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Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 2 Samuel 14:1-20

Here is, I. Joab's design to get Absalom recalled out of banishment, his crime pardoned, and his attainder reversed, 2 Sam. 14:1. Joab made himself very busy in this affair. 1. As a courtier that was studious, by all ways possible, to ingratiate himself with his prince and improve his interest in his favour: He perceived that the king's heart was towards Absalom, and that, the heat of his displeasure being over, he still retained his old affection for him, and only wanted a friend to court him... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Samuel 14:12

Then the woman said, let thine handmaid, I pray thee, speak one word unto my Lord the king ,.... Having gained her point, and gotten a decree from him confirmed by an oath, that her son though he had killed his brother should not die; she proceeds to accommodate the parable, and apply it to the case of Absalom, and improve it in his favour: and he said, say on ; gave her leave to say what she had further to observe to him; see Luke 7:40 . read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Samuel 14:13

Wherefore then hast thou thought such a thing against the people of God ?.... That they would be so wicked as to slay my son, or that they are the people of God that would slay Absalom; people so cruel could not be reckoned such, as the king's sons; so Abarbinel; who gives it as the sense of Ephodaeus, that by the people of God are meant Absalom, and his men; or Absalom only, one man being sometimes called people, Exodus 21:8 ; and she expostulates with the king how he could entertain such... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 2 Samuel 14:13

Wherefore then hast thou thought such a thing - The woman, having now got the king's promise confirmed by all oath, that her son should not suffer for the murder of his brother, comes immediately to her conclusion: Is not the king to blame? Does he now act a consistent part? He is willing to pardon the meanest of his subjects the murder of a brother at the instance of a poor widow, and he is not willing to pardon his son Absalom, whose restoration to favor is the desire of the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Samuel 14:1-20

The facts are: 1 . Joab, observing that the king's heart was still adverse to Absalom, devised, in order to bring him round to a different feeling, that a wise woman from Tekoah should appear before him and plead a cause. 2 . The woman appears before the king, and narrates as facts certain circumstances, namely, 3 . David, touched with her story, undertakes to grant her request, whereupon the woman, recognizing the usage in such cases, desires to exonerate the king from blame in... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Samuel 14:1-20

( JERUSALEM .) The woman of Tekoah. 1 . In David "the king" we hero see that fatherly affection may come into conflict with regal justice. He must have perceived the ill effects of sparing Amnon, and felt constrained to punish Absalom. But his grief and resentment were mitigated by the lapse of time ( 2 Samuel 13:39 ). Nevertheless, though prompted by natural affection to recall his son, he was deterred from doing so by political and judicial considerations. And to overcome his... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Samuel 14:13

Against the people of God. Very skilfully, and so as for the meaning only gradually to unfold itself to the king, she represents the people of Israel as the widowed mother, who has lost one son; and David as the stern clan folk who will deprive her of a second though guilty child. But now he is bound by the solemn oath he has taken to her to remit the penalty; for literally the words are, and by the king's speaking this word he is as one guilty, unless he fetch home again his banished one. ... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - 2 Samuel 14:12

Having at last obtained what she wanted, the king’s oath that her son should not die, she proceeds to the case of Absalom. The meaning of 2 Samuel 14:13 may be paraphrased thus: “If you have done right as regards my son, how is it that you harbor such a purpose of vengeance against Absalom as to keep him, one of God’s people, an outcast in a pagan country, far from the worship of the God of Israel? Upon your own showing you are guilty of a great fault in not allowing Absalom to return.”The king... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - 2 Samuel 14:12-13

2 Samuel 14:12-13. Then the woman said Having gained this point, she begs leave to say one word more, which being granted, she immediately proceeds to expostulate with the king upon his own conduct, and unkindness to the people of God, in not pardoning his own son, and bringing him back from exile. Wherefore then If thou wouldest not permit the avengers of blood to molest me, or to destroy my son, who are but two persons; how unreasonable is it that thou shouldest proceed in thy... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - 2 Samuel 14:1-33

David’s family troubles begin (13:1-14:33)The first of the foretold disgraces that fell on David’s family followed the same pattern as David’s own sin: sexual immorality followed by murder, with the murderer carefully plotting how to get rid of his victim.Amnon, David’s eldest son, tried to seduce his half-sister Tamar, but when Tamar resisted him he raped her (13:1-14). Cruelly, Amnon then drove Tamar away, and the young princess cried bitterly at the loss of her virginity in such... read more

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