2 Samuel Chapter 17

At a Glance

  • 2 Samuel 16 follows David’s flight from Jerusalem with a vivid encounter at Bahurim with Shimei, a relative of Saul who curses and hurls stones at the king.
  • Mephibosheth’s servant Ziba arrives with gifts for the king, claiming that Mephibosheth, Jonathan’s crippled son, is plotting to gain the throne by staying in Jerusalem.
  • Historical & Literary Context.
  • This chapter sits within the crucible of David’s exile, a period that tests leadership, loyalty, and divine faithfulness.
  • - The burden of leadership under public scorn: David’s restraint reveals a leadership ethic shaped by trust in God.

2 Samuel 16

Chapter Overview

2 Samuel 16 follows David’s flight from Jerusalem with a vivid encounter at Bahurim with Shimei, a relative of Saul who curses and hurls stones at the king. Shimei’s words—“The LORD has brought back upon you all the blood of the house of Saul”—are a stark reminder of the consequences of past sins and the moral complexities of leadership. David’s response, and particularly his generals’ sharp temper, illuminates a key tension: the king’s ability to absorb personal insult without retaliating in kind, trusting God’s sovereignty even when the path is painful and public censure is harsh.

Mephibosheth’s servant Ziba arrives with gifts for the king, claiming that Mephibosheth, Jonathan’s crippled son, is plotting to gain the throne by staying in Jerusalem. The two accounts—Ziba’s tale and Mephibosheth’s actual condition—set up a tense, morally fraught exchange. The episode highlights questions of loyalty, truth-telling, and the consequences of disputed information in wartime leadership. The chapter’s rapid shifts—blessing and blessing withheld, truth and deception interwoven—demonstrate how fragile political alliances can become under pressure and how the king must navigate competing claims with discernment.

Historical & Literary Context

This chapter sits within the crucible of David’s exile, a period that tests leadership, loyalty, and divine faithfulness. The narrative technique uses fast-paced scene changes—courtly gifts, curses, and shifting loyalties—to probe the moral fiber of the central figures. The Shimei crisis tests David’s humility and self-control, while Ziba and Mephibosheth raise questions about justice and deception in times of crisis. The broader Deuteronomistic framework emphasizes recourse to God in moments of hardship and the moral dangers of political expediency.

Key Themes

- The burden of leadership under public scorn: David’s restraint reveals a leadership ethic shaped by trust in God.

- Loyalty, betrayal, and truth-telling: Competing accounts test the king’s discernment and loyalty to dependents.

- The testing of mercy and judgment: David’s choices show mercy balanced with vigilance against manipulation.

- The fragility of kinship and honor: The conflict over Mephibosheth’s loyalty reveals how family loyalties complicate political loyalties.

Modern Application

- Handling public criticism with grace: The chapter models restraint and forgiveness amid hostile critique.

- Navigating conflicting information: In crisis, leaders must evaluate competing narratives and look for integrity and motive.

- The ethics of loyalty in family and organization: Balancing truth-telling with care for dependents translates to modern governance, leadership, and family life.

- The weight of legacy decisions: Past actions echo into the present; the faithful respond by trusting God for justice.

- 2 Samuel 9 (Mephibosheth’s relationship to David).

- 1 Samuel 26 (Saul and David’s interaction under pressure).

- Psalm 3 (David’s trust in God during exile).

- David: for patient, faithful response to adversity.

- Shimei: to reflect on the role of public censure and the temptation to retaliate.

- Mephibosheth and Ziba: for exploring questions of loyalty and truth-telling.

- Jesus: to bring a gospel perspective on mercy, forgiveness, and righteous judgment.

Chapter Text

1

Moreover Ahithophel said unto Absalom, Let me now choose out twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David this night:

2

And I will come upon him while he is weary and weak handed, and will make him afraid: and all the people that are with him shall flee; and I will smite the king only:

3

And I will bring back all the people unto thee: the man whom thou seekest is as if all returned: so all the people shall be in peace.

4

And the saying pleased Absalom well, and all the elders of Israel.

5

Then said Absalom, Call now Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear likewise what he saith.

6

And when Hushai was come to Absalom, Absalom spake unto him, saying, Ahithophel hath spoken after this manner: shall we do after his saying? if not; speak thou.

7

And Hushai said unto Absalom, The counsel that Ahithophel hath given is not good at this time.

8

For, said Hushai, thou knowest thy father and his men, that they be mighty men, and they be chafed in their minds, as a bear robbed of her whelps in the field: and thy father is a man of war, and will not lodge with the people.

9

Behold, he is hid now in some pit, or in some other place: and it will come to pass, when some of them be overthrown at the first, that whosoever heareth it will say, There is a slaughter among the people that follow Absalom.

10

And he also that is valiant, whose heart is as the heart of a lion, shall utterly melt: for all Israel knoweth that thy father is a mighty man, and they which be with him are valiant men.

11

Therefore I counsel that all Israel be generally gathered unto thee, from Dan even to Beersheba, as the sand that is by the sea for multitude; and that thou go to battle in thine own person.

12

So shall we come upon him in some place where he shall be found, and we will light upon him as the dew falleth on the ground: and of him and of all the men that are with him there shall not be left so much as one.

13

Moreover, if he be gotten into a city, then shall all Israel bring ropes to that city, and we will draw it into the river, until there be not one small stone found there.

14

And Absalom and all the men of Israel said, The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel. For the LORD had appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that the LORD might bring evil upon Absalom.

15

Then said Hushai unto Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, Thus and thus did Ahithophel counsel Absalom and the elders of Israel; and thus and thus have I counselled.

16

Now therefore send quickly, and tell David, saying, Lodge not this night in the plains of the wilderness, but speedily pass over; lest the king be swallowed up, and all the people that are with him.

17

Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz stayed by Enrogel; for they might not be seen to come into the city: and a wench went and told them; and they went and told king David.

18

Nevertheless a lad saw them, and told Absalom: but they went both of them away quickly, and came to a man’s house in Bahurim, which had a well in his court; whither they went down.

19

And the woman took and spread a covering over the well’s mouth, and spread ground corn thereon; and the thing was not known.

20

And when Absalom’s servants came to the woman to the house, they said, Where is Ahimaaz and Jonathan? And the woman said unto them, They be gone over the brook of water. And when they had sought and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem.

21

And it came to pass, after they were departed, that they came up out of the well, and went and told king David, and said unto David, Arise, and pass quickly over the water: for thus hath Ahithophel counselled against you.

22

Then David arose, and all the people that were with him, and they passed over Jordan: by the morning light there lacked not one of them that was not gone over Jordan.

23

And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his ass, and arose, and gat him home to his house, to his city, and put his household in order, and hanged himself, and died, and was buried in the sepulchre of his father.

24

Then David came to Mahanaim. And Absalom passed over Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him.

25

And Absalom made Amasa captain of the host instead of Joab: which Amasa was a man’s son, whose name was Ithra an Israelite, that went in to Abigail the daughter of Nahash, sister to Zeruiah Joab’s mother.

26

So Israel and Absalom pitched in the land of Gilead.

27

And it came to pass, when David was come to Mahanaim, that Shobi the son of Nahash of Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and Machir the son of Ammiel of Lodebar, and Barzillai the Gileadite of Rogelim,

28

Brought beds, and basons, and earthen vessels, and wheat, and barley, and flour, and parched corn, and beans, and lentiles, and parched pulse,

29

And honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheese of kine, for David, and for the people that were with him, to eat: for they said, The people is hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness.

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