2 Samuel 15:31

And one told David, saying, Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom. And David said, O LORD, I pray thee, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(31) One told David.—This is no doubt the meaning, but the preposition has dropped out of the Hebrew text, leaving it unintelligible, and reading literally, and David told.

Benson Commentary

2 Samuel 15:31. One told David — Or, David told; that is, being informed that Ahithophel was among the conspirators, he mentioned it to his friends, to excite them to join with him in the following prayer against him. Turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness. Either infatuate him, that he may give foolish counsel; or let his counsel be contemned and rejected as foolish; or let it miscarry in the execution. Thus David’s constant recourse, in all his dangers and difficulties, was unto God by prayer.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

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.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

His head covered - See the marginal references and Jeremiah 14:3-4; Ezekiel 24:17; the sign of deep mourning.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

31. David said, Turn, O Lord, … the counsel of Ahithophel—this senator being the mainstay of the conspiracy.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

One told David, or, David told, i.e. David being hereof informed, acquaints his friends and followers with it, to stir them up to join with him in the following prayer against him.

Turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness; 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.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And one told David,.... That came either from Hebron or from Jerusalem:

Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom; Absalom sent for him, and it seems he came to him, and continued with him, see 2 Samuel 15:12,

and David said, O Lord, I pray thee, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness; either suffer him to give foolish counsel, or confound the schemes projected by him, and let them not be carried into execution; for God can, and sometimes does, disappoint crafty counsellors, that they cannot perform what they devise, but they are taken in their own craftiness, and their counsel is carried headlong, Job 5:12; this prayer was answered, 2 Samuel 17:14.

Geneva Study Bible

And one told David, saying, Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom. And David said, O LORD, I pray thee, turn the {t} counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.

(t) The counsel of the crafty worldlings does more harm than the open force of the enemy.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 31. - And one told David. The Hebrew literally is, and David told. But we cannot suppose that David had previously known of Ahithophel's defection. The text is evidently corrupt, and the Authorized Version gives the right sense. On hearing of the defection of a man so famous for practical sound judgment, David prays to God to frustrate his counsel, and the opportunity for devising means for this end quickly follows. 2 Samuel 15:31

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Ahithophel and Hushai. - 2 Samuel 15:30, 2 Samuel 15:31. When David was going by the height of the olive-trees, i.e., the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went, with his head covered, and barefooted, as a sign of grief and mourning (see Esther 6:12; Ezekiel 24:17), and with the people who accompanied him also mourning, he received intelligence that Ahithophel (see at 2 Samuel 15:12) was with Absalom, and among the conspirators. הגּיד ודוד gives no sense; for David cannot be the subject, because the next clause, "and David said," etc., contains most distinctly an expression of David's on receiving some information. Thenius would therefore alter הגּיד into the Hophal הגּד, whilst Ewald (131, a) would change it into הגּיד, an unusual form of the Hophal, "David was informed," according to the construction of the Hiphil with the accusative. But although this construction of the Hiphil is placed beyond all doubt by Job 31:37; Job 26:4, and Ezekiel 43:10, the Hiphil is construed as a rule, as the Hophal always is, with ל of the person who receives information. Consequently דּוד must be altered into לדוד, and הגּיד taken as impersonal, "they announced to David." Upon receipt of this intelligence David prayed to the Lord, that He would "turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness," make it appear as folly, i.e., frustrate it, - a prayer which God answered (vid., 2 Samuel 17:1.).