Day 135: The Counsel of Hushai

1 Chronicles 22:1-19 David was a great warrior who conquered the enemies of Israel. Because of his involvement in so much warfare, he was not the one to build the Temple, which was to be a place of profound worship, symbolic of God’s presence; rather, it would be built by his son, Solomon, a man of peace, whose reign would inaugurate a period of great peace between Israel and its neighbors. David, however, had the crucial role of making the necessary preparations to initiate the elaborate construction of the Temple: he gathered the raw materials, designed its structure, and secured the labor force. In this way he was like Moses, who led the Israelites out of Egypt to the very threshold of the Promised Land but was not permitted to enter it.

Ch 22:8-9 Peace is based on a loving relationship between God and each individual, which is reflected in fidelity to the moral law. Due to the sin of Adam and Eve, which upset the natural order as willed by God, violence entered interpersonal and social relationships within the human race. Peace and violence are MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE; the presence of violence indicates that people are oblivious to or have chosen to reject Christ’s teachings. 

Psalm 36 This psalm contrasts those who choose evil with those who abide in the love of God. When evil is allowed to corrupt the human heart and soul, it is rendered less capable of choosing to do good through a sound moral life. Meanwhile, those who seek God and embrace his will increasingly grow in love for God and others as God’s grace continuously grows. A consequence of this union with God is fidelity, virtuous action, and wisdom. Divine light enables a person to participate in God’s very life. (Cf. St. John Paul II, General Audience, August 22, 2001)

In your light do we see light: Not only is this a reference to the divine illumination of truth, as St. John Paul II has pointed out, but the Church fathers also interpret it as God the Father’s eternal generation of God the Son, the Second Person of the Trinity. This truth with respect to God is echoed in the Nicene Creed when we pray, 

“God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God; 

begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father.”

Such divine illumination also brings to mind the Beatific Vision, which Pope Benedict XII described as “an intuitive vision, face to face, without the mediation of any creature that has the power of sight; rather, the divine essence is shown to them in an immediate and complete revelation, patently and clearly...and seeing it thus, they come to partake of the divine essence itself” (Benedictus Deus).

(*The Didache Bible RSV-CE Ignatius Edition, 2006)

• 2 Samuel Ch 17

• This is intrigue

• This is all about the stuff that goes on when there is CIVIL WAR

• So we have Ahithophel who was a trusted counselor first for David and now Absalom

• He has great advice

• He advises Absalom that if he is given 12,000 men and attacks Jerusalem and kills David, then EVERYONE ELSE WILL BE SPARED AND SAVED

• They will then have a celebration because it wasn’t CIVIL WAR that killed everybody, it was just the one King David

• He also advises Absalom that a lot of people actually like him

• So what happens?

• Hushai, the spy that David sent to stay with Absalom

• “As I served your father David, now I serve you.”

• Hushai not only has great advice, but it is advice that appeals to Absalom’s VANITY

• Remember, Absalom is a very good looking man

• From the top of his head to the tip of his toe he has no flaw in him 

• He is quite VAIN

• What does Hushai say?

• “Let’s not let Ahithophel go and kill your father, David because then Ahithophel has the victory. 

• How about you, Absalom? 

• How about you lead the people? 

• We have to do this because remember, your father David is a mighty warrior. 

• His mighty men around him are valiant men. 

• If you are going to let Ahithophel destroy this mighty warrior, this mighty man, that is not the way to go. 

• Not only because of a bunch of reasons, but also because you know what is going to happen is that you have never been in battle. 

• You have never fought in any wars. 

• You have never earned people’s respect when it comes to being a conqueror. 

• David is a mighty man. 

• Everyone knows it. 

• His mighty men are valiant men. 

• Everyone knows it. 

• So you need to lead them, Absalom, yourself. 

• And Israel gathered to you, and then they will be able to basically put their trust in you, put their confidence in you, and see you as the TRUE KING.”

• So Absalom falls for Hushai’s “advice”

• So what happens?

• Ahithophel goes back to his home and when he saw that Hushai’s advice was heeded and his wasn’t, he goes back to his home, got his affairs in order, and then KILLED HIMSELF

• Why did he do this?

• Not because he was embarrassed

• Not because he was pouting

• Ahithophel was a smart guy

• He realized that Hushai’s advice would be followed and it would bring about the destruction of Absalom

• So he doesn’t want to live as a TRAITOR to the King who will return (Authority was not given to deny THE RETURN OF THE KING 🤓) after David defeats Absalom in battle

• So this is one of those moments of intrigue

• This is what it is to have a spy in your own home

• Absalom makes Amasa the captain of his army instead of Joab

• Basically Amasa is the son of one of David’s nieces and is a COUSIN of Joab

• We will see what happens in the battle tomorrow

• 1 Chronicles 22

• Remember in the previous chapter we read that David said that Jerusalem would be the place for the Temple

• The Temple would be the on the site of Ornan’s threshing floor

• Fr. Mike failed to highlight in Day 134 that David wanted to buy the threshing floor and land around it from Ornan for the Temple

• Ornan refused payment and offered the land, the cattle, and other materials

• David INSISTED ON PAYING

• Because this should COST something

• There is something REALLY TRUE about this

• A religion that doesn’t cost anything is only going to go so deep in our lives

• So David has an intuition for this

• He realizes that he MUST buy this land to be INVESTED to have “skin in the game” for the Temple (For our brothers and sisters outside of the United States, “skin in the game” means to have incurred risk by being involved in achieving a goal 🤔)

• So this land is where The Temple is going to be built, it is Mt. Moriah

• Up until this point, sacrifices were offered in many different places like Bethel, Gilead, etc.

• But at this point sacrifice will only be offered IN ONE PLACE

• They had MANY SYNAGOGUES but ONLY ONE TEMPLE

• You don’t offer sacrifice in synagogues

• You don’t worship in synagogues

• You only worship in the Temple in Jerusalem

• So this is the beginning of David gathering all the materials and labor to build the Temple

• David won’t build the temple, Solomon will

• So David gives that task to Solomon after all the materials and labor were gathered

• Solomon has to add to these things because he is going to build the Temple for the GLORY OF GOD

• The key piece for us is that soon, this Temple will be the ONLY PLACE where they could offer sacrifice

• This is going to be CENTRALIZED WORSHIP

• That is a big deal and big difference for the lives of the people of Israel

• Remember John Ch 4?

• Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at the well

• The woman tells him that Samaritans worship in their area but that the Jews say they can only worship in Jerusalem

• So who is right?

• Jesus points out the day will come when people will worship God in SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH

• That is a FORESHADOWING of God’s promise of Jesus’ sacrifice of his BODY AND BLOOD which is offered at EVERY SINGLE MASS

• That is SO COOL

• That is SO INCREDIBLE

• So the point of 1 Chronicles Ch 22 (and Ch 21 from yesterday) is that this is going to be the beginning of CENTRALIZED WORSHIP

• You can only offer sacrifice IN THE TEMPLE from now on

• David gathers the materials and tells Solomon to ADD TO THESE 

• Because The Temple must be WORTHY OF THE LORD GOD

• That’s what we want to be

• If you have been BAPTIZED, then you are a TEMPLE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

• We want to be a TEMPLE WORTHY OF THE LORD GOD

• So ask God, 

“Lord, renew me. Renew my heart. Renew my soul. Renew your gift of grace inside of me, so that I can truly live in such a way, as a LIVING TABERNACLE, as a LIVING TEMPLE. Let me be a place of your spirit where your truth and your life abide. Amen”

• PRAY FOR EACH OTHER

• PRAY FOR FR. MIKE

Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven we give you thanks. We praise your name and we give you glory. We thank you for your justice because your justice is that you are right and you are true and you are fair. What we deserve you are willing to give. But we also thank you, Lord God, for your mercy. And we know that in your mercy you do not contradict justice, but in your mercy you fulfill justice in yourself and in giving your Son as the sacrifice for my sin, as a sacrifice for our sins. You show yourself to be a God of justice and mercy in your one heart as you are one God and you are one character truly consistent, just, and merciful. And so we thank you. I thank you, God, for your justice, that you are not fickle. I thank you for your mercy that you are love. Please receive our thanks and praise this day in Jesus’ name. Amen.”