Ahithophel

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

A native of Giloh, originally one of David's most intimate and valued friends; but upon the defection and rebellion of Absalom, he espoused the cause of that prince, and became one of David's bitterest enemies. Being disappointed that Absalom did not follow his sagacious advice, and foreseeing the issue of the rebellion, he hanged himself, 2 Samuel 15:12 17:1-29 Psalm 55:12-14 . Ahithophel seems to have been the grandfather of Bathsheba. 2 Samuel 23:34 , compared with 2 Samuel 11:3 .

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Psalm 41:9 55:12-14 2 Samuel 15:12 2 Samuel 15:31-37 2 Samuel 17:1-23 Psalm 41:9

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

(See ABSALOM .) Of Giloh, in the hill country of Judah. David's counselor, to whose treachery he touchingly alludes Psalms 41:9  ; Psalms 55:12-14  ; Psalms 55:20-21 . His name means brother of foolishness, but his oracular wisdom was proverbial. David's prayer "turned his counsel" indeed into what his name indicated, "foolishness" ( 2 Samuel 15:31  ; Job 5:12-13  ; 1 Corinthians 1:20 ). Ahithophel was the mainspring of the rebellion. Absalom calculated on his adhesion from the first ( 2 Samuel 15:12 ); the history does not directly say why, but incidentally it comes out: he was father of Eliam (or by transposition Ammiel, 1 Chronicles 3:5 ), the father of Bathsheba ( 2 Samuel 11:3  ; 2 Samuel 23:34  ; 2 Samuel 23:39 ).

Uriah the Hittite and Eliam, being both of the king's guard (consisting of 37 officers), were intimate, and Uriah married the daughter of his brother officer. How natural Ahithophel's sense of wrong toward David, the murderer of his grandson by marriage and the corrupter of his granddaughter! The evident undesignedness of this coincidence confirms the veracity of the history. The people's loyalty too was naturally shaken toward one whose moral character they had ceased to respect. Ahithophel's proposal himself to pursue David that night with 12,000 men, and smite the king only, indicates the same personal hostility to David, deep sagacity and boldness. He failed from no want of shrewdness on his part, but from the folly of Absalom. His awful end shows that worldly wisdom apart from faith in God turns into suicidal madness ( Isaiah 29:14 ). He was the type of Judas in his treachery and in his end. (See JUDAS .)

Holman Bible Dictionary

2 Samuel 15:12 2 Samuel 15:31 2 Samuel 16:15-23 2 Samuel 16:23 2 Samuel 17:1 2 Samuel 17:14 2 Samuel 17:23 2 Samuel 11:3 2 Samuel 23:34

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

AHITHOPHEL . David’s counsellor ( 2 Samuel 15:12 , 1 Chronicles 27:33 ), whose advice was deemed infallible ( 2 Samuel 16:23 ). Being Bathsheba’s grandfather, he had been alienated by David’s criminal conduct ( 2 Samuel 11:3 , 2 Samuel 23:34 ), and readily joined Absalom ( 2 Samuel 15:12 ). Ahithophel advised the prince to take possession of the royal harem, thus declaring his father’s deposition, and begged for a body of men with whom he might at once overtake and destroy the fugitive monarch ( 2 Samuel 17:1-3 ). Hushai thwarted this move ( 2 Samuel 17:11 ). Disgusted at the collapse of his influence, and foreseeing that this lack of enterprise meant the failure of the insurrection, Ahithophel withdrew, set his affairs in order, and hanged himself ( 2 Samuel 17:23 ).

J. Taylor.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

A Gilonite, grandfather of Bathsheba, and a very wise counsellor of David, of whom it is said that all his counsel was "as if a man had inquired at the oracle of God." He joined in the rebellion of Absalom, and advised him to go in publicly to David's concubines, and to let him make an immediate attack on David. The latter counsel not being followed, and a preference being given to the advice of Hushai, who was acting for David, Ahithophel returned to his house, set his household in order, and hanged himself. 2 Samuel 15:12-34  ; 2 Samuel 16:15-23  ; 2 Samuel 17:1-23  ; 2 Samuel 23:34 . He has generally been taken as foreshadowing Judas of the N.T.: cf. Psalm 41:9  ; Psalm 55:12 .

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Ahithophel ( a-hĭth'o-fĕl ), brother of folly. A native of Giloh, a city of Judah, David's trusted counsellor, 1 Chronicles 27:33-34 , who was induced to join the party of Absalom. 2 Samuel 15:12  ; 2 Samuel 15:31  ; 2 Samuel 15:34 His advice was intended to make the breach irreparable betwixt the father and the son; and, had his counsel immediately to pursue David been followed, it is possible that the king would have been cut off before he reached the Jordan. But by God's providence Hushai's counterplan was preferred by Absalom; and Ahithophel, foreseeing the defeat of the rebellion, retired to his own city and hanged himself. 2 Samuel 16:15  ; 2 Samuel 17:23 . Some have endeavored to account for Ahithophel's treason by the supposition that, as it seems likely he was Bath-sheba's grandfather, he wished to revenge on David the evil done to her. But this is not reasonable. The success of Absalom would probably have been fatal to Bath-sheba; it would certainly have barred Solomon, Ahithophel's great-grandson, from the throne. Perhaps there may be a reference in Psalms 41:9  ; Psalms 55:12-14 , to Ahithophel, and possibly through him to a yet worse traitor, Judas.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Ahith'ophel. (brother of foolishness). A native of Giloh, was a privy councilor of David, whose wisdom was highly esteemed, though his name had an exactly opposite signification. 2 Samuel 16:23 . (B.C. 1055-1023). He was the grandfather of Bathsheba. Compare 2 Samuel 11:3 with 2 Samuel 23:34 .

Ahithophel joined the conspiracy of Absalom against David, and persuaded him to take possession of the royal harem, 2 Samuel 16:21 , and recommended an immediate pursuit of David. His advice was wise; but Hushai advised otherwise. When Ahithophel saw that Hushai's advice prevailed, he despaired of success, and returning to his own home "put his household in order and hanged himself." 2 Samuel 17:1-23 .

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

a native of Giloh, who, after having been David's counsellor, joined in the rebellion of Absalom, and assisted him with his advice. Hushai, the friend of David, was employed to counteract the counsels of Ahithophel, and to deprive Absalom, under a pretence of serving him, of the advantage that was likely to result from the measures which he proposed. One of these measures was calculated to render David irreconcilable, and was immediately adopted; and the other to secure, or to slay him. Before the last counsel was followed, Hushai's advice was desired; and he recommended their assembling together the whole force of Israel, putting Absalom at their head, and overwhelming David by their number. The treacherous counsel of Hushai was preferred to that of Ahithophel; with which the latter being disgusted he hastened to his house at Giloh, where he put an end to his life. He probably foresaw Absalom's defeat, and dreaded the punishment which would be inflicted on himself as a traitor, when David was resettled on the throne, A.M. 2981. B.C. 1023.

2 Samuel 15:17 .

Whyte's Dictionary of Bible Characters

I AM not going to whitewash and rehabilitate Ahithophel. I am neither to extenuate nor am I to denounce Ahithophel. I shall put myself back into Ahithophel's place, and I shall speak of Ahithophel as I see and feel Ahithophel to have been. I shall do my best to put myself first into Ahithophel's place, and then into David's place, and then I shall tell you exactly and honestly what I see and what I feel, first as to Ahithophel, and then as to David. But, to begin with, who was Ahithophel, and what were the facts?

Well, Ahithophel was far and away the ablest and the most famous politician, as we would say, in that day. The counsel of Ahithophel was a proverb in Israel in David's day. There was no one fit to hold the candle to Ahithophel in that day, unless it was Hushai the Archite, another of David's astutest counsellors. 'For the counsel of Ahithophel,' says the sacred writer, 'which he counselled in those days, was as if a man had inquired at the oracle of God: so was all the counsel of Ahithophel both with David and with Absalom.'

Of those the false Ahithophel was first:For close designs and crooked counsels fit,Sagacious, bold, and turbulent of wit,Restless, unfixed in principles and place,In power unpleased, impatient of disgrace;A fiery soul, which, working out its way,Fretted the pigmy body to decay,And o'er-informed the tenement of clay.

So Dryden describes Lord Chancellor Shaftesbury in his Absalom and Ahithophel, that very able but still more truculent and time-serving piece. Matthew Henry is always worth consulting. 'Ahithophel was a politic, thinking man, and one that had a clear head, and a great compass of thought,' and so on. If the traditional interpretation of the fifty-fifth and some other Ahithophel psalms is true and is to be taken, David and Ahithophel had been bosom friends from their boyhood up. Ahithophel may not have been exactly a Jonathan, and yet he may have been a very dear and well-deserving friend for all that. David and Ahithophel were such close companions, indeed, that had it not been for Jonathan, the proverb might have run thus-David and Ahithophel: so was the soul of David knit to the soul of Ahithophel. Jonathan strengthened David's hand in God, it is true; but this out of David and about Ahithophel is almost as good. 'A man, mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company.' Till, when David's time came to be lifted up of God into the throne of Israel, Ahithophel was proud to lay all his magnificent gifts of sound advice and incomparable counsel at David's feet. And Ahithophel continued to do that for all the best and most shining years of David's kingdom. David never made a law, nor gave a judgment, nor proclaimed a war, nor negotiated a truce, nor signed a peace, till Ahithophel had been heard, and till his advice had been taken. But the sacred writer has already given you all that, and far more than all that, in one of his incomparably strong and satisfying sentences; it was, he says, as if a man had inquired at the oracle of God.

All that Ahithophel was to David in the council-chamber, all that Eliam, Ahithophel's only son, was in the army. The father's splendid talents for counsel came out in the shape of soldierly service in the son; and the son was as devoted to David in the field as his father was in the chamber. Now, Eliam had a daughter at home, a beautiful woman-child, who was the one ewe-lamb of her father Eliam and her grandfather Ahithophel. And it so happened that Eliam had a very trusty under-officer among the captains of the mighty men, whose famous name was Uriah. This Uriah was not an Israelite-he was a Hittite; but he was as brave and as loyal to David as if he had been an Hebrew of the Hebrews. And his high talents and his great services had carried him to the very top of the six hundred, where he stood clothed with worth and with honour beside Eliam the son of Ahithophel. With his whole soul Uriah loved Eliam's daughter, and both Eliam and Ahithophel gave to young Uriah the desire of his heart. David's devoted bodyguard had their quarters built for them in the city of David, and just under the walls of David's palace; and when Uriah came home on furlough, he was the happiest man in all Jerusalem with such a wife, and with Eliam and with Ahithophel. As time went on, and as Ahithophel counselled for David, and as Eliam and Uriah fought for David, David's power increased till the King of Israel denied himself nothing on which he had once set his heart. And in an evil hour he set his heart on Uriah's wife, who was also Ahithophel's one grandchild. And it does not need an oracle of God to tell us how Ahithophel took the ruin of his grandchild and the murder of her husband. Ahithophel would have been Jesus Christ Himself to have continued after all that to take sweet counsel with David, and to walk with David unto the house of God in company. I do not like to listen to all the names you would have called Ahithophel and Eliam had they still remained in David's service, and had they still eaten David's bread, with Bathsheba in David's bed and with her husband in his grave. I do not know what all you would have called Eliam and Ahithophel had they winked in that way at David's adultery and blood-guiltiness.

It was all that Ahithophel could do: he shook the dust off his feet, and Ahithophel returned home out of the city of David to his own city of Giloh. And no sooner had Ahithophel left David than the Lord sent Nathan to David. And Nathan said to David, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul. And I gave thee thy master's house, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things. Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in His sight? Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the edge of the sword, and hast taken his wife, Ahithophel's granddaughter, to be thy wife, and hast slain Uriah with the sword of the children of Ammon. Now, therefore, the sword shall never depart from thy house. For thus saith the Lord, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house. For thou didst it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun. And, after that, our hearts stand still as we watch how the vengeance of God came down on David's head, and how the vengeance of God travelled, as it always does, on stepping-stones which David laid for it with his own hands. As thus: And Amnon loved Absalom's sister.… But David did not trouble the spirit of Amnon, because he was his first-born.… And Absalom's servants did to Amnon as Absalom had commanded. And Absalom fled and went to Geshur, and was there three years.… And David said, Let him return to Jerusalem, but let him not see my face.… And Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.… And Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David's counsellor, from his city, even from Giloh. And the conspiracy was strong, and the people increased continually with Absalom. For the counsel of Ahithophel, which he counselled in those days, was as if a man inquired at the oracle of God; so was all the counsel of Ahithophel with Absalom as it had been wont to be with David.

Absalom had no head of his own. But he had what was better than ten heads of his own, for he had a head to know those who had heads and to send to their cities for them. And with Ahithophel's head like the oracle of God, and with his heart rankling against David like hell, the conspiracy was strong, and the people increased continually with Absalom. Ahithophel was worth ten thousand men to Absalom, and no one knew that better than David. And one told David, saying, Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom. And David said, O Lord, I pray thee, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness. And then David took Hushai, his next astutest counsellor to Ahithophel, and filled him with guile and sent him back to deceive Absalom and to counteract all the counsels of Ahithophel. Which he did. For at the end of all their cross-counsels we read this report and this reflection of the sacred writer on it all: And Absalom said, The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel. For the Lord had appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that He might bring evil upon Absalom. Ahithophel gave two of his deepest counsels to Absalom. Ahithophel has been called Judas, and all manner of evil names, for his first counsel that he gave to Absalom. And, no doubt, Ahithophel's first counsel sounds in our ears at this time of day abominable enough. But you will believe all things, and will hope all things even about Ahithophel. You will judge neither Ahithophel nor any other man, 'without necessity, nor without knowledge, nor without love.' For Absalom had said to Ahithophel, Give counsel among you what we shall do. And Ahithophel gave Absalom a counsel that you know already, or if you do not know it you will read it at home. Nothing, certainly, could sound worse. But, when I put myself in Ahithophel's place, for anything I know, the so subtle and so sorely injured Ahithophel may honestly enough have said something like this to himself. Something, possibly, like this: 'Has not David cast himself completely out of the throne? Has he not destroyed himself? Has he not thrown down the sceptre? Has not the Lord turned against him? And did not the Lord's righteous servant say that the Lord would do this same thing to David that David had done before all Israel and before the sun? I am only counselling Absalom to fulfil as the hand of the Lord what the Lord swore that He would do Himself to David.' Ahithophel's extraordinary and superhuman subtlety may honestly enough have led him to think that he saw in his counsel both prophecy, and policy, and payment back again into David's own bosom of all that David had done to other men, and to no man more than to Ahithophel himself. But whatever may be said about Ahithophel's first counsel, his second counsel to Absalom is pronounced to be good by the sacred writer; but, then, what of that, when the Lord had appointed to defeat it that the Lord might bring evil upon Absalom? When we are working upon Ahithophel in this way, and when our minds and our hearts are full of Ahithophel, we cannot but wish that we had been told some more about him, and especially about his latter end. But the sacred writer has to hasten on. He has David and Absalom so much on his mind and on his heart that he draws a black border round Ahithophel's deathbed in these terrible words, and then leaves him: And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his ass, and arose, and gat him home to his own house, to his city, and put his household in order, and hanged himself, and died, and was buried in the sepulchre of his father.

Now, as you know, Ahithophel, from that day to this, has been stoned in his grave at Giloh, and all manner of names called at him as he lies there: Deserter, traitor, apostate, Judas Iscariot, suicide, and all manner of evil names, because he left David and joined Absalom. And, no doubt, had Ahithophel seen to the end, as he should have seen; had Ahithophel known all that we know,-and if he had been a better man he would have known more than even he was let know,-had he known the half of what we know, Ahithophel would have held fast to David, let David do what he liked. But Ahithophel lived in the day of David and not yet in the day of Christ; and he suffered at the hand of David what neither you nor I have ever suffered at any man's hand. And if he did not live and die in David's service, and if you will never forgive him for that; then, if it will do you any good, you can go home casting stones all thy way at Bathsheba's broken-hearted grandfather. My business tonight is neither to whitewash Ahithophel nor blacken David, even were that possible, but to let you see yourselves in them both as in a glass. How, then, have you always acted toward those of your former friends who have injured you and yours? Did you shut your door this morning and pray in secret, saying, Forgive me my trespasses against God and man, as I forgive him-naming him-who has so trespassed against me? When you stood here praying tonight, did you forgive some enemy? Ahithophel should have conquered himself. Ahithophel was not a Hittite. Ahithophel was well read in all the law of Moses, if not yet in the law of Christ. Ahithophel should have gone on with his work in the city of David. He should have said-what, indeed, had he got his great head and his deep heart for but to say it with them?-Vengeance is not mine. I have eaten David's bread when he had plenty, Ahithophel should have said, and he shall come to Giloh now and eat my bread. Yes, Ahithophel, like the oracle of God he was, should have called to mind this psalm of David, and said: It shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head; for yet my prayer shall be for David in all his calamities.

And, then, on the other hand, though it is not written out, I for one shall continue to believe it, that David in his best moments took it all home to himself that Ahithophel was gone over to Absalom. David knew quite well all the time whose grandchild Uriah's wife was. As soon as David came to himself he must have foreseen all this. David was not so quick in the uptake as Ahithophel, but he was not a fool,-when he came to himself. David knew as well as all Jerusalem did what it was that had thrown Ahithophel over to Absalom's side. We see it every day in our own parties in the state, in our parties in the church, in our parties in the city, in our parties in our families. We have the gall and wormwood in ourselves that it was we ourselves that did it. It was our bad temper, our bad tongue, our want of thought, our want of love, our want of patience, our want of humility that threw this old ally and that old adviser, this able man and that rich man, into the opposite camp. We all know men who have, to all appearance, gone over for ever from truth and goodness, and from the winning to the losing side, because of us. Every time we meet them on the street, every time we hear their name spoken, every time we call them in any way to mind, something says within us-You did it. We ministers especially have our own very heavy hearts on this account. Our neglect of duty, our laziness and procrastination at a moment that went in a moment, and that we shall look back to with remorse all our days; our hot-headedness, our domineeringness, our indiscretions of speech, and our follies in conduct. Where is that family? Where is that former friend? Where is he who was once to us as the oracle of God? Where is that man, mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance? We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company. Why is he no longer here? Why is he where he now is?

And, then, what did David think when Ahithophel's terrible end was told him? And what did Bathsheba think? Did she curse David to his face when it was told her what her grandfather had done to himself? Did Uriah's wife fling David's psalms in his face in her agony of horror and self-disgust? Did she scream in her sleep till all Jerusalem heard her as she saw in her sleep her grandfather's gallows at Giloh? Or was this prophecy fulfilled before it was spoken: In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem, the house of David apart, and their wives apart, till there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David for sin and for uncleanness? And then did David go out to Giloh, and over the sepulchre of the suicide did David fall down and cry, past all consolation, O Ahithophel, the friend of my youth and my best counsellor, Ahithophel! Would God I had died for thee! O Ahithophel, mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance! If he did-then this would come in, The sacrifices of God are a broken heart. What did David think, and what did Bathsheba think? True. But what would you think if the first thing you saw tomorrow morning was the suicide of some one who has been the victim of your lust or your lies? Pray, man, pray. In God's name, pray. And though the poison may be bought, and the rope put up, God can do it. God can deliver you. With God all things are possible. Pray, you great sinner; pray, you great fool, pray. Pray, lest the newspaper run blood on your hands some morning, as the letters from Giloh ran Ahithophel's blood on David's hands. Pray for your Ahithophel without ceasing, and for all your Ahithophel's house. Give God no rest till He has remitted to you Ahithophel and all his injuries, and till He has repented of the evil He has reserved out of Ahithophel and out of his house against you. Every day you live, and till the day of your death, beseech the living God to make it all up to your Ahithophel and to set it all down to your account.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

a -hith´o -fel ( אחיתפל , 'ăḥı̄thōphel , "brother of foolishness," perhaps): The real leader of the Absalom rebellion against David. He is described as "the king's counselor," in a context connected with events some of which are dated in the fortieth year of David ( 1 Chronicles 27:33 , 1 Chronicles 27:34  ; compare 1 Chronicles 26:31 ). Concerning him and his part in the rebellion we have rather full information ( 2 Samuel 15:12 ).

Some hold that he was the grandfather of Bathsheba, and make much of this in forming their estimates of him. Does the evidence sustain this view? In the latter half of the list of David's mighty men, not among the older veterans with whom the list begins, appears "Eliam the son of Ahithophel the Gilonite" ( 2 Samuel 23:34 ), the corresponding name in the other copy of the list being "Ahijah the Pelonite" ( 1 Chronicles 11:36 ). It is assumed that this is the same Eliam who was father to Bath-sheba ( 2 Samuel 11:3 ). Apparently the Chronicler testifies ( 1 Chronicles 3:5 ) that the mother of Solomon was "Bath-shua the daughter of Ammiel." Bathshua may easily be a variant of Bathsheba, and the names Eliam and Ammiel are made up of the same parts, only in reversed order. It is not strange that men have inferred that the son of Ahithophel was the father of Bathsheba. But the inference is really not a probable one. The record does not make the impression that Ahithophel was an older man than David. The recorded events of David's life after his misconduct with Bathsheba cannot have occupied less than about twenty years; that is, he cannot have been at the time older than about fifty years. That Ahithophel had then a married grand-daughter is less probable than that there were in Israel two Eliams. Further, Ahithophel was not the sort of man to conspire against the interests of his grand-daughter and her son, however he may, earlier, have resented the conduct of David toward her. Ahithophel's motive in the rebellion was doubtless ambition for personal power, though he very likely shared with many of his countrymen in the conviction that it was unjust to push aside an older son by elevating a younger son to the throne.

Ahithophel has a reputation for marvelous practical sagacity ( 2 Samuel 16:23 ). He did not show this in joining the conspiracy but it is in evidence in his management of the affair. According to the record the hearts of the people, in spite of the much fault they had to find, were all the time with David. Absalom's only chance of success was by the method of surprise and stampede. There must be a crisis in which everybody would join Absalom because everybody thought that everybody else had done so. Such a state of public sentiment could last only a very few days; but if, in those few days, David could be put out of the way, Absalom might hold the throne in virtue of his personal popularity and in default of a rival. The first part of the program was carried out with wonderful success; when it came to the second part, Ahithophel's practical wisdom was blocked by Hushai's adroit appeal to Absalom's personal vanity. Ahithophel saw with absolute clearness that Absalom had sacrificed his one opportunity, and he committed suicide to avoid participation in the shameful defeat which he saw could not be averted.

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Ahith´ophel (brother of foolishness), the very singular name of a man who, in the time of David, was renowned throughout all Israel for his worldly wisdom. He is, in fact, the only man mentioned in the Scriptures as having acquired a reputation for political sagacity among the Jews; and they regarded his counsels as oracles ( 2 Samuel 16:23 ). He was of the council of David; but was at Giloh, his native place, at the time of Absalom's revolt, whence he was summoned to Jerusalem; and it shows the strength of Absalom's cause in Israel that a man so capable of foreseeing results, and of estimating the probabilities of success, took his side in so daring an attempt ( 2 Samuel 15:12 ). The news of this defection appears to have occasioned David more alarm than any other single incident in the rebellion. He earnestly prayed God to turn the sage counsel of Ahithophel 'to foolishness' (probably alluding to his name); and being immediately after joined by his old friend Hushai, he induced him to go over to Absalom with the express view that he might be instrumental in defeating the counsels of this dangerous person ( 2 Samuel 15:31-37 ). Psalms 55 is supposed to contain ( Psalms 55:12-14 ) a further expression of David's feelings at this treachery of one whom he had so completely trusted, and whom he calls, 'My companion, my guide, and my familiar friend.' The detestable advice which Ahithophel gave Absalom to appropriate his father's harem, committed him absolutely to the cause of the young prince, since after that he could hope for no reconcilement with David ( 2 Samuel 16:20-23 ). His proposal as to the conduct of the war undoubtedly indicated the best course that could have been taken under the circumstances; and so it seemed to the council, until Hushai interposed with his plausible advice, the object of which was to gain time to enable David to collect his resources [ABSALOM]. When Ahithophel saw that his counsel was rejected for that of Hushai, the farseeing man gave up the cause of Absalom for lost; and he forthwith saddled his ass, returned to his home at Giloh, deliberately settled his affairs, and then hanged himself, and was buried in the sepulchre of his fathers, B.C. 1023 (2 Samuel 17). This is the only case of suicide which the Old Testament records, unless the last acts of Samson and Saul may be regarded as such.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Hebrew Achitho'phel, אֲחַיתֹפֶל , brother of insipidity, i e. foolish; Sept. Ἀχιτόφελ , Josephus Ἀχιτόφελος ) , the singular name of a man renowned for political sagacity among the Jews, who regarded his counsels as oracles ( 2 Samuel 16:23 ). He was of the council of David ( 1 Chronicles 27:33-34 ), and his son Eliam (q.v.) was one of David's body-guard ( 2 Samuel 23:34 ). He was at Giloh, his native place, at the time of the revolt of Absalom, by whom he was summoned to Jerusalem; and it shows the strength. of Absalom's cause in Israel that a man so capable of foreseeing results, and estimating the probabilities of success, took his side in so daring an attempt ( 2 Samuel 15:12 ). He probably hoped to wield a greater sway under the vain prince than he had done under David, against whom it is also possible that he entertained a secret malice on account of his granddaughter Bathsheba ( 2 Samuel 11:3 , comp. with 2 Samuel 23:34 ).

The news of his defection appears to have occasioned David more alarm than any other single incident in the rebellion. He earnestly prayed God to turn the sage counsel of Ahithophel "to foolishness" (probably alluding to his name); and being immediately after joined by his old friend Hushai, he induced him to go over to Absalom with the express view that he might be instrumental in defeating the counsels of this dangerous person ( 2 Samuel 15:31-37 ). Psalms 55 is supposed to contain ( Psalms 55:12-14 ) a further expression of David's feelings at this treachery of one whom he had so completely trusted, and whom he calls "My companion, my guide, and my familiar friend" — a passage which our Savior applies to his own case in such a manner as to indicate that Ahithophel was in some sense a type of Judas ( John 13:18 ); at least their conduct and their end were similar (see Steuber, Achitophel sibi loqueo gulam fractus, Rint. 1741; Lindsay, Lect. 2, 199; Crit. Sac. Thes. Nov. 1, 676; Jones, Works, 7, 102). The detestable advice which Ahithophel gave Absalom to appropriate his father's harem committed him absolutely to the cause of the young prince, since after that he could hope for no reconcilement with David ( 2 Samuel 16:20-23 ). His proposal as to the conduct of the war undoubtedly indicated the best course that could have been taken under the circumstances; and so it seemed to the council until Hushai interposed with his plausible advice, the object of which was to gain time to enable David to collect his resources. (See Absalom).

When Ahithophel saw that his counsel was rejected for that of Hushai, the far-seeing man gave up the cause of Absalom for lost (comp. Josephus, Ant, 7, 9, 8); and he forthwith saddled his ass, returned to his home at Giloh, deliberately settled his affairs, and then hanged himself. and was buried in the sepulcher of his fathers (2 Samuel 17), B.C. cir. 1023. (Niemeyer's Charak. 4, 327 sq.; Ewald, Isr. Gesch., 2, 642.) (See David).