2 Samuel 14:17

17 And now your servant says, ‘May the word of my lord the king bring me rest, for my lord the king is able to discern good and evil, just like the angel ^[a] of God. May the LORD your God be with you.’”

2 Samuel 14:17 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 14:17

Then thine handmaid said, the word of my lord the king shall
now be comfortable
Or, "for rest" ^F17; what will give ease and satisfaction not only to her, but to all the people of Israel, when they shall hear of the king's intention and resolution to bring back Absalom:

for as an angel of God, so [is] my lord the king;
as they are very wise, knowing, and understanding creatures, so was David:

to discern good and bad;
to hear both the one and the other, and to discern the difference between them, and choose and pursue what is right, as in all other things, so in the present case:

therefore the Lord thy God shall be with thee;
as to counsel and advise, so to assist in performance, and to prosper and succeed; the Targum is,

``the Word of the Lord thy God shall be for thine help.''

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FOOTNOTES:

F17 (hxnml) "ad requiem", Pagninus, Montanus; "ad tranquillitatem", Tigurine version; "ad quietem", Vatablus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.

2 Samuel 14:17 In-Context

15 Now therefore, I have come to present this matter to my lord the king because the people have made me afraid. Your servant thought, ‘I will speak to the king. Perhaps he will grant the request of his maidservant.

16 For the king will hear and deliver his maidservant from the hand of the man who would cut off both me and my son from God’s inheritance.’

17 And now your servant says, ‘May the word of my lord the king bring me rest, for my lord the king is able to discern good and evil, just like the angel of God. May the LORD your God be with you.’”

18 Then the king said to the woman, “I am going to ask you something; do not conceal it from me!” “Let my lord the king speak,” she replied.

19 So the king asked, “Is the hand of Joab behind all this?” The woman answered, “As surely as you live, my lord the king, no one can turn to the right or to the left from anything that my lord the king says. Yes, your servant Joab is the one who gave me orders; he told your maidservant exactly what to say.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or Angel; also in verse 20