2 Samuel 15:31

( MOUNT OLIVET .)

The counsel of Ahithophel.

"Turn, I pray thee, the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness, O Jehovah." ( References: 2 Samuel 15:12 , 2 Samuel 15:34 ; 2 Samuel 16:15 , 2 Samuel 16:20-23 ; 2 Samuel 17:1-7 , 2 Samuel 17:15 , 2 Samuel 17:23 ; 1 Chronicles 27:33 .) While ascending the Mount of Olives, David received intelligence that his counsellor, Ahithophel the Gilonite, had gone over to Absalom. He was the wisest statesman in Israel, and nothing was more adapted than his counsel to ensure the success of the revolt. The effect which his defection produced upon David is evident from the prayer (suggested probably by his name, "brother of a fool") that forthwith broke from his lips. As he continued his, journey, he, perhaps, reflected on the former course of Ahithophel (the Old Testament Judas) in the light of present knowledge, and indulged some such sentiments as are expressed in Psalms 41:1-13 ; 'The comfort of the afflicted and betrayed;' Psalms 55:1-23 , 'Prayer against a treacherous friend;' Psalms 69:1-36 ; Psalms 109:1-31 . Observe that—

I. A FAMILIAR FRIEND MAY BECOME A DEADLY FOE .

"Also my friend [literally, 'man of my peace'], whom I trusted,

Who did eat of my bread,

Hath lifted up his heel against me."

( Psalms 41:10 ; John 13:18 .)

"For it is not an enemy, etc.

But thou wast a man on an equality with me,

My companion and familiar friend," etc.

( Psalms 55:13-15 .)

The motives of Ahithophel are not expressly stated; but they were probably:

1 . Dislike of the religious earnestness and theocratic policy of David.

2 . Ambition to be the sole adviser and prime minister of Absalom. "There may have been jealousy of Joab, or the natural tendency to worship the rising instead of the setting sun, or the impatience of a hypocrite at the round of religious services in which he was compelled to bear a part, affecting a devotion he did not feel, Psalms 55:13 , Psalms 55:14 " (Plumptre).

3 . Revenge "for the dishonour done to his family in the person of Bathsheba, which no subsequent marriage could repair or efface" (Delany). "He was urged by the desire of punishing David's greatest crime, if he were not at the bottom of the movement. It is but reasonable to trace in the conspiring Ahithophel one of the intricate methods by which the judicial providence of God works out its own ends; suffering a great offender, notwithstanding his penitence, to eat the fruit of his deeds; yet reserving for treachery in time its reward" (R. Williams). "This text is a glass wherein God's justice is plainly to be seen. David had formerly forsaken Uriah, and now God suffers Ahithophel to forsake David.

II. GREAT GIFTS ARE SOMETIMES PERVERTED TO UNGODLY USES . "That oracular wisdom which made his house a kind of shrine ( 2 Samuel 16:23 ) seems to move the spirit of the sacred writer with an involuntary admiration" (Stanley). "His great crimes were enhanced by his immense talents, of which God gave him the use and the devil the application." His criminality appears not only in

III. GOD IS ABLE TO FRUSTRATE THE CRAFTIEST COUNSELS . "Turn," etc; "either infatuate him, that he may give foolish counsel; or, let his counsel be rejected as foolish, or spoiled by the foolish execution of it" (Poole). "He taketh the wise in their own craftiness," etc. ( Job 5:13 ; 1 Corinthians 3:19 ). Of this David was persuaded from:

1 . His supreme and infinite wisdom, in comparison with which the highest human wisdom is foolishness.

2 . His abundant and varied resources for the direction and control of men's purposes and actions, so that they are made of none effect, or turn out contrary to what was intended and expected.

3 . His frequent and extraordinary interpositions for that end. History is full of such instances ( Acts 4:28 ). So are individual lives ( 1 Samuel 23:24-28 ). "Though Ahithophel spoke as an oracle of God (as we often see statesmen wiser than priests), yet as he turned to treachery his counsel turned to foolishness."

IV. A GOOD MAN HAS AN UNFAILING RESOURCE IN EVERY TROUBLE , viz. sincere, believing, fervent prayer. "Call upon me," etc. ( Psalms 1:1-6 :15).

1 . However beset by the craft and power of his adversaries, he cannot be deprived of this privilege, but has access to God in all circumstances, at all times, and in all places (verse 32). "A Christian cannot always hear, or always read, or always communicate, but he may pray continually. If he be on the top of a house with Peter, he may pray; if he he in the bottom of the ocean with Jonah, he may pray; if he be walking in the field with Isaac, he may pray when no eye seeth him; if he be waiting at table with Nehemiah, he may pray when no ear heareth him; if he be in the mountains with our Saviour, he may pray; if he be in the prison with Paul, he may pray; wherever he is, prayer will help him to find God out. Every saint is God's temple; and he that carrieth his temple about him, saith Austin, may go to prayer when he pleaseth. Indeed, to a Christian every house is a house of prayer; every closet a chamber of presence; and every place he comes to an altar whereon he may offer the sacrifice of prayer" (Swinnock, 'The Christian Man's Calling').

2 . The depth of his helplessness and peril is an incentive to higher earnestness and an argument for the fulfilment of Divine promises. "Ejaculations are short prayers darted up to God on emergent occasions. When we are time bound, place bound, or person bound, so that we cannot compose ourselves to make a large solemn prayer, this is the right instant for ejaculations, whether orally uttered or only poured forth inwardly in the heart" (T. Fuller).

3 . And his prayer is not offered in vain. Sometimes while he is "yet speaking" ( Isaiah 65:24 ) the answer comes (verse 32). "In answer to a single emphatical ejaculation the counsel of the prudent is carried headlong" (Scott).

"As for me—unto God will I cry,

And Jehovah will save me.

Evening and morning and at noon will I complain and groan,

And he will hear my voice.

Cast thy burden upon Jehovah,

He—he will sustain thee."

( Psalms 55:16 , Psalms 55:17 , Psalms 55:22 .)

D.