Meanwhile Absalom, with Ahithophel and a numerous retinue, had reached Jerusalem. There he met Hushai, who saluted him with the words, _Long live the king_. Even Absalom was startled, and reproached him for his apparent treachery, but kept him by him. The first step of the usurper, suggested by Ahithophel, was to take possession of his father’s harem[304], and so render all reconciliation impossible (Comp. 2 Sam. iii. 7, 8). The course to be next taken was anxiously debated. Ahithophel was for instant measures, and offered with 12,000 men to head a pursuit after David that very night, while he was weary and weak-handed. If he smote the king, he felt sure the whole people would side with Absalom, and his triumph would be complete. The advice found favour with the usurper, and the elders about him. But first he resolved to call in Hushai, and ascertain his opinion. Hushai pronounced the plan imprudent in the extreme. To attack the king while surrounded by his _mighty men, all chafing in their minds, as a she bear robbed of her whelps_, was very dangerous. From a partial defeat the prince had everything to fear, and the king everything to gain. He counselled, therefore, delay, and the mustering of the entire national forces from Dan to Beer-sheba. Absalom approved of this plan, and Ahithophel, probably seeing the certain effects of such delay, and chagrined at the adoption of another’s counsel in preference to his own, retired to Giloh, _put his household in order, and hanged himself_ (2 Sam. xvii. 23). Without a moment’s delay Hushai now sought out Zadok and Abiathar, related all that had occurred in the council, and urged that a messenger should be instantly sent to David, to bid him not linger in the Jordan valley, but cross the river with all speed. The two sons of the high-priests were in concealment at the fountain of En-rogel, ready for such an errand. A female slave was sent thither to bid them instantly carry the message to David. They forthwith started, but narrowly escaped detection. At Bahurim a lad saw them and conveyed the news to Absalom, and it was only by hiding in a well that they escaped the vigilance of their pursuers, and announced their errand to David. Though it must have been midnight, the king instantly crossed the river, and before the dawn of the following day not one of his retinue remained on the western side of the Jordan[305]. Mahanaim, the former capital of Ishbosheth, now became his head-quarters, and here he mustered his forces, and placed them under the command of Joab, Abishai, and Ittai, and received a welcome supply of provisions from Shobi, the son of his old friend Nahash of Rabbah, from Machir of Lodebar, and Barzillai a wealthy Gileadite.