Absalom stepped into Jerusalem
unhindered. David left the palace in haste leaving behind some concubines to
look after it. Could David have overcome Absalom and his men?
Certainly. Why then was he in such a haste to depart the palace with his
family and the 60o mighty men who followed him since his day in Gath? Here are
three reasons. Firstly, he considered God’s words to him through Nathan
and accepted what he was experiencing as part of the prescribed judgment of
God. Secondly, he did not want to confront Absalom his son. Thirdly, he still
had a deep love for Absalom despite his son’s rebellion. So Absalom with
Ahithophel, who became his son’s chief counselor, entered and annexed
Jerusalem.
Then in verse 16, Hushai, the Archite appeared before Absalom the
rebel king. Originally, Hushai wanted to leave with the deposed king. But David
persuaded him to remain in the palace to serve Absalom. He felt that
Hushai would be more useful to him if he stayed with Absalom. He could help to
negate the evil counsel of Ahithophel, as well as being his intelligence in the
palace. So Hushai concurred and came before Absalom, greeting him saying “Long live
the king! Long live the king!”. Taken by surprise, the rebel
son of David asked, “Is this your loyalty to your friend? Why did you
not go with your friend?” He appeared to doubt Hushai’s sincerity. These were logical
questions, but the counselor was too smart for him. He was able to
convince Absalom saying that his allegiance was to God and would serve the
current king and his force. he declared that just as he had served David, he
was now prepared to serve Absalom. With that, he had outsmarted the young
upstart.
Though
Absalom could surmise from Hushai's action as being disloyal to David his
father, he could not see his rebellion against his father a worse kind of
disloyalty. Friends do disagree sometimes and may choose to part ways. But
remember a father and son relationship can never change no matter what happens
between them. No one has the option to choose one’s parentage. In many
things, we do have a choice, but never who our father or mother should be. God
ordains who our parents should be. For this reason, He has stipulated in
the fifth commandment that we must honor our father and mother. So, let us
obey God and honor our parents.
Another
issue in this passage is the way Hushai extricated himself from the sticky
situation. He appeared to have been caught in a dilemma. What he did, seemed to
border on deception. Was his action justifiable? Be sure that deception is
morally unacceptable and reprehensible. And we are not here to justify
deception. Suffice to say that Hushai was a loyal servant of David. Had he betrayed
David and told Absalom what he was in the palace to do, he would be guilty of
being disloyal. He was a man on a mission, and he must faithfully discharge his
obligation to David. To do otherwise would constitute sabotage. Every one of us
should always subject ourselves to a higher good. Always choose the better of
two options or the lesser of two evils. Absalom in his rebellion could not see
his own blind spot. In these verses, we are also made aware that there can also
be blind spots in one’s life. Let us not be like Absalom, who could see that
Hushai’s action constituted unfaithfulness, yet failed to recognize that his own
rebellion against his father was a greater act of unfaithfulness. Two things to
glean from this passage: live faithfully for God and don’t be upended by our
own blind spots.
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