The Fallible · Synthetic · Study Bible
Absalom’s Return to Jerusalem
2 Samuel 14:1–27 — Absalom’s Return to Jerusalem. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.
1Now Joab son of Zeruiah perceived that the king’s heart longed for Absalom.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
yō·w·’āḇ ben- ṣə·ru·yāh way·yê·ḏa‘ kî- ham·me·leḵ lêḇ ‘al- ’aḇ·šā·lō·wm
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-he-knew, Joab son-of-Zeruiah, that the-heart of-the-king [was] upon Absalom.
Where the English smooths the original
The Hebrew preposition is used in both senses, though more frequently in the latter, and unquestionably expresses hostility in the only other place ( Daniel 11:28 ) in which this form of the phrase occurs.
That he longed to see him, and have him restored to his country; but was ashamed to show kindness to one whom God’s law and his own conscience obliged him to punish.Benson takes the opposite side of the preposition from Ellicott and K&D; both readings are given here so the reader can weigh them rather than inherit one.
But this explanation is neither philologically sustained, nor in accordance with the context.
2So Joab sent to Tekoa to bring a wise woman from there. He told her, “Please pretend to be a mourner; put on clothes for mourning and do not anoint yourself with oil. Act like a woman who has mourned for the dead a long time.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
yō·w·’āḇ way·yiš·laḥ tə·qō·w·‘āh way·yiq·qaḥ ḥă·ḵā·māh ’iš·šāh miš·šām way·yō·mer ’ê·le·hā nā hiṯ·’ab·bə·lî- wə·liḇ·šî- nā ḇiḡ·ḏê- ’ê·ḇel wə·’al- tā·sū·ḵî še·men wə·hā·yîṯ kə·’iš·šāh zeh miṯ·’ab·be·leṯ ‘al- mêṯ rab·bîm yā·mîm
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-sent Joab Tekoah-ward and-took from-there a-wise woman, and-said unto-her: Show-thyself-a-mourner, I-pray, and-put-on, I-pray, garments-of-mourning, and-do-not anoint-thyself with-oil; and-thou-shalt-be like-a-woman these many days mourning over-a-dead-one.
Where the English smooths the original
There is no ground whatever for suspecting her of being a “witch,” or in any way disreputable.
A wise woman, rather than a man, because women can more easily express their passions, and do sooner procure pity in their miseries, and an answer to their requests.Poole's reasoning is of its period; we record it as his own account of why Joab chose a woman, not as our own.
The proximity of Tekoah to Bethlehem explains Joab’s acquaintance with this woman, whose shrewdness fitted her to act the part he wished.
3Then go to the king and speak these words to him.” And Joab put the words in her mouth.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
ū·ḇāṯ ’el- ham·me·leḵ wə·ḏib·bart haz·zeh kad·dā·ḇār ’ê·lāw yō·w·’āḇ ’eṯ- way·yā·śem had·də·ḇā·rîm bə·p̄î·hā
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-thou-shalt-come unto the-king and-speak unto-him according-to-this-word. And-put Joab the-words in-her-mouth.
Where the English smooths the original
the fable she was to deliver as her own case might be framed by Joab, and which she delivered word for word exactly as he put it
An interesting evidence of the simplicity of the times, when the king was thus directly accessible to his subjects who had causes to be tried or grievances to be redressed.
4When the woman from Tekoa went to the king, she fell facedown in homage and said, “Help me, O king!”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wat·tō·mer hā·’iš·šāh hat·tə·qō·‘îṯ ’el- ham·me·leḵ wat·tip·pōl ‘al- ’ap·pe·hā ’ar·ṣāh wat·tiš·tā·ḥū wat·tō·mer hō·wō·ši·‘āh ham·me·leḵ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-said the-woman the-Tekoite unto the-king, and-she-fell upon her-nostrils earth-ward and-bowed-herself-down, and-said: Save, O-king!
Where the English smooths the original
Help - literally, save (see the margin). It is the same cry as Hosanna, i. e. save now
All the old translators have given as the rendering of האשּׁה ותּאמר "the woman came (went) to the king," as if they had read ותּבא. This reading is actually found in some thirty Codd. of De Rossi, and is therefore regarded by Thenius and the majority of critics as the original one.K&D goes on to defend the Masoretic reading against the versions; we cite the opening of his survey so the textual question is visible, not the conclusion alone.
It was and in some cases still is the practice in Oriental countries for a subject approaching the king, especially with any petition, to kneel down and bend forward until the forehead actually touches the ground.
5“What troubles you?” the king asked her. “Indeed,” she said, “I am a widow, for my husband is dead.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
mah- lāḵ ham·me·leḵ way·yō·mer- lāh ’ă·ḇāl wat·tō·mer ’ā·nî ’iš·šāh- ’al·mā·nāh ’î·šî way·yā·māṯ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-said to-her the-king: What to-thee? And-she-said: Truly a-woman-widow [am] I, and-died my-man.
Where the English smooths the original
one of them who most need thy compassion and assistance, and whom thou art by God’s law obliged in a singular manner to protect and relieve.
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.
6And your maidservant had two sons who were fighting in the field with no one to separate them, and one struck the other and killed him.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
ū·lə·šip̄·ḥā·ṯə·ḵā šə·nê ḇā·nîm šə·nê·hem way·yin·nā·ṣū baś·śā·ḏeh wə·’ên maṣ·ṣîl bê·nê·hem hā·’e·ḥāḏ ’eṯ- way·yak·kōw hā·’e·ḥāḏ way·yā·meṯ ’ō·ṯōw
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-to-thy-handmaid two sons, and-they-struggled the-two-of-them in-the-field, and-there-is-no-deliverer between-them; and-smote the-one the-other and-killed him.
Where the English smooths the original
The woman represents the fratricide as unpremeditated and without malice. This really made the case essentially different from that of Absalom;
and therefore there is no witness, either that he killed him, or how he killed him, whether from some sudden passion and great provocation, or in his own necessary defence, or otherwise.
Under this parable she describes the death of Amnon by Absalom.The Geneva gloss states the allegory flatly; the text itself never does, and Ellicott's point about the deliberate mismatch between parable and reality should be held alongside it.
7Now the whole clan has risen up against your maidservant and said, ‘Hand over the one who struck down his brother, that we may put him to death for the life of the brother whom he killed. Then we will cut off the heir as well!’ So they would extinguish my one remaining ember by not preserving my husband’s name or posterity on the earth.”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·hin·nêh ḵāl ham·miš·pā·ḥāh qā·māh ‘al- šip̄·ḥā·ṯe·ḵā way·yō·mə·rū tə·nî ’eṯ- mak·kêh ’ā·ḥîw ū·nə·mi·ṯê·hū bə·ne·p̄eš ’ā·ḥîw ’ă·šer hā·rāḡ wə·naš·mî·ḏāh ’eṯ- hay·yō·w·rêš gam wə·ḵib·bū ’eṯ- niš·’ā·rāh ga·ḥal·tî ’ă·šer lə·ḇil·tî śūm lə·’î·šî šêm ū·šə·’ê·rîṯ ‘al- pə·nê hā·’ă·ḏā·māh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-behold, has-risen the-whole clan against thy-handmaid, and-they-said: Give-over the-smiter-of his-brother, and-we-will-put-him-to-death for-the-soul of-his-brother whom he-killed; and-we-will-exterminate also the-heir! And-they-will-quench my-coal that-is-left, so-as-not to-set for-my-man name and-remnant upon the-face-of the-ground.
Where the English smooths the original
The figure is a beautiful one; a coal live, but lying under a heap of embers—all that she had to rekindle her fire—to light her lamp in Israel.
in order to make their conduct appear in the worst possible light, as actuated not so much by a wish to observe the law as by covetousness and a desire to share the inheritance among themselves.
The mother sets before David the other side of the matter - her own loneliness, the wiping out of the father's house, the utter ruin of her home if the last live coal on her hearth be extinguished.
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.
8“Go home,” the king said to the woman, “and I will give orders on your behalf.”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
lə·ḵî lə·ḇê·ṯêḵ ham·me·leḵ way·yō·mer ’el- hā·’iš·šāh wa·’ă·nî ’ă·ṣaw·weh ‘ā·lā·yiḵ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-said the-king unto the-woman: Go to-thy-house, and-I, I-will-give-charge concerning-thee.
Where the English smooths the original
The king could reasonably grant a free pardon, as it was a case of manslaughter and not a premeditated murder.
If the brothers had quarrelled, and one had killed the other in the heat of the quarrel, it was right that he should be defended from the avenger of blood, because it could not be assumed that there was any previous intention to murder.
the case was too like his own to suffer David to be unmoved; he soon felt her distress, and told her she might return to her house, and leave the care of her business to him; he would give proper directions about it.
9But the woman of Tekoa said to the king, “My lord the king, may any blame be on me and on my father’s house, and may the king and his throne be guiltless.”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
hā·’iš·šāh hat·tə·qō·w·‘îṯ wat·tō·mer ’el- ham·me·leḵ ’ă·ḏō·nî ham·me·leḵ he·‘ā·wōn ‘ā·lay wə·‘al- ’ā·ḇî bêṯ wə·ham·me·leḵ wə·ḵis·’ōw nā·qî
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-said the-woman the-Tekoite unto the-king: Upon-me, my-lord the-king, [be] the-iniquity, and-upon the-house-of my-father; and-the-king and-his-throne [be] innocent.
Where the English smooths the original
if there be any wrong in thus condoning blood-guiltiness, let the responsibility rest on me.
The woman's language refers to a common precaution taken by the Hebrew judges and magistrates, solemnly to transfer from themselves the responsibility of the blood they doomed to be shed, either to the accusers or the criminals (2Sa 1:16; 3:28); and sometimes the accusers took it upon themselves (Mt 27:25).
The king had given a general promise to help the widow, but she wants to lead him on to a definite assurance that her son shall be pardoned. Less than this would not help Absalom's case.
10“If anyone speaks to you,” said the king, “bring him to me, and he will not trouble you again!”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
ham·ḏab·bêr ’ê·la·yiḵ way·yō·mer ham·me·leḵ wa·hă·ḇê·ṯōw ’ê·lay wə·lō- lā·ḡa·‘aṯ bāḵ yō·sîp̄ ‘ō·wḏ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-said the-king: The-one-speaking unto-thee — and-thou-shalt-bring-him unto-me, and-he-shall-not add again to-touch thee.
Where the English smooths the original
11“Please,” she replied, “may the king invoke the LORD your God to prevent the avenger of blood from increasing the devastation, so that my son may not be destroyed!” “As surely as the LORD lives,” he vowed, “not a hair of your son’s head will fall to the ground.”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
nā wat·tō·mer ham·me·leḵ ’eṯ- yiz·kār- Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵā gō·’êl had·dām mē·har·bīṯ lə·ša·ḥêṯ ’eṯ- bə·nî wə·lō yaš·mî·ḏū Yah·weh ḥay- way·yō·mer ’im- miś·śa·‘ă·raṯ bə·nêḵ yip·pōl ’ā·rə·ṣāh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-she-said: Let-remember, I-pray, the-king YHWH thy-God, from-the-multiplying-of the-redeemer-of-blood to-ruin, lest they-exterminate my-son. And-he-said: As-YHWH-lives, if there-shall-fall of-the-hair of-thy-son earth-ward—
Where the English smooths the original
She presses for the further assurance of an oath in the name of God.
Only she was forced to express her mind in more general and ambiguous terms, because it had been presumption and rudeness for her in plain terms to desire the king’s oath, as if she durst not trust his word;
she now appeals to the mercy of Jehovah, who had himself provided limits to the anger of the avenger of blood (see Numbers 35 .). He had thus shown himself to be a God of equity, in whom mercy triumphed over the rigid enactments of law.Pulpit states the woman's theology at its strongest; the same commentator, at v. 14, states its weakness — that God's mercy presupposes repentance, which Absalom has not offered.
12Then the woman said, “Please, may your servant speak a word to my lord the king?” “Speak,” he replied.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
hā·’iš·šāh wat·tō·mer nā šip̄·ḥā·ṯə·ḵā tə·ḏab·ber- dā·ḇār ’el- ’ă·ḏō·nî ham·me·leḵ dab·bê·rî way·yō·mer
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-said the-woman: Let-speak, I-pray, thy-handmaid unto my-lord the-king a-word. And-he-said: Speak.
Where the English smooths the original
Having obliged the king by his oath in her supposed case, she now throws off the veil, and begins to apply this parable to the king’s and kingdom’s present case.
Firmly and clearly, but yet to all appearance incidentally, she argues from the case of her son to that of Absalom.
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.
13The woman asked, “Why have you devised a thing like this against the people of God? When the king says this, does he not convict himself, since he has not brought back his own banished son?
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
hā·’iš·šāh wat·tō·mer wə·lām·māh ḥā·šaḇ·tāh kā·zōṯ ‘al- ‘am ’ĕ·lō·hîm ham·me·leḵ ū·mid·dab·bêr haz·zeh had·dā·ḇār kə·’ā·šêm ham·me·leḵ ’eṯ- lə·ḇil·tî hā·šîḇ nid·də·ḥōw
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-said the-woman: And-why hast-thou-devised like-this against the-people-of-God? And-from-the-king speaking this word [he is] as-one-guilty, in-that the-king does-not bring-back his-banished-one.
Where the English smooths the original
Upon your own showing you are guilty of a great fault in not allowing Absalom to return.
These words of the woman were intentionally kept indefinite, rather hinting at what she wished to place before the king, than expressing it distinctly.
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.
14For we will surely die and be like water poured out on the ground, which cannot be recovered. Yet God does not take away a life, but He devises ways that the banished one may not be cast out from Him.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
kî- mō·wṯ nā·mūṯ wə·ḵam·ma·yim han·nig·gā·rîm ’ar·ṣāh ’ă·šer lō yê·’ā·sê·p̄ū ’ĕ·lō·hîm wə·lō- yiś·śā ne·p̄eš wə·ḥā·šaḇ ma·ḥă·šā·ḇō·wṯ yid·daḥ lə·ḇil·tî nid·dāḥ mim·men·nū
Literal — word-for-word from the original
For dying we-shall-die, and-like-water poured-out earth-ward which cannot be-gathered; and-God does-not lift-away a-soul, but-he-devises devices so-that not be-thrust-away from-him the-thrust-away-one.
Where the English smooths the original
and God doth not take away life, but deviseth devices (lit. thinketh thoughts , cp. 2 Samuel 14:13 ) to the end that he may not [utterly] banish a banished one.
but she includes within the designation the whole human race, or, at all events, the whole Israel to which she and David belonged.Maclaren's exposition is long and the brief carries it capped; this sentence is from the visible portion, and it is his own universalizing of the phrase, not the narrator's claim.
The power of the woman's appeal lay in what she says of God's nature. He is not intent on punishing, nor bent on carrying out the sentences of the Law in their stern literalness; but he is ready to forgive, and "deviseth devices" to bring home those now separate from him.Pulpit also writes, on this same verse, that the argument 'is not very sound' because God requires repentance and Absalom shows none. Both halves of his judgment stand.
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.Henry's note runs as one block across vv. 1–20. It holds together both halves of what this verse forces: banishment is the real human condition, and yet God pardons none to the dishonour of his law and justice, nor any who are impenitent — which is precisely the caution the wise woman's argument omits.
15Now 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.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·‘at·tāh ’ă·šer- bā·ṯî lə·ḏab·bêr haz·zeh had·dā·ḇār ’el- ’ă·ḏō·nî ’eṯ- ham·me·leḵ kî hā·‘ām yê·rə·’u·nî šip̄·ḥā·ṯə·ḵā wat·tō·mer ’ă·ḏab·bə·rāh- nā ’el- ham·me·leḵ ’ū·lay ham·me·leḵ ’eṯ- ya·‘ă·śeh də·ḇar ’ă·mā·ṯōw
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-now, that I-have-come to-speak unto the-king my-lord this word — because they-have-made-me-afraid, the-people; and-said thy-handmaid: Let-me-speak, I-pray, unto the-king; perhaps the-king will-do the-word-of his-maidservant.
Where the English smooths the original
Certainly in the next verse she returns to her own affairs to keep up the pretence of reality; but here there seems to be an intentional and studied ambiguity.
She pretends still that her suit was a real one, and that she was in fear of the people ("the whole family," 2 Samuel 14:7 ) setting upon her and her son.
the truth is, I was even forced to this bold address to thee by the disposition and condition of thy people, who are discontented at Absalom’s perpetual banishment, and full of fears;
16For 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.’
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
kî ham·me·leḵ yiš·ma‘ lə·haṣ·ṣîl ’eṯ- ’ă·mā·ṯōw mik·kap̄ hā·’îš lə·haš·mîḏ ya·ḥaḏ ’ō·ṯî wə·’eṯ- bə·nî ’ĕ·lō·hîm min·na·ḥă·laṯ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
For the-king will-hear, to-deliver his-maidservant from-the-palm of-the-man [seeking] to-exterminate me and-my-son together from-the-inheritance-of-God.
Where the English smooths the original
Out of the inheritance of God — That is, out of that land which God gave to his people, to be their inheritance, and in which alone he hath fixed the place of his presence and worship.
implying that her life was bound up in the life of her son, and that she could not outlive his death;
The death of my son is a private loss to my family, while the preservation of Absalom is the common interest of all Israel, who now look to him as your successor on the throne.JFB is paraphrasing her argument, not quoting the text; we cite it as his reconstruction of her logic.
17And 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.’”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
šip̄·ḥā·ṯə·ḵā nā wat·tō·mer yih·yeh- də·ḇar- ’ă·ḏō·nî ham·me·leḵ lim·nū·ḥāh kî ’ă·ḏō·nî ham·me·leḵ liš·mō·a‘ haṭ·ṭō·wḇ wə·hā·rā‘ kə·mal·’aḵ hā·’ĕ·lō·hîm kên Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵā yə·hî ‘im·māḵ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-said thy-handmaid: Let-be, I-pray, the-word-of my-lord the-king for-rest; for like-the-messenger-of-God, so [is] my-lord the-king to-hear the-good and-the-evil. And-YHWH thy-God be with-thee.
Where the English smooths the original
To hear the good and the evil : to listen patiently to all manner of petitions, and decide justly upon them.
As an angel of God - Rather, as "the" Angel of God; and therefore whatever David decided would be right.
the angel of the covenant, the mediator of the blessings of divine grace to the covenant-nation
18Then 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.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
ham·me·leḵ way·ya·‘an way·yō·mer ’el- hā·’iš·šāh ’ā·nō·ḵî šō·’êl ’ō·ṯāḵ dā·ḇār ’ă·šer ’al- nā ṯə·ḵa·ḥă·ḏî mim·men·nî ’ă·ḏō·nî ham·me·leḵ yə·ḏab·ber- nā hā·’iš·šāh wat·tō·mer
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-answered the-king and-said unto the-woman: Do-not, I-pray, hide from-me a-word that I [am] asking thee. And-said the-woman: Let-speak, I-pray, my-lord the-king.
Where the English smooths the original
Observing the uncommon art and dexterity of her address in the management of this affair, the king immediately began to suspect it was a thing concerted between her and Joab
he suspected that this was not a scheme of her own, but some considerable person had formed it, and made use of her to execute it, which was what he desired to know
These words of the woman were so well considered and so crafty, that the king could not fail to see both what she really meant, and also that she had not come with her petition of her own accord.
19So 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.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
ham·me·leḵ way·yō·mer hă·yaḏ yō·w·’āḇ ’it·tāḵ bə·ḵāl zōṯ hā·’iš·šāh wat·tō·mer wat·ta·‘an nap̄·šə·ḵā ḥê- ’ă·ḏō·nî ham·me·leḵ ’im- ’iš lə·hê·mîn ū·lə·haś·mîl mik·kōl ’ă·šer- ’ă·ḏō·nî ham·me·leḵ dib·ber kî- ‘aḇ·də·ḵā yō·w·’āḇ hū ṣiw·wā·nî wə·hū śām bə·p̄î šip̄·ḥā·ṯə·ḵā ’êṯ kāl- had·də·ḇā·rîm hā·’êl·leh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-said the-king: [Is] the-hand-of Joab with-thee in-all-this? And-answered the-woman and-said: [As] thy-soul lives, my-lord the-king, there-is-not [any] to-go-right or-to-go-left from-all that my-lord the-king has-spoken; for thy-servant Joab, he commanded me, and-he put in-the-mouth-of thy-handmaid all these words.
Where the English smooths the original
And her words are far more expressive than what is given in our versions. Literally they are, By thy life, O my lord the king, there is nothing on the right or on the left of all that my lord the king has spoken. His words had gone straight to the mark, without the slightest deviation on either side.
is not a copyist's error, but a softer form of ישׁ, as in Micah 6:10 (vid., Ewald, 53c, and Olshausen, Gramm. p. 425).K&D's Hebrew characters sit inside this excerpt; the point is that the rare form ʼish is genuine, not a scribal slip, and that Micah 6:10 is its only parallel.
but we do not know why he suspected him of this especial interest in Absalom. Perhaps it was only the prosperous courtier’s interest in the heir-apparent, but probably Joab had made the same request before, so that the king recognised its source.
20Joab your servant has done this to bring about this change of affairs, but my lord has wisdom like the wisdom of the angel of God, to know everything that happens in the land.”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
yō·w·’āḇ ’eṯ- had·dā·ḇār ‘aḇ·də·ḵā ‘ā·śāh haz·zeh lə·ḇa·‘ă·ḇūr sab·bêḇ ’eṯ- pə·nê had·dā·ḇār wa·ḏō·nî ḥā·ḵām kə·ḥā·ḵə·maṯ mal·’aḵ hā·’ĕ·lō·hîm lā·ḏa·‘aṯ ’eṯ- kāl- ’ă·šer bā·’ā·reṣ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
In-order to-turn-around the-face of-the-matter has-thy-servant Joab done this-thing; and-my-lord [is] wise like-the-wisdom-of the-messenger-of-God, to-know all that [is] in-the-land.
Where the English smooths the original
Rather, in order to bring round the face of the business : that is, to alter the aspect of Absalom’s relations to his father.
The Authorized Version has been misled by the thought of what an angel might know; but while it was a compliment to ascribe to the king an angel's intelligence in his own sphere, it would have been bad taste and unmeaning to ascribe to him omniscience.
as not only to understand the design of this fable or parable, but of such sagacity and penetration as to find out the author of it; and even to know all things that are in the earth; either in the whole world, or rather in the land of Israel; and it is to be understood not of all actions natural and moral done by men in it, which would be to ascribe omniscience to him; but of all political things, all things respecting civil government; that he had such a spirit of discerning of men and things, that nothing could be said or done, or scheme formed, but he got intelligence of it, and insight into it; and which was carrying the compliment to a great height.
21Then the king said to Joab, “I hereby grant this request. Go, bring back the young man Absalom.”
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
ham·me·leḵ way·yō·mer ’el- yō·w·’āḇ hin·nêh- nā ‘ā·śî·ṯî ’eṯ- haz·zeh had·dā·ḇār wə·lêḵ hā·šêḇ ’eṯ- han·na·‘ar ’eṯ- ’aḇ·šā·lō·wm
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-said the-king unto Joab: Behold, I-pray, I-have-done this-thing; so-go, bring-back the-young-man, Absalom.
Where the English smooths the original
This is an Oriental form of assent, just as we say in English, "It is done," that is, as good as done, now that the order is given.
The young man; by which expression he mitigates his crime, as being an act of youthful heat, and folly, and rashness.
But was not David faulty in granting this request? Did he not, in so doing, act in direct opposition to the laws of God, which strictly command the supreme magistrate to execute justice upon all wilful murderers, without any reservation or exception?Benson answers his own question in the negative for David; we quote the question because it is the moral crux the sources divide over.
David was inclined to favour Absalom, yet, for the honour of his justice, he could not do it but upon application made for him, which may show the methods of Divine grace. It is true that God has thoughts of compassion toward poor sinners, not willing that any should perish; yet he is only reconciled to them through a Mediator, who pleads on their behalf. God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, and Christ came to this land of our banishment, to bring us to God.This is the one place in the unit's sources where the redemptive-historical reading is stated outright; our christ-section leans on it and names it.
22Joab fell facedown in homage and blessed the king. “Today,” said Joab, “your servant knows that he has found favor in your eyes, my lord the king, because the king has granted his request.”
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
yō·w·’āḇ way·yip·pōl ’el- pā·nāw ’ar·ṣāh way·yiš·ta·ḥū way·ḇā·reḵ ’eṯ- ham·me·leḵ hay·yō·wm way·yō·mer yō·w·’āḇ ‘aḇ·də·ḵā yā·ḏa‘ kî- mā·ṣā·ṯî ḥên bə·‘ê·ne·ḵā ’ă·ḏō·nî ham·me·leḵ ’ă·šer- ham·me·leḵ ’eṯ- ‘ā·śāh ʿaḇ·dō də·ḇar
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-fell Joab to his-face earth-ward and-bowed-himself-down and-blessed the-king; and-said Joab: To-day has-known thy-servant that I-have-found favor in-thine-eyes, my-lord the-king, in-that has-done the-king the-word-of his-servant.
Where the English smooths the original
Joab betrayed not a little selfishness amid his professions of joy at this act of grace to Absalom, and flattered himself that he now brought both father and son under lasting obligations.
Many commentators also assume that Joab had a friendship for Absalom, but there are few traces of it in his conduct, and more probably Joab was chiefly influenced by politic motives.Pulpit is here disputing K&D's inference (quoted alongside) that Joab had repeatedly petitioned for Absalom. The two readings are offered together because the text settles neither.
It is pretty evident from this, that Joab had frequently applied to David for Absalom's return, without any attention being paid to his application.
23So Joab got up, went to Geshur, and brought Absalom to Jerusalem.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
yō·w·’āḇ way·yā·qām way·yê·leḵ gə·šū·rāh way·yā·ḇê ’eṯ- ’aḇ·šā·lō·wm yə·rū·šā·lim
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-rose Joab and-went to-Geshur, and-brought Absalom to-Jerusalem.
Where the English smooths the original
Well pleased, we may be assured, to be at once the messenger of his prince’s mercy to the heir apparent of his crown, and the instrument of their reconciliation: which could not fail to secure him a present fund of favour with the father, and an equal fund in reversion with the son.Benson is quoting Delaney; the sentence is Delaney's assessment of Joab's motives, carried in Benson's commentary.
Where Absalom was with his grandfather, the king of the place; see 2 Samuel 13:37 , and brought Absalom to Jerusalem; from thence, which, according to Bunting (t), was the distance of eighty eight miles from it.
24But the king added, “He may return to his house, but he must not see my face.” So Absalom returned to his own house, but he did not see the face of the king.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
ham·me·leḵ way·yō·mer yis·sōḇ ’el- bê·ṯōw lō yir·’eh ū·p̄ā·nay ’aḇ·šā·lō·wm way·yis·sōḇ ’el- bê·ṯōw lō rā·’āh ū·p̄ə·nê ham·me·leḵ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-said the-king: Let-him-turn-around to his-house, and-my-face he-shall-not see. And-turned-around Absalom to his-house, and-the-face-of the-king he-did-not see.
Where the English smooths the original
This half forgiveness was an imprudent measure, and bore very bitter fruit.
The effect of this half measure was unfortunate; Absalom was irritated, and yet placed in a favourable position to carry out his plots.
Covering by this his affection, and showing some part of justice to please the people.The Geneva glossator reads David's motive as political management; Benson and Poole read the same act as a father's attempt to bring his son to repentance. The text states no motive at all.
25Now there was not a man in all Israel as handsome and highly praised as Absalom. From the sole of his foot to the top of his head, he did not have a single flaw.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
hā·yāh lō- ’îš- bə·ḵāl yiś·rā·’êl yā·p̄eh mə·’ōḏ lə·hal·lêl ū·ḵə·’aḇ·šā·lō·wm mik·kap̄ raḡ·lōw wə·‘aḏ qā·ḏə·qo·ḏōw lō- hā·yāh ḇōw mūm
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-like-Absalom there-was-not a-man handsome in-all Israel to-be-praised exceedingly; from-the-sole-of his-foot and-unto his-crown there-was-not in-him a-blemish.
Where the English smooths the original
A poor commendation for a man that had nothing else in him valuable. Many a polluted, deformed soul dwells in a fair and comely body.
This is here noted as the occasion of his pride and insolency, and of the people’s affections to him, and consequently of the following rebellion.
from the sole of the foot even to the crown of his head, there was no fault (מוּם, bodily blemish) in him.
26And when he cut the hair of his head—he shaved it every year because his hair got so heavy—he would weigh it out to be two hundred shekels, according to the royal standard.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
ū·ḇə·ḡal·lə·ḥōw ’eṯ- rō·šōw wə·hā·yāh yə·ḡal·lê·aḥ miq·qêṣ yā·mîm lay·yā·mîm ’ă·šer kî- ḵā·ḇêḏ ‘ā·lāw wə·ḡil·lə·ḥōw wə·šā·qal ’eṯ- śə·‘ar rō·šōw mā·ṯa·yim šə·qā·lîm ham·me·leḵ bə·’e·ḇen
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-in-his-shaving his-head — and-it-was from-the-end-of days to-the-days that he-would-shave, because heavy [it was] upon-him, so-he-shaved-it — and-he-weighed the-hair-of his-head: two-hundred shekels by-the-stone-of the-king.
Where the English smooths the original
It is evident, therefore, that there is an error in the text, such as we frequently meet with in the case of numbers, though we have no means of rectifying it, as all the ancient versions contain the same number.
The exact weight cannot be determined. If these "shekels after the king's weight" were the same as "shekels of the sanctuary," the weight would be about 6 lbs., which is incredible;
It was a burden to him, but he would not cut it as long as he could bear the weight. That which feeds and gratifies pride, is not complained of, though uneasy.
27Three sons were born to Absalom, and a daughter named Tamar, who was a beautiful woman.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
šə·lō·wō·šāh ḇā·nîm way·yiw·wā·lə·ḏū lə·’aḇ·šā·lō·wm ’a·ḥaṯ ū·ḇaṯ ū·šə·māh tā·mār hî hā·yə·ṯāh yə·p̄aṯ mar·’eh ’iš·šāh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-there-were-born to-Absalom three sons, and-one daughter, and-her-name Tamar; she was a-woman beautiful of-appearance.
Where the English smooths the original
The daughter's name is probably given as a proof of Absalom's great affection for his sister Tamar, whom Amnon had violated.
The LXX. here inserts the statement that she “became the wife of Roboam, the son of Solomon, and bore him a son, Abia.” But this is evidently a confused glossThe LXX addition conflicts with 1 Kings 15:2 and 2 Chronicles 13:2; Ellicott, Cambridge, Pulpit and K&D all reject it, most resolving the tangle by making Maachah Absalom's granddaughter through Tamar.
It is strictly in accordance with Hebrew custom to call Absalom's granddaughter his daughter, and, as Uriel was a man of no political importance, he is passed over, as the narrator's object was to show that Abijah's mother was sprung from the handsome and notorious son of David
The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.
AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.
The chapter opens on a single ambiguous preposition. לֵב הַמֶּלֶךְ עַל־אַבְשָׁלוֹם — “the heart of the king ʻal Absalom” — with no verb written, so that the reader must supply one. Ellicott, Cambridge, Pulpit and K&D all press for “against”: the preposition ordinarily means that, the one other occurrence of the idiom (Daniel 11:28) unquestionably means that, and K&D adds the decisive practical argument — had David already been yearning, Joab would have had no need of a wise woman at all, nor David any reason to bar his son's face for two more years (v. 24). Benson, Gill and the older versions read it the other way: the king longed for Absalom but was ashamed to act. ⚙ We do not resolve it, and we suspect the narrator did not want it resolved: the whole unit turns on nobody, Joab included, being quite sure what David wants. What is certain is what Joab does with his reading. He sends to Tekoa, twelve miles off — Gill and JFB both note the distance was chosen so the story could not be checked — and hires a אִשָּׁה חֲכָמָה, a recognized office, not, as Ellicott and Cambridge both insist against the Speaker's Commentary, a witch or a disreputable. Then comes the line the narrator sets down without comment: וַיָּשֶׂם יוֹאָב אֶת־הַדְּבָרִים בְּפִיהָ, “and Joab put the words in her mouth.” Elsewhere in Scripture that is what God does to a prophet (Jeremiah 1:9). Here a general does it to an actress. Gill observes the one limit on the forgery: Joab could script the speech but not the cross-examination, and so had to hire someone wise enough to improvise.
She falls on her אַפַּיִם — her two nostrils, face to the dust — and cries one word: הוֹשִׁעָה. Barnes states the fact plainly: “It is the same cry as Hosanna, i. e. save now,” the imperative of Psalm 118:25. Then the story, built with a lawyer's care. Two sons; a quarrel in the field (Poole: therefore no witnesses, therefore no proof of intent); the reciprocal Nifal וַיִּנָּצוּ, both fighting; and וְאֵין מַצִּיל, “no deliverer between them” — Scripture's standing formula for helplessness before destruction, and a verb she will ask the king to supply himself in v. 16. Ellicott names the legal core: the fratricide is presented as unpremeditated, which makes it essentially unlike Absalom's killing of Amnon at table — and, he adds, that difference will have passed out of mind by the time the application arrives. Her climax is the chapter's finest image: וְכִבּוּ אֶת־גַּחַלְתִּי, “they will quench my coal.” K&D compares the Greek ζώπυρον, the live coal kept under ash to rekindle a fire; JFB lays out the whole biblical idiom — to quench Israel's light is to kill the king (2 Samuel 21:17), to ordain a lamp is to grant posterity (Psalm 132:17). Cambridge and Poole both note the kinsmen's real motive showing through the law's language: וְנַשְׁמִידָה אֶת־הַיּוֹרֵשׁ, kill the heir, and Cambridge sends the reader to Matthew 21:38. The king rules for her — twice, then a third time under oath. Ellicott and Cambridge both watch her decline each concession as insufficient and reach for more; Poole reads her “remember the LORD thy God” as a request for a sworn oath framed indirectly, because a peasant may not ask a king for his bond outright. She gets it: as YHWH lives, not a hair of thy son shall fall to the earth.
Poole marks the hinge exactly: “Having obliged the king by his oath in her supposed case, she now throws off the veil.” The charge is וְלָמָּה חָשַׁבְתָּה כָּזֹאת עַל־עַם אֱלֹהִים — and K&D notes that châshab with ʻal means to devise against, and that “people of God” stands without the article, indefinite, hinting rather than naming. Pulpit reads the allegory she has been building: Israel is the widowed mother who has lost one son, and David is the stern clan that would take the second. Then v. 13's blade — כְּאָשֵׁם, “as one guilty” — the king's own verdict convicting the king. And then v. 14, which is why this chapter is remembered. The English tradition mistranslated it for centuries; Cambridge, Pulpit, Barnes, Poole and K&D all converge on the correction: not “neither doth God respect any person,” but and God does not take away a life, but devises devices so that the banished one may not remain banished from him. Cambridge: “God doth not take away life, but deviseth devices … to the end that he may not [utterly] banish a banished one.” Maclaren builds a whole sermon on the phrase and widens it past Absalom — the “banished ones,” he says, are no special class of criminals but the whole human race. Pulpit locates the power of the appeal precisely where it is: in what she says about God's nature, that he is ready to forgive and contrives means to bring home those now separate from him. Pulpit is also honest about the flaw in the argument — God requires repentance, and Absalom has shown none. Benson is blunter still: by this reasoning every crime could go unpunished. ⚙ Both things are true at once. The theology of v. 14 is the truest sentence in the chapter, and it is being used as a lever.
The king catches it: הֲיַד יוֹאָב אִתָּךְ בְּכָל־זֹאת. Pulpit insists the Authorized Version's inserted “not” falsifies the tone — David asks, he does not assert; and Pulpit renders her answer with its true force: “there is nothing on the right or on the left of all that my lord the king has spoken.” His words went to the mark without deviation. Two details here are worth more than they look. The word she uses for “there is” is אִשׁ (H786), which occurs in exactly two verses in the entire Hebrew Bible; K&D identifies it as a softer form of yêsh and cites the only other instance, Micah 6:10. And the pair of verbs for turning right or left, yâman and sâmaʼl, are themselves rare (four and five verses). Her confession is exact and total: שָׂם בְּפִי שִׁפְחָתְךָ — the same idiom the narrator used of Joab in v. 3, handed back to the king verbatim. Then she covers the retreat with flattery. Cambridge renders v. 20's purpose clause well: Joab acted “in order to bring round the face of the business.” Pulpit warns against the Authorized Version's “all things that are in the earth” — read in the land; to credit a king with knowing his kingdom is a compliment, to credit him with omniscience is bad taste, and, Pulpit adds dryly, it is an unproven assumption that even an angel knows all things on earth.
David yields — and the Hebrew of his yielding is itself disputed. The written text (Kethib) reads עָשִׂיתִי, “I have done this thing”; the Qere reads “thou hast done.” Cambridge, K&D and Pulpit all defend the Kethib, with the Septuagint and Vulgate behind it, and Pulpit reads it as an Oriental form of assent — it is done, now that the order is given. Poole catches the softening in הַנַּעַר, “the young man”: the word mitigates the crime into an act of youthful heat. Joab falls on his face, exactly as the woman did in v. 4, and blesses the king; JFB sees the self-interest through the courtesy — Joab flattered himself he had now put both father and son under lasting obligation — and K&D infers from Joab's thanks that he had applied for this before and been refused. Poole, Benson and JFB then all press the same hard question, and none of them lets David off: the law of Genesis 9:6 and Numbers 35:30–31 bound the king as much as the people, and he had no power to dispense with it. Then comes the half measure. יִסֹּב אֶל־בֵּיתוֹ וּפָנַי לֹא יִרְאֶה — let him turn to his house, and my face he shall not see. K&D's verdict is the plainest in the commentary tradition: “This half forgiveness was an imprudent measure, and bore very bitter fruit.” Ellicott agrees — Absalom was irritated and simultaneously placed where he could plot. Geneva reads the motive coldly: David was covering his affection and showing enough justice to please the people.
The narrator closes with a portrait, and the portrait is an indictment. לְהַלֵּל מְאֹד — Absalom was “to be praised exceedingly,” the Piel of hâlal, the root of Hallelujah, spent on a man's looks. From sole to crown, מוּם לֹא־הָיָה בּוֹ, no blemish — and mûm is the priestly word for the defect that disqualifies a sacrifice or a priest (Leviticus 21:17–23; 22:20). Henry's line is the one to keep: “Many a polluted, deformed soul dwells in a fair and comely body.” Poole notes this beauty is recorded precisely as the occasion of his pride and of the rebellion to come. Then the hair, weighed like tribute: two hundred shekels by the king's stone. Here the commentators are honest in a way worth imitating. K&D: “there is an error in the text, such as we frequently meet with in the case of numbers, though we have no means of rectifying it, as all the ancient versions contain the same number.” Barnes calls six pounds incredible and guesses twenty shekels; Cambridge allows a smaller royal shekel or a textual slip; Pulpit refuses both escapes, since the versions agree and a king who debased his weights is not the David of this history. ⚙ We report the problem and leave it open. Finally, three unnamed sons — Ellicott, Cambridge, Gill and Poole all draw the same inference from 2 Samuel 18:18, that they died young — and one named daughter, Tamar, beautiful of appearance, bearing the name and the beauty of the sister whose rape began all of this. K&D reads the name as evidence of Absalom's real affection for his sister. The chapter of a lost heir ends with a lost line.
⚙ This is the machine's own fallible reading, offered to be tested. The chapter puts a true sentence about God in a false mouth. Everything the Tekoite says in v. 14 is true — we all die; spilled water is not gathered; God does not simply take the life he could justly take, but devises devices so that the banished one need not stay banished. That is the gospel's own grammar, and Maclaren and Henry are right to preach it. But it is spoken by a hired actress reciting a general's script, about a man who has not repented, to a king who is being maneuvered out of an obligation he never faced honestly. So the chapter sets two things side by side and refuses to let us confuse them. God's devising is costly: it does not abolish the claim of blood, it satisfies it. David's devising is cheap: he suspends the claim of blood by royal fiat and then, because he knows it was cheap, refuses to look at the man he pardoned. That refusal is the tell. A pardon that will not grant the face has not reconciled anything; it has only postponed the war, and K&D is right that it bore very bitter fruit. ⚙ Read that way, v. 24 is the exact photographic negative of the Aaronic blessing: the LORD make his face shine upon thee (Numbers 6:25) against my face he shall not see. What the wise woman describes in v. 14 and what David performs in v. 24 are not the same act, and the distance between them is the space the true Mediator fills.
A pardon that will not grant its own face has reconciled nothing; it has only postponed the war.
AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.
Two of the rarest words in this unit sit within eight verses of each other: אֲבָל (ʼăbâl, H61, v. 5) and כְּאָשֵׁם (ʼâshêm, H818, v. 13). The Verifier flags Genesis 42:21 as sharing both. There, Joseph's brothers say ʼăbâl ʼăshêmîm ʼănachnû ʻal-ʼâchînû — “truly we are guilty concerning our brother.” The same two uncommon words, in the same configuration, in the only other episode of Scripture where men who have destroyed a brother stand before a ruler they do not recognize and are brought by his questioning to confess. ⚙ We do not claim the narrator of Samuel is citing Genesis. We do claim the Verifier's lexical evidence is unusually strong: ʼâshêm occurs in three verses in the whole Hebrew Bible, and one of the other two is Ezra 10:19.
Genesis 42:21 · Ezra 10:19
basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H61 ʼăbâl (in 11 vv) and H818 ʼâshêm (in 3 vv), both rare, co-occurring in 2 Samuel 14:5,13 and Genesis 42:21; H818 also at Ezra 10:19. This is a lexical rarity, not a quotation — no citation formula is present in either text.
The woman's reply in v. 19 is built of rare material. אִשׁ (H786) stands in exactly two verses of the Hebrew Bible; K&D identifies it as a softer form of yêsh and names the only other instance, Micah 6:10 — where the prophet asks whether there is still treasure of wickedness in the house of the wicked. And the verbs of deviation, לְהֵמִין וּלְהַשְׂמִיל (yâman H3231, in four verses; sâmaʼl H8041, in five), reappear at 1 Chronicles 12:2 of ambidextrous Benjamite slingers, at Ezekiel 21:16 of the sword sent right and left, and at Isaiah 30:21 — “this is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand and when ye turn to the left.” ⚙ The link is lexical, not thematic: the woman's flattery borrows the vocabulary that elsewhere describes a path one may not stray from.
Micah 6:10 · 1 Chronicles 12:2 · Ezekiel 21:16 · Isaiah 30:21
basis: Verifier: H786 ʼish (in 2 vv — Micah 6:10 is the only other occurrence, as K&D independently notes); H3231 yâman (in 4 vv) and H8041 sâmaʼl (in 5 vv) shared with 1 Chronicles 12:2, Ezekiel 21:16 and Isaiah 30:21. Rare lexemes only; no quotation is claimed in either direction.
The gentilic הַתְּקֹעִית (Tᵉqôwʻîy, H8621) occurs in only seven verses. The Verifier gathers them: Ira the Tekoite, one of David's Thirty (2 Samuel 23:26; 1 Chronicles 11:28; 27:9), and the men of Tekoa who repair Jerusalem's wall in Nehemiah 3:5 and 3:27 — of whom the text notably says that their nobles would not put their necks to the work of their Lord. Ellicott, Barnes, Cambridge and Pulpit all add that Tekoa is Amos's town (Amos 1:1), and Cambridge, Ellicott and Pulpit all note that its nearness to Bethlehem — five miles — explains how Joab, a Bethlehemite, knew of this woman at all. ⚙ The thread is a shared place-name and nothing more; we claim no theological weight for it, only that the Verifier's basis is exact and the geography is load-bearing for the plot.
2 Samuel 23:26 · Nehemiah 3:5 · Nehemiah 3:27 · 1 Chronicles 11:28 · 1 Chronicles 27:9
basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexeme H8621 Tᵉqôwʻîy (in 7 vv) across all five references. A rare word, but a gentilic — the link is geographical and narrative, not verbal-theological, so we decline the higher tier.
The Verifier pairs v. 4 with 1 Samuel 25:41 on three shared lexemes: ʼaph (H639, the face/nostrils pressed to the ground), shâchâh (H7812, prostration) and shiphchâh (H8198, handmaid). In 1 Samuel 25 Abigail — herself named a woman of good understanding — bows her face to the earth and calls herself the shiphchâh who would wash the feet of David's servants. The Tekoite adopts the identical posture and the identical self-designation, and uses them to move the same man. ⚙ The individual words are common (269, 166 and 58 verses respectively), so we tier this structurally: what is confirmed is a shared script of female petition before David, not a verbal allusion.
1 Samuel 25:41 · 1 Samuel 25:23
basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H639 ʼaph (in 269 vv), H7812 shâchâh (in 166 vv), H8198 shiphchâh (in 58 vv) with 1 Samuel 25:41 — all common words, so the confirmed element is the shared pattern of petition, not a rare-word link. Cambridge independently compares the 'almost identical phrase' at 1 Samuel 25:23.
The clan's words in v. 7 — וְנַשְׁמִידָה אֶת־הַיּוֹרֵשׁ, “and we will destroy the heir also” — are set down by the woman, Cambridge and Poole agree, to expose covetousness wearing the law's robes. Cambridge makes the cross-reference himself: “Cp. Matthew 21:38,” where the tenants say of the vineyard owner's son, “This is the heir; come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.” ⚙ The parallel is real and the motive-structure is identical — kill the son, take the estate — but this is a Greek text and a Hebrew one, so no shared Strong's number can exist and none is claimed. The recorded basis is a named commentator's cross-reference plus the shared motif, nothing stronger.
Matthew 21:38 · Mark 12:7
basis: Cross-Testament (Greek↔Hebrew): no shared Strong's lexeme is possible, so no verbal tier. Basis = Cambridge's own printed cross-reference at 2 Samuel 14:7 ('Cp. Matthew 21:38') plus the shared motif of killing the heir to seize the inheritance.
The Verifier's nearest neighbours to this unit are its own neighbours in the book: 2 Samuel 13:37 (Absalom flees to Geshur and David mourns), 14:32 (Absalom demanding an audience two years later), and 18:12 (the soldier who will not touch the young man because of the king's charge). The same two proper names bind all four. ⚙ The arc they trace is the argument of the unit: Joab brings Absalom back in ch. 14, and Joab kills him in ch. 18, in direct defiance of the same king he manipulated here. The half-pardon K&D calls imprudent is completed by the hand that engineered it.
2 Samuel 13:37 · 2 Samuel 14:32 · 2 Samuel 18:12
basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H3097 Yôwʼâb (in 124 vv) and H53 ʼĂbîyshâlôwm (in 92 vv); H56 ʼâbal (in 38 vv) additionally shared with 13:37. Proper names are common, so the confirmed link is narrative continuity within one book, not a rare verbal allusion.
Verse 14b, once correctly rendered — Cambridge, Pulpit, Barnes, Poole and K&D all agreeing that “neither doth God respect any person” is wrong — reads: God does not take away a life, but devises devices so that the banished one may not remain banished from him. The Hebrew builds it on a triple repetition of נָדַח (nâdach, H5080), already used in v. 13 of “his banished,” and on the cognate pair וְחָשַׁב מַחֲשָׁבוֹת, “he devises devices.” Barnes points out that nâdach is the technical word for one of God's people driven into a pagan land, and lists the prophetic promises that gather such: Deuteronomy 30:4–5, Jeremiah 40:12, Micah 4:6, Zephaniah 3:19. Maclaren widens the “banished ones” to the whole race. ⚙ The thread is within Hebrew and the basis is real, but we tier it structurally: the woman is not quoting Deuteronomy, and Pulpit's honest caution stands — the argument as she uses it omits repentance entirely.
Micah 4:6 · Deuteronomy 30:4 · Jeremiah 40:12 · Zephaniah 3:19
basis: Verifier pair check run for this unit (2 Samuel 14:14 ↔ Micah 4:6): shared Hebrew lexemes H5080 nâdach (in 53 vv) and H622 ʼâçaph (in 187 vv). Both are common words, so what is confirmed is a shared motif carried on two genuine shared roots — not a rare-word allusion and not a quotation. The three remaining references are Barnes's own printed cross-references at this verse, not machine-computed.
In v. 11 the woman asks David to restrain גֹּאֵל הַדָּם — rendered “the avenger of blood,” but the participle is gôʼêl (H1350), the kinsman-redeemer. One Hebrew office carries two duties: he buys back what the family has lost (Ruth 4:4–6) and he exacts what the family is owed in blood (Numbers 35:19). Job stakes everything on the same word — “I know that my gôʼêl liveth” (Job 19:25) — and Isaiah applies it to the one who comes to Zion (Isaiah 59:20). ⚙ Here the two duties tear a single household in half: the man who ought to redeem this widow's line is the man legally bound to end it, and she can do nothing but ask the king to hold him off. The gôʼêl as a figure of Christ is ancient and widely held, resting on Job 19:25 and Isaiah 59:20. What Hebrews 2:14–17 adds is the resolution this chapter cannot reach — a kinsman who takes flesh and blood in order to be, in one person, both the redeemer of the house and the satisfaction of its blood-claim. The reading of v. 11 as the office divided against itself is our own framing and we mark it as such.
Ruth 4:4-6 · Job 19:25 · Isaiah 59:20 · Hebrews 2:14-17
basis: Hebrew↔Hebrew portion: shared lexeme H1350 gâʼal links 2 Samuel 14:11 with Ruth 4:4-6, Job 19:25 and Isaiah 59:20 — a real verbal link, but a common word, so no verbal tier is claimed. Hebrews 2:14-17 is cross-Testament and can share no Strong's number; it is included as figural reading only. Attestation: the gôʼêl-as-Redeemer figure is ancient and widely held; the specific reading of v. 11 as one office divided against itself is novel and ours.
AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.
⚙ The theological centre of the unit is v. 14, and the commentators reach the same place from different directions. Cambridge corrects the translation and then notes that the general statement “contains a pointed allusion to God's mercy in sparing David's own life when he had deserved death for adultery and murder.” Poole reads the “devices” as the cities of refuge — God legislating a way for the manslayer to be spared and eventually restored. Gill reads them as providence preserving Absalom alive in a foreign court. Maclaren preaches the phrase as a description of the whole human condition: the banished ones are not a criminal class but the race. Henry, commenting on vv. 21–24, draws the line explicitly to the gospel: “God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, and Christ came to this land of our banishment, to bring us to God.” ⚙ The machine adds only this. The chapter shows us what a devising costs when it costs nothing: David remits the claim of blood by fiat, and the remission is worthless, because he then refuses the pardoned man his face. The apostolic reading of the divine devising is precisely that it did not work that way — the claim of blood was not waived but met (Romans 3:25–26), and the restored are brought near by the blood (Ephesians 2:13), not by an executive suspension of it. The wise woman's sentence is true; it is only in Christ that it is also costly.
2 Corinthians 5:18-19 · Ephesians 2:13 · Romans 3:25-26 · Luke 15:20
⚙ Joab is a mediator. He perceives the king's mind, takes the initiative for a condemned man who cannot plead for himself, constructs an advocacy, and secures a royal decree — and he does the whole of it by deception, hiring a voice and scripting its words. Henry, on vv. 21–24, is the one commentator in this unit who states the redemptive contrast directly: God “is only reconciled to them through a Mediator, who pleads on their behalf,” and Henry sets that beside David's need to be given a pretext before he could do what he wanted. JFB and K&D between them expose Joab's self-interest — he calculated that he was placing both father and son under lasting obligation, and he had asked for this before and been refused. ⚙ Hebrews 7:25 and 1 John 2:1 present an advocate of the opposite kind: one who needs no disguise because he is himself the satisfaction of the claim he pleads against (1 John 2:2), and whose intercession is therefore permanent rather than a single successful manipulation. The contrast is ours, drawn from Henry's premise; we mark it as a reading and not as the text's own claim.
Hebrews 7:25 · 1 John 2:1-2 · Romans 8:34
⚙ Verse 24 is a pardon with the face withheld: וּפָנַי לֹא יִרְאֶה. K&D calls it an imprudent half forgiveness that bore very bitter fruit; Ellicott says the effect was unfortunate, irritating Absalom while placing him where he could plot; Geneva reads it as David covering his affection while showing enough justice to please the people. ⚙ What none of them says, and what we offer as our own reading to be tested, is that the withheld face is the exact inversion of Israel's central blessing — the LORD make his face shine upon thee (Numbers 6:25) — and of the thing the exile most loses (Psalm 27:9; 51:11). If the mark of a real reconciliation is admission to the face, then David's act is measurable and it falls short: two years pass (v. 28) before Absalom sees it, and by then the rebellion is already formed. The apostolic hope is stated in exactly these terms — the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6), and at the end, “they shall see his face” (Revelation 22:4). We mark this novel: it is a structural reading of the chapter's own vocabulary, not a reading we found in the public-domain commentary before us.
Numbers 6:25-26 · 2 Corinthians 4:6 · Revelation 22:4 · Psalm 27:9
⚙ The narrator's closing portrait says that from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head there was מוּם — blemish — none in Absalom (v. 25). Mûm is not a general word for a flaw; it is the priestly term for the defect that disqualifies an animal from sacrifice and a man from the altar (Leviticus 21:17–23; 22:20–21). Henry sees the irony without naming the lexical point: “Many a polluted, deformed soul dwells in a fair and comely body.” Poole notes that this flawlessness is recorded precisely as the seed of the pride and the rebellion. ⚙ Scripture later applies the sacrificial vocabulary to Christ as a lamb without blemish and without spot (1 Peter 1:19; Hebrews 9:14) — and there it describes what he is, not how he looks. Absalom is the unblemished man who is all surface; the Lamb is the unblemished one whose face, by the time the offering is made, has no beauty that we should desire him (Isaiah 53:2). The antithesis is ours; we flag it as novel, since no commentator in this unit's sources makes the mûm connection.
Leviticus 22:20-21 · 1 Peter 1:19 · Hebrews 9:14 · Isaiah 53:2
The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.
Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:
Text. This unit carries an unusual density of real textual and translational problems, and we report them rather than smooth them. (1) v. 1 — לֵב הַמֶּלֶךְ עַל־אַבְשָׁלוֹם has no verb; whether the king's heart was toward or against Absalom is genuinely undecided. Ellicott, Cambridge, Pulpit and K&D argue for hostility on the strength of Daniel 11:28; the Syriac, Vulgate, LXX, Benson and Gill read it favourably. Our literal rendering leaves the preposition bare. (2) v. 4 — the MT opens וַתֹּאמֶר (“and she said”) where the sense wants וַתָּבֹא (“and she came”); about thirty of De Rossi's codices and all the old versions read the latter. Barnes, Cambridge and Pulpit treat the MT as a copyist's error; K&D defends it as hysteron-proteron and points out that a change from “came” to “said” is hard to explain either accidentally or deliberately. Unresolved. (3) v. 11 — Kethib הַרְבִּית, Qere הַרְבַּת; K&D treats the written form as a verbal noun standing for the infinitive construct. (4) v. 19 — אִשׁ is not an error but a rare softer form of yêsh (K&D, citing Ewald and Olshausen); it occurs in only two verses of the Hebrew Bible. (5) vv. 21, 22 — two Kethib/Qere pairs, “I have done”/“thou hast done” and “his servant”/“thy servant”; Cambridge, K&D and Pulpit all prefer the Kethib in both, with LXX and Vulgate support at v. 21. (6) v. 26 — “two hundred shekels after the king's weight” is a genuine crux. K&D states outright that there is an error in the text which cannot be rectified because all the ancient versions carry the same number; Barnes suggests twenty; Cambridge allows a smaller royal shekel; Pulpit rejects both expedients. We record the figure and the problem and assert no solution. (7) v. 27 — the LXX adds that Tamar became the wife of Rehoboam and bore Abijah; Ellicott, Cambridge, Pulpit and K&D all judge this a confused gloss built from 1 Kings 15:2 and 2 Chronicles 11:20–22, most likely by conflating Absalom's daughter with his granddaughter Maacah.
Translation. Several BSB renderings in this unit interpret rather than render, and the divergence notes flag each: “longed for” for the bare preposition ʻal (v. 1); “pretend to be a mourner” for the Hitpael hiṯʼabbəlî, which says only “show thyself a mourner” (v. 2); “Help me” for הוֹשִׁעָה, which is the imperative “save!” of Psalm 118:25 (v. 4); “is able to discern good and evil” for לִשְׁמֹעַ, “to hear the good and the evil” (v. 17), where Cambridge and Pulpit both insist the point is patient hearing of both parties, not moral discernment; “this change of affairs” for “to turn around the face of the matter” (v. 20); and “in the land” rightly, against the Authorized Version's “in the earth” (v. 20).
Sources. Twelve public-domain commentators are represented, and every ✦ excerpt in this unit is a verbatim contiguous substring resolved from the brief's raw text by anchor, never retyped. Henry's entry is a single block covering vv. 1–20, and Barnes and JFB likewise repeat one note across several verses; where we cite them the excerpt is taken from that verse's own entry. Maclaren's exposition of v. 14 is long and the brief carries it capped; we quoted only from the visible portion and did not need the full text. One thread (the “banished ones” gathering texts) fell outside the Verifier's supplied candidate list, so we ran the pair 2 Samuel 14:14 ↔ Micah 4:6 ourselves rather than assert the link; it returned shared lexemes H5080 nâdach and H622 ʼâçaph, and the badge records that result and marks the remaining three references as Barnes's own. Two badges in this unit carry the “verbal” tier, and both rest on genuinely rare lexemes (H786 in two verses, H818 in three); neither claims a quotation, and both badges say so. One badge is tiered typological and names which part of its reading is ancient and which is ours.
What is uncertain. ⚙ The largest uncertainty in this unit is not textual but moral, and the sources do not agree. Poole, Benson and JFB hold that David sinned in granting the pardon, since Genesis 9:6 and Numbers 35:30–31 bound the king as much as the people. Pulpit and Cambridge are gentler, pointing to the political necessity and the popular feeling. Pulpit is also the only voice here to name the flaw in the wise woman's theology — that God's forgiveness presupposes repentance, of which Absalom shows none. Our sola-reading sides with Pulpit on that point, and we state it as our fallible judgment rather than as a finding.
✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)