2 Samuel 15:32 MEANING



2 Samuel 15:32
(32) Where he worshipped God.--Rather, where men worship. The original indicates a customary act. David had taken the road over the crest of the Mount of Olives, and there, in all probability, was one of those "high places" which abounded in Israel.

Hushai the Archite.--His place is mentioned in Joshua 16:2 as on the border between Ephraim and Benjamin, and he may have been at his own home when the rebellion broke out. His coming appears as the beginning of the answer to David's prayer in 2 Samuel 15:31.

Verse 32. - Where he worshipped God; more correctly, where God was worshipped, and so the Revised Version. The summit of the Mount of Olives was one of the many bamoth, or high places, situated on the top of hills, where, in the old Canaanitish time, men had worshipped their heathenish deities. They were still regarded as consecrated places, but the worship had now been transferred to Elohim, the true God. They continued to be hallowed spots, with Levitical priests to minister at them, until the stricter times of Josiah (2 Kings 23:8), when such worship was forbidden; but even then these priests seem to have retained considerable privileges, though their position was inferior to that held by the priests of the temple. It was at this hallowed spot that David's old friend and privy counselor (ver. 37), Hushai, met him, with his coat rent - not the upper garment, but the kuttoneth, the under tunic, the rending of which was a sign of deeper sorrow. We read of "the border of the Archites" (so the Revised Version, rightly) in Joshua 16:2, near Bethel, in the tribe of Manasseh; and Hushai's birthplace was probably there.

15:31-37 David prays not against Ahithophel's person, but against his counsel. He prayed this, in firm belief that God has all hearts in his hand, and tongues also. But we must second our prayers with endeavours, and David did so, else we tempt God. But we do not find wisdom and simplicity so united in any mere man, that we can perceive nothing which needs forgiveness. Yet, when the Son of David was treated with all possible treachery and cruelty, his wisdom, meekness, candour, and patience, were perfect. Him let us follow, cleave to, and serve, in life and in death.And it came to pass, that when David was come to the top of the mount,.... Of the mount of Olives:

where he worshipped God; by prayer and praise; here very probably he composed and sung the third psalm Psa 3:1, which, as the title shows, was made when he fled from Absalom:

behold, Hushai the Archite came to meet him, with his coat rent, and earth upon his head; in token of mourning, and as a bringer of bad tidings, see 2 Samuel 1:2; perhaps he was an inhabitant of Archi, at least originally, which lay on the borders of the tribe of Ephraim, Joshua 16:2; from whence he had his name.

Courtesy of Open Bible