The Suicide of Ahithopel (II Samuel 17:23)
Displeased with the decision of the council (v. 14), Ahithophel left the
city and returned to his own house, whence he had been summoned the day
before (ch.15:12). While Ahimaaz and
Jonathan hurried eastward toward the
publicly, or its reversal feared), the renowned counselor rode
southward toward
Giloh, brooding over
what might have been (v. 2) and what would be;
the
shadows of night thickening around him (I Samuel 28:1-10); and the
same night
(or soon afterwards) “his lamp was put
out in darkness” (Proverbs 13:9).
With the deliberate cynicism of a man who had lost all faith, he committed that
rare crime in
conditions in one’s life are so bad that a person will not allow God
to help them! –
CY – 2013). He was probably not
the first man who hanged himself, but he bears
the
unenviable distinction of being the first whose hanging himself is recorded;
and
society would have little reason to complain if all who have since
sentenced themselves
to
this doom were as worthy of it as this father of self-suspenders.. So perished
the
great Machiavelli of that age, the very wisest of the very wise
men of this world!
We have here:
politicians, he was destitute of
religious principles; set his heart
upon the
world, and had “his
portion in this life” (Psalm 17:14); was proud of his
own wisdom, ambitious of wealth, fame, honor, and power, and hostile to
godliness and godly men; the
leading mind of THE UNGODLY
PARTY IN
laws of God.
sagacity how he was to
act; but he never considered how God would act;
and therefore all
his wise designs must have been very defective. The rich man
said, ‘I shall want room
for my stores,’ etc. But the Gospel calls him a fool,
for not considering that God might call him out of the world
that night, and
that then all his schemes of happiness and prosperity would die
with him.
(Luke 12:20). Such is he who is
wise without God; and such was this
Ahithophel. We now see him
under the influence of:
Ø
Wounded pride, frustrated ambition, and, probably, ungratified malice
(v. 1). The rejection of his counsel was regarded by him as a
personal
affront, and a fatal blow to his position and prospects; for he
had been
impelled by nothing else than a mad ambition, so that life itself
became
insupportable when the attainment of the position he had hankered
after proved insufficient to satisfy his desires. He would be
revenged
on Absalom himself, by leaving him to pursue his own course.
Ø
Unavoidable fear of
the disgrace, infamy, and punishment that awaited
him. For, by the adoption of Hushai’s
counsel, he foresaw that all was
lost, and that David would live and reign. Although he had
the “Roman”
courage (or
rather, cowardice and impatience) to face death, he
had
not courage enough to face disaster.
“He’s not
valiant that dares die;
But he that boldly bears calamity.”
Ø
Bitter
remorse, desperation, and despair. Perhaps he now began to
see for the first time that, as he had been against God, God was
against him, and, according
to the prayer of David, was turning his
counsel into foolishness (ch. 15:31). Under
this calamity, what had he
to support him? Nothing but that
policy of a wicked man WHICH
NEVER SUPPORTED
ANYBODY VERY LONG! In the
trouble of a righteous man THERE IS HOPE (Proverbs
14:32),
but in the trouble of
the wicked THERE IS NONE! And, for a man
like Ahithophel, there is no refuge BUT IN DESPAIR! (Psalm
7:15-16).
he settled his affairs, he made his will, as a person of
sound mind and
memory; as he would have done if death had been coming upon him
in a
natural way. He did not commit the deed in an outburst of passion, but
with deliberation and forethought. Suicide is often due to insanity, and
without blame (except in so far as it is induced by previous
misconduct);
but in his case there is no indication of it; nor was there
the same
justification or the same extenuation of guilt as in other cases (Judges
16:30;
I Samuel 31:4-5). Whatever may
have been the measure of his culpability,
suicide is a crime:
Ø
Against a man himself;
a violation of the law of self-preservation
Written upon
his nature.
Ø
Against society. Nor can any case be
put which is not concluded
Under sin
by the peculiar injury or general mischief.
Ø
Against God, who has “fixed His canon against self-slaughter”
(Exodus 20:13); who has committed life to men as a trust; and
Whose will in
relation to it is intimated in various ways.
“In every society where the Christian
and old Pythagorean idea of life,
as a talent and a trust, is unknown or forgotten, and where its value is
measured by enjoyment, suicide
will be likely to become common”
(Thirlwall,
‘Letters to a Friend’). (Is this why
suicide is common
in
o
ingratitude,
o
contempt of the Lord’s
gift of life,
o
defiance,
o
impatience,
o
pride,
o
rebellion, and
o
infidelity” (Scott; Wardlaw,‘Sys. Theol.’).
What a mixture do we find
here of wisdom and madness!”
(Hall) “Thus he displayed
the miserable infatuation of worldly policy”
(Wordsworth). Under the
light which the gospel sheds upon the
Present and the future, the
act of the self-destroyer is rendered
peculiarly criminal and awful.
which he had entered was attended (as it ever is in others)
by most baneful effects on himself, and ended in destruction;
the
culmination at once of his sin and of his punishment. He became:
Ø
His own tormentor; rushing against
impassable barriers, and
bringing upon himself irreparable misery.
Ø
His own tempter; being urged onward by
inward impulses to
further transgression.
Ø
His own executioner; inflicting with his
own hand the extreme
penalty of the law; a retribution more dreadful than when
inflicted
by the direct stroke of Heaven (ch.
6:6-8) or the hands of other
men (Ibid. ch. 4:12; 18:7,14). “The wages of sin is death”
(Romans 6:23;). “Thus it falleth
out that wicked counsel doth
chiefly redound to the hurt of the author thereof.” (Wilier).
Like Judas, Ahithophel went to “his
own place” (Acts 1:25).
Ø
The conviction of the
enormous evil of suicide; which may exert a
preserving influence in an hour of temptation.
Ø
The abhorrence of the
principles which induce its commission, and
the avoiding of every sinful way. The sinner is a self-destroyer
(Hosea 13:9).
Ø
The cherishing, with
renewed earnestness, of the opposite principles
of humility, faith, patience, godliness, uprightness,
charity, etc.
If the affections are
violently set upon anything in this world, whether
fame, wealth, or pleasure, and are disappointed, then life becomes
insupportable. Therefore, the moral is this: “Set your
affection on
things above, not on things on the earth.” (Colossians 3:2)
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