---
title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible -  2 Samuel 14"
description: "CHAPTER 14   :-. 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
Absalo"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/2-samuel/14"
---

CHAPTER 14

. 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 () is to destroy the king's life; to ordain a lamp for any
one ([Psalms 132:17](../../../kjv/psalms/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.

**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.

**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 ([2 Samuel 1:16](../../../kjv/2-samuel/1/16);
[2 Samuel 3:28](../../../kjv/2-samuel/3/28)); and sometimes the
accusers took it upon themselves ([2 Samuel 3:28](../../../kjv/2-samuel/3/28)).

**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.

**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.
. JOAB BRINGS
ABSALOM TO JERUSALEM.

**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.

**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
([Genesis 9:6](../../../kjv/genesis/9/6); [Numbers 35:30](../../../kjv/numbers/35/30);
[Numbers 35:31](../../../kjv/numbers/35/31)), which he had no power
to dispense with ([Deuteronomy 18:18](../../../kjv/deuteronomy/18/18);
[Joshua 1:8](../../../kjv/joshua/1/8); [1 Samuel 10:25](../../../kjv/1-samuel/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 () 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.

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