Therefore he said unto his servants
That did his business for him in the field, in keeping his flocks, and tilling his ground:
see Joab's field is near mine:
for great personages in those days attended to husbandry:
and he hath barley there, go and set it on fire;
it being ripe, and so capable of being fired, and therefore must be some time in March or April, when barley harvest began; he served Joab as Samson did the Philistines, ( Judges 15:4 ) ; which shows him to be a bold, and revengeful, and ungrateful man, to use his friend, and the general of the king's army, after this manner:
and Absalom's servants set the field on fire;
as their master had bid them, and which is no wonder; for as they murdered Ammon at his command, they would not stop at burning Joab's field, when he bid them do it; see ( 2 Samuel 13:28 2 Samuel 13:29 ) .