the people of God know that, from Psalm 2, that God has set Christ on the throne. And he ruled. with a rod of iron and he crushes his enemies as he sees fit and brings them to nothing as pieces of pottery. You can’t attack the kingdom of God without sooner or later being crushed by the power of God. But he often works in subtle ways to frustrate and to demoralize very powerful people. Ethelph is so demoralized here, he kills himself. He fatally stumbles in judgment. God, of course, thwarts all their plans, so’s confusion in their ranks, creates irrational, internal strife among them, and defeats them. Now, this is true regarding the Hithrafels, or the Hitler’s, or the Haman’s, or the Himmlers, or the Samakoribs, or the synacharibs, or, if you would, the Stalin’s, it doesn’t matter. Doesn’t matter who the leader is, somehow or other, they get defeated. And when you see the enemy’s self-destruct, it should encourage you. God is secretly working. Can you imagine how David must have felt when he hears that Ahithel has hung himself. He’s lost his chief counselor. God has defeated. And so you should be encouraged when your enemy’s self-destruct. Thirdly, you should be encouraged when you think upon God’s past deliverances of his people. Versus 24 through 26. You face formidable foes. You know, Absalom gets his act together here. He proceeds to carry out the vile designs that he has. He gathers a huge army. He sets his self to cross the Jordan. David has been driven to the uttermost. corner of his kingdom, this place called Mahah Niam. Absalon has this huge army, and he’s ready to destroy David, his father. He has a very capable commander-in-chief in Amasa here, is a close relative of Joab, David’s army commander. And so Absalom pitches battle against David in the land of Gilead. He’s confident of victory. After all, he’s followed what he thinks is brilliant advice from Hushai. And he’s gathered all the men of Israel. Numerically, his army should have a decisive advantage over David’s. But victory does not always go to the most powerful. Doesn’t always go to the strong. Ecclesiastes 9-11 tells us that. It always seems like your enemy has a huge multitude of followers in easily dhorping your helpers as those in the kingdom of God. The odds always. seemed to favor the wicked, as I said before, so that when God grants victory, he gets the credit, and not you and I. Remember God’s statement, though, that his strength is made perfect in weakness. So even though we were weak, we may indeed be strengthened, according to 2nd Corinthians, 12.9. Therefore, don’t let the odds discourage you. We have to be like Jonathan. Remember earlier we studied this in 1st Samuel, Chapter 14, when he and the young man who was a son. armor bear decided they were going to go over against the Philistis. It was just the two of them. What did he say? It may be the Lord will work for us, for there’s no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few. It doesn’t matter whether outnumbered or not. The Lord’s on our side. He’ll give us the victory. And that’s the attitude we need to face. You may face formidable foes. Your faith should look to God’s protective care. Mahaniam. that rang any bells? Does that name sound familiar to you? Well, it’s one of the cities of the Levites. It’s in the tribe of Gad, according to Joshua 1326. But if you look back through the sacred record, you find an account of Jacob when he is fleeing from Laban, leaving to come back home. He comes into the land of Canaan and he stops at this place there, and guess what he calls it? Mahatnaim. Remember, he’s afraid that Esau is going to destroy him. He seesaw, he hears, is coming with 400 armed men to meet him. He didn’t leave on the best of turns with Esau because he stole the birthright, and Esau wanted to kill him. That’s why he had to flee to go to Laban’s house all those years that he was there. So here’s Esau’s approaching. Jacob is fearful. He might have his whole family wiped out. But it was at Mahat Nayam that he sees a huge group of the angels of God gathered. In the book of Genesis 32 and verse. one. Jacob perceives by faith that this is a good sign. Calls it Mahanaya, meaning the two camps. His family is a huge camp, but the angels are huge camps. So that’s what he means by the two camps. He has the angels of God around him. He sees that God’s hand is with him, protecting him. It’s as if God’s host is there with him. who can be against him. So Esau may have his 400 men, but Jacob has God’s host, his angelic host, about him. And God enabled him to see these angelic beings at this time. And remember how it worked out. Esau welcomes him back. Now, at this very place, David decides he’s going to make his stand. He’s going to fight someone who’s coming at him with a huge group of men, with an army. Just a situation is similar. And what is the indication here? God is on my side. I’m going to take heart from what happened to Jacob years ago and I’m going to apply it to my situation here. Because this is a place where God gave special protection to Jacob. And so like David, you and I are to cling to these biblical examples of God’s deliverances of his people and to encourage us to stimulate our faith in a crisis. God’s protective care is watching over you whether or not you can see the angelic host. God is there to watch over us and to protect us. She should be encouraged when you think upon God’s past deliverances of people. Fourthly tonight, you should be encouraged when people are moved by God to help you. Versus 20, 27 to 29. David has many enemies. he got a lot of traitors that turned against him. But he also, because of God’s hand, is provided with many friends and those that will help him in his time of need. In the time of his great need, God raises up someone to help him. Now, three people are mentioned here. Shobai, the Ammonite, from Raba. Believe it or not, Shobai was the brother of Hannon, who accused David of spying on Ammon when his father Nahash died, and David sent the ambassadors to comfort Hanan, but he decided he was going to mistreat them because they were going to, he thought they were going to be spying spying on the land and so forth. Probably David appointed Shobai after. he had defeated Hanon and conquered the Ammonites, and this foreigner and pagan was probably sort of like a vassal king. He still reigned, but he was really under David’s control. But here he remains faithful to David. He doesn’t say, well, now’s the time for us to break away from David. He remains faithful to David, and he brings supplies. Maccair, is the son of Amiel from Lodabar. Very sympathetic to David’s house. Remember, this was the one who provided a haven for Maphiviseth, Jonathan’s son. And so he was certainly sympathetic to Saul’s house, but here he remains faithful to David. And Barzilli, a wealthy, but as we’ll see a physically fading man in his 80s, is another man. who arrived with foods and supplies as well. Knowing that David’s people were hungry and thirsty and needed these provisions, these men brought all this stuff. And they even brought, you know, some extra things, it seems to me. And they brought, you know, butter and other things. It seems like they provided the honey, you know, and things like this, some special items as well. So they were providing a lot of things for David and his men. Now, these men did this at some risk. Because the battle hasn’t been fought. If David loses this battle, these wealthy men could lose all their property. They could, you know, that’s not could confiscate their property, and they could lose everything. The issue is undecided. David has a lot smaller army than that. Absalom does. And yet, God caused these men to be faithful to David and not turn from him at this time. They remained loyal. During the war with Mexico and the assault on Chapultepec, a battery under the command of Lieutenant Thomas J., later known as Stonewall, Jackson, came under punishing fire. And we find that some of the horses were killed and the gunners, and the rest of the gunners deserted the guns and hid behind some escarpment so they could have some protection from the shelling. There was one man who didn’t leave the guns, and that was Lieutenant Jackson. He stayed at the guns and kept firing, even by himself, urging his men to come back. Later on, when he was teaching in Lexington, Virginia, his pupils, they were inquiring about this incident they had read about him. And one of them astonished asked Major, why didn’t you run when your command was so disabled? Jackson’s quiet response was, I was not ordered to do so. If I had been ordered to run, I should have done so. But I was directed to hold my position, and I had no right to abandon it. So he stayed at the guns. Now, that’s the same situation. situation here was show by and my car and Bazar or Zilli, they had a God-given king. And they weren’t going to desert him. They were going to stay with him. And that’s what they do. And God kept them loyal to David. How often it falls out that God moves people, even strangers, to take care of his people in a time of crisis, at a time of need. If Elijah has to flee Israel, because King Ahab wants to put him to death. God provides a widow at Zeraphat to meet his needs and give him food to eat and a place to stay. If the heartless Pharaoh determines to slay the children of the Hebrews, then God constrains Pharaoh’s own daughter to take care of Moses. If the parents of Jesus Christ are poverty-stricken, well, then God will provide wise men to bring gifts of gold and provide money for them so they can provide for themselves when they have to flee to Egypt. This very church has been provided for from people from Colorado who I’ve never met and never even spoke to on the phone. And yet every month, they send about $250 to provide for support of this church. God moved these people to do this. I didn’t write to them. They heard about our church. They wrote to me, ask if they could support us. Of course, I said, yes, you can. And I’ve kept in contact with them, but every month, very faithfully, they have supported this for years. They have supported this church. We’ve had people that came into this church, and they were only here for a short while, a number of months. One of the person’s aunts died. and they left a lot of money. She said, she left this money to go to some type of church or religious organization that she wanted the, you know, the gospel he proclaimed. She said, I want you to have it. These are the kinds of things. When you look at it, you say, you know, I don’t know this person. You know, I don’t know who these people are, but somehow God says, I’m going to take care of you. I’m going to provide for you. That hardens you. That gives you encouraging you. encouragement, doesn’t it? That somehow or other, God has said, keep going. Keep doing what you’re doing. You know, God knows our needs before we ask. And so he works behind the scenes to provide for you. He moves hearts to be sympathetic towards you. And whenever you see this, be encouraged. And thank God for his help, because he’s the one that’s behind it all. Well, John Bunyan had several miraculous escapes. And you wonder about him. but God’s providence was watching over him, even from his youth. Christians often fail to appreciate God’s special providence caring for them in this life. We should not fail to do that. We should read a passage like this with verse 14 in mind that God is defeating Hithafel’s counsel here. But we should read this saying, here is God providing for David. Here’s God overthrowing the enemy. It’s all. all God taking care of his people. So each small step of God’s providential care for David should encourage you. Little tokens of God’s providential favor should encourage you. Well, they can hide in a well and escape from that and bring the message. It doesn’t seem like anything major. It seems like a simple matter, but it was a big matter because the message was important. And they escaped. You should be encouraged when your enemy is self-destruct, like a Hithafel committing suicide. You should be encouraged when you think upon God’s past deliverances of his people, Mahanayam. And then you should be encouraged when people are moved by God to help you. And out of nowhere, it seems, people come and help. And here we see that was shown by Maccare and Barzilli. Well, may God encourage us as his people to realize that he is the one who will take care of us. For our needs as well.