Well, the advice of one of the men gives to Absalom is not good.
Good morning, good afternoon, good evening.
My name is Rod Hembrick.
And I'm Janice.
And this is Bible Discovery TV.
It is great to have you.
We're going to study that.
First or second Samuel, rather, chapter 17 in just a moment.
Now, Corey is here with somebody special.
Corey, what is going on?
Well, my son Wyatt is here with us today.
He comes into the studio when we're taping.
So I thought he was awake.
So I thought I would just show him off a little bit and say he could say hi to everybody. Hi Wyatt you're an amazing boy I'll tell you what. Yeah so Wyatt's three months
old. Wow. Yeah he's a great he's a great little guy. That's amazing. So this is why you've been
away and Matlock has been coming in and and taking your place for a little while because of Wyatt.
Yeah we've been spending lots of time together.
Good boy.
Yeah.
That's very good.
So what are you going to do today, Corey?
Today I'm going to be talking about Absalom and his ancestry.
Ryan, how about you?
Well, today I'm studying gates because in the ancient Eastern world,
gates were very important, not just for security purposes, but also culturally.
All right, very good.
So what do you think?
Well, Nan's a little bit distracted right now, but today I'm going to be talking about one
small stone.
All right. Very good. Wyatt, you're going to join us. He's going to join us. All right.
It's a good day to study the Bible. 2 Samuel 17, 1-14
Moreover, Ahithophel said to Absalom,
Now let me choose twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue David tonight.
I will come upon him while he is weary and weak and make him afraid,
and all the people who are with him will flee,
and I will strike only the king.
Then I will bring back all the people to you.
When all return except the man whom you seek,
all the people will be at peace.
And the saying pleased Absalom and all the elders of israel
then absalom said now call hushai the archite also and let us hear what he says too
and when hushai came to absalom absalom spoke to him saying ahithophel has spoken in this manner. Shall we do as he says? If not, speak up.
So Hushai said to Absalom, The advice that Ahithophel has given is not good at this time.
For, said Hushai, you know your father and his men, that they are mighty men, and they are enraged
in their minds, like a bear robbed of
her cubs in the field. And your father is a man of war, and will not camp with the people.
Surely by now he is hidden in some pit, or in some other place. And it will be,
when some of them are overthrown at the first, that whoever hears it will say,
There is a slaughter among the people who follow Absalom.
And even he who is valiant, whose heart is like the heart of a lion,
will melt completely.
For all Israel knows that your Father is a mighty man, and those who are with him are valiant men.
Therefore I advise that all Israel be fully gathered to you from Dan to Beersheba,
like the sand that is by the sea for multitude, and that you go to battle in person.
So we will come upon him in some place where he may be found,
and we will fall on him as the dew falls on the ground
and of him and all the men who are with him there shall not be left so much as one
moreover if he has withdrawn into a city then all israel shall bring ropes to that city
and we will pull it into the river until there is not one small stone found there. So Absalom and all the men of Israel said, the advice of Hushai the Archite is better than
the advice of Ahithophel. For the Lord had purposed to defeat the good advice of Ahithophel to the intent that the Lord might bring disaster on Absalom.
Second Samuel chapter 17 verses 1 through 14.
You know David is overcome and this is an amazing time in David's ministry. I call it a ministry because his ministry was to be the king, the king of Israel.
And it's really something because he faces so many things.
And though David had many faults and weaknesses, he was indeed a man after God's own heart.
He always came back to the Lord and worked to be close to God.
Now, that's important.
We must work to be close to God.
This played out even when it was painful for him to do so.
There seems to have been nothing so painful for him
than the rebellion of his attractive and cunning son, Absalom.
Absalom's mother was Maka, a princess of Gesher.
Perhaps empowered by this double royalty status,
Absalom worked hard to trick David out of Israel's kingship.
David, whose influence must have been dwindling in Israel at that time,
was beaten in this rebellion. And it was an unhappy time. David fled Jerusalem for his life,
not knowing if he would ever return. And if he did return, if his son would be alive or dead. His son. David left some loyal people behind and we get to see some ancient spy work in action. Now, this is a terrible time in David's kingdom. It is a horrible time.
And yet God brings this to us in his word. Why does he do that? He does that not just to show
David's faults, but he does that to show
how God works through the difficult times. And this is something we need to pay attention to
because there's nothing like a rebellious son or daughter is there. All right, this is interesting.
Take your Bible guide and turn to 2 Samuel chapter 17. Now the Bible guide,
we have isolated three points from the verses one through 14 that we're going to read. And it is
really interesting. If you don't have a Bible guide, write to us or call us. We will send you
a Bible guide. And remember another way to get the Bible guide is to go to BibleDiscoveryTV.com. When you go to BibleDiscoveryTV.com,
click on the Bible guide and it'll take you to donate page. Thank you for your donations.
Cost us resources to put it up there and send it to you and everything else.
And so what happens is you get a copy exactly how we printed it, 40 pages, just exactly how
we printed it. And you can have your own copy
for your computer and all of that. But Father, we want to pray today. This is not a good time
in David's life. The very tragic time, a terrible time. And we pray Father in the name of Jesus
Christ, that you would help us to see what you put here.
We have our own ideas, but Lord, we need to hear your idea. What did you tell us to do?
Because that's what we want to do. Father, we want to do what you've told us to do.
In Jesus name. Amen. And amen. All right. With that in mind, let's look at chapter 17, verse 1.
It says in 2 Samuel 17,
Moreover, Ahithophel said to Absalom,
Absalom was in control,
Now let me choose 12,000 men,
and I will arise and pursue David tonight, the king,
and I will come upon him while he is weary
and weak and make him afraid. And all of the people who are with him will flee and I will
strike only the king. Then I will bring back all of the people to you. When all return except the man whom you seek,
all the people will be at peace.
And the saying pleased Absalom and all the elders of Israel.
Now the advice of Ahithophel was good and solid to take advantage of David.
The enemy of our soul knows our weaknesses and tries to exploit them. Beloved, listen
carefully. Absalom had spent years undermining David, undermining, and he was always searching
because Tamar, his sister, was raped by Amnon, of course, David's other son, and David never really applied discipline.
And so now Absalom has taken advantage and he has grabbed the idea and won the hearts of the people
and he's in Jerusalem. And now this Ahithophel says, let me go take him out. You see, the enemy
knows exactly how to get us. And the enemy knew how to get him, knew how to get David.
Now, this is a great story.
Let's read on.
Verse five.
Then Absalom said, now call Heshul or Heshui, the Archite also, and let us hear what he says.
And when Heshua came to Absalom, Absalom spoke to him saying,
Ahithophel has spoken in this manner. Shall we do as he says, if not speak up? So Heshei said to
Absalom, the advice of Ahithophel that he has given is not good at this time. For, said Ahishamal, or said Ishai, you know your father and his men, for they are
mighty men, and they are enraged in their minds, like a bear robbed of her cubs in the field.
And your father is a man of war and will not camp with the people. Surely by now he is hidden in some pit or in some other place. And it will be when some of
them are overthrown at the first, that whoever hears it will say, there is a slaughter among
the people who follow Absalom. And even he who is valid, whose heart is like the heart of a lion,
will melt completely for all of Israel knows that your father
is a mighty man and those who are with him are valiant men. Therefore, I advise that all Israel
be fully gathered to you from Dan to Beersheba, like the sand that is by the sea for the multitude
and that you go into battle in a person. So we will come upon him in some place where he may be found
and we will fall on him as the dew that falls on the ground.
And of him and all of the men who are with him,
there shall be not one left, so much as one.
Moreover, if he has withdrawn into a city,
then all of Israel shall bring ropes to that city
and we will pull it to the river until there is not one small stone found there. Now listen to
the point. God used Yeshua, the advice, his advice, Absalom against Ahithobel's advice.
The Lord is our protection and our source of help in all trouble.
God had used this advice at a time that switches the total movement of what they would do.
So Absalom and all the men of Israel said, the advice of Heshui, the archite is better,
or the archite is better than the advice of Ahithobel, for the Lord has
purpose to defeat the good advice of Ahithobel to the intent that the Lord might bring disaster
on Absalom. Boy, I'll tell you, God overcomes the thoughts and the ideas of evil with victory for
his people. Let me tell you, that's true. It's always best to follow what the Lord
commands. That's why it's important that we say to the Lord, the God of heaven, help us to do
things your way, not our way, because our way never works, but your way always works, Lord.
Help us today, Lord, in Jesus' name.
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All right, well today I want to take a look at David's son, Absalom. Now, Absalom obviously
isn't his only son, but he is one of the sons that launched a rebellion, definitely the most
successful rebellion against David. And we take a look at Absalom's ancestry, so where he came from
through his mother. We realize that his mother was royalty. She was Gesherite royalty. And this makes a big difference,
I think, in our understanding of exactly why it was that Absalom revolted against David. Take a look.
2 Samuel 13-18 records the tragic history of Absalom, son of King David. David had gone
against the law of God for kings and multiplied wives and had children with them.
2 Samuel 3 tells us that his third son Absalom was born to Makkah, the daughter of King Telme of Gesher.
This Gesherite princess gave birth to Absalom when David was embroiled in a war against the household of Saul.
In other words, he didn't yet have control over all of Israel.
Presumably, a marriage alliance with the Geshurites who lived in the north
would strengthen his claim to power.
But later in life, Absalom himself launched a rebellion against his father.
It began when Absalom took justice into his own hands, resulting in his banishment.
He fled back to the land of his mother and lived with his grandfather,
the king of Geshur, for three years.
When David invited him back to Jerusalem,
Absalom began a long campaign to overthrow David. Ultimately, this would end in Absalom's own death.
The Gesherites of Absalom's ancestry are mentioned in the Bible as a people that the Israelites could not defeat in their conquest of the Promised Land. Their land was east of the Sea of Galilee,
in today's southern Golan. In 1987, archaeological investigation began in this region with a focused effort on Geshurite sites.
Several were explored and excavated, including Tel Hadar, a four-acre site strategically placed on a main trade route.
The city has been dubbed a royal Geshurite stronghold and was built on a hill with two defensive walls,
a lower wall built at the
foot of the hill and an upper wall halfway up the slope. Inside the upper wall, finely crafted items
were found indicating wealth and two large stones usually associated with royal buildings. A large
public building was also excavated that would have functioned as a storehouse and possibly a bazaar.
The pottery excavated showed evidence of extensive trading
and interaction with cultures of the area
while maintaining some unique styles found only in ancient Gesher.
The Gesherites were active in the land yet culturally distinct.
Though Tel Hadar was destroyed sometime in the 11th century BC,
it would have been to a royal stronghold like this
that Absalom traveled and lived with his grandfather, Talmé.
You know, we don't always look at the political motives behind the biblical figures,
but especially when we're taking a look at the time period of the kings of Israel,
we can't really or we shouldn't really strip away political motives from the actions of some of these major players. Because when we add that element of, you know,
of vying for the throne and why they would have wanted to
and what the impact would be,
another layer of the story makes it more dimensional.
And we can understand more than what God is saying
and how he's moving and interacting with these people
who were real people.
You know, they were living in these really,
real and interesting times.
So whatever we can do to build up those times in a correct way in order to understand them will
aid us in understanding how God works and how he speaks, not only to people, but also through
people and through time. Because if we understand how he speaks, then we understand what he's saying.
And that's the important part.
We can't apply what we're going through to that.
We have to listen to what he's telling us.
Yeah, and then those truths,
then you find then that truth
and the truth will be universal.
So you can universally apply that then to your own life,
but it's about figuring out what exactly is going on.
So you can find out the context and then you know, then you apply it to your life.
Very good, Corey.
Excellent.
Ryan?
All right.
Well, our reading today is 2 Samuel chapters 15 to 18, and this is the tragic account of
the death of David's son, Absalom, as Corey was just talking about.
And when David hears the news about the death of his son, the Bible says that he went up
to the chamber over the gate and wept. Now notice that detail. He went up to the chamber over the
gate. The gate had a chamber above it. Now in the ancient world, gates weren't merely a barred fence
or an afterthought. They were very, very elaborately designed because they were important.
They served as both security for the enclosed city and as a
social hub. Check it out. While the gateway generally serves in a lesser capacity today,
in the ancient world, gates were a necessity. While they served as openings for sanctuaries,
citadels, tombs, prisons, and the like, the most important type of gate was a city's gates, as they provided the needed protection from outside
invaders.
Gates would remain open during the day, but at night they were shut and locked.
While possessing the key to a city's gates meant privilege and power, possessing the
gates themselves meant even more power.
In fact, to possess the gates was to possess the city.
Thus to prevent the city from falling into the city. Thus, to prevent the city
from falling into enemy hands, gates had to be unbreachable. For this reason, most gates consisted
of double doors plated with metal, since wooden doors without iron plating were easily set on fire.
Some gates were made of brass, as was the gate called Beautiful of King Herod's Temple,
which was more costly than nine others of the outer court that
had been poured over with gold and silver. Still others were made of solid stone. As a matter of
fact, massive stone doors have been found in some of the ancient towns of Syria. These single slabs
are several inches thick and 10 feet high, and turn on pivots above and below. Ordinarily, gates
swung on projections that fitted into sockets on the post
and were secured with bars of wood or of metal. While earlier gates were constructed on an angle
in order to prevent enemies from making a straight run at it with a battering ram,
later designs consisted of a three-piered gateway, so even though the attackers could hit it straight
on, the enemy forces would now have to break down three doors to gain entrance
to the city. Still, even with all the security, gates were naturally the weakest point in a city's
walls, which is why they were flanked by towers. Nevertheless, city gateways didn't just serve as
a measure of security. As a matter of fact, it was at the gates of a city that the people of the
ancient Near East went for legal business, conversation, bargaining, and news. Markets were held at the gate, and the main items sold there
often gave it its name. Possible examples of this are the Sheep Gate, Fish Gate, and Horse Gate,
which are referred to in the Book of Nehemiah. The gate was also the place where people met to
hear an important announcement, or the reading of the law, or where the elders transacted legal
business. The gate was also the king's or chief's place of audience, which is why there was often a
ruler's seat there. City gates also had several rooms or chambers over the gateway where commercial,
civic, or military affairs could be conducted, or even be a lodging for strangers. King David,
who'd been sitting at the city gate,
retreated to such a room to mourn
when he learned about the tragic death of his son Absalom.
So as you can see, gates were very important in the ancient world.
And in today's reading, we see David retreating
to one of the chambers over the gate to weep.
Now, of course, something that I didn't have time to get into in this segment was how gateways are also used figuratively in the Bible. For example, in Matthew 16, 18,
they symbolize satanic power. And in Isaiah 38, 10, they're figurative of death. In Psalm 118,
verses 19 and 20, they represent righteousness. And in Matthew 7, 13, they're used metaphorically
to represent salvation and damnation.
And this sort of symbolic language that God uses
would have been particularly meaningful and powerful
to those who lived in cultures
where literal gates were so important.
Yeah, it's very, very important, Ryan,
to hear that and to understand it.
Thank you.
Janice?
Yes, I called this one small stone
because we're looking at 2 Samuel chapter 17.
But before that, the last verse of 16 says,
Now the advice of Ahithophel, which he gave in those days, was as if one had inquired at the oracle of God.
So was all the advice of Ahithophel, both with David and with Absalom.
So Ahithophel gives advice to Absalom about how to get rid of his father,
David the king. Now, if we go back to 2 Samuel chapter 15, it was in Absalom's treason against
his father, the king that he sent for Ahithophel, who at that time was David's counselor from his city and the conspiracy grew stronger. But in that same passage,
2 Samuel 15 verse 31, the Lord answered David's prayer that we're about to read. The Lord answered
David's prayer about Ahithophel back in 2 Samuel 15 31. Then someone told David saying, Ohithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.
And David said, Oh Lord, I pray,
turn the counsel of Ohithophel into foolishness.
And that's exactly what God did here in chapter 17,
because we see Ohithophel coming to Absalom
and actually his advice was good,
but now enter Hushai. And Hushai
comes in, and he talks about a different plan, a more elaborate plan that I think sort of tweaked
Absalom's pride a little bit. But it gave David and his army longer to get ready for it. But here's what I named this after one small stone. Listen to 2 Samuel 17,
12 and 13. So we will come upon him. This is Hushai's plan. So we will come upon him in some
place where he may be found. He's talking about David. And we will fall on him as the dew falls
on the ground. And of him and all the men who are with him, there shall not be
left so much as one. Moreover, if he has withdrawn into a city, then all Israel shall bring ropes to
that city and we will pull it into the river until there is not one small stone found there.
Well, as soon as I read that rod, it reminded me of the one smooth stone that it took with David to take down that giant.
It was David's one small stone, David and God, that took Goliath down.
And here we see one small stone.
He did take five, but it only took the one stone.
That's fascinating.
To me, I just thought, I wonder if that's referenced because of that, the way that it's put in there for us to remember the work that God can do
through our lives when we put God first. And we saw that happen in David's life and all the way
through. Do you know why he took five stones? Well, they say that it's because he also,
Goliath also had four brothers. That's exactly right.
Your son said something about that, right?
Perhaps.
That's the reason why.
The Bible doesn't say.
It doesn't.
It doesn't say outright, but it is a good guess.
It's true.
But yeah, my youngest son, I was reading to him the story of David and Goliath, and it
said David picked up five stones.
And he goes, well, yeah, that's because he wanted to kill all the giants.
He wanted to kill the five giants, Goliath and his four brothers.
I thought, that's pretty smart.
Pretty smart.
Elias, the Holy Spirit speaks.
He's five years old.
Yeah.
Five years old.
It's amazing how the Holy Spirit speaks through kids.
And so we don't take it for granted when we read the Bible.
We read the Bible ourselves.
But it's always good to use the word of God with your family
and use them with your kids and all that because it's important.
The kids get it.
That's important to remember.
They get it.
So that's really good.
Okay, tomorrow's going to be another day.
We're going to join it. Thank you. Today we need to continue to pray for the UK, the United Kingdom.
And Father, I pray for this great nation.
We ask, Lord, that you would help them there.
They're going through a lot.
There's a lot of things scurrying all over the place.
But help them, Lord.
There are many Christians there, many people who believe in you.
So touch them, Father, in Jesus' name.
And Lord, help us to do what you've called us to do every day in every way.
That's important, Lord, because we need to listen to you.
In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Thank you. you