How precious it must be to the Lord Jesus when His people stand with Him in the time of His exile.
Based on an earlier arrangement, the sons of the priests, “Jonathan and Ahimaaz” (2 Sam 17:17), were sent on a secret mission to warn David of Absalom’s plan. Initially they were located at the spring of En Rogel, where the Hinnom and Kidron valleys connect. But a boy saw them and reported it to Absalom. Moving quickly, the two men found a hiding place in the town of Bahurim (from the Heb, bahur, meaning “choice men”). In a story akin to the protection of the spies at Jericho by Rahab, a woman “spread a covering over the well’s mouth, and spread ground grain on it” (v 19), then misled Absalom’s servants as to the route Jonathan and Ahimaaz had taken. They subsequently escaped to warn David and those with him to flee. “So David and all the people who were with him arose and crossed over the Jordan. By morning light not one of them was left” (v 22). At this point, Ahithophel realized all was lost. He had burned his bridge with David, and Absalom had not taken him seriously, so “he saddled a donkey, and arose and went home to his house, to his city. Then he put his household in order, and hanged himself” (v 23). One year, we excavated at Giloh, Ahithophel’s hometown, a few miles west of Bethlehem. There I had solemn thoughts about this wise man who couldn’t leave judgment with God and was trapped in the quagmire of his own anger. But now the battle lines were drawn: “Absalom made Amasa captain of the army instead of Joab” (v 25). David, moving inland up the Jabbok River, settled at Mahanaim, and, in the day of his rejection, received the loyal and practical kindness of three men: “Shobi the son of Nahash from Rabbah…, Machir the son of Ammiel from Lo Debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite” (v 27).