2 Samuel 14

NOw Joab the son of Zeruiah, perceived that the kings heart was toward Absalom He desired to see him, but was ashamed to show kindness to one whom Gods Law and his own Conscience obliged him to punish; and wanted a fair pretence, which therefore Ioab gave him..

And Joab sent to Tekoah A City of Iudah, 2 Chron. 11. 5, 6. One of Ierusalem was not convenient, lest the King might know the person, or search out the business. And besides, this Woman seems to be of great eminency for her Wisdom, as the following discourse manifests., and fetcht thence a wise woman Rather than a Man, because Women can more easily express their passions, and do sooner procure pity in their miseries, and an answer to their requests., and said unto her, I pray thee, feign thy self to be a mourner, and put on now mourning apparel, and anoint not thy self with oil As they used to do when they were out of a Mourning state. See Ruth 3. 3. Matth. 6. 17., but be as a woman that had a long time mourned for the dead:

And come to the king, and speak on this manner unto him: so Joab put the words in her mouth.

¶ And when the woman of Tekoah spake to the king, she fell on her face to the ground, and did obeisance, and said, Help, O king.

And the king said unto her, What aileth thee? And she answered, I am indeed a widow-woman One of them who most need thy compassion and assistance, and whom thou art by Gods Law obliged in a singular manner to protect and relieve., and mine husband is dead.

And thy handmaid had two sons, and they two strove together in the field, and there was none to part them And therefore there is no witness, either that he killed him, or how he killed him, whether from some sudden passion and great provocation, or in his own necessary defence, or otherwise., but the one smote the other, and slew him As the avengers of Blood report..

And behold, the whole family is risen against thine handmaid, and they said, Deliver him that smote his brother, that we may kill him According to the Law, Numb. 35. 19. Deut. 19. 12., for the life of his brother whom he slew, and we will destroy the heir also So they plainly discover, that their prosecution of him was not so much from love of Justice, as from a covetous desire to deprive him of the Inheritance, and to transfer it to themselves; which self-interest might justly render their Testimony suspected. Or, perhaps these words are not spoken as the express words of the prosecutors (who can hardly be thought so directly to express a sinister design) as the Womans Inference or Comment upon what they were doing: (for this would be indeed the result of it, though they did not so in express words) thereby to lie to represent her case as the more deserving pity.: and so they shall quench my coal which is left The poor remainder of my light and comfort, by whom alone my hopes may be revived and repaired., and shall not leave to my husband She names him rather than her self, because Children bear the names of their Fathers, not of their Mothers. neither name nor remainder upon the earth.

And the king said unto the woman, Go to thine house, and I will give charge concerning thee That thy cause may be justly and truly examined, and thy Son preserved from their unjust and malicious proceedings..

And the woman of Tekoah said unto the king, My lord, O king, the iniquity be on me, and on my fathers house: and the king and his throne be guiltless The sense is, either, first, this, If I do not inform thee aright, and thou thereby beest drawn to give an unrighteous sentence on my behalf, I am willing to bear the whole blame of it before God and Men; I acknowledge thou art wholly innocent in the case. Compare Gen. 27. 13. Or, Secondly, this, If through thy forgetfulness or neglect of this my just cause, my adversaries prevail and destroy my Son, my desire is, that God would not lay it to the Kings charge, but rather to me and mine, so the King may be exempted thereby. Whereby she both insinuates her great esteem of, and affection for the King, thereby winning upon him to compass her design; and withal implies, that such an omission of the Kings will bring guilt upon him; and yet most prudently and decently orders her Phrase so as not to seem to blame or threaten the King. Compare Exod. 5. 16. 2 Sam. 20. 16. This sense seems best to agree with David's answer, which shows that she desired some further assurance of the Kings care and justice in her concern..

And the king said, Whosoever says ought unto thee bring him to me, and he shall not touch thee i. e. So as to hurt or molest thee, by pursuing thy Son. any more.

Then said she, I pray thee, let the king remember the LORD thy God The sense is, either, first, Make mention (as this Hebrew Verb is oft rendred) of the name of the Lord thy God, to wit, in an Oath; i. e. Swear to me by God, That thou wilt protect me and my Son against the revenger of Blood. For so David did in compliance with this desire of hers. Only she was forced to express her mind in more general and ambiguous terms, because it had been presumption and rudeness for her in plain terms to desire the Kings Oath, as if she durst not trust his word; yet withal she insinuates her meaning so plainly, that the King understood it; and yet so handsomly and elegantly, that the King was much pleased with her Wisdom, and thereby inclined to grant her request. Or, Secondly, this, Remember the Gracious nature of thy God, who is not too severe and rigorous to mark at all that is amiss, nor does cut off every manslayer, as appears from Numb. 35. and from the example of Cain, and from thy self, O King: though this she expresseth not, but only useth such words which... he knew would give so wise and good a King occasion to reflect upon himself and upon the goodness of God in sparing him, though a wilful Murtherer, that thereby he might be obliged to imitate God, in sparing the person whom she designed. Or, Thirdly, this, Remember the Lord, in whose presence thou hast made me this promise, and who will be a witness against thee, if thou breakest it., that thou wouldest not suffer the revengers of blood to destroy any more Heb. lest the avenger of blood multiply to destroy, i. e. lest they cause one destruction to another, and add my surviving Son to him who is slain already. Or, lest thou dost multiply avengers of blood to destroy, i. e. lest by thy connivence at their cruel and malicious proceedings against my Son, thou dost encourage avengers of Blood to the like furious practices, and thereby increase the number of that sort of Men, and upon that pretence occasion multitudes of Murthers., lest they destroy my son Or, and let them not destroy my Son; the Future Tense, being put for the Imperative Mood, as is frequent.. And he said, As the LORD liveth, there shall not one hair of thy son fall to the earth i. e. He shall not suffer the least damage. We have the same Phrase used 1 Sam. 14. 45. 1 King. 1. 52. Act. 27. 34. Compare Matth. 10. 30..

Then the woman said Having obliged the King by his Oath in her supposed case, she now throws off the vail, and begins to apply this parable to the Kings and Kingdoms present case., Let thine handmaid, I pray thee, speak one word unto my lord the king. And he said, Say on:

And the woman said, Wherefore then hast thou thought such a thing against the people of God If thou wouldst not permit the avengers of Blood to molest me, or to destroy my Son, who are but two persons; how unreasonable is it that thou shouldst proceed in thy indeavours to avenge Amnon's blood upon Absalom, whose death would be highly injurious and grievous to the whole Commonwealth of Israel, all whose eyes are upon him as the Heir of the Crown, and a wise, and valiant, and amiable person, unhappy only in this one act of killing Amnon, which was done upon an high and hainous provocation, and whereof thou thy self didst give the occasion by permitting Amnon to go unpunished?? for the king does speak this thing as one which is faulty By thy Word, and Promise, and Oath given to me for my Son, thou condemnest thy self for not allowing the same equity towards thy own Son., in that the king does not fetch home again his banished To wit, Absalom, from that Heathenish Countrey where he is in evident danger of being infected with their Idolatry and other vices: which is likely to be a great and publick mischief to all thy people, if he come to Reign in thy stead, which he is very likely to do. It is true, there was a considerable disparity between her Sons, and Absalom's case, the one being a rash and sudden action, the other a deliberate and premeditated Murther; but that may seem to be balanced in some measure; partly, by Amnon's great and lasting provocation; and principally, by the vast difference between a private injury, which was her case, and a publick calamity and grievance, which she affirmed, and the King easily believed was Absalom's case: And what David said in the case of Ioab's Murther of Abner, That he could not revenge it, because the sons of Zeruiah were too hard for him, 2 Sam. 3. 39. the like peradventure might have been said in this case, where the Peoples hearts may seem to have been universally and vehemently set upon Absalom, and the rather, because his long banishment moved their pity, and his absence made him more desirable, as it frequently happens among people; and therefore it might really be out of the Kings power to punish him; and so he might seem to be obliged to spare him for the common safety of his whole Kingdom..

For we must needs die Heb. In dying we shall die, i. e. we shall certainly and suddenly die all of us, both thou, O King, who therefore art obliged to take due care of thy Successor, who is Absalom; and Absalom, who, if he do not die by the hand of Justice, must shortly die by the necessity of Nature: and Amnon too must have died in the common way of all flesh, if Absalom had not cut him off. Therefore, O King, be not implacable towards Absalom for nipping a Flower a little before its time of fading, and restore him to us all before he die in a strange Land., and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again Which is quickly drunk up and buried in the Earth, and cannot be recovered.: neither does God respect any person To wit, so far as to exempt him from this common Law of dying. But this version seems not to agree with the Scripture Phrase: for the accepting of a person is never to my knowledge expressed in Hebrew by Nasa Nephesh, which is the Phrase here, but by Nasa Panim, every where. The words therefore may be rendred either thus: yet God will not take away, or does not use to take away (the Future Tense oft noting a continued act, as observe) the soul, or souls, or lives of men, to wit, by violence. God does not severely and instantly cut off offenders, but suffers them to live till they die by the course of Nature; and therefore so shouldst thou do too. Or, rather thus: yet God has not taken away his soul or life, the Pronoun, his, being understood here, as it is in many other places, and as being easily supplied out of the context. So the sense is, God has hitherto spared him, and did not suffer his Brethren to kill him, as in reason might have been expected; nor has God himself yet cut him off for his Murther, as he oft does with persons who are out of the Magistrates reach; but has hitherto preserved him even in a Heathenish Land. All which are intimations that God would have him spared., yet does he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him Or, but has devised means, &c. i. e. has given Laws to this purpose, That the manslayer who is banished should not always continue in banishment, but upon the High-Priests death return to his own City. Whereby he has showed his pleasure, that the avenger of Blood should not implacably persist in seeking revenge, and that the manslayer should be spared. Or rather, thus, but thinketh thoughts, or, but has designed, or, therefore he intendeth that he who is banished (to wit, Absalom) be not (always) expelled or banished from him, i. e. from God and from his People, and from the place of his Worship, but that he should return home to him. So the sense is, That God by sparing Absaloms life in the midst of dangers, did sufficiently intimate, that he would in due time bring him back to his Land and People. Even as in our Days and Land, Gods miraculous preservation of the Life of our present Sovereign in so many and great dangers, was a pledge and presage that God intended sooner or later to restore him to his Kingdoms..

Now therefore that I am come to speak of this thing unto my lord the king, it is because the people have made me afraid The truth is, I was even forced to this bold Address to thee, by the disposition and condition of thy people, who are discontented at Absalom's perpetual banishment, and full of fears; either lest, upon thy death, which none knoweth how soon it may happen, they should be involved in a Civil War about thy Successor; or lest, in the mean time, if Absalom by his Father-in-laws assistance invade the Land, and indeavour by force to regain and secure his right to the Succession, the people, who have a great opinion of him, and kindness for him, and think he is very hardly used, should take up Arms for him; or lest he who is thy Heir and Successor should by continual and familiar conversation with Heathens, be insnared in their Errors, or alienated from the true Religion, and from Gods Worship, from which he is now utterly excluded.: and thy handmaid said Or, therefore thy handmaid said, either, within my self, i. e. I intended: or, to the people, to quiet them., I will now speak unto the king; it may be that the king will perform the request of his handmaid.

For the king will hear For I know the King is so wise and just, that I assure my self of Audience and Acceptation. Which expectation of hers is cunningly insinuated here, that the King might conceive himself obliged to answer it, and not to disappoint her hope, nor to forfeit that good opinion which his Subjects now had of him., to deliver his handmaid out of the hand of the man To grant my request concerning my Son, and consequently the peoples Petition concerning Absalom. that would destroy me and my son Implying that her life was bound up in the life of her Son, and that she could not out-live his death; (and supposing, it is like, that it might be David's case also, and would therefore touch him in a tender part, though it were not proper to say it expresly): and thereby suggesting, that the tranquillity, safety, and comfort of the people of Israel, depended upon Absalom's Restitution, and the settlement of the Succession in him. together out of the inheritance of God i. e. Out of that Inheritance which God has given to me and mine: or, out of that Land which God gave to his people to be their Inheritance and Possession, and in which alone God has settled the place of his Presence and Worship. Whereby she intimates the danger of Absalom's living in a state of separation from God, and his House, and amongst Idolaters.:

Then thine handmaid said, The word of my lord the king shall now be comfortable I doubt not the King will give a gracious and satisfactory Answer to my Pe... tion.: for as an angel of God To wit, Wisdom, and Justice, and Goodness., so is my lord the king to discern good and bad To hear and judge of Causes and Requests, whether they be just, and good, and fit to be granted, as mine is; or unrighteous, and unreasonable, fit to be rejected. confidence in the Justice of her Cause, and thereby confirms the King in his purpose and promise to grant her Request, and withal arms the King against the suggestions of them who should advise him to a rigorous execution of Gods Law against Absalom, and be ready to censure him for restoring Absalom, and this for want of that Angelical Wisdom which the King had, who wisely considered many things far above their reach.: therefore Because thou art so wise, and just, and pitiful, and gracious to those who in strict Justice deserve punishment. the LORD thy God will be with thee God will own and stand by thee in this thy act of Grace: or, God will prosper thee in thy enterprizes: or, at least, not be offended with thee..

Then the king answered and said unto the woman, Hide not from me, I pray thee, the thing that I shall ask thee. And the woman said, Let my lord the king now speak.

And the king said, Is not the hand of Joab with thee in all this Hast thou not said and done this by Ioab's direction and contrivance?? And the woman answered, and said, As thy soul liveth, my lord the king, none can turn to the right hand, or to the left, from ought that my lord the king has spoken As the King is so wise that no man can deceive him by any turnings or windings to the right or left hand, but he quickly searcheth out the truth in every thing; so (it is a folly to dissemble, or go about to conceal it) it is even so, thou hast now discovered the truth of this business.: for thy servant Joab he bade me, and he put all these words in the mouth of thine handmaid To wit, for the scope and substance of them, but not as to all the expressions which she used, for these were to be varied as the Kings answer gave occasion, which also she did with singular prudence.:

To fetch about this form of speech i. e. To propose mine, and his, and the peoples desire of Absalom's restitution in this parabolical manner, in mine, and my Sons person. has thy servant Joab done this thing: and my lord is wise, according to the wisdom of an angel of God, to know all things that are in the earth Or, in this Land, in all thy Kingdom; all the counsels and devices of thy Subjects, which have any relation to thee or thy affairs..

¶ And the king said unto Joab, Behold now, I have done this thing In compliance with thy desire: although in truth it was according to his own desire. He overlooks the Woman in this grant, because she was but Ioab's Instrument in it.: go therefore, bring the young man By which expression he mitigates his Crime, as being an act of youthful heat, and folly, and rashness. Absalom again.

And Joab fell to the ground on his face, and bowed himself, and thanked the king: and Joab said, To day thy servant knoweth that I have found grace in thy sight, my lord, O king, in that the king has fulfilled the request of his servant i. e. Restored Absalom at my request. Whereby Ioab thought to establish himself for ever, and that he should be both the Fathers and the Sons favourite. Quest. Whether David did well in granting this request? Ans. Although there be some circumstances which in part extenuate David's fault herein, as Amnon's high provocation of Absalom; Absalom's being out of the reach of David's Justice, where also he could and would have kept himself, if David had not promised him impunity; the extream danger of Absalom's infection by Heathenish principles and practises; the safety of David's Kingdom, which seemed to depend upon the Establishment of the Succession, and that upon Absalom, to whom the hearts of the people were so universally and vehemently inclined, if the matter was really so, and not pretended or magnified by the art of this subtil Woman; yet it seems most probable that David was faulty herein, because this action was directly contrary to the express Laws of God, which strictly command the Supreme Magistrate to execute Justice upon all wilful Murtherers, without any reservation, Gen. 9. 6. Numb. 35. 30, 31. And David had no power to dispence with Gods Laws, nor to spare any whom God commanded him to destroy: for the Laws of God did bind the Kings and Rulers, as well as the people of Israel, to observe and obey them, as is most evident from Deut. 17. 18, 19. and from Ios. 1. 8. and many other places. And indeed we may read David's sin in the Glass of those tremendous Judgments of God which befel him, by means of his indulgence to Absalom. For although Gods Providences be in themselves no Rule to Judge of the good or evil of Mens actions; yet where they comply with Gods word, and accomplish his threatnings, as here they did, they are to be taken for the tokens of Gods displeasure..

So Joab arose and went to Geshur, and brought Absalom to Jerusalem.

And the king said, Let him turn to his own house, and let him not see my face Lest whilst he showed some mercy to Absalom, he should seem to approve of his sin, and thereby wound his own conscience, and lose his honour, and encourage him and others to such like attempts; and that by this means Absalom might be drawn to a more thorough humiliation and true repentance.. So Absalom returned to his own house, and saw not the kings face.

¶ But in all Israel there was none to be so much praised as Absalom for his beauty This is here noted as the occasion of his pride and insolency, and of the peoples affections to him, and consequently of the following Rebellion.: from the sole of his foot even to the crown of his head, there was no blemish in him.

And when he polled his head, (for it was at every years end that he polled it: because the hair was heavy on him, therefore he polled it) he weighed the hair of his head at two hundred shekels Whereas ordinarily the hair of a Manss head which grows in a years space, comes not to half so much. But some Mens hair grows much faster, and is much heavier than others. But others understand this not of the weight, but of the price of his hair, which was sold by him that Polled it at that rate., after the kings weight.

And unto Absalom there were born three sons All which died not long after they were born, as may be gathered from chap. 18. 18. where it is said, that Absalom had no son. and one daughter, whose name was Tamar So called from her Aunt, Chap. 13. 1.: she was a woman of a fair countenance.

¶ So Absalom dwelt two full years in Jerusalem, and saw not the kings face.

Therefore Absalom sent for Joab, to have sent him to the king That by his mediation he might be admitted into the Kings favour and presence., but he would not come to him: and when he sent again the second time, he would not come Partly, because perceiving David's affections to be cold to Absalom, he would not venture his own Interest for him, especially in desiring that which he feared he should be denied; partly, lest by interceeding further for Absalom, he should revive the remembrance of his former Murther, and meet with the reproach of one Murtherers interceeding for another; and partly, because by converse with Absalom, he observed his temper to be such, that if once he were fully restored to the Kings favour, he would not only eclipse and oppose Ioab's interest and power with the King, but also attempt high things, not without danger to the King and Kingdom, as it happened..

Therefore he said unto his servants, See, Joabs field is near mine, and he has barley there; go and set it on fire That Ioab may be forced to come to me to complain of, and demand reparations for this injury.: and Absaloms servants set the field on fire.

Then Joab arose and came to Absalom unto his house, and said unto him, Wherefore have thy servants set my field on fire?

And Absalom answered Joab, Behold, I sent unto thee, saying, Come hither that I may send thee to the king, to say, Wherefore am I come from Geshur? It had been good for me to have been there still Rather than here, because my estrangement from him now when I am so near to him, is both more grievous and more shameful to me. But the truth of the business was this, Absalom saw that his Father had accomplished his design in bringing him thither, having satisfied both his own Natural affection, and his peoples desire of Absalom's return from banishment; but that he could not without restitution into the Kings presence and favour compass his design, i. e. confirm and improve that interest which he saw he had in the peoples hearts.: now therefore let me see the kings face: and if there be any iniquity in me, let him kill me For it is better for me to die, than to want the sight and favour of my dear Father. Thus he insinuates himself into his Fathers affections, by pretending such Respect and Love to him. It seems that by this time Absalom having so far recovered his Fathers favour, as to be recalled, he began to grow upon him, and take so much confidence as to stand upon his own justification, as if what he had done, had been no iniquity, at least not such as to deserve death. For so much this speech intimates..

So Joab came to the king, and told him: and when he had called for Absalom, he came to the king, and bowed himself on his face to the ground before the king: and the king kissed Absalom In testimony of his thorough Reconciliation to him. Which Absalom did very ill requite, as the next Chapter manifesteth..