2 Samuel 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.