“Ahithophel was the kings’ counselor. Hushai the Arkite was the king’s friend.”
~ 1 Chronicles 27:33
Hi James and Ellen,
If you had a choice of a job that would have you do a specific task or a job that would have you be a friend to someone, which job would you choose? In a job that you may have someday your boss tells you that you have the choice of receiving a ten percent pay increase or having the space to develop friendships in your workplace, which option would you choose? After Gallup did an extensive survey that involved over five million interviews, a book called Vital Friends was written by Tom Rath. Tom Rath in his book reports that the vast majority of guys and gals who were interviewed said that they would rather have a friend or friends in their workplace than receive a wage increase. From this same study that was done by Gallup, Tom Rath reports in his book that guys and gals ‘who have a best friend at work are seven times more likely to be engaged in their job. They get more done in less time. They also have fewer accidents, have more engaged customers and are more likely to innovate and share new ideas’. Tom Rath also reports in this book that he wrote that employee satisfaction with his or her job went up noticeably when the employee had a close friendship or friendships in his or her employment. In the last prayer/news letter that your grandpaa wrote, your grandpaa mentioned that he and your grandmaa ‘at times feel that they are designated contact couple in Adventures in Missions to build relationships’. David had a guy in a place of esteem role in his daily affairs. The guy’s job for David in this place of esteem was to be David’s friend. When the Chronicles Book historian did a name listing in 1 Chronicles 27 of all the guys who had specific assigned tasks, the Chronicles Book historian finished the list by naming the guy – who was probably older than David, whose ‘work’ was being David’s designated friend. Verse 33 says, “Ahithophel was the kings’ counselor. Hushai the Arkite was the king’s friend.”
The moment that David seemed to have everything in place for a fulfilling, happy kingship, David’s family came crashing down on him. After one of kids – Absalom, took doing revenge into his own hands because of what a step-bro did to a sis – which had him killing the step-bro and then after Absalom spent several years being alienated from his dad – David, David let Absalom back into his grace. After getting back into his dad’s grace, Absalom decided that he could be a better king than his dad. Absalom apparently was a very handsome dude who probably had a very magnetic personality. Absalom enlisted the help of Ahithophel to get rid of his dad. When David had to flee the city of Jerusalem to escape his kid killing him, David asked Hushai to stay in the city of Jerusalem on the pretext of joining Absalom and Ahithophel in their revolt against him. Because of Hushai’s help – which was to convince Absalom to stay in the city of Jerusalem and to build his armed forces instead of pursuing David – which was contrary to Ahithophel’s advice, David was able to unite his forces. Once David had an army again, David went on the offensive resulting in Absalom’s death. After Absalom’s thick hair got so caught up in some branches that he could not escape, Absalom became a sitting duck for Joab to spear him to death. What is reported in this chapter is what took place after Absalom’s aborted attempt to depose his dad from being Israel’s third positioned king and after Ahithophel committed suicide when he realized that Hushai’s advice had usurped his advice as to how to go ahead in Absalom’s coup dreams. Once David was safely back in the city of Jerusalem and back being Israel’s king, David from his original loyal band of thirty mighty warriors, positioned twelve of these guys – each as a commander over an Israelite people group military division. David then positioned twelve of the other guys – each as an officer over an Israelite people group tribal clan. David then picked guys who he trusted to oversee his storehouses, farms, vineyards, wine vats, olive, sycamore and fig tree groves, olive oil supplies, camels, donkeys, flocks, property and sons. The last guy who David selected was a guy to be his friend and that was Hushai.
Your grandmaa right now is befriending a young lady. Yvonne called your grandmaa earlier today to ask her if she would spend some time with her as . . . Yvonne and your Aunt Lynn have been good friends. Because Yvonne has some life issues that she may need some serious intervention with at this time and because your grandmaa has been so available and has helped a number of gals already to deal with personal problems, your grandmaa is more and more finding herself listening to life stories that are filled with pain. Your grandmaa and grandpaa received a newsletter and a note today from one of the gals who did the Adventures in Missions September 2007 World Race. Your grandpaa at this time last year was with Charlene at the ministry site in Thailand where her World Race team had been assigned. When your grandpaa was with Charlene at her team’s Thailand ministry site, your grandpaa had a couple of candid chats with Charlene. Charlene’s note to your grandpaa and grandmaa reads ‘Dear Gary & Nancy, I love you both so much & I am so thankful for all the ways the Lord has used you in my life. You have been such an encouragement to me and I have learned so much from you. Thank you for all your prayers, time, and love. Much love. Charlene’ Being Hushais is the most satisfying and rewarding job that your grandmaa and grandpaa have had.
1 Chronicles 27 (942)