Now in those days the advice Ahithophel gave was like that of one who inquires of God. That was how both David and Absalom regarded all of Ahithophel’s advice.
When Ahithophel saw that his advice had not been followed, he saddled his donkey and set out for his house in his hometown. He put his house in order and then hanged himself. So he died and was buried in his father’s tomb.
Like 1 Samuel, I knew it was going to be hard to get into 2 Samuel. But 2 Samuel is a little easier for this study as it has loads little characters dotted throughout. Reading it gets a bit confusing, because you’re always wondering if you’ve met the character before or whether they’re a new bloke by the same, or similar, name. Lots of names to remember.
The bit about Uriah/Bathsheba/David is well known, but today it struck me that it was suprising that the head of the army Joab, knew who Uriah the Hittite was in and army of thousands without much of a problem. Or that he wasn’t curious as why the king wanted to see that particular man. I think its probably the first time that I’ve noticed that Uriah was one of the mighty 30 warriors listed towards the end of the book. So I Joab knew him because he was pretty famous, and David could potential ask to speak to him as someone who does good in the army. When now I know.
Today I picked on Ahithophel, another bloke with a bit part. So David and Absalom regard his advice as so good it must come from the Lord. Yet when David and Absalom has a problem with each other, and Absalom doesn’t follow Ahithophel’s advice, the latter goes and commits suicide. I thought that was interesting. And cue speculation… Why was he so upset about the lack of advice following? Perhaps he realised that David would win in the end and feared David would seek revenge on him for siding with Absalom. Obviously to take his own life he would have to fear that David’s revenge would go further than just he himself, perhaps to his extend family. However, I rather suspect that it was an issue of pride, and that he was taking it all very personally. Of course, if he was speaking God’s word into the situation, it wasn’t really him or his advice that was being rejected. I guess it is all to easy to take pride in the things God does through you, as if you did them on your own. Something we need to watch out for! Don’t take it personally – let God deal with it.
The Photo
The photo represents what is probably bad advice – not that Ahithophel’s advice was bad – it’s just something that sprung to mind when thinking about advice.
50mm @ f1.8 1/50s ISO 200