What Is Your Advice Like?

When we seek someone’s advice, it should be rooted in righteousness and integrity.   #daybydaylw   Interested in learning more about becoming a devoted follower of Christ? Go to follow.lifeword.org!   ~~~   In 2 Samuel 16 we have Absalom and his entourage marching into Jerusalem, with Ahithophel at his side. We must remember that Ahithophel was a very trusted advisor to David, who traded sides, and who has now joined forces with Absalom. But not only is there Ahithophel, we are also re-introduced to a man named Hushai. Hushai, you will remember, was sent into Jerusalem by David as a spy, so that David could know what Absalom would be up to with his military plans. This is the context and these are the characters of this current episode—Absalom, the Usurper; Ahithophel, the Advisor; and Hushai, the Spy. Quite the tense and exciting story we have here. Will Hushai succeed in his task, or will Absalom or Ahithophel discover the secret intentions of Hushai? Will his cover be blown? As we continue to read, the question surfaces as to how Absalom should make his presence felt and known in Jerusalem. What should be his official coming out statement? So he turns to Ahithophel and says, “What advice do you have for me?” Ahithophel looks around the King’s house, ponders, and then says, “I think the most dramatic and clearest statement we can make to all the people that you are now the king, is if you conquer all of your father’s concubines. In this way all of Israel will know that you not only defy your father, but that you have taken over his throne.” Remember, when David ascended the throne of Israel, he too assumed or took in all the wives and concubines of Saul. In that day, that was a sign of possession. Women were treated like property, and so if you took over their wives and concubines, then you were taking over their property. But what happens in our text today is that Absalom does so in a fashion that is done in public in order to humiliate and shame David. But this as well should not be surprising because God told David through the prophet Nathan that this very thing would happen to David. Now the important feature of this part of the story comes in 16:23 “Now in those days the counsel that Ahithophel gave was as if one consulted the word of God; so was all the counsel of Ahithophel esteemed, both by David and by Absalom.” Now remember, the question at hand by Absalom is, “What shall we do?” What should we do to make the kingdom of Absalom known? So Ahithophel doesn’t stop with just the advice of setting up a brothel on the roof of the king’s house. He also advises Absalom to let Ahithophel gather up 12,000 soldiers and go hunt down David. He would only hunt down David, and he would bring back the rest of David’s people to be in the kingdom of Absalom. And Absalom and all the elders of Israel agreed with Ahithophel. His plan made perfect sense to them. Let Ahithophel go out and fight the battle while Ahithophel stayed back, on the king’s roof, and amplify the sin that David committed by 100. What are we to learn from this little segment of this story? I think one truth we can glean is that when we seek someone’s counsel, that counsel should be rooted in righteousness and integrity. Although Ahithophel’s advice may have been politically expedient, it was divorced from any moral truth.