1 And Joab son of Zeruial knoweth that the heart of the king `is' on Absalom,
2 and Joab sendeth to Tekoah, and taketh thence a wise woman, and saith unto her, `Feign thyself a mourner, I pray thee, and put on, I pray thee, garments of mourning, and anoint not thyself with oil, and thou hast been as a woman these many days mourning for the dead,
3 and thou hast gone unto the king, and spoken unto him, according to this word;' and Joab putteth the words into her mouth.
4 And the woman of Tekoah speaketh unto the king, and falleth on her face to the earth, and doth obeisance, and saith, `Save, O king.'
5 And the king saith to her, `What -- to thee?' and she saith, `Truly a widow woman `am' I, and my husband dieth,
6 and thy maid-servant hath two sons; and they strive both of them in a field, and there is no deliverer between them, and the one smiteth the other, and putteth him to death;
7 and lo, the whole family hath risen against thy maid-servant, and say, Give up him who smiteth his brother, and we put him to death for the life of his brother whom he hath slain, and we destroy also the heir; and they have quenched my coal which is left -- so as not to set to my husband a name and remnant on the face of the ground.'
8 And the king saith unto the woman, `Go to thine house, and I give charge concerning thee.'
9 And the woman of Tekoah saith unto the king, `On me, my lord, O king, `is' the iniquity, and on the house of my father; and the king and his throne `are' innocent.'
10 And the king saith, `He who speaketh `aught' unto thee, and thou hast brought him unto me, then he doth not add any more to come against thee.'
11 And she saith, `Let, I pray thee, the king remember by Jehovah thy God, that the redeemer of blood add not to destroy, and they destroy not my son;' and he saith, `Jehovah liveth; if there doth fall of the hair of thy son to the earth.'
12 And the woman saith, `Let, I pray thee, thy maid-servant speak unto my lord the king a word;' and he saith, `Speak.'
13 And the woman saith, `And why hast thou thought thus concerning the people of God? yea, the king is speaking this thing as a guilty one, in that the king hath not brought back his outcast;
14 for we do surely die, and `are' as water which is running down to the earth, which is not gathered, and God doth not accept a person, and hath devised devices in that the outcast is not outcast by Him.
15 `And now that I have come to speak unto the king my lord this word, `it is' because the people made me afraid, and thy maid-servant saith, Let me speak, I pray thee, unto the king; it may be the king doth do the word of his handmaid,
16 for the king doth hearken to deliver his handmaid out of the paw of the man `seeking' to destroy me and my son together out of the inheritance of God,
17 and thy maid-servant saith, Let, I pray thee, the word of my lord the king be for ease; for as a messenger of God so `is' my lord the king, to understand the good and the evil; and Jehovah thy God is with thee.'
18 And the king answereth and saith unto the woman, `Do not, I pray thee, hide from me the thing that I am asking thee;' and the woman saith, `Let, I pray thee, my lord the king speak.'
19 And the king saith, `Is the hand of Joab with thee in all this?' And the woman answereth and saith, `Thy soul liveth, my lord, O king, none `doth turn' to the right or to the left from all that my lord the king hath spoken; for thy servant Joab he commanded me, and he put in the mouth of thy maid-servant all these words;
20 in order to bring round the appearance of the thing hath thy servant Joab done this thing, and my lord `is' wise, according to the wisdom of a messenger of God, to know all that `is' in the land.'
21 And the king saith unto Joab, `Lo, I pray thee, thou hast done this thing; and go, bring back the young man Absalom.'
22 And Joab falleth on his face to the earth, and doth obeisance, and blesseth the king, and Joab saith, `To-day hath thy servant known that I have found grace in thine eyes, my lord, O king, in that the king hath done the word of his servant.'
23 And Joab riseth and goeth to Geshur, and bringeth in Absalom to Jerusalem,
24 and the king saith, `Let him turn round unto his house, and my face he doth not see.' And Absalom turneth round unto his house, and the face of the king he hath not seen.
25 And like Absalom there was no man `so' fair in all Israel, to praise greatly; from the sole of his foot even unto his crown there was no blemish in him;
26 and in his polling his head -- and it hath been at the end of year by year that he polleth `it', for it `is' heavy on him, and he hath polled it -- he hath even weighed out the hair of his head -- two hundred shekels by the king's weight.
27 And there are born to Absalom three sons, and one daughter, and her name `is' Tamar; she was a woman of a fair appearance.
28 And Absalom dwelleth in Jerusalem two years of days, and the face of the king he hath not seen;
29 and Absalom sendeth unto Joab, to send him unto the king, and he hath not been willing to come unto him; and he sendeth again a second time, and he hath not been willing to come.
30 And he saith unto his servants, `See, the portion of Joab `is' by the side of mine, and he hath barley there; go, and burn it with fire;' and the servants of Absalom burn the portion with fire.
31 And Joab riseth and cometh unto Absalom in the house, and saith unto him, `Why have thy servants burned the portion that I have with fire?'
32 And Absalom saith unto Joab, `Lo, I sent unto thee, saying, Come hither, and I send thee unto the king to say, Why have I come in from Geshur? -- good for me while I `am' there -- and now, let me see the king's face, and if there is in me iniquity then thou hast put me to death.'
33 And Joab cometh unto the king, and declareth `it' to him, and he calleth unto Absalom, and he cometh unto the king, and boweth himself to him, on his face, to the earth, before the king, and the king giveth a kiss to Absalom.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on 2 Samuel 14
Commentary on 2 Samuel 14 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 14
2Sa 14:1-21. Joab Instructs a Woman of Tekoah.
2-21. And Joab sent to Tekoah, and fetched thence a wise woman—The king was strongly attached to Absalom; and having now got over his sorrow for the violent death of Amnon, he was desirous of again enjoying the society of his favorite son, who had now been three long years absent. But a dread of public opinion and a regard to the public interests made him hesitate about recalling or pardoning his guilty son; and Joab, whose discerning mind perceived this struggle between parental affection and royal duty, devised a plan for relieving the scruples, and, at the same time, gratifying the wishes, of his master. Having procured a countrywoman of superior intelligence and address, he directed her to seek an audience of the king, and by soliciting his royal interposition in the settlement of a domestic grievance, convinced him that the life of a murderer might in some cases be saved. Tekoah was about twelve miles south of Jerusalem, and six south of Beth-lehem; and the design of bringing a woman from such a distance was to prevent either the petitioner being known, or the truth of her story easily investigated. Her speech was in the form of a parable—the circumstances—the language—the manner—well suited to the occasion, represented a case as like David's as it was policy to make it, so as not to be prematurely discovered. Having got the king pledged, she avowed it to be her design to satisfy the royal conscience, that in pardoning Absalom he was doing nothing more than he would have done in the case of a stranger, where there could be no imputation of partiality. The device succeeded; David traced its origin to Joab; and, secretly pleased at obtaining the judgment of that rough, but generally sound-thinking soldier, he commissioned him to repair to Geshur and bring home his exiled son.
7. they shall quench my coal which is left—The life of man is compared in Scripture to a light. To quench the light of Israel (2Sa 21:17) is to destroy the king's life; to ordain a lamp for any one (Ps 132:17) is to grant him posterity; to quench a coal signifies here the extinction of this woman's only remaining hope that the name and family of her husband would be preserved. The figure is a beautiful one; a coal live, but lying under a heap of embers—all that she had to rekindle her fire—to light her lamp in Israel.
9. the woman said … O king, the iniquity be on me—that is, the iniquity of arresting the course of justice and pardoning a homicide, whom the Goel was bound to slay wherever he might find him, unless in a city of refuge. This was exceeding the royal prerogative, and acting in the character of an absolute monarch. The woman's language refers to a common precaution taken by the Hebrew judges and magistrates, solemnly to transfer from themselves the responsibility of the blood they doomed to be shed, either to the accusers or the criminals (2Sa 1:16; 3:28); and sometimes the accusers took it upon themselves (Mt 27:25).
13-17. Wherefore then hast thou thought such a thing against the people of God, &c.—Her argument may be made clear in the following paraphrase:—You have granted me the pardon of a son who had slain his brother, and yet you will not grant to your subjects the restoration of Absalom, whose criminality is not greater than my son's, since he killed his brother in similar circumstances of provocation. Absalom has reason to complain that he is treated by his own father more sternly and severely than the meanest subject in the realm; and the whole nation will have cause for saying that the king shows more attention to the petition of a humble woman than to the wishes and desires of a whole kingdom. The death of my son is a private loss to my family, while the preservation of Absalom is the common interest of all Israel, who now look to him as your successor on the throne.
2Sa 14:22-33. Joab Brings Absalom to Jerusalem.
22. To-day thy servant knoweth that I have found grace in thy sight—Joab betrayed not a little selfishness amid his professions of joy at this act of grace to Absalom, and flattered himself that he now brought both father and son under lasting obligations. In considering this act of David, many extenuating circumstances may be urged in favor of it; the provocation given to Absalom; his being now in a country where justice could not overtake him; the risk of his imbibing a love for heathen principles and worship; the safety and interests of the Hebrew kingdom; together with the strong predilection of the Hebrew people for Absalom, as represented by the stratagem of Joab—these considerations form a plausible apology for David's grant of pardon to his bloodstained son. But, in granting this pardon, he was acting in the character of an Oriental despot rather than a constitutional king of Israel. The feelings of the father triumphed over the duty of the king, who, as the supreme magistrate, was bound to execute impartial justice on every murderer, by the express law of God (Ge 9:6; Nu 35:30, 31), which he had no power to dispense with (De 18:18; Jos 1:8; 1Sa 10:25).
25, 26. But in all Israel there was none to be so much praised as Absalom for his beauty—This extraordinary popularity arose not only from his high spirit and courtly manners, but from his uncommonly handsome appearance. One distinguishing feature, seemingly an object of great admiration, was a profusion of beautiful hair. Its extraordinary luxuriance compelled him to cut it "at every year's end;" lit., "at times," "from time to time," when it was found to weigh two hundred shekels—equal to one hundred twelve ounces troy; but as "the weight was after the king's shekel," which was less than the common shekel, the rate has been reduced as low as three pounds, two ounces [Bochart], and even less by others.
28. So Absalom dwelt two full years in Jerusalem, and saw not the king's face—Whatever error David committed in authorizing the recall of Absalom, he displayed great prudence and command over his feelings afterwards—for his son was not admitted into his father's presence but was confined to his own house and the society of his own family. This slight severity was designed to bring him to sincere repentance, on perceiving that his father had not fully pardoned him, as well as to convince the people of David's abhorrence of his crime. Not being allowed to appear at court, or to adopt any state, the courtiers kept aloof; even his cousin did not deem it prudent to go into his society. For two full years his liberty was more restricted, and his life more apart from his countrymen while living in Jerusalem, than in Geshur; and he might have continued in this disgrace longer, had he not, by a violent expedient, determined (2Sa 14:30) to force his case on the attention of Joab, through whose kind and powerful influence a full reconciliation was effected between him and his father.