2 Samuel 17:15-22 - Hushai told Zadok and Abiathar, the priests, "Ahithophel has advised Absalom and the elders of Israel to do such and such, but I have advised them to do so and so. Now send a message immediately and tell David, 'Do not spend the night at the fords in the desert; cross over without fail, or the king and all the people with him will be swallowed up.' "
Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying at En Rogel. A servant girl was to go and inform them, and they were to go and tell King David, for they could not risk being seen entering the city. But a young man saw them and told Absalom. So the two of them left quickly and went to the house of a man in Bahurim. He had a well in his courtyard, and they climbed down into it. His wife took a covering and spread it out over the opening of the well and scattered grain over it. No one knew anything about it.
When Absalom's men came to the woman at the house, they asked, "Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?"
The woman answered them, "They crossed over the brook." The men searched but found no one, so they returned to Jerusalem.
After the men had gone, the two climbed out of the well and went to inform King David. They said to him, "Set out and cross the river at once; Ahithophel has advised such and such against you." So David and all the people with him set out and crossed the Jordan. By daybreak, no one was left who had not crossed the Jordan.
If Jonathan and Ahimaaz had moved from En Rogel, where they had been spotted by someone sympathetic to Absalom, to Bahurim, where they were hidden in a covered well known only to those immediately involved, I wonder how Absalom's men knew to search the property of that particular well-owner. Even if they were searching the whole city, how did they know to pick Bahurim in the first place? Maybe it was one of only a few possible or likely places for Jonathan and Ahimaaz to have fled.
As long as Absalom's men were there, I wonder why they didn't do a more thorough search. The woman must have been quite persuasive in lying to them.
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