Examining 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.”
—2 Samuel 15:31
Make sure to give “A Look at Absalom” a read to have a better understanding of what we’re about to look at.
David’s prayer here is essential to our understanding of what took place. The Calvinists have no problem saying that God turned the heart of Absalom toward the bad advice of Hushai (in answering David’s prayer), because that’s essentially what Scripture teaches.
David’s request to God: “turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.” How did God do that? Presented the bad advice and hoped that Absalom would just blindly make a blunder? The NC might say something along this line, “God turned Ahithophel’s counsel into foolishness by presenting a choice that appealed to Absalom’s desire (or pride).”
On the surface, that answer sounds reasonable and even biblical, because Calvinists also believe and teach that people follow the dictates of their hearts. And also it was after David’s prayer that Hushai came into the picture. Both NCs and Calvinists would agree that God overthrew Absalom by the use of means, in this case, Hushai. But that’s only from a human perspective.
It’s true that God uses means, but David’s confidence wasn’t in Hushai or the means God used. David had confident in God (cf. 1 Samuel 30:6-8,23) because he knew what God is capable of (cf. 1 Samuel 26:19). To better understand this we just need to look at Paul. God sent Paul “to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God…” (Acts 26:18). Paul was the means, an instrument in God’s hand, but it’s God who opens eyes. Paul preached, but God opened Lydia’s heart (cf. Acts 16:14; 2 Corinthians 4:6; 2 Timothy 2:24-26). David sent Hushai back to Absalom with the confident that God, not Hushai, would turn Ahithophel’s counsel into foolishness. The question is: How did God do that? The Calvinists say God had power over King Absalom’s heart (cf. Proverbs 21:1).
God works in various ways to influence people. He can use animals, weather, nation(s), people and circumstances etc… but He can also influence and work in the heart of men to fulfill His wills and purposes. It’s that last part—God’s power over the heart—that NCs reject and Calvinists are defending.
Men, apart from divine revelation, do not know or perceive the Hand of God in their lives. Abimelech for example didn’t know that it was God who restrained him from sleeping with Sarah. Any healthy man in Abimelech’s situation would have seized the opportunity to sleep with her, considering that Sarah was a very beautiful woman, and Abimelech being a king could have done as he wished. So much so that Abraham feared for his life (cf. Genesis 12:10-20). Humanly speaking he would not be in the wrong had he slept with her because his conscience was clear. Yet King Abimelech was not freed from God’s sovereign rule over his heart, just as Proverbs 21:1 states. It was God who restrained Abimelech, “Yes, I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart. For I also withheld you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her.” (Genesis 20:6). Abimelech made his choice and took what was pleasing in his sight, and did so in the integrity of his heart. But he was unaware of God restraining his heart to fulfill His purposes. No choice was given to Abimelech to make, and no voice told him not to touch Sarah. He made his choice freely to not sleep with Sarah, and only after God appeared to him in a dream are we told that it was God who restrained him.
The NCs’ view is insufficient because it does not deal with many of the cases where God effectually influenced the heart of men. Calvinists acknowledge and agree with NCs that God does present choices for people to make. And that people do respond to choices that appeal to the dictates of their hearts. But Calvinists go a step further and acknowledge that God has sovereign rule over the heart and can and does influence the heart to make choices, and it’s here that NCs fall short and their answers will always be insufficient. God’s external call and the choices He presents to people can be rejected or accepted according to the dictates of their hearts, but why is it that when God stirs the heart to accomplish His will it’s ALWAYS EFFECTUAL? We don’t see Absalom rejecting God’s will. Or even Abimelech, nor will the kings in Revelations 17:17.
David’s prayer was to God to turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness. And “there is no wisdom or understanding or counsel against the LORD” because King Absalom’s “heart is in the hand of the LORD, like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes.” (Proverbs 21:1,30). David didn’t hope but prayed that God would do it, and we learn from Scripture that God directed the heart of Absalom toward the bad counsel of Hushai. That was how God turned the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.
O LORD, I know the way of man is not in himself;
It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps.
—Jeremiah 10:23
A man’s steps are of the LORD;
How then can a man understand his own way?
—Proverbs 20:24
But thanks be to God who puts the same earnest care for you into the heart of Titus. For he not only accepted the exhortation, but being more diligent, he went to you of his own accord.
—2 Corinthians 8:16-17
Now may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ.
—2 Thessalonians 3:5