Immerse: Kingdoms Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 173
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of your men fall, there will be panic among your troops, and the word will
spread that Absalom’s men are being slaughtered. Then even the bravest
soldiers, though they have the heart of a lion, will be paralyzed with fear.
For all Israel knows what a mighty warrior your father is and how courageous his men are.
“I recommend that you mobilize the entire army of Israel, bringing them
from as far away as Dan in the north and Beersheba in the south. That
way you will have an army as numerous as the sand on the seashore. And
I advise that you personally lead the troops. When we find David, we’ll fall
on him like dew that falls on the ground. Then neither he nor any of his
men will be left alive. And if David were to escape into some town, you will
have all Israel there at your command. Then we can take ropes and drag
the walls of the town into the nearest valley until every stone is torn down.”
Then Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “Hushai’s advice is better
than Ahithophel’s.” For the Lord had determined to defeat the counsel
of Ahithophel, which really was the better plan, so that he could bring
disaster on Absalom!
Hushai told Zadok and Abiathar, the priests, what Ahithop hel had said
to Absalom and the elders of Israel and what he himself had advised instead. “Quick!” he told them. “Find David and urge him not to stay at the
shallows of the Jordan River tonight. He must go across at once into the
wilderness beyond. Otherwise he will die and his entire army with him.”
Jonathan and Ahimaaz had been staying at E
n-rogel so as not to be seen
entering and leaving the city. Arrangements had been made for a servant
girl to bring them the message they were to take to King David. But a boy
spotted them at En-rogel, and he told Absalom about it. So they quickly escaped to Bahurim, where a man hid them down inside a well in his courtyard. The man’s wife put a cloth over the top of the well and scattered grain
on it to dry in the sun; so no one suspected they were there.
When Absalom’s men arrived, they asked her, “Have you seen Ahimaaz
and Jonathan?”
The woman replied, “They were here, but they crossed over the brook.”
Absalom’s men looked for them without success and returned to Jerusalem.
Then the two men crawled out of the well and hurried on to King David.
“Quick!” they told him, “cross the Jordan tonight!” And they told him how
Ahithophel had advised that he be captured and killed. So David and all
the people with him went across the Jordan River during the night, and
they were all on the other bank before dawn.
When Ahithophel realized that his advice had not been followed, he
saddled his donkey, went to his hometown, set his affairs in order, and
hanged himself. He died there and was buried in the family tomb.