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2 SAMUEL 14

PARAGRAPH DIVISIONS OF MODERN TRANSLATIONS

READING CYCLE THREE (see "Bible Interpretation Seminar")

FOLLOWING THE ORIGINAL AUTHOR'S INTENT AT THE PARAGRAPH LEVEL

This is a study guide commentary, which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.

Read the chapter in one sitting. Identify the subjects. Compare your subject divisions with the five translations above. Paragraphing is not inspired, but it is the key to following the original author's intent, which is the heart of interpretation. Every paragraph has one and only one subject.

1. First paragraph
2. Second paragraph
3. Etc.

WORD AND PHRASE STUDY

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 14:1-3
  ¹Now Joab the son of Zeruiah perceived that the king's heart was inclined toward Absalom. ²So Joab sent to Tekoa and brought a wise woman from there and said to her, "Please pretend to be a mourner, and put on mourning garments now, and do not anoint yourself with oil, but be like a woman who has been mourning for the dead many days; ³then go to the king and speak to him in this manner." So Joab put the words in her mouth.

14:1 Obviously chapter 14 should not be separated from the flow of 2 Samuel (esp. 13:39). Remember, capitalization, punctuation, verse divisions, chapter divisions are all recent suggestions but are not inspired.

As you can see from these translation options, there are different ways to view this PREPOSITION (BDB 752-759). From the context it is uncertain.

1. 2 Sam. 13:39 supports a positive sense
2. 2 Sam. 14:24 supports a negative sense
3. possibly David was simply thinking a lot about Absalom because he was the heir apparent to the throne

14:2-20 This involves a royal judgment, like Nathan's, based on a parable type fictitious story which described David and Absalom's relationship.

14:2 "a wise woman" This same ADJECTIVE (BDB 314) was used of Jonadab in 2 Sam. 13:3 and another woman in 2 Sam. 20:16. The fact that the same word is used to describe the false wisdom of Sisera's mother in Jdgs. 5:28-29 shows the latitude of the term. Though women had a second class position in the ANE, their wisdom was honored.

SPECIAL TOPIC: WOMEN IN THE BIBLE

▣ "Tekoa" This city is about ten miles south of Jerusalem. It was the hometown of Amos.

▣ "a mourner" See SPECIAL TOPIC: GRIEVING RITES.

14:3 The king was the ultimate judge in Israel (cf. 2 Sam. 14:5,17,21). This tradition probably went back to Moses as judge.

▣ "So Joab put the words in her mouth" Joab is the originator of this fictitious parable (cf. v. 19) to convince David to bring Absalom home to Jerusalem.

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 14:4-7
  ⁴Now when the woman of Tekoa spoke to the king, she fell on her face to the ground and prostrated herself and said, "Help, O king." ⁵The king said to her, "What is your trouble?" And she answered, "Truly I am a widow, for my husband is dead. ⁶Your maidservant had two sons, but the two of them struggled together in the field, and there was no one to separate them, so one struck the other and killed him. ⁷Now behold, the whole family has risen against your maidservant, and they say, 'Hand over the one who struck his brother, that we may put him to death for the life of his brother whom he killed, and destroy the heir also.' Thus they will extinguish my coal which is left, so as to leave my husband neither name nor remnant on the face of the earth."

14:4 "spoke to the king" Many later Hebrew MSS, the Targums, the LXX, Peshitta, as well as the Vulgate, have "came to the king."

▣ "Help, O King" Israeli citizens had the right to ask the king for justice/deliverance/help (cf. 2 Kgs. 6:26). He was YHWH's judicial representative.

14:7 "they will extinguish my coal which is left" This imagery has to do with how the people of this period started their home fires in the morning. Usually a coal or ember from the last night's fire was used. If her last remaining son is killed, she would have no hope, no remnant, no remembrance of her family's name.

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 14:8-11
  ⁸Then the king said to the woman, "Go to your house, and I will give orders concerning you." ⁹The woman of Tekoa said to the king, "O my lord, the king, the iniquity is on me and my father's house, but the king and his throne are guiltless." ¹⁰So the king said, "Whoever speaks to you, bring him to me, and he will not touch you anymore." ¹¹Then she said, "Please let the king remember the Lord your God, so that the avenger of blood will not continue to destroy, otherwise they will destroy my son." And he said, "As the Lord lives, not one hair of your son shall fall to the ground."

14:11 "the Lord your God" This is the covenant name for Israel's Deity (i.e., YHWH) combined with a general name for deity in the ANE (i.e., Eloah).

SPECIAL TOPIC: NAMES FOR DEITY, C. and D.

▣ "the avenger of blood" This denotes a member of the family who helps (see NIDOTTE, vol. 1, p. 791, c). It could be

1. the kinsman redeemer (cf. Lev. 25:25,47-55; Ruth 2:20; 4:4,6)
2. the blood avenger (cf. Num. 35:19,21; Deut. 19:4-10; Josh. 20:3-5)

In this parable of a brother killing a brother it is uncertain who the blood avenger would be except the extended family.

The concept of a blood avenger was an OT way of limiting revenge. It was an aspect of the "eye for eye" legal system of Israel.

▣ "As the Lord lives" This was an oath formula based on a word play between

1. the VERB "to be" (BDB 224)
2. the covenant name for Israel's God, YHWH (BDB 217)

▣ "not one hair of your son shall fall to the ground" This was an idiom for safety and no retaliation (cf. 1 Sam. 14:45; 1 Kgs. 1:52).

It may be the source of Jesus saying, "The very hairs of your head are numbered" (Matt. 10:30; Luke 21:18).

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 14:12-17
  ¹²Then the woman said, "Please let your maidservant speak a word to my lord the king." And he said, "Speak." ¹³The woman said, "Why then have you planned such a thing against the people of God? For in speaking this word the king is as one who is guilty, in that the king does not bring back his banished one. ¹⁴For we will surely die and are like water spilled on the ground which cannot be gathered up again. Yet God does not take away life, but plans ways so that the banished one will not be cast out from him. ¹⁵Now the reason I have come to speak this word to my lord the king is that the people have made me afraid; so your maidservant said, 'Let me now speak to the king, perhaps the king will perform the request of his maidservant. ¹⁶For the king will hear and deliver his maidservant from the hand of the man who would destroy both me and my son from the inheritance of God.' ¹⁷Then your maidservant said, 'Please let the word of my lord the king be comforting, for as the angel of God, so is my lord the king to discern good and evil. And may the Lord your God be with you.'"

14:13 As Nathan brought a realization of David's sin, this parable again condemns David for his actions (i.e., not allowing the heir apparent to return to the capital).

14:14 "we will surely die" This is an emphatic Hebrew grammatical structure which involves an INFINITIVE ABSOLUTE and an IMPERFECT VERB of the same root (BDB 559, KB 562).

▣ "Yet God does not take away life, but plans ways so that the banished one will not be cast out from Him" This statement expresses the basic orientation of YHWH, which is grace, mercy, and forgiveness. Oh my, what a great truth!

The JPSOA interprets this as a reference to King David, not YHWH. "The apparent sense is: God will not punish you for bringing back the banished Absalom," p. 643.

The MT has a COGNATE ACCUSATIVE, "not to banish" (BDB 623, KB 673, Qal IMPERFECT) his banished one (same root, Niphal ACTIVE PARTICIPLE).

SPECIAL TOPIC: CHARACTERISTICS OF ISRAEL'S GOD (OT)

14:15 "the people" This could refer to

1. the woman's clan or extended family who wanted to kill her only son (2 Sam. 14:7,11,16)
2. the people of Israel wanting their handsome heir apparent to return to Jerusalem (v. 13 and possibly v. 17)

14:16 "the hand of the man" This is literally "palm" (BDB 496).

SPECIAL TOPIC: HAND

▣ "the inheritance of God" Israel was the inheritance of YHWH. He gave them the land of Canaan (cf. 1 Sam. 26:19; Ps. 79:1; 136:21; Jer. 2:7). This is imagery from YHWH as "Father."

SPECIAL TOPIC: THE FATHERHOOD OF GOD

The MT has the FEMININE NOUN (BDB 629) "rest." BDB says "it is a figure for security and assurance (taken from resting equilibrium of a scale.)"

This word is used of Ruth finding rest (i.e., protection and provision) by marriage (cf. Ruth 1:9).

▣ "for as the angel of God" Does this phrase refer to

1. the rest brought by the presence of the Angel of God
2. the angel knowing "good and evil" (cf. v. 20; 19:27; NKJV, TEV, NJB)
3. David's majesty like the Angel of God (REB)?

SPECIAL TOPIC: THE ANGEL OF THE Lord

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 14:18-20
  ¹⁸Then the king answered and said to the woman, "Please do not hide anything from me that I am about to ask you." And the woman said, "Let my lord the king please speak." ¹⁹So the king said, "Is the hand of Joab with you in all this?" And the woman replied, "As your soul lives, my lord the king, no one can turn to the right or to the left from anything that my lord the king has spoken. Indeed, it was your servant Joab who commanded me, and it was he who put all these words in the mouth of your maidservant; ²⁰in order to change the appearance of things your servant Joab has done this thing. But my lord is wise, like the wisdom of the angel of God, to know all that is in the earth."

14:19 "As your soul lives" This was an oath by the life of the king (cf. 1 Sam. 17:55).

▣ "no one can turn to the right or to the left" This imagery comes from YHWH's truth/covenant as a "road," "way," or "path." To deviate from the clearly shown way is rebellion. Here, it means no one can lie to the king who has the discernment of the Angel of God (cf. 2 Sam. 14:20).

14:20 This is obviously hyperbolic language. One reason westerners misinterpret the Bible is that they do not understand eastern imagery. Two books that have helped me in this area are

1. G. B. Caird, The Language and Imagery of the Bible
2. D. Brent Sandy, Plowshares and Pruning Hooks: Rethinking the Language of Biblical Prophecy and Apocalyptic

▣ "earth" See SPECIAL TOPIC: LAND, COUNTRY, EARTH (OT).

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 14:21-24
  ²¹Then the king said to Joab, "Behold now, I will surely do this thing; go therefore, bring back the young man Absalom." ²²Joab fell on his face to the ground, prostrated himself and blessed the king; then Joab said, "Today your servant knows that I have found favor in your sight, O my lord, the king, in that the king has performed the request of his servant." ²³So Joab arose and went to Geshur and brought Absalom to Jerusalem. ²⁴However the king said, "Let him turn to his own house, and let him not see my face." So Absalom turned to his own house and did not see the king's face.

14:24 Absalom returned from exile but was not fully restored to fellowship with David. Absalom now is the heir apparent to the throne of Israel. Maybe this is why Joab acted on his behalf.

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 14:25-27
  ²⁵Now in all Israel was no one as handsome as Absalom, so highly praised; from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head there was no defect in him. ²⁶When he cut the hair of his head (and it was at the end of every year that he cut it, for it was heavy on him so he cut it), he weighed the hair of his head at 200 shekels by the king's weight. ²⁷To Absalom there were born three sons, and one daughter whose name was Tamar; she was a woman of beautiful appearance.

14:25-26 These verses express the cultural expectations of the physical appearance of a king.

14:26 "shekels" See SPECIAL TOPIC: ANE WEIGHTS AND VOLUMES.

14:27 "Tamar" This was Absalom's sister (cf. 2 Sam. 13:1), but now she lived in his house as a daughter (one protected).

The LXX adds "Tamar. . .and she became wife to Rehoboam son of Solomon and she bore him Abia." For a possible explanation of this see Hard Sayings of the Bible, p. 245.

2 Samuel 14:27 mentioning three sons is surprising in light of 2 Sam. 18:18. Possibly the sons had died by chapter 18.

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 14:28-33
  ²⁸Now Absalom lived two full years in Jerusalem, and did not see the king's face. ²⁹Then Absalom sent for Joab, to send him to the king, but he would not come to him. So he sent again a second time, but he would not come. ³⁰Therefore he said to his servants, "See, Joab's field is next to mine, and he has barley there; go and set it on fire." So Absalom's servants set the field on fire. ³¹Then Joab arose, came to Absalom at his house and said to him, "Why have your servants set my field on fire?" ³²Absalom answered Joab, "Behold, I sent for you, saying, 'Come here, that I may send you to the king, to say, "Why have I come from Geshur? It would be better for me still to be there."' Now therefore, let me see the king's face, and if there is iniquity in me, let him put me to death." ³³So when Joab came to the king and told him, he called for Absalom. Thus he came to the king and prostrated himself on his face to the ground before the king, and the king kissed Absalom.

14:28-33 This account clearly shows

1. the personality of Absalom (v. 30)
2. the reluctance of Joab to do more for Absalom (v. 29)
3. Absalom's sense that he had not done wrong in killing Amnon (v. 32)
4. David's restoration of Absalom would prove to be a problem (2 Samuel 15-18)

14:30 "set it on fire" The MT has the VERB, BDB 428, KB 429, Hiphil PERFECT with waw. But the Masoretic scholars suggested it be understood as a Hiphil IMPERATIVE to match, "go" (Qal IMPERATIVE).

14:33 "the king kissed Absalom" This was a gesture of full restoration, acceptance, or feeling of love (cf. Gen. 33:4; 45:15; Exod. 18:7; Ruth 1:9,14; 1 Sam. 10:1; 20:41).

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

This is a study guide commentary which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.

These discussion questions are provided to help you think through the major issues of this section of the book. They are meant to be thought-provoking, not definitive.

1. What is an avenger of blood?
2. Why was the restoration of Absalom important for Israel?
3. In what sense is David like the Angel of God?
4. Is the Tamar in 2 Sam. 14:22 a daughter of Absalom or a way to refer to his sister?

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