The Suicide of Ahitophel
Claude Mariottini
Emeritus Professor
of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Today I continue my series of studies on suicide in the Bible. These are the previous posts that have been published in this series of studies:
Black Saturday: The Suicide of Judas
When this series of studies is completed, there will be a total of ten posts dealing with suicide in the Bible. Today I will study Ahitophel’s suicide. This study will be divided into two parts.
The Suicide of Ahitophel
Part 1
Ahitophel was a very important advisor in David’s reign. Ahitophel was from Giloh. Giloh was one of the eleven towns in the hill country of Judah (Joshua 15:51). Ahitophel was known as a wise man whose advice was like a word from God, “the counsel that Ahithophel gave was as if one consulted the oracle of God” (2 Samuel 16:23). So, David had high confidence in what Ahitophel said because of the wisdom of his words.
Ahithophel the Gilonite was the father of Eliam (2 Samuel 23:34). Eliam was one of the elite military soldiers in David’s army known as the “Thirty” (2 Samuel 23:23). Eliam appears in 1 Chronicles 3:5 as Ammiel. Eliam was the father of Bathsheba, the woman with whom David had an affair and who became the mother of Solomon.
Three related events led to Ahitophel’s decision to end his life by suicide. These events were David’s affair with Bathsheba, the rape of Tamar, and David’s banishment of Absalom from Jerusalem.
David’s Affair with Bathsheba
David’s affair with Bathsheba and the killing of Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband, set in place the circumstances that gave rise to the conflict and crisis that plagued David’s reign. The biblical narrator implies that David’s actions after his affair with Bathsheba led to the revolt of Absalom against his father and to Ahitophel’s decision to side with Absalom against David, a decision which eventually forced Ahitophel to take his own life.
After David had Uriah killed in battle and after he brought Bathsheba to the palace, Nathan the prophet rebuked David with a parable of the rich man’s offense against the poor man. When David showed his indignation with the action of the rich man, Uriah pronounced his judgment against David by saying, “You are the Man” (2 Samuel 12:7).
Nathan accused the king of having acted foolishly and without moral integrity in his adulterous affair with Bathsheba. He had also violated the demands of the covenant by coveting the wife of one of his soldiers and having him murdered in the battle field, “You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites” (2 Samuel 12:9).
In ancient Israel, a man was allowed to have more than one wife, however, the covenant which God had established with Israel on Mount Sinai condemned coveting the neighbor’s wife (Exodus 20:17), adultery (Exodus 20:14) and murder (Exodus 20:13) within the covenant community. David had violated all three injunctions in the Decalogue. By pronouncing God’s judgment upon David, Nathan was declaring to David that the covenant which God had established with him (2 Samuel 7:4–17) did not make him free to violate the demands of the covenant which God commanded the people, including the king, should obey.
As the king of Israel, David was responsible for administering justice throughout the land. His affair with Bathsheba and the killing of Uriah, were violations of laws of the covenant and an abuse of his powers as king and judge over Israel. By his actions David had gone beyond the limits given to him as divinely appointed king of Israel.
Thus, according to Nathan, by violating the demands of the covenant, David brought upon himself the curse of the law, “Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, for you have despised me” (2 Samuel 12:10). David was spared from the full consequence for violation of covenant law about adultery, that is, death (Leviticus 20:10), but David’s household would not escape impunity.
Nathan also told David that his moral indiscretions would not remain hidden from the public. Nathan warned David what Yahweh would do to him, “Thus says the LORD: I will raise up trouble against you from within your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes, and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this very sun. For you did it secretly; but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun” (2 Samuel 12:11–12).
What followed David’s affair with Bathsheba was Amnon’s rape of Tamar and Absalom’s revolt against David for David’s refusal to punish Amnon for the rape of Tamar. Tamar was David’s daughter, Absalom’s sister, and Amnon’s half-sister.
The Rape of Tamar
Amnon’s rape of his half-sister follows his father’s rape of Bathsheba: like father, like son. “In the course of time, Amnon son of David fell in love with Tamar, the beautiful sister of Absalom son of David” (2 Samuel 13:1 NIV). Amnon was the firstborn son of David born unto him through his wife Ahinoam (2 Samuel 3:2). Absalom and Tamar were brother and sister through their mother, Maacah of Geshur (2 Samuel 3:2).
Amnon’s love for Tamar was infatuation for he wanted to have sex with his half-sister. Amnon was so infatuated with his half sister Tamar that he made himself sick because of his desire to have her. Amnon, however, could not make his desire come true because Tamar was a virgin and forbidden to be alone with him.
When Jonadab, Amnon’s friend and David’s nephew, saw that Amnon was dejected, he advised him on how he could lure Tamar to his house and have sex with her. Amnon followed Jonadab’s advice. He pretended to be ill and asked David to have Tamar come to his house and prepare food for him to eat.
David permitted Tamar to come to Amnon’s house and prepare food for him. When Tamar arrived and had the food prepared, Amnon took Tamar by force and viciously raped her. Once his sexual desire was satisfied, Amnon threw Tamar out of his house. Humiliated by being violated, Tamar asked Amnon to do the right thing and not relegate her to public shame. Tamar said to Amnon, “‘No, my brother; for this wrong in sending me away is greater than the other that you did to me.’ But he would not listen to her” (2 Samuel 13:16).
Tamar left Amnon’s house physically and psychologically raped. She was raped of her womanhood and of her human dignity. Tamar was relegated to a life of desolation, living like a widow in the house of her brother, Absalom (2 Samuel 13:20).
The Motive for Absalom’s Rebellion
After Tamar took refuge in his house, Absalom tried to console his sister. He said to her, “Be quiet for now, my sister; he is your brother; do not take this to heart” (2 Samuel 13:20). Absalom expected his father David to take action against Amnon for his behavior. But when King David was informed of what happened to Tamar at the hands of Amnon, David was very angry, however, David took no action against Amnon “because he loved him, for he was his firstborn” (2 Samuel 13: 21). Absalom did not say anything to Amnon, but he hated him for raping his sister Tamar. Although Absalom remained quiet, he was planning to take revenge on Amnon for raping Tamar.
David’s refusal to punish Amnon may have had a political motive. Amnon was David’s first born and as the first born, Amnon was in line to succeed David as king of Israel. By punishing Amnon, David would place the succession at risk. Thus, David did not punish Amnon for raping his sister, and by doing nothing to Absalom, David became as guilty as Amnon.
David’s failure to punish Amnon for raping Tamar did not please Absalom. Absalom decided to take the matter into his own hands in order to vindicate his sister. Two years later, when Absalom’s servants were shearing sheep Absalom invited all the king’s sons to celebrate with him. Amnon and the king’s sons came to the feast to celebrate with Absalom. Absalom made arrangements with his servants to kill Amnon.
David’s unwillingness to punish Amnon forced Absalom to take action. Amnon was killed to vindicate Tamar, but the killing also demonstrates Absalom’s unhappiness with his father’s leadership. After Amnon was killed, Absalom fled to Geshur. Absalom’s flight was the first step toward his outright revolt against David. In Geshur, Absalom found refuge with his grandfather, Talmai the king of Geshur who had a peace accord with David.
Absalom’s Revolt
During his stay in Geshur Absalom began to plot how to take the throne away from his father. Since Amnon was dead, Absalom now becomes the oldest living son of David and the person eligible to succeed him. In Geshur Absalom lived as an outcast while being aware that he was the future king of Israel. His stay in Geshur allowed Absalom to buy time to regain favor from David. It also served as a time to deal with the hostility that existed between him and his father. Such a hostility would become an obstacle for him to succeed his father on the throne.
During Absalom’s stay in Geshur, he had no contact with his father. Joab, the commander of David’s army, enlisted the services of a wise woman from Tekoa (2 Samuel 14:1–4) to reconcile David with Absalom and bring the king’s son back to Jerusalem. The wise woman told a story to David, and he became convinced that he should allow Absalom to return home.
However, David’s attitude toward Absalom upon his return to Jerusalem indicates that he was still angry with Absalom. David said to Joab, “Let him go to his own house; he is not to come into my presence” (2 Samuel 14:24). This animosity between David and Absalom lasted two years. Absalom had not seen his father for five years. Eager to see David, Absalom forced Joab to secure an audience with the king. When Absalom came before David, he paid homage to David, “So he came to the king and prostrated himself with his face to the ground before the king; and the king kissed Absalom” (2 Samuel 14:33). David’s kiss signified that he was forgiving his son and restoring him to his position in the royal line.
Absalom, however, did not feel exonerated by his father. Unhappy with his father, Absalom decided to revolt against his father: “After this Absalom got himself a chariot and horses, and fifty men to run ahead of him” (2 Samuel 15:1). Absalom began to undermine David, telling the people that David was not a righteous judge. Absalom suggested that David was unfair in his decision and that he was not fit to be king. Finally, Absalom won the heart of the people. He went to Hebron, the same place where David was crowned as king, and there the people proclaimed Absalom as king.
It is during Absalom’s revolt against David that Ahitophel decided to remove his allegiance to David and support Adonijah’s rebellion against the king, “While Absalom was offering the sacrifices, he sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s counselor, from his city Giloh” (2 Samuel 15:12). The decision to join Adonijah was costly to Ahitophel. His decision eventually led him to take his own life.
In my next post I will deal with the events that led Ahitophel to take his own life.
Claude Mariottini
Emeritus Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
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