Hushai, Ahithophel and the Absalom Rebellion (2 Samuel 16–17)1

A BATTLE OF WITS AND WORDS: HUSHAI, AHITHOPHEL AND THE ABSALOM REBELLION (2 SAMUEL 16–17)1 Robert P. Gordon Abstract The narrative of the verbal contest between Ahithophel and Hushai in 2 Sam 16–17 is unusually rich in figurative language and more generally noteworthy for the rhetorical strategies by which each of these attempts to influence Absalom at a crucial point in his rebellion against his father. This verbal duel is described in such a way as to suggest that the contest between David and Absalom is set- tled even before the respective armies engage in battle. The setting in Absalom’s war council has unsurprising features of a royal council. Both Ahithophel and Hushai are in the business of ‘suasion’, and figures of speech would be appro- priate to them as members of ‘the wise’ and as royal counsellors. At the same time, Ahithophel’s terser contributions are especially reminiscent of the oracular response, as would be expected from a strict reading of 16:23. Hushai’s gener- ous use of figures of speech makes for narrative retardation, and serves his plan to dissuade Absalom from making an immediate strike against David. This may even be reflected secondarily in his gentilic ‘the Arkite’—‘the lengthener’. There is no indication that Hushai’s plan, though accepted, was fully implemented: this actually becomes less important once he has bought time for David. Redactional layering of the narrative into strands that make Hushai respectively spy and rival counsellor to Ahithophel is judged unnecessary, partly on the ground that David’s prayer in 15:31, that God would ‘make foolish’ the counsel of Ahithophel, is answered when Hushai prevails over his rival. Other aspects of the narrative that are discussed include the relevance of the (mainly) divine council type-scene featuring the question ‘What shall we do?’ (16:20), and the possibility that, in 16:23, the text has been modified in a couple of respects, whether at the authorial or scribal stage, to the disadvantage of Ahithophel. In the 1980s, I worked on the books of Samuel, producing a short guide to those books in 1984 and a middlebrow commentary in 1986. At the then time of writing, few passages in the fine literary mosaic that is 1–2 Samuel impressed or amused me as did the story of Ahithophel and (especially) Hushai. I still find it amusing when I imagine Hushai spinning out his 1 I am most grateful to my colleagues in Antwerp and Ghent for their kind invitation to participate in the conference whose proceedings are presented in this volume. 100 robert p. gordon similes and metaphors, glancing anxiously at a nearby sundial, and drawl- ing out his syllables in order to save precious minutes for David, to let him get to the Jordan and away from the threat of attack by Absalom and his followers. I hereby fulfil a longstanding promise to myself to return to this story, in order to savour some of its features away from the larger duties of commentary and introduction writing. The story of Absalom’s rebellion, as various writers have noted, begins with a gate and ends in a gate. Absalom presents himself to disgrun- tled Israelites as the one who will listen to their grievances and repair his father’s neglect of this “duty of the gate”. He stations himself by the city gate in order to intercept the early morning arrivals from outlying places, and he tells them that the king has not deputed anyone to listen to their just causes. “And so Absalom stole the hearts of the people of Israel” (2 Sam 15:6; cf. verse 13). The end of the rebellion is marked by David’s taking his seat in another gate—possibly the gate of Mahanaim—where he reviews his victorious troops (19:9[8]). Thereafter, he “won over the hearts of all the men of Judah as though they were one man” (19:15[14]). Verbal Combat In this paper, I focus on the roles of Hushai and Ahithophel during Absa- lom’s rebellion, and especially on their contributions in the setting of Absalom’s war council (2 Samuel 16–17). From the moment Hushai meets Absalom, he begins to weave a wordy web. Having presumably left off his mourning attire and washed his hair (see 15:32), he greets Absalom with “Long live the king! Long live the king!” (16:16). As has often been noted, there is ambiguity here. The king could be Absalom or David. However, in a comparable situation of disputed sovereignty, at the time of David’s death, people said “Long live King Adonijah!” (1 Kgs 1:25) and “Long live King Solomon!” (1 Kgs 1:34, 39). Instead of “Long live King Absalom!”, however, Hushai voices a double acclamation—the only one in the Hebrew Bible. He has smothered the absence of Absalom’s name in a (doubtless) noisy repetition of the coronation formula. The Septuagint omits the second occurrence of the formula, but the MT, rather than accidentally repeating itself, may be making a deliberate point by its repetition.2 2 P. Kyle McCarter, II Samuel: A New Translation with Introduction, Notes and Com- mentary (AB 9; Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1984), 380, follows the Greek, but comments: “One could argue for haplography in LXX or, as assumed here, dittography in MT.” Baruch .

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