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RETURN OF ABSALOM. II Samuel 14:1-24. 07/11/21. #30
2 Samuel 14:1-24 [New King James Version]
1 So Joab the son of Zeruiah perceived that the king’s heart was concerned about Absalom. 2 And Joab sent to Tekoa and brought from there a wise woman, and said to her, “Please pretend to be a mourner, and put on mourning apparel; do not anoint yourself with oil, but act like a woman who has been mourning a long time for the dead. 3 Go to the king and speak to him in this manner.” So Joab put the words in her mouth. 4 And 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!” 5 Then the king said to her, “What troubles you?” And she answered, “Indeed I am a widow, my husband is dead. 6 Now your maidservant had two sons; and the two fought with each other in the field, and there was no one to part them, but the one struck the other and killed him. 7 And now the whole family has risen up against your maidservant, and they said, ‘Deliver him who struck his brother, that we may execute him for the life of his brother whom he killed; and we will destroy the heir also.’ So they would extinguish my ember that is left, and leave to my husband neither name nor remnant on the earth.” 8 Then the king said to the woman, “Go to your house, and I will give orders concerning you.” 9 And the woman of Tekoa said to the king, “My lord, O king, let the iniquity be on me and on my father’s house, and the king and his throne be guiltless.” 10 So the king said, “Whoever says anything to you, bring him to me, and he shall not touch you anymore.” 11 Then she said, “Please let the king remember the Lord your God, and do not permit the avenger of blood to destroy anymore, lest they destroy my son.” And he said, “As the Lord lives, not one hair of your son shall fall to the ground.” 12 Therefore the woman said, “Please, let your maidservant speak another word to my lord the king.” And he said, “Say on.” 13 So the woman said: “Why then have you schemed such a thing against the people of God? For the king speaks this thing as one who is guilty, in that the king does not bring his banished one home again. 14 For we will surely die and become like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. Yet God does not take away a life; but He devises means, so that His banished ones are not expelled from Him. 15 Now therefore, I have come to speak of this thing to my lord the king because the people have made me afraid. And your maidservant said, ‘I will now speak to the king; it may be that the king will perform the request of his maidservant. 16 For the king will hear and deliver his maidservant from the hand of the man who would destroy me and my son together from the inheritance of God.’ 17 Your maidservant said, ‘The word of my lord the king will now be comforting; for as the angel of God, so is my lord the king in discerning good and evil. And may the Lord your God be with you.’ ” 18 Then the king answered and said to the woman, “Please do not hide from me anything that I ask you.” And the woman said, “Please, let my lord the king speak.” 19 So the king said, “Is the hand of Joab with you in all this?” And the woman answered and said, “As you live, my lord the king, no one can turn to the right hand or to the left from anything that my lord the king has spoken. For your servant Joab commanded me, and he put all these words in the mouth of your maidservant. 20 To bring about this change of affairs your servant Joab has done this thing; but my lord is wise, according to the wisdom of the angel of God, to know everything that is in the earth.” 21 And the king said to Joab, “All right, I have granted this thing. Go therefore, bring back the young man Absalom.” 22 Then Joab fell to the ground on his face and bowed himself, and thanked the king. And Joab said, “Today your servant knows that I have found favor in your sight, my lord, O king, in that the king has fulfilled the request of his servant.” 23 So Joab arose and went to Geshur, and brought Absalom to Jerusalem. 24 And the king said, “Let him return to his own house, but do not let him see my face.” So Absalom returned to his own house, but did not see the king’s face.
- Forlorn but forsaken
- Absalom has executed his brother, Amnon, for raping Tamar
- David had done nothing about the rape (2 years)
- Abs. fled to Geshur
- David does nothing about the murder of his son, Amnon (he does nothing at all)
- David mourns for Absalom, but does nothing to either confront or reconcile with him
- David has a habit of leaving personal matters in limbo (seeks no resolution)
- Unresolved issues fester and often inflame
- Joab notices that David is moping over Absalom
- He notes that David will do nothing to resolve it
- Those who refuse to reconcile with the past are doomed to live the past over and over again
- Joab knows that David can’t continue moping and still effectively rule the kingdom (a distraction)
- Joab plots to manipulate David into bringing back Absalom (to remove this impediment)
- Absalom has executed his brother, Amnon, for raping Tamar
- The woman of Tekoa
- Joab finds a woman of Tekoa (hometown of Amos) to come before David with a clever ruse
- Joab has the woman play a desperate widow
- She is to say that one of her sons killed her other son in a fight and now the community wants to kill him
- Her remaining son is the last of her inheritance
- She wants David to protect her son
- David promises to protect her son
- Then the woman pulls a “You are the man!” moment
- She asks why David hasn’t brought back his son
- David perceives that he has been set up
- David asks if Joab is not behind this plot
- The woman admits that Joab instructed her to speak to David
- David had not checked out her story and so was deceived (Proverbs 18:13, 17)
- Apparently, Joab had brought the woman to David
- David gives Joab permission to fetch Absalom
- Joab thinks the issue will now resolve itself
- Half way home is not home
- The purpose of bringing Abs. home was for reconciliation
- David rejects the possibility of reconciliation
- David avoids dealing directly with the issues
- David misses the point of Joab’s petition
- Absalom may return to his own home and fields
- Absalom may not see David face to face
- Abs. can come half way to David, but not all
- David is still angry about Abs.’s actions
- By not dealing with the problem directly, David guaranteed he would have to deal with it on Absalom’s terms
- Absalom is David’s son and his problem to deal with
- Status quo will not stay stagnant
- No trial, verdict, or decree has been issued by David concerning his son
- David’s de facto punishment is banishment from the palace and his presence without benefit of dialogue
- Luke 15 no Prodigal Son reconciliation with father
- The purpose of bringing Abs. home was for reconciliation