The Counsel of Ahithophel

Adenike Morounke Adebola

20/10/2014

"And the counsel of Ahithophel, which he counselled in those days, was as if a man had enquired at the oracle of God: so was all the counsel of Ahithophel both with David and with Absalom." (2 Samuel 16:23).

"And one told David, saying, Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom. And David said, O LORD, I pray thee, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness. And it came to pass, that when David was come to the top of the mount, where he worshipped God, behold, Hushai the Archite came to meet him with his coat rent, and earth upon his head: Unto whom David said, If thou passest on with me, then thou shalt be a burden unto me: But if thou return to the city, and say unto Absalom, I will be thy servant, O king; as I have been thy father’s servant hitherto, so will I now also be thy servant: then mayest thou for me defeat the counsel of Ahithophel." (2 Samuel 15:31-34).

"And Hushai said unto Absalom, The counsel that Ahithophel hath given is not good at this time... 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...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 17:7,14,23).

These are scriptures I've been chewing on. I believe there is a lot to learn as wives and mothers who will seek counsel at one point or the other in our lives. I believe there is a lot to learn as well as ministers that counsel people in the valley of decision.

From the first scripture, I see that Absalom and David had, without meaning to, substituted enquiring at the oracle of God with getting the counsel of Ahithophel over time. I believe that initially, Ahithophel's counsel was based on enquiring at the oracle of God but along the way, Ahithophel began to give HIS own counsel. He sided with Absalom against the Lord's annointed. He was still giving 'wise' counsel but it was not based on what the Lord was saying. He had begun speaking from human wisdom but neither he, David nor Absalom realised that...There is some speculation that Absalom was Bathsheba's grandfather. Putting 2 Samuel 11:3 and 2 Samuel 23:34 suggests so. The story has it that Ahithophel did not forgive David for what he did with Bathsheba. True? False? We don't know. All we know is that Ahithophel had taken the place of God in David and Absalom's lives.  Thank God for Absalom's rebellion that revealed Ahithophel's true character...

When David's eyes were opened to see the kind of person Ahithophel was and how powerful he was, David realised that only God could defeat the counsel of Ahithophel...So, he prayed to God! I find it interesting that Hushai (another counsellor) was God's answer to David's prayer in the preceding verse. Hushai did not even come to David as a counsellor; he didn't look like it! David did not need Ahithophel to tell him that Hushai was the answer to David's prayer! Sometimes, God's answers come from the most unexpected places. May God help us look away from our pre-conceived ideas of how God's answers will come and be spiritually alert to God's answers, in Jesus' Name.

We can see in the last scripture that Ahithophel was too consumed with self-importance and pride. He probably started out right but he had become too full of himself to be of use to anyone. He did not realise when he had turned himself to God's enemy whilst using the gift that God had given him...I pray that we will always say with John, as counsellors, "He must increase, but I must decrease." (John 3:30).

"For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts." (Malachi 2:7).

In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with giving an opinion on a matter, but we need to let those being counselled know that these opinions are not 'Thus saith the Lord'. The best, in my opinion, is to ask the Lord before we begin to speak...

It's a beautiful afternoon here in Lagos...Enjoy your day...