2 Samuel 14:5

14:1-20 We may notice here, how this widow pleads God's mercy, and his clemency toward poor guilty sinners. The state of sinners is a state of banishment from God. God pardons none to the dishonour of his law and justice, nor any who are impenitent; nor to the encouragement of crimes, or the hurt of others.

And the king said unto her, what aileth thee?.... Or what is thy case? What is the condition, and what the circumstances, that thou art in, which require help and assistance? intimating that he was ready to grant it on knowledge thereof; however, he was ready to hear what she had to say: and she answered, I am indeed a widow woman; of a truth a widow, as the Targum; she was really one, a widow indeed, as in 1 Timothy 5:3; not one that was separated from her husband, he being alive, or divorced from him on any account; and therefore she adds: and mine husband is dead; and has been a long time; this she said to move the pity and compassion of the king, who, as the supreme magistrate in God's stead, was a Father of the fatherless, and the judge of the widow.

2-21. And Joab sent to Tekoah, and fetched thence a wise woman—The king was strongly attached to Absalom; and having now got over his sorrow for the violent death of Amnon, he was desirous of again enjoying the society of his favorite son, who had now been three long years absent. But a dread of public opinion and a regard to the public interests made him hesitate about recalling or pardoning his guilty son; and Joab, whose discerning mind perceived this struggle between parental affection and royal duty, devised a plan for relieving the scruples, and, at the same time, gratifying the wishes, of his master. Having procured a countrywoman of superior intelligence and address, he directed her to seek an audience of the king, and by soliciting his royal interposition in the settlement of a domestic grievance, convinced him that the life of a murderer might in some cases be saved. Tekoah was about twelve miles south of Jerusalem, and six south of Beth-lehem; and the design of bringing a woman from such a distance was to prevent either the petitioner being known, or the truth of her story easily investigated. Her speech was in the form of a parable—the circumstances—the language—the manner—well suited to the occasion, represented a case as like David's as it was policy to make it, so as not to be prematurely discovered.

Having got the king pledged, she avowed it to be her design to satisfy the royal conscience, that in pardoning Absalom he was doing nothing more than he would have done in the case of a stranger, where there could be no imputation of partiality. The device succeeded; David traced its origin to Joab; and, secretly pleased at obtaining the judgment of that rough, but generally sound-thinking soldier, he commissioned him to repair to Geshur and bring home his exiled son.

When the king asked her, "What aileth thee?" the woman described the pretended calamity which had befallen her, saying that she was a widow, and her two sons had quarrelled in the field; and as no one interposed, one of them had killed the other. The whole family had then risen up and demanded that the survivor should be given up, that they might carry out the avenging of blood upon him. Thus they sought to destroy the heir also, and extinguish the only spark that remained to her, so as to leave her husband neither name nor posterity upon the earth. The suffix attached to ויּכּו, with the object following ("he smote him, the other," 2 Samuel 14:6 ), may be explained from the diffuseness of the style of ordinary conversation (see at 1 Samuel 21:14 ). There is no reason whatever for changing the reading into יכּוּ, as the suffix ow, though unusual with verbs הל, is not without parallel; not to mention the fact that the plural יכּוּ is quite unsuitable. There is also quite as little reason for changing ונשׁמידה into וישׁמידוּ, in accordance with the Syriac and Arabic, as Michaelis and Thenius propose, on the ground that "the woman would have described her relatives as diabolically malicious men, if she had put into their mouths such words as these, 'We will destroy the heir also.' " It was the woman's intention to describe the conduct of the relations and their pursuit of blood-revenge in the harshest terms possible, in order that she might obtain help from the king.

She begins to speak in her own name at the word וכבּוּ ("and so they shall quench and"), where she resorts to a figure, for the purpose of appealing to the heart of the king to defend her from the threatened destruction of her family, saying, "And so they shall quench the burning coal which is left." גּחלת is used figuratively, like τὸ ζώπυρον, the burning coal with which one kindles a fresh fire, to denote the last remnant. שׁוּם לבלתּי: "so as not to set," i.e., to preserve or leave name and remnant (i.e., posterity) to my husband. This account differed, no doubt, from the case of Absalom, inasmuch as in his case no murder had taken place in the heat of a quarrel, and no avenger of blood demanded his death; so that the only resemblance was in the fact that there existed an intention to punish a murderer. But it was necessary to disguise the affair in this manner, in order that David might not detect her purpose, but might pronounce a decision out of pity for the poor widow which could be applied to his own conduct towards Absalom.

[Bible] Chapter 14 Now Joab the son of Zeruiah perceived that the king's heart was towards Absalom. And Joab sent to Tekoah, and brought thence a wise woman, and said to her, I pray thee, feign thyself to be a mourner, and put on now mourning apparel, and anoint not thyself with oil, but be as a woman that had a long time mourned for the dead: And come to the king, and speak in this manner to him. So Joab put the words in her mouth. And when the woman of Tekoah spoke to the king, she fell on her face to the ground, and did obeisance, and said, Help, O king. And the king said to her, What aileth thee? And she answered, I am indeed a widow woman, and my husband is dead. And thy handmaid had two sons, and they two strove together in the field, and there was none to part them, but the one smote the other and slew him. And behold, the whole family hath risen against thy 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 will quench my coal which is left, and will not leave to my husband neither name nor remainder upon the earth. And the king said to the woman, Go to thy house, and I will give charge concerning thee. And the woman of Tekoah said to the king, My lord, O king, the iniquity be on me, and on my father's house: and the king and his throne be guiltless. And the king said, Whoever saith aught to thee, bring him to me, and he shall not touch thee any more. Then said she, I pray thee, let the king remember the LORD thy God, that thou wouldest not suffer the revengers of blood to destroy any more, lest they destroy my son. And he said, As the LORD liveth, there shall not one hair of thy son fall to the earth. Then the woman said, Let thy handmaid, I pray thee, speak one word to my lord the king. And he said, Say on.

7, 8. Ifa. l8. 17. ind lays Righrcoufnefs to^i^t.", and will not fuflfer X to go further,but according to the rerms,bound5^ imits and n:>ealures which the Law of Grace a3nits, fo ihall the Puniflimenc be. S/ttan oft faith )f us, when we have finned, as j^bifhal faid of Ujintfi after he had curs*d David, Shall not this nin die for this ? Z Sam, i<^ zi. Sat Jefus out \dvocate anfwers as David, VVoxt ki\)8 I to ^^ fMr^fif, O Satan? Thou this day art an Eac v^ t<i

clean^and counted upright, notwithftanding thofe Infirmities : And therefore you (ball find, thtr iren of God are counted good and u fright in Con^ fiuih the Text, did that which wm right in the ejer in the matter of Uriah the Hittite, i Kin. 1 5. 5, t\ But was David in a ft rid): fenfe without fault in is\ dl things elfc ? No verily : But that was foul 30 a higher degree than the reft, and- thercforer diere God fets a bloc ; ay, and doubclefs, for char ke was accus'd by Satan before the Throne of €od ; for here is Adultery, and Murder, and Hypocrifie in David'^s doings ; here is notorious mat^ ter, a great Sin, and fo a great Ground for Satarr to draw up an Indidlment againft the King, and a thundering one to be fure (hall be preferred ag gainfl him. This is the time then for Ghrift ta a I ftand up to plead ^ for now there is room for el fach a Queflion, Can David's Sim ftand withr. : Grace ? Or, is it poffible that a Man that has done I as he has, fhould yet be found a Saint, and fo itr f afaved ftate? Or, can God repute him fo/ and*" - yet be Holy and Juft ? Or, can the Merits of the - ! lord Jefus reach, according to the Law of Hca- 'I ven, a Man in this condition ? Here is a cafe du^ 5 j fcow, here's a Man whofe Salvation, by his foul • j Offences, is made doubtful ^ now we muft to '■ I Law and Judgment, wherefore now let Chrift