When Absalom rebelled against his father, King David, and tried to take his throne, Ahithophel (who had been one of David\u2019s trusted counselors), defected from David to Absalom. He advised Absalom to go into his father\u2019s concubines to show all of Israel that he was taking the throne from his father. Ahithophel believed David would never forgive such a public insult, thus ensuring that Absalom could never regain David\u2019s favor.<\/p>\n
Ahithophel wasn\u2019t just throwing gasoline on the fire of bitterness between David and his son Absalom, he was also making sure that by helping Absalom take hold of the throne, his new king would feel indebted to him. Although there was a kind of shrewd wisdom in his actions, Ahithophel was moving without God; and in final analysis, he was being unbelievably foolish. By ignoring God’s anointing on David as king, he was ignoring God and endangering his own life. Even though his counsel was as if he \u201chad inquired at the oracle of God,\u201d it wasn’t wise counsel from God, and in the end he was exposed.<\/p>\n
How we need to guard against becoming a little too clever as we mature in our walk with God. Ungodly self-confidence always seems to be lurking just around the corner, waiting to grab us when we least expect it. Ahithophel had a public reputation for being a good counselor but that was only because he had been submitted to God Almighty. After turning away from God, it didn\u2019t take long for it to be revealed that his wisdom<\/em> was flawed.<\/p>\n “LORD, we do not want to ‘act’ wise today, but instead we desire to find true wisdom from You.” =============================================================<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1 Samuel 16 KJV<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1<\/sup> And the LORD said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill thine horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Beth-lehemite: for I have provided me a king among his sons. 2<\/sup> And Samuel said, How can I go? if Saul hear it <\/em>, he will kill me. And the LORD said, Take an heifer with thee, and say, I am come to sacrifice to the LORD. 3<\/sup> And call Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will shew thee what thou shalt do: and thou shalt anoint unto me him <\/em>whom I name unto thee. 4<\/sup> And Samuel did that which the LORD spake, and came to Beth-lehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his coming, and said, Comest thou peaceably? 5<\/sup> And he said, Peaceably: I am come to sacrifice unto the LORD: sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice. And he sanctified Jesse and his sons, and called them to the sacrifice. 6<\/sup> And it came to pass, when they were come, that he looked on Eliab, and said, Surely the LORD\u2019S anointed is <\/em>before him. 7<\/sup> But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth<\/em>not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart. 8<\/sup> Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, Neither hath the LORD chosen this. 9<\/sup> Then Jesse made Shammah to pass by. And he said, Neither hath the LORD chosen this. 10<\/sup> Again, Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel. And Samuel said unto Jesse, The LORD hath not chosen these. 11<\/sup> And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all thy <\/em>children? And he said, There remaineth yet the youngest, and, behold, he keepeth the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him: for we will not sit down till he come hither. 12<\/sup> And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was<\/em> ruddy, and<\/em>withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. And the LORD said, Arise, anoint him: for this is <\/em>he. 13<\/sup> Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah. 14<\/sup> But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him. 15<\/sup> And Saul\u2019s servants said unto him, Behold now, an evil spirit from God troubleth thee. 16<\/sup> Let our lord now command thy servants, which are <\/em>before thee, to seek out a man, who is <\/em>a cunning player on an harp: and it shall come to pass, when the evil spirit from God is upon thee, that he shall play with his hand, and thou shalt be well. 17<\/sup> And Saul said unto his servants, Provide me now a man that can play well, and bring him <\/em>to me. 18<\/sup> Then answered one of the servants, and said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Beth-lehemite, that is<\/em>cunning in playing, and a mighty valiant man, and a man of war, and prudent in matters, and a comely person, and the LORD is <\/em>with him. 19<\/sup> Wherefore Saul sent messengers unto Jesse, and said, Send me David thy son, which is<\/em>with the sheep. 20<\/sup> And Jesse took an ass laden <\/em>with bread, and a bottle of wine, and a kid, and sent them <\/em>by David his son unto Saul. 21<\/sup> And David came to Saul, and stood before him: and he loved him greatly; and he became his armourbearer. 22<\/sup> And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, Let David, I pray thee, stand before me; for he hath found favour in my sight. 23<\/sup> And it came to pass, when the evil <\/em>spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took an harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n =============================================================<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2 Samuel 16 KJV<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1<\/sup>\u00a0And when David was a little past the top\u00a0of the hill\u00a0<\/em>, behold, Ziba the servant of Mephibosheth met him, with a couple of asses saddled, and upon them two hundred\u00a0loaves\u00a0<\/em>of bread, and an hundred bunches of raisins, and an hundred of summer fruits, and a bottle of wine.\u00a02<\/sup>\u00a0And the king said unto Ziba, What meanest thou by these? And Ziba said, The asses\u00a0be\u00a0<\/em>for the king\u2019s household to ride on; and the bread and summer fruit for the young men to eat; and the wine, that such as be faint in the wilderness may drink.\u00a03<\/sup>\u00a0And the king said, And where\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>thy master\u2019s son? And Ziba said unto the king, Behold, he abideth at Jerusalem: for he said, To day shall the house of Israel restore me the kingdom of my father.\u00a04<\/sup>\u00a0Then said the king to Ziba, Behold, thine\u00a0are\u00a0<\/em>all that\u00a0pertained\u00a0<\/em>unto Mephibosheth. And Ziba said, I humbly beseech thee\u00a0that\u00a0<\/em>I may find grace in thy sight, my lord, O king.\u00a0 5<\/sup>\u00a0And when king David came to Bahurim, behold, thence came out a man of the family of the house of Saul, whose name\u00a0was\u00a0<\/em>Shimei, the son of Gera: he came forth, and cursed still as he came.\u00a0\u00a06<\/sup>\u00a0And he cast stones at David, and at all the servants of king David: and all the people and all the mighty men\u00a0were\u00a0<\/em>on his right hand and on his left.\u00a07<\/sup>And thus said Shimei when he cursed, Come out, come out, thou bloody man, and thou man of Belial:\u00a0\u00a08<\/sup>\u00a0The\u00a0LORDhath returned upon thee all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose stead thou hast reigned; and the\u00a0LORD\u00a0hath delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom thy son: and, behold, thou\u00a0art taken\u00a0<\/em>in thy mischief, because thou\u00a0art<\/em>a bloody man.\u00a0 9<\/sup>\u00a0Then said Abishai the son of Zeruiah unto the king, Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? let me go over, I pray thee, and take off his head.\u00a010<\/sup>\u00a0And the king said, What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah? so let him curse, because the\u00a0LORD\u00a0hath said unto him, Curse David. Who shall then say, Wherefore hast thou done so?\u00a011<\/sup>\u00a0And David said to Abishai, and to all his servants, Behold, my son, which came forth of my bowels, seeketh my life: how much more now\u00a0may this\u00a0<\/em>Benjamite\u00a0do it\u00a0<\/em>? let him alone, and let him curse; for the\u00a0LORD\u00a0hath bidden him.\u00a012<\/sup>\u00a0It may be that the\u00a0LORD\u00a0will look on mine affliction, and that the\u00a0LORDwill requite me good for his cursing this day.\u00a0\u00a013<\/sup>\u00a0And as David and his men went by the way, Shimei went along on the hill\u2019s side over against him, and cursed as he went, and threw stones at him, and cast dust.\u00a0\u00a014<\/sup>\u00a0And the king, and all the people that\u00a0were\u00a0<\/em>with him, came weary, and refreshed themselves there. 15<\/sup>\u00a0And Absalom, and all the people the men of Israel, came to Jerusalem, and Ahithophel with him.\u00a016<\/sup>\u00a0And it came to pass, when Hushai the Archite, David\u2019s friend, was come unto Absalom, that Hushai said unto Absalom, God save the king, God save the king.\u00a0\u00a017<\/sup>\u00a0And Absalom said to Hushai,\u00a0Is<\/em>this thy kindness to thy friend? why wentest thou not with thy friend?\u00a018<\/sup>\u00a0And Hushai said unto Absalom, Nay; but whom the\u00a0LORD, and this people, and all the men of Israel, choose, his will I be, and with him will I abide.\u00a019<\/sup>\u00a0And again, whom should I serve?\u00a0should I\u00a0<\/em>not\u00a0serve\u00a0<\/em>in the presence of his son? as I have served in thy father\u2019s presence, so will I be in thy presence. 20<\/sup>\u00a0Then said Absalom to Ahithophel, Give counsel among you what we shall do.\u00a021<\/sup>\u00a0And Ahithophel said unto Absalom, Go in unto thy father\u2019s concubines, which he hath left to keep the house; and all Israel shall hear that thou art abhorred of thy father: then shall the hands of all that\u00a0are<\/em>with thee be strong.\u00a022<\/sup>\u00a0So they spread Absalom a tent upon the top of the house; and Absalom went in unto his father\u2019s concubines in the sight of all Israel.\u00a023<\/sup>\u00a0And the counsel of Ahithophel, which he counselled in those days,\u00a0was\u00a0<\/em>as if a man had enquired at the oracle of God: so\u00a0was\u00a0<\/em>all the counsel of Ahithophel both with David and with Absalom. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When Absalom rebelled against his father, King David, and tried to take his throne, Ahithophel (who had been one of David\u2019s trusted counselors), defected from David to Absalom. He advised Absalom to go into his father\u2019s concubines to show all of Israel that he was taking the throne from his father. Ahithophel believed David would […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6645"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6645"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6645\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16215,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6645\/revisions\/16215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n