2 Samuel 14:1-7

1 Now Yo'av the son of Tzeru'yah perceived that the king's heart was toward Avshalom.

2 Yo'av sent to Tekoa, and fetched there a wise woman, and said to her, please act like a mourner, and put on mourning clothing, Please, and don't anoint yourself with oil, but be as a woman who has a long time mourned for the dead:

3 and go in to the king, and speak on this manner to him. So Yo'av put the words in her mouth.

4 When the woman of Tekoa spoke to the king, she fell on her face to the ground, and did obeisance, and said, Help, O king.

5 The king said to her, What ails you? She answered, Of a truth I am a widow, and my husband is dead.

6 Your handmaid had two sons, and they two strove together in the field, and there was none to part them, but the one struck the other, and killed him.

7 Behold, the whole family is risen against your handmaid, and they say, Deliver him who struck his brother, that we may kill him for the life of his brother whom he killed, and so destroy the heir also. Thus will they quench my coal which is left, and will leave to my husband neither name nor remainder on the surface of the eretz.

2 Samuel 14:1-7 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO SECOND SAMUEL 14

This chapter relates that Joab, perceiving David's inclination to bring back Absalom, employed a wise woman of Tekoah to lay before him a feigned case of hers, drawn up by Joab, whereby this point was gained from the king, that murder might be dispensed with in her case, 2Sa 14:1-20; which being applied to the case of Absalom, and the king finding out that the hand of Joab was in this, sent for him, and ordered him to bring Absalom again, though as yet he would not see his face, 2Sa 14:21-24; and after some notice being taken of the beauty of Absalom's person, particularly of his head of hair, and of the number of his children, 2Sa 14:25-27; it is related, that after two full years Absalom was uneasy that he might not see the king's face, and sent for Joab, who refused to come to him, till he found means to oblige him to it, who, with the king's leave, introduced him to him, 2Sa 14:28-33.