Ahithophel's End and Absalom's Death
“Because the Lord told him to curse David” (2 Samuel 16:10). He recalls this in Psalm 39, where he says: “You have made me a reproach to the fool” (Psalm 39:8).
“And Ahithophel said to Absalom,” and so on (2 Samuel 17:1). Absalom wanted to pursue his father as he fled, and Ahithophel boldly advised that this must be done. But Hushai, persuasively drawing him back, urged him to keep in view his father’s fierceness, and not simply to rush straight at the task, but rather first to make ready a sufficient force and gather a crowd of soldiers, because the blessed David was mighty, skilled in war, and among the most warlike of all.
“And the woman took and spread the covering,” and so on (2 Samuel 17:19). So then, even if at times good things come to us through men, let us not give thanks to them rather than to God, who through them has granted us what gladdens the heart.
“And Ahithophel saw that his counsel had not been followed” (2 Samuel 17:23). The opinion of Hushai prevailed; and Ahithophel, deeply grieved at this, ended his life with a noose, bringing a just sentence against himself.
“And he wept, and thus he said,” and so on (2 Samuel 18:33). Absalom made war on the blessed David, and the young man unexpectedly took up the weapons of hostility against the one who begot him; but he was caught and perished. Yet his father did not rejoice over him when he met his death, but mourned him as a son.
Greek
Ὅτι Κύριος εἶπεν αὐτῷ καταρᾶσθαι τὸν ∆αβίδ. {Κυρίλλου.} Τούτου μέμνηται ἐν τῷ ληʹ ψαλμῷ· φησὶν, Ὄνειδος ἄφρονι ἔδωκάς με. Καὶ εἶπεν Ἀχιτόφελ πρὸς Ἀβεσσαλὼμ, κ.τ.λ. {Κυρίλλου.} Ὁ μὲν Ἀβεσσαλὼμ φεύγοντα τὸν πατέρα διώκειν ἤθελε· καὶ ὅτι χρὴ τοῦτο πράττεσθαι, νεανικῶς συνεβούλευεν Ἀχιτόφελ. Ὁ δέ γε Χουσὶ πιθανῶς αὐτὸν ἀφιστὰς τῆς τοῦ πατρὸς ἀγριότητος ἐπιδεῖν, οὐχ ἁπλῶς εὐθυδρομῆσαι πρὸς τοῦτο, προετοιμάσασθαι δὲ μᾶλλον τὴν ἀρκοῦσαν χεῖρα, καὶ στρατιωτῶν ὄχλον συνενεγκεῖν, διὰ τὸ εἶναι δυνατὸν καὶ ἐμπειροπόλεμον καὶ τῶν ὅτι μάλιστα μαχιμωτάτων τὸν μακάριον ∆αβίδ. Καὶ ἔλαβεν ἡ γυνὴ καὶ διεπέτασε τὸ ἐπικάλυμμα, κ.τ.λ. {Κυρίλλου.} Οὐκοῦν κἂν δι' ἀνθρώπων ἔσθ' ὅτε συμβαίνῃ τινὰ χρηστὰ, μὴ ἐκείνοις μᾶλλον ‹69.688› εὐχαριστῶμεν, ἀλλὰ Θεῷ τῷ δι' αὐτῶν τὰ θυμήρη χαρισαμένῳ. Καὶ Ἀχιτόφελ εἶδεν ὅτι οὐκ ἐγενήθη ἡ βουλὴ αὐτοῦ. {Κυρίλλου.} Κεκράτηκε μὲν ἡ τοῦ Χουσὶ γνώμη· λυπηθεὶς δὲ πρὸς τοῦτο λίαν ὁ Ἀχιτόφελ, βρόχῳ κατέλυσε τὸν βίον, αὐτὸς καθ' ἑαυτοῦ δικαίαν ψῆφον ἐξενεγκών. Καὶ ἔκλαυσε, καὶ οὕτως εἶπεν, κ.τ.λ. {Κυρίλλου.} Πεπολέμηκε μὲν τῷ μακαρίῳ ∆αβὶδ ὁ Ἀβεσσαλὼμ, καὶ ἀδοκήτως τὰ τῆς δυσμενείας ὅπλα κεκίνηκε κατὰ τοῦ φύσαντος ὁ νεανίας· ἑάλω δὲ καὶ ἀπόλωλε. Πλὴν οὐκ ἐπεγάννυτο παθόντι τὸν θάνατον ὁ πατὴρ, ἀλλ' ἐθρήνησεν ὡς υἱόν.