2 Samuel 14 – 15 part 9
Now last week when we finished up chapter 13 Absalom had killed his brother Amnon and had fled to safety at Geshur where he remained for 3 years. We learned that David longed to see he son Absalom and this is where we begin tonight as look at chapter 14.
2 Samuel 14:1 So Joab
the son of Zeruiah perceived that the king's heart was concerned about
Absalom. 2 And Joab sent to
Tekoa (tuh-koe-uh) and
brought from there a wise woman, and said to her, "Please pretend to be a
mourner, and put on mourning apparel; do not anoint yourself with oil, but act
like a woman who has been mourning a long time for the dead. 3 "Go to the king and speak
to him in this manner." So Joab put the words in her mouth.
Now I want to remind you
that David doesn’t really care for Joab very much because of the revenge he
took on the man that killed his brother during a war. However, we see that Joab
had concern for the King. Now as you can see on this map Tekoa (tuh-koe-uh) was 9 miles south of
2 Samuel 14:4 And
when the woman of Tekoa (tuh-koe-uh) spoke to the king, she fell on her face to
the ground and prostrated herself, and said, "Help, O king!" 5 Then the king said to her,
"What troubles you?" And she answered, "Indeed I am a
widow, my husband is dead. 6
"Now your maidservant had two sons; and the two fought with each other in
the field, and there was no one to part them, but the one struck the
other and killed him. 7
"And now the whole family has risen up against your maidservant, and they
said, 'Deliver him who struck his brother, that we may execute him for the life
of his brother whom he killed; and we will destroy the heir also.' So they
would extinguish my ember that is left, and leave to my husband neither name
nor remnant on the earth."
Here see that one of the
duties of the king was to make decision on matters such as these and their
judgments should be based upon God’s Word, but that is not always the case as
we will se in just a min. Notice how Joab is using this woman and her similar story
that relates to Absalom in similar way as the prophet Nathan did with his
parable. Now David doesn’t know it yet but this story is designed to show how
Absalom has killed his brother and how the whole house that is David’s Son and
his court are against Absalom. Now notice David’s response,
2 Samuel 14:8 Then
the king said to the woman, "Go to your house, and I will give orders
concerning you." 9 And
the woman of Tekoa (tuh-koe-uh) said to the king, "My lord, O king, let
the iniquity be on me and on my father's house, and the king and his
throne be guiltless." 10
So the king said, "Whoever says anything to you, bring him to me,
and he shall not touch you anymore."
11 Then she said, "Please let the king remember the LORD
your God, and do not permit the avenger of blood to destroy anymore, lest they
destroy my son." And he said, "As the LORD lives, not one hair
of your son shall fall to the ground."
Here we see that the
women understands the guilt that goes along with murder as she tells the King
to put the guilt on her and her father’s house. Again God’s law demanded that
such a person should be put to death and you can read about these details on
your in Numbers 35 or Deut 19. This is where we see King David making his own
judgment contrary the will of God and the women wants to make 100% sure that
the King will keep his word and so she ask David to remember God and not to let
anyone avenge her son and David makes a promise using God name saying that not
one hair on her sons head will fall to the ground. Now that David had made his
judgment call the women will now use this to open his eyes in regards to his
own son Absalom.
2 Samuel 14:12
Therefore the woman said, "Please, let your maidservant speak another word
to my lord the king." And he said, "Say on." 13 So the woman said: "Why
then have you schemed such a thing against the people of God? For the king
speaks this thing as one who is guilty, in that the king does not bring
his banished one home again. 14
"For we will surely die and become like water spilled on the
ground, which cannot be gathered up again. Yet God does not take away a life;
but He devises means, so that His banished ones are not expelled from Him. 15 "Now therefore, I have
come to speak of this thing to my lord the king because the people have made me
afraid. And your maidservant said, 'I will now speak to the king; it may be
that the king will perform the request of his maidservant. 16 'For the king will hear and
deliver his maidservant from the hand of the man who would destroy me
and my son together from the inheritance of God.' 17 "Your maidservant said,
'The word of my lord the king will now be comforting; for as the angel of God,
so is my lord the king in discerning good and evil. And may the LORD
your God be with you.' "
Now this women is turning
her situation and David’s Judgment against him. Basically she is says, why is
that you can see your judgment with my son but you cannot see it with your own
son. Why are keeping him at distance when you could forgive him and allow him
to come back him. It would be very difficult for the King to deny what the
woman has said because if he did then he would be saying that he made the wrong
judgment of this women’s son or that he was showing partiality. Notice David’s
response.
2 Samuel 14:18 Then
the king answered and said to the woman, "Please do not hide from me
anything that I ask you." And the woman said, "Please, let my lord
the king speak." 19 So
the king said, "Is the hand of Joab with you in all this?" And
the woman answered and said, "As you live, my lord the king, no one
can turn to the right hand or to the left from anything that my lord the king
has spoken. For your servant Joab commanded me, and he put all these words in
the mouth of your maidservant. 20
"To bring about this change of affairs your servant Joab has done this
thing; but my lord is wise, according to the wisdom of the angel of God,
to know everything that is in the earth."
Here we learn that David think
that Joab is involved in this sneaky story. Now the most plausible reason why
David suspected his involvement was that Joab had probably tried convincing
David in other ways to allow his son to come back home. We see that women
doesn’t waste anytime telling him that yes Joab was behind the whole thing and
no doubt this women felt scared standing before King knowing that the scheme
had been revealed. This why I believe we see this woman complimenting David
about his wisdom.
2 Samuel 14:21 And the
king said to Joab, "All right, I have granted this thing. Go therefore,
bring back the young man Absalom." 22
Then Joab fell to the ground on his face and bowed himself, and thanked the
king. And Joab said, "Today your servant knows that I have found favor in
your sight, my lord, O king, in that the king has fulfilled the request of his
servant." 23 So Joab
arose and went to Geshur, and brought Absalom to
Now Joab was apparently
there as this was taken place because now we see David turn his attention to
Joab. As we read David allows his son to return to
2 Samuel 14:25 Now in
all Israel there was no one who was praised as much as Absalom for his good
looks. From the sole of his foot to the crown of his head there was no blemish
in him. 26 And when he cut
the hair of his head -- at the end of every year he cut it because it
was heavy on him -- when he cut it, he weighed the hair of his head at two
hundred shekels according to the king's standard. 27 To Absalom were born three
sons, and one daughter whose name was Tamar. She was a woman of
beautiful appearance.
Here we see Absalom
described. He was very handsome man and his hair was extraordinary and each
year he cut it off because it weight which was somewhere around 4 pounds. Then
we learn that he has 3 sons and one daughter who he probably named after his
sister Tamar.
2 Samuel 14:28 And
Absalom dwelt two full years in
Including Absalom’s time
Gesure He had not seen his farther for 5 years and the fact that he could not
see him no doubt caused others to look down at him and so now he really wants
to get this problem taken care of but Joab will never come at his request so he
burns down his field and that get Joab’s attention and finally Absalom is
allowed to see his father for the first time in 5 years. What amazes me is that
Absalom doesn’t seem to think that he has any iniquity in him even though he
murdered his own brother. Well, as we read he bows down before David and David
kisses his son showing him that he is forgiven.
2 Samuel 15:1 After
this it happened that Absalom provided himself with chariots and horses, and
fifty men to run before him. 2
Now Absalom would rise early and stand beside the way to the gate. So it was,
whenever anyone who had a lawsuit came to the king for a decision, that Absalom
would call to him and say, "What city are you from?" And he
would say, "Your servant is from such and such a tribe of
This shows the political
campaign that Absalom was launching against his father. First he set himself up
with a body guard of chariots and horses
and 50 men. Then he manipulates the people like a politician would today. He
tries to show himself to be equal with the common people by kissing them and he
was doing his best to try and show the people that David was not taking care of
business as he should and that if he were made king he could do it the job much
better. Because of his smooth words and manipulative ways he stole the hearts
of the people.
2 Samuel 15:7 Now it
came to pass after forty years that Absalom said to the king, "Please, let
me go to
Now in verse 7 we have a
textual variance. Because some of the early manuscripts say 40 years while
others say 4 years. I believe that 4 years is correct considering that David
entire reign as a King was 40 years according 1Kings 2:11 and so it would be impossible for it to have been 40
years later. Now Absalom gives David a reason for why he should go back to
Geshur but what he was really wanting to do was to build his army so he could
take the kingdom from David. He sent spies though out the tribe of
2 Samuel 15:13 Now a
messenger came to David, saying, "The hearts of the men of
Now some have thought
that David was fleeing from fear but I don’t think this was the case. Instead I
see this as a strong military move on David’s Part because if he remained in
Jerusalem Absalom and his men could surround the city and have the advantage
but out in the open field David and his experienced men of war would have the
advantage over them. Also we learn from this text that David had at least 10
concubines at this time.
2 Samuel 15:19 Then
the king said to Ittai (it-uh-eye) the
Gittite, "Why are you also going with us? Return and remain with the king.
For you are a foreigner and also an exile from your own place. 20 "In fact, you came only
yesterday. Should I make you wander up and down with us today, since I go I
know not where? Return, and take your brethren back. Mercy and truth be with
you." 21 And Ittai (it-uh-eye) answered the king and said, "As the
LORD lives, and as my lord the king lives, surely in whatever place my
lord the king shall be, whether in death or life, even there also your servant
will be." 22 So David
said to Ittai, (it-uh-eye) "Go,
and cross over." Then Ittai the Gittite and all his men and all the little
ones who were with him crossed over.
23 And all the country wept with a loud voice, and all the
people crossed over. The king himself also crossed over the Brook Kidron, (kih-drun) and all the people crossed over toward the
way of the wilderness.
Here we see that David wasn’t
going to force anybody to be on his side but this group of people wanted to
serve David and be on his side. This man Ittai was apparently a very skillful
warrior as later on David will put him charge over a third of his army. All
those who were following David crossed over the Brook Kidron as you see on the
map. This brook runs into the
2 Samuel 15:24 There
was Zadok also, and all the Levites with him, bearing the ark of the covenant
of God. And they set down the ark of God, and Abiathar went up until all the
people had finished crossing over from the city. 25 Then the king said to Zadok,
"Carry the ark of God back into the city. If I find favor in the eyes of
the LORD, He will bring me back and show me both it and His dwelling
place. 26 "But if He
says thus: 'I have no delight in you,' here I am, let Him do to me as seems
good to Him." 27 The
king also said to Zadok the priest, "Are you not a seer?
Return to the city in peace, and your two sons with you, Ahimaaz (a-him-a-az) your
son, and Jonathan the son of Abiathar. 28
"See, I will wait in the plains of the wilderness until word comes from
you to inform me." 29
Therefore Zadok and Abiathar carried the ark of God back to
Here we see how strong
David faith is in God. He was not going to rely upon the ark instead he would
rely upon God himself and he was willing to take whatever God had in store for
him. So, he sends these men and the Levites who carry the ark back to
2 Samuel 15:30 So
David went up by the Ascent of the
The
Mount of Olives was located east of
2 Samuel 15:32 Now it
happened when David had come to the top of the mountain, where he worshiped God
-- there was Hushai (hoo-shigh) the Archite coming
to meet him with his robe torn and dust on his head. 33 David said to him, "If you
go on with me, then you will become a burden to me. 34 "But if you return to the
city, and say to Absalom, 'I will be your servant, O king; as I was your
father's servant previously, so I will now also be your servant,' then you may
defeat the counsel of Ahithophel for me.
35 "And do you not have Zadok and Abiathar the priests
with you there? Therefore it will be that whatever you hear from the king's
house, you shall tell to Zadok and Abiathar the priests. 36 "Indeed they have there
with them their two sons, Ahimaaz, (a-him-a-az) Zadok's son, and
Jonathan, Abiathar's son; and by them you shall send me everything you
hear." 37 So Hushai, (hoo-shigh)
David's friend, went into the city. And Absalom came into
So
as we come to the end of this chapter we see that David send Hushai to be a spy
and find out Absalom’s plans so Ahithophel’s advice would fail and he agrees to
do this for him. I can only imagine some of the thoughts that were going
through David’s head. Perhaps he was thinking about he should of done things
differently with his son but now all he could do was rely upon God and his wisdom
on how to handle this situation at hand and we will see what happens next week
as we look at chapter 17 and 18.