Sermonette: Israelite Soap Opera
#273s
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Given 18-Jan-97; 24 minutes
summary: An A&E production of King David, suggested that the story of King David would make a great Israelite soap opera, replete with rags to riches success, intrigue, sensuality, violence, and suspense. Bath Sheba was the granddaughter of Ahithophel, David's trusted counselor, and the daughter of Eliam, Ahitphophel's son, who was also a close friend of Uriah the Hittite. David lusted after Uriah's wife, committing adultery with her. The Prophet Nathan confronts David with his sin, leading to a public confession and doubtless humiliation for both David and Bath Sheba. The ripple effect of this indiscretion besmirched the reputation of the entire extended family, including Ahithophel, who started to develop a vendetta against that lusty, lecherous King David. He continued to perform his role as counselor to the king, and grandfather to the queen, biding his time until he could find an opportunity for revenge. About a decade later, when Absalom reached 80 years, David's son Absalom provided Ahitophel all the ammunition he needed for revenge when civil war took place between the forces of David and the rebel forces of Absalom. Ahitophel became Absalom's counselor, advising him to openly have sex with David's concubines, as a sign he was now king and was taking over the throne. Furthermore, he advised him to send 12,000 men to chase after the rebels and to kill David. Though Ahitophel's advice would have worked, the counsel of Hushai foiled Ahithophel's plans with a stalling tactic. As a result 20,000 men lost their lives in the rebellion, and David regained the throne. Ahitophel was exposed as a vengeful old man who came to a disastrous end.
transcript:
Recently, Beth and I watched a biography of King David that was produced by A&E (the cable TV network), and it was really not a very good account of his life because they over-psychoanalyzed him, and over-mythologized him. And so I do not recommend watching it. However, it did spawn conversation between us about how interesting a mini-series David's life would make. I mean, it is basically a soap opera! You have got a rags-to-riches story with lots of violence, women, family problems, treachery, intrigue, a weird nephew (I do not know what else to call Joab), and even religion with miracles! One could either do it straight up (which would make a great mini-series) or transplant it into the 20th century with some powerful magnate of a shipping firm or something, and watch his family go down the tubes. Anyway, this thing would make millions of dollars. Of course, that is a bit much for a sermonette. I cannot tell you the whole thing today, but a few weeks after watching the video, I read a book. It is called The Signature of God by a man named Grant Jeffries. He mentioned something interesting about David's life that I thought I would pass on. It is something that probably none of us ever realized. We never would have seen it if we just read the story straight up. It involves Bathsheba and David's trusted counselor Ahithophel. The story begins in the town of Giloh. And Giloh is situated in the hill country of Judea right around the city of Hebron. Now this man of Judah, Ahithophel, was born there in Giloh, probably sometime around 1050 BC. All these dates that I am giving you are approximate. Nobody knows exactly when these people were born, but they pretty are close. And 1050 BC was about 10 years before Saul began his reign over Israel. So this is about the time when Ahithophel was born. Samuel was still ruling as judge over Israel and it would be another 10 years or so before Saul was made king. This makes Ahithophel maybe a little bit younger than Jesse, David's father and probably around 20 to 30 years older than David himself, maybe even as much as 40. It is really hard to say, but he was at least in the next generation older than David. Now, two things about Ahithophel's birth or events around that time that we need to take into consideration here: First is the town of Giloh itself. Not where it is, or who lived there, but just the name Giloh. What is interesting about that is the word Giloh means, “revealed” or “uncovered.” This will become important later. And the name Ahithophel—what does that mean? This is interesting too. His name means, “brother of folly,” of all things. Now, did God cause him to be named this? You know, God names things as they are. What makes this kind of ironic is that when David came to the throne about 1000 BC, guess who was the wisest, most trusted counselor of David? The brother of folly, Ahithophel. Let us look in II Samuel 16 and find out just how wise he was. II Samuel 16:23 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 [counsel] of Ahithophel both with David and with Absalom. Boy, this guy had a reputation! He was the wisest thing under the sun! And David made him his right-hand counselor. Nobody had counsel that was better than Ahithophel's. Well, Ahithophel matured, and married, and had a son. This son's name was Eliam. Let us go to chapter 23. This is naming all of David's mighty men. There were 30 of them. II Samuel 23:34 Eliphelet the son of Ahasbai, the son of the Maachathite; Eliam the son of Ahithophel the Gilonite. So we have the next generation here, Eliam, the son of Ahithophel, who was one of David's mighty men. His name means, “God of the people,” or “God of the family.” And it can also mean, “kinsmen of God,” which is kind of interesting. But however we take it, he named him a divine name; one that had God's name in it. Now, Eliam does not appear very much in this story, except that he later fathered a daughter named Bathsheba. I bet you did not know that. I bet you did not know that Ahithophel was Bathsheba's grandfather. II Samuel 11:1-3 It happened in the spring of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king's house. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold. So David sent and inquired about the woman. And someone said, "Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?" That is all we will read because we all know the story of David and Bathsheba. We do not need to go into all of that. But this brings in another character into the story—Uriah the Hittite. What do we need to know about Uriah the Hittite? I believe his name means the light of God. I would have to check that. This man, if you know the story was just a paragon of virtue—at least that is the way he seems. You know he came home on David's order, and David told him to go sleep with his wife, and he said, “No, I can’t do that, sir. You know the army's out there, the Ark is out there. How could I do that? I’m consecrated now for battle. I can’t do this while all these people are out in the field” (putting, actually, David to shame because he was not out in the field either). So here was a man with a lot of virtue, it seems, and he was also one of David's 30 mighty men. Here we have a scenario building up that Uriah was probably about the same age as Eliam. And they were good friends. And it seems as Bathsheba grew up, Uriah noticed this beautiful woman, and he asked for her hand in marriage, and Eliam gave it. So, it seems at this time that Bathsheba was probably around 20 years old, and probably no more than that. When I was trying to figure out when each person was born, it seems like she was probably born about the same time that David took the throne, so around 1000 BC, and this was probably the midpoint of David's reign, about 980 BC. So she was probably only about 20 years old at the time and of the comeliest age you might say. It was very likely that she and Uriah had not been married for more than a few years; maybe four or five at the most. Throughout history, women have historically married young. So let us say she was 16 when she got married. If this was when she was 20, she had only been married about four years. Now the Bible does not point a finger at Bathsheba. But you have got to wonder what a lady was doing out naked on top of her roof. She should have known better, if nothing else. You give her the “stupid award” for going out on a roof naked, but it is my opinion that she was the one that actually instigated the whole thing. Maybe I put a little bit more into my opinion here than most people do, but I think she should have been more modest at the least. David, being who David was, saw her and lusted after her. I ascribe motives to her. I think she was climbing the ladder, you know, the only way that was available to her, and that was through marriage. I guess she figured that since Uriah was probably 20, 30, or even 40 years older than she that he would pop off soon enough anyway, and she would be able to marry the king. But I think she was hastening things here. Well, you know what happened. They committed adultery, she conceived, and David connived to have Uriah killed in battle. So she won in a way. Her plan worked. Not long thereafter, the prophet Nathan came and confronted the king and gave him that little parable about the sheep. David repented, and probably fairly publicly too. At least all the servants in the palace knew about it. They knew what was going on, and you know a public repentance like this would put Bathsheba in a very poor light, because suddenly this beautiful young woman is known as adulteress. And you know how adulteresses have been seen throughout history. There is always that stigma, the scarlet letter type of thing. How does this reflect on the rest of the family of Ahithophel? Ahithophel had made a name for himself as a very wise counselor, and Eliam had made a name for himself as a general, and a fighter. He had proven it by his prowess on the battlefield. And now Bathsheba had gone and besmirched the name of this leading family of Judah. “But no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, it wasn’t her fault. She’s as pure as the driven snow. She’s my granddaughter of all people. It was David, that lusty, lecherous, bloody king. It was his fault. He lured her away and seduced her with all his power and his position. You know he has an eye for women. How many wives and concubines does he have anyway? And he takes whoever he wants. No one is going to say no to the king. That low down good for nothing snake taking that poor man's little sheep.” Were these Ahithophel's thoughts as he pondered over this? This was his granddaughter, you know. That is possible. These are certainly natural enough thoughts looking at it from one side, one angle, when you have a stake in the whole thing. God, too, places most of the blame on David. He does not say one bad word to Bathsheba. But it is evident if you read between the lines that it was directed at both of them, but David gets the brunt of it, because he should have known better. He was converted of all things! Bathsheba was not. But now Bathsheba was the queen of Israel, the favorite of David the king. What could Ahithophel do? Things were smoothed over. David had repented and the baby had died. So what did Ahithophel have to do? Well, he had to play his role, and as the wise counselor, continue in it as grandfather of the queen. And to just throw this in here, he was about 70 years old at the time. So if he was going to take his revenge on David, he would have to bide his time and wait for the perfect situation. But would you not know, of all things it was David's own son Absalom that provided him with all the ammo he needed. Absalom rebelled about a decade later. Here Ahithophel is now 80 years old. He has been stewing over this for 10 years. He has got a grudge against the king. This rebellion takes place, and Israel has to choose sides between David and his son Absalom. Ahithophel sides with Absalom. The perfect way “in.” Now he had an “in” to the power that could do something against David—David's own son. So what happens? Before we get to that, you know that David fled from Jerusalem and escaped over the River Kidron into the wilderness of Judea. And then the story unfolds between II Samuel 15 and II Samuel 18. But we do not want to go through that. That would be a lot to read. But the story is that when David learned of Ahithophel's treason something must have popped in his head—a lightbulb must have turned on. And maybe he understood something. I do not know. But he sent his trusted servant Hushai back to Jerusalem to foil Ahithophel's plans to destroy or defeat his counsel against him. Now the first thing Ahithophel did was that he advised Absalom to lay with David's 10 concubines who had stayed behind. And he told him that he should do this on the roof of the palace so that everyone could see who was the new king. In Gentile countries it was an accepted practice for the old king's wives to be taken by the new king as his wives (not necessarily his mother, but the other lesser wives), as a sign that he was now king. He had taken over the throne and the old man in most cases was dead. “Long live the new king!” It was just one of those little cultural things that Ahithophel brought in from the Gentile lands. So this happened. Absalom took his advice, and this at least partly fulfills Nathan's prophecy in II Samuel 12:11, where he says that his wives would be taken in the sight of all Israel. Now what did he do next? Ahithophel gave him some more advice in II Samuel 17. II Samuel 17:1-4 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 [remember they have been fleeing all day and make him afraid], and make him afraid. And all the people who are with him will flee, and I will strike only the king [understand—he had one object in mind. He wanted to kill 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. Here was his master stroke. “Give me 12,000 men. We’ll go chase everybody away. We will kill the old man, the king, and we will come back, and you will have your throne, secure. Now let us be realistic about this. This physically was good advice. It could have worked. Get the man while he is down. This is where Hushai comes in and does his job, exactly what David wanted him to do. He caused Absalom to fear David's reputation as a mighty man, as well as his servants who were also mighty men. This happens in verses 7 through 14. We will not read it all, but he says in verse 7, “The counsel that Ahithophel has given is not good at this time.” And then he says, what you ought to do is get all Israel together, and when you have so many men, you can just come against him and just annihilate him. You will not have to worry. It will be more than 12,000 men. You will have hundreds of thousands of men, and you can just go annihilate them. Well, it was a stalling tactic, and it worked, because it allowed David to go to ground, and gather his own army to him. And if you read the story, 20,000 men lost their lives in this rebellion of Absalom, and David regained the throne. But back to our story. The opportunity of Ahithophel had passed. Hushai had done his job. What does a man like this do? He is about 80 years old. In his own mind, his family name had been besmirched. There was no way to avenge it anymore. He knew that Absalom was going to lose. He did not have what David had. David was going to regain the throne, and Ahithophel was as good as dead. II Samuel 17:23 Now when Ahithophel saw that his advice was not followed, he saddled a donkey, and arose and went home to his house, to his city [Giloh]. Then he put his household in order, and hanged himself, and died; and he was buried in his father's tomb. Now what was significant about Giloh? Remember, it means uncovered or revealed. Is that not what happened with Ahithophel? He became the brother of folly in the end, and his plot was uncovered. And he was revealed to be a very vengeful, spiteful old man. Not a very happy ending, is it? He would have done well to listen to the advice of Moses and of God. Leviticus 19:18 “You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.” Let us go quickly to Deuteronomy 32. This is the more famous of these verses. Deuteronomy 32:35 ‘Vengeance is Mine, and recompense; their foot shall slip in due time; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things to come hasten upon them.' Remember what Nathan said. He said, “From this time forth, your sons, your family will fight internecine warfare, and I will give your wives to others, to your neighbor in the sight of all Israel.” Now Ahithophel should have known better. He was privy counselor to the king. He probably knew the prophecy, but he was not patient enough to wait for God's vengeance upon David for that sin. I mean, it says it right there in the prophecy that he was going to be punished for his sin, because it was so heinous. Then it happened in the sight of all Israel. So we do not need our pound of flesh. God will punish for sin in His time. We just need faith in God to wait for Him to do it. Now what I have just gone through this is an example that scholars called “undesigned consequences,” and it is a proof that God wrote the Bible. How does this work? Well, it works like this: If you read the story straight through, we would never make the connection between Ahithophel and Bathsheba. But in order to find that link, we had to go to several other books, basically I Chronicles. Nowhere does it say that Ahithophel was Bathsheba's grandfather. That clue you have to put together from several verses from a couple of different books. What it means is that God had the oversight of all these things that were written. So He included in His Book all the details that really mattered, and He did not let something like this go unwritten, so that the whole story could be told.
RTR/rwu/drm
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