2Sa 14:21-33 | KD | STEP | David then promised Joab, that the request which he had presented through the medium of the woman of Tekoah should be fulfilled, and commanded him to fetch Absalom back. The Chethib עשׂתי ( ) is the correct reading, and the Keri עשׂית has arisen from a misunderstanding.

‏ 2 Samuel 14:21-33

David then promised Joab, that the request which he had presented through the medium of the woman of Tekoah should be fulfilled, and commanded him to fetch Absalom back. The Chethib עשׂתי (2Sa 14:21) is the correct reading, and the Keri עשׂית has arisen from a misunderstanding. 2Sa 14:22

Joab thanked the king for this, and blessed him: “To-day thy servant knoweth that I have found grace in thy sight, my lord, O king, in that the king hath fulfilled the request of his servant.” 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. David therefore suspected that Joab had instructed the woman of Tekoah. The Chethib עבדּו is not to be exchanged for the Keri עבדּך. 2Sa 14:23

Joab then went to Geshur (see 2Sa 13:37), and fetched Absalom back to Jerusalem. 2Sa 14:24

But David could not forgive Absalom altogether. He said to Joab, “Let him turn to his own house, and my face he shall not see.” This half forgiveness was an imprudent measure, and bore very bitter fruit. The further account of Absalom is introduced in 2Sa 14:25-27 with a description of his personal appearance and family affairs. 2Sa 14:25

There was no man in all Israel so handsome as Absalom. מאד להלּל, “to much praising,” i.e., so that he was greatly praised. from the sole of the foot even to the crown of his head, there was no fault (מוּם, bodily blemish) in him. 2Sa 14:26 “When he polled his head, and it took place from year to year that he polled it; for it became heavy upon him (too heavy for him), and so he polled it: they weighed the hair of his head, two hundred shekels by the king’s weight.” A strong growth of hair was a sign of great manly power, and so far a proof of Absalom’s beauty. The statement as to the weight of the hair cut off, viz., two hundred shekels, is in any case a round number, and much too high, although we do not know what the difference between the royal and the sacred shekel really was. According to the sacred reckoning, two hundred shekels would be about six pounds; so that if we were to assume that the royal shekel was about half the other, the number would be still much too high. 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. 2Sa 14:27

Unto Absalom there were born three sons, and one daughter named Tamar, who was beautiful in figure. Contrary to general usage, the names of the sons are not given, in all probability for no other reason than because they died in infancy. Consequently, as Absalom had no sons, he afterwards erected a pillar to preserve his name (2Sa 18:18). 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 have this additional clause, καὶ γίνεται γυνὴ Ῥοβαὰμ υἱῷ Σαλωμὼν καὶ τίκτει αὐτῷ τὸν Ἀβιά (and she became the wife of Rehoboam the son of Solomon, and bore him a son named Abia). Although this is quite at variance with 1Ki 15:2, where it is stated that the wife of Rehoboam and mother of Abia (Abijam) was named Maacah, the clause had been adopted by Thenius, who regards it as original, though for reasons which Böttcher has shown to be worthless.} 2Sa 14:28-30

After Absalom had sat for two whole years in his house at Jerusalem without seeing the king’s face, he sent to Joab that he might obtain for him the king’s full forgiveness. But as Joab would not come to him, even after he had sent for him twice, Absalom commanded his servants to set fire to one of Joab’s fields which adjoined his own and was then full of barley, for the purpose of compelling him to come, as he foresaw that Joab would not take this destruction of his property quietly, but would come to him to complain. ידי אל, literally “at my hand,” i.e., by the side of my field or property. The Chethib והוציתה (“come, I will set it on fire”) is a Hiphil formation, according to verbs ופ, for which the Keri has והצּיתוּה, the ordinary Hiphil form of יצת in the second person plural, “go and set it one fire.” 2Sa 14:31-33

When Joab came to Absalom’s house in consequence of this, and complained of it, Absalom said to him, “See, I have sent to thee, to say to thee, Come hither, and I will send thee to the king, to say to him, Wherefore have I come from Geshur? it were better for me that I were there still: and now I will see the king’s face; and if there is any iniquity in me, let him put me to death.” This half forgiving was really worse than no forgiveness at all. Absalom might indeed very properly desire to be punished according to the law, if the king could not or might not forgive him; although the manner in which he sought to obtain forgiveness by force manifested an evident spirit of defiance, by which, with the well-known mildness of David’s temper, he hoped to attain his object, and in fact did attain it. For (2Sa 14:33) when Joab went to the king, and announced this to him, the king sent for Absalom, and kissed him, as a sign of his restoration to favour. Nothing was said by Absalom about forgiveness; for his falling down before the king when he came into his presence, was nothing more than the ordinary manifestation of reverence with which a subject in the East approaches his king. Absalom’s Rebellion and David’s Flight - 2 Samuel 15-16:14

After this restoration to favour, Absalom soon began to aspire to the throne, setting up a princely court, and endeavouring to turn the hearts of the people towards himself, by addressing in a friendly manner any who came to seek redress from the king in matters in dispute, and by saying things adapted to throw suspicion upon his father’s rule (2Sa 15:1-6). When he had succeeded in this, he asked permission from the king to take a journey to Hebron, under the pretence of wanting to fulfil a vow which he had made during his banishment; and when once there, he soon proceeded with his rebellious intentions (2Sa 15:7-12). As soon as David heard of it, he determined to fly from Jerusalem, and crossed the Kidron with his faithful adherents. Having sent the priests with the ark of the covenant back to the city, he went up to the Mount of Olives, amidst the loud lamentations of the people. Hushai, who came to meet him, he sent to the city, to frustrate the counsel of Ahithophel, who was one of the conspirators, and to send information to him of what was going forward (vv. 13-37). When he reached the top, Ziba, Mephibosheth’s servant, came to meet him with provisions and succour (2Sa 16:1-4) whilst Shimei, a relation of the house of Saul, followed him with curses and stones (2Sa 16:5-14).

With this rebellion the calamities which Nathan had predicted to David on account of his sin with Bathsheba began to burst upon him in all their fulness. The success of the rebellion itself may be accounted for, from the fact that the consciousness of his own fault not only made David weak towards his sons, but produced a want of firmness in his resolutions; whilst the imperfections and defects in the internal administration of the kingdom, when the time of the brilliant victories was past, became more and more perceptible to the people, and furnished occasion for dissatisfaction with his government, which Absalom was skilful enough to bend to his own purposes. During the time that this rebellion was in progress, David poured out his lamentations to the Lord (in Psa 41:1-13 and 55) as to the faithlessness of his most confidential councillors, and prayed for the judgment of retribution upon the conduct of this wicked band. After it had broken out, he uttered his longings to return to the sanctuary at Jerusalem, and his firm confidence that he should be delivered out of his distresses and reinstated in his kingdom, first of all in Psa 3:1-8 and Psa 63:1-11 during his flight in the desert of Judah, and in Psa 61:1-8 and Psa 62:1-12 during his stay in the land to the east of the Jordan.