(30) And David went up by the ascent of mount Olivet, and wept as he went up, and had his head covered, and he went barefoot: and all the people that was with him covered every man his head, and they went up, weeping as they went up.
How very suitable a frame was David now in! He saw the hand of God in this affliction. This gave the additional bitterness to it. Moreover, be knew not what the event might be. Either way, in success, or the contrary, it was full of evil. If he conquered, it was a son, a beloved son, he subdued. If he fell himself, death would be the consequence. In such a state, as a mourner, he might well go barefoot and weeping. But Reader! can you accompany David in idea up the ascent of Mount Olivet, and not recollect that holy mourner there, David's Lord? Surely! no true believer in Christ can ever hear, or read, the name of Olivet, without connecting with it Jesus, and his agonies there. That was the memorable spot where thy Redeemer, my soul, sweat drops of blood, when the agony and convulsion of his soul was so great in sustaining all the weight and pressure of the divine justice due to thy sins, that David's grief for Absalom compared to it was but as nothing. Here the powers of hell besieged him also, until it became necessary that an angel from heaven should be dispatched to strengthen him. And Reader! you will not forget, I hope, how the Son of God in that tremendous hour in Olivet, was agitated backward and forward; when his whole soul was exceeding sorrowful, even unto death; and when his few faithful disciples were drenched in sleep, as if on purpose that no help, no comfort, should be afforded him: and that, in redemption-work, of the people there should be none with him. Isaiah 63:8.