Chapter 17 of Shmuel B is the chapter in which the fate of Avshalom's rebellion is decided. Achitofel offers sharp, precise counsel: to pursue David that very night with twelve thousand men, to strike the king alone, and to bring all the people back to Avshalom. Opposing him stands Chushai the Archite, sent by David to undo Achitofel's counsel, who proposes waiting until all of Israel gathers from Dan to Beer Sheva. From here on we see how Divine providence orchestrates events: the good counsel is thwarted, the message reaches David miraculously, Achitofel takes his own life, and David begins to see the first signs of deliverance.
וַיֹּאמֶר אַבְשָׁלוֹם וְכׇל־אִישׁ יִשְׂרָאֵל טוֹבָה עֲצַת חוּשַׁי הָאַרְכִּי מֵעֲצַת אֲחִיתֹפֶל, וַה' צִוָּה לְהָפֵר אֶת־עֲצַת אֲחִיתֹפֶל הַטּוֹבָה לְבַעֲבוּר הָבִיא ה' אֶל־אַבְשָׁלוֹם אֶת־הָרָעָה׃ - And Avshalom and all the men of Israel said, "The counsel of Chushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Achitofel," for Hashem had commanded to undo the good counsel of Achitofel, so that Hashem might bring evil upon Avshalom.
Note the precision in the wording of the verse. Regarding Achitofel's counsel it was said that it was proper in the eyes of Avshalom and in the eyes of all the elders of Israel, whereas here there is no mention of the elders of Israel, only of Avshalom and all the men of Israel. The Malbim explains: the Holy One, blessed be He, thwarted and confounded their judgment. Naturally, had they followed Achitofel's counsel they would have succeeded; but the Holy One, blessed be He, undid the good counsel, and they all accepted specifically the counsel of Chushai the Archite, believing it to be the correct way to overcome David.
וַיֹּאמֶר חוּשַׁי אֶל־צָדוֹק וְאֶל־אֶבְיָתָר הַכֹּהֲנִים כָּזֹאת וְכָזֹאת יָעַץ אֲחִיתֹפֶל אֶת־אַבְשָׁלֹם וְאֵת זִקְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, וְכָזֹאת וְכָזֹאת יָעַצְתִּי אָנִי׃ - And Chushai said to Tzadok and to Evyatar the priests, "Thus and thus did Achitofel counsel Avshalom and the elders of Israel, and thus and thus did I myself counsel."
Why does Chushai need to detail both pieces of counsel to the priests? The answer lies in the following verse.
וְעַתָּה שִׁלְחוּ מְהֵרָה וְהַגִּידוּ לְדָוִד לֵאמֹר אַל־תָּלֶן הַלַּיְלָה בְּעַרְבוֹת הַמִּדְבָּר וְגַם עָבוֹר תַּעֲבוֹר, פֶּן יְבֻלַּע לַמֶּלֶךְ וּלְכׇל־הָעָם אֲשֶׁר אִתּוֹ׃ - "And now, send quickly and tell David, saying, 'Do not lodge tonight in the plains of the wilderness, but by all means cross over, lest the king and all the people with him be swallowed up.'"
Chushai says two things: do not let the people lodge in the plains of the wilderness (aravah, from the word for a level plain), and not only that, but "by all means cross over" - flee from there as quickly as possible. And the reason: Achitofel counseled to attack tonight, and I counseled to wait, but I do not know for certain what the outcome will be. It is possible that Avshalom's mind will change and he will accept Achitofel's counsel, and then you will be attacked this very night. Therefore Chushai conveys both pieces of counsel: this is what Achitofel counseled and this is what I counseled, and I am not one hundred percent sure they will act according to my words, and therefore flee as quickly as possible.
From here we also have the answer to the obvious question: if Chushai's counsel is that multitudes gather and attack David, what good is he doing David by this? The good is at this very moment - to save him and enable him to flee the land. The moment David flees, Avshalom will not pursue him abroad; alternatively, David will have time to organize. For Achitofel's counsel was correct, that is, it led to its objective. There was great evil in it, but it would have achieved the goal of overcoming David. And so too Achitofel's final counsel, the one on account of which the term "the counsel of Achitofel" was coined, that too was correct. For this reason Chushai was very afraid that in the end Avshalom would accept it, and so he sent to David: flee.
וִיהוֹנָתָן וַאֲחִימַעַץ עֹמְדִים בְּעֵין־רֹגֵל וְהָלְכָה הַשִּׁפְחָה וְהִגִּידָה לָהֶם וְהֵם יֵלְכוּ וְהִגִּידוּ לַמֶּלֶךְ דָּוִד, כִּי לֹא יוּכְלוּ לְהֵרָאוֹת לָבוֹא הָעִירָה׃ - And Yehonatan and Achimaatz were standing at Ein Rogel, and the maidservant would go and tell them, and they would go and tell King David, for they could not be seen coming into the city.
The method of conveying the message was also done with cunning. Yehonatan and Achimaatz, the sons of Evyatar and Tzadok, did not enter the city at all, out of fear that they would be recognized and it would be understood that they were spies working for David. They stood at Ein Rogel outside the city, and a maidservant served as the connecting link: she would go and pass to them the words of their fathers, and they would go and deliver them to David. This is the meaning of "for they could not be seen coming into the city" - out of fear that they would be noticed.
וַיַּרְא אֹתָם נַעַר וַיַּגֵּד לְאַבְשָׁלֹם, וַיֵּלְכוּ שְׁנֵיהֶם מְהֵרָה וַיָּבֹאוּ אֶל־בֵּית־אִישׁ בְּבַחוּרִים וְלוֹ בְאֵר בַּחֲצֵרוֹ וַיֵּרְדוּ שָׁם׃ - And a lad saw them and told Avshalom, but the two of them went quickly and came to the house of a man in Bachurim, who had a well in his courtyard, and they went down there.
Here the verse shows how much Divine assistance was with them. As they were walking, a lad saw them and revealed it to Avshalom. But Hashem's kindness was upon them: first, that they themselves noticed that they had been seen, for had they continued walking without sensing it, they would eventually have been caught. Second, that the Holy One, blessed be He, prepared for them a hiding place: the house of a man in Bachurim, who had a well in his courtyard, and they went down and hid inside it.
וַתִּקַּח הָאִשָּׁה וַתִּפְרֹשׂ אֶת־הַמָּסָךְ עַל־פְּנֵי הַבְּאֵר וַתִּשְׁטַח עָלָיו הָרִפוֹת, וְלֹא נוֹדַע דָּבָר׃ - And the woman took and spread the covering over the mouth of the well, and spread the groats upon it, and nothing was known.
The well was an ordinary well, protruding above the surface of the ground. The woman took a covering, a kind of mat, and spread it over the mouth of the well, and upon it she spread out the groats. Groats are a type of legume and the like, which people would spread out in the sun in order to dry them, the way grandparents used to spread pepper or watermelon seeds in the sun. This too was Hashem's kindness upon them, that the woman came upon this idea.
וַיָּבֹאוּ עַבְדֵי אַבְשָׁלוֹם אֶל־הָאִשָּׁה הַבַּיְתָה וַיֹּאמְרוּ אַיֵּה אֲחִימַעַץ וִיהוֹנָתָן, וַתֹּאמֶר לָהֶם הָאִשָּׁה עָבְרוּ מִיכַל הַמָּיִם, וַיְבַקְשׁוּ וְלֹא מָצָאוּ וַיָּשֻׁבוּ יְרוּשָׁלִָם׃ - And Avshalom's servants came to the woman at the house and said, Where are Achimaatz and Yehonatan? And the woman said to them, They have crossed the brook of water. And they searched and did not find them, and they returned to Jerusalem.
Another kindness: the Holy One, blessed be He, placed in the woman's mouth the correct answer. She acted as Rachav had acted. Rachav did not say to those sent to her, "Men? There were none here," for they would have replied to her: They were seen entering, which is a sign that you have something to hide, and under torture they would have extracted the truth from her. Rather she said: Indeed they were here, but they have already gone. So too here: she does not deny it, but says "they have crossed the brook of water" - they crossed the stream of water, they were here and have already gone. And who would suspect her? She is seemingly hiding nothing. And so "they searched and did not find them" - the pursuers returned to Jerusalem empty handed.
It is brought in Midrash Shmuel, parasha 32: Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachman said in the name of Rabbi Yonatan, why did Mordechai and Esther merit that a miracle would be performed through them and that all of Israel would be saved through their merit? Because of the wife of Shimi ben Kish, the mother of their father, who saved two righteous men from being killed, and these are Achimaatz and Yehonatan. When Avshalom's servants pursued them, they entered the house of Shimi. What did that righteous woman do? She placed them inside the well, uncovered the hair of her head like the wife of On ben Pelet, and sat at the mouth of the well. When Avshalom's servants entered and saw her with her hair uncovered, they turned back and said: Is it possible that two righteous men are hidden in the pit and such an esteemed woman is sitting over it with her hair uncovered? Would they have entered here when a woman with uncovered hair is sitting here?
And from where is this learned? From the verse "and spread the groats upon it." The Midrash expounds precisely: do not read it as hariphot (groats) but as charifut (sharpness/disgrace) - that she disgraced and degraded herself in order to save the two righteous men from death. For it is a shame for a woman to have her hair uncovered, and she disgraced herself for their sake. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to her: Since you disgraced yourself for these two righteous men, I will bring forth from you two righteous ones who will stand in the breaches of Israel, and for their sake I will save Israel from being killed. From here we see the power of merit that hangs over many generations: they had such a righteous mother, and she merited that from her descendants would come those who saved all of Israel.
וַיְהִי אַחֲרֵי לֶכְתָּם וַיַּעֲלוּ מֵהַבְּאֵר וַיֵּלְכוּ וַיַּגִּדוּ לַמֶּלֶךְ דָּוִד, וַיֹּאמְרוּ אֶל־דָּוִד קוּמוּ וְעִבְרוּ מְהֵרָה אֶת־הַמַּיִם כִּי־כָכָה יָעַץ עֲלֵיכֶם אֲחִיתֹפֶל׃ - And it came to pass after they departed that they came up out of the well, went and told King David, and they said to David: Arise and cross the water quickly, for thus has Achitofel counseled against you.
As we said, no one knows whether Achitofel's advice will ultimately be accepted, and therefore the instruction is to cross over at once.
וַיָּקׇם דָּוִד וְכׇל־הָעָם אֲשֶׁר אִתּוֹ וַיַּעַבְרוּ אֶת־הַיַּרְדֵּן, עַד־אוֹר הַבֹּקֶר עַד־אַחַד לֹא נֶעְדָּר אֲשֶׁר לֹא־עָבַר אֶת־הַיַּרְדֵּן׃ - And David arose, and all the people who were with him, and they crossed the Jordan; by the light of morning there was not one missing who had not crossed the Jordan.
All of them, down to the very last one, crossed the Jordan.
וַאֲחִיתֹפֶל רָאָה כִּי לֹא נֶעֶשְׂתָה עֲצָתוֹ וַיַּחֲבֹשׁ אֶת־הַחֲמוֹר וַיָּקׇם וַיֵּלֶךְ אֶל־בֵּיתוֹ אֶל־עִירוֹ, וַיְצַו אֶל־בֵּיתוֹ וַיֵּחָנַק וַיָּמׇת וַיִּקָּבֵר בְּקֶבֶר אָבִיו׃ - And when Achitofel saw that his counsel was not carried out, he saddled the donkey, arose and went to his house, to his city, and he gave orders concerning his household, strangled himself and died, and he was buried in the grave of his father.
"And he gave orders concerning his household" - he wrote a will. "And he strangled himself" - he strangled himself and took his own life. Why did he do this? Achitofel was exceedingly shrewd, and he knew that the only correct advice was his own. If they do not act according to his counsel, there is no way they will succeed. From this he concluded clearly: Avshalom's rebellion is about to fall apart, and David will return to the throne. And whose head will they seek first? His own. Since we have a rule that the property of those executed by the king goes to the king, and moreover they are not eulogized nor buried in the graves of their fathers, he said: I will deny David this pleasure. He will not take my property, and I will also be buried in the graves of my fathers. Therefore he wrote a will, since he is not in the category of those executed by the king but rather one who took his own life, and therefore "and he was buried in the grave of his father," since he was not put to death by the government.
Yet there is a difficulty: one who takes his own life is buried outside the fence. There are two explanations for this. Some say that the language of the verse does not necessarily indicate that he took his own life, and there is an opinion that he choked accidentally - he ate something and choked, or some other cause. But this is not the accepted plain meaning, for the plain meaning is that "and he strangled himself" means he took his own life. Therefore some say that Achitofel took care to conceal the manner of his death, and the verse is what reveals it to us; he was clever enough to stage a natural death, and so they buried him in the graves of his fathers without knowing that he had taken his own life, and by this he ensured that his property would pass to his sons.
In the Yalkut Shimoni on "and he gave orders concerning his household and strangled himself": Rabbi bar Yechezkel said, from where do we learn the gift of one on his deathbed from the Torah? As it says "and he gave orders" - a mere command. A person who is about to pass away and says: Give my property to so and so - it is given. And from where do we know this? From this verse, for "and he gave orders" is merely a command, and it already took effect.
Furthermore: Our Rabbis taught, Achitofel commanded three things to his sons. He said to them: My sons, do not engage in dispute - for he saw with his own eyes what dispute causes. And do not rebel against the kingdom of the House of David - he drew the correct conclusion, seeing what rebellion against the kingdom of the House of David brings about. And the third is a practical piece of advice unrelated to our subject: If the festival day of Atzeret is clear, sow wheat. Some read "barur" (clear) and some read "balul" (mixed), and it is neither truly mixed nor truly clear, but mixed with a north wind blowing, and that is "barur." That is to say: if you see that the festival day of Atzeret, Shavuot, appears fine, know that sowing wheat afterward will succeed greatly.
In the Yalkut Shimoni on Shmuel Bet chapter five there appear words that explain both Achitofel's tremendous hatred toward David and the reason for his death by strangulation. Rabbi Berechya said in the name of Rabbi Abba bar Kahana: David appointed ninety thousand elders in a single day, heads of Sanhedrins, judges and sages, yet Achitofel he did not appoint among them. Why? Because he knew that his inside was not like his outside and that his character traits were corrupt.
The Aron was hurling the kohanim into the air and casting them to the ground. David sent and brought Achitofel and said to him: Will you not tell me for what reason the Aron is throwing the kohanim skyward and hurling them to the ground? Achitofel answered him cynically: Ask the sages you appointed, let them arise and help you. Me you did not appoint, I am no sage. David said: One who knows how to answer a matter and does not answer, his end will be to be strangled. And who knew the answer? Achitofel. Immediately he said: Things that schoolchildren say every day in the beit knesset you do not know? "And to the sons of Kehat he gave none, for the service of the holy things was upon them, they were to carry on the shoulder." The Aron is carried only on the shoulder, and you are not carrying it on the shoulder, so what is the wonder that the Aron tears at them and casts them to the ground?
And likewise you find, here is yet another occasion on which Achitofel honestly earned the right to be strangled, at the time David came to dig the foundation, the foundations of the Beit HaMikdash. He dug fifteen hundred amot and did not reach the depths. In the end he found a single shard and wanted to lift it. That shard said to him: You cannot move me. He asked it: Why? It said to him: Because I am set here pressing down upon the depths. He asked it: Since when are you here? It said to him: Since the hour the Holy One, blessed be He, sounded His voice at Sinai and said "I am Hashem your God," and the earth trembled and sank, and I was placed here pressing down upon the depths. Even so David did not listen to it, and once he lifted it the depths rose and sought to flood the land. Achitofel was standing there and said in his heart: Now David dies and I become king. Hear what plans he had. David said: One who has counsel to hold back the depths and does not hold it back, his end will be to be strangled. Achitofel said what he said, wrote a Name and the like, and held back the depths. David began to rise and said Shir HaMaalot, the ascents by which he rose out of the depths and was saved.
And even so, says the Midrash, Achitofel's end was to be strangled. This is the parable that people say: a person must be wary of the curse of a great man even when it is undeserved. And this is what Chazal said, the curse of a sage, even undeserved, comes to pass. For even if the sage cursed saying "if you do not do such and such," and in the end you did do it, so there is no cause for the curse to take effect, nonetheless, since it came out of the mouth of a sage, it will ultimately be fulfilled.
Let us conclude with one more small passage in the Midrash that shows who Achitofel was: Rabbi Shmuel bar Yitzchak said, the scroll that Shmuel handed to David, Achitofel had spoken it to David through ruach hakodesh. Achitofel knew everything through ruach hakodesh. What would he do? A person would come to consult him, and he would say to him: Go do such and such, and if you do not believe me, go and inquire of the Urim veTumim. And the person would go and inquire, and find exactly as he had said. This is what is stated: "And the counsel of Achitofel that he counseled in those days was as though a man had inquired of the word of God." And the Midrash notes precisely: "a man" is read but not written, for the verses could not call him "a man," since he was on such a level that had you called him a man you would be lowering him from his standing.
וְדָוִד בָּא מַחֲנָיְמָה, וְאַבְשָׁלֹם עָבַר אֶת־הַיַּרְדֵּן הוּא וְכׇל־אִישׁ יִשְׂרָאֵל עִמּוֹ׃ - And David came to Machanayim, and Avshalom crossed the Yarden, he and all the men of Yisrael with him.
Machanayim is a place name. And Avshalom crosses the Yarden in order to pursue David.
וְאֶת־עֲמָשָׂא שָׂם אַבְשָׁלֹם תַּחַת יוֹאָב עַל־הַצָּבָא, וַעֲמָשָׂא בֶן־אִישׁ וּשְׁמוֹ יִתְרָא הַיִּשְׂרְאֵלִי אֲשֶׁר־בָּא אֶל־אֲבִיגַל בַּת־נָחָשׁ אֲחוֹת צְרוּיָה אֵם יוֹאָב׃ - And Avshalom set Amasa over the army in place of Yoav, and Amasa was the son of a man whose name was Yitra the Yisraeli, who had come to Avigal the daughter of Nachash, sister of Tzeruya the mother of Yoav.
Yoav is not among those helping Avshalom, and therefore Avshalom needed another army commander, and that is Amasa. And who is Amasa? The son of a man whose name was Yitra the Yisraeli, who came to Avigal the daughter of Nachash. And who is Nachash? Chazal say: this is Yishai. And why is he called Nachash (serpent)? Because he was among those four who died through the counsel of the serpent. The meaning of this is: in themselves they had no sin or iniquity at all, and the entire reason for their death is that when the Holy One, blessed be He, decreed a decree upon all of humanity following the sin of the Tree of Knowledge and the deed of the primordial serpent, his soul too was included in humanity and death was decreed upon him. In himself he did not incur the liability of death through his deeds in this world, he was entirely righteous, holy of holies, so why did he die? Through the counsel of the serpent.
I have already told you what the Arizal eulogized about the Ramak, Rabbi Moshe Cordovero. He expounded on the verse "And if a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree": if you see a person who is in the category of "a man," meaning a great man, and "a sin worthy of death," for chet (sin) in the holy tongue means a lack, as in "to miss the mark," which is a term of lacking, and as in "and I and my son Shlomo will be sinners (chataim)," meaning lacking the kingship, it follows: there was in him a lack of any cause to render him liable to a death sentence, and even so "he is put to death," you see that he died. "And you hang him on a tree," hang the cause of his death on the tree, on the sin of the Tree of Knowledge. So he said of the Ramak: there was in him no cause for death, so why did he die? Only on account of the matter of the Tree of Knowledge.
And here is the lineage: the mother of Amasa and the mother of Yoav were sisters, and both were daughters of Yishai. Yoav is called "Yoav ben Tzeruyah," and Tzeruyah was David's sister, so Yoav was David's nephew, as were his brothers Asahel and Avishai, the sons of Tzeruyah. And Amasa's mother too was a sister of David from the daughters of Yishai, so Amasa was also David's nephew.
Yet notice the advantage that Amasa had over Yoav, and this is what the verse mentions here: "and Amasa was the son of a man." His advantage was that he was named after a man, after his father Yitra, whereas Yoav was named after a woman, Yoav ben Tzeruyah, and his father is unknown and not mentioned.
Here he is called "Yitra the Israelite," while in Divrei HaYamim we find "Yitra the Ishmaelite." Chazal offer several explanations: that he was called both Israelite and Ishmaelite because he converted from among the descendants of Yishmael. Another explanation, from the father of the Radak: when he was in the Land of Israel they called him Ishmaelite, and when he was in Yishmael they called him Israelite. This is precise even according to reality in our own day: a person who comes from Tunisia, here they say of him "the Tunisian said," and when he goes there they say "the Israeli said," for in every place he is like a stranger and is called after his place of origin.
And Chazal give a further reason for the title Ishmaelite: that he girded his sword like an Ishmaelite. And when was this? When Shaul sought to disqualify David from entering the congregation. They said to him: before you ask whether David is fit for kingship, whether from Peretz or from Zerach, ask whether he is even fit to enter the congregation, for David is the son of Ruth the Moabite, and "an Amonite and a Moabite shall not enter the congregation of Hashem." And who arose with a sword to save David? Yitra the Ishmaelite. He girded his sword and said: anyone who does not accept this halachah will be pierced by the sword. So I have received from the court of Shmuel: an Amonite man but not an Amonite woman, a Moabite man but not a Moabite woman.
And why was he careful to say "so I have received from the court of Shmuel"? The commentators on the Ein Yaakov explain: since they had already agreed to disqualify him, there was room to say to him, you, Yitra, who now come to say the opposite, are a rebellious elder, whose penalty is death, and surely we will not accept a halachah from you. Therefore he said "so I have received from the court of Shmuel": an elder who says, this is what I received from the sages of the previous generation, and I do not come to defy the halachic authorities of my own generation, is not subject to the law of a rebellious elder.
And why specifically "he girded his sword like an Ishmaelite," when it is the descendants of Edom who are the girders of the sword? Rather, he came to tell them: the moment you disqualify him, which law are you applying to him? The law of an Edomite, as if he belongs to Edom. Therefore he girded his sword and said to them: if so, you are casting him among those about whom it was said "and by your sword you shall live." And under no circumstances was he willing to allow this, and he girded his sword to defend David.
And the Radak brings in the name of his father a further reason why Yishai is called "Nachash" (serpent): because there came forth from him vipers who slew among the nations of the world, as it says "for from the root of the serpent shall come forth an adder" - from the root of Yishai, who is called serpent, came forth an adder, and this is Chizkiyahu.
וַיִּחַן יִשְׂרָאֵל וְאַבְשָׁלֹם אֶרֶץ הַגִּלְעָד׃ - And Israel and Avshalom encamped in the land of Gilad.
וַיְהִי כְּבוֹא דָוִד מַחֲנָיְמָה, וְשֹׁבִי בֶן־נָחָשׁ מֵרַבַּת בְּנֵי־עַמּוֹן וּמָכִיר בֶּן־עַמִּיאֵל מִלֹּא דְבָר וּבַרְזִלַּי הַגִּלְעָדִי מֵרֹגְלִים׃ - And it came to pass when David came to Machanayim, that Shovi ben Nachash from Rabbat of the children of Amon, and Machir ben Amiel from Lo Devar, and Barzilai the Giladite from Rogelim.
When David came to Machanayim, helpers and supporters already begin to come forth, and many are stirred to support him, as the Malbim says. For through Avshalom's coming upon his father's concubines, the word of the prophet was already fulfilled: "Behold, I will raise up evil against you from your own house... and he will lie with your wives in the sight of this sun." The blow has already landed, and from here, says the Malbim, the sunrise begins. After the darkness and the gloom, we will begin to see David gradually freeing himself from the rebellion, until he returns and receives the kingship in full.
But who was "Shovi ben Nachash of Rabbat Bnei Amon"? The Radak brings that he was a Jew who lived in Rabbat Bnei Amon after David conquered it, and therefore he was called by the name of the place even though he was an Israelite. But Chazal expound that this was Chanun ben Nachash, king of Bnei Amon. The Radak says that it is difficult to understand that David spared him, for it is written that he carried out judgments upon all the people who were in Rabbat Bnei Amon, upon all of them he carried out judgments - for it was Chanun who had shamed David's servants, shaved off half their beards and sent them back in torn garments up to their buttocks. Therefore it is more reasonable to say that he was an Israelite living in Rabbat Bnei Amon.
מִשְׁכָּב וְסַפּוֹת וּכְלִי יוֹצֵר וְחִטִּים וּשְׂעֹרִים וְקֶמַח וְקָלִי וּפוֹל וַעֲדָשִׁים וְקָלִי׃ וּדְבַשׁ וְחֶמְאָה וְצֹאן וּשְׁפוֹת בָּקָר הִגִּישׁוּ לְדָוִד וְלָעָם אֲשֶׁר־אִתּוֹ לֶאֱכוֹל, כִּי אָמְרוּ הָעָם רָעֵב וְעָיֵף וְצָמֵא בַּמִּדְבָּר׃ - Bedding and basins and earthenware vessels, and wheat and barley and flour and parched grain and beans and lentils and parched pulse, and honey and butter and sheep and cheeses of the herd they brought to David and to the people who were with him to eat, for they said, "The people are hungry and weary and thirsty in the wilderness."
What is "cheeses of the herd" (shefot bakar)? The Radak explains, based on the Targum, that this refers to cheeses of milk, named for what is rubbed out from the cattle. And what is "shafim"? It is from the language of rubbing, as in "and his bones are rubbed away" - for milking is done by rubbing the udders, and therefore what was extracted from the cattle in this way is called "shefot bakar," and these are the cheeses. All of this they brought to David because they said that the people who were with him were hungry and weary and thirsty in the wilderness, so that they could recover from the long journey and the difficulty of the walking.
There is a Gemara in Tractate Berachot: "A psalm of David when he fled from Avshalom his son" - a psalm?! A lament should have been fitting for him! Rabbi Shimon ben Avishalom said, to what may this be compared? To a man against whom a promissory note was issued - before he paid it he was sad, after he paid it he was glad. An upright person, when he is told that he owes ten thousand dollars, the matter stresses him, and after he pays he is at ease. (There are people for whom it is the opposite: when he owes he is at ease, and when the money sits with him ready for payment he is stressed, for he prefers that the money remain with him.) So too David: even though the Holy One, blessed be He, told him, "Behold, I am raising up evil against you from your own house," he was sad and said, perhaps it will be a slave or a mamzer who will not have mercy on me. When he saw that it was Avshalom, he was glad, and therefore he said "a psalm."
And whoever contemplates the course of events sees that this indeed was a good reason for joy. For had it been a base person like a slave or a mamzer, he would have immediately accepted the counsel of Achitofel. Only Avshalom, as we explained, had concerns and fears about going and killing his father - this is not so simple - and this is essentially what saved David. And it is clear that everything is orchestrated from Heaven, but this was the way it unfolded.
And in the Zohar there is an additional explanation, and note that the Zohar does not accept the plain approach of the Gemara. Zohar Part One, page 151b: Rabbi Yehudah opened and said, "A psalm of David when he fled from Avshalom his son" - this verse was raised among the companions: a psalm? Why did he say a song? And if it is because his son rose up against him, on the contrary, an even greater lament he should have said, for it is a greater disgrace when one of a person's relatives rises up against him than when another person does. A person who is pursued prefers that strangers pursue him rather than his son; what a terrible disgrace that a son pursues his father. If so, this is a reason for even greater weeping and not for song.
Rather, says the Zohar: thus said David - I thought that the Holy One, blessed be He, was deferring that debt for me to the World to Come, that He was preserving for me the punishment for the matter of Bat Sheva for the World to Come. Since I saw that You collected it from me here in this world, I rejoiced. This is "a psalm of David": I rejoice that Hashem is exacting payment from me here.
And the Zohar further says: David saw that those greater than him existed in the world and they too fled, and all of them fled alone. Yaakov fled, as it says "and Yaakov fled to the field of Aram," and he fled alone. Moshe fled, as it is written "and Moshe fled from before Pharaoh," and he fled alone. And David fled - and all the rulers of the land and the mighty ones of the land and the heads of the people flee with him, surrounding him on his right and on his left to guard him on every side. When he saw this, he said a song: they fled and no one was with them, while I flee and behold the Holy One, blessed be He, provided me with such an honorable escort and such excellent protection - for this it is fitting to sing. Thus, according to the Zohar there are two reasons for song: that Hashem exacted payment from him in this world, and that in his flight the Holy One, blessed be He, softened the blow and the fall, so that it would be with additional people, and through this he would be saved.
In this chapter the fate of the rebellion was sealed. Achitofel's counsel was correct and beneficial, but "and Hashem had commanded to defeat the good counsel of Achitofel," and the Holy One, blessed be He, thwarted the judgment of Avshalom and of all the men of Israel who instead accepted the counsel of Chushai. Chushai urged David to flee, the message passed through a sophisticated chain of a maidservant, Achimaatz and Yonatan, and by the mercies of Heaven - a well to hide in, a woman who spread a covering and laid out grain, and a wise answer in the manner of Rachav. That righteous woman who disgraced herself to save two righteous men merited that from her descended Mordechai and Esther, the saviors of Israel. Achitofel, who through the curses of the sages brought upon himself his end of being strangled, put an end to his life after he understood that the rebellion would fall apart, and he commanded his sons not to be in a dispute and not to rebel against the kingship of the house of David. And from here onward the dawn begins: supporters gather to David at Machanayim and provide him and his people with food, and David himself says "a psalm" and not "a lament" - over the payment being exacted from him in this world, and over not being left alone in his flight.