2 Samuel 17:16

16 Now send someone quickly and tell David, 'Don't spend the night at the wilderness ford [of the Jordan], but be sure to cross over, or the king and all the people with him will be destroyed.' "

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 Since the Lord had decreed that Ahithophel's good advice be undermined in order to bring about Absalom's ruin, Absalom and all the men of Israel said, "The advice of Hushai the Archite is better than Ahithophel's advice."

15 Hushai then told the priests Zadok and Abiathar, "This is what Ahithophel advised Absalom and the elders of Israel, and this is what I advised.

16 Now send someone quickly and tell David, 'Don't spend the night at the wilderness ford [of the Jordan], but be sure to cross over, or the king and all the people with him will be destroyed.' "

17 Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying at En-rogel, where a servant girl would come and pass along information to them. They in turn would go and inform King David, because they dared not be seen entering the city.

18 However, a young man did see them and informed Absalom. So the two left quickly and came to the house of a man in Bahurim. He had a well in his courtyard, and they climbed down into it.