Use the frame on the left to read these Scriptures.
Through pride we are ever deceiving ourselves.
-- Carl Jung
The proud person thinks that he is the most important person on the earth, so it naturally follows that he thinks all praise and honor belongs to him. His first inclination upon hearing words of praise and honor is that they are directed to him. Herein is the potential for the proud person to be deceived. Hushai, David's loyal friend, deceived Absalom precisely because Absalom could not imagine anyone else receiving the praise Hushai gave.
KING. When Hushai met Absalom, Hushai said, "Long live the king! Long live the king!" Of course, those words are usually said when meeting a king, and Absalom naturally thought Hushai was recognizing him as king even though Hushai had never mentioned his name. For his part, Hushai was undoubtedly thinking, "Long live King David!" Certainly, he would work to that end. Absalom, however, could hardly believe his good fortune in attracting another of his father's best counselors. Laughing inwardly he asked, "Is this the love you show your friend? Why didn't you go with your friend?" (Absalom could have been suspicious, in which case his deception was delayed a short time.)
CHOSEN. Hushai replied with more apparent flattery. "No," he said, "I will remain with the one chosen by the LORD, by these people, and by all the men of Israel." He seemed to imply that recent events had convinced him that God and the people had chosen Absalom (Smith, 2000, p. 462), and Absalom absolutely loved it. Inwardly, however, Hushai was proclaiming his loyalty to David whom God had truly chosen (David was often called God's chosen, but Absalom never. See Youngblood, 1992, p. 1006). As for the people and leaders of Israel, they also had chosen David, and many of them were still loyal to him (2 Samuel 15:23).
SERVE. Hushai continued with a rhetorical question, "Whom should I serve?" He answered, "I will serve the son," but the real question is, "How would he serve the son?" Hushai said he would serve Absalom with the same loyalty he had shown David. Absalom, blinded by his ego and Hushai's flattery, thinks Hushai will serve him, but Hushai inwardly means that he will serve Absalom as a loyal friend of David (Bergen, 2001, p. 410).
The Scripture says that pride goes before destruction (Proverbs 16:18). In Absalom's case, it not only went before his destruction, it also set him up for destruction. His egotism blinded him to the danger posed by Hushai who never wavered in his loyalty to David in word or deed.
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