"Ahithophel was the king's counselor, and Hushai the Archite was the king's friend" (1 Chronicles 27:33).

When David's son Absalom seized his father's throne, Hushai followed David in flight; but David sent him back to Absalom as his informant, to frustrate the counsel of Ahithophel. Hushai is called David's "friend" here and elsewhere (2 Samuel 15:37; 16:17). Scholars suggest the title is more official than personal; however, Absalom's question to Hushai about why he had left David seems to hint at a deeper bond: "Is this your loyalty to your friend? Why did you not go with your friend?" (a paraphrase of 2 Samuel 16:17).

David had confidence in Hushai's ability, trusting him not only to serve as his eyes and ears but also to counter the highly regarded counsel of Ahithophel.

Ahithophel had once been David's trusted counselor (1 Chronicles 27:33) before defecting to Absalom. It is somewhat surprising that Ahithophel supported Absalom (the son of Maacah, 1 Chronicles 3:2), given that he appears to have been Bathsheba's grandfather and so Solomon's great-grandfather (compare 2 Samuel 23:34 with 11:3). Perhaps he judged that Absalom would prevail and that he could secure mercy for his grandchildren by giving Absalom good counsel against David. Both David and Absalom held Ahithophel's counsel in the highest regard: in those days his counsel "was as if one consulted the word of God" (a paraphrase of 2 Samuel 16:23).

Both Ahithophel and Hushai had ability. The former had greater ability; the latter had greater loyalty. Clearly for David, Hushai's loyalty was the far greater asset.

Friends, we all want the most capable people on our team. But sometimes loyalty is a greater asset than ability. That said, could David have known Ahithophel would betray him? He had been loyal and trusted, and was even David's wife's grandfather. No, David's hope and eventual restoration as king rested not on his ability to judge loyalties but on his trust in the Lord. So when he heard the distressing news that Ahithophel was advising Absalom, he prayed, "O Lord, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness" (2 Samuel 15:31).

Friends, let us trust in the Lord and commit our ways to His providence and grace, for we do not know what a day may bring and we cannot discern people's hearts. So we read in James: come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town" and trade and make a profit — yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring; what is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes; instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that"; as it is, you boast in your arrogance, and all such boasting is evil (a paraphrase of James 4:13–16).

There may be treachery around any corner of our lives, and we cannot see it. It is wisest to do the good we know and entrust ourselves to the care of an all-knowing and all-powerful God.

AI-Expanded Reflection

The account in 2 Samuel shows David's prayer answered through Hushai's work. Ahithophel advised an immediate pursuit of David with 12,000 men while he was "weary and discouraged" (17:1–3) — militarily sound counsel. Hushai countered with a delay, appealing to Absalom's vanity by proposing that he lead all Israel into battle himself (17:7–13). "the counsel of Hushai the Archite is better," said Absalom and all the men of Israel, and the narrator adds the reason: "For the Lord had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel" (17:14). David's prayer in 15:31 and Hushai's persuasion are both part of the same answer — a fine picture of prayer and human action working together under God's providence.

The suggestion about Ahithophel's family connection to Bathsheba (see #2037) is widely noted, though Scripture does not state a motive for his betrayal. What Scripture does record is how deeply David felt it, likely reflected in Psalm 55:12–14: not an enemy but "my companion, my familiar friend." The comment's counsel — to do the good we know and leave what we cannot foresee to God — is the practical conclusion James draws as well.

"Ahithophel was the king's counselor" (1 Chronicles 27:33).

Chronicles tells us nothing about Ahithophel's treachery, only that he served as the king's counselor. Yet we know that he sided with Absalom when Absalom seized his father's throne. Ahithophel gave counsel by which Absalom could both shame and destroy David. That might have been the outcome, except that God favored David over Absalom. Absalom was killed, and David was restored to his throne. And Ahithophel, when his final counsel was not followed, took his own life, understanding what the rejection of his counsel would mean. All this is recorded in 2 Samuel 16–17.

Ahithophel was no ordinary adviser. In those days his counsel was regarded "as if one consulted the word of God," both by David and by Absalom (a paraphrase of 2 Samuel 16:23).

Before Ahithophel became Absalom's adviser, David trusted him deeply, for the position of king's counselor was no ordinary role. It presupposed trust, since the king's counselor influenced every major decision of the king.

When Ahithophel betrayed him, the thought of Ahithophel's counsel being turned against him was one of David's chief concerns (cf. 2 Samuel 15:31, 34). David must also have felt the pain of betrayal by this close associate, whom he may once have trusted with his life.

Friends, whom can you ultimately trust but the Lord? Even close and capable friends can betray you. I have seen this happen in our martial arts organization. People who once used lofty words to express their loyalty and lasting devotion have left for reasons far smaller than their years of talk would suggest. I have also seen this in the church, where a leader whom one man served for years without pay or recognition — and who regularly preached against slander — was secretly speaking against that man to his friends behind his back.

Perhaps all of us have Ahithophels in our lives. They may be people we serve or people serving alongside us. But I am reminded this morning that we need not fear the Ahithophels in our lives. Even if they are highly capable and can do us great harm, the Lord is our sovereign Provider. It is for us only to trust and obey Him. And we can have this confidence, echoed by Paul: "If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31).

AI-Expanded Reflection

Some scholars have suggested a personal reason for Ahithophel's betrayal. 2 Samuel 23:34 lists "Eliam the son of Ahithophel" among David's mighty men, and 2 Samuel 11:3 names Bathsheba as "the daughter of Eliam." If these are the same Eliam, Ahithophel was Bathsheba's grandfather — and his defection may have been rooted in bitterness over what David had done to his granddaughter and her husband Uriah. Scripture does not make the connection explicit, but it is a sobering possibility: David's own sin may have sown the seeds of the betrayal he later suffered.

Many readers also hear David's experience of Ahithophel in the Psalms. "my close friend in whom I trusted" has "lifted his heel against me" (Psalm 41:9), and it was not an enemy who taunted him, but "my companion, my familiar friend" (Psalm 55:12–13). Jesus applied Psalm 41:9 to Judas (John 13:18), and the parallels between Ahithophel and Judas are striking — both betrayed their king and both took their own lives. The comment's personal experience of betrayal finds company in David's psalms and in Christ's own suffering, and its conclusion is the one David reached: "Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you" (Psalm 55:22).

Obed-edom had sons: Shemaiah the firstborn, Jehozabad the second, Joah the third, Sacar the fourth, Nethanel the fifth, Ammiel the sixth, Issachar the seventh, and Peullethai the eighth; "God had indeed blessed him" (1 Chronicles 26:4–5).

Friends, last year I encouraged you to take a wide (telescopic) lens to these chapters, but today I want to encourage you to take a narrow (microscopic) one. Amid this barrage of names we get the brief comment, "God had indeed blessed him." Do we know anything more about this? Yes!

If you recall, back in 1 Chronicles 13 we have the account of David seeking to bring the ark of God back to the City of David. On that occasion he did not do it according to what was written in the Law, and God's wrath came upon Uzzah, who touched what was holy. We are told that afterward David was afraid of God and asked how he could bring the ark home to himself. So he did not take it into the City of David but turned it aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite, where it stayed three months, and the Lord blessed Obed-edom's household and all that he had (a paraphrase of 1 Chronicles 13:12–14).

This is certainly the blessing 1 Chronicles 26 is referring back to. Even though David feared taking the ark to himself, he would later understand that this fear was misplaced. What he should have feared was disobeying God.

So when David learned how God had blessed the household of Obed-edom, he brought the ark to the City of David. This time, though, he transported it as the Law prescribed.

David did not count those twenty years old and under, because the Lord had said He would make Israel as numerous as the stars of heaven. Joab began to count them but did not finish, and wrath came upon Israel because of it; the number was not entered in the chronicles of King David (a paraphrase of 1 Chronicles 27:23–24).

Earlier, in 1 Chronicles 21, we learned how David sinned against God by taking a census of Israel. He enlisted Joab to do the counting, which Joab did reluctantly and incompletely. But the action was enough to incur God's wrath. What we were not told in chapter 21 was the reason behind the sin.

Though it is still somewhat murky here, we do learn that the census ran counter to God's promise that He would multiply Israel as the stars of heaven, a promise He made in His covenant with Abraham (cf. Genesis 15:5). It appears the sin had something to do with testing the Lord rather than trusting Him.

Friends, both of these passages require us to look back at what we read before and compare text to text, name to name, and situation to situation. When we do this, we gain greater insight and understanding. It takes a little more time, but I hope you will find it worth it, as you come to better appreciate and understand God's precious Word.

AI-Expanded Reflection

Obed-edom's story has one more layer. He is called "the Gittite," which normally means a man from Gath — a Philistine city, and David had Gittite soldiers in his service (2 Samuel 15:18). Some interpreters therefore see him as a foreigner who received the ark's blessing, a striking reversal of the Philistines' earlier experience with it (1 Samuel 5). Others note that Gath-rimmon was a Levitical city (Joshua 21:24–25), which would fit his listing among the Levitical gatekeepers here. Either way, the man whose house became a place of blessing ends up with eight sons serving at the house of God, and 1 Chronicles 26:8 counts sixty-two of his descendants among the gatekeepers.

On the census, the comment's cross-reading is a good one, and there are other angles worth adding. Exodus 30:12 required a ransom payment whenever Israel was counted, "that there be no plague among them" — and a plague is exactly what followed David's census. Joab's own objection in 1 Chronicles 21:3 suggests the problem was obvious to others at the time: the people were the Lord's, not David's to number for his own confidence. The parallel accounts also differ on the census's instigation (see #1734), which shows the biblical writers wrestling with how divine purpose and human sin intersect.

Sometimes when you read the Scriptures it is good to take a microscopic view, so that you can discern nuances of meaning; however, other times a wide-lens view is helpful. Today, I would like to encourage a wide-lens view of our readings, from chapters 21 to 27. Do you notice the emphasis of these chapters? They are all for the most part descriptive of David's priorities in the organization and management of his kingdom.

But what interests me is that five and a half chapters are devoted to the description of the material, personnel and management of Temple worship. Only one chapter (chapter 27) is devoted to everything else, including the military, tribal, and administrative organization. Then again, after this, the last chapters return again to focus on worship.

Clearly David's emphasis was not on the administration of the kingdom. And it was not on the military preparedness of the kingdom. In fact, the little David did try to do to organize the military by getting a count of those able to fight incurred the wrath of God.

David, who is a prominent Old Testament model of faithfulness - a man after God's own heart - with all the busyness, complexities, and responsibilities of being king of a fairly new and expanding kingdom, is shown to give perhaps 85% of his attention to worship and 15% to everything else. Granted this is the Chronicler's perspective; however, are we not still meant to understand from the Chronicler not only what was but what ought to be? Therefore, we can at least get a sense of what was important to God, who is the ultimate author of Scripture.

As I reflect on this reading, I am reminded again of Jesus' teaching in the Sermon on the Mount, "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness" (Matthew 6:33), and others like it: "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroy and thieves do not break it and steal, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:19–21).

Let us, then, consider our present lives. What is the focus of our lives? Are we trying to fulfill our dreams of career success? Are we trying to build a stable and happy family? Are we simply investing everything to see our kids become successful in their talents and interests? Or are we just trying to get by?

Friends, let me encourage you to stop and rethink the big-picture of your lives. Take a wide-lens view of things. What are you emphasizing? Is it worship or is it everything else? What is the starting point of your well-laid plans? Is it the Lord and His will or is it your interests and ambitions? In other words, have you decided that you want to do such and such and then are trying to tack God onto it, giving it at least the semblance of being spiritual? Or are you genuinely pursuing God's will as the main thing, such that your interests and ambitions are only details to bring it about?

Maybe you need to repent, restart, and rethink. If you do, you may find your life to be very different from the way it is now. Sometimes graciously God forces the matter by taking everything away. Remember, it is very hard for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. We might even say that it is very hard for the very distracted to enter the kingdom of heaven. And the words "very hard" may simply be a euphemism for impossible. Therefore, if God takes everything away, wouldn't this make it easier to surrender everything to God? After all, in the passage where Jesus taught on counting the cost of discipleship, Jesus clearly said, "Anyone who does not give up everything they have cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:33).

Those of you that are struggling financially think that you are under God's curse, but God may very well be blessing you. Don't you realize that God has chosen those who are poor to be rich in faith (James 2:5)? That is why James also writes,

Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position. But the rich should take pride in their humiliation—since they will pass away like a wild flower. (James 1:9, 10 TNIV)

But be careful, those of you that struggle financially, physically, and emotionally, that you don't squander your opportunity for faith. Instead, you should take the opportunity given you to repent, restart and rethink your life so that you can rebuild your life on the priority of God's will.

Those of you that are financially secure, you are perhaps the most insecure, for you are more prone to build your lives on your material wealth rather than on Christ. But there's always hope. It may be to live as simply as you can and to give away more than you take in. By this you may train your heart not to put your hope in this life and the abundance of things but rather on the Lord and the kingdom to come. If you have much, you can also indulge much, but if you have nothing but Christ, He will be your all in all. It is the latter state that we must all desire and pursue.

What I'm sharing here is not easy for me, because I consider myself among the rich. Yet, God has given me this window to reflect on these things. And what I'm sharing in words I have not yet demonstrated in action. But by God's grace, what seems impossible to me is possible for God. And I pray also for you, my friends, and encourage you to reflect on these things that I'm sharing with you. I pray that God will help you also, whatever your situation, to make the hard choices, which may only become "easy" once they are made.

AI-Expanded Reflection

The extended attention to temple service in Chronicles is a deliberate theological emphasis. Personnel, divisions, responsibilities, music, and resources show that worship involves the organized participation of a whole people. These chapters make visible forms of service that a history focused mainly on battles and succession might overlook. The literary space devoted to worship is therefore meaningful evidence of what the Chronicler wants readers to notice.

It is not, however, a measurement of the percentage of David’s working hours. Five chapters about one subject and one about another do not establish an eighty-five to fifteen distribution of his actual attention. Nor does the judgment on the census mean that military organization was intrinsically disobedient. The narrative itself includes military arrangements. The problem with David’s counting must be examined in its own context rather than treated as a prohibition on administration. Literary proportion reveals emphasis, not a complete diary or a universal budgeting formula.

The original’s call to examine life as a whole remains valuable. A person can affirm that God comes first while allowing every practical decision to be governed by status or comfort. Yet worship must not be confined to religious activities that compete with family care or honest labor. The New Testament calls for whole-life obedience. Caring for a dependent person and conducting business truthfully can express worship rather than reduce the time available for it.

The discussion of poverty also requires compassion. Loss can expose false securities and become an occasion for renewed trust, but poverty is not automatically a blessing in every respect or proof of superior faith. James’s concern includes practical help for those lacking necessities. A wealthy believer should not tell a struggling neighbor to value the opportunity for faith while withholding needed assistance.

The appropriate examination is therefore both personal and communal. What do our calendars and expenditures reveal about our loyalties? Whose needs are neglected while we maintain our preferred standard of living? Which commitments should be relinquished, and which ordinary duties should be performed more faithfully? Chronicles invites a reordered life centered on God without supplying a simplistic percentage that could make the discernment unnecessary.

This passage covers the Levitical duties, performed by entire families.

Chapter 25 describes the Levites' duty to "prophesy" — meaning simply to speak or recite, not necessarily to predict the future — and to exalt the LORD. These Levites numbered 288, drawing lots impartially for their specific duties, all under David's authority, and therefore under God's own authority.

Chapter 26 covers the Levitical gatekeepers, responsible solely for guarding the Temple compound — with specific numbers assigned to each of the four gates, plus additional guards for the road and courtyard. The second half of chapter 26 covers the Levite treasurers, who needed to be genuinely trustworthy people, managing wartime plunder, part of which was specifically dedicated to Temple repairs (v. 27). The chapter's final section covers Levites serving as judges, chosen by genealogy, reporting to David from Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.

What strikes me about this whole passage is that everyone received their duty either impartially, by lot, or by genealogy. These men would have been genuinely talented, set apart from birth as sons of Levi, serving in the army, reporting directly to David as supreme ruler — they had his ear, so to speak. Their role mattered precisely because no one could simply walk in off the street and declare themselves a Levite. You were born one, or you weren't — there was no other path to it.

Chapter 27 covers the secular officials and division captains — twenty-four thousand Israelites in each of twelve divisions, totaling 288,000 men (vv. 2–15), with twelve governors also assigned over each tribe (vv. 16–22). David couldn't take a census unless the LORD specifically directed it — doing so otherwise risked bringing God's wrath on Israel, which is why, in this instance, only men twenty and older were counted (v. 23). Various officials oversaw the king's storehouses, city and village storehouses, field workers, vineyards and their produce, olive and sycamore groves, olive oil, herds in Sharon and the valleys, camels, donkeys, and flocks — all ultimately reporting to David as the overall administrator.

No one lacked a role here. You either did a job because your father had done it, showed real talent for it, or excelled enough at it to be noticed — in today's terms, you'd be recognized as a top performer in your field. This might read as tedious on a quick skim, but it actually shows that God has a specific purpose and plan for every person, man or woman. You're not meant to sit idle — you have real talents. Use them.

AI-Expanded Reflection

The tension this comment identifies between fixed, hereditary Levitical roles and merit-based recognition within them is worth naming directly, since both principles operate simultaneously in this passage without apparent conflict — being born a Levite determined the broad category of service available, while individual skill and diligence still determined how far a specific person rose within that category. That combination offers a useful, if imperfect, modern parallel: circumstances of birth genuinely shape the range of opportunities available to anyone, without necessarily determining how fully a person develops and applies whatever specific talents fall within that range — a distinction this comment's own closing encouragement ("you have talents, use them") depends on holding onto.

David, together with the army commanders, set apart some of Asaph's, Heman's, and Jeduthun's sons for the ministry of prophesying, accompanied by harps, lyres, and cymbals (a paraphrase of 1 Chronicles 25:1).

Let's make a joyful noise to the Lord today! I came to work this morning and one of my assistants was grumbling, feeling unappreciated by her boss — and I learned another assistant, recently hired, is about to be fired simply because she raised a legitimate safety violation with the business manager, who took it as a threat to his own authority. I feel genuinely bad for her, a single mother struggling to get by where money seems to drive people's hearts. Even though she's good at her job... One missionary serving in Nepal recently wrote that suffering isn't easy once it becomes personal, familiar, and woven into daily life like walking with a limp. When suffering hits, it genuinely stings. No one in this world, believer or not, is immune to the negativity we face daily, and we all go through real emotional turbulence because of it. I remembered Habakkuk's own words — that even if the fig tree doesn't bud, the vines bear no grapes, the olive crop fails, the fields produce nothing, and the flocks and herds disappear entirely, he'll still rejoice in the LORD, still find joy in God his Savior (a paraphrase of Habakkuk 3:17–18).

Once again, brothers and sisters, let's make a joyful noise before the Lord, since He remains our portion forever!

AI-Expanded Reflection

The workplace injustice this comment describes — someone facing retaliation specifically for raising a legitimate concern — is worth pairing directly with the Habakkuk passage it reaches for, since Habakkuk's own prophecy begins precisely with this same complaint, crying out to God about injustice going unaddressed and violence seemingly winning (Habakkuk 1:2–4). His eventual declaration of joy in chapter 3 isn't naive positivity offered instead of confronting injustice — it comes only after wrestling honestly with the same kind of real, specific unfairness this comment describes witnessing at work. Habakkuk's joy was never a substitute for acknowledging genuine wrong; it was what he arrived at only after fully sitting with it first.