The King in Exile: Repentance and Prayer Text: 2 Samuel 15:30-31
Introduction: The Consequences of Sin
We come now to one of the most pathetic scenes in all of Scripture. David, the great king, the man after God's own heart, is fleeing for his life. And from whom is he fleeing? Not a foreign army, not the Philistines, but his own son, Absalom. The kingdom that God had given him, which he had secured with courage and skill, is now crumbling. And we must be clear about the ultimate cause. This is not just politics. This is the whirlwind David is reaping from the seed he sowed years before on a Jerusalem rooftop with Bathsheba.
God had forgiven David's sin, it is true. The prophet Nathan had declared it: "Yahweh also has put away your sin; you shall not die" (2 Sam. 12:13). But forgiveness does not always mean the immediate removal of all consequences. God forgives us in such a way as to chasten us, to teach us, to discipline us as sons. Nathan had also prophesied that the sword would never depart from David's house, and that his own household would rise up against him. Now, with Absalom's treason, that terrible word is coming to pass.
This scene is a profound picture of grief, repentance, and the bitter fruit of sin. But it is also a picture of faith. David is not simply a passive victim of circumstances. In the midst of his humiliation, we see the old David begin to stir. We see a man who, despite his grievous fall, knows where to turn in his distress. He turns to God. This passage shows us a king stripped of his earthly glory, but who is beginning to reclaim his spiritual integrity through humility and prayer. And in this, David is a magnificent type of his greater Son, who would one day ascend this very same Mount of Olives, weeping, betrayed by a close friend, on His way to the cross.
The Text
But David went up the ascent of the Mount of Olives, and wept as he went, and his head was covered and he was walking barefoot. And all the people who were with him each covered his head and went up weeping as they went. Now David informed them, saying, “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.” And David said, “O Yahweh, I pray, make the counsel of Ahithophel foolishness.”
(2 Samuel 15:30-31 LSB)
The Posture of a Penitent King (v. 30)
The first verse here gives us a detailed portrait of David's sorrow and humiliation.
"But David went up the ascent of the Mount of Olives, and wept as he went, and his head was covered and he was walking barefoot. And all the people who were with him each covered his head and went up weeping as they went." (2 Samuel 15:30)
Every detail here is significant. David is ascending the Mount of Olives, a path his greater Son would later take in agony. He is not raging against God or cursing his fate. He is weeping. This is not the weeping of self-pity, but the weeping of a man who knows he is tasting the bitter fruit of his own sin. He understands the connection between his past rebellion against God and his son's present rebellion against him.
His head is covered, a traditional sign of mourning, shame, and grief. Think of Tamar after she was violated by Amnon (2 Sam. 13:19). David is identifying himself with the shamed and the grieving. He is walking barefoot. This was a sign of deep mourning and humiliation, but also of reverence. Moses was told to remove his sandals on holy ground. David, in his sorrow, is acknowledging that he stands on holy ground, under the holy judgment of a holy God. He is accepting the discipline of the Lord.
This is what true repentance looks like. It does not make excuses. It does not blame-shift. It accepts the consequences of sin and humbles itself under the mighty hand of God. David is not just a deposed king; he is a penitent sinner. And his humility is contagious. All the people with him, his loyal remnant, follow his lead. They cover their heads and weep with him. A leader's posture, whether for good or for ill, sets the tone for his people. David is leading his people in a solemn procession of corporate repentance.
The Betrayal and the Prayer (v. 31)
Just as David is at his lowest, he receives another devastating blow, which leads him to his only true source of help.
"Now David informed them, saying, “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.” And David said, “O Yahweh, I pray, make the counsel of Ahithophel foolishness.”" (2 Samuel 15:31)
The news about Ahithophel is a gut punch. Ahithophel was David's most trusted counselor. His advice was considered as if one had inquired of the oracle of God (2 Sam. 16:23). This was not just a political loss; it was a deep, personal betrayal. This was the wise friend, the man David leaned on, now using his God-given wisdom to destroy God's anointed king. Many scholars believe Ahithophel was the grandfather of Bathsheba, which would mean his betrayal was a long-simmering act of revenge for David's sin against his family. The wounds inflicted by friends are the deepest.
This betrayal is a clear foreshadowing of Judas Iscariot. Psalm 41, a psalm of David, speaks of this very pain: "Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me" (Psalm 41:9). Jesus quotes this very verse in the upper room, applying it directly to Judas (John 13:18). David's grief over Ahithophel is a type of Christ's grief over his own betrayer.
But notice David's immediate reaction. He does not despair. He does not form a committee to develop a counter-strategy. He does not even curse Ahithophel. He turns instantly to God in prayer. And what a prayer it is. It is short, direct, and devastatingly effective. "O Yahweh, I pray, make the counsel of Ahithophel foolishness."
This is a prayer of faith. David knows that the wisdom of Ahithophel, as brilliant as it is, is nothing compared to the wisdom of God. He knows that God holds the hearts and minds of all men in His hands. He is not asking for God to strike Ahithophel dead, but rather to frustrate his plans, to turn his greatest asset into a liability. David understands that the battle is not ultimately one of wits or military strength, but a spiritual battle to be fought on his knees. This is spiritual warfare in its purest form. He is fighting the conspiracy not with his own shrewdness, but with a simple, dependent cry to his God.
From Lethargy to Answered Prayer
What we are witnessing here is the reawakening of the old David. For years, since his sin with Bathsheba, David has been in a spiritual lethargy. He was passive when Amnon raped Tamar. He was indecisive in dealing with Absalom's murder of Amnon. He seemed to have lost his grip. But this crisis, this terrible affliction, is God's severe mercy to wake him up.
And God answers this prayer almost immediately. As soon as David reaches the top of the mount to worship, his answer arrives in the person of Hushai the Archite (2 Sam. 15:32). Hushai was another of David's wise counselors, a counterpart to Ahithophel. David, with his old strategic brilliance now rekindled by prayer, sees God's provision and sends Hushai back to Jerusalem to act as a double agent and confound Ahithophel's advice.
The lesson for us is sharp. Would we rather be comfortable, clueless, and spiritually asleep in the palace? Or would we rather be walking barefoot up a mountain, in exile, but with God answering our prayers like that? Too often, we desire comfort above all else. But God frequently uses affliction to drive us out of our self-satisfied lethargy and back into a desperate, clinging dependence upon Him. It is on the Mount of Olives, in our moments of greatest loss and humiliation, that we often find our prayer lives rekindled and our faith sharpened.
David's prayer was not a pious formality. It was a direct appeal to the sovereign God of history to intervene and overturn the wicked plans of intelligent men. And God did. Ahithophel gave shrewd, militarily sound advice that would have crushed David. But Absalom was persuaded to listen to the foolish-sounding, flattering advice of Hushai. And why? "For Yahweh had ordained to thwart the good counsel of Ahithophel, so that Yahweh might bring evil upon Absalom" (2 Sam. 17:14). God answered David's prayer precisely.
This is our hope in a world filled with conspiracies, with brilliant and godless men who lay their plans against the Lord and against His Anointed. Our response must be the same as David's. We must first humble ourselves, acknowledging our own sins that have contributed to the mess we are in. And then we must pray with rifle-shot precision, asking God to turn the wisdom of this world into foolishness. For our God is a God who delights in taking the wise in their own craftiness and using the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. The cross itself is the ultimate example of this. What looked like the brilliant counsel of Caiaphas and the political maneuvering of Pilate was, in fact, God's foolishness, which is wiser than men, accomplishing the salvation of the world.