2 Samuel 13:30–39

And it came to pass, while they were on the way, that news came to David, saying, “Absalom has killed all the king’s sons, and not one of them is left!” So the king arose and tore his garments and lay on the ground, and all his servants stood by with their clothes torn. Then Jonadab the son of Shimeah, David’s brother, answered and said, “Let not my lord suppose they have killed all the young men, the king’s sons, for only Amnon is dead. For by the command of Absalom this has been determined from the day that he forced his sister Tamar. Now therefore, let not my lord the king take the thing to his heart, to think that all the king’s sons are dead. For only Amnon is dead.”

Then Absalom fled. And the young man who was keeping watch lifted his eyes and looked, and there, many people were coming from the road on the hillside behind him. And Jonadab said to the king, “Look, the king’s sons are coming; as your servant said, so it is.” So it was, as soon as he had finished speaking, that the king’s sons indeed came, and they lifted up their voice and wept. Also the king and all his servants wept very bitterly.

But Absalom fled and went to Talmai the son of Ammihud, king of Geshur. And David mourned for his son every day. So Absalom fled and went to Geshur, and was there three years. And King David longed to go to Absalom. For he had been comforted concerning Amnon, because he was dead.

By this point, David knows that he’s watching Nathan’s prophecy come true. He’s interpreting everything that happens through the lens of that knowledge. He sees everything as all his fault. In a sense, it is all his fault.

David is living Murphey’s law—if anything can go wrong, it will. He has the ultimate case of the yips. He’s always waiting for the next shoe to drop. So, when the news comes that Absalom has killed all of his sons, he instantly believes it. He jumps right into intense mourning.

But Jonadab doubts the news. He has inside information that Absalom was only plotting to kill Amnon. But how does he know this?

The answer comes from the Hebrew word that was translated as “crafty” back in 2 Samuel 13:3 (חָכָ֖ם, kha-kham). It literally means wise, learned, skillful in technical work. Jonadab was very wise. That was his reputation. He was the family “brain trust.”

So, folks often sought his advice. That’s exactly what Amnon did back when this whole bruhaha started.

But kha-kham can be used for evil as well as for good. It isn’t always wise in the purest sense of the word.

Jonadab hatched the plan to get Tamar and Amnon alone together. That was clever but lacked wisdom.

So we get an important lesson—smart isn’t the same as wise. Even conventional wisdom can be foolish.

But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, — 1 Corinthians 1:27a

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Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.