David
went up by the ascent of the Mount of Olives, and wept as he went up; and he had his head covered, and went barefoot: and all the people who were with him each covered his head, and they went up, weeping as they went up.
2 Samuel 15:30
2 Samuel 15 [21.] Ittai answered the king, and said, “As Yahweh lives, and as my lord the king lives, surely in what place my lord the king is, whether for death or for life, your servant will be there also.”
2 Samuel 15 [22.] David said to Ittai, “Go and pass over.” Ittai the Gittite passed over, and all his men, and all the little ones who were with him. All the country wept with a loud voice, and all the people passed over. The king also himself passed over the brook Kidron, and all the people passed over, toward the way of the wilderness. Behold, Zadok also came, and all the Levites with him, bearing the ark of the covenant of God; and they set down God’s ark; and Abiathar went up, until all the people finished passing out of the city. The king said to Zadok, “Carry God’s ark back into the city. If I find favor in Yahweh’s eyes, he will bring me again, and show me both it, and his habitation; but if he says, ‘I have no delight in you;’ behold, here am I. Let him do to me as seems good to him.” The king said also to Zadok the priest, “Aren’t you a seer? Return into the city in peace, and your two sons with you, Ahimaaz your son, and Jonathan the son of Abiathar. Behold, I will stay at the fords of the wilderness, until word comes from you to inform me.” Zadok therefore and Abiathar carried God’s ark to Jerusalem again; and they stayed there. David went up by the ascent of the Mount of Olives, and wept as he went up; and he had his head covered, and went barefoot: and all the people who were with him each covered his head, and they went up, weeping as they went up.
2 Samuel 15 [31.] Someone told David, saying, “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.”
David said, “Yahweh, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.”
Meaning:
King David is fleeing Jerusalem. His son Absalom has spent years winning “the hearts of the men of Israel” (2 Samuel 15:6) and has now declared himself king in Hebron. Rather than fight in the city, David leaves with his household and loyal followers, crosses the brook Kidron and climbs the Mount of Olives.
- “wept as he went up”
David weeps openly. He grieves over his son’s rebellion, the danger to his people and perhaps his own past sins, for Nathan had warned that trouble would rise against him from his own house (2 Samuel 12:10). Yet he does not cling to the throne. He sends the ark back to Jerusalem and says, “If I find favor in Yahweh’s eyes, he will bring me again”, placing his future in God’s hands.
- “his head covered, and went barefoot”
A covered head and bare feet were signs of mourning and humiliation. The people followed the king’s example, “weeping as they went up.” The procession up the hill was a funeral march for a kingdom that seemed lost.
- Betrayed by a counsellor
In the next verse David hears that “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.” Ahithophel was David’s most trusted adviser, whose counsel was regarded “as if a man inquired at the inner sanctuary of God” (2 Samuel 16:23). When his advice was later rejected, he went home and “hanged himself” (2 Samuel 17:23).
- Fulfilled in the Son of David
About a thousand years later Jesus, the Son of David, left Jerusalem at night after the Passover meal, crossed the Kidron and went to the Mount of Olives (Matthew 26:30). Like David he was betrayed by a close companion, Judas, who also ended his life by hanging (Matthew 27:3-5). Jesus too was “sorrowful and severely troubled” on that hill (Matthew 26:37). But David fled to save his life, while Jesus stayed to give his. David prayed to escape his enemies; Jesus prayed, “not what I desire, but what you desire.”
The Significance of 2 Samuel 15:30
- Humility in trouble
David accepted God’s discipline without bitterness. When hard times come, we can bring our tears to God and trust him with the outcome.
- Betrayal is not the end
David returned to Jerusalem, and Jesus rose from the dead. God is able to bring his servants through betrayal and loss.
Cross-References:
Matthew 26:30: "When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives." Jesus on the same road.
Psalm 41:9: "my own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, who ate bread with me, has lifted up his heel against me." David’s lament over a trusted friend.
2 Samuel 12:10: "Now therefore the sword will never depart from your house." Nathan’s warning.
Conclusion: 2 Samuel 15:30 pictures King David, betrayed by his son and his counsellor, climbing the Mount of Olives barefoot and weeping. It shows humble trust in God in the darkest hour, and it foreshadows the Son of David, who went to the same hill on the night he was betrayed.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible