The Second Book of Samuel, otherwise called the Second Book of the Kings
2 Samuel 14
Chapter XIV · Vol. II, pp. 695–696
1 Joab, suborning a widow of Tekoah, by a parable to incline the king's heart to fetch home Absalom, bringeth him to Jerusalem. 25 Absalom's beauty, hair, and children. 28 After two years, Absalom by Joab is brought into the king's presence.
2 And Joab sent to cTekoah,1 and fetched thence da wise woman, and said unto her, I pray thee, feign thyself to be a mourner, and put on now mourning apparel, and eanoint not thyself with oil, but be as a woman that had a long time mourned for the dead;
c 2 Ch.11.6. Ne.3.5,27. Je.6.1.
1 A city of Judah, nine miles south of Jerusalem. It was situate on a hill, and considerable ruins are described by modern travellers as still remaining. Why did Joab send to Tekoah for a wise woman? (1) He must bring a petitioner from a distance, so that she may the less be suspected of collusion. (2) Tekoah was in Joab's own tribe, and he therefore culls his agent from his acquaintance. (3) He chooses her for her peculiar address and ready eloquence, which, when the words of Joab had been repeated, never forsakes her for a moment.—C.
A.M. 2977. B.C. 1027.
4 And when the woman of Tekoah spake to the king, she gfell on her face to the ground, and did obeisance, and said, hHelp, O king!
5 And the king isaid unto her, What aileth thee? And she answered, kI am indeed a widow woman, and mine husband is dead.2
i Job 29.12-14. Je.22.16. Ps.82.3,4.
k ch.12.1-4. Ju.9.8-15. 1 Ki.20.35-41. Is.5.1-6.
2 As Joab may have found a person whose circumstances bore some resemblance to what he wished to represent, it is possible that this woman's story may have been partly founded in truth, yet it is expressly said (ver. 2) that she 'feigned herself a mourner.' Her melancholy tale, her widow's weeds, her aged person, her poetical and picturesque language, and her earnest eloquent manner, were all fitted to impress a mind like David's.—I.
6 And thy handmaid had two sons, and they two strove together in the field, and there was lnone to part them, but the one smote the other, and slew him.
7 And, behold, mthe whole family3 is risen against thine handmaid; and they said, Deliver him that smote his brother, that we may kill him, for the life of his brother whom he slew; and we will destroy the heir also: and so they shall nquench my coal4 which is left, and shall not leave to my husband neither name nor remainder upon the earth.
3 An evidence that not the law, but personal force or family combination, were as yet the chief means of redress for injuries. Happy is the land where individuals redress not their own wrongs, but where the law is accessible, its arm strong, and its decisions merciful and just.—C.
n Ge.27.45. De.25.6-10. Ru.4.4,5,10. Is.14.21,22. Job 18.16,17,19.
4 A beautiful and still common figure in the East, and perhaps in all countries, for life and its extinction. We frequently speak of the spark of life, and call the soul 'vital spark.'—C.
8 And the king said unto the woman, Go to thine house, and oI will give charge concerning thee.
o ver.11; ch.16.4. Pr.18.13. Ac.25.26,27.
9 And the woman of Tekoah said unto the king, My lord, O king, pthe iniquity be on me, and on my father's house; and the king and his throne be guiltless.
10 And the king said, Whosoever saith ought unto thee, bring him to me, and he shall not touch thee any more.
11 Then said she, I pray thee, let the king qremember the LORD thy God, that thou rwouldest not suffer the revengers of blood to destroy any more, lest they destroy my son. And he said, sAs the LORD liveth, there shall not one hair of thy son fall to the earth.5
q Ps.119.49; 103.13. Ex.34.6. Nu.35.11,12. Mat.5.44,48.
r Nu.35.19,27. Jos.20.3-6. De.19.4-10. Ex.21.13.
s 1 Sa.14.45. 1 Ki.1.52. Ac.27.34.
5 The judgment of the king was just—for the alleged quarrel implied not any premeditated design, but a casual controversy with a fatal termination.—C.
12 Then the woman said, Let thine handmaid, I pray thee, speak one word unto my lord the king. And he said, Say on.
13 And the woman said, tWherefore then hast thou thought such a thing against the people of God? for the king doth speak this thing as one which is faulty, uin that the king doth not fetch home again his banished.6
u ch.13.38, with ver. 6,10,21.
6 So far as the tact of pleading was concerned, she was certainly a wise woman. The moment she charges the king with a fault, a statement not likely to please an absolute king, she leads him away to his son, his banished son, with whom she knew his heart was.—C.
14 For we xmust needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God yrespect any person: yet doth he zdevise means,6 that his banished be not expelled from him.
15 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:7 and thy handmaid said, I will now speak unto the king; it may be that the king will perform the request of his handmaid.
7 I fear they will sustain great loss, or they will be provoked to rebel against thee.
16 For the king will hear, to deliver his handmaid out of the hand of the men that would destroy me and my son8 together out of the inheritance of God.
8 Some have hence supposed the woman of Tekoah had a real case to plead, and that Joab took advantage of it; but this seems totally inconsistent with ver. 2, 3, 19, 20. She merely employs the words my son for her son in the parable, who had no other but a figurative existence.—C.
17 Then thine handmaid said, The word of my lord the king shall now be comfortable:9 for aas an angel of God,1 so is my lord the king, to discern good and bad; therefore the LORD thy God will be with thee.
9 Heb. for rest.
a 1 Sa.29.9. ver.20; ch.19.27. Ac.12.22,23.
1 This may have been the language of flattery to soothe the king, but it is more likely she felt it and spoke it as truth; for David was a man of great natural and acquired acuteness, which, as truly as supernatural endowments, is the gift of God.—C.
18 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.
19 And the king said, Is not the hand of Joab with thee in all this? 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 hath spoken: for thy servant Joab, he bade me, and he put all these words in the mouth of thine handmaid:
20 To fetch about this form of speech hath 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.
21 And the king said unto Joab, Behold now, I have done this thing: go therefore, bring the young man Absalom again.
22 And Joab bfell to the ground on his face, and bowed himself, and cthanked the king: and Joab said, To-day thy servant knoweth that dI have found grace in thy sight, my lord, O king, in that the king hath fulfilled the request of his servant.2
b ver.4.
c Heb. blessed, ch.13.25. Ru.2.4.
d Ge.6.8; 19.19; 33.10; 39.4; 47.29; 50.4. Ru.2.10. 1 Sa.20.3.
2 Joab had two reasons for his anxiety for Absalom. (1) He saw the king was anxious for a good excuse for recalling Absalom. (2) To afford an additional example for the safety of a murderer, in which class he himself ranked, but was so great a favourite with the army that David could not punish him.—Note, David sinned through tender but mistaken lenity. According to the divine law, the deliberate and malicious murderer should die. But David's tenderness as a father soon punished his error as a judge.—C.
24 And the king said, Let him turn to his own house, and let him not fsee my face. So Absalom returned to his own house, and saw not the king's face.
f Ge.43.3. ver.28.
25 Butg in all Israel there was none to be so much praised as Absalom for his beauty: fromh the sole of his foot even to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him.
26 And when he polled his head, (for it was at every year's end3 that he polled it; because the ihair was heavy on him, therefore he polled it,) he weighed the hair of his head at ktwo hundred shekels[≈ 2.3 kg · 5 lb],4 after the king's weight.
3 Or, 'from time to time,' i.e. occasionally, or, as the next clause explains it, 'when the hair became heavy on him, or burdened him, then he polled it;' and this may have been at longer intervals than a year. Being vain of the abundance and beauty of his hair (of which the people of the East are very proud), he wore it as long as he could without much inconvenience; and when at length he was compelled to part with it, he made it be weighed, in order that the fame of its quantity might compensate his vanity for the temporary loss. The circumstance is noticed here, with a view to explain and give point to the fact, that these fondly cherished locks proved the occasion of his death, ch.18.9.—I.
i ch.18.9.
k 6¼ lbs. avoirdupois, Ge.23.16. Le.19.36.
4 If this were the common shekel, Absalom's hair would weigh about 12½ lbs. But there was another shekel mentioned by Epiphanius, weighing ¼ oz., which would give 4 lb. 2 oz. troy, or 3 lb. 2 oz. avoirdupois weight. And if we recollect what Josephus tells us, that the Jews powdered their heads with gold-dust, using various unguents, the wonderfulness of the production will remain, but the difficulty of accounting for such an enormous weight will be greatly diminished. The idea that it was estimated at value, and not by weight, does not seem admissible.—C.
27 And unto lAbsalom there were born three sons, and one daughter, whose name was Tamar: she was a woman of a fair countenance.
A.M. 2979. B.C. 1025.
l ch.18.18. Job 18.16-19. Is.14.22. Je.22.30.
29 Therefore Absalom sent for Joab, to have sent him to the king; but he would not come to him: and when he sent again the second time, he would not come.
30 Therefore he said unto his servants, See, Joab's field is near mine,5 and he hath barley there; ngo and set it on fire. And Absalom's servants set the field on fire.
31 Then Joab arose, and came to Absalom unto his house, and said unto him, Wherefore have thy servants set my field on fire?
32 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: now therefore let me see the king's face;6 and oif there be any iniquity in me, let him kill me.
6 Joab must have so managed the court, that David was totally inaccessible, except through himself. This caution may have been partly to guard against dangers, partly for state, but most probably it chiefly arose from Joab's own desire to monopolize all access to the royal ear. Blessed be the name of the Lord, however difficult access may be for petitioners to earthly potentates, the believer has no difficulty in seeing the King's face, He. 4.16.—C.
o Ge.3.12. Job 31.33. Pr.28.13. Je.8.12. 1 Sa.15.13-20. Mat.25.44.
Notes
Reflections.—Most parents are incapable of continuing due severity towards their offending children. And crafty statesmen are disposed to humour their sovereign in his sinful indulgences; yea, with amazing dexterity, they can dress up falsehood, to bring about their own designs. Sometimes they will pretend the mercy of God as a pattern, and the safety of the sovereign from popular insurrections, or the near approaches of death, as reasons, without any real regard to either. The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light. Truth never shames its author; and it is honourable to acknowledge our obligations. Handsome persons, and flourishing families, are to little purpose, while sin reigns in our heart, and the curse of God hovers over our head. But with what art and perseverance do wicked men pursue their carnal schemes! Often they obtain, by their insolence, what their betters could not do by their deserts, or by their earnest and modest requests.
Measures in square brackets are modern equivalents added for this edition. They are not in the King James text or in Brown’s notes. They use common scholarly estimates: a cubit is about 45.7 cm (18 in), a shekel about 11.4 g (0.4 oz), an ephah about 22 litres. Money values give the worth of the silver or gold at spot prices on 28 October 2026, not what the sum would buy in the ancient world.