The Fallible · Synthetic · Study Bible
2 Samuel16:15–23
The Counsel of Ahithophel and Hushai
2 Samuel 16:15–23 — The Counsel of Ahithophel and Hushai. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.
15“Then Absalom and all the men of Israel came to Jerusalem, and Ah…”+
15Then Absalom and all the men of Israel came to Jerusalem, and Ahithophel was with him.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·’aḇ·šā·lō·wm wə·ḵāl hā·‘ām ’îš yiś·rā·’êl bā·’ū yə·rū·šā·lim wa·’ă·ḥî·ṯō·p̄el ’it·tōw
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-Absalom and-all the-people, the-men of-Israel, came Jerusalem; and-Ahithophel with-him.
Where the English smooths the original
- הָעָם֙ הָעָם֙ (hā·‘ām, H5971) stands in the Hebrew as its own term before ’îš yiśrā’êl, so the line reads "all the people, the men of Israel." BSB folds the two into "all the men of Israel" and the appositional weight is lost: the narrator is asserting that the crowd behind the usurper now carries the name of the covenant nation. Pulpit insists that here and in v. 18 "the men of Israel" is not set over against Judah but includes it.
- בָּ֖אוּ בָּ֖אוּ (bā·’ū, Qal perfect 3cp of bôwʼ, H935) is bare "came" with Jerusalem as an accusative of direction and no preposition at all. English must supply "to." The same root bôwʼ returns twice in this unit as the euphemism for entering a woman (vv. 21, 22): the verb that brings Absalom into the city is the verb that brings him into his father's bed.
- אִתּֽוֹ׃ אִתּֽוֹ׃ (’it·tōw, H854) is a bare preposition with suffix, "with him," and no verb. BSB honestly supplies "[was] with him." The verbless clause is the narrator's quiet alarm: the chapter's whole outcome hangs on whose side this one man stands, and the Hebrew will not even give him a predicate.
Word by word9 · parsed+
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The term Israel is constantly applied to Absalom’s followers in this narrative. It is used in a general sense, and not to signify the northern tribes as distinguished from Judah, for the strength of the insurrection, originally at any rate, lay in the south.
so that had not David made the hasty flight he did, he had fallen into the hands of AbsalomGill's distances come from Bunting's seventeenth-century travel book, which he himself cites inconsistently (a mile in one place, three in another); the geography is illustrative, not measured.
Hushai the Archite also came and greeted him warmly as king, by exclaiming again and again, "Long live the king!"
16“And David’s friend Hushai the Archite went to Absalom and said t…”+
16And David’s friend Hushai the Archite went to Absalom and said to him, “Long live the king! Long live the king!”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
way·hî ka·’ă·šer- ḏā·wiḏ rê·‘eh ḥū·šay hā·’ar·kî bā ’el- ’aḇ·šā·lō·wm way·yō·mer ḥū·šay ’el- ’aḇ·šā·lōm yə·ḥî ham·me·leḵ yə·ḥî ham·me·leḵ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-it-came-to-pass, when Hushai the-Archite, the-friend of-David, came to Absalom, that-said Hushai to Absalom: "May-he-live, the-king! May-he-live, the-king!"
Where the English smooths the original
- רֵעֶ֥ה רֵעֶ֥ה (rê·‘eh, H7463) is not the ordinary word for a friend. It is a distinct lexeme found in only four verses of the canon, and in three of them it is a court office: "the king's friend" (compare 1 Kings 4:5, 1 Chronicles 27:33). BSB's "David's friend" reads as affection; the Hebrew reads as a title on a government roll. Absalom's retort in v. 17 will switch to the common word rêaʻ.
- יְחִ֥י יְחִ֥י (yə·ḥî, Qal jussive of châyâh, H2421) is simply "let him live," with the king as subject and no divine name anywhere in the clause. Ellicott: "In the original, wherever this phrase occurs, it is simply, Let the king live." The older English "God save the king" imports God into a sentence that never named him, and in doing so hides the trick: Hushai never says which king he means.
- הָאַרְכִּ֛י הָאַרְכִּ֛י (hā·’ar·kî, H757) is a gentilic, glossed in the lexicon simply as "an Arkite," and it is rare: the Verifier finds it in only six verses of the canon, every one of them belonging to this revolt or to the court lists around it. BSB keeps the word, but an English reader hears a surname where the Hebrew hears a clan. ⚙ The narrator never once drops the tag from Hushai's name, which is worth noticing: the man who keeps faith with the anointed king is identified, every single time, by where he is from rather than by whose he is.
- וַיְהִ֗י וַיְהִ֗י (way·hî, H1961) is the formulaic narrative opener "and it came to pass," which BSB drops entirely. Its presence slows the scene deliberately and sets up the hinge construction ka’ăšer ... wayyō’mer, "when he came ... then he said," so that the shout is the very first thing out of Hushai's mouth.
Word by word17 · parsed+
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In the original, wherever this phrase occurs, it is simply, Let the king live. This and the expression “God forbid” are exceptional instances in which modern phraseology refers more directly to God than the ancient.
these words are very ambiguous, he might mean David, who was true and lawful king, though he would have them understood of Absalom, who was king by usurpation, in which he used great deceit and flattery
or rather, with a seemingly peculiar zeal, he re-doubled the salutation; God save the king — Namely, Absalom, whom he pretends to own for his king and rightful lord, as if he were abundantly satisfied in his title
17““Is this the loyalty you show your friend?” Absalom replied. “Wh…”+
17“Is this the loyalty you show your friend?” Absalom replied. “Why did you not go with your friend?”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
zeh ḥas·də·ḵā ’eṯ- rê·‘e·ḵā ’aḇ·šā·lō·wm way·yō·mer ’el- ḥū·šay lām·māh lō- hā·laḵ·tā ’eṯ- rê·‘e·ḵā
Literal — word-for-word from the original
"Is-this thy-ḥesed with thy-friend? Why not didst-thou-go with thy-friend?" said Absalom to Hushai.
Where the English smooths the original
- חַסְדְּךָ֖ חַסְדְּךָ֖ (ḥas·də·ḵā, chêçêd, H2617) is the great covenant word: steadfast, sworn, obligated love, the loyalty God keeps with Israel. BSB's "loyalty" is defensible and Benson, Poole and Gill all render it "kindness." Either way English cannot carry the sting, which is that Absalom, who has broken the deepest bond in the story, is standing there lecturing another man on ḥesed.
- רֵעֶ֑ךָ רֵעֶ֑ךָ (rê·‘e·ḵā, rêaʻ, H7453) is the ordinary word for a neighbour or associate, found in 173 verses, and it is not the rare title rê·‘eh used of Hushai in v. 16. Absalom demotes the office to a private friendship. English prints "friend" in both verses and the demotion disappears.
- אֶת־ אֶת־ (’eṯ, H854) here is the preposition "with," not the accusative marker, and it governs both halves of the taunt: ḥesed shown with your friend, going with your friend. BSB's "the loyalty you show your friend" smooths a repeated preposition that binds the two questions into one accusation.
- לָ֥מָּה לָ֥מָּה (lām·māh, H4100) is the bare interrogative "why," and the Hebrew never once supplies the word "father" in this verse. Poole and Gill both notice the omission: Absalom will not call David his father, and he will not call him the king. He can only name him by another man's attachment to him.
Word by word13 · parsed+
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Is this thy kindness to thy friend? doth this action answer that profession of greatest friendship which thou hast hitherto made to him? Dost thou thus requite his favour and true friendship to thee? He speaks thus only to try him.
Yet he does not suspect this sudden breaking of old ties, but, looking at the bright side only, sees in it a proof that his party was looked upon as sure of success, and David's cause as hopeless.
to try his integrity, he puts this question, not as displeased with him, but overjoyed that such a trusty friend of David, and a wise counsellor of his, had deserted him, and come over to himGill and Poole disagree about the tone of the question: Poole hears a test, Gill hears a man too delighted to test anything. The Hebrew supplies no tone.
18““Not at all,” Hushai answered. “For the one chosen by the LORD, …”+
18“Not at all,” Hushai answered. “For the one chosen by the LORD, by this people, and by all the men of Israel—his I will be, and with him I will remain.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
lō ḥū·šay ’el- way·yō·mer ’aḇ·šā·lōm kî ’ă·šer bā·ḥar Yah·weh haz·zeh wə·hā·‘ām wə·ḵāl ’îš yiś·rā·’êl lō ’eh·yeh wə·’it·tōw ’ê·šêḇ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-said Hushai to Absalom: "Nay; but whom has-chosen YHWH, and-this people, and-all the-men of-Israel, to-him I-will-be, and-with-him I-will-sit."
Where the English smooths the original
- בָּחַ֧ר בָּחַ֧ר (bā·ḥar, Qal perfect of bâchar, H977) is the election verb of Israel's whole theology, used of God choosing Abraham's seed, Zion, and David himself. Hushai puts it in the perfect, a completed act, and then never names its object. BSB's "the one chosen by the LORD" supplies a definiteness the Hebrew withholds. Gill: this description "better agrees with David, whom he might bear in mind, than with Absalom."
- לֹא לֹא at word 14 is the famous Kethiv/Qere: the consonantal text reads lō’, "not," while the Masoretes direct it to be read lōw, "to him" (both pointed H3808 in the interlinear, with a third person suffix). K&D notes it flatly: "to him (לא for לו, Keri)." BSB prints only the Qere, "his I will be." The written text, read as it stands, says the opposite: "I will not be." The scribal tradition preserved both, and Gill records translators who rendered it "non ero," I will not be.
- אֵשֵֽׁב׃ אֵשֵֽׁב׃ (’ê·šêḇ, Qal imperfect of yâshab, H3427) is "I will sit," that is, sit in council or take a seat in the court, not merely "remain." BSB's "I will remain" flattens a courtier's technical request: Hushai is asking for the chair beside the throne that will let him hear Ahithophel's counsel and answer it in ch. 17.
- וְהָעָ֥ם וְהָעָ֥ם (wə·hā·‘ām, H5971) with the demonstrative hazzeh is "and this people," a deictic gesture at the crowd in the room. BSB's "by this people" reads it as a third elector alongside the LORD. Poole hears the hedge: the character "did not agree to him, whom neither God nor all the people had chosen."
Word by word18 · parsed+
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The attentive reader will observe that this salutation and whole apology are evidently as evasive, and as well calculated to delude, as art could contrive them; for he neither prays personally for Absalom, nor professes allegiance to himBenson is here quoting Delaney, as his closing attribution shows; the observation is Delaney's, relayed.
But Hushai expresseth himself very cautiously; for though he would be thought to understand Absalom, yet in truth this character did not agree to him, whom neither God nor all the people had chosen, bout only a part, and that the worst part of them."bout" is a printer's slip for "but" in the public-domain text; quoted verbatim, uncorrected.
With great craftiness, Hushai declared at the very outset that Jehovah had chosen Absalom - at least he could not come to any other conclusion, judging from the results.
19“Furthermore, whom should I serve if not his son? As I served in …”+
19Furthermore, whom should I serve if not his son? As I served in your father’s presence, so also I will serve in yours.”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·haš·šê·nîṯ lə·mî ’ă·nî ’e·‘ĕ·ḇōḏ hă·lō·w ḇə·nōw ka·’ă·šer ‘ā·ḇaḏ·tî ’ā·ḇî·ḵā lip̄·nê kên ’eh·yeh li·p̄ā·ne·ḵā lip̄·nê
Literal — word-for-word from the original
"And-secondly: to-whom should-I-myself serve? Is-it-not before his-son? As I-served before thy-father, so will-I-be before-thee."
Where the English smooths the original
- וְהַשֵּׁנִ֗ית וְהַשֵּׁנִ֗ית (wə·haš·šê·nîṯ, shênîy, H8145) is an ordinal, "and the second [thing]," not the loose "Furthermore" of BSB. Gill catches it exactly: "Or 'secondly', a second reason is here given." Hushai is numbering his argument like a man reading from a brief, which is itself part of the performance.
- לִפְנֵ֣י לִפְנֵ֣י (lip̄·nê, from pânîym, H6440, "face") is literally "to the face of." It occurs three times in this short verse and BSB renders it "presence" once and "in yours" once. The idiom "to serve before the face of" is the court formula for attendance on a sovereign; Hushai is applying for a post, and the repetition is the application.
- אֶהְיֶ֥ה אֶהְיֶ֥ה (’eh·yeh, Qal imperfect of hâyâh, H1961) is "I will be," not "I will serve." BSB supplies the verb of serving from the parallel line. K&D preserves the evasion: "so will I be before thee." Twice now (here and in v. 18) Hushai promises only to be present, never to obey.
- בְנ֑וֹ בְנ֑וֹ (ḇə·nōw, bên, H1121) is "his son," in the third person, spoken to Absalom's face. The Hebrew keeps Absalom at arm's length as a referent in an argument rather than addressing him as king, and only in the final clause does it shift to "thee."
Word by word14 · parsed+
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and he seems to bespeak the office of a counsellor, in which he had been to David, that he might be admitted into the presence of Absalom, and be of his privy council, and have the opportunity of giving his best advice.
Thou art his son, and heir, and successor, and now in his place and stead; whereby my friendship which was due to him is devolved upon thee by right of inheritancePoole is paraphrasing Hushai's argument in Hushai's voice, not endorsing it.
urging his friendship for the father as a ground of confidence in his fidelity to the son, he persuaded Absalom of his sincerity, and was admitted among the councillors of the new king.
20“Then Absalom said to Ahithophel, “Give me counsel. What should w…”+
20Then Absalom said to Ahithophel, “Give me counsel. What should we do?”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
’aḇ·šā·lō·wm way·yō·mer ’el- ’ă·ḥî·ṯō·p̄el hā·ḇū lā·ḵem ‘ê·ṣāh mah- na·‘ă·śeh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-said Absalom to Ahithophel: "Give ye for-yourselves counsel, what shall-we-do?"
Where the English smooths the original
- הָב֥וּ הָב֥וּ (hā·ḇū, Qal imperative masculine plural of yâhab, H3051) is addressed to more than one man, although the verse names only Ahithophel. K&D explains the plural on the supposition that "the other persons present were addressed as well." BSB's singular "Give me counsel" erases the council chamber and leaves a private consultation.
- לָכֶ֛ם לָכֶ֛ם (lā·ḵem) is "for yourselves," an ethic dative with no English equivalent, which BSB simply drops. Pulpit: "Hebrew, for you; but we have no way in English of expressing the force of this phrase." It implies the counsellors have a stake of their own in the advice they give, which is the exact hinge of v. 21, since Ahithophel's counsel will be shaped by his own exposure.
- עֵצָ֖ה עֵצָ֖ה (‘ê·ṣāh, H6098) is the noun "counsel," the keyword of the whole unit and of ch. 17; it returns twice in v. 23. BSB renders it "counsel" here and "advice" in v. 23, which hides the fact that one Hebrew word is being tracked across the narrative.
- נַּעֲשֶֽׂה׃ נַּעֲשֶֽׂה׃ (na·‘ă·śeh, Qal imperfect first person common plural of ʻâsâh, H6213) is "what shall we do." The king who has just been hailed alone immediately hides inside a plural. The deed of v. 22 will be his alone.
Word by word9 · parsed+
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Absalom thinks himself sure of success, when he has both; on them he relies, and consults not the ark, though he had that with him. But miserable counsellors were they both.
This is the first cabinet council on record, although the deference paid to Ahithophel gave him the entire direction of the proceedings.JFB's "first cabinet council on record" is a nineteenth-century flourish, not a claim the Hebrew makes.
but we have no way in English of expressing the force of this phrase. In Greek it is called the ethic dative
The plural הבוּ (give ye) may be explained on the supposition that the other persons present were addressed as well as Ahithophel, as being capable of giving advice.
21“Ahithophel replied, “Sleep with your father’s concubines, whom h…”+
21Ahithophel replied, “Sleep with your father’s concubines, whom he has left to take care of the palace. When all Israel hears that you have become a stench to your father, then the hands of all who are with you will be strengthened.”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
’ă·ḥî·ṯō·p̄el way·yō·mer ’el- ’aḇ·šā·lōm bō·w ’el- ’ā·ḇî·ḵā pi·laḡ·šê ’ă·šer hin·nî·aḥ liš·mō·wr hab·bā·yiṯ kāl- yiś·rā·’êl wə·šā·ma‘ kî- niḇ·’aš·tā ’eṯ- ’ā·ḇî·ḵā yə·ḏê kāl- ’ă·šer ’it·tāḵ wə·ḥā·zə·qū
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-said Ahithophel to Absalom: "Go-in to the-concubines of-thy-father whom he-left-behind to-keep the-house; and-will-hear all-Israel that thou-hast-made-thyself-stink with thy-father, and-will-be-strengthened the-hands of-all who-are with-thee."
Where the English smooths the original
- בּ֚וֹא בּ֚וֹא (bō·w, Qal imperative of bôwʼ, H935) is simply "go in, enter," with ’el. It is the standing Hebrew euphemism for sexual entry (K&D cross-references 2 Samuel 3:7 for the idiom). BSB's "Sleep with" is accurate in sense but loses the deliberate echo: it is the same verb that brought Absalom into Jerusalem in v. 15 and will bring him onto the roof in v. 22. He enters the city, then the tent, then the bed, and each entry is a further seizure.
- נִבְאַ֣שְׁתָּ נִבְאַ֣שְׁתָּ (niḇ·’aš·tā, Niphal perfect of bâʼash, H887) means literally "thou hast made thyself stink." The root is used of rotting fish and putrid water. K&D keeps the smell: "thou hast made thyself stinking with thy father." BSB's "become a stench" is close; older English "abhorred of thy father" (Poole, Benson, Gill) abstracts the physical disgust away. The Niphal is reflexive and deliberate: the stink is something Absalom is being told to do to himself.
- וְחָ֣זְק֔וּ וְחָ֣זְק֔וּ (wə·ḥā·zə·qū, conjunctive perfect of châzaq, H2388) is "and they shall be strong / seize firmly," with "the hands of all who are with you" as subject. The idiom of strengthened hands is the Hebrew of courage in war. Ahithophel's calculation is exact and Poole and Gill both spell it out: the followers' hands are slack precisely because they fear a reconciliation that would leave them exposed.
- הִנִּ֖יחַ הִנִּ֖יחַ (hin·nî·aḥ, Hiphil perfect of nûwach, H5117) is "he caused to rest, he left behind" (2 Samuel 15:16). The root is the verb of rest. The ten women David left at rest to keep the house are the ones this counsel makes into public property; the smoothing of "left" hides that the same root that means rest is here the word for abandonment.
Word by word24 · parsed+
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Ahithophel advised Absalom to make a decisive assumption of royal authority by publicly taking possession of the royal harem. This act was a claim of heirship and successionCambridge's added claim that the act "was not regarded with abhorrence by the Israelites" is a Victorian judgment about ancient sentiment, not something the text states; Pulpit, on the same verse, calls the counsel "utterly abominable."
A further motive has been found in this advice, namely, the desire on the part of Ahithophel to make David taste the bitterness of that cup which he had caused others (Uriah and all Bath-sheba's family) to drink, and receive the measure which he had meted withal.Barnes reports this motive as something others have found, not as his own assertion; the Bathsheba-Ahithophel connection rests on identifying Eliam of 2 Samuel 11:3 with the Eliam of 2 Samuel 23:34, which the text never makes explicit.
But this bitterness to David would vex all moderate men, and weaken Absalom's cause. It was of advantage only to such as were deeply committed to the rebellion, and bent on killing David.
But under the superintendence of God this advice of Ahithophel was to effect the fulfilment, without any such intention on his part, of the threat held over David in 2 Samuel 12:8K&D's reference here reads 2 Samuel 12:8; the threat fulfilled in v. 22 is that of 2 Samuel 12:11-12, as Gill, Benson, Cambridge and K&D's own note on v. 22 all cite. Treat the chapter-and-verse as a slip in the printed text.
22“So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, and he slept wit…”+
22So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, and he slept with his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
way·yaṭ·ṭū hā·’ō·hel lə·’aḇ·šā·lō·wm ‘al- hag·gāḡ ’aḇ·šā·lō·wm way·yā·ḇō ’el- ’ā·ḇîw pi·laḡ·šê lə·‘ê·nê kāl- yiś·rā·’êl
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-they-stretched-out for-Absalom the-tent upon the-roof; and-went-in Absalom to the-concubines of-his-father to-the-eyes of-all Israel.
Where the English smooths the original
- וַיַּטּ֧וּ וַיַּטּ֧וּ (way·yaṭ·ṭū, Hiphil of nâṭâh, H5186) is "they stretched out, they spread," the verb used of pitching a tent and of stretching out the heavens. BSB's "pitched" is right; what is lost is the unnamed plural subject. Nobody is named. A whole court cooperated, and Gill notices that not one man objected, "nor even did Hushai, David's friend."
- הָאֹ֖הֶל הָאֹ֖הֶל (hā·’ō·hel, H168) carries the definite article: the tent, not "a tent." Pulpit presses it: "that constantly used by David and his family for the enjoyment of the cool evening breeze." BSB's indefinite "a tent" loses a domestic object the city already knew by sight. ʼôhel is also the word for the tabernacle, which sharpens the obscenity of what is done inside it.
- לְעֵינֵ֖י לְעֵינֵ֖י (lə·‘ê·nê, from ʻayin, H5869) is literally "to the eyes of all Israel," not "in the sight of." The Hebrew names the organ. Poole and Benson both hold the limit honestly: what Israel's eyes actually saw was a man entering a tent, and they inferred the rest.
- הַגָּ֑ג הַגָּ֑ג (hag·gāḡ, H1406) is the flat roof, the same roof named in 2 Samuel 11:2. BSB says "the roof" and the English reader passes over it; the Hebrew reader has been on that roof before. Ellicott: the punishment "takes place on the very roof where David had first yielded to his guilty passion."
Word by word13 · parsed+
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Nathan had foretold that the nature of David’s public punishment should correspond to the character of his secret crime. The fact that this punishment takes place on the very roof where David had first yielded to his guilty passion makes it particularly striking.
that constantly used by David and his family for the enjoyment of the cool evening breeze, and which the citizens of Jerusalem had frequently seen erected on the flat roof of David's house.The identification of this tent as a known family awning is Pulpit's inference from the definite article, not a datum of the text.
this shows how corrupt the people of Israel were at this time, at least those that were with Absalom, that there should be none to object to the counsel Ahithophel gave, nor any to remonstrate against the execution of it, but all seemed to look upon it with pleasure; nor even did Hushai, David's friend, oppose it; perhaps he saw it was to no purpose.
23“Now in those days the advice of Ahithophel was like the consulta…”+
23Now in those days the advice of Ahithophel was like the consultation of the word of God. Such was the regard that both David and Absalom had for Ahithophel’s advice.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
hā·hêm bay·yā·mîm wa·‘ă·ṣaṯ ’ă·ḥî·ṯō·p̄el yā·‘aṣ ka·’ă·šer ’ă·šer yiš·ʾa·li- biḏ·ḇar hā·’ĕ·lō·hîm kên kāl- gam- lə·ḏā·wiḏ gam lə·’aḇ·šā·lōm ’ă·ḥî·ṯō·p̄el ‘ă·ṣaṯ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-the-counsel of-Ahithophel which he-counselled in-those days: as-when a-man inquires by-the-word of-God, so was all the-counsel of-Ahithophel, both to-David and-also to-Absalom.
Where the English smooths the original
- יִשְׁאַלִ֖־ יִשְׁאַלִ֖־ (yiš·’al, Qal imperfect of shâʼal, H7592) has no expressed subject. K&D: "The Masoretes have supplied אישׁ as the Keri to ישׁאל. This is correct so far as the sense is concerned, but it is quite unnecessary, as ישׁאל may be taken impersonally." BSB's "the consultation of the word of God" turns a verb into a noun and hides the fact that the comparison is to the act of inquiring at the sanctuary.
- בִּדְבַ֣ר בִּדְבַ֣ר (biḏ·ḇar, dâbâr, H1697) with the preposition b is "by the word of God," the technical formula for consulting the LORD (K&D refers it to the idiom of Judges 1:1). Cambridge: "had inquired of the word of God = had inquired of God, which was done by means of the Urim and Thummim." BSB's "consultation of the word of God" reads like scripture-reading; the Hebrew means the priestly oracle.
- וַעֲצַ֣ת וַעֲצַ֣ת (wa·‘ă·ṣaṯ, ʻêtsâh, H6098) opens the verse in an absolute construction, hanging outside the sentence: "and as for the counsel of Ahithophel..." K&D marks it so explicitly. BSB's ordinary word order makes it a normal report; the Hebrew makes it a heading, an editorial aside the narrator has stepped forward to deliver.
- הָאֱלֹהִ֑ים הָאֱלֹהִ֑ים (hā·’ĕ·lō·hîm, H430) is the plural noun with the article, the God, not the covenant name YHWH used at v. 18. The narrator compares Ahithophel's word to deity in the generic, and pointedly does not say the LORD spoke through him. The restraint is the verse's honesty.
Word by word18 · parsed+
The Voices✦ public domain+
Lit. had inquired of the word of God = had inquired of God, which was done by means of the Urim and Thummim in the breastplate upon the High-priest’s ephod.
his only excuse here is that there was such a glamour round Ahithophel, that men yielded up their own judgment to him without an effort, and did what he advised as if it had a religious sanction.
It was so esteemed for the success of it.The whole of Geneva's note on this verse: the reputation rested on results, not on revelation.
Ahithophel was a crafty man, a time server, that temporized with princes, and knew how to suit his counsels with their tempers and interests: to David he gave good counsel, what was acceptable with him, and to Absalom bad counsel, which was pleasing to him.
The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.
⚙Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole
synthesis · verify+
AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.
i. The city entered, the king hailed twice — 16:15-16
The unit opens with a verb of entry and a verbless clause of alliance: בָּ֖אוּ (bā·’ū, H935) brings Absalom and "all the people, the men of Israel" into Jerusalem, and then, with no predicate at all, "and Ahithophel with him." Gill notes the timing: David and his people reached Bahurim at the same hour, "so that had not David made the hasty flight he did, he had fallen into the hands of Absalom." Cambridge warns against over-reading the name Israel here: the term "is constantly applied to Absalom's followers in this narrative," and the rebellion's strength lay in the south, in David's own tribe. ⚙ Into that crowded, triumphant scene walks the one man in the story carrying a title rather than a loyalty: רֵעֶ֥ה (rê·‘eh, H7463), the king's friend, a lexeme the Verifier finds in only four verses of the canon. K&D describes what he does with it: he "came and greeted him warmly as king, by exclaiming again and again, 'Long live the king!'" Ellicott supplies the crucial philological fact that the older English hides: "In the original, wherever this phrase occurs, it is simply, Let the king live." No divine name, and, as Gill saw, no named king: "these words are very ambiguous, he might mean David, who was true and lawful king."
ii. The friend's oath, which is not an oath — 16:17-19
Absalom's challenge turns on חַסְדְּךָ֖ (ḥas·də·ḵā, H2617), the covenant word for sworn loyalty, and on a deliberate downgrade: the rare court title rê·‘eh of v. 16 becomes the common rêaʻ (H7453, 173 verses) of v. 17. Poole hears a probe ("He speaks thus only to try him"); Gill hears a man too pleased to probe anything, one "overjoyed that such a trusty friend of David... had deserted him." Pulpit reads Absalom's psychology: he "does not suspect this sudden breaking of old ties, but, looking at the bright side only, sees in it a proof that his party was looked upon as sure of success." Hushai's reply is a masterpiece of unfalsifiable grammar. He uses בָּחַ֧ר (bā·ḥar, H977), the election verb, and never names its object; Gill observes that the description "better agrees with David... than with Absalom." Poole notes the same caution, that the character "did not agree to him, whom neither God nor all the people had chosen." K&D, reading the man rather than the syntax, calls it craft: "With great craftiness, Hushai declared at the very outset that Jehovah had chosen Absalom." Benson, relaying Delaney, states the hard result: "he neither prays personally for Absalom, nor professes allegiance to him." ⚙ And the consonantal text itself keeps the ambiguity permanently on the page. At v. 18 the Kethiv reads לֹא, "not," where the Qere directs lōw, "to him" (K&D: "to him (לא for לו, Keri)"). Written, Hushai's pledge says "I will not be his." Whatever the textual history, the reading tradition has carried both halves of his double meaning for as long as we have had the verse. His stated aim in v. 19, as Gill saw, is a seat: "he seems to bespeak the office of a counsellor." JFB records that he got it: he "was admitted among the councillors of the new king."
iii. The cabinet, and the counsel that binds by crime — 16:20-21
Absalom's request is plural (הָב֥וּ, hā·ḇū, imperative masculine plural), which K&D explains as addressing "the other persons present... as well as Ahithophel," and it carries an ethic dative, lāḵem, "give ye for yourselves"; Pulpit: "we have no way in English of expressing the force of this phrase." JFB, with Victorian relish, calls it "the first cabinet council on record." Gill records the omission that governs everything: "Absalom did not send to the high priest to ask counsel of God, by Urim and Thummim before the ark, but wholly confided in his privy council." Henry's judgment on the two men he confided in stands: "Absalom thinks himself sure of success, when he has both... But miserable counsellors were they both." Ahithophel's advice is a legal instrument, not an appetite. Barnes: "Taking possession of the harem was the most decided act of sovereignty." Cambridge: "This act was a claim of heirship and succession." Its purpose, on which Poole, Gill, Cambridge, Ellicott, JFB and K&D are unanimous, is to make reconciliation impossible so that the rebels' hands, in the Hebrew idiom of וְחָ֣זְק֔וּ (châzaq, H2388), will be strong. Poole names the self-interest at the bottom of it: in a reconciliation "his followers, and especially Ahithophel himself, had been left to David's mercy." Pulpit adds the strategic cost the schemer ignored: "this bitterness to David would vex all moderate men, and weaken Absalom's cause." ⚙ The verb Ahithophel chose for the shame is נִבְאַ֣שְׁתָּ, a Niphal of bâʼash (H887), the root of rotting water and putrid fish. He is counselling a man to make himself stink, on purpose, in public, and calling it strategy.
iv. The roof, the tent, and a word spoken four chapters earlier — 16:22-23
The tent is definite: הָאֹ֖הֶל, the tent, which Pulpit takes as the family awning "erected on the flat roof of David's house," and the roof is the roof of 2 Samuel 11:2. Ellicott states the correspondence that every commentator in this brief sees: "Nathan had foretold that the nature of David's public punishment should correspond to the character of his secret crime," and it happens "on the very roof where David had first yielded to his guilty passion." Poole: "his sin was legible in the very place of his punishment." Benson, Cambridge, Gill and K&D say the same, and Pulpit adds David's own knowledge of it: "he knew that this open shame was the punishment of his own secret infamy." The phrase is לְעֵינֵ֖י, "to the eyes of all Israel," and Poole holds the limit of what eyes saw: they "saw him go into the tent, and thence concluded that he lay with them." Gill draws the verdict on the watchers: nobody objected, "nor even did Hushai, David's friend." ⚙ Then the narrator steps forward. Verse 23 is an absolute construction, a heading hung outside the sentence, and it is the only place in the unit where the storyteller evaluates. Ahithophel's עֵצָ֖ה was received "as when a man inquires by the word of God," biḏḇar hā’ĕlōhîm: Cambridge identifies the idiom as the Urim and Thummim oracle, and K&D refers it to the formula of Judges 1:1. Note what the narrator does not say. He does not say God spoke through Ahithophel. He uses the generic hā’ĕlōhîm rather than the covenant name, and reports only how the counsel was esteemed; Geneva's one-line gloss is exactly right, "It was so esteemed for the success of it." Pulpit sees a partial excuse for Absalom in it, "such a glamour round Ahithophel, that men yielded up their own judgment to him without an effort, and did what he advised as if it had a religious sanction." Gill closes the account of the man himself: "to David he gave good counsel... and to Absalom bad counsel, which was pleasing to him."
Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)
⚙ This is the tool's own fallible reading, offered to be tested against the text and rejected if it fails. The unit is built on one substitution, and it is not the one about the bed. Verse 20 shows a king refusing to inquire of God; verse 23 shows a court treating a man's counsel exactly as if he had. Between those two verses sits the crime. The narrator's aside in v. 23 is therefore not a compliment to Ahithophel's intelligence, it is the diagnosis of the whole chapter: when the oracle is vacated, something fills it, and what fills it will eventually ask for something the oracle would never have asked. Read that way, the two counsellors in the room are one experiment. Hushai's words are ambiguous, hedged, and never actually sworn, and they preserve the anointed king. Ahithophel's words are clear, decisive, revered as divine, and they destroy the man who obeys them. Reverence is not discernment. ⚙ Second, and more soberly: the Hebrew never once says that the LORD approved this counsel, and neither do we. It says the counsel was as if a man inquired of God, and K&D is careful to put the providence where the text puts it, that "under the superintendence of God this advice... was to effect the fulfilment, without any such intention on his part," of what Nathan had spoken. The word of 2 Samuel 12:11-12 comes true through a man who was not trying to fulfil it and a king who was not trying to obey it, and their freedom to sin is not thereby reduced. Benson's line is the one to end on, and it belongs to him, not to us: "The Lord is righteous, and no word of his shall fall to the ground!"
The counsel a court reveres as the word of God will one day ask it to do what the word of God forbids.
⚙Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture
cross-refs · verify+
AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.
"The king's friend" is an office, not a sentiment verbal / quotation — confirmed
The word used of Hushai in v. 16 is רֵעֶ֥ה (rê·‘eh, H7463), and the Verifier finds it in only four verses of the entire Hebrew Bible. Two of them are the Solomonic court list at 1 Kings 4:5, where the word stands among the named officers of state, and the introduction of Hushai at 2 Samuel 15:32-37, where the same tag follows him. ⚙ The rarity is the argument: this is a title on a roster, not a description of affection. That is why Absalom's retort in v. 17 stings and why it is built on a different word, the common rêaʻ (H7453, 173 verses). The Verifier finds Proverbs 27:10 sharing both lexemes at once, the only place in the canon where they meet, and its subject is precisely the question Absalom puts to Hushai: what a man owes his father's friend.
2 Samuel 15:37 · 1 Kings 4:5 · Proverbs 27:10
basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexeme H7463 rêʻeh — a rare word, in 4 verses canon-wide (2 Samuel 15:37, 0.57; 1 Kings 4:5, 0.25; Proverbs 27:10, 0.26, which additionally shares H7453 rêaʻ, in 173 vv). A rare-lexeme verbal link of shared technical vocabulary; no quotation is claimed in either direction.
Two offices, one roster: the Chronicler names both men of this chapter verbal / quotation — confirmed
1 Chronicles 27:33 lists David's officers and sets, side by side, exactly the two men who dominate this unit: Ahithophel the king's counsellor, and Hushai the Archite the king's friend. The Verifier reports the pair sharing three lexemes, two of them rare: אֲחִיתֹ֗פֶל (H302, 17 verses) and הָאַרְכִּ֛י (H757, only 6 verses), with Chûwshay (H2365, 13 verses). ⚙ The Chronicler's roster is the constitutional background to the scene: what walks into Absalom's court in vv. 15-16 is not two private individuals choosing sides but the head of David's counsel and the holder of the crown's confidential office. 1 Chronicles 27:33 also anchors the reading of rê·‘eh as a formal post, since the Chronicler uses it there as an office title in a list of office titles.
1 Chronicles 27:33
basis: Verifier (score 0.65): shared H302 ʼĂchîythôphel (in 17 vv), H757 ʼArkîy (in 6 vv), H2365 Chûwshay (in 13 vv). H757 is rare enough to carry a verbal tier; the link is shared proper vocabulary within one court, not a citation.
The counsel that was like an oracle, and the prayer that defeated it structural / thematic — confirmed
Verse 23's evaluation of Ahithophel is set up to be demolished. At 2 Samuel 15:31 David prays, on the same flight, that the LORD would turn Ahithophel's counsel into foolishness; at 17:7 Hushai answers Ahithophel's plan in open council; at 17:14 the narrator states that the LORD had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel; at 17:23 Ahithophel, seeing his counsel not followed, sets his house in order and hangs himself. The Verifier confirms the verbal tissue: H302 (Ahithophel, 17 vv) and H757 (Arkite, 6 vv) run through 17:14 and 17:5; H6098 ʻêtsâh, the counsel-word of vv. 20 and 23, is shared with 17:23. ⚙ The seat Hushai asked for in v. 19 is the seat he uses in 17:7, which is why v. 23's praise of Ahithophel reads, in the Hebrew arrangement, as an obituary written four verses too early.
2 Samuel 15:31 · 2 Samuel 17:7 · 2 Samuel 17:14 · 2 Samuel 17:23
basis: Verifier: 2 Samuel 17:14 (0.74) shares H302 ʼĂchîythôphel (in 17 vv), H53 ʼĂbîyshâlôwm (in 92 vv), H757 ʼArkîy (in 6 vv); 2 Samuel 17:7 (0.59) shares H302, H53, H2365; 2 Samuel 17:23 (0.26) shares H302 twice and H6098 ʻêtsâh (in 85 vv); 2 Samuel 15:31 (0.35) shares H302 and H53. ⚙ Deliberately downgraded from verbal: the shared lexemes are rare enough (H757 in 6 vv) to permit a verbal tier by the letter of the rule, but these verses form one continuous narrative about the same four men, so recurring proper names are continuity rather than allusion. The real link is the pattern (counsel sought, counsel revered, counsel defeated), so it is tiered structural.
Nathan's word, executed on the roof where the sin began structural / thematic — confirmed
2 Samuel 12:11-12 is Nathan's threat that the LORD will take David's wives before his eyes and give them to his neighbour, who will lie with them in the sight of the sun, and that what David did in secret will be answered before all Israel in daylight. (The wording there is summarised, not quoted; this unit's brief supplies the reference through its commentators, not the verse.) Verse 22 supplies every element: the roof of 11:2, the tent set up in public, and לְעֵינֵ֖י, "to the eyes of all Israel." Ellicott, Cambridge, Poole, Benson, Gill, Pulpit and K&D all read this verse as that word's execution; Cambridge cross-references it directly, and Pulpit records David's own recognition of it. ⚙ Note the restraint the text keeps and we should keep with it: the narrator never says God caused Ahithophel's advice. He records the correspondence and leaves the agency where K&D leaves it, under God's superintendence and without Ahithophel's intention.
2 Samuel 12:11-12 · 2 Samuel 11:2
basis: No shared-lexeme computation was run for this pair and none is claimed; the recorded basis is the explicit narrative correspondence (secret/public, roof/roof, wives/eyes of all Israel) attested verbatim in this unit's brief by Ellicott, Cambridge, Poole, Benson, Gill, Pulpit and K&D. Structural, not verbal, because no quotation formula occurs.
The trusted counsellor at the table, and a Psalm the Lord applied to himself typological
Psalm 41:9, in which the psalmist speaks of a trusted intimate who ate his bread and turned on him, is cited by Jesus at John 13:18 of his own betrayer, and John records that he quoted it deliberately. (Both verses are described here rather than quoted: neither text is supplied in this unit's brief.) ⚙ Christian readers have long connected that psalm's familiar friend with Ahithophel, the intimate counsellor of David's own table who went over to the son. Two honest cautions belong on this badge. First, the link between Psalm 41 and Ahithophel is a figural reading, not a statement of either text; the psalm names no one, and 2 Samuel 16 never cites it. Second, this pairing is Hebrew to Greek, so no shared Strong's number can be computed for the John half and none is claimed here. What John does supply is an explicit quotation of the Hebrew psalm; what remains a reading is the identification of its friend with this chapter's counsellor.
Psalm 41:9 · John 13:18 · 2 Samuel 15:12
basis: Cross-Testament (Hebrew to Greek), so shared Strong's lexemes are unavailable by definition and no verbal tier is possible. Basis: John 13:18 explicitly quotes Psalm 41:9; the further identification of that psalm's friend with Ahithophel is a figural reading, widely held in Christian tradition but attested by no voice in this unit's brief. Marked typological and held loosely.
⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify+
AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.
The rejected king outside the city, and the friend who stayed ancient/widely-held
⚙ The shape of this unit is a king dispossessed of his own capital while a usurper is acclaimed inside it, his table-companion gone over to the rebellion, and one man who takes the usurper's oath with his mouth in order to keep faith with the true king with his life. Christian readers from the early centuries have read David's betrayal by his counsellor as a figure of the Lord's betrayal by one of the twelve, on the warrant of John 13:18, where Jesus applies to Judas the psalmist's words about the companion who ate his bread and turned on him (Psalm 41:9, described here, not quoted, since neither text is in this unit's brief). Two things must be said plainly. The figure is ancient and widely held in the church's reading, and it has a real textual hinge in John's quotation of the psalm. But it is a figure, and no voice in this unit's brief draws it; Benson, Poole, Gill, Barnes, Ellicott, Cambridge, K&D and Pulpit all read 2 Samuel 16 historically and morally, not typologically. ⚙ What the passage itself supplies, and what the figure rests on if it rests on anything, is the pattern: the anointed goes out, the counsel of the wise turns against him, and the kingdom is taken by a son who wants the throne without the father.
Psalm 41:9 · John 13:18 · 2 Samuel 15:30
A counsel esteemed as the word of God, and the Counsellor who is the Word novel
⚙ Verse 23 is the most theologically loaded sentence in the unit, and it is loaded by a comparison, not a claim: Ahithophel's עֵצָ֖ה was received "as when a man inquires by the word of God," biḏḇar hā’ĕlōhîm. Cambridge identifies the idiom as the Urim and Thummim inquiry; Geneva explains the reputation without endorsing it, "It was so esteemed for the success of it." ⚙ Set beside that, Isaiah's throne-name for the child who will govern, pele’ yoʻets, Wonderful Counsellor (Isaiah 9:6), reads as the exact correction: not a man whose counsel is treated as though it were God's word, but a Son who is himself the Word and whose counsel cannot be prised loose from the LORD's own. The contrast is sharpened by the fact that the two things the counsel of Ahithophel produced were an unspeakable public crime and the suicide of its author (2 Samuel 17:23). ⚙ I mark this reading novel: it is my own juxtaposition of a shared theme (counsel, ʻêtsâh, H6098) and not something any commentator in this brief proposes, nor is there a verbal link across the Testaments to compute. Test it against the text before trusting it.
Isaiah 9:6 · 2 Samuel 17:23 · 1 Corinthians 1:19
The word spoken through Nathan, and the word that does not fall ancient/widely-held
Every commentator in this brief who treats v. 22 says the same thing: the deed on the roof is the execution of a word spoken four chapters earlier. Ellicott, "Nathan had foretold that the nature of David's public punishment should correspond to the character of his secret crime"; Cambridge, that the correspondence makes "this retribution signally striking"; Poole, "his sin was legible in the very place of his punishment"; Benson, "The Lord is righteous, and no word of his shall fall to the ground!" ⚙ The redemptive-historical weight lies in how the word came true. Nobody in the chapter was trying to fulfil it. Ahithophel was protecting himself, Absalom was consolidating a throne, the servants who pitched the tent were obeying a king, and God's word went through the middle of all of it without excusing any of them, a pattern the New Testament applies to the cross itself in Acts 2:23, which holds God's settled purpose and the guilt of the men who carried it out together in a single sentence without softening either. ⚙ That structural principle is ancient and widely held; what I add here is only the observation that the word fulfilled in 2 Samuel 16 is a word of judgment on the king through whom the promise ran, so that even David's punishment is carried inside the covenant rather than cancelling it.
2 Samuel 12:11-12 · Acts 2:23
Apparatus & Provenance
The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.
Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:
- Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (1834)
- Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
- Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
- Geneva Study Bible, Marginal Notes (1599)
- Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871)
- John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
- Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s)
- Keil & Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1860s)
- Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)
- Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685)
- The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)
Text. The interlinear supplied for this unit follows the Berean word order, which in several verses lists the words in an order different from the Hebrew clause order as commonly printed; at 16:17, 16:18, 16:20, 16:21 and 16:23 the speaker-tag words (wayyō’mer and the proper names) appear after the speech they introduce, and at 16:23 the words of the comparison are listed out of sequence. The literal renderings above restore the ordinary Hebrew clause order; where the supplied index sequence and the clause order differ, the note keys still follow the supplied indices.
Variants. Two Kethiv/Qere matters are load-bearing here and both are recorded, not resolved. At 16:18 word 14 the written text is לֹא ("not") where the Qere directs lōw ("to him"); K&D states it explicitly and Gill preserves translators who rendered "non ero." BSB prints only the Qere. At 16:23 the Masoretes supply ’îš as Qere to the subjectless yiš’al; K&D judges the supplement correct in sense but unnecessary, since the verb may be read impersonally.
Sources and their limits. Several commentary entries in the brief are block notes covering 16:15-23 rather than single verses (Henry throughout; JFB on 15-19; K&D on 15-16, 17-19 and 22-23), and they have been cited once each at the verse where they bear most. The Barnes entry attached to 16:15-19 in the brief ("His cursing...") is a note belonging to the preceding pericope, 16:13-14, and has not been used for those verses; Barnes is cited only at 16:21, where his note is on this text. Gill's mileages for Bahurim come from Bunting's travel book and disagree with each other. K&D's reference at 16:21 to "2 Samuel 12:8" appears to be a slip for 12:11-12. Cambridge's remark that taking the harem "was not regarded with abhorrence by the Israelites" is a nineteenth-century inference about ancient sentiment, contradicted in tone by Pulpit on the same verse.
What remains uncertain. Whether Hushai's ambiguity was as deliberate as Gill, Poole and Benson believe, or simply reads that way to later ears, cannot be settled from the Hebrew; the text reports his words and not his mind. The proposal that Ahithophel acted to avenge Bathsheba depends on identifying the Eliam of 2 Samuel 11:3 with the Eliam of 2 Samuel 23:34, a link the text never makes; Barnes reports it as something "has been found" by others, Benson, Poole and Gill accept it, and it is here left as probable inference rather than fact. The identification of Psalm 41:9's familiar friend with Ahithophel, used in the threads and in the first Christ reading, is a figural reading with no support in this unit's sources and is tiered accordingly. ⚙ Everything marked with the gear in this unit is machine synthesis and fallible; the interlinear, parses, Strong's data, thread bases and all quoted commentary are sourced.
✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)