Music playing 2 Samuel 14, verse 1. And Joab sent to Tekoa and brought from there a wise woman and said to her, Pretend to be a mourner and put on mourning garments. Do not anoint yourself with oil, but behave like a woman who has been mourning for many days for the dead.
Go to the king and speak thus to him. So Joab put the words in her mouth. When the woman of Tekoa came to the king, she fell on her face to the ground and paid homage and said, Save me, O king. And the king said to her, What is your trouble?
She answered, Alas, I am a widow, my husband is dead. And your servant had two sons, and they quarreled with one another in the field. There was no one to separate them, and the one struck the other and killed him. And now the whole clan has risen up against your servant, and they say, Give up the man who struck his brother, that we may put him to death for the life of his brother whom he killed. And so they would destroy the heir also.
Thus they would quench my coal at his left and leave to my husband neither name nor remnant on the face of the earth. Then the king said to the woman, Go to your house, and I will give orders concerning you. And the woman of Tekoa said to the king, On me be the guilt my lord the king, and on my father's house.
Let the king and his throne be guiltless. The king said, If anyone says anything to you, bring him to me, and he shall never touch you again. Then she said, Please let the king invoke the Lord your God, that the avenger of blood kill no more, and my son not be destroyed. He said, As the Lord lives, not one hair of your son shall fall to the ground. Then the woman said, Please let your servant speak a word to my lord the king.
He said, Speak. And the woman said, Why then have you planned such a thing against the people of God? For in giving this decision the king convicts himself, inasmuch as the king does not bring his banished one home again. We must all die.
We are like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. But God will not take away life, and he devises means so that the banished one will not remain an outcast. Now I have come to say this to my lord the king, because the people have made me afraid. And your servant thought, I will speak to the king. It may be that the king will perform the request of his servant. For the king will hear and deliver his servant from the hand of the man who would destroy me and my son together from the heritage of God. And your servant thought, The word of my lord the king will set me at rest. For my lord the king is like the angel of God to discern good and evil.
The Lord your God be with you. Then the king answered the woman, Do not hide from me anything I ask you. And the woman said, Let my lord the king speak. The king said, Is the hand of Joab with you in all this?
The woman answered and said, As surely as you live, my lord the king, one cannot turn to the right or to the left from anything that my lord the king has said. It was your servant Joab who commanded me. It was he who put all these words in the mouth of your servant. In order to change the course of things, your servant Joab did this.
But my lord has wisdom like the wisdom of the angel of God to know all things that are on the earth. Then the king said to Joab, Behold, now I grant this. Go, bring back the young man Absalom. And Joab fell on his face to the ground and paid homage and blessed the king. And Joab said, Today your servant knows that I have found favor in your sight, my lord the king, in that the king has granted the request of his servant. So Joab arose and went to Gesher and brought Absalom to Jerusalem. And the king said, Let him dwell apart in his own house.
He is not to come into my presence. So Absalom lived apart in his own house and did not come into the king's presence. Now in Israel, all Israel, there was no one so much to be prayed for his handsome appearance as Absalom. From the sole of his foot to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him. And when he cut the hair of his head—for at the end of every year he used to cut it, when it was heavy on him he cut it—he weighed the hair of his head two hundred shekels by the king's weight. There were born to Absalom three sons and one daughter whose name was Tamar.
She was a beautiful woman. So Absalom lived two full years in Jerusalem without coming into the king's presence. Then Absalom sent for Joab to send him to the king, but Joab would not come to him. And he sent a second time, but Joab would not come. Then he said to his servants, See, Joab's field is next to mine, and he has barley there.
Go and set it on fire. So Absalom's servants set the field on fire. Then Joab arose and went to Absalom at his house and said to him, Why have your servants set my field on fire? Absalom answered Joab, Behold, I sent word to you. Come here, that I may send you to the king to ask, Why have I come from Geshur?
It would be better for me to be there still. Now, therefore, let me go into the presence of the king. And if there is guilt in me, let him put me to death. Then Joab went to the king and told him, and he summoned Absalom.
So he came to the king and bowed himself on his face to the ground before the king, and the king kissed Absalom." This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Father, we come to the Bible aware of our need—our need of comprehension, interpretation, application. We look from ourselves to the enabling of the Holy Spirit, grant that we might hear your voice in and through my little voice.
For Jesus' sake. Amen. Well, our heading for this morning, I've decided, is A Royal Shambles.
A Royal Shambles. We continue to be in the midst of lust, death, alienation, yearning, bereavement, rape, murder, and toxic family relationships. In fact, many of us were breathing a sigh of relief as we got to the end of chapter 13. I know that I was. And I was keenly looking forward to getting into the relative comfort of chapter 14, only to find that having, as it were, left behind these distasteful chapters, we now have this relatively straightforward account of Absalom's return to Jerusalem. And I was quite honestly unprepared for the sense of helplessness that one feels before the text of Scripture.
I don't know if you ever find this. You read a passage, and you say to yourself, my, my, I think I'd better read this again, and maybe in another version of the Bible that meant make it a little clearer. I was encouraged when I read one of my colleagues, who simply wrote, 2 Samuel 14 puzzles me. I said, Well, that's good. I'm not alone.
There's safety in numbers. And so, as daunting as it is, we need to get down to the task. And so what we're going to do is try and work our way all the way to the end. If you want some kind of outline, we're going to consider Joab's concern, the woman's conversation, the king's compliance, and finally, the king kisses Absalom. First of all, then, the concern of Joab.
We won't take time to go back into previous chapters. We have already met Joab. If you have only remembered him for one instant, you will remember the gory occasion when he manages to encourage Abner to come into the passageway or into a hallway, and then he promptly sticks a knife into his gut. And that is the end of Abner.
So, you wouldn't want to mess around with Joab. We've seen him before. He's a kind of get-it-done fellow, and here he's concerned to get it done. We will be meeting him again, and for those of you who are alert, you will remember that as the son of Zeruiah, he is a nephew of David himself. Now, we're told immediately what he knew. And what he knew is that the king's heart went out to Absalom.
Well, we say to ourselves, that's fairly straightforward, but what does that actually mean? And from our study last time, you will perhaps recall that I acknowledged to you that the original text of the closing verses of chapter 13 stretches the abilities of all Hebrew scholars. And there is a significant amount of debate as to just exactly what it means there as to David longing to go out after Absalom.
We concluded last time—at least I concluded last time—that the way to understand the end of 1338 is like this. And this—that is, the circumstances that have been conveyed, namely, that Absalom has made a run for it into the custody of his maternal grandfather and out of the jurisdiction of David—and that fact, and this, held the king back from marching out against Absalom, but he mourned over Amnon because he was dead. Now, if that is correct—and I take it that it is correct—then what Job is aware of here when it says that the king's heart went out to Absalom is that he's aware of his antagonism towards Absalom, not his affection for Absalom. In fact, as the story unfolds, it's very hard to see why Job would need to come up with such a convoluted plan to simply do what he knew David wanted to do—namely, go and reach out to Absalom and bring him back because of his affection for him. I think the context helps us in 14 understand the end of 13.
If we have that in mind, then I think we won't go wrong. His concern, then, is on account of David's antagonism, not David's affection. And he is seeking, you will find, down in verse 20—because of what he knows, he is seeking, the lady explains this down in verse 20, to change the course of things. To change the course of things.
What course of things? Well, the king and Absalom are on a collision course. And a collision course between the king and his potential heir may only result in all kinds of disruption.
At least so, it seems to Joab. And so Joab's concern here is a concern for the kingdom itself. And out of his desire to see things resolved, to see resolution, he intervenes. We know that David as the king has failed to execute justice. He has allowed Absalom to get away. Absalom should have been prosecuted. He killed his brother. He at the same time, the king, has not only failed to show justice, but he is unwilling to show mercy, as we discover in this unfolding drama.
In fact, the king fails to show any decisive direction in relationship to this unfolding shambles. And so it falls to Joab to seek to break the impasse. That's his concern. That's what he knew.
What did he do? Well, you can see it here in the text. He sent to Tekoa, and he brought from there a wise woman—Tekoa about ten miles from Jerusalem, about five miles from Bethlehem. So he sends over there, and he brings back this lady. We know nothing of her. Perhaps she was a counselor. Perhaps she was well known.
Perhaps she had a drama school, for all we know. But he sends for her. Because he has determined that he is not going to get resolution in this circumstance by working through normal political protocol.
He's not going to be able to apply, if you like, the principles of a normal bureaucratic structure. In fact, what he's seeking to do is to resolve the situation by presenting it to the king in a different light. He is, if you like, a turnaround specialist in some ways. Some of you in business are turnaround men or turnaround women.
And, you know, first of all, you define, and then you analyze the problem, and then you determine the scope and the strategy that is to be exercised. That's exactly what he's doing. He's using a strange methodology, an indirect methodology, but a methodology that is going to prove effective. Now, when it says that he sent for a wise woman, some of us who've been paying attention immediately go, Wait a minute!
The last wise person we had was none other than Jonadab, Mr. Crafty, and that wasn't exactly wonderful what is going to happen here. So he sends for the lady, and I'm going to summarize some of this so as not to simply repeat the text. He has her come, and he says to her, Here's the plan. I want you to pretend to be in mourning. I want you to dress accordingly. I want you to behave as a woman who has been mourning for quite a while, for day after day, which was exactly what David had been doing over the death of Amnon. And I want you to know, madam, that I have got an outline here for you. I have your script ready for you. I'm going to allow you to adopt it and to adapt it as necessary in order to achieve the objective.
All right? So the concern is he knows it's a shambles, and he is concerned at the same time to try and fix it. Secondly, to the woman's conversation. And this is the substantial part of this chapter, and it's long. And I read it a lot during the week, and it took me a long, long time before I felt that I even had a handle on it.
You're about to discover whether I do have a handle on it. The woman's conversation—actually, we might better refer to it as the woman's performance. Because this is quite a performance. She plays the part with finesse, she plays the part with bravery. And of course, she will recognize that what is happening here is akin to what we already saw back in chapter 12, when Nathan the prophet comes to David, and he doesn't come to him straight out and say, What you did was wrong. He tells him a parable in order to bring him to the point where the parable brings about a sense of conviction on the part of David, and then he plays the ace, and he says, You're actually that man.
Now, what's going on here is very similar. She is going to seek the king's help with a problem that isn't real in the hope that it will help him with a problem that is real. Now, we've got a slight advantage over David as the readers of the story, because we know that Joab has set her up. We know that her story is bogus. We know that she's pretending. We know that when she comes and makes her appeal, as she does, she's very skillful. She fell on her face to the ground. There's quite a bit of falling on face to the ground in the space of these thirty-three verses.
And her appeal is straightforward. I need your help. Save me, O king, I need your help. Oh, he says, Yes, of course, I'll be glad. Now, how she was able to come directly to the king, presumably, is because of Joab himself.
He could make it happen. So now she has the king's ear. And she speaks. I'm a widow. My husband is dead. My two sons got into a fight.
They were out in the field. It might make you think of Cain and Abel. Out in the field, the one boy struck him, killed him. The family, our whole family, the clan, has ganged up against me. They want me to hand over the son who did it so that they can put him to death as recompense. But if they do that, they will snuff out the only spark of my life.
That's the coal there you will see in the text. They will snuff out the only spark of my life. I'll be left with no husband and with no heir and with no name. He responds in a positive way. He says, Why don't you go home? I'll take care of this. Go home, and I'll take care of this.
But that won't do. You will see, verse 8, And the woman of Tekoa said to the king… She comes back again. She says, Well, wait a minute. I want you to know that I'll take responsibility if you are criticized for helping me. So now the king says in verse 10, If anyone says anything to you, if anyone objects, just bring the man to me, and he'll never touch you again.
Now, I've imagined that the king did this as something of a favor to Joab. There's a lady I'd like you to see. The lady comes in. Hello, what's she on about? She says, Well, I've got a thing with a son and so on. He says, Okay, go home. I'll take care of it. She says, No, no, wait a minute. I want you to know something. And so he thinks that's finished there.
But no! And here we go, verse 11. Then she said, Please let the king invoke the Lord your God, that the avenger of blood kill no more, and my son not be destroyed. He then says, With an oath, a familiar oath, as the Lord lives, a sworn decision, by which he commits himself to the woman's cause, not one hair of your son shall fall to the ground.
But of course, we know she didn't have a son. She was working the material to get David to see himself in the picture. So just when he thinks his case closed, verse 12, the woman said, Please let your servant speak a word to my lord the king.
Or, if I might just mention, something else. And he said, Speak. How do you think… How did that come out like? Speak. Or did he say, Oh, go ahead. Yeah, all right, fine.
Fine, go ahead, speak. And then she joins the dots. Now she comes at him. And the woman said, Why then have you planned such a thing against the people of God?
Why have you acted in this way and convicted yourself by not bringing home your banished one? In other words, she says, What you're doing here in relationship to your son Absalom has got ramifications far bigger than simply whether the two of you are getting along. This has to do with the whole history of the people of God. It's a dramatic moment.
Far more than father and son relationship. It has the potential unresolved for civil war. And then she goes on in verse 14, and she says, We must all die.
We're like water spilled on the ground. I take it that what she's saying there is, You know what? Amnon is dead, and he isn't coming back. But God will not take away life. Well, of course, God does take away life. We know that the Lord kills and the Lord brings back to life. That's 1 Samuel 2.6. But what she's saying is, God, in this case, is a life-giver.
He's a restorer. Or, if you like, she's saying to him, King, death is irreversible, but God's dealings are far from irreversible. Or even, if you like, God's responses to things are far from irreversible. Well, of course, that ought to have rung even just a tiny bell in the back of his mind in relationship to chapter 12 and verse 13, when he repents, and Nathan says to him, The LORD has put away your sin. Isn't it amazing how we can know the forgiveness of God? And refuse forgiveness to others? How we can be set free and seek to hold others at arm's length from us?
That's exactly what's going on here. You're listening to Truth for Life with Alistair Begg. We're learning about the damaging effects of unforgiveness. You know, the Bible may be an ancient book, but it is also God's living Word. That's why it speaks to us so clearly about issues we face today. We love studying the Bible with you because we know there is power in God's Word, not in the words of a mere man. We often hear from listeners who tell us how much they value the straightforward truth they hear on Truth for Life.
In fact, we recently heard from John, a listener in Texas, who told us how the trajectory of his life was dramatically altered when he responded to eight simple words from Alistair. Those words were, Can I invite you to open your Bible? In addition to the daily teaching you hear on this program, it's important for you to spend personal time with God, and today we're recommending a resource that will make that easier for you. It's Alistair's book, Truth for Life, 365 Daily Devotions, Volume 2. Each day this book will guide you to read a passage of Scripture and then reflect on how that passage applies to your daily life. Alistair provides helpful commentary that takes you deeper into what each of these passages is teaching and how you can reflect on its truth as you go about your day.
It's a hardcover book. It will guide you through a full year of daily meditations. Ask for your copy of Volume 2 of the Truth for Life daily devotional. When you donate to support the Bible teaching ministry of Truth for Life, go to truthforlife.org slash donate. Thanks for listening today. Tomorrow we'll find out why ultimately sin always brings tears. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life, where the Learning is for Living.
