Text -- 2 Samuel 17:1-23 (NET)

The Death of Ahithophel

17:1 Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me pick out twelve thousand men. Then I will go and pursue David this very night. 17:2 When I catch up with him he will be exhausted and worn out. I will rout him, and the entire army that is with him will flee. I will kill only the king 17:3 and will bring the entire army back to you. In exchange for the life of the man you are seeking, you will get back everyone. The entire army will return unharmed.” 17:4 This seemed like a good idea to Absalom and to all the leaders of Israel. 17:5 But Absalom said, “Call for Hushai the Arkite, and let’s hear what he has to say.” 17:6 So Hushai came to Absalom. Absalom said to him, “Here is what Ahithophel has advised. Should we follow his advice? If not, what would you recommend?” 17:7 Hushai replied to Absalom, “Ahithophel’s advice is not sound this time.” 17:8 Hushai went on to say, “You know your father and his men– they are soldiers and are as dangerous as a bear out in the wild that has been robbed of her cubs. Your father is an experienced soldier; he will not stay overnight with the army. 17:9 At this very moment he is hiding out in one of the caves or in some other similar place. If it should turn out that he attacks our troops first, whoever hears about it will say, ‘Absalom’s army has been slaughtered!’ 17:10 If that happens even the bravest soldier– soldier– one who is lion-hearted– will virtually melt away. For all Israel knows that your father is a warrior and that those who are with him are brave. 17:11 My advice therefore is this: Let all Israel from Dan to Beer Sheba– in number like the sand by the sea!– be mustered to you, and you lead them personally into battle. 17:12 We will come against him wherever he happens to be found. We will descend on him like the dew falls on the ground. Neither he nor any of the men who are with him will be spared alive– not one of them! 17:13 If he regroups in a city, all Israel will take up ropes to that city and drag it down to the valley, so that not a single pebble will be left there!” 17:14 Then Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The advice of Hushai the Arkite sounds better than the advice of Ahithophel.” Now the Lord had decided to frustrate the sound advice of Ahithophel, so that the Lord could bring disaster on Absalom. 17:15 Then Hushai reported to Zadok and Abiathar the priests, “Here is what Ahithophel has advised Absalom and the leaders of Israel to do, and here is what I have advised. 17:16 Now send word quickly to David and warn him, “Don’t spend the night at the fords of the desert tonight. Instead, be sure you cross over, or else the king and everyone who is with him may be overwhelmed.” 17:17 Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying in En Rogel. A female servant would go and inform them, and they would then go and inform King David. It was not advisable for them to be seen going into the city. 17:18 But a young man saw them on one occasion and informed Absalom. So the two of them quickly departed and went to the house of a man in Bahurim. There was a well in his courtyard, and they got down in it. 17:19 His wife then took the covering and spread it over the top of the well and scattered some grain over it. No one was aware of what she had done. 17:20 When the servants of Absalom approached the woman at her home, they asked, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?” The woman replied to them, “They crossed over the stream.” Absalom’s men searched but did not find them, so they returned to Jerusalem. 17:21 After the men had left, Ahimaaz and Jonathan climbed out of the well. Then they left and informed King David. They advised David, “Get up and cross the stream quickly, for Ahithophel has devised a plan to catch you.” 17:22 So David and all the people who were with him got up and crossed the Jordan River. By dawn there was not one person left who had not crossed the Jordan. 17:23 When Ahithophel realized that his advice had not been followed, he saddled his donkey and returned to his house in his hometown. After setting his household in order, he hanged himself. So he died and was buried in the grave of his father.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: 2Sa 17:2

¹ tn Heb “and I will come upon him.”

² tn Heb “exhausted and slack of hands.”

NET Notes: 2Sa 17:3

¹ tc Heb “like the returning of all, the man whom you are seeking.” The LXX reads differently: “And I will return all the people to you the way a bride returns to her husband, except for the life of the one man whom you are seeking.” The other early versions also struggled with this verse. Modern translations are divided as well: the NAB, NRSV, REB, and NLT follow the LXX, while the NASB and NIV follow the Hebrew text.

² tn Heb “all of the people will be safe.”

NET Notes: 2Sa 17:4

¹ tn Heb “elders.”

NET Notes: 2Sa 17:5

¹ tc In the MT the verb is singular, but in the LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate it is plural.

² tn Heb “what is in his mouth.”

NET Notes: 2Sa 17:7

¹ tn Heb “Not good is the advice which Ahithophel has advised at this time.”

NET Notes: 2Sa 17:8

¹ tc The LXX (with the exception of the recensions of Origen and Lucian) repeats the description as follows: “Just as a female bear bereft of cubs in a field.”

NET Notes: 2Sa 17:9

¹ tn Heb “that he falls on them [i.e., Absalom’s troops] at the first [encounter]; or “that some of them [i.e., Absalom’s troops] fall at the first [encounter].”

NET Notes: 2Sa 17:14

¹ tn Heb “commanded.”

NET Notes: 2Sa 17:15

¹ tn Heb “elders.”

NET Notes: 2Sa 17:16

¹ tn Heb “send quickly and tell David saying.”

² tn Or “wilderness” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV, TEV).

³ tn That is, “cross over the Jordan River.”

⁴ tn Heb “swallowed up.”

NET Notes: 2Sa 17:20

¹ tn Heb “they”; the referents (Absalom’s men) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

² map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

NET Notes: 2Sa 17:21

¹ tn Heb “they”; the referents (Ahimaaz and Jonathan) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

² tn Heb “the water.”

³ tn Heb “for thus Ahithophel has devised against you.” The expression “thus” is narrative shorthand, referring to the plan outlined by Ahithophel (see vv. 1-3). The men would surely have outlined the plan in as much detail as they had been given by the messenger.

NET Notes: 2Sa 17:22

¹ tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text here or in v. 24, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

NET Notes: 2Sa 17:23

¹ tc The Greek recensions of Origen and Lucian have here “house” for “grave.”