The Counsel of Ahithophel and Hushai | Chris Osburn

I want to thank Chris for doing the reading of the chapter for

us this morning. It is my intent to get through

the entire chapter and hopefully we can do so in a way that's

going to be conscious of the time that we got in front of us

this morning. So it's good and it's, it's a,

it's such an enriched and and full chapter full of so many

things as the more and more I read it and it just more and

more came out for us to study and to know of.

So hopefully we can get through this this morning and be

encouraging to the congregation here.

And as we know that the original manuscripts, the original

riders, there wasn't chapter breaks in the original

documents. So it just kind of flowed from

one verse to another. And back in chapter 16, the the

closing verses says that the council given by Ahithophel to

Absalom, the council, which he we haven't been.

It kind of opens up into chapter 17.

And I'm actually going to start the study in verse 14, like we

have upon the board right in the middle of the chapter, it says

for the Lord had ordained to defeat the good counsel of

Ahithophel so that the Lord might bring harm upon Absalom.

And in some ways it kind of spoils the story if you want to

say of us starting there in verse 14, the way the the story

is told kind of building suspense, holding on to things

and then the finally us as readers discover what's going

on. But the more and more like I

said, I read this chapter is thinking to myself, you know,

this is really a good place to start.

So it's so we can understand what's happening here in that

second-half of verse 14. Because in these in this verse,

these very few words play a key part, a significant part, or an

essential part if you want to say in this event that's

happening here. Because not only does it come at

the midpoint of the chapters we see, but it provides us with the

key to understanding just exactly what is taking place in

this event and why it's taking place.

So in other words, the key to really understanding the

narrative in this section or in this chapter is in verse 14.

Now we have a great deal that has been happening and it's been

happening very quickly to this point with David and, and

Absalom and David's exile and, and, and Absalom returning to

Jerusalem. Since David fled from Jerusalem

back in chapter 15, really only a day had a lapse or so, maybe

2, but not more than two for sure.

And we know that David had discovered the defection of his

trusted counsellor, a hit the fell again.

And we see that in chapter 15. And we also know that he has

David has prayed to God asking him to defeat the counsel of his

now defected counselor, Ahitafel.

And we also know that while it's very clear in David's prayer,

David also launches his own plan by dispatching Hushai and as a

secret agent, if you want to say it, to Jerusalem and where

Absalom had now returned. And Absalom has arrived in

Jerusalem and has received the counsel of Ahithophel and by

gauging in rooftop activities. In the previous chapter, he had

publicly declared 2 things. And one of those is the

rebellion of Absalom against David as king.

And secondly, that those who want to follow him in that

rebellion, that he is very serious about this rebellion,

rebellion that he's got against his father David and his plans

to take over, take the Kingdom. And as we see at the end of

chapter 16, that he, Ahithophel's council was

followed. And as we come to the first

verse of our chapter 17, the question is before us, you know,

is, is now Absalom going to follow the counsel of Ahithophel

again? And that's where we at we're at

at this point. And we'll return to that in a

moment. But I want us to take a moment

before return to the chapter study.

And and I want us to understand kind of what's going on here.

The more and more I read, the more and more I studied, I could

not get away from what was really actually happening in the

story. And it is, and it is a pure and

great example of God's Providence in God's sovereignty

working out In this story. We have a great illustration in

this between the sovereignty of God and the human responsibility

of man. And when we talk about the

sovereignty of God as it kind of portrays and unfolds itself in

Scripture, we're affirming of what the Bible actually says,

and that is that God rules the world.

God rules the world, and it is a world that is distinct from God

as a creator. And he has not made the world

out of himself. And not only is the world

distinct from him, but the world is entirely dependent upon him.

It is his will. It is his purpose.

Is God's purpose that the final cause of all things that unfold

throughout all of history is His plan that involves human

government that involves the salvation of people?

It involves the sufferings of Christ.

It involves the sufferings of the followers of Christ.

It involves the smallest of details because he's aware of

even when a Sparrow falls to the ground, It involves it involves

the vastness of the greatness to the end of the universe and our

eternal destiny. And when we, when we affirm

these things, we acknowledge the fact that the sovereignty of God

means nothing, is beyond his control, nothing.

And when we acknowledge the fact that our human responsible, that

we have a human responsibility, at the same time, we're

affirming the fact that we are genuinely accountable for all

things, all of our individual decisions, all of our individual

actions. And the interaction that we see

between both of those means simply means that God is at work

within the acts of our personal freedom.

He's at work with our own personal decisions, within our

own personal choices and our actions.

And if we read the story of Naman and 2nd Kings 51, we'll

see at the beginning that it says, and the king of Syria had

a man, this man Naman, who was a man of great favor because God

had granted him favor in the victories in in army.

He was a mighty man of valor, but he had leprosy.

And as we read, we all of a sudden you come to this phrase

where it says a little girl from the land of Israel.

What possible significance could a little girl from the land of

Israel who's a servant to this mightiest man's wife in this

house? What what is she?

What is her part in this plan in this story?

Well, she was brave enough to say, if only my master with the

prophet who was in Samaria, for he would heal him of his

leprosy. And so the intervention that

took place was by the sovereign purpose of God.

And then through the acts, through the actions, the

conversations of this little girl from Israel, God was having

a part in that plan. So we hear the question, of

course, all the time. Well, you know, if, how could it

possibly leave that God, you know, then if he's so sovereign

over all the affairs of the world, over all the things that

happened, you know, then that anything I do or anything I say

with the prayers that I say, why does that even matter if God's

sovereign over all? Well, it's really our inability

to grasp how this can be and that and really our, our, our

inability is beyond the point because we're confronted with

our inability daily. How that can be, we don't know.

It should be enough for us to know that this is the case and

to rest in the fact that the events of all the world, the big

ones, the small ones, even want some that may seem absurd,

meaningless, unthinkably painful, are all under

sovereign, God's sovereign control.

So that I I needed to get to that to really help us to

understand that that God's Providence in God's sovereignty

is on full display in this story as we go through this.

So the council of the hit, the fell, the council of Ahithophel

at the end of verse 16 was esteemed, It was esteemed by

both Absalom and David. This, this Ahithophel character

is quite remarkable if we read into him and study him more and

more. And the plan that he provides to

Absalom is a plan which is marked by clarity and gravity.

It was distinct. It was understandable what was

going on. It's the kind of thing that may

maybe many of us as an employee may have a plan.

We can come together and present it to our boss.

And the boss looks at it and says, man, that's a great plan.

We're going to go ahead and go with that.

And the boss thinks highly of that plan.

But the the motivation behind this might have actually

something to do with a hit the Fells desire to promote himself.

If you want to say it might, or it might actually be tied to the

very personal dimension that is contained in the fact that we

understand that a hit the Fell is the grandfather of Bathsheba.

And what he's actually doing here, he sees is the plan.

He's creating it in such a way that it will be possible for him

to settle the score that goes back years and years and years,

something that we've suggested that probably led to his

defections, something that is maybe eaten away at him day

after day and year after year. But whatever Ahithophel's

motivation is, the plan is straightforward and we want to

notice how Ahithophel centered it is.

He centers himself on his own plan.

If you want to say in in chapter, in verses one through 3

says let me choose, let me choose.

Ahithophel wants to make the choices here.

He's going to assemble the army, army, which is 12,000, and he's

going to do it tonight. And we've said a couple studies

ago that hit the Phil is kind of a precursor to another traitor

that we read about in the New Testament, namely Judas

Iscariot. And it was said of Judas

Iscariot that he went out and it was night.

We read in John 13, verse 30. And there's a reason why people

John 13:30

do things under the cover of darkness says let's do this and

we'll strike tonight. And we want to notice that all

these notice the I, I, I, I will rise, I will arise, I will come,

I will strike. And that's right there we see in

verse 2 and one verse 3. And that's why I kind of think

that maybe he was actually promoting himself in this in

this plan. What we're going to do is we're

going to catch them all these off guard while he's weary and

while he's discouraged. And we know that they're weary

and discouraged because back in chapter 15, they crossed over

the book Brooke Kidron and all the people had passed on towards

the wilderness. And in verse 30, he went up

weeping as he went barefoot. David had his head covered and

all the people with him covered their heads and they went and

they were weeping as they went. And the hippophile says that's

the time that we're going to strike when they're at their

weakest, catch them while they're off guard.

That way we'll be able to create create panic.

And if we create panic, it will cause the people to flee and

we'll have victory. And we want to notice.

He's very clear. He says I will strike down the

king. I'm going to strike down only

the king. I will isolate him.

We'll take him out. And if we do that successfully,

which he plans on doing, then that will give me the

opportunity to bring all of his followers into your camp.

And finally, in seeking the life of one man, then all the people

will be at peace. It's kind of a, you know,

everybody will be happily ever after kind of a mantra that I

get that feeling from a hit the fell.

So he lays out his plan. So what's the reaction We're

giving it in verse four. And the saying pleased Absalom

and all the elders of Israel. The advice had been given.

The advice had been received. Everybody thinks it's a really

good idea so far and I imagine if hit the fell would leave at

this point if he stuck around. There isn't words in the air

that he did stay around, but maybe he had stuff to start

getting tended to to to prepare for his plan.

If you want to say so he's going to plan on proceeding

accordingly. And then we come to verse 5,

which is the council of Hush Hushai.

We see that in verses 5 through 13, it says then Absalom call

said call Hushai the archive also and let us hear hear what

he has to say too. I was wondering, you know, I

wonder if absent was kind of shocked at what he was actually

saying at that time if he was surprising himself that OK, I've

listened to hit the fell. Now let's go ahead and call who

shy as well. I wonder if he was he really

surprising himself at that moment.

So he wants to hear what he has to say.

Maybe get a second opinion if you want to say.

Now remember, behind all of this, way back in chapter 15,

verse 31, David's prayer was very, very clear.

He said, oh, Lord, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into

foolishness. But at this point, it really

doesn't look like it's going to happen, does it?

Because we know that Hushai was in Jerusalem at David's

direction to defeat the Council of Ahithophel.

But here we have the opportunity, Here's the

opportunity for Hushai to step forward.

And I don't think it's beyond the the bounds of possibility

when we think about the motives of a person, when we think about

how a person responds to something sometimes.

So what we know about Absalom so far from the tip of his head to

the tip of his toes to the top of his head without blemish,

there was nobody like him. He liked his Chariots.

He liked to sit in that. People come and talk to him.

And and now his counselors come to say this thing and he says,

let me choose the troops. His counselors telling absent,

absent, let me choose. I will do this, I will do that,

I will strike. And you know, if you got a big

ego like Absalom, that may not sit very well.

You might like a plan that's got more of yourself kind of as a

starring role, if you want to say a starring role for Absalom.

And so you have so having sent for who shy, who shy shows up

and who shy knows exactly how to appeal to Absalom's ego.

In verse 6, he says when who shy came to Absalom, Absalom spoke

to him saying a hit the fell as spoken in this manner.

Shall we do as he says? Well, he just made who size job

a lot easier if you want to say because what has happened here?

He actually is telling him what a hit the fells plan was to who

shy in turn giving Hushai the opportunity to bring.

If you want to say like a countering view, Proverbs

actually addresses this in Proverbs Proverbs 18 verse 17.

Proverbs 18:17

It says the one who states his case first seems right until the

other comes and examines him. You know the first speech in a

court case is always quite convincing until you have the

cross examination. Some of you might remember the

2024 Super Bowl between the 49ers and the Kansas City

Chiefs. We went into overtime and the

coin flip happened and and the 49ers chose to receive the ball

first. Well, that gave the Kansas City

Chiefs a good opportunity to know how they responded.

I'm not mad about it still, but when we understand what somebody

else's plan is, we know how to respond to it.

And so who should? I was very quick on his feet.

He immediately goes on the offensive and verse 7, who

should? I said to Absalom.

The advice of a hit that Phil has given is not good at this

time. A hit, the field is good.

I don't think anybody's going to deny the fact that he's good.

He's certainly good, but he wasn't good this time is what?

Who should I say? Furthermore, if you want to

think about it, we see verse 8. You know, now there's there's

inference here, of course, and you know in a way that a hit

field doesn't necessarily know who should.

I was saying that that he and Absalom shared an understanding

of who David is. They both know who David was.

And So what Hushai says, it says, you know, you know that

your father and his men are mighty men.

You shouldn't buy the idea that of him thinking that, that he's

weary and discouraged, discouraged, able to be picked

off in a moment, able to set aside that, you know, so that

the king can be isolated and take it.

Oh, no, no, no, no. They are engaged.

David is like a bear. These men are like a bear has

been separated from their Cubs in a field.

And so we see the language of who shot.

It's very, very good because the language registers with Absalom.

Absalom starts saying, yeah, yeah, you know, he is.

You know, I remember that David's a mighty fighter, and he

and his men. I understand what you're saying.

Who shot. And don't kid yourself about the

about the fact that your father's going to be sitting

somewhere and be picked up because you know, you know that

your father is an expert in war. He's going to spend, he's not

going to spend the night with his people with a big flab up in

the air saying this is the army of David here I am.

Don't think of him like that. Don't think of him as being

weary or discouraged. Think of him as being enraged.

And don't think of him as being isolated.

You should actually think of the opposite of what's being told to

you in verse 9. You should rather expect that he

and his men will strike. Instead, you will be able to go

and get him. He will come and get you and as

soon as one or two people are taken down, then panic will

spread and the word will go out. There's been a slaughter amongst

the army and he will win. So what who shy has really done

here? Like we said, he's he's really

appealed to Absalom's eagle ego. He says, you know, which has

stirred up him of an awareness of his father's war capabilities

of which it was very, very clear in verse 10.

And even he was valiant, whose heart is like the heart of a

lion will melt completely. For all Israel knows that your

father is a mighty man and those who are with him are valiant

men. And so on the strength of that,

he gives this advice. Who should I say is therefore I

advise this in verse 11, that all Israel be gathered to you

from Dan to Beersheba, like the sand that is by the sea for the

multitude, and that you go into battle.

You go to battle in person and notices, it says, and you go to

battle in person. You go, who's Ice telling

Absalom you go to battle yourself.

You do this. You're the man, Absalom.

This is your victory. You're going to be the one that

overtakes David. Yeah, I had felt once you get

12,000 men, what's 12,000 men? Let's get the whole crew of

Israel like sand by the seashore, it says.

We're going to do all of Israel. We're going to put from Dan

diverse Sheba and you're going to be leading the charge.

And we can just imagine Absalom kind of, you know, is is ego

rising within himself. He's beginning to see a picture

of himself overtaking with his hair blowing and him and his

Chariots and vast company. And he's saying, and you know,

this is going to be great. This is going to be a great

victory for me, Absalom saying. But let's not forget the divine

at work in this story. Through the use of flowery

language, through the use of flattery, through the use of

stirring fear, through the very humor and human interaction

between Hushai and Absalom, God is at work.

Behind the scenes, in the scenes, beyond the scenes and

through the scenes, God is at work.

Verse 12, it says then we will fall on him the way that the dew

falls on the ground. And furthermore, you'll notice

in in the second-half of verse 12 says we'll wipe out the whole

company. Let's take the whole group out.

The idea of just going to the king, you know, you know, we

want to make sure that there's nobody left to oppose you.

Absolutely, is what he was saying, verse 13.

And by the way, in case you're worried about the possibility

that your father may return to the city, if he goes to a city,

we're going to go ahead and tear that city down.

So then that not a single rock can be found of that city.

There'll be nothing left. There won't even be a Pebble

lift. And so we see what he's doing.

He's saying, Absalom, this is your time.

This is going to go down in history.

I was one of your greatest moments in time and you're going

to be responsible for it all. So he's used the power of of

language. He has, as we discover,

thoroughly convinced Absalom and all the men of Israel because we

see it here in verse 14. A says so Absalom and all the

men of Israel said the advice of who shy the archive is better

than the advice of a hit the fellow.

What has happened here? We saw back in verse 4 which he

presented that advice that a hit the fellow presented seemed

right. So what had happened?

Well, here's our crux of it right here.

For the Lord had ordained to defeat the good counsel of the

hit the field. What does that mean?

That doesn't mean that it was not good in a moral sense.

If you want to say because it was good counsel.

It was told to us in terms of the objective, it was a good

plan that it hit the field had the the objective of being to

destroy David and his Kingdom. But what we have to keep in mind

and I'm sure all of us might have it in our mind, is that

God's plan we have to go all the way back to Chapter 7 of Second

Samuel. God's plan was to establish

David's Kingdom. And remember what it said there.

It said your house, your Kingdom shall be made sure forever

before me. Your throne shall be established

forever. This was God's plan.

In other words, the Lord reigns and He answers David's prayer

through the manipulative speech by Hushai.

Hushai didn't make a hit the Phil's advice foolish.

He made it appear foolish to Absalom.

God's plan was unfolding in this in this way in and through the

events naturally, humanly, freely, the hidden hand of God

is working His purpose out. And when we study the Bible

together, all these things happen.

You know, us as teachers have a, a concept or a, an idea in our

mind. And it is very hard to sometimes

convey the thoughts and the and the points that we want to make

to the audience that we're presenting it to or to the

congregation. So it's very hard at some time.

So not only for any listening congregation before the teacher

themselves to make sure that we, we're we're taking the things in

the Bible that are taught to us and teaching them to the

congregation. So we need to try to bridge

that. And how do we bridge that?

SO11 idea that I had here is that we've all seen the terrible

conflict that is going on in the Middle East between Israel and

Hamas and the involvement in Iran and all the things

potential US involvement. Well, there has been US

involvement, missile strikes on nuclear facilities and hospitals

that we've seen, casualties, injuries.

How's this all going to turn out?

What's going to happen? Are they going to get on to

native soil here at some point, ships, bases in Northern

America? Who's going to win the war?

Will Israel come out on top or will Iran or something else

going to be happening? Who's really leading those

people over there? And we have all these questions.

We have all these thoughts that go through our mind, but I want

to remind us of Isaiah 4021 through 23.

Have you not known? Have you not heard?

Has it not been told you from the beginning?

Have you not understood? From the foundations of the

earth? It is He who sits above the

circle of the earth and its inhabitants are like

grasshoppers, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and

spreads them out like a tent. And to dwell in he brings the

Princess to nothing. He makes the judges of the earth

useless. Whatever our thoughts are on

Iran and Israel and America, I mean, it's irrelevant to me at

any moment. But the fact of the matter is

that the security of the world is in the Providence of God and

the security of our, the big world, maybe the little world's

we have is all under the Providence of God because it's

in his sovereignty that lies in and behind, in and through and

behind all things, all conversations, all activities.

God's working out his plan. We go back Monday, you know,

tomorrow and we really only see it on the surface.

We get busy with our daily routines, you know, taking kids

to school, going to the grocery stores, people we interact with,

the hellos, the goodbyes, the missteps, the mistakes that we

made, the broken parts, the broken pieces that we run into

and in and all and through it all, God is at work.

The advice from a Hippophel and then the advice from Hushai, and

then the words from the narrator, I think are by far the

most important words of all in this.

It says for the Lord had purpose to defeat the good advice of a

hippophel. Well, all this is unfolding

according to God's plan and according to God's plan because

it really is. God plan is the only plan that

matters. It's God plan that we need to

recognize. Now, we're not in any doubt of

what God's plan is in this context.

Hopefully I've conveyed that to you.

And that is to establish David's Kingdom or God's Kingdom if you

want to say. And because he is determined

that he will establish his Kingdom, that no one will stand

against his Kingdom. No one, nobody who's going to be

able to go against him is going to prosper in the same way that

when we come to King Jesus, the gates of hell will not prevail

against that prevail against him, prevail against God's son.

So we know that we know that because we have the scripture in

hand today. We've read the story, we

understand what's going to happen.

We know how it all turns out. But the characters in this

story, the the individuals in the story, they don't know who

shy doesn't know what's going to happen.

He doesn't know if they're going to take who shy's advice or or a

hit the fells advice. Neither one of them know how

this is going to work out at this point.

He's actually unaware in which which the matter is going to be

resolved. And the scene here at this point

then moves back to David and his group and they have been hanging

out, if you want to say and waiting.

We know that that because if we turn back to chapter 15 verse

28, the word was given to Zadok the priest and Jonathan as well.

It says make sure he was saying this to Jonathan and son of Abby

Athar. I will wait at the forge of the

wilderness until the word comes from you to inform me.

Now remember these events are happening in a very short period

of time. They're happening maybe within

24 hours of source. So when we get go back to

chapter 15, it may seem like it was a long time ago, but it

wasn't actually says I'm going to wait at the planes and some

translations say Fords. And if you go back to verse 35

in chapter 15, we learned that there that Zadok and Abby Athar

the the priests are with you there.

And he tells Hushai and he says, so whatever you hear from the

King's house, you tell it to Zadok and Abiath are the

priests. And then we come back to verse

15 of chapter 17. And here are are are how the

process is starting to unfold. Then Hushai said to Zadok and

Abiath of the priest thus and so Ahithophel has advised Absalom

and the elders of Israel and thus and so I have advised.

And so we have two competing plans, one of a hit the fell and

one of Hushai and a good and again Hushai was unable to be

sure that Absalom was going to heeded his vice.

He doesn't know. And it seemed that a hit the

fell recognizes that time is of the essence.

And indeed, it it unfolds in in anticipation that a hit the fell

plan will actually be executed. And we see that as we read on in

the text. And so because of the time is of

the essence, he wants to make sure that everything is done

quickly. We see it starting in verse 16

quickly. Therefore, send quickly and tell

David as you are, we see the word quickly kind of happening

over and over again. Get these done things done fast

because it's very well possible that Absalom is going to heed

the advice of the hit the fail and it's going to work out that

way. Well, I think if we if we look

at how how short a hit the fells advice was compared to who shy,

I think who shy was actually trying to buy some time.

If you want to say it, Hit the Fells said we'll get this on

tonight and that was a hit the fells advice.

I'll go down there, I'll take them out.

We'll leave the rest. They'll come and join you.

We'll do it tonight. You stay here.

I'll be on the battlefield. No need to worry.

I'll take you here. We'll be right back is what it

hit the Phils advice was but that plan was it was going to

start without Absalom was not going to start without Absalom

hearing who shy's first. Now the priest son Jonathan and

Ahimas. They were charged with the

responsibility of getting to news to David.

We see that in verse 17. Jonathan and Ahimas were waiting

in en Rogel. En Rogel is right here.

That's about 1/4 mile South of Jerusalem, South of the city

itself. It's very important that they're

not obvious in what they're doing.

You know, they're not supposed to be caught as spies getting

the information back to David. We see in verse 17 it says for

they dare not be seen coming into the city.

Well, how are they going to do that?

How are they not going to be seen coming into the city if

they have if, if they have to get that information from the

city and get it to David, they don't want to get caught, of

course. So how do they do that?

And the answer is this. A female servant was to go and

tell them A no name female servant is given the

responsibility to bring the messages to them so that they

will not be seen in the city. And despite the undercover

approach, we're told that a young man saw them and told

absolutely. So both of them went away

quickly. And here's another quickly, two

of the three, and they went away quickly and they came to the

House of a man of the hero. Now be here.

Umm, we've seen this before. This is where Shimmy Eye was the

guy that was kicking dust and throwing rocks at David.

This is that same place that was going on.

Now it's in the previous chapter that we can read.

And if we think that Behurim was just basically simply, if we

think that Behurim is not a good place for David's support,

there's at least this guy here and be here and that's wanting

to help out. But we want to say to ourself,

you know, what is happening here.

The chain of communication to get the information from from

who shy to David, is that communication?

Is that chain going to be broken by the events that happened

here? Is the plan about to come to a

crashing halt as a result of the very humanity in the way which

we see things to be completed? And how could we ever be assured

the plan of God would ever prevail?

And then the answer is because it's God's plan.

That's why it's going to prevail.

It's because it's his plan. It's so human nature of us, you

know, says they went away quickly and they came to the

House of the man of Yehran. And presumably they knew that

this guy maybe had been a sympathizer of David.

They must have known that he had a well on his courtyard and they

went down into it. We say, hang on a second.

We're talking about the Kingdom of God here.

We're talking about the great unfolding drama and we've got to

see these two guys are supposed to be doing their best getting

the message from female servant to get it to King Dave.

And as far as we can tell right now, the whole plan is going to

come to an end because the two of them are now hiding in a well

and we hear him well. Is it over?

It's actually not very impressive, is it?

Of the Kingdom of God unfolding. The Kingdom of God is unfolding

where it's unfolding in at the moment.

It's now. And we hear I'm in a well of a

guy and you know, I thought about this for a bit.

I'm thinking, you know, well, the simplicity, the simple acts

of men and women to carry out God's work are so impactful.

Just the simple little smallest details that you and I may not

think may be very important or or on a large scale.

Those simple quiet acts are huge in the Kingdom of God and made

me think of the New Testament scene.

You know, in Acts 925, remember how Paul gets out of Damascus

shortly after his baptism. The Jews were seeking Paul to

kill him and it says that his disciples saved him by letting

him out through a hole in the wall and lowered him in a

basket. The Apostle Paul being lowered

in a basket through a hole in a wall.

The Kingdom of God is unfolding from Damascus and on it with a

man in a basket. So don't be surprised that God

would use you and I. An unknown lady, unknown man.

It's all according to his plan. And not only do we have that

Lady in that man, but we have a woman at the well for hearing

this story. Who is she?

She's a woman of the house. What did she do?

She covered the top of the well with a piece of fabric.

And because she was skillful on that manner, she covered the

fabric then with the grain and make it look as though just

basically routine day drying out the grain in the sun.

And the people came searching on behalf of Absalom.

Clearly they weren't doing a very good job.

They didn't look very hard. And she lied to them that the

men have gone over the brook. They seem to pay much attention

to that. And eventually they returned to

Jerusalem there in verse 20. So did it matter what she had

done? Absolutely.

It was very, very vital to the plan.

But didn't she tell lies? Yes, she did.

Does that mean that the Bible then condones the telling of

lies? No, it does not.

Romans 828 What it does, it reminds us simply this, that in

all things God works for the good of those who love him.

It reminds us that God controls evil, but he does not create

evil. And when we consider the

unfolding of the Providence of God, whether in the life of we

see saw in Joseph in the early chapters of the Old Testament,

whether it's in the life of Esther or so on.

And here in this chapter, we realize it's really a wonder in

and of itself. The little that you mean, the

hidden life of a little girl from Israel is the store in the

story of Naman, the female servant who doesn't have a name,

the man who had a well, You mean the woman who was brave enough

to do what she did? Yes.

All those acts mattered to God's plan.

So what happens? We see well these men when they

had gone, these group of searchers, they leave and they

come up and then the guys come up out of the well.

And then they went and they did what they were supposed to do by

in the 1st place and getting this information to King David.

And no surprise, they said to him, you should get up, go

quickly over the water. They're telling us to David,

this is thus has a hit the fell of eyes against you.

In other words, they're telling David like this plan that a hit

the fell has very well may unfold.

And if it unfolds, it's vital that you get out of here.

And it would be better that you now that you left now rather

than later on. And So what we actually have in

this little incident is from humans perspective, what we're

seeing is it's really kind of a narrow escape, if you want to

say, but in but is all proceeding according to plan,

including the tragedy that we see contained here in verse 23.

So what are we to do with a hit the fell?

It's a tragedy, I think and what we're told when a hit the fell

realized that his council had not been followed and things had

not gone according to his plan. When he realized that for him,

it was kind of like a writing on the wall, if you want to say,

because if Dave was going to be triumphant as he inevitably

would, then there's little chance for hope for him because

he had he's really a dreadful traitor to David.

And he knew that and his life was essentially over.

There was no future in him for all.

And so in a methodical, clinical, organized fashion, he

went off riding his doc. He back to his own city, set his

house in order, hanged himself, died and was buried in the tomb

of his father. You know, we've been comparing

Ahithophel to Judas multiple times, and Judas also hanged

himself. But by compensate comparison

with Judas, there's actually much to be condemned, I think,

by a hit. The film, you know, we may see

well, you know, he really wasn't a good man, if we want to say

that a bit. I hit the film well.

I think he actually was a really good man at points in his life.

He wasn't really particularly wicked man.

If you want to say he's not presented to us in the text as a

wicked man. He's presented to us in the text

as a wise counselor. Indeed, his counsel was as if

one counseled the word of God. We see that in chapter 16.

That's a hit the fell. He was a wise counselor and his

advice was good counsel. It says it says in verse 14 of

our chapter here it says for the Lord had ordained to defeat the

good counsel of a hit the fell. And we see if that's our

understanding what drove if we understand that what that's what

drove his defection that is being the grandfather of

Bathsheba responding to the graphic nature of the crime of

David, not only the act of Bathsheba, but then in the

destruction of death as that was to follow that, you know, why

would we not be surprised of a hit the fells actions in his

response to that? Why should we be annoyed that he

was enraged by that? He should be enraged by that act

that David did, and he was. And so should we have.

Because in actual fact, if we go back to the text where that

happened, we'll discover that that's exactly what God's

reaction was to that that act as well.

So on in this strange scenario, Ahithophel is in this respect,

is on one side of God, and therefore I think we should

respect Ahithophel for despising David's crimes.

One scholar, I think, gets it right when he suggests that a

Hippophel's biggest failure was his failure to accept the grace

of God that was extended to David.

He couldn't handle that. And his failure to accept that

the purpose of God was to establish a Kingdom through

somebody like David, a Hippophel, couldn't wrap his

mind around that, couldn't understand it.

And God did not prefer David over Absalom because David was

better than Absalom. God preferred David because God

preferred David. Remember, I don't love you

because you were brighter, larger, more significant than

other people. I loved you because I loved you.

It is a great mystery and God, according to plan, works it all

out. Ahithophel's plans were doomed

to failure because he was on the wrong side of history, because

God had chosen David, because God promised David that his

Kingdom would endure. And so actually, Ahithophel's

suicide is not just the account of a government official who is

embarrassed by the fact that his plans have been rejected and

he's lost face and he's lost honour and he's lost hope.

I think it's that the actual suicide that we read up here is

actually the record of the adversary of God.

God deals with things, dealt with things in the Old Testament

in ways that were very, I don't know the right word for it, but

when somebody was going to die, God made it happen.

God wiped out armies. God wiped out people because

God, they weren't following who? God and his instructions hit the

fill identified him as the adversary of Yahweh and his

Kingdom. Well, the negotiation time is

over. The preparation time is

essentially over in the confrontation is getting ready

to begin. And So what we have in these

final verses, we have the names and the records of the assembly

of the forces, first of all, Absalom and then of the forces

of David himself and these individuals are going to line up

on one side or the other. If you want to say kind of like

choose this day who you will serve moment and when the teams

are put together, the personnel, the friends of David bring, they

bring all the provisions in order that the progress might be

in full. And I find it quite interesting

that the final sentence of the chapter as we have it affirms

part of a hippophiles council because we remember we look all

the way back up in the passage. You can go and get him while

he's weary and discouraged. That's there in verse 2 and

Hushai comes and says, you know, hippophiles council is not good.

You should not think of him as being weary and discouraged.

You should think of him as being enraged.

You should think of as being like a bear seeking to go out

and invade. You know, like a bear that's

been separated from her Cubs. Well, who was right here?

Who was right here? It tells us there they were.

That says they were weary and thirsty in the wilderness.

Well, hit the fell was right in in stating that, so he was right

about that. But at the end he was foolish

because he should never have defected.

He should never have deserted the king.

You wouldn't defect, would you? It's not unusual to come across

someone who has defected, someone who has deserted,

someone who was once marched alongside us, alongside others.

And when we when we press into that person's reasoning, we may

find circumstances that are potentially comparable or

similar to a hit the fells. When we ask questions, we find

that there was maybe some moral degeneracy, something that

happened in the family along the path, something that enraged and

disappointed and confused and sidelined that individual and

they've lost out because they can't believe God would forgive

that person. They can't believe that God

would continue to use him or her for his Kingdom.

It's the same issue. It's the same problem that we

read of this Old Testament story.

I think that scholar Woodhouses, his name, I think he got it

right. The 5th field got to where he

was because he couldn't believe that God would forgive somebody

who did that and that he found it hard to believe that God

would build his Kingdom through somebody like David.

So let's make sure that we deal with the issues that may tempt

us to defect or to desert God at any time.

You take our side with the king. Don't be foolish.

Trust the counsel of God and rest entirely in his Providence.

In the end, all will be well. All the parts and pieces that we

can't fix are under his sovereign control.

And whether we got a name like Barzillai or Shelby or Mac here,

whether we're a name, as it were, in the unfolding story of

God's purposes, as significant as we may think it might be, or

whether in eternity we'll just find out.

It was just fine for us to be the female servant that we've

just read about, or was finding us to be the man who had a house

with a well. It was fine for us to be a young

man from Bakersfield, to be a little girl from Israel.

I have a Maker. He formed my heart before even

time began. My life was in His hands.

He knows my name, He knows my every thought, He knows each

tear that falls, and he hears me when I call.

You know we forget people's names.

He never forgets our name. And he puts the good and the bad

and the ugly into his vast purpose from all of eternity.

Puts it together for people that are his very own who are utterly

undeserving beneficiaries of his relentless love and it's Amazing

Grace and so the story of God's Kingdom continues so other way

maybe be down a well this week if you want to say or crossing

the Fords and the open plains. Perhaps it will do us well to

remember that we're not about to get upset about the things that

may be confronted to us, you know, watching the news.

And I can't believe where this country's going.

I can't believe what's happening here.

You know what, I just can't deal with this anymore.

You know, what are we going to do about that?

What are you going to do with that?

So we can stop back and say, wait a minute, we've got a God

that is in control of it all. And whatever his plan is, His

plan is. So we should believe that God is

who he says he is and he's in control of it all.

Is there one here who needs to be baptized for the remission of

their sins? We can't.

We can provide that quickly. And if that is a need, if

there's a one here who has done that but needs to make public

confession in any way, or needs the prayer of the church, please

come while we stand and while we see.