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
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.
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.