AS A BEAR ROBBED OF HER WHELPS

Whose advice will they follow? Ahithophel’s surely, one would have thought, but God overruled, v. 14. He does this through Hushai, His servant, fitted and ‘meet for the master’s use’.

Hushai presents his thoughts in a straightforward manner; first, he examines his opponent’s plan critically, vv. 8-10; sec­ondly, he puts forward his own proposal, vv. 11-13. His speech is a skilful mixture of plain statement and imaginative language. He begins with two statements, one referring to Ahithophel’s counsel being in error, the other to David and his men being val­iant, vv. 7, 8, and shortly after repeats the latter, v. 10, with the addition that ‘all Israel’ knows it. As a contrast with the rest of his speech, the statements come across as fact.

The rest is expressed in graphic terms. The psychological state of David and his men is conveyed in a simile, ‘They be chafed in their minds as a bear robbed of her whelps’, v. 8. This concrete image conjures up a fearsome sight and sound, a pic­ture of an enraged, ferocious, desperate and embittered opponent, to be avoided at all costs. The visual detail, ‘in a field’, provides a setting for the imagined encounter and suggests nowhere to hide. A bear is not to be trifled with at any time, anywhere. He continues in dramatic terms, imaginatively describing the initial stages of the proposed battle and, using direct speech, words that could or would be spoken, v. 9.

Ahithophel envisaged himself leading the attack; Hushai’s proposal presents Absalom occupying centre stage - note ‘around thee’ and ‘thou go in thine own person’ - at the head of a vast army, conveyed in the visual simile, ‘as the sand… by the sea for multitude’, v. 11. He describes the outcome as a total annihilation of the enemy, unlike Ahithophel’s of the killing of David only, vv. 3, 12. All this cleverly plays on Absalom’s pride and vanity. Now, using the pronoun ‘we’, he concludes with a further simile, presenting David’s defeat as straightforward, easy, rapid and irresistible, ‘We will light upon him as the dew of heaven falleth on the ground’, v. 12 and finishing with a hyper­bolical flourish of a city being dragged by ropes into a river - a humorous touch no doubt causing a few smiles, v. 13.