How do Jonathan and Achimaas get the warning to David after a boy reports them to Absalom?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

They hide in a well at a house in Bahurim. A woman covers its mouth and directs the searchers onward. Once the searchers leave, the two men emerge, warn David to cross the river, and David and all his people cross the Jordan until it grows light.

Chapter breakdown

Achitophel offers to choose twelve thousand men and pursue David that night. He says he will attack while David is weary and weak, strike him, scatter all the people with him and kill the king alone. He promises to bring all the people back to Absalom as one man, saying Absalom seeks only one man’s life and all the people will be in peace. This proposal pleases Absalom and all the ancients of Israel.

Absalom also calls Chusai the Arachite. He explains Achitophel’s counsel and asks whether to carry it out or what Chusai advises instead. Chusai says Achitophel’s advice is not good this time. He says David and his men are very valiant and bitter in soul, like a bear robbed of her whelps in the forest; David is a warrior and will not lodge with the people. Perhaps, he says, David is now hiding in pits or another place. If some of Absalom’s men fall at the beginning, whoever hears it will say there has been a slaughter among Absalom’s followers. Even a man whose heart is like a lion’s will melt with fear, because all Israel knows David is valiant and his companions brave.

Chusai advises gathering all Israel, from Dan to Bersabee, as countless as the sand by the sea, with Absalom in their midst. Wherever David is found, they will cover him as dew falls on the ground, leaving not one of his men alive. If he enters a city, all Israel will bring ropes and draw it into the river, leaving not even a small stone. Absalom and all the men of Israel judge Chusai’s counsel better than Achitophel’s. The passage says that by the Lord’s will Achitophel’s profitable counsel was defeated so that the Lord might bring evil upon Absalom.

Chusai tells the priests Sadoc and Abiathar both what Achitophel advised Absalom and Israel’s ancients and what he himself advised. He tells them to send quickly to David: he must not stay that night in the plains of the wilderness but cross over without delay, lest the king and all his people be swallowed up.

Jonathan and Achimaas wait near the fountain Rogel. A maidservant brings the word to them so they can carry it to David; they must not be seen or enter the city. A boy sees them and tells Absalom. They hurry into a certain man’s house at Bahurim and go down into a well in his court. The woman spreads a covering over the well’s mouth as if she were drying boiled barley, so their hiding place is not known. When Absalom’s servants ask her where Jonathan and Achimaas are, she says they went on in haste after taking a little water. The searchers cannot find them and return to Jerusalem.

After the pursuers have gone, the men come up from the well and tell David to rise and cross the river quickly, because of the counsel Achitophel gave against him. David and all the people with him arise and cross the Jordan until it grows light. Not one person remains who has not crossed.

When Achitophel sees that his counsel has not been followed, he saddles his ass and goes home to his own house in his city. He sets his house in order, hangs himself and is buried in his father’s sepulchre. David comes to the camp, while Absalom and all the men of Israel cross the Jordan.

Challoner’s separate note identifies the camp as the city of Mahanaim, meaning The camp in Hebrew, which was notable for having been Isboseth’s residence.

Absalom appoints Amasa over the army in Joab’s place. Amasa is the son of Jethra of Jezrael, who went in to Abigail, daughter of Naas and sister of Sarvia, Joab’s mother. Israel and Absalom camp in the land of Galaad.

When David reaches the camp, Sobi, son of Naas of Rabbath of the children of Ammon, Machir, son of Ammihel of Lodabar, and Berzellai the Galaadite of Rogelim bring supplies. They bring beds, tapestry, earthen vessels, wheat, barley, meal, parched corn, beans, lentils, fried pulse, honey, butter, sheep and fat calves. They give these to David and his people to eat, suspecting that the people are faint with hunger and thirst in the wilderness.

The story inside

The chapter connects rejected counsel with a successful warning. Achitophel proposes an immediate pursuit directed at David alone. Chusai argues against it and offers a larger gathering that Absalom and Israel prefer; the narrator attributes the defeat of Achitophel’s profitable counsel to the Lord’s will. Chusai then sends both accounts through the priests. A boy’s report puts Jonathan and Achimaas at risk, but their hiding place at Bahurim remains undiscovered and they reach David. Everyone crosses the Jordan. Achitophel dies after finding his counsel unfollowed, while both sides move across the river and named supporters bring supplies to David’s camp.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The two plans are different in timing, numbers and targets. Achitophel offers twelve thousand men that night and David’s death alone. Chusai calls for all Israel and proposes leaving none of David’s men alive. Keeping the plans distinct explains what Absalom accepts without treating either proposed attack as an event.
2
The warning has a named route and a real interruption. Chusai tells Sadoc and Abiathar; a maidservant carries word to Jonathan and Achimaas. After a boy reports them, they hide in a courtyard well and emerge only after the searchers leave. That sequence explains how the message still reaches David.
3
The supplies are tied to the supporters’ assessment of the people’s need. Sobi, Machir and Berzellai bring the listed food and household goods because they suspect hunger and thirst in the wilderness. Their named origins and the full list belong to the account; no imagined feast or political motive is needed.

Test your recall

How does the warning pass from Chusai through the priests to David, and what lets Jonathan and Achimaas resume the journey after being spotted?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 33453–33469
2 Kings Chapter 17 Achitophel’s counsel is defeated by Chusai: who sendeth intelligence to David. Achitophel hangeth himself. 17:1. And Achitophel said to Absalom: I will choose me twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David this night. 17:2. And coming upon him (for he is now weary, and weak handed) I will defeat him: and when all the people is put to flight that is with him, I will kill the king who will be left alone. 17:3. And I will bring back all the people, as if they were but one man: for thou seekest but one man: and all the people shall be in peace. 17:4. And his saying pleased Absalom, and all the ancients of Israel.
Lines 33471–33493
17:5. But Absalom said: Call Chusai the Arachite, and let us hear what he also saith. 17:6. And when Chusai was come to Absalom, Absalom said to him: Achitophel hath spoken after this manner: shall we do it or not? what counsel dost thou give? 17:7. And Chusai said to Absalom: The counsel that Achitophel hath given this time is not good. 17:8. And again Chusai said: Thou knowest thy father, and the men that are with him, that they are very valiant, and bitter in their mind, as a bear raging in the wood when her whelps are taken away: and thy father is a warrior, and will not lodge with the people. 17:9. Perhaps he now lieth hid in pits, or in some other place where he list: and when any one shall fall at the first, every one that heareth it shall say: There is a slaughter among the people that followed Absalom. 17:10. And the most valiant man whose heart is as the heart of a lion, shall melt for fear: for all the people of Israel know thy father to be a valiant man, and that all who are with him are valiant.
Lines 33495–33510
17:11. But this seemeth to me to be good counsel: Let all Israel be gathered to thee, from Dan to Bersabee, as the sand of the sea which cannot be numbered: and thou shalt be in the midst of them. 17:12. And we shall come upon him in what place soever he shall be found: and we shall cover him, as the dew falleth upon the ground, and we shall not leave of the men that are with him, not so much as one. 17:13. And if he shall enter into any city, all Israel shall cast ropes round about that city, and we will draw it into the river, so that there shall not be found so much as one small stone thereof. 17:14. And Absalom, and all the men of Israel said: The counsel of Chusai the Arachite is better than the counsel of Achitophel: and by the will of the Lord the profitable counsel of Achitophel was defeated, that the Lord might bring evil upon Absalom.
Lines 33512–33519
17:15. And Chusai said to Sadoc and Abiathar the priests: Thus and thus did Achitophel counsel Absalom, and the ancients of Israel: and thus and thus did I counsel them. 17:16. Now therefore send quickly, and tell David, saying: Tarry not this night in the plains of the wilderness, but without delay pass over: lest the king be swallowed up, and all the people that is with him.
Lines 33521–33537
17:17. And Jonathan and Achimaas stayed by the fountain Rogel: and there went a maid and told them: and they went forward, to carry the message to king David, for they might not be seen, nor enter into the city. 17:18. But a certain boy saw them, and told Absalom: but they making haste went into the house of a certain man in Bahurim, who had a well in his court, and they went down into it. 17:19. And a woman took, and spread a covering over the mouth of the well, as it were to dry sodden barley and so the thing was not known. 17:20. And when Absalom’s servants were come into the house, they said to the woman: Where is Achimaas and Jonathan? and the woman answered them: They passed on in haste, after they had tasted a little water. But they that sought them, when they found them not, returned into Jerusalem.
Lines 33539–33545
17:21. And when they were gone, they came up out of the well, and going on told king David, and said: Arise, and pass quickly over the river: for this manner of counsel has Achitophel given against you. 17:22. So David arose, and all the people that were with him, and they passed over the Jordan, until it grew light, and not one of them was left that was not gone over the river.
Lines 33547–33553
17:23. But Achitophel seeing that his counsel was not followed, saddled his ass, and arose and went home to his house and to his city, and putting his house in order, hanged himself, and was buried in the sepulchre of his father. 17:24. But David came to the camp, and Absalom passed over the Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him.
Lines 33555–33557
To the camp.... The city of Mahanaim, the name of which, in Hebrew, signifies The camp. It was a city of note at that time, as appears from its having been chosen by Isboseth for the place of his residence.
Lines 33559–33564
17:25. Now Absalom appointed Amasa in Joab’s stead over the army: and Amasa was the son of a man who was called Jethra, of Jezrael, who went in to Abigail the daughter of Naas, the sister of Sarvia who was the mother of Joab. 17:26. And Israel camped with Absalom in the land of Galaad.
Lines 33566–33576
17:27. And when David was come to the camp, Sobi the son of Naas of Rabbath of the children of Ammon, and Machir the son of Ammihel of Lodabar and Berzellai the Galaadite of Rogelim, 17:28. Brought him beds, and tapestry, and earthen vessels, and wheat, and barley, and meal, and parched corn, and beans, and lentils, and fried pulse, 17:29. And honey, and butter, and sheep, and fat calves, and they gave to David and the people that were with him, to eat: for they suspected that the people were faint with hunger and thirst in the wilderness.