Grandpa's Rooftop Revenge
Samuel 2 16:23
The rebel forces of Absalom take over Jerusalem as soon as King David and his entourage flee the capital, running for safety up the Mount of Olives. Left behind in Jerusalem are ten of David’s lesser wives, whose names were not deemed enough to matter. But what does matter is their status as the king’s women - who will soon be desecrated publicly as a cruel indication of the regime change, no matter how temporary it will turn out to be.
Absalom’s astonishing rise in popularity is ascribed to his dedicated campaign of winning over people’s hearts, but it’s also thanks to the public support of a major backer. Ahitophel, of Gilo, is considered one of the king’s top advisors whose word was valued enough to boost ratings.
When Ahitophel lends his support to Absalom, the numbers of followers surge. This is also the main reason for David’s escape - when he hears who advises his rebel son he understands that he’s in trouble - Ahitophel was not just any advisor - his word was as good as god’s:
וַעֲצַ֣ת אֲחִיתֹ֗פֶל אֲשֶׁ֤ר יָעַץ֙ בַּיָּמִ֣ים הָהֵ֔ם כַּאֲשֶׁ֥ר יִשְׁאַל־[אִ֖ישׁ] בִּדְבַ֣ר הָאֱלֹהִ֑ים כֵּ֚ן כׇּל־עֲצַ֣ת אֲחִיתֹ֔פֶל גַּם־לְדָוִ֖ד גַּ֥ם לְאַבְשָׁלֹֽם׃
“In those days, the advice which Ahithophel gave was accepted like an oracle sought from God; that is how all the advice of Ahithophel was esteemed both by David and by Absalom.”
Once in Jerusalem, with the rebels, Ahitophel will give Absalom two important bits of advice - one is embraced and adopted, but the second will be rejected. The expression ‘Ahitophel’s advice’ will enter the Hebraic list of idioms as the type of counsel one should avoid. It’ll be interesting to explore both of the tips he gave the rebel prince - and understand why and how this courtier’s word carried so much power, until it did not.
To understand this man’s story and how it impacted the rebellion it’s helpful to unpack his biography.
Ahitophel of Gilo is not just David’s inner circle advisor, turning on the king to back the young prince. He is also the grandfather of Bathsheba, David’s wife, whose rise to fame begins with her famous rooftop bathing scene.
Is this why he changed sides? Does Bathsheba’s family, despite their increased access to the throne, resent David for how he treated their daughter and killed her husband?
There is one hint in what happens next that indicates Ahitophel’s flare for revenge, getting back at David in a brutal eye-for-an-eye scene.
When Absalom wants to know how to show the people that he’s taken over his father’s palace, Ahitophel suggested that Absalom take the wives that David left behind to guard the palace and rape them, publicly, for all of Israel to see. In this way it will be manifest that the prince is taking over for the king.
Per his advice, David’s servants set up a tent on the roof of the palace and there, primetime, Absalom has sex with some or all of David’s wives - and it’s safe and sad to assume that they had no say in the matter.
Absalom may be too young to remember but Ahitophel, and likely many of the people of Israel remember the harsh words with which Nathan the Prophet threatened King David after the Bathesheba affair became public knowledge, only a few years earlier:
“Thus said YHWH: ‘I will make a calamity rise against you from within your own house; I will take your wives and give them to another man before your very eyes and he shall sleep with your wives under this very sun.” Samuel 2 12:11
And that’s exactly when Ahitophel proposes - David’s betrayal of Bathesheba’s privacy on the rooftop is revenged ten-fold as his wives are publicly rapes on the king’s roof.
Did Bathsheba’s grandfather come up with this dreadful spectacle to avenge his family’s honor, punish the king in favor of the prince attempting to take over the kingdom?
How awful that instead of learning from this brutal story that his granddaughter endures he chooses to increase the trauma and extend it to the lives of ten more women, spreading the toxicity and letting the people know - like father, like son.
But it isn't this bit of political advice that gets Ahitophel in trouble and causes him to fall out of favor. That’s coming tomorrow.
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