The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Samuel — Section 385

IV. A GOOD MAN BAB AN UNFAil.ING RBBOtTROE IN EVERY TROUBLE, viz. sincere, beiie,,ing, fervent prayer. "Call upou me," etc. (Pa, I. 16), 1. However beset by the craft e.nd power of his adverse.ries, he cannot be deprived or this privilege, but Im~ &OOOSB to God in all circumstances, at all times, and in all places (ver. 32). "A Christiau cannot always bear, or always read, or always communicate, but he may pray continually. If he be on the kip of a house with Peter, be may prn.y; if he bo in the bottom of the ocean with Jonah, he may pray; if he be walking iu the field with Isaac, he may pray when no eye seeth him; if he be waiting at table with N<'hemie.h, he may pray when no ear heareth him; if he be in the mountains with our Saviour, he may pray; if be be in the prison with Paul, he may pray; wherever ho is, prayer will help him to find God out. Every saint is God's temple; and he that carrieth his temple about him, saith Austin, may go to prayer when he pleaseth. Indeed, to a Christian every house is a house of prayer; every closet a chamber of presence; and every place he comes to an altar whereon he may offer the sacrifice of prayer" (Swinnock, • The Christian Man's Calling'). 2. The depth of bis helplessness and peril is an incentive to higher earnestness and an argument for the fulfilment of Di \'ine promises. "Ejaculations are short prayers darted up to God on emergent occasions. When we are time-bound, place-bound, or person-bound, so that we cannot compose ourselves to make a large solemn prayer, this is the right instant for ejaculations, whether orally uttered or only poured forth inwardly in the heart" (T. Fuller). 3. And his prayer is not offered in vain. Sometimes while he is "yet speaking" (Isa. ln,. 24) the answer comes (ver. 32). "In answer to a singla ernphatical ejaculation the counsel of the prudent is carried headlong" (Scott), "As for me-unto God will I my, And Jehovah will save me. Evening and morning and at noon will I complain and groan, And he will hear my voice. Ce.st thy burden upon Jehovah, Be-he will sustain thee." (Ps. lv. 16, 17, 22.) D. Vers. 32-37.-(THE TOP OF Mom.--r OLIVET.) The friendsltip of Husliai. (llefer- ence.s: Josh. xvi 2; eh. xvi. 16-19; xvii. 5-15; 1 Chron. :u:vii. 33; 1 Kings iv. 16.) Like Uriah and Itte.i, he may have been of Gentile origin and a proselyte; was far advanced in life (ver. 33), "the king's friend n or confidential adviser, and doubtless, in disposition, more congenial with David than the cool and calculating Ahithophel. "In him David saw the first gleam of hope. For warlike purposes he was useless; but of political stratagem he was master. T.c.e moment before the tidings had come of the treason of .AhithopheL To frustrate his designs, he was sent back just in time to meet Ahsalom arriving from Hebron" (Stanley). Notice: 1. His opportune presence; in answer to prayer (ver. 31); at a time of need, when others were unfaithful, trouble oppressed, and danger threatened. A faithful friend is one of Heaven's best gifts. " When friends come to us just at the moment when we want t~ero, an~ fo_r a pu~pose which no one else could accomplish as well as they, and for a time which 18 precisely conterminous with our necessity, it is bard notto look on them as much sent from God as the angds who met Jacob at Mabanaim, or who stood by the open tomb to tell Mary of C.b.ri.it" (Tborold., 'On the Use of Friends'). "When true friends meet in adverse hour, 'TiJ< like a b'Unbeam through a shower; The watery ray an instant seen, The darkly closing clouds between." (Sir W. Scott.) "A faiti.ful friend is the medicine of life" (Ecclus. vi. 16, 14). "Tha ·Lord has the Lcarts of all men in his hands and if he be our Friend be will not let us want frieu-.,;; yea, will make onr most c~uel ene~ies to be our friends" (Guild). 2, His ge,,uine 6ympathy; voluntarily and a1,propnatcly cxpre,sed; and adapt~d to cbeHr aud hLrc•IJ:;tl:.eu. "'l'l:.tre are 1:igl..it cl,id u.;e~ iri the i::ift of friendsbip-v1z. counsal, OJI, XV, 1-37,) THE SECOND BOOK OF SAMUEL. 3f!l