“Then said Hushai unto Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, Thus and thus did Ahithophel counsel Absalom and the elders of Israel; and thus and thus have I counselled. Now therefore send quickly, and tell David, saying, Lodge not this night in the plains of the wilderness, but speedily pass over; lest the king be swallowed up, and all the people that are with him. Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz stayed by Enrogel; for they might not be seen to come into the city: and a wench went and told them; and they went and told king David. Nevertheless a lad saw them, and told Absalom: but they went both of them away quickly, and came to a man's house in Bahurim, which had a well in his court; whither they went down. And the woman took and spread a covering over the well's mouth, and spread ground corn thereon; and the thing was not known. And when Absalom's servants came to the woman to the house, they said, Where is Ahimaaz and Jonathan? And the woman said unto them, They be gone over the brook of water. And when they had sought and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem. And it came to pass, after they were departed, that they came up out of the well, and went and told king David, and said unto David, Arise, and pass quickly over the water: for thus hath Ahithophel counselled against you. Then David arose, and all the people that were with him, and they passed over Jordan: by the morning light there lacked not one of them that was not gone over Jordan. And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his ass, and arose, and gat him home to his house, to his city, and put his household in order, and hanged himself, and died, and was buried in the sepulchre of his father” (2 Samuel 17:15-23).
Introduction
We find here six people who were loyal to and put their lives on the line for David. Their loyalty to the cause made them alert to what was going on in Absalom’s camp. Hushai passed information to Zadok and Abiathar, who in turn sent it to Jonathan and Ahimaaz by the hand of a girl, who took it to David. All of this could have gone wrong and turned into a game of Chinese Whispers if all concerned had not been attentive and memorised the message word for word. David’s life depended upon such information getting through to him.
The warning
Hushai’s urgent message was taken to David by Jonathan and Ahimaaz the sons of Zadok and Abiathar the priests. This warning had to be conveyed without Absalom or his spies being aware of it or all the conspirators would have been executed and put David’s life in peril. Hushai’s advice for David was that he should not hide in the wilderness but cross the Jordan and put an even greater distance between himself and Absalom. Hushai obviously feared that Absalom could as easily revert to Ahithophel’s advice as quickly as he had dismissed it in favour of his own, so thought it wise to warn David of such a possibility. “Lest the king's and people's mind's change, and Ahithophel persuade the king to pursue you speedily” (John Wesley).
The two young men lived in Enrogel near Jerusalem, and waited for instructions from their fathers. This foresight on the part of Zadok and Abiathar was very wise, for it meant that no one would be suspicious about either of them going there to visit their sons, but even here they were cautious enough no to go themselves but send a young girl, possibly under the pretence of fetching water, to them with Hushai’s warning.
The well
Everything was going remarkably smoothly until Jonathan and Ahimaaz hit an unforeseen problem, for a boy thought that something strange going on when he noticed the girl talking to them. Fortunately Jonathan and Ahimaaz were told that the boy was on his way to inform Absalom of what he saw. They hid in a well in Bahurim, which was the village where Shimei lived (2 Samuel 16:5-13), but as we see, not everyone there was of the same mind as he. David had faithful friends even in the most hostile of regions. Hiding in Bahurim was a very wise thing to do, since it seems that no one would expect anyone there of harbouring friends of David. Enrogel seems to be in Bahurim since it means “the fuller’s well”, that is, the place where cloths are washed.
The lady of the house disguised the well, which must have been a simple hole in the ground, with a cloth she was washing before Absalom’s men came to search for the two men, though some commentators suggest she could have been pretending to be drying corn on it. The well, different from that mentioned previously regarding Enrogel, was a manmade cistern for keeping a supply of water close to the house, and usually only owned by wealthy people. The woman told them that they had crossed the water (the Jordan) when in fact they were in the water (the well). Since they believed what she said without question, they went back to Absalom to report that they had escaped.
The water
Once Absalom’s men were gone, Jonathan and Ahimaaz quickly continued their secret mission to give David Hushai’s message. David accepted the advice and crossed the Jordan immediately and found safety in fortified town of Mahanaim. This may appear to be another defeat for David as he retreats from Absalom, but in reality it is the beginning of his return to Jerusalem. The tide was changing and David was soon to get the advantage over all his enemies. It is certain that Ahithophel read the signs correctly and saw that he had no choice but to commit suicide rather than be on the sharp end of David’s wrath. In Mahanaim David would gather together provisions and rebuild the strength of his army before leading them out to retake Jerusalem.
Conclusion
It is believed that Psalms 41, 42 and 43 were composed by David to commemorate the events surrounding his forced exile. Each of these Psalms speak of the enemies of the righteous, but also includes the fact that God watches over His people for good. “O my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar” (Psalm 42:6).
David, though not realising it at the time, was under the protective care of the Lord, so no harm would come to him. God plan and purpose for His own is not destroyed because of a few hindrances along the way. David owed his future success to the faithfulness of a few courageous conspirators who brought intelligence reports.
© 19/7/2010