2 Samuel 17:14

14 Absalom and all of the men of Israel agreed. They said, "The advice of Hushai, the Arkite, is better than the advice of Ahithophel." The LORD had decided that Ahithophel's good advice would fail. The LORD wanted to bring horrible trouble on Absalom.

2 Samuel 17:14 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 17:14

And Absalom and all the men of Israel said
That is, the elders, who before approved of the counsel of Ahithophel, ( 2 Samuel 17:4 ) ;

the counsel of Hushai the Archite [is] better than the counsel of
Ahithophel;
it appeared to them most plausible, and most likely to be attended with success:

for the Lord had appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel;
for so it was to Absalom and his party the best and wisest that could be given them; but it was the Lord's will it should be defeated, and therefore the minds of Absalom and of the elders of Israel were blinded:

to the intent that the Lord might bring evil upon Absalom;
his person and cause; that his cause might be ruined, and he himself slain in battle; see ( Proverbs 19:21 ) .

2 Samuel 17:14 In-Context

12 "Then we'll attack David no matter where we find him. As dew completely covers the ground, we'll completely overpower his entire army. We won't leave him or any of his men alive.

13 He might try to get away by going into a city. If he does, all of us will bring ropes to that city. We'll drag the whole city down into the valley. No one will be able to find even a piece of that city."

14 Absalom and all of the men of Israel agreed. They said, "The advice of Hushai, the Arkite, is better than the advice of Ahithophel." The LORD had decided that Ahithophel's good advice would fail. The LORD wanted to bring horrible trouble on Absalom.

15 Hushai spoke to the priests Zadok and Abiathar. He said, "Ahithophel has given advice to Absalom and the elders of Israel. He suggested that they should do one thing. But I suggested something else.

16 "Send a message right away. Tell David, 'Don't spend the night at the place in the desert where people can go across the Jordan River. Make sure you go on across. If you don't, you and all of the people who are with you will be swallowed up.' "