2 Samuel 13:37-39; 2 Samuel 14:1-3
Absalom fled, and went to Talmai, the son of Ammihud, king of Geshur. And David mourned for his son every day. So Absalom fled, and went to Geshur, and was there three years. And the soul of king David longed to go forth unto Absalom: for he was comforted concerning Amnon, seeing he was dead.
Now Joab the son of Zeruiah perceived that the king’s heart was toward Absalom. And Joab sent to Tekoah, and fetched thence a wise woman, and said unto 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 on this manner unto him.
So Joab put the words in her mouth.
MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): David mourned for Amnon a good while, but time wore off that grief: he was “comforted concerning Amnon.” It also wore off his detestation of Absalom’s sin too much; instead of loathing him as a murderer, he “longs to go forth to him.”
ALEXANDER WHYTE (1836-1921): “Joab the son of Zeruiah perceived that the king’s heart was toward Absalom.” Joab was a deep man—deeper, quite possibly, than any man here.
THOMAS GOODWIN (1600-1679): Solomon says of a wise man, that though “the heart of man be deep, yet a man of understanding will fetch it out,” Proverbs 20:5—One, as by comparing one action with another, one speech with another; so wise men guess at men’s ends in things, and the respects that move them.
THE EDITOR: A similar approach should also apply in studying the historical books. The Bible is a Divine fabric, perfectly woven together by the Holy Spirit for our learning. It has vertical thread lines and horizontal thread lines, like the warp and woof of medieval tapestries; and when those two thread lines are woven together, a detailed mural emerges. So in our Bible studies—by comparing scripture to scripture, and meditating carefully on specific details and nuances, including the tone of voice in what men say, the Spirit expands our understanding; it then becomes three-dimensional, depicting the scene far more clearly, and some distinct ramifications become apparent. Sometimes there is even significance in what is not said.
THOMAS GOODWIN: Second, wise men guess at men’s ends, and the respects that move them, by gestures. By a cast of a man’s countenance and behaviour, men are often discerned.
WILLIAM GURNALL (1617-1679): Joab saw David’s bowels working towards Absalom through the casement of his countenance, and therefore lets down a widow’s parable as a bucket to draw out that mercy which lay in his heart like water in a deep well. Joab knew what he did in sending the woman of Tekoah to David, with a petition wrapped up in a handsome parable for Absalom. He knew the king’s heart went strongly after him.
ALEXANDER WHYTE: David was all heart, and passion, and sensibility.
A. W. PINK (1886-1952): Joab resorted to an artful subterfuge whereby David might be saved from disgracing the throne and yet at the same time regain his beloved son. He employed a woman to pose as a desolate widow and relate to the king a fictitious story, getting him to commit himself by passing judgment there on. She is termed a “wise woman,” but her wisdom was the guile of the Serpent. Satan has no initiative, but always imitates, and in the tale told by this tool of Joab we have but a poor parody of the parable given through Nathan. The case she pictured was well calculated to appeal to the king’s susceptibilities, and bring to mind his own sorrow. With artful design she sought to show that under exceptional circumstances, it would be permissible to dispense with the executing of a murderer, especially when the issue involved the destruction of the last heir to an inheritance, 2 Samuel 14:4-17.
THOMAS GOODWIN: How easily it prevailed with him and how glad David’s heart was!
ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): Observe: It was David’s natural tenderness to his son which Joab took advantage of. If you examine David’s history more closely, you will find that, for the most part, his sins and consequent chastisements, were induced by consulting the feelings of nature more than the glory of God.
MATTHEW HENRY: Joab plainly foresaw that David would at length be reconciled to Absalom, and therefore thought he should make both his friends if he were instrumental to bring it about. As a statesman, concerned for the public welfare, Joab knew how much Absalom was the darling of the people, and, if David should die while he was in banishment, it might occasion a civil war between those that were for Absalom, and those that were against him.
A. W. PINK: Joab was what would be termed in present-day language as an ‘astute politician’—an unprincipled man of subtle expediency.
THE EDITOR: Nevertheless, David perceived the true author of her tale, and discerned his real motive. “Is not the hand of Joab with thee in all this?” 2 Samuel 14:19.
JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): Joab never pleased David better than when he pleaded for Absalom. All which Joab did, not out of any great goodwill to Absalom; but merely out of self love, to serve his own turn, now that he saw that David was set upon it to have him home, and that Absalom was likely enough to succeed his father in the kingdom. Now as Joab’s hand was in this whole business—he was the engineer—so is Satan’s hand in the sins of the wicked, and in the troubles of the godly, as is easily discerned.
THE EDITOR: Satan baits his temptations to suit their inclinations.
THOMAS GOODWIN: “And the king said unto Joab, Behold now, I have done this thing: go therefore, bring the young man Absalom again,” 2 Samuel 14:21. Even so acceptable it was to David, that Joab could not have done him a greater kindness, and that Joab knew well enough.
JOHN GILL: “And Joab fell to the ground on his face, and bowed himself, and thanked the king, and Joab said, Today thy servant knoweth that I have found grace in thy sight, my lord, O king, in that the king hath fulfilled the request of his servant,” 2 Samuel 14:22. He might presume upon this, that as the king had given orders at his request to recall Absalom, who had murdered his brother, which was tacitly giving him a pardon—so David would forgive him the murder of Abner, and think no more of it, since Joab perceived that now, which he had not so clearly perceived before, that he had found grace in his sight.
A. W. PINK: “So Joab brought Absalom to Jerusalem. And the king said, Let him turn to his own house, and let him not see my face. So Absalom returned to his own house and saw not the king’s face,” 2 Samuel 14:23,24. Some think this measure of the king was designed to humble his son, hoping that he would now be brought to see the heinousness of his sin and repent for it. But surely there had been sufficient time for that in his three years’ sojourn in Geshur.
ROBERT HAWKER: David’s winking at Absalom’s murder was contrary to God’s law. Alas! how little do we keep a steady eye to what the Lord hath said, instead of what we feel.
A. W. PINK: Nothing could possibly justify David in disregarding the divine law, which cried aloud for the avenging of Amnon. God had given no commandment for his son to be restored, and therefore His blessing did not attend it—It is to be duly noted that there is no word recorded of David seeking unto the Lord at this time. Ominous silence! The energies of nature dominated him, and therefore there was no seeking of wisdom from above. This it is which casts light upon the dark scenes that follow.
THE EDITOR: Like the Israelites of Joshua’s day concerning the Gibeonites, David “asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord,” Joshua 9:14.
