Useful Bible Studies > 2 Samuel Commentary > chapter 15
David had left Jerusalem. However, he still needed to know where he, and the people with him, should go. Zadok was a chief priest, but he was also a ‘seer’. That was an old word for a prophet, in other words, a person who receives messages from God (1 Samuel 9:9).
So, David was asking Zadok to pray that God would give him a special message for David.
In the meantime, however, David could not stay near Jerusalem. His life was in danger. So, David decided to go down the road to Jericho. It was about 20 miles or 30 kilometres by that route to reach the Jordan river. There, David could wait by the ford - the place where the water is shallow enough for people to cross the river. He would decide whether to cross when he had received the message from his friends in Jerusalem.
Zadok and Abiathar, Israel’s two chief priests, both had young, strong sons: Ahimaaz and Jonathan. They were brave young men and they were fast runners (18:19-23). David trusted these young men and he asked them to bring the message for him, from Jerusalem.
God can guide his people by many different methods. At this time, David expected God to guide him by a message from a prophet. Soon afterwards, he realised that God might guide him by means of advice from a friend (15:32-36). That was in fact what happened here. Jonathan and Ahimaaz brought David advice from Hushai, David’s friend. For that reason, David would make the decision to cross the Jordan river (17:21-22).
Next part: David's humble prayer on the Mount of Olives (2 Samuel 15:30-31)
Please use the links at the top of the page to find our other articles in this series. You can download all our articles if you go to the download page for our free 1000+ page course book.
© 2023, Keith Simons.