To The Word – Day 82

₁When David had gone a little beyond the top of the hill, he was suddenly met by Ziba, the servant of Mephibosheth, who had with him a couple of donkeys loaded with 200 loaves of bread, a hundred bunches of raisins, a hundred bunches of fresh fruit, and a leather bag full of wine. ₂King David asked him, “What are you going to do with all that?”

Ziba answered, “The donkeys are for Your Majesty's family to ride, the bread and the fruit are for the men to eat, and the wine is for them to drink when they get tired in the wilderness.”

₃“Where is Mephibosheth, the grandson of your master Saul?” the king asked him.

“He is staying in Jerusalem,” Ziba answered, “because he is convinced that the Israelites will now restore to him the kingdom of his grandfather Saul.”

₄The king said to Ziba, “Everything that belonged to Mephibosheth is yours.”

“I am your servant,” Ziba replied. “May I always please Your Majesty!”

₅When King David arrived at Bahurim, one of Saul's relatives, Shimei son of Gera, came out to meet him, cursing him as he came. ₆Shimei started throwing stones at David and his officials, even though David was surrounded by his men and his bodyguard. ₇Shimei cursed him and said, “Get out! Get out! Murderer! Criminal! ₈You took Saul's kingdom, and now the LORD is punishing you for murdering so many of Saul's family. The LORD has given the kingdom to your son Absalom, and you are ruined, you murderer!”

₉Abishai, whose mother was Zeruiah, said to the king, “Your Majesty, why do you let this dog curse you? Let me go over there and cut off his head!”

₁₀“This is none of your business,” the king said to Abishai and his brother Joab. “If he curses me because the LORD told him to, who has the right to ask why he does it?” ₁₁And David said to Abishai and to all his officials, “My own son is trying to kill me; so why should you be surprised at this Benjaminite? The LORD told him to curse; so leave him alone and let him do it. ₁₂Perhaps the LORD will notice my misery and give me some blessings to take the place of his curse.” ₁₃So David and his men continued along the road. Shimei kept up with them, walking on the hillside; he was cursing and throwing stones and earth at them as he went. ₁₄The king and all his men were worn out when they reached the Jordan, and there they rested.

₁₅Absalom and all the Israelites with him entered Jerusalem, and Ahithophel was with them. ₁₆When Hushai, David's trusted friend, met Absalom, he shouted, “Long live the king! Long live the king!”

₁₇“What has happened to your loyalty to your friend David?” Absalom asked him. “Why didn't you go with him?”

₁₈Hushai answered, “How could I? I am on the side of the one chosen by the LORD, by these people, and by all the Israelites. I will stay with you. ₁₉After all, whom should I serve, if not my master's son? As I served your father, so now I will serve you.”

₂₀Then Absalom turned to Ahithophel and said, “Now that we are here, what do you advise us to do?”

₂₁Ahithophel answered, “Go and have intercourse with your father's concubines whom he left behind to take care of the palace. Then everyone in Israel will know that your father regards you as his enemy, and your followers will be greatly encouraged.” ₂₂So they set up a tent for Absalom on the palace roof, and in the sight of everyone Absalom went in and had intercourse with his father's concubines.

₂₃Any advice that Ahithophel gave in those days was accepted as though it were the very word of God; both David and Absalom followed it.

₁Not long after that, Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me choose 12,000 men, and tonight I will set out after David. ₂I will attack him while he is tired and discouraged. He will be frightened, and all his men will run away. I will kill only the king ₃and then bring back all his men to you, like a bride returning to her husband. You want to kill only one man; the rest of the people will be safe.” ₄This seemed like good advice to Absalom and all the Israelite leaders.

₅Absalom said, “Now call Hushai, and let us hear what he has to say.” ₆When Hushai arrived, Absalom said to him, “This is the advice that Ahithophel has given us; shall we follow it? If not, you tell us what to do.”

₇Hushai answered, “The advice Ahithophel gave you this time is no good. ₈You know that your father David and his men are hard fighters and that they are as fierce as a mother bear robbed of her cubs. Your father is an experienced soldier and does not stay with his men at night. ₉Just now he is probably hiding in a cave or some other place. As soon as David attacks your men, whoever hears about it will say that your men have been defeated. ₁₀Then even the bravest men, as fearless as lions, will be afraid because everyone in Israel knows that your father is a great soldier and that his men are hard fighters. ₁₁My advice is that you bring all the Israelites together from one end of the country to the other, as many as the grains of sand on the seashore, and that you lead them personally in battle. ₁₂We will find David wherever he is, and attack him before he knows what's happening. Neither he nor any of his men will survive. ₁₃If he retreats into a city, our people will all bring ropes and just pull the city into the valley below. Not a single stone will be left there on top of the hill.”

₁₄Absalom and all the Israelites said, “Hushai's advice is better than Ahithophel's.” The LORD had decided that Ahithophel's good advice would not be followed, so that disaster would come on Absalom.

₁₅Then Hushai told the priests Zadok and Abiathar what advice he had given to Absalom and the Israelite leaders and what advice Ahithophel had given. ₁₆Hushai added, “Quick, now! Send a message to David not to spend the night at the river crossings in the wilderness, but to cross the Jordan at once, so that he and his men won't all be caught and killed.”

₁₇Abiathar's son Jonathan and Zadok's son Ahimaaz were waiting at the spring of Enrogel, on the outskirts of Jerusalem, because they did not dare to be seen entering the city. A servant woman would regularly go and tell them what was happening, and then they would go and tell King David. ₁₈But one day a boy happened to see them, and he told Absalom; so they hurried off to hide in the house of a certain man in Bahurim. He had a well near his house, and they got down into it. ₁₉The man's wife took a covering, spread it over the opening of the well and scattered grain over it, so that no one would notice anything. ₂₀Absalom's officials came to the house and asked the woman, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?”

“They crossed the river,” she answered.

The men looked for them but could not find them, and so they returned to Jerusalem. ₂₁After they left, Ahimaaz and Jonathan came up out of the well and went and reported to King David. They told him what Ahithophel had planned against him and said, “Hurry up and cross the river.” ₂₂So David and his men started crossing the Jordan, and by daybreak they had all gone across.

₂₃When Ahithophel saw that his advice had not been followed, he saddled his donkey and went back to his own city. After putting his affairs in order, he hanged himself. He was buried in the family grave.

₂₄David had reached the town of Mahanaim by the time Absalom and the Israelites had crossed the Jordan. ₂₅(Absalom had put Amasa in command of the army in the place of Joab. Amasa was the son of Jether the Ishmaelite; his mother was Abigail, the daughter of Nahash and the sister of Joab's mother Zeruiah.) ₂₆Absalom and his men camped in the land of Gilead.

₂₇When David arrived at Mahanaim, he was met by Shobi son of Nahash, from the city of Rabbah in Ammon, and by Machir son of Ammiel, from Lodebar, and by Barzillai, from Rogelim in Gilead. _28-29They brought bowls, clay pots, and bedding, and also food for David and his men: wheat, barley, meal, roasted grain, beans, peas, honey, cheese, cream, and some sheep. They knew that David and his men would be hungry, thirsty, and tired in the wilderness.

₁King David brought all his men together, divided them into units of a thousand and of a hundred, and placed officers in command of them. ₂Then he sent them out in three groups, with Joab and Joab's brother Abishai and Ittai from Gath, each in command of a group. And the king said to his men, “I will go with you myself.”

₃“You mustn't go with us,” they answered. “It won't make any difference to the enemy if the rest of us turn and run, or even if half of us are killed; but you are worth 10,000 of us. It will be better if you stay here in the city and send us help.”

₄“I will do whatever you think best,” the king answered. Then he stood by the side of the gate as his men marched out in units of a thousand and of a hundred. ₅He gave orders to Joab, Abishai, and Ittai: “For my sake don't harm the young man Absalom.” And all the troops heard David give this command to his officers.

₆David's army went out into the countryside and fought the Israelites in the forest of Ephraim. ₇The Israelites were defeated by David's men; it was a terrible defeat, with 20,000 men killed that day. ₈The fighting spread over the countryside, and more men died in the forest than were killed in battle.

₉Suddenly Absalom met some of David's men. Absalom was riding a mule, and as it went under a large oak tree, Absalom's head got caught in the branches. The mule ran on and Absalom was left hanging in mid air. ₁₀One of David's men saw him and reported to Joab, “Sir, I saw Absalom hanging in an oak tree!”

₁₁Joab answered, “If you saw him, why didn't you kill him on the spot? I myself would have given you ten pieces of silver and a belt.”

₁₂But the man answered, “Even if you gave me a thousand pieces of silver, I wouldn't lift a finger against the king's son. We all heard the king command you and Abishai and Ittai, ‘For my sake don't harm the young man Absalom.’ ₁₃But if I had disobeyed the king and killed Absalom, the king would have heard about it — he hears about everything — and you would not have defended me.”

₁₄“I'm not going to waste any more time with you,” Joab said. He took three spears and plunged them into Absalom's chest while he was still alive, hanging in the oak tree. ₁₅Then ten of Joab's soldiers closed in on Absalom and finished killing him.

₁₆Joab ordered the trumpet to be blown to stop the fighting, and his troops came back from pursuing the Israelites. ₁₇They took Absalom's body, threw it into a deep pit in the forest, and covered it with a huge pile of stones. All the Israelites fled to their own homes.

₁₈During his lifetime Absalom had built a monument for himself in King's Valley, because he had no son to keep his name alive. So he named it after himself, and to this day it is known as Absalom's Monument.

₁₉Then Ahimaaz son of Zadok said to Joab, “Let me run to the king with the good news that the LORD has saved him from his enemies.”

₂₀“No,” Joab said, “today you will not take any good news. Some other day you may do so, but not today, for the king's son is dead.” ₂₁Then he said to his Ethiopian slave, “Go and tell the king what you have seen.” The slave bowed and ran off.

₂₂Ahimaaz insisted, “I don't care what happens; please let me take the news also.”

“Why do you want to do it, my son?” Joab asked. “You will get no reward for it.”

₂₃“Whatever happens,” Ahimaaz said again, “I want to go.”

“Then go,” Joab said. So Ahimaaz ran off down the road through the Jordan Valley, and soon he passed the slave.

₂₄David was sitting in the space between the inner and outer gates of the city. The watchman went up to the top of the wall and stood on the roof of the gateway; he looked out and saw a man running alone. ₂₅He called down and told the king, and the king said, “If he is alone, he is bringing good news.” The runner came nearer and nearer.

₂₆Then the watchman saw another man running alone, and he called down to the gatekeeper, “Look! There's another man running!”

The king answered, “This one also is bringing good news.”

₂₇The watchman said, “I can see that the first man runs like Ahimaaz.”

“He's a good man,” the king said, “and he is bringing good news.”

₂₈Ahimaaz called out a greeting to the king, threw himself down to the ground before him, and said, “Praise the LORD your God, who has given you victory over the men who rebelled against Your Majesty!”

₂₉“Is the young man Absalom safe?” the king asked.

Ahimaaz answered, “Sir, when your officer Joab sent me, I saw a great commotion, but I couldn't tell what it was.”

₃₀“Stand over there,” the king said; and he went over and stood there.

₃₁Then the Ethiopian slave arrived and said to the king, “I have good news for Your Majesty! Today the LORD has given you victory over all who rebelled against you!”

₃₂“Is the young man Absalom safe?” the king asked.

The slave answered, “I wish that what has happened to him would happen to all your enemies, sir, and to all who rebel against you.”

₃₃The king was overcome with grief. He went up to the room over the gateway and wept. As he went, he cried, “O my son! My son Absalom! Absalom, my son! If only I had died in your place, my son! Absalom, my son!”