“Avshalom said to Achitofel, ‘Give your advice as to what we should do.’ Achitofel answered Avshalom, ‘Go in, and sleep with your father’s concubines, the ones he left to take care of the palace. All Israel will hear that your father utterly despises you, and this will strengthen the position of all those who are on your side.’”-2 Samuel 16:20-21
The first stage of Absalom’s takeover of his father’s kingdom was successful.
The next step was to bring this coup to a close.
To achieve this, Absalom turned to Achitofel for advice.
What David’s former most trusted counselor advised Absalom was chilling.
He told Absalom to go and have sex with the ten concubines David had left behind to care for the palace.
Why would Achitofel instruct such an obscenity?
Well, here’s the thing.
David had demonstrated a weakness for being too forgiving and too soft on his sons.
So, although the possibility was slim, there was still a chance that David could reconcile with his son, as rebellious as he had been.
If that ever happened, Absalom would survive, but there’s no way in hell his co-conspirators would.
To ensure that any doors of possible reconciliation between David and Absalom were slammed shut forever, Achitofel proposed the unthinkable.
He advised Absalom to publicly sleep with King David’s personal female property.
Per the Torah, this would be considered adultery and also a public act of political defiance.
Now you may be wondering, why was this adultery if the women were only concubines?
Well, although a concubine did not possess the full status or inheritance rights of a primary wife, a concubine was a woman joined to a man in a legally recognized union,
And, in the Mosaic Law, adultery is sexual intercourse with another man’s female property (Leviticus 20:10; Deuteronomy 22:22).
So, even though David was driven from Jerusalem at the time, those women were still legally his property, so to speak.
Their marital bond hadn’t been dissolved.
So Absalom setting up a tent on the palace rooftop and sleeping with these concubines “in the sight of all Israel,” was not just lust.
This was an ancient Near Eastern power move.
In that culture, taking a king’s wives or concubines was a way of claiming the throne (similar to what Ishbosheth accused Abner of in 2 Samuel 3:7).
And this is not to mention the horrific public humiliation David would suffer.
Interestingly, this was all part of the curse God swore would happen when he spoke through the prophet Nathan:
“Here is what ADONAI says: ‘I will generate evil against you out of your own household. I will take your wives before your very eyes and give them to your neighbor; he will go to bed with your wives, and everyone will know about it. For you did it secretly, but I will do this before all Israel in broad daylight.'” –2 Samuel 12:11-12
So even in this verse, David’s concubines are referred to as “wives.”
Anyway, let’s get into the takeaway for today.
I mentioned before that Absalom is a type of anti-Christ, right?
Now, what is the anti-Christ’s chief goal?
Is it not to usurp and replace the Father?
Well, that’s exactly what Absalom was doing.
So he was a naughty boy indeed.
And his behavior was directly opposite to Messiah Yeshua’s
Yeshua always made it clear that his Father was above him.
And that his Father in heaven was the God he worshipped.
Yeshua respected the divine hierarchy.
Remember, he will be seated at the right side of his Father’s throne.
He ain’t gonna try to oust his Father from the throne as some branches of Christianity (the trinitarian kind) would lead you to believe.
Ya feeling me here?
So, whenever Yeshua said things like “I and the Father are the same,” he meant he was one in purpose and mission with the Father.
He was in no way implying he had now taken over his Father’s throne, like the rebellious Absalom.
Notice how this is quite the opposite of the Christian claim that Yeshua was God Himself in human flesh?
The Christians are literally saying their Jesus is like Absalom in the sense that he has replaced the Father, or worse, that he is the Father.
I’ll stop here for today.
See ya all next time.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“Why callest thou me good?
There is none good but one,
that is, God.”
–Mark 10:18
“My Father is greater than I.”
– John 14:28
“The head of Messiah is God.”
– 1 Corinthians 11:3
“The Son can do nothing of Himself,
but what He sees the Father do.”
– John 5:19
“I ascend unto My Father,
and your Father;
and to My God,
and your God.”
–John 20:17
“Then shall the Son also Himself
be subject unto Him that put
all things under Him,
that God may be all in all.”
–1 Corinthians 15:28
“The revelation of Messiah Yeshua,
which God gave unto Him.”
–Revelation 1:1
NEXT TIME WE BEGIN 2ND SAMUEL CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
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