2 Samuel 17

(2 Samuel 17)ver. 1—29. Ahithophel’s counsel elected by Hushai.—The opposite counsels of Ahithophel and Hushai, are now fairly brought before us. Little did the former think, when he advised Absalom to defile his father’s concubines, and as little did Absalom think, when he thus indulged his lust, that this was the express fulfilment of a prophetic threat: ((2 Samuel 12:12).) “I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.” Our sins, as well as our charities, may be committed in secret, but they shall be rewarded openly. ((Matthew 6:4).; x. 26.) Whatever becomes of man’s counsels, “the counsel of God standeth sure.” In the first instance, the counsel of Ahithophel was followed, because it agreed with the designs of providence; but in the second instance it did not so agree, and was consulted as a sacred oracle; but when any man’s advice becomes inconsistent with the purpose of God, then “‘He turneth the wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish.”

((Isaiah 44:25).) Thus it was with Ahithophel. Whether it were that his pride was mortified, that the advice of Hushai was preferred before his, or whether he had the discernment to see the cause of Absalom was now lost, we cannot say; but the event was, that he went home and hanged himself; and as this was the first instance of deliberate suicide, so far as we recollect, recorded in the Scriptures, it calls for a distinct notice. This man went home, and “put his household in order,” whereas Saul and others fell in the field of battle, and did not commit the fatal act till all hope of life was over. The causes of suicide may be reduced to two principal ones, pride and despair, which seem to have been united in the present instance, and perhaps in most others; for where there is a despair of getting through difficulties, there is also generally too much pride to submit patiently to bear them.

Persons in desperate circumstances, when they lose the hope of surmounting them. So when the affections are crossed by the denial of a beloved object, while they have no hope, they have also no submission. What they cannot expect to gain, they cannot bear to lose. Now Christianity has the only remedy for these evils. It teaches us to despair of nothing, for God is able to deliver us out of every trial, or to support us under it. And as to submission, we are taught to “‘humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God;” to consider all things as working together for our good, and to remember, that whatever we may lose on earth, we have “in heaven a better and more enduring substance.” These and many other considerations arising out of the Christian system, are calculated to support the mind under trials; while, on the other hand, the precepts of Christianity absolutely forbid our taking the remedy into our own hands.

“Do thyself no harm,” was the admonition of the apostle to the jailer, ((Acts 16:28).) and presumptuous indeed must that man be, who, knowing himself to be a sinner, dares to rush uncalled before the judgment-seat of God.

Notes on the verses

Chap. XVII. Ver. 2. I will smite the king only.—Absalom’s approval of this, shows that he was not very tender of his father’s life; and that he cared not what became of him, so that he got the throne.

Ver. 3. The man whom thou seekest.—That is, David; if he be slain, then all Israel will fly to thee.

Ver. 8. Chafed in their minds.—See Margin. A bear robbed of her whelps, is the most furious of all creatures.

Ver. 11. As the sand.—{This hyperbole of Hushai’s is comparatively tame when compared with the one given by Wilkins, in a translation from the Sanscrit, who mentions an eastern monarch “whose innumerable army, when it moved, so filled the heavens with the dust of their feet, that the birds of the air could not rest upon it.

His elephants moved like walking mountains, and the earth, oppressed by their weight, mouldered into dust.”}—Bagster.

Ver. 12. Light upon him as dew.—(This is a very beautiful and expressive figure. The dew in Palestine, and other warm climates, falls fast, sudden, and heavy; and it falls upon every spot of earth, so that not a blade of grass escapes it. It is therefore no inapt emblem of a numerous and active army; and it was, perhaps, for this reason, that the Romans called their light-armed forces rorarii.)—Bagster.

Ver. 13. Shall bring ropes to that city.—This is highly hyperbolical, or perbombastic; for such expressions please the multitude. Yet thus the king aturin in Java seriously proposed pulling down a tower which the Dutch had built, by making his people and elephants pull at a number of chains and ropes, thrown over it.—Orient. Lit. No. 508.

Ver. 17. A wench.—In all other places, our translators render the original either handmaid, bondmaid, or the like.

Ver. 28. Brought beds.—That is, skins, carpets, &c.—Basins.—Probably wooden bowls, such as the Arabs still use to eat their bread in and knead their dough.—Earthen vessels.—[Keley yotzair, literally, “vessels of the potter.” So when Dr. Perry visited the temple of Luxor, in Egypt, he says, “We were entertained by the Caliph here with great civility and favour; he sent us in return of our presents, several sheep, a good quantity of eggs, bardacks,” &c. The bardacks, he informs us, were earthen vessels, used “to cool and refresh their water in, by means of which it drinks very cool and pleasant in the hottest seasons of the year.” (p. 339, 340.) See Harmer, ch. vi. Ob. 3.—‘And wheat.—Jones says, “Travellers use zumeet, tumeet, and limereece. Zumeet is flour mixed with honey, butter, and spice; tumeet is flour, done up with organ oil; and léimereece is flour mixed with water, for k. This quenches thirst much better than water alone; satisfies a hungry appetite; cools and refreshes tired and weary spirits.” &c.}—Bagster.

Parched corn.—See note on (Ruth 2:14).