Chapter 17 (2) - David Crosses the Jordan

 

 

 

I.          THE SIGNIFICANCE OF CROSSING THE JORDAN

 

            Avshalom accepts Chushai's advice and rejects Achitofel's wicked counsel, but this does not seem to put Chushai's mind to rest:

 

(15) Then said Chushai to Tzadok and to Evyatar the priests, “Thus and thus did Achitofel counsel Avshalom and the elders of Israel; and thus and thus have I counseled. (16) Now therefore send quickly, and tell David, saying: ‘Lodge not this night in the plains of the wilderness, but in any wise pass over; lest the king be swallowed up, and all the people that are with him.’”

 

            What was Chushai's concern? There are two possibilities. He may have feared that Avshalom would change his mind. Achitofel's counsel had at first been accepted, and only afterwards pushed aside, and therefore Chushai was concerned that it might be accepted again. Moreover, Achitofel's advice had at first been accepted by the elders, and they were liable to convince Avshalom once again to support it. It is perhaps for this reason that Chushai emphasizes: "Thus and thus did Achitofel counsel Avshalom and the elders of Israel."

 

            A second possibility is that Chushai was unaware of Avshalom's decision. He may have taken leave from him as soon as he had finished presenting his position, thus leaving the decision in the hands of Avshalom and his men. He therefore quickly sent a warning to David, for he did not know at the time whether or not his advice had been accepted.

 

            In any event, Chushai urges David not only to leave his place, but to cross the Jordan. To further this end, he makes use of the spy ring that had been established, as may be recalled, at the beginning of the revolt:

 

(17) Now Yonatan and Achimaatz stayed by En-Rogel;[1] and a maidservant used to go and tell them; and they went and told King David; for they might not be seen to come into the city. (18) But a lad saw them, and told Avshalom; and they went both of them away quickly, and came to the house of a man in Bachurim, who had a well in his court; and they went down there. (19) And the woman took and spread the covering over the well's mouth, and strewed groats thereon;[2] and nothing was known. (20) And Avshalom's servants came to the woman to the house; and they said, “Where are Achimaatz and Yonatan?” And the woman said to them, “They are gone over the brook of water.”[3] And when they had sought and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem. (21) And it came to pass, after they were departed, that they came up out of the well, and went and told king David; and they said unto David, “Arise, and pass quickly over the water; for thus has Achitofel counseled against you.” (22) Then David arose, and all the people that were with him, and they passed over the Jordan; by the morning light there lacked not one of them that was not gone over the Jordan.

 

            The order of events requires explanation. We know that Chushai's counsel was in the end accepted, and that the precautionary steps that were adopted to the point of crossing the Jordan were not really necessary. Why then does Scripture decide to describe them? Why is important to relate that David quickly crossed the Jordan, even though it was not really necessary for him to do so?

 

            In order to answer this question, let us first consider the striking and interesting parallel between the story of Yonatan and Achimaatz and the account of the spies who had been sent by Yehoshua and reached the house of Rachav. There are several parallels between the two stories:

 

            1) In both stories, the leader of Israel sends two spies, they reach the house of a woman, and she hides them:

 

But she had brought them up to the roof, and hid them with the stalks of flax, which she had spread out upon the roof. (Yehoshua 2:6)

 

And the woman took and spread the covering over the well's mouth, and strewed groats thereon; and nothing was known. (II Shemuel 17:19)

 

            2) In both cases, the woman misleads those who were in pursuit of the spies, and tells them that the spies are not in her house:

 

And she said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I knew not from where they were; and it came to pass about the time of the shutting of the gate, when it was dark, that the men went out; where the men went I know not; pursue after them quickly; for you shall overtake them.” (Yehoshua 2:4-5)

 

And the woman said to them, “They are gone over the brook of water.” (II Shemuel 17:20)

 

            3) In both cases, the pursuers fail in their mission:

 

And the pursuers sought them throughout all the way, but found them not. (Yehoshua 2:22)

 

And when they had sought and could not find them. (II Shemuel 17:20)

 

            4) In both stories, there is a surprising element: the woman who offers help seems to belong to the other camp, the enemy of the camp to which the spies belong. Rachav is a resident of Jericho, and the woman who rescued Yonatan and Achimaatz was from Bachurim – a town in the tribal territory of Binyamin, from which came the people who were most loyal to the house of Shaul, such as Shimi the son of Gera (16:5), who cursed David and threw stones at him. The Midrash further sharpens this point with its suggestion that the woman was the wife of Shimi the son of Gera (Midrash Shemuel 32:4 [ed. Buber, p. 71]).[4]

 

            5) In the two stories, the spies reach their destination, and their words lead those who had sent them to cross the Jordan:

 

Then the two men returned… and came to Yehoshua the son of Nun; and they told him all that had befallen them… And Yehoshua rose up early in the morning, and they removed from Shittim, and came to the Jordan… (Yehoshua 2:23-3:1)

 

And they went and told king David… Then David arose, and all the people that were with him, and they passed over the Jordan by the morning light. (II Shemuel 17:21-22)

 

            6)  In both cases, the Jordan is crossed early in the morning.

 

It seems that the meaning of the parallel is expressed primarily in the last similarity. Both stories lead to a crossing of the Jordan, but in opposite directions. The story of the spies sent by Yehoshua took place before Israel had entered their land – that is, from east to west – whereas David crosses the Jordan from west to east. It turns out that David's crossing of the Jordan is the very opposite of Israel's entering the land!

 

Now we can understand why Scripture records this step of David, even though it proved to be unnecessary. Indeed, it was not needed to frustrate Achitofel's plan, for this had already been achieved by Chushai (and we already noted that this was God's response to David's prayer). It was, however, meaningful on another level: This was one of David's punishments for the affair involving Bat-Sheva. His being forced to leave the country was a punishment of exile, and the speed with which the events unfolded intensified the humiliation.[5]

 

Crossing the Jordan, however, brought Achitofel's counsel to a close. Achitofel's reaction to this development was extreme:

 

(23) And when Achitofel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his ass, and arose, and got him home to his city, and set his house in order, and strangled himself; and he died, and was buried in the sepulcher of his father.

 

            What brought Achitofel to take this step? Achitofel seems to have read the map correctly. He understood that having lost its momentum, the rebellion would not succeed. Achitofel identified the problematic elements in Avshalom's personality and drew the necessary conclusions: David would return to the throne. He also assumed – apparently correctly – that he would eventually pay the price for the revolt, because David would not want to hurt his son Avshalom. Like other Biblical figures who committed suicide,[6] Achitofel did not wait until others came to kill him, but rather took his own life.

 

II.         DAVID ON THE EAST BANK OF THE JORDAN

 

            When David arrived on the east bank of the Jordan, he received the support and assistance of several local residents:

 

(24) When David came to Machanayim, Avshalom passed over the Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him.[7] (25) And Avshalom had set Amasa over the host instead of Yoav. Now Amasa was the son of a man, whose name was Itra the Israelite,[8] who came unto Avigayil the daughter of Nachash,[9] sister to Tzeruya, Yoav's mother. (26) And Israel and Avshalom pitched in the land of Gilad. (27) And it came to pass, when David came to Machanayim, that Shovi the son of Nachash of Rabba of the children of Amon, and Makhir the son of Amiel of Lo-Devar, and Barzilai the Giladite of Rogelim (28) brought beds, and basins,[10] and earthen vessels,[11] and wheat, and barley, and meal, and parched corn, and beans, and lentils, and parched pulse,[12] (29) and honey, and curd, and sheep, and cheese of cows,[13] for David and for the people that were with him to eat; for they said, “The people are hungry, and faint, and thirsty in the wilderness.”

 

            Like the woman in Bachurim, here too the people that extend help to David are connected by virtue of their location and their genealogy to the house of Shaul. First, David reached Machanayim, the town in which Ish-Boshet the son of Shaul ruled as king. Earlier in chapter 2, we noted the special connections between the people of Gilad and Shaul. Against this background, the assistance given to David by Barzilai the Giladite – who might even have been a member of Shaul's extended family, if we assume that he was the father of Adriel the son of Barzilai the Mecholite, husband of Meirav (see below 21:8) – is striking. Another prominent figure from the circle of the house of Shaul was Makhir the son of Amiel from Lo-Davar, in whose house Mefiboshet, the crippled son of Yonatan, stayed for an extended period of time (9:4-5). The help that all of these people offered to David proves that not all of Shaul's close associates viewed David with cynicism, as did Shimi the son of Gera. Many, in fact, valued the caution that he observed regarding Shaul's honor when the latter was trying to kill him and were not inclined to blame him for the blood of the house of Shaul that was spilled on various occasions. These people are another literary expression of the rightness of David's path.

 

            This might also be the way to understand the help given to David by Shuvi the son of Nachash. It is reasonable to assume that Shuvi was the son of Nachash, the king of Amon, to whose son, Chanun, David had tried to repay kindness, sending him a delegation of comforters following his father's death (above, chapter 10). As may be recalled, Chanun viewed the gesture with cynicism, and accused the delegation of attempted espionage. Thus, just as Shaul's supporters here serve as an antithesis to Shimi the son of Gera, Shuvi the son of Nachash – who values David and helps him – serves as an antithesis to his brother Chanun.

 

            The chapter ends here, and its conclusion prepares us for what is yet to happen. David receives support and finds himself surrounded by friends. The road is now open to enlarging his camp and enjoying victory.

 

(Translated by David Strauss)

, full_html, full_html