>> Jen: Hello there, faithful listener. You've tuned in to season seven of the Bible explained podcast, so make sure to grab your cup of coffee because today we are going to be discussing the book of second Samuel. Hi faithful listeners. Good morning and welcome to the Bible Explain podcast on the best day of the week. Hope you guys have had a successful week so far, but a way to make our week even more successful
is by reading the Bible. So let's read two Samuel 17:17 through 29 today, and as always, I'll be reading from the web or the world, English Bible, but I encourage you to grab the version of the Bible that you prefer and tell me what that version is. I love to hear from you guys. You'll find my information listed in
the description of this episode. And also, if you have a prayer request or anything like that, feel free to shoot me an email and I will write you down and I will pray for you this week. Once again, grab your cup of coffee. Let's go ahead and read two Samuel 17:17 - 29. Now, Jonathan and Ahima's were staying by En Rogel and a female servant used to go and tell them and they went and told King David,
for they might not be seen to come into the city. But a boy saw them and told Absalom, Then they both went away quickly and came to the house of a man in Bahurim who had a well in his court. And they went down there. The woman took and spread a covering over the well's mouth and spread out crushed grain on it, and nothing was known. Absalom's servants came to the woman at the house and they said, where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan? The woman said to them,
they have gone over the brook of the water. When they had sought and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem. After they had departed, they came up out of the well and went and told King David. And they said to David, arise and pass quickly over the water, for thus Ahithophel counselled against you. Then David arose, and all the people who were with him, and they passed over the Jordan by morning light. There lacked not one of them who had not gone over the
Jordan. When Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his donkey, arose and went home to his city and set his house in order and hanged himself. And he died, and he was buried in the tomb of his father. Then David came to Mahanaim. Absalom passed over the Jordan. He and all the men of Israel with him. Absalom set Amasa over the army instead of Joab.
Now Amasa was the son of a man whose name was Ithra, the Israelite who went into Abigail, the daughter of Nahash, sister to Zeruiah, Joabs mother Israel and Absalom encamped in the land of
Gilead. When David had came to Mahanaim Shobi, the son of Nahash of Rabbah, of the children of Ammonite and Makir, the son of Emile of lo Debar and Barzilia, the gileadite of ragalum brought beds, basins, earthen vessels, wheat, barley meal, parched grains, beans, lentils, roasted grain, honey, butter, sheep and cheese of the herd for David and for the people who were with him to eat, for they said, the people are hungry, weary and thirsty in the wilderness.
If you didn't listen to Wednesday's episode, I do highly recommend going back and listening to it if you're going to understand what we are talking about today. Because on Wednesday I went into Ahithophel's counsel and advice to Absalom that was not taken, and then also Hushai's advice to Absalom that was taken. And Hushai's advice happened to be very bad advice for Absalom, good advice for David, because it gave David the chance to get away from Absalom.
But Ahithophel's advice, which would have been great advice for Absalom, would have killed David right then and there. David would have died and his throne would have been given to Absalom. But Absalom thankfully did not take Ahithophel's advice and took Hushai's advice because Hushai's advice was more flowery and it appealed to Absalom's arrogance, vanity and pride. So that is why Absalom took Hushai's bad advice and gave
David the chance to escape. But before David even knew what was going on, the two spies, who were also priests, or rather sons of priests who were named Jonathan and Ahimaaz, had to get the news to David and they had a little bit of trouble getting the news to David. Here's what it says in verse 17. Now, Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying by enrogel and a female servant used to go and tell them and they went and told King David. So Jonathan and Nehemiah were staying at this place called
en Rogel. So that would have been outside of Jerusalem but still close enough to the city that they could hear what was going on with Absalom and also close enough to King David that they could go and get to him very quickly. And tell David everything that was going on. And so a servant girl used to go and tell Jonathan and Ahimas everything that was going on with Absalom. So there were several spies in the city for King David, thankfully.
So Jonathan and Ahima's needed to get this message to David because David's life was in danger, in serious danger, especially if Absalom chose Ahithophel's advice instead of Hushai's advice, which is very possible that nobody knew which advice Absalom was going to take. But David was in danger either way. He needed to get across the Jordan river to the other side so that he could get as far away from Absalom as was possible, especially as Absalom was gathering all the troops to wage a battle
against King David. So Jonathan and Nehemiah are ready to go and tell David what is going on. So the servant girl tells them the whole story, they need to get to King David. But a boy saw them is what it said, and told Absalom. And the reason this boy, I'm sure, was keeping tabs on Jonathan and Nehemiah was because they were the priests sons. And it's possible that Absalom suspected the priests
of being spies for David. So this boy who ended up seeing Jonathan and Nehemiah, went and told Absalom where they were because maybe Jonathan and Ahemez, since they were staying in enrogel, were missing in Jerusalem and Absalom was already wondering where they were, thinking that they had betrayed him. So now Jonathan and Ahemez are in huge danger because Absalom kind of knows where they are. So it says that Jonathan and Ahemez found this man and Behurim, who had a well in his court.
They hid in the well. But the man whose house this was apparently was on King David's side because he was aiding them in the process of hiding down this well. Well, actually his wife was. It says that the woman hid them down the well and spread a cloth over the entrance of the well and put a whole bunch of this crushed grain on top of this
cloth that was covering the well. And this was a common practice for, drying out grains, is they would be spread on a cloth or they would be spread on a threshing floor or something like that so that the wind could help dry out these grains. So this woman hides these two men down the well. And so when Absalom's men arrive, they don't end up looking in the well because they just think everything is normal. But they do ask the lady of the house. They say,
where is Jonathan and Ahima's? We heard that they were coming over here. Have you seen them? And the woman's like, yeah, I did see them, but they kept going. You know, they're probably past the Jordan river at this point. I don't know where they went. So Absalom's men are looking around. They don't look in the well and they leave. So Ahima's and Jonathan are able to get out of the well and go tell David to cross
over the Jordan river. So David hears the news and he takes the advice of Jonathan and Nehemiah and he crosses the Jordan river that very night. And it says by daybreak every single person in David's party was over the Jordan river, which was very good news for David. But still, had Absalom taken Ahithophel's advice, David still probably would have died because it took too long to cross over the Jordan river because Ahithophel wanted to strike David that
very night. And it took many hours, it said, to get David to cross over that Jordan river. So Ahithophel's, advice, had it been taken, would have been successful and David would have died. Now Ahithophel, when he realizes that his advice was not taken, that Absalom ignored his advice, it says that he saddled his donkey, arose and went home to his city and set his house in order and hanged himself. And when I read that, my first thought was, wow, Ahithophel is
such a baby. His feelings were fragile. But as I was doing more research, that was not the case at all. It was not because Ahithophel's advice wasn't taken and his feelings were hurt. It was because his advice was good advice and he knew that if his advice wasn't taken that Absalom would not be successful and David would win. And this was bad news for ahithophel because that meant that Ahithophel would be killed anyway. So he thought all was lost because he knew his
advice was the, ah, good advice. He knew who Shai's advice was, the bad advice, and unfortunately for him, Absalom took the bad advice. So hitherfell goes home, it says he set his house in order. I don't know exactly what that means, but he maybe made sure that his family was going to be financially taken care of. He planned out his death and then it says that he killed himself by hanging himself. He was buried in his father's tomb is what it says.
So Ahithophel is dead and now Absalom does not have a good counselor to help him through this battle. And God had clearly rejected Absalom at this point. And David was going to be safe, and not only was he going to be safe, but his throne was going to be established in Israel. And you can see now how Absalom, though he looked successful at the very beginning, is now beginning to fall apart. Absalom set Amasa over his army instead of
Joab. It says. Now, Amasa was the son of a man whose name was Ithra, the Israelite, who went into Abigail, the daughter of Nahash, sister to Zeruiah, Joab's mother. So this means that Amasa was Joab's cousin. And this also means that Amasa was related to King David, because, I believe Joab Washington, David's cousin. So they were all cousins. And it says that Absalom set Amasa over his army instead of Joab. Israel and Absalom encamped in the
land of Gilead. So Absalom took the bad advice of Hushai and gathered together this huge group of men to fight against David. This was a full scale battle against David and his. However many men that David had. Maybe a thousand people that followed David. I don't know. David had his 600 original men and maybe, well, maybe more than a thousand. But, I mean, a lot of David's people were like, women and children that were with him. He didn't have a whole lot of
soldiers with him. And yet Absalom thinks it's necessary to gather all of the fighting men of Israel to wage this huge war against David. And David's, what, like, 700 men that were with him. So, yeah, not a great idea. But Absalom wanted to look like he was the king. He wanted to go out and be a successful warrior like his father was. So that is why Absalom decided to do this very terrible idea.
Now, meanwhile, David, who has gotten away from Absalom, thankfully, he comes to this area of Mahanaime, and it says that Shobi, the son of Nahash, of Rabba, of the children of Ammon, came to him along with two other men, and they brought all kinds of gifts. Now, I did mention Shobi maybe about a month ago on the podcast, because Shobi, it looks like, was the son of king Nahash. And king Nahash was a really mean
guy. Back in the days of Saul, he had come against Israel and plucked out all of the eyeballs of the Mendez, in Jabesh, Gilead. So Nahash was not a nice guy. But for some reason, Nahash and David were on friendly terms. Now, Nahash and Saul were not on friendly terms, but David and Nahash were. And it's possible that Shobi, who was one of the sons of Nahash, was also friends with David. So at this point in time, Shobi arrives with all sorts of gifts, along with two other men.
Makir, the son of Emile of Lo Debar, and then Barzilia, the gileadite of Ragalam. And what's interesting is that all of these men, it seems like that, were around David for the most part, not 100%, but all of David's supporters right now are foreign people. Israel has rejected David almost completely, save for a few people, like the levitical priests and a handful of others in Israel. But the majority of Israel had
rejected David. And so all these people that are traveling with David, and also all these people that are friends with David at this point are not Israelites, which is very sad. The state of Israel right now. They wanted an adulterous, murderous man to be their kingdom inst. Well, actually, David was also adulterous and murderous, now that I think about it. But at least
David loved Yahweh. At least David turned away from his sin time and time again and tried to, for the most part, uphold Yahweh's laws to the rest of Israel. But Israel rejected David, who loved Yahweh, for a man who did not care about Yahweh and did not love Yahweh. That's the state of Israel at this moment in time. And now Israel is willing to wage war against King David. They are all betraying King David. You can imagine how this is making David feel. And the only friends that he has are
foreigners that still care about him. It says that these three men brought beds, basins, earthen vessels, wheat, barley meal, parched grains, beans, lentils and roasted grain, as well as honey, butter, sheep and cheese of the herdhead for David and for all the people who are with him to eat. For they said, the people are hungry and weary and thirsty in
the wilderness. So this was very kind of these three men to do this. And this is also why their names are mentioned in scripture, because they showed kindness to King David when no one else did. So I always like to end every episode with, what can we gain from this when the world is against us, which the world is, because the world does not like Christianity. When the world is against you, it does not matter if God is on your side. God was clearly on the side of David.
David was going to be protected even if all of Israel was literally about to wage a war against him and the very few soldiers who were with David. And that is why David writes in the psalms. If God is for you, who can be against you? Well, faithful listeners, if you enjoyed today's podcast, then show your support to everybody you know by getting for yourself a Bible explained bumper sticker, which are available in the shop. I have a bumper sticker in there for $6 and it's a really
good bumper sticker. I've had it on my car for two years and I just recently took it off because I wanted to just clean my car really well. And I'm like, man, these stickers last a really long time. It still looked great after two years of sitting out in the sun and, going through car washes and everything else. It did. And it got off my car just fine too. I just peeled it right off and didn't take any paint with it,
which was part of the fear I had as well. So I can honestly say bumper stickers are good quality and by getting one, you are going to share your favorite podcast with everybody that drives by. Faithful listeners. I hope you have a fantastic and wonderful weekend. I'll see you guys bright and early Monday, 06:00 a.m. or whenever you choose to wake up. Happy listening and God bless.