2 Samuel 16:15

DAVID'S FRIEND HUSHAI DECEIVES ABSALOM

"Now Absalom and all the people, the men of Israel, came to Jerusalem, and Ahithophel with him. And when Hushai the Archite, David's friend, came to Absalom, Hushai said to Absalom, `Long live the king! Long live the king!' And Absalom said to Hushai, `Is this your loyalty to your friend? Why did you not go with your friend?' And Hushai said to Absalom, `No; for whom the Lord and this people and all the men of Israel have chosen, his I will be, and with him I will remain. And again, whom should I serve? Should it not be his son? As I have served your father, so I will serve you.'"

Right here is where Absalom lost his chance to be king of Israel. Conceited though he was, he was completely taken in by Hushai's deceitful flattery. Hushai was in Absalom's presence upon David's specific orders with the sole purpose of defeating the counsel of Ahithophel; and once he gained Absalom's confidence, the rest of his assignment was easy. It must not be thought that Hushai's lying flattery of Absalom was approved by the Lord. The deeds of sinful people are frequently used and overruled by the Providence of God in the achievement of his eternal purpose.

Hushai's deception of Absalom was a masterpiece. "He was naturally suspect (being David's friend), but he cleverly ingratiated himself; the (deliberate) flaw in his appeal was the suggestion that Absalom, in any sense whatever, was `chosen' (2 Samuel 16:18) by `all the men of Israel.'"[14]

ABSALOM RAVAGED THE TEN CONCUBINES OF DAVID

Incredible as it may seem, the man who murdered his brother for the rape of a half sister was now guilty on ten counts of incest, a capital offense, because the Lord had commanded that. "Any man who lies with his father's wife ... shall be put to death" (Leviticus 20:11). The apostle Paul spoke of this particular sin as so detestable that it was not even named among the Gentiles (1 Corinthians 5:1). "The entire history of the East affords only one parallel to the infamous outrage by Absalom."[15]