Hushai the Archite
David's friend. (2 Samuel 15:37)
Hushai goes to King David as he is fleeing Absalom's conspiracy. David sends him to Absalom to defeat Ahithophel's counsel
King David and his supporters fled Absalom and his conspiracy to avoid bloodshed. David went up the ascent of the Mount of Olives, weeping barefoot with his head covered. As David was coming to the summit where God was worshiped, Hushai the Archite met him with coat torn and dirt on his head.
David told him, "If you go on with me, you will be a burden to me. But if you return to the city and say to Absalom, 'I will be your servant, O king; as I have been your father's servant in time past, so now I will be your servant,' then you will defeat for me the counsel of Ahithophel. Are not Zadok and Abiathar the priests with you there? So whatever you hear from the king's house, tell it to Zadok and Abiathar the priests. Behold, their two sons are with them there, Ahimaaz, Zadok's son, and Jonathan, Abiathar's son, and by them you shall send to me everything you hear."
So Hushai came into the city, just as Absalom was entering Jerusalem. (2 Samuel 15:30-37) All his people, the men of Israel, and Ahithophel were with Absalom. When Hushai came to Absalom, he said, "Long live the king! Long live the king!” Absalom replied, "Is this your loyalty to your friend? Why did you not go with your friend?” And Hushai said to Absalom, “No, for whom the Lord and this people and all the men of Israel have chosen, his I will be, and with him I will remain. And again, whom should I serve? Should it not be his son? As I have served your father, so I will serve you.”
Absalom turned to Ahithophel for counsel. He advised him to go into his father's concubines, whom David left to keep the house. So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, and Absalom went in to his father's concubines in the sight of all Israel.
Hushai's counsel for defeating David defeats Ahithophel instead
Ahithophel told Absalom, “Let me choose twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue David tonight. I will come upon him while he is weary and discouraged and throw him into a panic, and all the people who are with him will flee. I will strike down only the king, and I will bring all the people back to you as a bride comes home to her husband. You seek the life of only one man, and all the people will be at peace.”
Absalom and all the elders of Israel agreed. Absalom then consulted Hushai for a second opinion, “Thus has Ahithophel spoken; shall we do as he says? If not, you speak.”
Hushai said, “This time the counsel that Ahithophel has given is not good.” Hushai said, “You know that your father and his men are mighty men, and that they are enraged, like a bear robbed of her cubs in the field. Besides, your father is expert in war; he will not spend the night with the people. Behold, even now he has hidden himself in one of the pits or in some other place. And as soon as some of the people fall at the first attack, whoever hears it will say, ‘There has been a slaughter among the people who follow Absalom.’ Then even the valiant man, whose heart is like the heart of a lion, will utterly melt with fear, for all Israel knows that your father is a mighty man, and that those who are with him are valiant men. But my counsel is that all Israel be gathered to you, from Dan to Beersheba, as the sand by the sea for multitude, and that you go to battle in person. So we shall come upon him in some place where he is to be found, and we shall light upon him as the dew falls on the ground, and of him and all the men with him not one will be left. If he withdraws into a city, then all Israel will bring ropes to that city, and we shall drag it into the valley, until not even a pebble is to be found there.”
Absalom and all the men of Israel preferred Hushai's advice, for the LORD ordained to defeat Ahithophel's good counsel to bring harm upon Absalom. Ahithophel saw his advice was ignored, so he rode home on his donkey and hanged himself.
Hushai told Zadok and Abiathar what happened and advised for David to leave the fords of the wilderness and pass over. The priests got the message to David.