Today’s Scripture Reading (July 9,
2016): 2 Samuel 17
Delay in military
strategy is often a disaster in waiting. A few days ago I mentioned some
possible events that might have caused World War II to end differently. There are
some others incidents in the war that also cost Hitler dearly. One of them was
his hapless ally, Benito Mussolini. Mussolini suffered from illusions of
grandeur. If Italy had remained neutral as Spain had, Hitler might have been
successful. But instead, Hitler and Mussolini became allies. And in 1940, the
great Mussolini had dreams of rebuilding the Roman Empire. In an effort to
rebuild his Empire, he attacked Greece and Egypt. His army was large but inept
and far outmatched by the eventual United States presence in Africa. As a
result, the war went badly for Mussolini, forcing Hitler to commit forces that
were desperately needed elsewhere to the task of freeing Italy from its
troubles. The result was a delay in Russia (a front that was a mistake anyway,
but an earlier attack might have benefited Hitler.) Instead, the delay meant that Russia and Britain had time to
come up with a plan. In the end, Hitler really lost World War II in Russia; in
order to overcome his disaster in Russia, he needed a miracle that never
materialized.
Ahithophel
advises Absalom to attack his father immediately. Hushai advises caution and
delay. Of course, what Absalom does not know is that Ahithophel might be
Absalom’s ally, but Hushai was actually a spy for David. As Hushai makes the
case for caution, all he is really doing is trying to delay the attack and give
David and his generals time to set up their defense. He knew he couldn’t stop
the attack, but maybe delaying it would be good enough.
It is also
interesting to note that Hushai does not totally contradict Ahithophel. Like
political leaders today, he does not enter into an absolute discussion of
Ahithophel’s military competence and he does not argue that Ahithophel is
always wrong. It is hard to imagine Democrats or Republicans could believe that
the other side might ever be right in their political wranglings. Hushai just cautions that this time, Ahithophel’s
advice might be premature. Absalom needed to gather the tribes together before
he attacked his father. After all, His father had experienced fighters with
him. Strength would be key.
And the advice
of Hushai turned out to be instrumental for David to win the conflict. Nothing
Hushai said was wrong, but Ahithophel resembles Benito Mussolini in World War
II. He may have been able to gather numbers, but experience plus time to set up
a defense was all that David needed to win the war. Ahithophel’s army was
inept. And all it took for a Davidic victory was a little delay.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm
41
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