2 Samuel 17:15-20 – Be selective who your friends are

Hushai wasted no time to make his way to the temple to convey both his, as well as Ahithophel’s counsels to Zadok and Abiathar, the high priests. They were supposed to then transmit what they had received from Hushai to David through their sons, Ahimaaz and Jonathan, who were waiting at En-rogel in the Kidron Valley. Their sons waited there and not in the city to avoid arousing any suspicion. Meanwhile, David was waiting at the fords of the wilderness, the place appointed for their rendezvous. The message to David ended with “Do not spend the night at the fords of the wilderness, but by all means, cross over, or else the king and all the people who are with him will be destroyed.” He was not certain that Absalom would take his advice over that of Ahithophel and so he had to act quickly.

The account was made more exciting by what happened in the interim. Hushai’s message was conveyed to the sons of the priests waiting at En-rogel through a maidservant. But they were spotted by a lad who reported them to Absalom. Ahimaaz and Jonathan then quickly made their way to Bahurim to the house of an unnamed man. In the courtyard of his house was a well which they used to hide from Absalom’s servants. A woman, probably the unnamed man’s wife had the presence of mind to conceal the mouth of the well. She smartly threw a covering to spread over it. To camouflage it further, she scattered grains over the covering so that the men sent by Absalom would not know that there was a well there. If not, they would surely have climbed down to look for the messengers in the well. When questioned about the two messengers, that woman sent pursuers on a wild goose chase by saying that they have crossed the brook of water. Since the messenger could not be found, the Absalom’s men then returned to the city.

In life, we need faithful friends and crisis in life helps us to identify them. Many people are fair-weather friends. They run with us when we are up and nowhere to be found when we are down. In David’s life, he had few faithful friends. They were those that were there when his chips were down. Here he was running away from his own son and to be found taking his side would put them at risk of his son’s displeasure. Yet we see in this passage people like the chief priests Zadok and Abiathar, their sons Ahimaaz and Jonathan, respectively. What about Hushai, as well as the unknown man who allowed the messengers of David to hide in the well in his house. Then there was his wife who had the presence of mind to drape the well with a covering and scattered grain to camouflage it. These people put their lives on the line for David. What faithful friends! Times of adversity helps us to identify true friends. You know who they are almost immediately. They are not people who will use your misfortune as a springboard to their own future. They will stick with you through the thick and thin of life. So select friends carefully. Notice a friend and a fiend (monster) is differentiated by the letter “r”. Yes, a true friend sticks closer than a brother.