2 Samuel 17 · a question people ask
If the LORD had ordained it, did Absalom really choose?
The verse says both things. Absalom and all the men of Israel said the words themselves: "The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel" (17:14). And the book says, "For the LORD had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel" (17:14). Other verses hold the same two things together. Joseph told his brothers, "As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good" (Genesis 50:20), and Peter said of Jesus, "him, being delivered up by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by the hand of lawless men, crucified and killed" (Acts 2:23). Christians agree that the choice was Absalom's and the men of Israel's, and that the LORD's purpose stood. They explain how the two fit together in two main ways.
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
The LORD's hand in the choice itself
Those who read it this way take "the LORD had ordained" (17:14) to reach Absalom's judgment itself, so that what he chose was what the LORD had purposed. They point to "The king’s heart is in the LORD’s hand like the watercourses. He turns it wherever he desires" (Proverbs 21:1), and to a later king who chose between counsels, where the text says, "So the king didn’t listen to the people; for it was a thing brought about from the LORD" (1 Kings 12:15). Paul speaks of God "who does all things after the counsel of his will" (Ephesians 1:11).
2 Samuel 17:14 · Proverbs 21:1 · 1 Kings 12:15 · Ephesians 1:11
The LORD working through what people did
Those who read it this way stress the steps the chapters record: David prayed, "LORD, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness" (15:31); he sent Hushai back to "defeat for me the counsel of Ahithophel" (15:34); Hushai gave his counsel (17:7-13); and Absalom and all the men of Israel judged Hushai's counsel better (17:14). On this reading the LORD brought about what he had purposed through these real choices, as "A man’s heart plans his course, but the LORD directs his steps" (Proverbs 16:9).
2 Samuel 15:31 · 2 Samuel 15:34 · 2 Samuel 17:7-14 · Proverbs 16:9
The verses
“Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel.” For the LORD had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that the LORD might bring evil on Absalom.”
“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to save many people alive, as is happening today.”
“him, being delivered up by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by the hand of lawless men, crucified and killed;”