Tonight we're continuing the story with Absalom having rebelled against his father David.
And David has fled Jerusalem and Absalom has come into Jerusalem and taken over.
He's committed this horrible act of lying with his father's ten concubines in the sight
of all Israel and done all these things.
And if you remember at the very end of chapter 16, it's said in verse 23, in the council
of Ahithophel, which he counseled in those days was as if a man had inquired at the Oracle
of God.
So was all the counsel of Ahithophel both with David and with Absalom.
So in verse number 1 of chapter 17, the Bible reads, Moreover Ahithophel said unto Absalom,
Let me now choose out twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David this
night.
And I will come upon him while he's weary and weak-handed, and will make him afraid
and all the people that are with him shall flee, and I will smite the king only.
And I will bring back all the people unto thee.
The man whom thou seekest is as if all return, so all the people shall be in peace.
And the saying pleased Absalom well and all the elders of Israel.
Then said Absalom, Call now Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear likewise what he saith.
And when Hushai was come to Absalom, Absalom spake unto him, saying, Ahithophel hath spoken
after this manner shall we do after his saying, if not, speak thou.
And Hushai said unto Absalom, The counsel that Ahithophel hath given is not good at
this time.
Now of course we know from the last chapter that Hushai the Archite is one who is still
loyal unto David.
He had left the city with David, but David told him that he would be more helpful to
him if he would basically infiltrate with Absalom and his court, and if he would give
bad advice unto Absalom to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel in order to save David
and then also to be a spy that would send the message to David of what was really going
on.
So Ahithophel gives a plan that's actually a good plan, a plan that's actually going
to work, but Hushai is there, David's mole on the inside that basically says, oh you
know that's not good advice and comes up with this better plan which is actually not as
good of a plan.
So let's talk about these two different plans.
Well first of all, Ahithophel's plan is a smart plan because David has just fled Jerusalem
with all of his men, they've crossed the Brook Caiadron, and so Ahithophel is saying let's
just get 12,000 great troops and do kind of a blitzkrieg, you know just get him before
he has a chance to regroup and get organized, get him while he's weary and tired and before
he has a chance to make any kind of a strategy, just quickly come on to him and just assault
him and we can just defeat him right away.
And it says, and they said look we'll just smite the king only because you know they
won't even be organized, we'll just go in there, kill the king, and be done with it.
So Hushai says, you know well you know the counsel of Ahithophel's not good at this time,
but really it's that he's there to subvert the situation.
Now if the whole plan that Hushai has is to send messengers to David to tell him what's
going on, well that's not really going to work if Ahithophel's just going to go right
in there with 12,000 guys and just go in there and kill David.
So he's buying time, he wants to have a plan that takes longer to enact so that he can
have time to send the message to David and so forth.
Look what the Bible says in verse 8, for said Hushai, thou knowest thy father and his men
that they be mighty men, and they be chafed in their minds as a bear robbed of her whelps
in the field.
And thy father is a man of war, and he'll not lodge with the people.
Behold he's hid now in some pit or in some other place, and it will come to pass when
some of them be overthrown at the first, that whosoever heareth it will say, there is slaughter
among the people that follow Absalom.
So he's painting this picture of David that he's just out there putting on the war paint,
you know he's in some pit, he's got his weapons, and you know there's no way they're going
to find him, everybody's hiding, everybody's a great warrior, and so he paints this picture
that you know you're not just going to go in there with 12,000 guys and just kill David,
catch him unawares, not going to happen.
So here's what he says, Therefore I counsel, verse 11, that all Israel be generally gathered
unto thee, from Dan even to Beersheba, as the sand that is by the sea for multitude,
and that thou go to battle in thine own person, so shall we come upon him in some place where
he shall be found, and we will light upon him as the dew falleth on the ground.
Just that poetry mixed in just to make it sound like a better plan.
And of him and of all the men that are left with him, there shall not be left so much
as one.
Moreover, if he be gotten into a city, then shall all Israel bring ropes to that city,
and we will draw it into the river, until there be not one small stone found there.
And Absalom and all the men of Israel said, The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better
than the counsel of Ahithophel.
For the Lord had appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent
that the Lord might bring evil upon Absalom.
So let me explain to you what's going on here.
Obviously to call together all Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, that's going to take
a bunch of time.
You know, this is not a situation where they can just pick up the phone and call Dan and
they're all going to hop on a train or something.
You know, this is going to take time to go throughout the land.
You know, Dan to Beersheba is about 144 miles, okay, so you know, it's a big distance there
to cover, to tell everybody and gather everybody.
Now Hushai's mentality here though, he's saying let's get everybody involved, that way everybody
gets their hands dirty, and that way nobody can back out.
That's what Hushai's saying.
But what he's really doing is he's just trying to buy time, because he's going to send a
message to David of exactly what the plans are, so that David can have time to prepare
the battle and get everything ready and be able to organize the defense and to know exactly
where the attack's coming from.
But the way he's pitching it to them is that, well here's the thing, if we follow a Hythofel's
plan, let's say those 12,000 guys go in there and let's say they lose, let's say they get
defeated, let's say some of them get killed.
Well then there's going to be a rumor that's going to go around saying, oh there's a slaughter
with those that follow Absalom, and then everybody who goes like this, you know, to see which
way the wind's blowing, is basically going to say, well, you know, it looks like Absalom
might be the losing side, maybe we should just stick with David.
So it causes them to not have as much resolve.
Now remember, a Hythofel had already done something to solidify the people's resolve.
Remember that's what he said in the last chapter, he said, well if you lie with these concubines,
then everybody's going to know there's no going back.
But basically Hushai's saying, no, let's gather everybody, because if everybody is
going after David, then basically nobody can really turn back, because they're all part
of it, they're all guilty, okay?
Now this is kind of a mentality of when someone's in sin, they want to bring other people into
their sin too, so that they're not the only one who's guilty.
You know, it's funny, I remember when I was a kid in school, you know, I shouldn't have
done this, but when I was a kid in school, you know, you'd get to the class and the teacher
wouldn't be there sometimes, you know, you get there at 8 o'clock and it was supposed
to start and the teacher's not there.
And so, you know, you were supposed to sit in your seat, you know, wait for the teacher
to show up.
But you know, what did you want to do though, you know, let's go hit the playground, right?
You know, and just be at the playground.
So I remember, you know, wanting to go to the playground and trying to get other kids
to go to the playground too, and I remember, you know, one time I stood up on the chair
and made a speech to all the kids and I said, look, they can't punish us all, like, if just
the three of us go to the playground, we're going to get in trouble.
But if the whole class is at the playground, what are they going to do, punish the entire
class?
And then it'll just seem like it was the logical thing to do because we all did it.
Whereas if it's just a couple of us, they'll be like, oh, these bad kids, you know, so
I got the whole class to go to the playground, and then the teacher showed up, what are you
guys doing?
What are you at the playground playing?
And we're just like, well, we thought that's what you do when the teacher's out there.
We're just on recess, you know, whatever.
But that's the thing.
If you can get other people, and honestly, I knew somebody, I asked them, you know, how
did you start smoking?
And here's what they said, well, my sister started smoking and she made me start too
so that I wouldn't tell on her.
Because if I didn't smoke, then basically, you know, I could be, I could use that as
a tattling thing and, you know, I remember when we were kids, it was always, you know,
I've got something on you, we'd say to our brothers and sisters, you know, I've got something
on you, you better watch it, blackmailing our siblings, isn't that wonderful?
But, you know, that's just so typical of human nature.
What did Eve do when she took up the forbidden fruit?
What's the first thing she does?
Hey, Adam, come on over here, you need to eat this too, because she doesn't want to
face God alone, so she wants someone else to partake of her sin.
And you need to be aware of this, because this is a tenet, and that's what's symbolized
here.
It's a tendency that when people are in sin, they want to get you into their sin to make
themselves feel better about themselves, and so that they don't feel like they're just
alone in their condemnation, and that they're just all by themselves, no, they want to get
other people involved too, all the way back to Adam and Eve, and, you know, hey, you need
to start smoking too, that way you won't tattle on me, and that way you won't judge me because
you're doing the same thing.
And you know what I've noticed too, and this is wicked, I've noticed that people who are
divorced, it's like they secretly want their kids to get divorced.
It's true, I mean, I'm not saying everybody, obviously, but I've seen it, where people
are counseling their daughters and sons, you know, they're divorced, and then they're telling
them, oh yeah, you need to leave him, or you need to leave her, and blah, blah, blah.
It's almost like they want their kids to follow in their same footsteps.
Now look, I want my kids to follow in my footsteps concerning that which is right, but if I make
mistakes or commit sin or do bad things, I don't want them to be just like me in that,
you know, you want them to learn from your mistakes and not do those things, you know,
and if you've been divorced, you know, you should do everything you can to counsel your
children not to get divorced.
You know, you've made that mistake, but you shouldn't want other people to make the same
mistake, but yet I've seen it, I've seen parents that were like that, and it's wicked to just
wish other people to do the same things that you've done, just to partake of your sin,
and you know, brothers and sisters will get their siblings in on the sin, you know, just
like I did, right?
Hey, let's all go to the playground, they can't punish us all, and you know, brothers
and sisters, schoolmates, whatever, you know, we need to be careful that number one, when
we commit sin, that we don't try to get other people to do it too, and number two, we need
to make sure that we don't let other people drag us into their sins, and we need to be
able to recognize this and say, wait a minute, you're counseling me against my wife or against
my husband?
It's like, wait a minute, you're divorced, and now you're telling me to divorce my husband
or divorce my, you know, we need to be able to see this coming and understand that sometimes
when people are giving us advice, it's not the right advice, but that they're just trying
to involve us in their sins.
Or they'll try to condone of things that we know are wrong, oh, it's fine, it's because
they're doing it, that's why they're telling you that it's fine.
They want to get you involved in the same sin to make themself feel better, okay?
So he's saying, hey, let's all do it, let's get everybody involved.
And of course, you know, he's just playing games, he's acting here, but it still is symbolic
of that.
But that's why this advice resonates, because keep in mind, even though Hushai is playing
games, why is it that all the men of Israel are like, oh yeah, that's a great idea, yeah,
your counsel's better than Hithophel's, why?
Because they want to get everybody involved in the sin.
Because think about it, isn't it a sin to go kill an innocent man?
What has David done to these people to deserve to be killed?
Just by existing, just because they want to dethrone him and put Absalom on the throne,
because he stole the hearts of the men of Israel.
Now all of a sudden, David's their enemy for no good reason, even though David has done
nothing but good to them.
So that's a wicked sin, and whenever Hushai gets up and makes this bad advice, it resonates
with them, because they're thinking to themselves, yeah, we want to get other people involved
in our sin, let's get everybody involved, everybody's got their hands dirty, and we're
all in this together, it'll solidify the resolve of the people.
So they go with that advice, and they say, yeah, it's better than Hithophel's advice.
And they say, we're gonna go kill him, we're gonna tear down whatever city he's in, we'll
drag every last stone of it and throw it into the river, I mean, what are these people doing?
But this is where rebellion can lead you, when you rebel against God's legitimate authority,
you get into all this stuff.
And look, a lot of times because we believe in libertarian political principles in the
sense that we believe that our government should be similar to the government that God
ordained, which is an extremely minimal government, and we don't believe in this big overarching,
powerful government that dictates every aspect of our lives and taxes us to death, and this
globalism and internationalism and one-worldism of bringing us all under the yoke of the United
Nations, instead of just being under our own government here in the United States, instead
it's becoming that we're just kind of a branch of this world government, and so forth.
Just because we believe that though, a lot of times people, they get so excited about
being for freedom and liberty and against the big out-of-control government, that then
they just start rebelling against legitimate authority in their lives.
And you know what?
That's where you're going too far, and that's where you're in violation of scripture.
Because the Bible does teach that we do have legitimate authorities in our lives.
First of all, the government does have some legitimate authority over us when it comes
to punishing things like stealing and assaulting innocent people, and there are things that
God lays out where the government should be involved.
But some people, they throw out the baby with the bathwater.
You know, there are people who think that the government should have nothing to do with
marriage or divorce or adultery or anything, but yet that's one of the few things that
God did give the government authority in.
But it's just they get so zealous of it, they stop listening to the Bible and just start
getting real zealous of being a libertarian.
Well, great.
You know what?
Be a libertarian if that's what you want to call it, because the Bible says where the
Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty, but you better be following the Bible.
You know, and I've articulated things from the Bible and people say, well, you're not
a true libertarian then.
Well, fine.
So what?
I'm a Baptist.
I'm a Christian.
You know, I'm a true libertarian because where the Spirit of the Lord is, there's liberty.
And the true believers in liberty.
These stupid bunch of anarchists who call themselves, you know, oh, we're the true libertarian,
the anarcho-capitalist, blah, blah.
Their stupid anarchic utopia will never exist, it cannot exist, and it leads to communism
and it leads to totalitarian government every time.
Because when you have that void, that power void, evil people come in and fill that void
and rule over you.
And the only way, according to the Bible, that you're ever going to have freedom and
liberty is when you're righteous.
See, God's people, when they were righteous, they had freedom.
And when they went into sin, they went into bondage, didn't they?
Yeah.
And here's the thing.
You don't want to fall into the trap that the devil has laid because you have to understand
that totalitarian government, they want to take the place of God in our lives.
And so these so-called atheistic libertarians or anarchists or whatever they want to call
themselves who are against God and against the Lord, you know, they are not on the side
of true liberty and they are not our allies in anything because of the fact that first
of all, when you're anti-God, you're anti-liberty, period.
And number two, they're stupid, oh yeah, we're going to fix everything and it's going to
be great.
No, it isn't.
It leads to the collapse of order and it leads to communism and totalitarianism coming in
and filling that void.
You see, even if you study the principles of communism, they claim it's an anarchic
system.
They claim like, oh, in the end, when we reach communism, there will be no government, okay?
So you have to be careful not to get sucked into stupid philosophies, okay?
And by the way, this anarcho-capitalism can also lead into feudalism.
But you know, people just follow these trends.
No, this is not a trend.
This is the Bible.
This is the word of God.
This is the system of government.
Everything that we believe politically, economically, legally should come from this book.
This is the absolute truth on every subject.
This is the truth right here.
And so these people that are just, they're the libertarians and so forth, but when they
attack God's authority, and I've even heard many of these hardcore libertarians and anarcho-capitalists,
I've even heard them attack the authority of parents over their children.
Now this is foolishness because if you don't have parents with authority over their children,
if you don't have God in authority over our lives with rules of thou shalt not steal,
thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not commit adultery, then your libertarian system cannot
exist because liberty can only exist amongst people who are moral and self-governing and
have family structure and church structure and marriage structure in place to govern
themselves.
And people who do not govern themselves will be governed by someone else.
And see, totalitarian government, whether it's the communists or anybody else throughout
history, they've always destroyed all authority outside of themselves.
Have you noticed, and it's funny how people, some of these stupid libertarians will also
say, oh, you know, Christianity is a tool of government control.
Oh really, is that why it's banned by totalitarian governments?
It's amazing how Kim Jong-Il didn't tap into this control method.
It's funny how Joseph Stalin didn't tap into this power right here.
No, because this book brings liberty and freedom.
And totalitarian governments hate this book.
Why?
Because they want to be in authority and have all the power, so they want to attack all
other forms of authority.
So as a government gets out of control and when they start taking too much power and
becoming statists and totalitarian, then what they'll do, first of all, they'll attack God's
authority in our lives.
Because they want to be God.
So they'll begin to tear down God, and that's what our school system is doing right now
with the atheism and godlessness that's being taught.
But then not only that, they want to tear down the authority of parents over their children.
They want to have control of the children.
They want the parents to be afraid of the children.
They want the children to be trained in government schools and indoctrinated in their way of
thinking, and not to be raised by their parents.
Look at the other institutions.
They want to attack the authority of the church in our lives.
They want to attack the authority of God.
They want to attack the authority of parents.
And then they want to attack the authority of husbands over their wives.
So they bring in feminism.
You know, so there's no authority of a husband in his home anymore, or of a father and a
mother over their children.
And then not only that, they'll even attack the authority that a boss has over his employees.
And think about how that happens in communism, where it's the dictatorship of the proletariat,
and it's the workers who tell the boss how it's going to be at the job, and it's supposedly
the workers that are in charge and so forth.
And it's backwards.
This is what labor unions do, you know, where they put the worker in the driver's seat instead
of the boss, instead of the owner of the company, turn it upside down.
Not only that, think about now how bosses are being forced to do things for their employees
that they don't agree with, you know, providing them with birth control that they don't want
to provide or whatever else.
And then think about now how employers are told, hey, you have to hire homosexuals.
You don't want to hire them?
Tough.
You have to hire them.
You have to hire a wheelchair.
Instead of giving that boss of a company who is the owner, you know, the authority to hire
whoever he wants.
And fire whoever he wants for whatever reason he wants because he's the boss.
This is how government that is out of bounds, totalitarian government, attacks every single
biblical authority in our lives.
Go down the list, parents, husbands, bosses at work, the pastor of the church, God himself,
the word of God, all of these authorities are torn down by a government that's out of
control.
And if you look at our nation when our nation had freedom, all of those things were affirmed.
The husband's role was affirmed.
The parents were affirmed.
God was affirmed.
The Bible was affirmed.
The boss at work is affirmed, okay?
So if you think that you're this political libertarian, as you sit there and attack God's
authority, attack husband's authority, attack parent's authority, attack the pastor's authority,
attack all the different authorities that are legitimate and bona fide, you know what?
You're not a real libertarian and you're part of the problem at that point.
Think about that.
You're actually falling into the trap where the government could use you as a useful idiot
to promote godlessness, feminism, rebellion against parents, because those are all things
that play right into their hands.
Because listen, there will always be an authority.
The stupid communist utopia doesn't exist.
See, a lot of people don't realize the communist countries that we would think of, you know,
the Soviet Union in the past, the People's Republic of China, Vietnam, North Korea.
You know what they would tell you is they would say we're not communists, but they're
moving toward communism.
They say right now we're socialists.
That's why it was called the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, okay?
Because they're socialists, but they're like we're moving toward communism.
We're building communism.
Because communism is this pipe dream that you never arrive at.
It never can exist, it never will exist, it never has existed.
But the goal was to get to this point where they don't need the government anymore.
Look, there will never be a time on this planet where there will be no government.
You know, somebody explain that to Adam Kokesh and all these people who think that oh, we're
going to learn liberty and it's going to be great and it's going to be a paradise of libertarianism.
It's not going to happen.
You know why?
Because man is a sinner.
And there are evil people on this earth.
And somebody will always come in and take power and be in charge.
And that's why there will be no world peace until Jesus comes.
And when Jesus comes, there will be a government.
The Bible says the government shall be upon his shoulders.
Jesus Christ will rule and reign with a rod of iron.
Not with a wet spaghetti noodle, but with a rod of iron.
He will rule.
He will reign.
There has to be a leader.
And listen, if there's no leader in the church, then there's a power vacuum.
Bad people will come in and take over.
If there's no leader in the home, then bad people will lead your children.
Bad people will lead your wife.
Bad people will always step in and take over because bad people love to take power for
themselves and abuse it.
And so we don't want to fall into this trap of rebelling against legitimate authorities
in our lives.
Just because there are governments and authorities that are out of bounds, yeah that's great.
I'm all for taking a stand against government that's out of control and out of bounds.
And standing up for the liberties that we were born with.
And that the law, the actual du jour law says we have, even though the de facto law says
we don't.
I'm all for standing up for that, but you know what, when you're standing up against
your parents and standing up against your husband and standing up against the boss at
work and standing up to the pastor and standing up to everybody else, you're out of bounds
at that point.
It's stupid.
So you need to be wise about what is appropriate and what is not.
And the thing about this story is that David was anointed by God.
There was no reason to be overthrowing him, killing him, and there's no record of David
abusing the people at all.
Other kings, the Bible will tell us, sometimes oppress the people.
You don't see that with David.
You don't see him being an oppressor.
You see him being a good leader.
Of course, Absalom pointed out a few weaknesses in his leadership.
If you look for fault, you're going to find something.
But honestly, I don't think David was a bad king at all.
He was a great king and a godly king, but these people are led away in this wicked rebellion
and now they want to get everybody involved in their sin and now they're just on this
murderous rampage to go kill David and whatever town tries to harbor him, they're ready to
just rip it down and throw it in the river.
Why?
Let's keep reading the story.
It says in verse number 14, and Absalom and all the men of Israel said, the council of
Hushai the Archite is better than the council of Ahithophel, for the Lord had appointed
to defeat the good council of Ahithophel to the intent that the Lord might bring evil
upon Absalom.
So God is working behind the scenes here to make sure that David ends up being preserved
and that Absalom ends up being destroyed.
He's working behind the scenes and making sure that everything goes that way.
See God can protect us, even when people turn on us and fight us, God can still protect
us and keep us safe.
It says in verse number 15, then said Hushai unto Zadok and Abiathar the priest, thus and
thus did it hit the foul council, Absalom and the elders of Israel, and thus and thus
have I counseled.
Now therefore, saying 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.
So they're warning David.
Now Jonathan and Ahimeas stayed by Enrogal, 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, Eliath saw them and told Absalom, but they went both of them away quickly and
came to a man's house in Bahirim, which had a well in his court, whither they went down.
So these guys are trying to get out of the city, somebody sees them, and they're trying
to escape, and they're on the run, so they jump inside of a well to hide.
And it says in verse 19, and the woman took and spread a covering on the well's mouth,
and spread ground corn thereon, and the thing was not known.
So she covers the well, and then she sprinkles like dirt and corn and everything, just to
make it look like that cover had been there for a long time, and there's just kind of
messed up sitting on it and everything.
So then they fall for that, and they don't know that the guys are down the well.
And when Absalom's servants came to the woman to the house, they said, Where is Ahimeas
and Jonathan?
And the woman said unto them, Oh, they be gone over the brook of water.
Of course, they're down the well.
And when they had sought and could not find him, 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 counseled 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 got him home to his house and to his city, and put his household in order, and hanged
himself and died, and was buried in the sepulcher of his father.
So because David gets the message, this gives them time to cross over the Jordan River,
put that body of water between them and Absalom to give them time to regroup, to make a plan,
to eat, to be refreshed, and to get ready to fight and to win.
It bought them that extra time.
Ahithophel sees that, and he sees that his counsel was not followed.
He goes out and kills himself because he knows that they're doomed.
He knows they're following stupid advice.
They should have done what he said.
They should have got while the getting was good.
You know, get in there and defeat him, you know, before it's too late.
But of course it was of the Lord, because, you know, the Lord was preserving David with
so ever he goes.
You know, this reminds, it's funny, I read, you know, speaking of all the communists and
everything, I read, and you know what, you know what I want to say to these atheists
too?
Which atheist country has so much liberty and low taxes and freedom?
Is our country founded by atheists?
And you can sit there and say, oh, they weren't saved and they, okay, they weren't saved,
but were they atheists?
No.
No, they weren't.
Okay.
And you know what, even if, even if some of the people at the top had some shady beliefs
and whatever, the bottom line is that the average Joe in this country in the past believed
the Bible and, and, and respected God.
You know, even today in America, there, you'll probably run into more saved people in America
than anywhere else in the world, you know, except maybe certain places, maybe the Philippines
or in Africa where there are a lot of Christians in certain places.
But honestly in America, I mean, there are a lot of people saved here and in the past
has been even more that were saved.
And so, you know, that's why God has blessed our country and why we had freedom was because
of the Christians in our country, the people that were saved.
Show me the atheist country that's so wonderful.
And of course people point out, oh, you know, Norway and Sweden, you know, these tiny countries
that have barely anybody in them and where the taxes are through the roof.
And you know, they'll point to Norway, Norway is 95% Lutheran.
Is that, and that's atheist how?
When you're 95% Lutheran, that's not called being an atheist.
Well but Sweden, 60% Lutheran.
That's an atheist country.
No, here's an atheist country, North Korea.
Here's an atheist country, the People's Republic of China.
Here's an atheist country, the Soviet Union, okay.
But oh yeah, you know, he's great.
But you know, speaking of that, it's amazing.
I read a really good biography of Mao Tse Tung, who was one of the most evil people
who's ever lived.
And this is the guy who was responsible for just tens of millions of deaths.
You know, 40 some million starved to death, let alone the tens of millions that he executed
in communist China.
But you know, there was a time when Mao Tse Tung was on the run and being defeated and
he was losing and he had nowhere else to go.
He was being pushed back by the nationalist Chinese led by Chiang Kai-Shek and they had
Mao Tse Tung back against the wall, back into the corner, pushed up against the border of
China where he had nowhere to go.
They controlled 90 some percent of the country.
He's just in this little sliver of land.
And just when Chiang Kai-Shek was going to deliver the death blow and just end Mao Tse
Tung and the communist Red Army, the United States ordered Chiang Kai-Shek to stand down
and let them keep that one part that they had, that little tiny sliver where Mao was.
Let them have that.
And they said, if you don't, you know, we won't support you anymore, Chiang Kai-Shek.
The United States, by tying the hands of Chiang Kai-Shek from defeating, and I'm not saying
he was a great guy, but from defeating Mao Tse Tung, one of the most evil dictators who,
I mean, he gets the award for the most deaths in the 20th century, Mao Tse Tung.
You know, Joseph Stalin's the runner up, you know, for that prize of, you know, burning
in the lowest hell or whatever.
But, you know, Mao Tse Tung, responsible for tens of millions of, scores of millions of
deaths, you know, could have been defeated, but basically, you know, the United States
told him, hey, stand down.
And you know what that allowed?
Mao Tse Tung to do was basically to regroup, he got new supply lines in, he got better
weapons, he got the, you know, from the Soviet Union, you know, the Soviet Union was setting
him up with weapons and propping him up and they were able to get the training from the
Soviet Union and regroup and then slowly they were able to come back and take it back and
defeat Chiang Kai-Shek, send him to Taiwan and take over the whole country and the rest
is history.
You know, that's the thing here, where Ahithophel is saying, and obviously the role is reversed
because David's the good guy, but that's what Ahithophel is saying.
We need to just go in there and just wipe him out while he's tired.
Wipe him out while he's on the run.
Don't give him time to regroup.
But then what does he do?
He stands down, they get across the river, they regroup, they get the soldiers organized,
they get them fed, and they're going to come back and win it.
Find my place here in the chapter, verse, what's that?
24.
Yeah, that's right, because in 23 Ahithophel hanged himself.
Also this is somewhat symbolic of Judas Iscariot, because Ahithophel is a Judas, because he's
betrayed whom?
David.
David, you know, he was David's counselor and he betrayed him.
And remember what it says of Judas Iscariot?
He was guide to them that took Jesus.
You remember how he's described that way?
And what's Ahithophel?
He's a guide unto Ahithophel.
And so he, like Judas, goes out and hangs himself, okay.
It's just interesting how there's so much foreshadowing of the events of the life of
Christ all throughout the Bible, no matter what book you're in, it's always foreshadowing
and pointing us to the story of Christ.
David crosses the brook Kidron, and the guide, the betrayer, goes out and hangs himself.
You know, again, symbolic of Judas Iscariot.
Now of course this is one of the few suicides in the Bible.
The Bible records very few people who committed suicide, but it does tell us about some.
And you know, a lot of people have this thing of, hey, if you commit suicide, you're going
to hell.
But honestly, the Bible doesn't teach that anywhere.
Suicide is obviously not something that God would ever want us to do.
It's a wicked thing to do.
But there are people in the Bible who committed suicide who went to heaven, which of course
Judas Iscariot is not one of them.
Of course Judas Iscariot was called the son of perdition.
But see, a lot of people say, oh, Judas loses salvation, lost his salvation.
No, because Judas was never saved.
And the Bible's real clear about that.
Even early in Jesus' ministry, he says, have not I chosen you twelve and one of you is
a devil?
In John 6, early in his ministry.
And he said, early in his ministry, there be some of you that believe not.
That was the problem with Judas.
He said there be some of you that believe not, and he said for Jesus knew who it was
that believed not and who would betray him.
And so Judas did not believe the Bible's crystal clear in John 6 and that he was a devil even
early on.
He said, have not I chosen you twelve and one of you is a devil?
So Judas did not lose his salvation.
You can't lose your salvation.
Judas was never saved in the first place.
Judas died and went to hell.
He was the son of perdition.
It would have been better for him if he'd never been born.
And of course he's in hell right now.
But there were people in the Bible who committed suicide who were not in hell.
Like for example, King Saul, not in hell.
King Saul, you know, committed suicide.
And Samuel the prophet said, tomorrow shall thou and thy sons come and be with me.
Because he's going to die and go to be with Samuel.
Well Samuel wasn't in hell.
Samuel was in heaven.
And so he's saying you're going to come be with me.
Also another person who committed suicide was Samson.
You know, and he's listed in Hebrews 11 as being one of the great cloud of witnesses.
You know, as being one of the men of faith, the great hall of faith in Hebrews 11.
Of course he was saved and he committed suicide.
And you know, it's just something that's Catholic.
Hey, if you commit suicide, you'll never make it to heaven.
Well, you know, that's not biblical.
It's a sin like anything else.
It's a horrible thing to do, especially horrible to the people that you leave behind.
It's a very selfish, horrible thing to do for them.
But it is not going to send you to hell.
That is a false doctrine.
It's not something to be praised either like the, you know, the Buddhists.
Remember the Buddhists?
They were lighting themselves on fire.
You know, that's not a noble thing to do.
But the Bible says that he hanged himself and he was buried in the sepulchre of his
father.
Now, look, why did he hang himself?
Oh, he saw that his council was not followed, so he went and got his house in order and
hanged himself.
You know, if you give people advice and they don't take it, don't freak out, you know.
But isn't that what some people do?
Some people, you give them advice and, you know, you don't really care if they take it
or leave it.
You give somebody advice and they decide to go a different route, okay, that's fine.
Now, what I don't do though is someone will come to me with a certain problem and then
I give them advice on how to fix it and then they come back to me and say, Pastor, I still
have that problem.
What do I do?
And they haven't done what I told them.
Did you do what I told you last time?
Well, why are you coming back to me?
You know, it doesn't make sense to come back to me with the same problem after I already
gave you the solution.
You don't want to follow it and you're just like, well, give me another answer, give me
something different.
No, I'm not going to give you something different.
I only have one answer, the right answer, you know.
Anyway, I'm just saying.
But here's the thing, if I give somebody advice, if somebody asks me, hey, you know, and it's
not really like a moral issue, sometimes you just advise, you know, should I take door
number one or door number two and, you know, they're just kind of looking for advice and
I say, you know, I'd probably go with door number one and then they end up going with
door number two.
There's no reason to get angry or upset about that.
But some people, they can give you, you can get advice from them and ask them for advice
and you know that whether you take it or don't, they're going to be okay with that.
And then you're more likely to go ask that person for advice again.
But then some people are like, they're only going to give you advice if you're going to
for sure do what they say.
And it's like, well, whoa, I don't want to ask you for advice then.
Because I'm like committing to follow it before I've even heard it.
You know, it's silly when you get mad when people don't take your advice.
And sometimes people are getting different advice from different people and they're going
to weigh their options.
They might decide to go another route.
It's okay.
I hit the fell.
You don't have to go out and hang yourself and freak out and, you know, I mean, there's
really never any reason to hang yourself, okay.
But you know, don't freak out when people don't take your advice.
Just get over it.
It's okay.
You know, people take it personally.
Like it's an insult.
Like, oh, he doesn't think my advice is good, you know.
And look, if you want to come ask me for advice, I'm not going to freak out if you don't take
my advice.
But if you come and ask me what to do and I tell you and then you still have the same
issue then I'm at that point it almost could seem like you're just wasting my time though,
you know.
But I'm not going to sit there and just demand that anybody who asks me for advice follow
my advice.
Because advice is just that.
I mean, it's just advice.
It's just an option.
It's just something to think about.
And sometimes people that are smart people and good people, sometimes the advice they
give you is not the right advice just because they don't really know the whole situation.
I mean, when people ask me for advice, sometimes it's hard for me because I'm not really there
in the thick of it and I'm only getting part of the story.
It's hard for me to even give the right advice, you know.
I'm not like a Hithophel where everything I say it's like you ask God or something.
But the Bible says in verse 24, then David came to Mahanaim and Absalom passed over Jordan,
he and all the men of Israel with him.
And Absalom made Amasa captain of the host instead of Joab, which Amasa was a man's son
whose name was Ithra, an Israelite, that went in to Abigail, the daughter of Nahash, sisters
to Zeruiah, Joab's mother.
So basically Amasa is David's, you know, sister's mother's, you know, barber's former roommate's
cousin.
Basically it's just saying that they are loosely related, okay.
This is explaining, you know, a little bit of a distant relationship there of Amasa and
David.
That's who's the captain of Absalom's host instead of Joab because Joab has gone with
David and been loyal to David.
So Israel and Absalom pitched in the land of Gilead and it came to pass when David was
come to Mahanaim that Shobai, the son of Nahash of Rabbah, of the children of Ammon and Makar,
the son of Amule of Lodabar and Barzillai, the Gileadite of Rogalim, brought beds and
basins and earthen vessels and wheat and barley and flour and parched corn and beans and lentils
and parched pulse and honey and butter and sheep and cheese of kind for David and for
the people that were with him to eat.
For they said the people is hungry and weary and thirsty in the wilderness.
So what we see in this last section here is just God is providing and God's even using
some unlikely sources to provide.
Even this son of Nahash of Rabbah of the children of Ammon, that would have been a former enemy
of David.
Okay, remember that story with Nahash?
And so God can provide for us in our time of need as long as we love the Lord and seek
first the kingdom of God.
The Bible says that he will provide for all our needs according to his riches and glory
by Christ Jesus.
And so here David, even in the wilderness, the Bible asks the question, can God furnish
the table in the wilderness?
Yes.
I mean, God rained manna from heaven and fed the children of Israel.
God can and will supply our needs.
We don't need to worry about where our food and drink will come from.
As long as we go out and labor six days and work hard, you know, God is going to provide
us with what we need.
And here God provides for David even from some unlikely sources and he provides good
things.
I mean, it's not even just a ration of bread and water.
He's providing butter and honey.
You know, God will often provide us with nice things.
If we wait on the Lord and trust him, he'll provide us with good things.
And so he's getting these nice things in the wilderness and, you know, also, you know,
it comes from a source that you wouldn't expect.
And I think God will often sometimes bring us blessings from a strange source just so
that we'll know that it's coming from him.
You know, this has to be God, you know, when, you know, Nahash's, you know, relatives
are bringing me stuff.
You know, so it's just another testament to, you know, the goodness of God here.
And so what we learn from this story, obviously, just the wickedness of the rebels and the
fact that they want to get everybody involved in their sin and they're coming after David,
but God's not going to bless it.
So God confounds their good plan and gives David enough time to get across the river,
get refreshed, get some butter and honey in him, and, you know, he's ready to come
back and destroy the enemy.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord, and all the lessons that are there.
And please help us to keep reading and keep studying and learning these stories because
they do have a spiritual meaning and they do have relevance and application in our lives
today, Lord.
Help us to be wise and to learn everything that the Bible has for us and to implement
these teachings in our lives.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.