2 Samuel 14

2 Samuel 14:1

C. Absalom’s Return to Jerusalem (Chap. 14)14:1 Joab realized that the king longed to have Absalom back in Jerusalem. But the people knew that Absalom was guilty of murder and should be executed. Thus the fear of public disapproval kept David from bringing Absalom back. 14:2-7 So Joab sent a woman from Tekoa (near Bethlehem) to David with a family situation similar to David’s. Pretending to be in deep mourning, she told how one of her sons had killed the other. Now her family was demanding the death of her only heir. This would completely wipe out the family name from the earth. 14:8-13 At first the king told her to return home and await an answer, hoping perhaps to avoid guilt in exonerating the murderer. But she wanted an answer immediately so she could trap David by his own decision. She offered to assume any guilt which his decision might involve. King David made another general statement, promising her security. Then she asked him pointblank for assurance that her son would not be killed. As soon as he gave this, she had him trapped. If the king would grant this pardon to her son, why would he not restore his own banished son, Absalom? The woman’s pretended situation is roughly analogous to David’s. One son is dead, and his relatives are calling for the death of the guilty one, as retributive revenge (v. 7). David’s decision showed mercy and suspended the usual blood-vengeance that often, in the Middle East, continued through many generations. But the woman presses on to apply the story to David and Absalom, and again, as with Nathan, David is caught in the web of his own moral wisdom. He is bound to restore, with protection, the banished and fearful Absalom (Daily Notes of the Scripture Union). 14:14 The woman apparently meant to suggest that, like water spilled on the ground, what was past (i.e., the death of Amnon) could not be gathered up again, so why dwell on that. Possibly also, that life is too short to be wasted in a prolonged quarrel. The last part of verse 14 seems to mean that God does not immediately destroy an offender (as David should well know) but . . . devises means by which the sinner might be forgiven and restored. If God acts in this manner, why should not the king do so too? 14:15-23 The woman said that she came to the king expecting such Godlike clemency. She had obtained it for her own son, and now she was pleading for his son. The king suspected that Joab had engineered the plot, and the woman freely admitted it. King David weakly ordered Joab to bring Absalom back to Jerusalem in spite of the fact that Absalom was unrepentant. It was most unrighteous for David to do this, and he was to pay for it dearly. 14:24-33 For two full years . . . Absalom lived in Jerusalem without being permitted into his father’s presence. (His natural good looks and luxurious growth of hair are mentioned as factors that would aid him in stealing the hearts of the people of Israel.) After two years Absalom tried to contact Joab for permission to see the king. Joab refused to come to him twice, so Absalom ordered his field of barley to be burned. This brought Joab to his door quickly! Absalom’s request for an audience with his father was granted, and the two were reunited. It had been seven years since Tamar had been raped and five years since the murder of Amnon. For five years Absalom had not seen his father. Though David had forgiven him and brought him back to Jerusalem instead of executing him, he had refused to forget what had happened. But when the two men finally met, Absalom received a complete pardon. He then took the favor his father had shown him and used it as a platform from which to launch a revolution (chaps. 15-18). David spared his son’s life, but in response Absalom schemed his father’s death. Joab’s actions in all this seemed designed to obtain David’s favor and also the favor of Absalom, who was next in line as king.