2 Samuel 17:16

16 So then, send quickly and tell David, 'Don't spend the night at the fords of the wilderness! Moreover, by all means cross over lest the king and all the people who [are] with him be swallowed up.'"

2 Samuel 17:16 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 17:16

Now therefore send quickly and tell David
What has been advised to on both sides:

saying, lodge not this night in the plains of the wilderness;
which reached to Jericho; this advice he gave, because he knew not whether his counsel would be abode by, though preferred; Absalom and the elders of Israel might change their minds, and Ahithophel might, by the strength of his oratory, prevail upon them after all to follow his advice; and therefore, to guard against the worst, he judged it most prudential in David to make all the haste he could from that place where he was, and not continue a night longer in it; for, if Ahithophel's counsel should take place, he would be in pursuit of him that very night:

but speedily pass over;
the river Jordan:

lest the king be swallowed up, and all the people that [are] with him:
be destroyed by the forces Ahithophel should bring with him, which he would not be able to withstand.

2 Samuel 17:16 In-Context

14 Then Absalom and all the men of Israel said, "The advice of Hushai the Arkite [is] better than the advice of Ahithophel." (Now Yahweh had ordained to frustrate the good counsel of Ahithophel in order for Yahweh to bring misery upon Absalom).

15 Hushai said to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, "{Thus and so} Ahithophel advised Absalom and the elders of Israel, but {thus and so} I have advised.

16 So then, send quickly and tell David, 'Don't spend the night at the fords of the wilderness! Moreover, by all means cross over lest the king and all the people who [are] with him be swallowed up.'"

17 Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz [were] staying at En Rogel, so a servant girl used to go and tell them, then they would go and tell King David, for they [were] not able to be seen coming to the city.

18 But a young man saw them and told Absalom, so both of them went quickly and came to the house of a man at Bahurim. Now he had a well in his courtyard, so they went down there.