Lives of Scripture

Ahithophel served as David's counselor with a reputation so trusted that "the advice of Ahithophel, which he gave in those days, was as if one inquired of the word of God" (2 Samuel 16:23). When Absalom rebelled against his father, Ahithophel defected to him, and Absalom actively sought his counsel (15:12; 16:20). Ahithophel first advised Absalom to publicly take his father's concubines, humiliating David before all Israel and burning any bridge back (16:21-22) -- possibly connected to the fact that Bathsheba, David's wife whom he had taken adulterously, was Ahithophel's own granddaughter (11:3; 23:34), a link many readers see as motive for his betrayal. He then urged Absalom to let him pursue David immediately with an army before David could regroup, sound military advice that would likely have ended the rebellion in David's defeat (17:1-4). But David had prayed specifically that God would "make the counsel of Ahithophel foolish" (15:31), and Absalom, at God's providence, chose Hushai's contrary and slower advice instead (17:14). Seeing his counsel rejected and reading the rebellion's coming failure, Ahithophel went home, set his house in order, and hanged himself, and was buried in his father's tomb (17:23). His story is Scripture's clearest portrait of brilliant human wisdom that, turned against God's anointed king, leads only to despair.