5The king said to her, “What ails you?” She answered, “Truly I am a widow, and my husband is dead.
6Your servant had two sons, and they both fought together in the field, and there was no one to part them, but the one struck the other, and killed him.7Behold, the whole family has risen against your servant, and they say, ‘Deliver him who struck his brother, that we may kill him for the life of his brother whom he killed, and so destroy the heir also.’ Thus they would quench my coal which is left, and would leave to my husband neither name nor remainder on the surface of the earth.”
5 The king said to her, “What ails you?” She answered, “Truly I am a widow, and my husband is dead.
6 Your servant had two sons, and they both fought together in the field, and there was no one to part them, but the one struck the other, and killed him.
7 Behold, the whole family has risen against your servant, and they say, ‘Deliver him who struck his brother, that we may kill him for the life of his brother whom he killed, and so destroy the heir also.’ Thus they would quench my coal which is left, and would leave to my husband neither name nor remainder on the surface of the earth.”
KJVKing James Version
5 And the king said unto her, What aileth thee? And she answered, I am indeed a widow woman, and mine husband is dead.
6 And thy handmaid had two sons, and they two strove together in the field, and there was none to part them, but the one smote the other, and slew him.
7 And, behold, the whole family is risen against thine handmaid, and they said, Deliver him that smote his brother, that we may kill him, for the life of his brother whom he slew; and we will destroy the heir also: and so they shall quench my coal which is left, and shall not leave to my husband neither name nor remainder upon the earth.
Show all 3 translations
JPSJPS Tanakh (1917)
5 And the king said unto her: 'What aileth thee?' And she answered: 'Of a truth I am a widow, my husband being dead.
6 And thy handmaid had two sons, and they two strove together in the field, and there was none to part them, but the one smote the other, and killed him.
7 And, behold, the whole family is risen against thy handmaid, and they said: Deliver him that smote his brother, that we may kill him for the life of his brother whom he slew, and so destroy the heir also. Thus will they quench my coal which is left, and will leave to my husband neither name nor remainder upon the face of the earth.'
Numbers 35:19(v7)The avenger of blood shall himself put the murderer to death. When he meets him, he shall put him to death.
Matthew 21:38(v7)But the farmers, when they saw the son, said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and seize his inheritance.’
Genesis 4:8(v6)Cain said to Abel, his brother, “Let’s go into the field.” While they were in the field, Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and killed…
Genesis 4:14(v7)Behold, you have driven me out today from the surface of the ground. I will be hidden from your face, and I will be a fugitive and a…
Genesis 27:45(v7)until your brother’s anger turns away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send, and get you from there. Why…
Show all 12 cross-references
Exodus 2:13(v6)He went out the second day, and behold, two men of the Hebrews were fighting with each other. He said to him who did the wrong, “Why do you…
Deuteronomy 19:12-13(v7)then the elders of his city shall send and bring him there, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die. Your…
Deuteronomy 22:26-27(v6)but to the lady you shall do nothing. There is in the lady no sin worthy of death; for as when a man rises against his neighbor and kills…
Deuteronomy 25:6(v7)It shall be that the firstborn whom she bears shall succeed in the name of his brother who is dead, that his name not be blotted out of…
Judges 9:8-15(v5)The trees set out to anoint a king over themselves. They said to the olive tree, ‘Reign over us.’ “But the olive tree said to them, ‘Should…
2 Samuel 12:1-3(v5)Yahweh sent Nathan to David. He came to him, and said to him, “There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor. The rich…
2 Samuel 12:17(v7)The elders of his house arose beside him, to raise him up from the earth: but he would not, and he didn’t eat bread with them.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (16 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Geneva Bible translators1599 · Public DomainOn vv5–7Hebrew, a widow woman.
Hebrew, a widow woman.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv5–72Sa 14:5 And the king said unto her, What…
2Sa 14:5 And the king said unto her, What aileth thee? And she answered, I [am] indeed a widow woman, and mine husband is dead.
Ver. 5. And the king said unto her, What aileth thee?] Kings and princes should courteously admit, patiently hear, and readily help their suppliant subjects. Antonius the emperor was, for this good property, surnamed Pius; Titus, the darling of mankind; Trajan is much renowned in story for this, that being mounted to go against the enemy in battle, he alighted from his horse, only to do justice to a poor woman, that cried out unto him. {a}
Read full note →
I am indeed a widow woman.] And therefore in a calamitous condition: especially if thou knewest all. At mulier vidua sum.
{a} Ael. Spart.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole1685 · Public DomainOn vv5–7I am indeed a widow woman; one of them…
I am indeed a widow woman; 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.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill1763 · Public DomainOn vv5–7And the king said unto her, what aileth thee?....…
And the king said unto her, what aileth thee?.... Or what is thy case? What is the condition, and what the circumstances, that thou art in, which require help and assistance? intimating that he was ready to grant it on knowledge thereof; however, he was ready to hear what she had to say:
and she answered, I am indeed a widow woman; of a truth a widow, as the Targum; she was really one, a widow indeed, as in Ti1 5:3; not one that was separated from her husband, he being alive, or divorced from him on any account; and therefore she adds:
Read full note →
and mine husband is dead; and has been a long time; 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.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley1765 · Public DomainOn v5Widow - One of them who most need thy…
Widow - One of them who most need thy compassion, and whom thou art by God's law obliged in a singular manner to relieve.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn vv5, 7Verse 5. I am indeed a widow woman] It…
Verse 5. I am indeed a widow woman] It is very possible that the principal facts mentioned here were real, and that Joab found out a person whose circumstances bore a near resemblance to that which he wished to represent.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson1811 · Public DomainOn v72Sa 14:7. Deliver him, that we may kill him…
2Sa 14:7. Deliver him, that we may kill him — Put him to death, as the law requires, Num 35:18-19. We will destroy the heir also — Take away his life, although he be the heir, or the only one remaining of the family. And so they shall quench my coal which is left — Deprive me of the little comfort of my life which remains, and ruin the only hope of my family. Shall leave to my husband neither name nor remainder — Shall utterly extinguish my husband’s memory. The reader will easily observe that there is a great difference between the supposed case of this widow and that of David, however plausible their likeness may appear. For her son, she pretended, was slain in a scuffle with his brother, and his death, therefore, was not a premeditated murder, as was the death of Amnon. It also happened in the field, where there were no witnesses, whether he was killed wilfully: whereas all the king’s sons saw Amnon designedly and barbarously murdered. And in the last particular the difference is as great as in either of the others. For David’s family was not in danger of being extinguished, if Absalom had been lost also; David having many children, and also many wives by whom he might have more.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes1834 · Public DomainOn v7The whole family ... - This indicates that all…
The whole family ... - This indicates that all the king’s sons, and the whole court, were against Absalom, and that the knowledge of this was what hindered David from yielding to his affection and recalling him.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary1859 · Public DomainOn vv5, 7Dead. Some conclude from ver. 16, that this is…
Dead. Some conclude from ver. 16, that this is a true history; but it appears rather, that it was only a parable, (ver. 19.; Calmet) invented by Joab. (Menochius)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown1871 · Public DomainOn v7they shall quench my coal which is left--The life…
they shall quench my coal which is left--The life of man is compared in Scripture to a light. To quench the light of Israel (Sa2 21:17) is to destroy the king's life; to ordain a lamp for any one (Psa 132:17) is to grant him posterity; to quench a coal signifies here the extinction of this woman's only remaining hope that the name and family of her husband would be preserved. 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.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon1874 · Public DomainOn v77. Quench my coal — Extinguish the last living…
7. Quench my coal — Extinguish the last living ember that gives light and joy to my house. A beautiful image to indicate the extinction of descendants. As a live coal hid in the ashes is the means of kindling future fires and light, so a widow’s only son is her only means of perpetuating her husband’s name.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges1878 · Public DomainOn v77. the whole family, &c.] The whole clan demanded…
7. the whole family, &c.] The whole clan demanded blood-revenge, according to the primitive custom, sanctioned and regulated by the Mosaic Law. See Num_35:19; Deu_19:12-13.
and we will destroy the heir also] The woman puts these words that we may kill him … and destroy the heir also into the mouth of her kinsmen, 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. Cp. Mat_21:38.
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they shall quench my coal which is left] The surviving son, who is the last hope for the continuance of his family, is compared to the live coal still left among the embers, by which the fire almost extinct may be rekindled.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers1878 · Public DomainOn vv6–7(6) They two strove together.—The woman represents the fratricide…
(6) They two strove together.—The woman represents the fratricide as unpremeditated and without malice. This really made the case essentially different from that of Absalom; but at this point of the story the object is to dispose the king favourably towards the culprit, while by the time the application is reached, this point will have passed out of mind.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary1880 · Public DomainOn v7The whole family. This does not mean the kinsfolk,…
The whole family. This does not mean the kinsfolk, in whom such a disregard of the mother"s feelings would have been cruel, but one of the great divisions of the tribe (see note on the mishpachah, in 1Sa_20:6, and comp. (1Sa_10:21) In ver. 15 she rightly calls them "the people." We have thus a glimpse of the ordinary method of administering the criminal law, and find that each portion of a tribe exercised justice within its own district, being summoned to a general convention by its hereditary chief; and in this case the widow represents it as determined to punish the crime of fratricide with inflexible severity, and we may assume that such was the usual practice. 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. And in this way she moves his generous sympathies even to the point of overriding the legal rights of the mishpachah. In modern communities there is always some formal power of softening or entirely remitting penalties required by the letter of the law, and of taking into consideration matters of equity and even of feeling, Which the judge must put aside; and in monarchies this is always the high prerogative of the crown. And we will destroy the heir also. The Syriac has the third person, "And they will destroy even the heir, and quench my coal that is left." This is more natural, but there is greater pungency in the widow putting into the mouth of the heads of the clan, not words which they had actually spoken, but words which showed what would be the real effect of their determination. There is great force and beauty also in the description of her son as the last live coal left to keep the family hearth burning. In another but allied sense David is called "the lamp of Israel". (2Sa_21:17, marg.)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator1887 · Public DomainOn v5And she answered, I am indeed a widow woman.
2Sa_14:5-20
And she answered, I am indeed a widow woman.
Read full note →
The parable of the woman of Tekoa
The contrast between this parable and the one preceding it is very great. The parable of the ewe-lamb was spoken of by a prophet inspired by God. This one was spoken by a theatrical persons at the instigation of a man of the world, one who, though thoroughly unprincipled, could read human character and discern human motives through a very small crevice. The parable of Nathan was the introduction to a scorching reproof of Davids iniquity, the parable of the Tekoan is full of fulsome flattery. The prophets parable was uttered to induce repentance in David; this one had for its end only the promotion of Joabs schemes of self-interest.
I. The argument of the parable.
1. That those who grant mercy abroad should first begin at home. The first reason which the woman urges why David should forgive his son is the willingness with which he would have forgiven hers. A king who is merciful to his subjects is inconsistent with himself if he is not forgiving towards the members of his own family.
2. That enmity ought to die before those who are at enmity die. For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again (2Sa_14:14). If Absalom were to die before a reconciliation had taken place, the fathers heart would be deeply grieved; and if he himself were to die before his sons return to favour he would go down to his grave mourning the estrangement.
3. The Divine Fathers example in relation to His banished ones.
II. Its immediate and remote results. The immediate result was the recall of Absalom without outward reconciliation. Let him turn to his own house, and let him not see my face (2Sa_14:24). Evils arose from this half-measure. Joab was disappointed, and Absalom was irritated.
Lessons:
1. That the most worthless characters sometimes have the best pleaders. We find this the case occasionally in our law courts. Men with no character, but lacking nothing else, with money and influence in abundance, can have the benefit of the most skilful barristers to bring them out of the grip of the law.
2. That imaginary narratives of human life have most influence when they find a counterpart in our own experience. The power of a story may he very great even when it contains nothing in it that has any likeness to anything that has happened to ourselves.
3. That those who are conscious of having committed great sins are not fit to deal with other offenders. The sin of David included the crimes of both his sons, and the consciousness of this made him weak in purpose, and unsteady in his dealings with them.
4. To restore to favour unconditionally is a sin against the person forgiven. (A London Minister.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On v7the whole clan
the whole clan
"my entire family"
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your servant
To show respect for the king the woman refers to herself as "your servant."
put him to death
This is an idiom which means to kill. AT: "kill him" (See: Idiom)
they would also destroy the heir
If they put the guilty brother to death there would not be a son left to inherit the family's possessions. The full meaning of this statement can be made clear. AT: "if they did this, they would be destroying our family's heir" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
Thus they will put out the burning coal that I have left
Here the woman refers to her only living son as if he were a burning piece of coal. She speaks of the men killing her son as stopping the coal's burning. AT: "In this way they will kill the only child I have left" (See: Metaphor)
they will leave for my husband neither name nor descendant
This can be stated in positive form. AT: "they will not leave for my husband name or descendant" (See: Double Negatives)
neither name nor descendant
This refers to a son to carry on the family's name into the next generation. AT: "no son to preserve our family's name" (See: Metonymy)
on the surface of the earth
"on the earth." This descriptive phrase emphasizes that the family line would not continue on earth after the husband died. "The surface of the earth" refers to the ground on which people walk.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv5–7 Hebrew, a widow woman.
Hebrew, a widow woman.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv5–7 2Sa 14:5 And the king said unto her, What…
2Sa 14:5 And the king said unto her, What aileth thee? And she answered, I [am] indeed a widow woman, and mine husband is dead.
Ver. 5. And the king said unto her, What aileth thee?] Kings and princes should courteously admit, patiently hear, and readily help their suppliant subjects. Antonius the emperor was, for this good property, surnamed Pius; Titus, the darling of mankind; Trajan is much renowned in story for this, that being mounted to go against the enemy in battle, he alighted from his horse, only to do justice to a poor woman, that cried out unto him. {a}
Read full note →
I am indeed a widow woman.] And therefore in a calamitous condition: especially if thou knewest all. At mulier vidua sum.
{a} Ael. Spart.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv5–7 I am indeed a widow woman; one of them…
I am indeed a widow woman; 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.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv5–7 And the king said unto her, what aileth thee?....…
And the king said unto her, what aileth thee?.... Or what is thy case? What is the condition, and what the circumstances, that thou art in, which require help and assistance? intimating that he was ready to grant it on knowledge thereof; however, he was ready to hear what she had to say:
and she answered, I am indeed a widow woman; of a truth a widow, as the Targum; she was really one, a widow indeed, as in Ti1 5:3; not one that was separated from her husband, he being alive, or divorced from him on any account; and therefore she adds:
Read full note →
and mine husband is dead; and has been a long time; 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.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On v5 Widow - One of them who most need thy…
Widow - One of them who most need thy compassion, and whom thou art by God's law obliged in a singular manner to relieve.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv5, 7 Verse 5. I am indeed a widow woman] It…
Verse 5. I am indeed a widow woman] It is very possible that the principal facts mentioned here were real, and that Joab found out a person whose circumstances bore a near resemblance to that which he wished to represent.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v7 2Sa 14:7. Deliver him, that we may kill him…
2Sa 14:7. Deliver him, that we may kill him — Put him to death, as the law requires, Num 35:18-19. We will destroy the heir also — Take away his life, although he be the heir, or the only one remaining of the family. And so they shall quench my coal which is left — Deprive me of the little comfort of my life which remains, and ruin the only hope of my family. Shall leave to my husband neither name nor remainder — Shall utterly extinguish my husband’s memory. The reader will easily observe that there is a great difference between the supposed case of this widow and that of David, however plausible their likeness may appear. For her son, she pretended, was slain in a scuffle with his brother, and his death, therefore, was not a premeditated murder, as was the death of Amnon. It also happened in the field, where there were no witnesses, whether he was killed wilfully: whereas all the king’s sons saw Amnon designedly and barbarously murdered. And in the last particular the difference is as great as in either of the others. For David’s family was not in danger of being extinguished, if Absalom had been lost also; David having many children, and also many wives by whom he might have more.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On v7 The whole family ... - This indicates that all…
The whole family ... - This indicates that all the king’s sons, and the whole court, were against Absalom, and that the knowledge of this was what hindered David from yielding to his affection and recalling him.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv5, 7 Dead. Some conclude from ver. 16, that this is…
Dead. Some conclude from ver. 16, that this is a true history; but it appears rather, that it was only a parable, (ver. 19.; Calmet) invented by Joab. (Menochius)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v7 they shall quench my coal which is left--The life…
they shall quench my coal which is left--The life of man is compared in Scripture to a light. To quench the light of Israel (Sa2 21:17) is to destroy the king's life; to ordain a lamp for any one (Psa 132:17) is to grant him posterity; to quench a coal signifies here the extinction of this woman's only remaining hope that the name and family of her husband would be preserved. 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.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On v7 7. Quench my coal — Extinguish the last living…
7. Quench my coal — Extinguish the last living ember that gives light and joy to my house. A beautiful image to indicate the extinction of descendants. As a live coal hid in the ashes is the means of kindling future fires and light, so a widow’s only son is her only means of perpetuating her husband’s name.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On v7 7. the whole family, &c.] The whole clan demanded…
7. the whole family, &c.] The whole clan demanded blood-revenge, according to the primitive custom, sanctioned and regulated by the Mosaic Law. See Num_35:19; Deu_19:12-13.
and we will destroy the heir also] The woman puts these words that we may kill him … and destroy the heir also into the mouth of her kinsmen, 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. Cp. Mat_21:38.
Read full note →
they shall quench my coal which is left] The surviving son, who is the last hope for the continuance of his family, is compared to the live coal still left among the embers, by which the fire almost extinct may be rekindled.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv6–7 (6) They two strove together.—The woman represents the fratricide…
(6) They two strove together.—The woman represents the fratricide as unpremeditated and without malice. This really made the case essentially different from that of Absalom; but at this point of the story the object is to dispose the king favourably towards the culprit, while by the time the application is reached, this point will have passed out of mind.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On v7 The whole family. This does not mean the kinsfolk,…
The whole family. This does not mean the kinsfolk, in whom such a disregard of the mother"s feelings would have been cruel, but one of the great divisions of the tribe (see note on the mishpachah, in 1Sa_20:6, and comp. (1Sa_10:21) In ver. 15 she rightly calls them "the people." We have thus a glimpse of the ordinary method of administering the criminal law, and find that each portion of a tribe exercised justice within its own district, being summoned to a general convention by its hereditary chief; and in this case the widow represents it as determined to punish the crime of fratricide with inflexible severity, and we may assume that such was the usual practice. 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. And in this way she moves his generous sympathies even to the point of overriding the legal rights of the mishpachah. In modern communities there is always some formal power of softening or entirely remitting penalties required by the letter of the law, and of taking into consideration matters of equity and even of feeling, Which the judge must put aside; and in monarchies this is always the high prerogative of the crown. And we will destroy the heir also. The Syriac has the third person, "And they will destroy even the heir, and quench my coal that is left." This is more natural, but there is greater pungency in the widow putting into the mouth of the heads of the clan, not words which they had actually spoken, but words which showed what would be the real effect of their determination. There is great force and beauty also in the description of her son as the last live coal left to keep the family hearth burning. In another but allied sense David is called "the lamp of Israel". (2Sa_21:17, marg.)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v5 And she answered, I am indeed a widow woman.
2Sa_14:5-20
And she answered, I am indeed a widow woman.
Read full note →
The parable of the woman of Tekoa
The contrast between this parable and the one preceding it is very great. The parable of the ewe-lamb was spoken of by a prophet inspired by God. This one was spoken by a theatrical persons at the instigation of a man of the world, one who, though thoroughly unprincipled, could read human character and discern human motives through a very small crevice. The parable of Nathan was the introduction to a scorching reproof of Davids iniquity, the parable of the Tekoan is full of fulsome flattery. The prophets parable was uttered to induce repentance in David; this one had for its end only the promotion of Joabs schemes of self-interest.
I. The argument of the parable.
1. That those who grant mercy abroad should first begin at home. The first reason which the woman urges why David should forgive his son is the willingness with which he would have forgiven hers. A king who is merciful to his subjects is inconsistent with himself if he is not forgiving towards the members of his own family.
2. That enmity ought to die before those who are at enmity die. For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again (2Sa_14:14). If Absalom were to die before a reconciliation had taken place, the fathers heart would be deeply grieved; and if he himself were to die before his sons return to favour he would go down to his grave mourning the estrangement.
3. The Divine Fathers example in relation to His banished ones.
II. Its immediate and remote results. The immediate result was the recall of Absalom without outward reconciliation. Let him turn to his own house, and let him not see my face (2Sa_14:24). Evils arose from this half-measure. Joab was disappointed, and Absalom was irritated.
Lessons:
1. That the most worthless characters sometimes have the best pleaders. We find this the case occasionally in our law courts. Men with no character, but lacking nothing else, with money and influence in abundance, can have the benefit of the most skilful barristers to bring them out of the grip of the law.
2. That imaginary narratives of human life have most influence when they find a counterpart in our own experience. The power of a story may he very great even when it contains nothing in it that has any likeness to anything that has happened to ourselves.
3. That those who are conscious of having committed great sins are not fit to deal with other offenders. The sin of David included the crimes of both his sons, and the consciousness of this made him weak in purpose, and unsteady in his dealings with them.
4. To restore to favour unconditionally is a sin against the person forgiven. (A London Minister.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v7 the whole clan
the whole clan
"my entire family"
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your servant
To show respect for the king the woman refers to herself as "your servant."
put him to death
This is an idiom which means to kill. AT: "kill him" (See: Idiom)
they would also destroy the heir
If they put the guilty brother to death there would not be a son left to inherit the family's possessions. The full meaning of this statement can be made clear. AT: "if they did this, they would be destroying our family's heir" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
Thus they will put out the burning coal that I have left
Here the woman refers to her only living son as if he were a burning piece of coal. She speaks of the men killing her son as stopping the coal's burning. AT: "In this way they will kill the only child I have left" (See: Metaphor)
they will leave for my husband neither name nor descendant
This can be stated in positive form. AT: "they will not leave for my husband name or descendant" (See: Double Negatives)
neither name nor descendant
This refers to a son to carry on the family's name into the next generation. AT: "no son to preserve our family's name" (See: Metonymy)
on the surface of the earth
"on the earth." This descriptive phrase emphasizes that the family line would not continue on earth after the husband died. "The surface of the earth" refers to the ground on which people walk.
translationWords
raise
hand
life
name
descend
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.